In a group text, how do you reply to the same numbers that were originally messaged? I am on the receiving end of this problem and am trying to resolve the issue for my brother, who has an iPhone.
I have two mobile numbers (we'll call them Phone A and Phone B). When my sister (who is on an Android) sends a group text to my brother and to me on Phone A, I receive it on Phone A as expected and can reply without issue. However, when my brother replies to the thread, it goes to my sister and to me on Phone B. How does my brother resolve this issue so that when he replies to the group thread, it goes to Phone A as intended?

It sounds like your brother has a different contact for you than your sister does. If your brother replies to you it may be using the number in contacts for you. He would need to change the Contact number to the number you use for Phone A.


Run sudo From Non-Admin Account Okay, so I'm gearing up to get a new machine so I'm looking at how I can organise things better. Now, currently I use an admin account as my main login account, but I know that that's probably not best practice, so I'd like to switch to a separate admin and non-admin account on my machine.

However, I'm a developer, and I do a lot of work in the terminal, so sometimes I do need to run commands via sudo, but of course that won't work the way I would normally run it (sudo foo, type current account's password). What I'd like to know is, knowing the details for an admin account on my machine, is it possible to run commands via sudo (or similar) from a non-admin account, without having to login to a different account each time? For example, could I trigger the enter admin password dialogue somehow?

Seems like you could use the SU command to switch to another user in Terminal. Once you've switched to the admin user you can use sudo commands coupled with the admin account's password.

For example, when I'm at one of my end user's Macs and I need to run something with elevated privileges (chown for example) without logging out and into the admin account (ladmin) I would use something like this (in bold):

Mr-Rabbits-Mac:~ notadminuser$ su ladmin

This will prompt for the ladmin account's password, once entered you will see a bash command prompt.  From here I can run any sudo commands desired, entering ladmin's password as needed...

bash-3.2$ sudo chown user2 /some/folder

This will run the chown command using the now logged in ladmin user, prompting for the ladmin account's password.  Once finished you can type exit to return to your logged in user's prompt.

Screenshot of similar process, only using sudo to run the ls command (just for example).


PDF exported from Notes is unreadable I have some manuscript notes written in iPad Notes with Apple Pencil, which I need to export to PDF. Unfortunately the generated PDF is useless: For some reason, the text is squeezed in the left, occupying just a small fraction of the page, and the resolution is so bad that the text is unreadable even if zoomed: see the screenshot below.  What can I do?

When iOS Notes creates a PDF, it will scan the page to only print the content it needs to and not a lot of blank space. The fact that you do have a lot of blank space indicates that there is something on the right side of the page that has been drawn (maybe a small dot or line) and Notes will see it as content to be converted, giving you the large white space.

Ensure that there is absolutely no content on the right hand side of the page (use the eraser tool) and try again.


Why does decreasing the brightness cause the brightness to increase occasionally on the MacBook Air? I have a MacBook Air Late 2010. I notice that sometimes when I press the decrease brightness button, it causes the brightness to increase and only after subsequent presses it starts to actually reduce the brightness (from this now higher brightness setting).

I was just wondering why this happens, and if it's related at all to an ambient light sensor similar to the one that the iPhone has.

The Air does have an ambient light sensor. Try disabling it in the Displays System Preferences pane and see if it fixes the problem.


Which iPad/OS X apps can be used to create music for a game? Surprisingly many music applications are being available for iOS and (maybe) OS X. Are there ones that can be in fact used for game creation? I'm looking to create in-background music, and maybe special effect sounds.

Apple's very own GarageBand is a good choice.


How can I do shift + slash on a French AZERTY keyboard? I have a MacBook with a French AZERTY keyboard.
On this keyboard, the forward slash ('/') is over the ':' character, so I have to do: Shift + : to get the /.

However in Eclipse there is a useful shortcut to comment out blocks of code: you do ⌘ + / to put "//" at the beginning of every line of selected code; and Shift + ⌘ + / to put /* and */ at the beginning and the end of selected lines, thus commenting out the block of code.

But as I already need to press Shift to get the /, when I do Shift + ⌘ + :, it understands ⌘ + /, and I get the first shortcut.

I can't seem to get the second shortcut. I even tried Shift + Shift + ⌘ + :, using both Shift keys on my keyboard, and of course it didn't work.

I worked around that by changing Eclipse shortcuts, but I was curious to know if there is a way to achieve that (reaching Shift + /).

I hope you clearly understand this is a matter of the highest importance...

As described in several posts, the Ukelele program works to redefine the keyboard if you don't like the default layout.

You can at least find the right key using the Keyboard Viewer - steps on that are here: Where's the # key in Lion


Using ARD to set SSID, but users get keychain login prompt I am trying to "blast" out the credentials for our next enterprise wireless SSID to all of our users using unix commands via Apple Remote Desktop. I did this flawlessly several years ago when I created the current netork/SSID. When the process gets to this command"networksetup -addpreferredwirelessnetworkatindex en0 [SSID] 0 WPA2 [Passphrase]", a popup reading, "network setup wants to use the 'login' keychain. Please enter the keychain password."

I am running the command as root and the network is added no matter what, but how can I eliminate that popup from appearing so as to not get 200 support calls/tickets?

Clients are 11" Airs running 10.10, 10.11, 10.12.

The easiest way to add a WiFi network with authentication to a number of Macs is to use a profile.

You can build the profile with Apple Configurator 2, copy it onto the Mac and then install it using the profiles command. So long as you are not targeting macOS 10.13 it is quite easy. For 10.13 it gets harder.


Is there a way to change the typeface used in Safari's "Reader" mode? The typeface used in Safari's "Reader" mode (on both iOS and OS X) seems to be some form of Palatino, which, while certainly not the worst screen face, isn't the best either. This used to be a limitation in iBooks as well, until the addition of excellent screen faces like Charter and Athelas.

Is there a way to change the typeface used by Safari's Reader mode?

The easy way is to click on the "Aa" on the right side of address window once you are in reader mode already, and choose font and background colors :)


How to copy files from an unbootable Mac? My MacBook Pro (2008) will not boot, so I want to copy some files before reinstalling Lion.

How do I do this from the Recovery disc?

Boot up in Recovery Mode (Command + R) add attach an external drive via USB.
Then open the Terminal to copy files using the command line.
All disks are available under /Volumes.


Is my battery in my iPhone faulty, or something more? I have an iPhone 7. I had the battery replaced approx 6 months ago.

I've noticed the battery life hasn't been overly great considering it's a new battery.

Yesterday, my phone started turning off at random. Today, it turned off and never turned back on.

When the phone is plugged into the AC charger, it gets stuck in a boot loop on the Apple logo. But, when it isn't plugged in, I get no power.

I've taken the battery out, and the exact same thing happens. It boots to a boot loop on AC power, and no power when unplugged, as expected. It's as if it won't run off its own battery source.

Does this sound like a faulty battery or something more significant like the IC board?

I cannot boot into restore mode or off a USB port.

My experience is you can triage it with these steps:

Have you tried to do the force restart command while it is plugged into ACC even if your phone has no power?
Have you tried using a different charger or socket?
Have you noticed any pattern in what the charge remaining is when the shut downs happen? (If they are spread equally - less likely the battery, if they cluster around certain voltage levels - likely the battery)

Also, my tactics would be to wait about half an hour after plugging your phone in just to see if anything happens.  My old iPhone 5 was useless for half an hour after I plugged it in when it was completely flat since it took a very long time to get past the weak area with lower voltage but worked OK at the top end.

Your symptoms could be logic board, but are much more likely a battery causing it instead of a short or electrical failure.


Can I bulk move local messages and folders to a server? I'm helping a friend migrate his email off of a Macbook and onto an imap server. I've created an imap account on a server to hold the emails.

Is there a way to bulk-copy the contents of local folders ("On My Mac") to the imap server? My friend has folders within folders. Something like this:

House

message
message
message
Plumbing

message
message
Bills

message

message

Electrical

message
message

Vacation

message
message
Schedules

message
message

Jokes

message
message

and so forth. Probably around 50 top-level folders and I have no idea how many subfolders. 2G of email total.

I want to bulk-copy the entire lot to a server so he can access them from his iPad instead. Let's assume he won't be accessing the local folders on his Mac once we get this figured out.

Can this be done, or are we doomed to create the folders one by one and then copy the individual emails?

More information as I experimented:

The server is Dovecot

I was transferring folders to the server by simply dragging them within Mail.app. This worked fine in most cases.

Some piece of software in the chain doesn't like dots in folder names, so the folder "Dr.Who" got changed to "Dr" with the subfolder " Who" and then errors occurred. After I spent some time searching for folders with '.' in their names, and renaming them, things went better.

Sometimes when I dragged a folder that contained both messages and subfolders, it went smoothly. Sometimes the top-level folder would be empty and would not allow messages to be stored in it. When that happened, I could look around and find the folder named "folder (Messages)" which contained the missing messages. I would then be able to recombine the two folders and rename and I'd be good.

Mail.app really needs a "sort folders alphabetically" function. I found that I could do this manually by quitting Mail, deleting .mboxCache.plist, and restarting Mail.

The imap-upload tool would have been perfect for my needs if it had worked. I might look into debugging it.

I'll leave the question open for a while to see if anybody finds a real answer.

One more data point: as an experiment, I tried creating the subfolder "Dr. Who" from Thunderbird instead of Mail.app. It created the folder "Dr" with the subfolder " Who". I believe Mail.app uses dots as subfolder specifiers when talking to an IMAP server, but uses slashes for folders on the local system. Thus, a folder name with a dot in it is perfectly acceptable for a local folder, it causes issues when pushed to an IMAP server.

Informational post.

So … I've been reading up on the IMAP protocol. It seems to me that IMAP doesn't really have a formal concept of subfolders. If you want to name one mailbox "House" and another one "House.Plumbing", that's entirely up to you. It just happens that Mail.app, and probably many other email clients choose to present these folders to you in a hierarchical form.

That also explains why I encountered some higher-level folders that wouldn't accept any messages — if you were to create, e.g. "House.Plumbing" but not "House", Mail.app would show you the un-writable virtual folder "House" with the subfolder "Plumbing". But as far as the IMAP server is concerned, it's just a folder named "House.Plumbing".

