tcsh filename globbing broken? '[3-4]' expands as if I had asked for '[0-4]'. This occurs with letters as well:
ls
file_0  file_1  file_2  file_3  file_a  file_b  file_c

ls file_[2-3]
file_0  file_1  file_2  file_3

ls file_[b-c]
file_0  file_1  file_2  file_3  file_a  file_b  file_c

Enumerations work as expected:
ls file_[2bc]
file_2 file_b   file_c

Is this a known bug or have I suddenly been teleported to an alternate universe?  Do you see this on your system (csh or tcsh)?  Is it fixed in tcsh 