(This isn't to say that the IMAP server itself won't store the folders in a hierarchical way, but the standard doesn't say either way, AFAIK.)


OS X 10.9 Fullscreen on second display doesn't stretch to full screen, but only part of it I'm on OS X 10.9 and with this OS upgrade, the ability to run fullscreen apps on a second display while working on another was implemented.

What I want:
Play YouTube and other online sources (divxstage.eu to name one) videos on my second (1080p) screen while working on my internal MacBook Pro display.

What happens:

Case (1): Youtube videos can be run in fullscreen mode, so if I click on the button it expands to the whole secondary display. When switching back to my MBP, after a while OR (when in a playlist) upon starting the next video it resizes to only a portion (I believe about the same size of the MBP display!) of the screen in the upper left corner, however cutting off the video and displaying a 3/4 black screen. (Example: if there was a circle in the video, you'd now see like a segment of this circle)

Case (2): I found that with e.g. divxstage.eu, videos do not even expand to the full screen, but leave it blank in 3/4 right away. (Same size as with YouTube videos)

Has anyone experienced this, too? Can anybody help, a possible solution, workaround, or even just the source of the problem?

Here's my workaround: right click on the 1/4-screen video and, if you're using Flash 15.0.0.xxx, you should see a Stretching is <type> item in the options list. Click on that and the video will fill the screen. Keep repeating until you get back to the 'Stretching is none' setting, unless you prefer something else.

I have the same issue when using firstrowsports.eu on my 2014 MBP, multiple different browsers, no plugins, no additional screen, hardware acceleration on and off, Mavericks and now Yosemite.


How do I use arguments together with bash aliases Today, I learned the very handy trick:

  man [some command] -t | open -f -a Preview

I'd like to create an alias in my .bash_profile file as a shortcut. In order for this to work, I need to pass an argument into the aliased command. A little poking around and I came up with this:

  alias manp="man $1 -t | open -f -a Preview"

This almost works, but if I type in, say "manp ls", it seems to be expecting the ls manpage to be in whatever my current directory is.

You can't pass arguments to aliases. Aliases are just text substitutions without further logic.

But you can use shell functions to achieve the same result:

function pman() {
    if [ -x /usr/bin/open ]; then
        man -t "$1" | open -f -a Preview
    else
        man "$1"
    fi
}

The if-then-else part is there just to make sure it also works on non-OSX systems.

To define a function, just include the definition from above into your ~/.bash_profile. Usage is identical to aliases or any other command: pman ls.

As @stuffe pointed out in a comment keeping aliases/functions in a separate file has its advantages (especially it allows you to re-read your aliases/functions into the current shell without executing any setup stuff from .bashrc or .bash_profile). To do this, create a separate file called .alias, .functions or similar and add

test -e ~/.alias && . ~/.alias

to .bashrc or .bash_profile.


Exporting DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES for libgmalloc not working on Big Sur? I've been struggling with a very weird issue.  I'm trying to use libgmalloc (eg per man 3 libgmalloc) on Big Sur (I'm on 11.3.1) to trouble shoot a memory issue in my code.  However, I can't set the environment variable DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES.  It sets as a shell variable, but not as an environment variable that can be seen by child processes:
stuarts@iMac-Pro ~ % export DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES="/usr/lib/libgmalloc.dylib"
stuarts@iMac-Pro ~ % echo $DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES
/usr/lib/libgmalloc.dylib
stuarts@iMac-Pro ~ % env |grep DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES
stuarts@iMac-Pro ~ %

The variable doesn't show up in the env listing (and isn't detected by my program using getenv() either).  I started fooling around setting other randomly named variables, and found that I can export "DYLD" and "A_B", but not "DYLD_A" (or other things that start with "DYLD_").
This seems an extremely strange silent filter in export.
How should one use libgmalloc in Big Sur?

On my (M1) machine:
~$ export DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES=foo
~$ env | grep DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES
~$ /opt/homebrew/bin/bash
dyld: could not load inserted library 'foo' because image not found

Abort trap: 6

So (as you saw), the variable is being set - but since env is a system binary, it is silently removed. Testing with my homebrew installed version of bash, you can see the value is actually set.
See also this StackOverflow answer.
TL;DR works fine for non-system binaries, silently removed from the environment for system binaries.


MacBook Pro (late 2013) w/ Yosemite & FileVault won't boot: LCD light only, no other activity After lid-sleeping my machine with ~10% battery left, a few hours later, attached to AC power,  it would not wake from lid-open, keypress, or short power-button-press.

After doing a long-power-button-hold to force-fully-off, another press of the power button caused the LCD light to come on (apple logo illuminated on reverse), but no other screen activity (screen black) or startup sound. Leaving it in this state for tens of minutes didn't result in any progress. No noticeable fan activity. Capslock LED unresponsive.

Only a long-power-button-press would turn off the screen LCD. Repeated long-power-button shutdowns and then power-on attempts resulted in this same LCD-light-on state, but no other activity.

I tried "resetting the SMC" several times (in case my hold-timings were wrong), with no change in symptoms. I did not yet try "resetting NVRAM (fka 'PRAM')", as that article suggests timing the CMD-OPT-P-R press after hearing the startup chime, and there was no chime.

During these attempts AC plug went from amber to green, indicating charging/charge-level-monitoring was still working.

Also tried holding D during startup for 'Diagnostic Mode'; no luck.

So: time for my 1st 'Genius Bar' appointment, in fear some hardware had gone bad! (See self-answer below for results.)

Full configuration info:

Hardware: MacBook Pro (late 2013), 13', integrated graphics only

OS: Yosemite (10.10.5) using FileVault full-disk-encryption.

The Apple Store Genius quickly resolved the issue by doing an SMC reset  and NVRAM reset in rapid succession.

(He may have done more than one of each; I'm not sure. I don't think he waited for an audible startup chime before adding the NVRAM step. It was a 5-minute visit and the store was loud.)

So if this state recurs, I'll try each of those in order, in more combinations/timings to be sure.

The Genius indicated that he'd seen the same issue with another person earlier that same day, and that the FileVault full-disk-encryption was an involved factor: the black-but-backlight-on screen may have been showing in lieu of, or perhaps 'in front of', the usual pre-boot/decrypt-volume prompt screen.


Emptying the Trash: not working On Lion 10.7.3, when trying to empty the Trash from the GUI the items to be deleted are counted, and the the dialog doesn't progress anymore:

Stopping emptying the Trash doesn't help much either: the only thing changing is the status on the dialog that now reads Stopping...

It's reported that resetting the PRAM does the trick, and I know that I can just force the removal from the CLI, but can somebody help me understand why this is happening and how to fix it?

You could also try this:

Open Terminal from /Applications/Utilities
Run command: rm -rfv ~/.Trash/*

This should delete all files in the trash and show you what it's doing as it goes.


MacBook Pro mirror-like screen I have MacBook Pro at work. It has the glossy glass screen and I'm able to see everybody behind me by just changing the focus of my sight. It's a bit weird.

How do you get used to this mirror/screen?

You could also use something like a 3M privacy filter to give it a bit more of a matte appearance and reduce the glare.


How to get file path of user selected .icns file in applescript? I'm writing an applescript in which I need the POSIX path to an .icns file that the user selects. For some reason though, it refuses to accept .icns as a valid file type.

This will work:

set Icon to (POSIX path of (choose file of type {"png"} with prompt "Select a .png file."))

But this won't:

set Icon to (POSIX path of (choose file of type {"icns"} with prompt "Select a .icns file."))

When the script is run, it won't let me choose any files, including .icns files.

Any ideas? Thanks.

Also, I'm running 10.8.5 if it helps, and if there is an easy way to convert .png files to .icns files with applescript, I'm open to that too.

Use {"com.apple.icns"} as the file type.

set Icon to (POSIX path of (choose file of type {"com.apple.icns"} with prompt "Select a .icns file."))

(Found by running "mdls myiconfile.icns")

kMDItemContentType             = "com.apple.icns"


Is there a way to zoom with the front camera on an iPhone (iOS 13.5.1)? I'm running iOS 13.5.1 on an iPhone XR. I can zoom with the back camera (in by "spreading", out by "pinching"), but is there a way to zoom with the front camera?

Go to this website and purchase the App from the App Store. Once installed you also zoom with the front camera. https://camera.plus


MacBook Pro rapid battery degradation I recently acquired a second-hand (new, for me) MacBook Pro Retina Mid-2012 model. Also, in the near past, I upgraded it to El Capitan, and it is currently on OS X 10.11.1 (15B42).

Last week, it worked flawlessly, and ran for several hours on its battery— until its battery suddenly stalled out charging at 59%, and it started immediately losing power when the the cord is disconnected.

In summary:

The battery suddenly stopped charging, and was stuck at 59%, which has since decreased to 56%.
If I disconnect the charger, it shuts down immediately.
The battery status is "Replace now" even though it worked nominally last week and only reports having had 65 cycles. I believe it briefly read "Service battery" before that.

I have reset both the NVRAM and the SMC twice apiece. I am going to try to scare up another charger next. Does anyone have any further suggestions to try before paying the money for a battery replacement?

My previous experience with old MacBook batteries has been that they have slowly degraded to the point that they would only hold a charge for a few minutes, rather than suddenly dropping from nominal performance to complete inability to charge the computer, so I suspect the issue is not an old battery, and paying to replace it may not fix the problem.

I share the same problems with this question, however I don't have a warranty to fall back on:
New MacBook Pro slow performance, battery not working

Most likely, the battery is the issue. However, there is no way a battery should last only 65 cycles before it died. Most likely you have a defective battery.

Even if you don't have a warranty, Apple will probably give you a new battery if you complain, since the current battery died way before it should have. They usually cover obvious defects even if the computer is out of warranty.

The other possibility is that the previous owner had something done to the battery at some point, and the work was done incorrectly. 65 cycles seems abnormally low for a 2012 laptop, unless the previous owner never used the computer.


How to select the Bluetooth device using command line? I have two Bluetooth trackpads, one at work and one at home. Is there a way to select one or the other from the command line. My current workflow is going up to the bluetooth menu, hovering over to home or office and clicking on Connect, but I wish I could do this from the terminal.

This open-source CLI app BluetoothConnector seems like a good solution. I tested and confirmed it's working as recently as macOS 10.15.2.

It's available on GitHub as well as Homebrew:

$ brew install bluetoothconnector
$ BluetoothConnector --connect 00-11-22-33-44-55 --notify
$ BluetoothConnector --disconnect 00-11-22-33-44-55


After running `ssh-add -K` to add my SSH key to the Apple Keychain, what is the name and type of entry shown in Keychain Access.app? Supposedly this console command will add my private SSH key to the Apple Keychain, as discussed in this Answer on the Question, How to use Mac OS X Keychain with SSH keys?:

ssh-add -K path-to-my-private-key-for-SSH

If that succeeds…

➥ What is the type and name of the entry to be found in the Keychain Access.app?

I would like to be able to manually verify and possibly delete that entry.

I just got a brand new laptop (running Mojave) so I had the opportunity to try this without having to sort through a large Keychain. From what I can see, running ssh-add -K path/to/key does absolutely nothing to the Keychain. No new records were created after running the command.

I'm pretty mystified as to how OSX manages ssh-agent and I can't even get it to remember my keys (Ubuntu does this by default) between sessions. I'll come back and edit if I find a solution for you.

EDIT: If you key is not passphrase protected, it looks like OSX won't add it to the Keychain. Presumably this is because the only thing the keychain stores is the passphrase. Everything else seems to require messing with the ~/.ssh/config file.

EDIT: If your ssh key is passphrase protected, running ssh-add -K path/to/key adds your passphrase to your keychain as a generic password prepended with "SSH:" Also, as for remembering keys, starting with OSX Sierra, Apple chose to stop remembering keys by default. See a brief medium article (with some external sources) here.


How to restore the iPhone as a new phone with the same OS version? I have an iPhone 5s. It currently has iOS 8.4.1 on it.  I want to restore it as a new phone, but retain iOS 8.4.1.

Is this possible?  Or will iTunes force iOS 9.x onto the phone?

Settings > General > Reset > "Erase All Content and Settings"

Erase all content and settings - Apple Support


Deleting entries in defaults I have accidentally added an entry to my defaults (/usr/bin/defaults) that is preventing me from installing apps via iTunes. How do I undo my change?

This is the command to read the offending entry:

/usr/bin/defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.usbmuxd

Which gives the following result:

{
    BlackList =     (
        "com.apple.iTunes"
    );
}

It was added by

/usr/bin/defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.usbmuxd BlackList -array-add com.apple.iTunes

I thought this would remove it, but I can't figure it out.

/usr/bin/defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.usbmuxd BlackList com.apple.iTunes

This just returns the help for defaults

Here are a few more things I've tried and the results

/usr/bin/defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.usbmuxd BlackList
Domain (/Library/Preferences/com.apple.usbmuxd) not found.

/usr/bin/defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.usbmuxd com.apple.iTunes
Domain (/Library/Preferences/com.apple.usbmuxd) not found.

Not sure what the "Domain not found" error is. I tried sudo as well and saw the same error message. Is that not the domain I just added to with the initial write step?

I think this is the command in defaults I want to use:

delete <domain> <key>                deletes key in domain

You can delete the BlackList array with

defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.usbmuxd BlackList
#        delete <domain>                               <key>

Apple doesn't provide an easy way to remove an array element. You can either set the BlackList array with -array with the item excluded, or edit the file manually using Xcode for example.


Non-Touch ID Mac says "Touch ID requires password when Mac restarts" I used Carbon Copy Cloner to move from one MacBook Pro to another and have found that while the newer Mac does not have the fingerprint sensor, the OS still reports "Touch ID requires password when Mac restarts".
Does anyone know how to clear this setting on my Non-Touch ID Mac?

This is happening because the OS still probably thinks you're using a MacBook Pro with a fingerprint scanner. If you still have both MacBooks, a possible solution is to go back to the other MacBook Pro and disable the TouchID settings and then use Carbon Copy Cloner to move from the old MacBook Pro to the new MacBook Pro.


How many 27" Thunderbolt Displays does the 2020 M1 Mac mini support? Apple's website does state that "One display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz connected via Thunderbolt" so it's probably not possible as per this question regarding how M1 powered MacBooks supporting only a single 27" Thunderbolt Display as follows:

However, would an M1 Mac mini support dual 27" Thunderbolt Displays if connected as follows?

If they cannot be daisy chained via Thunderbolt 1 would a second Thunderbolt Adapter perhaps change things if used as follows:

I've seen how the M1 can be connected up to 6x displays in total using Display Link. However, I'm specifically interested in using the 2x 27" Thunderbolt displays I already have.
If you've got this working with a Mac mini, please share your experience. Thunderbolt 1x supported daisy chaining up to 6x 27" Thunderbolt displays and it would be very interesting to know if this is at all a possibility?

Neither of those two suggested display configurations are possible, I'm afraid. You can only connect 1 of the 27" Thunderbolt displays to the Thunderbolt 3 ports on the M1 Mac Mini. It doesn't matter if you daisy chain two monitors or plug them into each of their own Thunderbolt 3 ports - it still won't work.
The only way to natively hook up 2 displays to the M1 Mac Mini is to drive one display (and one display only) through the Thunderbolt 3 port and the other through the HDMI port. Obviously the 27" Thunderbolt Display does not connect with the HDMI port.
When I say natively, I mean that it is ofcourse possible to use non-native display options - most popular would be a variety of DisplayLink products.
Adapters such as this do exist that converts the HDMI output to a USB-C style DisplayPort output. I guess you could plug a Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter into that, but I doubt that it would work.


Changing the target DPI when saving slides as images in PowerPoint 2011 I want to increase the target resolution when exporting slides as images in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac. In other forums it says to go to Preferences -> Save, and from there you can change the dpi.

Here's a fuzzy screen shot of what it should look like:

Here's what I see instead:

What are my options to increase the resolution/dpi?

Unfortunately and inexplicably, Microsoft dropped this option ("Advanced resolution settings") in PowerPoint 2011.

A quick-and-dirty solution would be to simply increase the pixel dimensions in the export settings. You do this by entering e.g. the width (the height will be calculated automatically). Microsoft has limited the maximum possible export  dimensions to 2999×2249 pixels (for aspect ratio 1:1.3) which is comparable to the size of a photo from a 6- or 7-megapixel digital camera. This is sufficient to print the slide on a full A4 or Letter sheet at 300 ppi.

Alternatively, you can save slides as PDF instead of images (File > Save As…), and place those in your page layout application or word processor. At least some of the graphical elements in the design templates are vector graphics, which ensures that these elements won't pixelate later in printing at any resolution.

However, since MS Office uses the OS X PDF framework to create the PDF files (which is no good for commercial printing workflows), you may still want to create high-resolution images from the PDFs. This can be done simply by exporting the images in the Preview application (File > Export). The export dialog allows you to set the graphics format and resolution. Alternatively, you can also open the a PDF in Photoshop or GIMP, which creates a new bitmap image, for which you can set the dpi of your choice.

Important: To avoid later pixelation of your photos or other images placed in the PP presentation, make sure these image files have a high resolution suited for the targeted printing process in the first place.


Mobile Safari - link to MP3 and show album art? I've created a web page that has a link to an MP3 file. When I click the link, the OS plays the MP3 with a full screen image of a generic image:

Is it possible to show album art in this view? I've embedded album art in the MP3 file, but it doesn't show up so I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong with the sound creation tool or if there is something special that needs to be done with how the file is hosted.

Has anyone seen a song that plays from a web page with album artwork?

I'm just guessing here, but have you tried using an AAC-file with either that or Apple's M4A-extension? You could also try use the MP4-extension and see if it thinks the artwork is a frame from a video-file.


Choose a default app for opening files with no extension? Is it possible to set a default application to open files with no extension?  I'm not referring to files with hidden extensions, but those completely lacking an extension -- e.g. README, CHANGELOG, mbox, etc.

"Open With" => "Change All" on these files doesn't work, returning the error shown below:

Ideally, I would like the system to try opening all such files in TextMate.  I know I can drag files onto Dock icons to open them in specific apps, but I'm looking for a more seamless solution than that (especially since I have my Dock auto-hide, which makes it much more cumbersome).

I am familiar with the QLStephen QuickLook plugin that can enable QuickLook for some of these files, but I would prefer a solution with selecting/copying/editing capabilities.

You can add a default application for public.plain-text in ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.plist.

defaults write com.apple.LaunchServices LSHandlers -array-add '{LSHandlerContentType=public.plain-text;LSHandlerRoleAll=com.apple.textedit;}' '{LSHandlerContentType=public.unix-executable;LSHandlerRoleAll=com.apple.textedit;}'

Restart to apply the changes (logging out and back in isn't enough).

I've added this to a duti configuration file:

com.apple.textedit public.plain-text all
com.macromates.textmate public.unix-executable all


How to change color scheme of Keynote slide design/template? I just made the switch to Mac. In PowerPoint, I used to be able to select a certain slide theme or design but choose a different color of it. How can I do that with Keynote? I've been googling for hours just to do this.

If you want to change the appearance of all the slides:

While creating a new document, choose any template.
From the menubar, select View > Show Master Slides.
Select the layout you want to edit from the navigator pane on the left.
On the Toolbar, click on Inspector (“i” icon).
Choose the second tab icon (slide icon) in the Inspector window. Click on Appearance.
Here you can specify any background for the slide. It can be an image, a colour, a gradient or a tint.

If you just want to change the appearance of the current slide, follow steps 4 to 6.

To change the style of text for all the slides:

Follow steps 1 to 4.
Choose the capital “T” icon in the Inspector window.
Select the text whose colour, font, etc. you want to change.
In the inspector window, there are various properties like text colour, character spacing, etc. which you can change.
You can change the font from the toolbar.

To change the style of text for the current slide, just follow the steps without opening the master slide.


How to attach an image directly inside iOS Mail app while writing an e-mail? When I want to send an image from my iPhone 4s, the workflow is easy. I go to Pictures, I pick the target image and then I click on the "share" icon in bottom left corner. Then of course I can add additional message and my e-mail with attachment is ready to be send.

That's fine but what if I'm for example writing just a plain text e-mail. I'm in the middle of it and then I decide to add an image? I don't want to quit the Mail. Is there a way to attach an image (file) directly from there? I'm a really perceptive guy but in this case I cannot see any icon with a paper clip symbol or anything similar that would suggest that I can attach something.

Press and hold anywhere on the text area. A contextual menu will appear.
If there is no text on the message, the option to the right will say "Insert Photo or Video".

If there is text, the options will be "Select", "Select all", "Paste" and an arrow. Clicking the arrow will show "Insert Photo or Video"

Click on it and select the Photo or Video you would like to attach.


Login Screen Before OS Loads? I have verbose mode turned on always so I can see if a kernel panic or some error happens. After having it on for a few times, I started to notice that most of the boot was happening after the login. I can't show a picture as it is in boot, but the login screen loads before most of the OS. This is only after a cold boot but I can't seem to find any information on this. All I want is some information on this.
EDIT:
Basically, the machine starts to boot, the apple logo pops up, a small box of text scrolls down, where the rest of the monitor is not used, it shows the login screen, and after I type the password, the login screen goes away. now the whole screen is used and the rest of the machine boots up.
EDIT 2:
There is no firmware password. I have not locked the firmware.

Boot Process
Before you can be presented with a login screen, the OS must be booted.  Granted, there can be "login items" which are apps or helpers that can be loaded after a user logs in, but the bulk of the OS (this includes the kernel and related drivers) has loaded by the time you get the login screen where you enter your username and password.
To simplify it, if you can log into your Mac remotely before you've entered your login credentials, your Mac has booted completely.  As far as User applications that run in the GUI or get started by launchd (LaunchAgents) those will be started after you've successfully authenticated.  These aren't really part of the OS, but part of the userland environment - they're not required for macOS to boot and run, but they are required for the user experience.  You will see these loading on the screen in verbose mode.
The Eclectic Light Company has an excellent flowchart (below) as to the complex nature of the Apple boot process - but one thing to notice is there are a couple places for password input long before the system actually starts booting the kernel.

Firmware Lock
Mac computers both laptop and desktops now have heightened security and provide for a firmware lock.  This protects your device in that it prevents starting up from any internal or external device that wasn't designated a startup disk.
FileVault
FileVault is Full Disk Encryption of your storage device.  It's unlocked with your login password so it can appear that the boot process hasn't finished until you login (I suspect this is what you're seeing).

Typical Login Screen:

Firmware Lock Screen:


Safari can’t establish a secure connection to the server www.google.com If I try to navigate to any of the following pages:

http://google.com/reader
https://encrypted.google.com/

I get an error message in Safari saying:

  Safari can't open the page "https://encrypted.google.com/" because
  Safari can’t establish a secure connection to the server
  "encrypted.google.com"

I also find that on the Gmail page many images are missing and when I try to go the image location I see the same error as above. Here's a pic of the missing images:

In chrome I have the same issue but with a different error as follows:

  Error 107 (net::ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR): SSL protocol error.

I am not using a proxy and this behaviour has started recently for seemingly no apparent reason although I did get a new router about 2 weeks ago. Why am I experiencing  these problems?

The issue was a temporary change and you should have an excellent chance of secure browsing from the main google entry page and all shipping versions of Safari.

https://www.google.com

Things could change next month, but lately google has served up rock solid https using certificate trust chains that Apple has included in all OS they ship.


How do I enable AVB on Mac Catalina 10.15 I am getting a message AVB is not enabled in my midi network device browser.
Apple Support:  Browse your network for an AVB device in Audio MIDI Setup on Mac
I am following this, however, on step 3,  that option doesn't exist.  Only automatic and manual are present, and in manual you have to enter a number.  There's nothing ABV related.

Modern macs will generally only support AVB when you hard wire an Ethernet cable directly to a USB-4 (only USB that works) / Thunderbolt port.
Audio Video Bridging is a set of technologies that allow Ethernet to support the kind of time-sensitive data delivery needed to keep multiple connected audio devices in sync. It is not trivial.
Apple does not advertise which computers or connections support ABV. It seems most Macs today can support it, but only on a limited number of interfaces. In particular, there is no ABV support over WiFi or via a USB-to-Ethernet adapter. In fact, I cannot even get ABV to work when connected to a Thunderbolt 3 Dock.
It seems the only way to get ABV support is to connect to a built-in Ethernet port if the Mac has one or to connect via a Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter. This is hinted at by the help message from Audio Midi Setup when you do not have AVB enabled. It says in part

See the help guide for configuration instructions if your computer does not have built-in ethernet or if it has more than one network service that can support AVB.

Unfortunately, I do not know what "help guide" it is referring to, but it does lend support to the idea that AVB is only supported by "built-in" Ethernet.


How to zoom in/out using mouse wheel? Using Yosemite, I want to use CMD + mouse wheel up/down in order to zoom in/out(CMD +/- equivalent).

How can it be achieved?

CMD + mouse wheel in most cases doesn't increase the font size, it's usually in most circumstances a 'zoom' in. Increasing the font size system wide isn't possible without setting it specifically for Applications (if you know the menu title) in keyboard shortcuts. However, you can emulate a system wide zoom in level with a double tap of the mouse (if your using magic mouse) by turning that system feature on in:

System Prefs > Mouse > Smart Zoom

Or you can take advantage of Accessibility feature which is turned on by default by zooming the window in:

CMDOPT=

To emulate this with a mouse scroll event go to :

System Prefs > Accessibility > Zoom

You will a list of options for you customize your scroll events.

'Use Gesture Scroll Events' will be greyed out by system default. Select this option to enable it. Choose which primary key to function from, OSx will take care of the rest (directional zoom). As you can see you can customize furthermore with picture-in-picture etc to better service your need


How do you correct when Facebook picks the wrong contact? I have Contact cards for my father- and brother-in-law, let's call them John Smith and Johnny Smith (he's a Junior). My father-in-law doesn't use Facebook, but my brother-in-law does, and since he goes by John Smith on Facebook, Mountain Lion associated my father-in-law's card with his account (even though I had birthdays for each card - now my father-in-law has two birthdays...).

Is there any way I can correct it to choose by brother-in-law instead? I tried disabling Contacts integration from System Preferences, then renaming them to be John Smith, Sr. and John Smith and turning it back on. It remained connected to my father-in-law.

There is an easier option. Go to the contact that has been merged. Click edit. Click the minus icon next to the Facebook card at the bottom of the contact. The two cards will spring apart and you will have two contacts. Hit save.


Siri Accounts Faults in MAC OS Catalina (10.15.6): (Process Demon Faults: accountsd + deleted + locationd) VERY slow CPU! I'm seeing a common Mac OS Catalina (10.15.6) fault with accountsd/deleted and Siri? (com.apple.siri.e)?  It seems to be extremely serious!  Does anyone know the cause or solution for this?  My computer seems to be overheating a lot and has very very high CPU usage!?  Is this because of overheating or something else with Siri and a demon?
OS Version:       Mac OS X 10.15.6 (Build 19G73)
Is this a possible "malware" or virus?  Or some bug with SQLITE?
ACCOUNTS DAEMON (AccountsDaemon):
FAULT MESSAGES:
"TIMING: Daemon save took 1.291293025016785"
"Completed account save: YES - (null)."
Unentitled access by client 'com.apple.siri.e'
(selector: accountsWithAccountType:handler:)
"Error returned from daemon: Error Domain=com.apple.accounts Code=9"
"Cannot check access to a private account type: <private>"
"No TCC state found: <private>, <private>"
AMSAccountNotificationPlugin: [1E2C940E] Skipping biometrics update (not authed)
"Client <private> is not allowed to access accounts of type <private>."
Unentitled access by client 'CallHistoryPlugi' (selector: accountsWithAccountType:handler:)
"Error returned from daemon: Error Domain=com.apple.accounts Code=9"
AMSAccountNotificationPlugin: [1E2C940E] Refusing to post a com.apple.itunesstored.accountschanged notification because nothing on the account actually changed.
AMSAccountStoreCache: [1E2C940E] An ACAccountStore has no associated media type. Returning the default media type for the current process. accountStore = AMSAccountStoreCache | defaultMediaType = com.apple.AppleMediaServices.accountmediatype.itunes
"Cannot check access to a private account type: <private>"
"No TCC state found: <private>, <private>"
"Client <private> is not allowed to access accounts of type <private>."

Hardware Overview:
  Model Name:   MacBook Pro
  Model Identifier: MacBookPro11,3
  Processor Name:   Quad-Core Intel Core i7
  Processor Speed:  2.8 GHz
  Number of Processors: 1
  Total Number of Cores:    4
  L2 Cache (per Core):  256 KB
  L3 Cache: 6 MB
  Hyper-Threading Technology:   Enabled
  Memory:   16 GB
  Boot ROM Version: 162.0.0.0.0
  SMC Version (system): 2.19f12

SCREEN SHOT:
System Console "OS" FAULT MESSAGE:

What suggestions do people have about this problem?
Thanks!
Asher
:)
Here is a memory profile... from the command "kextstat -l -k | awk '{n = sprintf("%d", $4); print n, $6}' | sort -n"
901120 com.apple.kec.corecrypto
999424 com.apple.iokit.IOThunderboltFamily
1024000 com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHostFamily
1036288 com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothFamily
1212416 com.apple.filesystems.apfs
1294336 com.apple.driver.DspFuncLib
1425408 com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family
1470464 com.apple.driver.AppleIntelFramebufferAzul
1753088 com.apple.nvidia.driver.NVDAGK100Hal
2981888 com.apple.nvidia.driver.NVDAResman
8196096 com.apple.driver.AirPort.BrcmNIC

here is a "top" command output...
PID  COMMAND      %CPU TIME     #TH   #WQ  #PORT MEM    PURG   CMPR PGRP PPID

458  deleted      70.9 17:27.80 8/1   7/1  79    4596K  0B     0B   458  1
570  Console      51.2 23:14.11 15    11   1243- 382M-  6460K  0B   570  1
573  diagnosticd  28.5 21:18.62 8     7    529   10M    0B     0B   573  1
303  sysmond      22.1 03:40.38 3     2/1  30    3820K  0B     0B   303  1
237  WindowServer 19.0 18:17.49 11    4    1862+ 340M   22M-   0B   237  1
682  Terminal     11.9 00:13.53 8/1   1    305-  29M-   5944K+ 0B   682  1
501  Activity Mon 9.6  21:51.42 5/2   3    1392+ 85M+   10M    0B   501  1
153  hidd         9.1  03:23.60 6     3    221   4476K- 0B     0B   153  1
819  top          8.0  00:01.29 1/1   0    28    3752K+ 0B     0B   819  684
0    kernel_task  6.3  04:49.91 171/8 0    0     66M    0B     0B   0    0
111  powerd       2.0  00:42.87 3     2    116   2592K  0B     0B   111  1

There was a memory leak in the kernel in your version of 10.5.6 - please update immediately to the supplemental update. Build 19G2021 should fix this issue.
Not just the supplemental update is needed, but Supplemental Update 2.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210589
https://eclecticlight.co/2020/08/16/last-week-on-my-mac-apple-leak/


iPhone no longer sending messages as SMS when recipient is disconnected from data I just upgraded to iOS 10.2, and now when I send a message to my niece (who has her WiFi and Mobile Data off, but Voice+Text Cellular on) it always goes as iMessage instead of auto-sending as an SMS as it used to. She then does not get it until she turns on her data.

This only happens with my niece who has an old iPhone 4.  She is unable to upgrade to iOS 10, so maybe that has something to do with this issue? It was fine prior to me upgrading to iOS 10.2 (messages to her when she had data connection were sent as SMS so she used to actually get them when offline). When one of my friends—who has iOS 10.2—has no internet connection, messages to him are sent as SMS automatically so he actually gets them. How can I get messages to my daughter to send as SMS automatically when she's disconnected from the internet but not from calls and texts?

I have enabled Send as SMS when iMessage is unavailable.

tl;dr by owlswipe: Messages to my niece's iPhone when she's disconnected to the internet but connected to voice + text used to automatically send as SMS instead of iMessage, but they no longer do. How can I restore the old behavior?

It sounds like the Messages app thinks that a device signed in with your niece's Apple ID is connected to Wifi or the internet, whether this be the case or not. Is there a chance that she's used her Apple ID to sign in to the Messages app on a Mac? If so it could be receiving her iMessages, thus circumventing the 'Send as SMS when iMessage is unavailable' because technically a device capable of receiving those iMessages is 'available'.

If that's not the problem, these steps have worked for me in the past so I'm hoping they'll also work for you! (You will likely need your Apple ID and password to sign back in to iMessage when you're finished.)

Disable 'Send as SMS when iMessage is unavailable'
Turn off iMessage altogether on your phone from 'Settings > Messages' (the main/first slider)
Restart your phone
Turn iMessage back on from 'Settings > Messages'
Sign back in with your Apple ID if it has been removed
Enable 'Send as SMS when iMessage is unavailable'
It wouldn't hurt to follow these steps on the iPhone 4 as well, as there is a chance the problem is on her end and not yours (Since you haven't noticed the issue happening with any other contacts using Apple devices).

These steps didn't cause any problems for me personally with my stored messages within the Messages app, but as always before doing any troubleshooting backing up your device is a smart move! I did not design iOS so I cannot absolutely guarantee no side effects!


TextWrangler: How to do a Find then Replace: How to Specify what text to find and what text to replace I'm stuck what most would think is one of the basics of editing with TextWrangler - how to do a find/replace!

In Notepad++ on Windows, the Replace is, to me, very straight forward: you select it from the menu and a pop up windows appears with a 'find what' field and a 'Replace with' field. You enter in those what you need to find and replace, respectively. And it does the job.

Not so on TextWrangler on the Mac: Sure, there's a replace option under the 'Search' menu. But that's it - no guideance or prompting as to what to do. No pop up prompt or anything.

I'm sure it works and perhaps I need to relearn for the ways of TextWrangler, but a Google Search and a look the TextWrangler manual gave me no clues. So I came here :) Please advise me, it would be appreciated. Thank you.

From Search menu select Find... it will show the Find & Replace box.

You can use also Command + F

Latest TextWrangler version is 4.5


"Play on" UPNP/DLNA device from OSX I have a TV and an AV-receiver which are DLNA-capable and which are attached to my home network together with a Windows 7 desktop and a MBP running OSX Lion. I can access audio from both computers using a DLNA-server software on either computer (built in DLNA-server on Windows, PS3Media Server on OSX). So far this setup works fine and i can browse through my audio on the receiver.

However the TV and the receiver also act as UPNP/DLNA media renderer. For example I can use my phone to display photos on the TV (e.g. using the Twonky app on Android). On Windows, I can use Windows Media Player to play audio on either device without having to touch any remote control. I select the track/playlist I want to listen to, right click select "Play on" (maybe not the exact wording as my Windows is German) and select one of the two devices (e.g. the AVR for audio). Now I'm looking for the same for OSX. Either an application/media player which can use a media renderer as output device or an app which redirects all audio output to such a device. Does anybody know such software?

Yes, you need to find UPnP Controller for Mac.

For example http://oss.linn.co.uk/trac/wiki/Kinsky is one of freeware. You can drag files to your UPnP device to play. Create playlist. Start streaming from UPnP server serources etc.

Hope this helps!


Folder with sign question (no issues in hardware) - help I got a macbook pro 13inchs (2011), Yosemite.
One week ago a folder with a sign question appeared in the first screen and that's where all my problems started.
I follow some links in order to reinstall the operating system but seemed like there wasn't disk on the macbook.
I did two things:

I bought a new disk and I installed it.
Then I performed a diagnostic test in order to check if there was a hardware problem: no problems.

However, I tried once more to reinstall the operating system but again seemed like there was no disk in the macbook.
I don't know what do from this point since the results from diagnostic test (exhaustive one) showed no hardware problem at all.
Pls, help me

The folder with a flashing ? is an indication that there is no operating system installed on your MacBook.  Depending on whether your MacBook is an early or late 2011, it may not be equipped to do internet recovery  by starting it with CMD-OPT-R.   If CMD-OPT-R does not begin internet recovery, then you need either a USB installer, a Snow Leopard DVD disk, or to take it to an Apple Store for them to install an operating system on your MacBook, which they'll usually do for free.


How do I move (not copy) a file/folder from my hard drive to a flash drive? I have a few movie files I want to move to a flash drive. I don't want the file copied. Once they are moved to the flash drive, I don't want the original to remain on my hard drive.

If I do a simple drag and drop in Finder from one drive to another, it copies the files.

When I right click on the movie files I do not get an option to simply move.

I'm trying to move from _temp to _M.

The menu I get when I right click looks like this:

Hold down the Command key while dragging from the source location to the destination location.

Doing this will perform a move and not a copy.

If you rather prefer to use keyboard shortcuts, simply copy file(s)/folder(s) normally using the keyboard shortcut Command + c and perform a move operation using the keyboard shortcut Command + Option + v at the destination location. Skipping Option will perform a copy-paste.

Here's a quick list of tips for managing files in macOS.


Is the keyboard on the 15" Mac Book Pro with Retina display different than others in size? I just got a new 15" Retina MacBook Pro (rMBP) for a friend and looking for a good keyboard guard/ cover. I know shopping questions are off topic, but I'm wondering if the sizing is something that differers between Mac models.

I have Moshi ClearGuard for my 2009 15" MBP. Would that work for the rMBP or do I need to look for something specific to Retina models?

No need to worry - at present, the only MacBook with a physically different keyboard size (in the US) than the rest is the 11 inch Air.

The small Air has a full sized "main keyboard" but the top row of function keys are slightly smaller than the top row of function keys on the rest of the lineup. I would presume that the same holds for international key layouts when they have different enter keys or additional physical keys, but don't know that fact for sure.

The cover you mentioned will fit the new retina MacBooks - both 13" and 15" - as long as the hardware is a US model.


Can I access a Thunderbolt drive with the AirPort Extreme? Is there a way to connect a Thunderbolt hard drive to an AirPort Extreme?

At the moment, the only storage ports on the Airport Extreme is a USB port. So, if your Thunderbolt drive has a USB connector as well, then you can use it, otherwise you will have to wait for Apple to make a Airport Extreme with a Thunderbolt connector.


Method for Combining Multiple Word Documents into One? Are there any methods for combining multiple Word documents into one big document in Mac?

Insert > File. You have to do it one at a time, but it appears to work.


iWeb 3.0.4 Save to Folder Problem I want to publish my website on a private server, but I can't seem to find an option to "save to folder" on my current version of iWeb.  What do I need to do to save my files to a folder so that I can upload them to a server?

You can select the "publishing" method on the top level of the web site you are editing:


How to recover photos from a stolen iPhone? My iPhone was stolen when it had no internet service. Is it possible to recover the photos taken that day?

Since the phone had no internet service, the pictures did not go to the Cloud. Is there any way to recover them?

If you didn't get the iPhone back and they stole it with no internet, then you cannot recover it.

If you had iCloud setup on your iPhone, then when the robber decides to connect it, the photos should get synced with the cloud, and require an activation lock so he shouldn't be able to use it.

If you manage to find phone with find my iPhone, contact the police and tell them where it is.


Is it possible to open a Private Browser window in Safari using Terminal.app? I'm trying to open a Private Browser window in Safari using Terminal. I could open Safari using open command and this way, open /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/MacOS/Safari but I couldn't open a Private Browser window.

Please suggest how to open a Private Browser window from the command line.

Note: This is only one possible method. It works by simulating the pressing of ShiftCmdN. You can also simulate the pressing of the menu item, but the script is longer.

Create a new file, and paste in these contents:

#!/usr/bin/osascript
tell application "Safari"
    activate
    delay 0.5
    tell application "System Events"
        keystroke "n" using {command down, shift down}
    end tell
end tell

Save it somewhere (here, I'll pretend it's called myscript).

In Terminal, find the file and make it executable:

chmod +x myscript

Simply run it to create a new private window in Safari

./myscript

If you want to be able to use this script regardless of your current working directory, create an alias OR move it to /usr/local/bin.

If you want an alias, use

alias myscript='/path/to/script/myscript

You can add this line to ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile to automatically load this alias when you start Terminal.


How do I troubleshoot personal hotspot mode failing to issue IP addresses? When I turn on the personal hotspot, I cannot get a DHCP network address on my computer. I've tried with 2 different computers and an Android phone. They can connect to the network router but not my iPhone, which won't give out an IP address.

It just says "the connection is limited" and I get a 169.* address on my computer.
Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::5c88:c538:f588:efe%4
Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.14.254
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

When I connect via USB cable, it does not work either:

After I reset network settings (Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings), I was able to briefly get an IP address, but I was not able to ping any servers, like Google's public DNS server. I received a phone call while the hot spot was turned on, and I believe that is what allowed me to get an IP address, but I'm not sure why. Subsequent disable/enable cycles failed to get an IP address.
$ ipconfig
Windows IP Configuration
Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::5c88:c538:f588:efe%4
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 172.20.10.2
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.240
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 172.20.10.1

$ ping 8.8.8.8
Pinging 8.8.8.8 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.

I even tried to connect via Bluetooth, but that didn't work either.
$ ipconfig
Windows IP Configuration
Ethernet adapter Bluetooth Network Connection:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::b09b:4eb7:6091:ac17%5
   Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.172.23
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

I have an unlocked iPhone 5 with latest iOS on MetroPCS.
Reference
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2756. I have not restored/reset the entire phone. Would rather not have to.

This one drove me nuts but I believe this will work for most of you:

Basically the APN settings for the Hotspot were missing.

If you can browse the internet on your phone and you can activate your Hotspot but you get the yellow exclamation mark on the computer's wifi or the 'Network cable unplugged" with USB tethering, try the following:

Open Settings -> Mobile Data -> Mobile Data Network
Check the APN/Username/Password settings under "Mobile Data" (most
of the time username and password - if used - are identical, if not search APN settings on your provider's homepage)
Enter the same settings under "Personal Hotspot" further down on the same settings page
Return to Settings Menu
Switch Mobile Hotspot off and on
Connect to your Hotspot -> Internet on your computer should be working now

The problem appeared for me while roaming/after changing sims, basically every time the network settings get reconfigured and the APN settings automatically change for the roaming network/new network.

Hope it works for you too!


Safely dispose of dead iPhone I have an iPhone 6 which is completely dead (black screen whatever I try). It had behaved erratically for some time; unfortunately it died before I could wipe it clean and restore it to factory settings, meaning there could still be a lot of sensitive data on it.

What's the recommended way of destroying any data that could be on it (or making it prohibitively expensive to recover it), so that I can dispose of the iPhone safely and in an environmentally friendly way?

If it appears at all when you connect it to a computer you may be able to restore it to factory settings and wipe all the data using iTunes.

If it was on a recent version of iOS once the phone is powered off if you have had a passcode set and it was a reasonably long alphanumeric one it would be unlikely that any one would have the time and resources to crack the passcode and recover any of the data unless you have drawn the attention of a nation state?  This tweet from respected cryptographer Matthew Green gives an idea of the time taken to crack a passcode depending on it's length.

I have heard stories of people putting iPhones in the microwave to render them unusable but can't recommend this from a safety perspective.

If it is still signed into your iCloud account and you have Find My iPhone enabled you could it to erase the phone on the off chance someone finds it and is able to get it working again.

Once you are happy it is wiped or data is unrecoverable take it to an Apple store and they will recycle it for you or even offer you a rebate on a new phone if you are buying one.  See here for more details.

If you are not at all concerned with it being recycled, which would be a shame, or there was anything on that sensitive you cannot risk the slightest chance of anyone finding the phone, take a drill/ hammer to it.


Find My Friends Settings We’re looking to make sure we know where our daughter is and so are using the Find My Friends app on iOS 11. We’ve set things up within restrictions however the app settings have changed. We’re guessing that this has been done through iCloud on her iMac.

Is there any way to stop the settings being changed again once we put them back?

You can change the restriction settings by following the instructions in the Apple knowledge base article, Find My Friends: Set restrictions. It will let you passcode protect the changes, along with other options.


Do LAN transfers use both Ethernet and WiFi by default? So, I'm doing a 100+GB transfer over my LAN from my iMac to my NAS, I was simply wondering if it would utilize both the ethernet and the wifi for the transfer. If not, is there a way to enable transfers to use both?

Do LAN transfers use both Ethernet and WiFi by default?

No.  The default action is to use the one with the highest priority.  This is usually done by the order of the interfaces that you specify in Network Preferences.  Following that, the next order of priority is network latency.

  If not, is there a way to enable transfers to use both?

What you are referring to is called link aggregation or bonding.  Your Mac is definitely capable of doing this, however, you must connect to a switch (usually a "smart switch") that also has this capability.  So, unless your switch has this ability, you can't do it.

Also, you can't bond WiFi and Ethernet; link aggregation is for bonding Ethernet links.


Enable GTK3 Theming on Wine Wine has an option for GTK theming if you use the wine-staging version.
I've installed GTK3 on macOS through:
brew install gtk+3

However, the option remains disabled. Is there a way this can be done on macOS?

As I’d said on Winehq, the only way to enable gtk themes required that wine-staging is built from source with this library available.
As you didn’t provide the version of macOS your running there’s little more information that can be provided, also from what was posted on Winehq you seem reluctant to compile wine from source making this impossible to achieve.


Can you format a Numbers cell by calling a function? I'd like to do something like:

IF(test_some_condition, BOLD(COLOR("Yes"), "#FF2222"), "No")

In other words, I'd like to display some text but format it differently based on some condition.  Possible?  Doesn't seem like it.

thanks,
Rob

In the formatting inspect ("Cells" pane) there is a section called "Conditional Format" in which you can change the text or background color based on the value in the cell.


Why did the 10.8.3 update disappear from the App Store after I restarted my new Mac? I’ve just bought a new Mac with 10.8.2 pre-installed. When I started it up for the first time, once I’d gone through the initial set-up, the App Store launched, and showed me an iPhoto update, and some system updates including Mac OS X 10.8.3.

I quit the App Store, set up another account on the Mac to be my admin account, and edited my main account so that it wasn’t an admin any more. I restarted the Mac, logged in with my main (i.e. non-admin) account, and opened up the App Store again to install the updates.

The iPhoto update showed up, but the systems updates didn’t.

I installed the iPhoto update successfully. I then changed my main account back to being an admin account, thinking that maybe somehow that affected updates. I restarted the Mac, logged in using my main account (now an admin account again), and re-launched the App Store. Still no 10.8.3 or system updates listed.

Any idea what’s going on? On my old Mac, running 10.7, my main account was non-admin, and I didn’t have any problems installing OS X updates.

I had exactly the same issue: Brand new out of the box MacBook Pro 13" 10.8.2 preinstalled. Went through exactly the same process outlined by the OP.

Resolved by:

Closing the App Store
Restarting App Store
I then went to Store > Check For Unfinished Downloads

The 10.8.3 update then reappeared and I was able to redownload and install.

Hope this helps


Split video in iMovie 10.1.1 I have a 45-minute long video; I've split it into about 20 segments (things separated by a black vertical bar in the timeline, produced using the ⌘ Command B  "Split clip" operation).

I'd now like to export each of these, but when I select one and go to "Share...", iMovie seems to want to export the whole 45 minute video.

Can someone suggest a way to export just one of these 2-minute clips/segments/whatever-they're-called?

I ask in advance: please explain in the most pedestrian terms -- I've used iMovie for about 45 minutes so far, and a moment ago I had to look up "where is the 'Project Window' in iMovie." That shoudl give you some idea of the depths of my ignorance.

(I did a pretty extensive web search on this, with no luck, partly because this has been asked lots of times, and there are answers for many versions of iMovie, which all seem to have inconsistent naming conventions, like version 9.something being called "iMovie 11", etc.  I'm sure the answer's out there somewhere, but my search-fu was not strong enough...)

iMovie is a little weird about exporting individual video clips. Here's a great workaround:

Select a clip you want to export, then copy it with Command-C.
Open another window of iMovie, and in that new window, create a new project. Paste this clip into that new project.
Then export that new project with Command-E.

Now you've got that clip alone!


Where should I place shared folders on an OS X Server? What is the appropriate/reccomended location in the drive hierarchy to place the folders shared by the users accessing the server (as fileserver) ?

Is it in /Groups /Users/Shared or ~/Documents/ ?

Or should I create a separate folder in /Users for each group ?

Is there a document/webpage that supplies instructions about that ?

Generally, the shared folders for a group should go in /Groups/groupname/.
/Users/Shared/ is more designed for local users to share, though there's nothing stopping you from using this too other than it is non-standard.


Is there an AirDrop client for Microsoft Windows? It would be nice to have an AirDrop client for Microsoft Windows. Does anyone know if such a program exists as a shipping product or an open source work-in-progress?

I'm aware that there are many other file sync options, but I'm looking for something that works with Apple's implementation from the Windows OS.

No, I don't believe you can. Apple advertise AirDrop as: "AirDrop, a remarkably simple way to copy files wirelessly from one Mac to another with no setup;"
.
Key part of that sentence being "from one Mac to another" - Second bullet point: http://www.apple.com/uk/pr/library/2011/02/24Apple-Releases-Developer-Preview-of-Mac-OS-X-Lion.html. It's highly unlikely Apple would open this feature up to Windows or Linux because it's a selling point for them in new Macs running Lion.


How to create a Mac OS X Yosemite dmg bootable Installer Version? I have a Mac OS X Yosemite downloaded file like this:

Like I see, it must have a Yosemite.app file in it, so why doesn't this have the file? This is truly from an Official Apple Website. It just has a .pkg file. Can anybody explain this to me? And, How to create a complete bootable Yosemite 10.10.5 DMG disk image for clean OS install?

It's inside the .pkg file (notice how large it is?). You'll need to unpack it using something like AnyToISO.


How to remove AddressBook book-like interface or enable debug menu? I wish to get rid of the Lion 10.7.5 AddressBook book-like interface a.k.a. leather appearance a.k.a. skeuomorphic design.

Usually this kind of setting can be change from the debug menu.

However $ defaults write com.apple.AddressBook ABShowDebugMenu -bool true does not enable the debug menu in AddressBook.

How to enable this debug menu or make addresbook look like 10.6 Addressbook?

This osxdaily.com post let me to LionTweaks utility to do the job. It seems that LionTweaks launches installers that are originally from macnix.blogspot.nl.

LionTweaks version 2.0.2 on 10.7.5 give me back the old aluminium/grey/10.6 look for iCal although the top text has a yellow/brownish shade.

Address book becomes grey but still feels like the 10.7 address*book*.


Invisible App Store updates Nearly every time I see updates available on my iPhone (4,  iOS 5.1) whilst browsing the app store, the list of updates is empty even when the badge says there are some.

Selecting update all will successfully do the updates, but I have no idea what was updated without hunting them down as they download.

Is this a common issue? Is there a known fix or workaround?

In the first screenshot is the "loading screen" for want of a better description.  It consists of the the central information nugget, and the spinner in the top bar.  When this completes, the available updates should then show.

However, more often than not, I get the following:

Curious variation in background shading also I just noticed, but the darker screenshot is older, and might be from iOS 5.0.1

It shouldn't display a blank screen.  It should either display "Loading..." or "All apps are up to date." or a list of apps that have an update available.

I've only seen this happen when I had a good internet connection when I opened the app store and started "Loading..." but lost the connection before it was done loading. I don't recall if it happens when switching from wifi to cellular or back during the loading stage, but I suspect it might.

I have hundreds of apps on my 3GS, though, and it can take quite awhile to go from "Loading..." to a list, or to the "up to date" notice.

It can also happen if you experience a temporary internet glitch during loading, such as if you are close to a microwave, using an 802.11b/g network, while the microwave is running.

It shouldn't happen when you know you've got a good internet connection and the connection state doesn't change during loading.  I suppose it could happen on a particularly busy network if significant numbers of packets are being dropped.

If it happens consistently, I'd try rebooting, then a system refresh, then taking it to apple in that order.

The app store is one thing that doesn't seem particularly robust in the face of network disruptions, so that's what I'd suspect first.  If you're experiencing frequent network disruptions in other apps as well, you might have an iOS or hardware problem, and it might be worth a visit the apple store anyway.


iCloud container taking excessive disk space I have almost no disk space left on my MacBook Air.

Having run Disk Inventory X, one of the main hogs is the files under Users/MyName/Library/Containers/com.apple.cloudphotosd/Data/Library/Application Support/com.apple.cloudphotosd/services/com.apple.photo.icloud.sharedstreams/assets (assets contains several folders with gobbledygook names).

**The content here seems to be my iCloud Photo Sharing shared photos (ie. "Shared" in Photos), which is about 21.9Gb large.

I don't understand why this is the case, since my "Photos" folder (ie. library) is only 12.94Gb large (local storage is optimised, real library more like 52Gb).**

My MacBook Air early 2015 has the 120Gb storage and runs OS X 10.11.6

So, what is this folder mentioned above, why is it so large, and can I delete any of it without losing my Shared photos or the photos streams which I have been added to?

The iCloud files come down from the cloud, so you can't really delete a local copy as it will start downloading again. Instead, let's review the settings that control what data comes down.

Ideally, you can turn off iCloud on the Air and let the OS delete all the content so you have space to work. (Bad things break in odd ways when the boot drive fills).

Open iCloud preferences and under photos turn off either/or/both:

iCloud Photo library
iCloud photo sharing

The first will be your pictures existing only on other devices and Apple servers. The second is all of the shared photos that other people have shared with you and you have shared with other people.  I even know of some people who use iCloud photo sharing to share photos only with themselves because these photos don't count against the free 5 Gb storage limit.

You are correct that the folder you found is for shared photos. If you can't free up other space on the Mac - you can opt out of some sharing of images / movies that are large. I also find the optimize photo size option handy on mobile devices when I don't need the full resolution of photos in my local copy of the Photos library:


How do I access CGI-Scripts Not Stored Under WWW-Root? How do I access cgi scripts from the browser if the CGI-Executables directory is above the www-root folder? I don't want to use something
like ../.  I tried browsing to localhost/cgi-bin/ but it gave an error. It said permission denied.

How do I configure these settings? Also can /~user-name directory aliases run cgi-scripts?

If you have a look at the main Apache2 config file, /etc/apache2/httpd.conf you will see that there are two things that have to be done to allow /Library/WebServer/CGI-Executables contain the cgi files.

First, since it isn't covered by the permissions for the document directory next to it, it will need a "Directory" block to define the permissions for all the files and directories under it. In the case of this directory it allows absolutely nothing to happen. This is why when you pointed your browser at the directory it said permissions denied. Don't worry, the second thing allows cgi files in the directory to be run.

Second, it needs a "ScriptAlias" command that tells the server what URL will be used to point to it so that the server finds the files and allows them to be run.

ScriptAliasMatch ^/cgi-bin/((?!(?i:webobjects)).*$) \
"/Library/WebServer/CGI-Executables/$1"

This basically says "after you remove the hostname then any URL that starts "/cgi-bin/" and continues with a piece of text followed by a period followed by another piece of text points to a file with a name matching the last bit in the directory ""/Library/WebServer/CGI-Executables/$1"

If you want to place CGI files in one of your user directories then you will need to make some changes to a different config file. You will find the config file for user shares in /etc/apache2/users with a config file for each user. Here is an example:

<Directory "/Users/jessica/Sites/">
    Options Indexes MultiViews
    AllowOverride None
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
</Directory>

To this you will have to add either "ExecCGI" to the "Options" line so that you can have CGI files anywhere in your Sites directory or under or add a new Directory block for your CGI folder. It would look like this :-

<Directory "/Users/jessica/Sites/CGI">
    Options ExecCGI
    AllowOverride None
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
</Directory>

Since this is under our DocumentRoot we don't need to use the ScriptAliasMatch.

(The second option is the more secure.)


iOS - version history Is there an official version history for iOS?

The best similar thing I have found is on Wikipedia: iOS Version History

Is there something similar, that is official? I would like to know what could changed for iPhone, when upgrading from iOS 9.0 to iOS 9.2.

I found an official Apple support page detailing the changes in each update from iOS 9.0 to 9.0.2.

If Apple treats this page the same way they've treated past iOS changelog pages, that link will contain every update from iOS 9.0 to whatever the final update before 9.1 is. What I found for iOS 8 was a different webpage for every 8.x update.


List of GNU packages for homebrew My team is working with Mountain Lion MacBook Pros, and we're using the GNU CLI tools, like wget and watch, intensively.

Whenever a new team member joins us, we tell the new hire to install homebrew and get the whichever CLI tool required by brew install.

We would like to automate the process, and prepare a list of GNU CLI tools which will be installed on every new machine.

Is there any list of classic GNU/Linux CLI tools available in homebrew?

find, tar, awk, and sed are not included in coreutils:

brew install coreutils findutils gnu-tar gawk gnu-sed

You can use brew search gnu to search for other formulas where the name contains gnu.

Formulas for other commands that are not installed by default:

brew install ack aspell dos2unix exiftool ffmpeg ghostscript iftop imagemagick lame multimarkdown netcat pandoc parallel pidof poppler pstree recode rename sox ssh-copy-id tmux tree watch wget xmlstarlet

I tried running compgen -c on Ubuntu and OS X VMs and running this:

comm -23 <(sort ubuntu) <(sort osx) | parallel -P10 brew info {} \> /dev/null 2\>\&1 \&\& echo {} | sort -u | tr '\n' ' '

There were surprisingly few formulas, but the formula names don't always match command names:

_lzma apg arping aspell dash dnsmasq dpkg duplicity enchant fribidi gcc gettext ghostscript gpg gs lesspipe logrotate lzma lzmainfo mawk mtools mtr netcat ntfs-3g pdftohtml pidof pkg-config pstree rename ssh-copy-id unlzma usbmuxd watch wget xz


How do I clone my old mac to a new one? I have a MacBook Pro running Lion 10.7.5.  I just got a new mac running Yosemite. I have everything from the old mac backed-up on Time Machine. How do I transfer all my files, apps, email, photos in iPhoto, music, etc., to the new mac? I want to get everything I have on my old mac, plus anything new on the new mac, such as new apps.

Will the old Lion OS get installed on the new mac when I use the migration tool? I do not want that!

If you haven't set up the new machine yet, you can do this by connecting your Time Machine drive before booting. (If the backup is on a Time Capsule, it will search for backups on it.) During the setup of the new machine, you'll be presented with the option of migrating your setup from the Time Machine backup.

If you've already configured the new Mac, use the Migration Assistant (Applications->Utilities) to do the same; or reboot into Recovery Mode to restore from the Time Machine backup. I'd actually do a full system reinstall and migration from the Time Machine backup in Recovery Mode to prevent any issues.


Problems with installing Xcode on Mac 10.10.5 ( Locations - setting) I have followed the steps for the installation from www.instalrails.com .
After installing Xcode they say to check the Preferences -> Location
and have ensure you have the command line tools - Xcode 5.0.2 ( 5A3005 )
http://installrails.com/steps/install_xcode

But in my command line tools Xcode 7.1.1 (7B1005) appears and I cannot modify it.

I left it as it is and then tried to write this simple command in Terminal and it does not work :

$ jot - 1 25

It says command not found.

Can you please give some directions.

The linked picture in the install guide

is simply wrong. After installing the latest Xcode 7.1.1 the command line tools version is indeed Xcode 7.1.1 (7B1005).

jot is an executable (it prints sequential or random data) residing in /usr/bin. The purpose of executing jot - 1 25 is to ensure that the $PATH variable is set properly in your environment. If it can't be executed your $PATH variable probably doesn't include /usr/bin.

To get your current $PATH variable enter echo $PATH. The default $PATH in Yosemite looks like this:

/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

To restore the proper $PATH variable use one of the various answers here at apple.stackexchange.com.


How to force quit Applescript app from terminal? I wrote an applescript that turns on my lights. I exported it as an application with the name "LightsOn", and it appears with that name in activity monitor.

Under certain circumstances, this app gets stuck. I can force quit it from Activity Monitor, but I want to be able to do so from a script. killall LightsOn doesn't work; I'm told that no matching processes belonging to you were found.

How can properly force quit this app from the terminal? Or, how can I discover the appropriate name for killall?

Try this:

ps auxwww | fgrep -v fgrep | fgrep -i LightsOn

That should show you the matching process information.

You can also try pkill which should work like this:

pgrep -fl LightsOn

If that shows you the PID, then you can move on to pkill:

pkill -9 -f LightsOn

When you run pkill -9, you're not telling the application to terminate itself, instead you're telling the OS to stop running the program, no matter what the program is doing.

When app gets stuck sending the kill without specifying the signal #, it will automatically assign to it the signal <15>, which means asking the app to terminate it self, it can not do that while stuck.


Macbook Pro keyboard and mousepad hang after waking up while connected to VPN I have a 2018 15" MacBook Pro running OS X Catalina 10.15.5 (19F101). When I am connected to the company VPN (via the built-in client, no third party VPNs), and my computer goes to sleep, it often freezes for a few minutes when waking up.
When this happens, upon tapping a key or the track pad the screen wakes up, but the mouse cursor is frozen, and the keyboard does not seem to register any input. The touch bar still works (I can adjust volume, brightness, etc), and if I press Esc then the screen immediately turns off, as though it realized "oh snap, I'm actually still asleep". If I wait 3-5 minutes, it will eventually shake itself out of this stupor and wake up properly.
It also only seems to happen if it goes to sleep for at least a few minutes (so, only on actual sleep, not just display blanking).
edit: remove previous edit

I also have the 15” 2018 MacBook Pro running Catalina 10.15.5 and am running into the same issue.
This started a month or two ago but has gotten worse, today especially.
The keyboard and mousepad freeze after a certain amount of time after closing the lid; when I reopen it’s unresponsive. It used to work after I woke up the Touch Bar, however that’s no longer waking the keyboard and pad. I’ve just reset the SMC so will update if this manages to fix the issue.


What purpose does this broken plastic clip serve in the MacBook Pro? Yesterday I opened my mid 2010 15" i7 MBP (model 6,2) in order to replace its HDD. Everything went perfectly fine. Except that I noticed a broken little piece of plastic a little above the battery, which is fixed by two screws, which I have no idea on what purpose it had.

In the end, I just wanted to know what is that piece's purpose, if I should be worried that it is slightly broken, if I can replace it somehow.

That clip holds the bottom piece snug in the middle. I would remove the broken plastic to avoid bending the metal tab that matches this on the bottom case. Also, you don't want it pushing on the connectors that are delicate and behind the metal cage above it. Lastly, if the piece breaks free it could wedge in the wrong spot (like a blower or worse) and cause more harm than it should.

You can see about a repair part from Apple by contacting AppleCare and this sort of thing is often sold used when a machine is liquid damaged or otherwise scrapped for parts. Many places sell used parts like ebay, amazon and ifixit.


Unset iTerm as the https:// handler I made iTerm the default handler for a number of protocols that it doesn't know how to handle. How can I unset these protocols? And how can I set them to be handled by Chrome?

So far I have tried removing the value from these protocols in this file:

  open ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.plist

But this hasn't worked. iTerm is still handling these protocols.

Download and install RCDefault and change all URLs associated to iTerm2 to their proper apps, especially https.

To unset iTerm2 handling particular URLs open the Apps tab, navigate to iTerm2 and untick those URLs.


Macbook keeps rebooting on installation USB after trying to reinstall - EFI partition empty I've got a 12-inch MacBook I would like to reinstall. Before doing so I've cleared the storage drive, reset the SMC and NVRAM. I've got a macOS High Sierra USB ready from which it successfully boots.

The issue is that after booting from the USB, partitioning the internal drive and going through the "Install macOS High Sierra", it reboots the machine (presumably to continue the installation) - the problem is the machine just starts from the same USB drive and brings me back to "macOS Utilities".

I've tried this multiple times already and no luck. Restarted the machine, cleared NVRAM once again, etc.

The main storage drive is not in "Startup disks" after it restarts, which I'm not sure if it's the expected behaviour. If I shut down the machine and unplug the USB, it gives me the "question mark folder icon" which implies there's nothing bootable on the storage drive, as if the installer was failing at correctly putting the initial files in there.

Looking into the EFI partition of the internal drive I can see there is absolutely nothing, which would explain what's happening - why doesn't the installer put anything in there though?

Here I assume your internal drive is a single HDD or SSD. In other words, I assume you do not have a Fusion drive.

While booted to the USB installer, open a Terminal application window.

Enter the following commands to reinitialize your internal drive. Substitute the desired name for your installation volume for the name "Tommy".

diskutil  unmountdisk  disk0
gpt  destroy  /dev/disk0
gpt  create  /dev/disk0
diskutil  partitiondisk  disk0  apfs  "Tommy"  R

Exit the Terminal application and try installing macOS.


Writing a backtick (`) followed by enter produces another backtick in Sierra I've noticed that since I switched to Sierra (currently on 10.12.1) whenever I write a backtick followed by enter (or shift+enter), in many programs I get another backtick. This didn't happen in El Capitan.

I first noticed this in the Slack native app, where I could enter a code block by surrounding some lines with triple backticks, like

```
some code

```

But apparently the same happens in e.g. Chrome. As I wrote the example above, typing three backticks and pressing enter gave me four backticks instead of jumping to the next line. But if I do the same thing in Safari, it works like it used to in El Capitan.

I believe the Slack app was done using MacGap, i.e. it uses OSX's WebView, so the issue might have something to do with that as well. Then again, MacGap takes advantage of WebKit and thus I guess the problem should also occur in Safari (and perhaps not Chrome), if it trails back to WebKit.

I use a Scandinavian keyboard with the input source defined as Finnish. It seems to also contribute to the problem, as I can't reproduce it if I switch to US input source.

Does anyone know of a way to fix this – other than switching to a US input source?

A colleague of mine contacted Slack about this and their response was:

  We are aware of a related bug within Chrome and, as our newest app is closely linked with Chrome, it is unfortunately also affecting us in Slack. In this case, it's not something we can directly fix ourselves, but we've escalated it to the relevant parties.

So I guess this is not really directly linked to Sierra as is. But I'll leave the question here in case someone runs into the same problem.

And if you know a fix or a nice workaround, I'll be happy to hear it.

(So far the best I know of is pressing space after entering the backticks which isn't that bad. It still adds a key press to my usual flow but life just isn't always perfect. :) )


Adding Google Account in iOS 10 I have upgraded my iPhone to iOS 10. I am not able to add my Google account to sync my Contacts, Mail etc.

How do I do that?

To add Google Account, go to Settings app → Mail → Accounts → Add Account → Google and login with your Google account credentials.

After logging in successfully, you should be able to configure mail and contact sync.


System-wide finder view preferences I know that .DS_Store files are created in every directory I enter with the finder in Mac OS X, and that keeps track of the folder's metadata (including how is it being displayed). I also know that this command:

sudo find /Users/[USERNAME]/ -name ".DS_Store" -depth -exec rm -f {} \;

... will recursively delete all .DS_Store files insite the /Users/[USERNAME]/ folder.

Also, I know that when pressing CMD+J inside a finder window, selecting the configuration I want (40x40 icons, small-medium grid space, arrange by kind, text size 10px, show item info, show icon preview, background white) and selecting "use as defaults" will.. well, make it the default, and holding OPT will restore it to THAT default.

The thing is that, when I create a new folder, it doesn't take those parameters. And the folders that HAD .DS_Store files deleted keep that previous configuration, not the "default" one.

What can I do to set a system-wide, consistent finder look?

I'm on Mac OS X 10.6.6.

There is a simpler way.

In the Terminal, navigate to your $HOME directory: cd ~
Remove all the .DS_Store files:

find ~ -name ".DS_Store" -depth -exec rm -f {} \;

Relaunch finder going to: Force Quit → Finder

Set your global preferences using ⌘J and press the Use as default button.
Now, every folder you open or create will have the new settings.


How to disable trackpad tap completely? Force only actual clicks I have OS Sierra 10.12.5 on a MBP late 2016 - it's got the big beautiful trackpad.  I love the trackpad, but I hate how it always clicks when I don't want it to.

I want a trackpad that only clicks when I actually click, not tap.

I have disabled all the extra tapping crap in prefs, including the haptic nonsense and extra clicking whatnot.  All boxes are unchecked, and yet if I tap something, it still thinks it's a click.

With the latest software update 10.12.6, the option to disable "tap to touch" works now.  It's in the trackpad options.  Before the update this did not work.
Funny story - after the updating the OS (months ago?) it was still forcing the tapping.  When I went into the trackpad options the box was unchecked, which didn't make sense.  For fun I clicked and unclicked the box, and now it's fixed.  Yay.


Is this noise my trackpad making normal? I just purchased the Pixen app because it seems to be a popular one for making pixel art. However a wierd noise is coming from the computer now, one that I haven't heard before, and I've had this Macbook pro (the new model) for about a month.

I'm not sure whether it's a bug or not, since it's only coming from one specific action.

Specifically, it's when I use the "pattern paintbrush". I think a video will be more illustrative. Here's a link to watch the video on Google drive. It's about 20 seconds:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M6cUk8zj2xODtSVXCDD79lulibKwcFBE/view

I'm just wondering if I should stop running this program because something funky is happening, or if I shouldn't worry about it. My computer works fine other than except for the "b" key often enters doubles but I doubbt that's related. I've never heard a sound like this bbefore and I didn't know the computer could make it.

Well, I figured it out, it's part of the "haptic feedback" which is configurable in System Preferences => Trackpad:


How to temporary block any internet communications of iPhone? Is it possible to press some button and temporary turn iPhone into normal phone, i.e. make it transmit nothing over data channel?

I have such button on Android -- to disable "mobile data". Can I do the same on iOS?

You can turn off all data transfer over the mobile network by disabling Settings->Cellular->Cellular Data. It still does WiFi then, which you can disable with Settings->Wi-Fi.

Alternatively, you can disable all communications by activating Airplane mode.


How to restore or rebuy deleted iTunes audiobook purchase? I lost my copy of a downloaded audio book from iTunes. I also accidentally deleted my computer copy.

I am willing to rebuy the audiobook but iTunes will not let me rebuy the audiobook. It just tells me I have already bought it.

Is there any solution to this issue?

You can speak to Apple support. Tell them what happened and they will sometimes allow you to redownload your audiobooks.


Set Image Capture to launch when I connect my mobile In the past, when I connected my mobile, Image Capture launched. I have an Android device.

At some point, I disabled this feature and now I need to set it back.

Unfortunately, I am not able to find how to do it.

I am on El Capitan 10.11.5

I have checked Photos but couldn't see any settings to change the default app.

So, what happens now is that I connect the device, I launch ImageCapture and it doesn't recognise the mobile.

Does anyone know how to fix this?

Per this answer, the setting is in Image Capture itself. Note, however, that the option won't show up in the bottom left corner until you actually connect your phone.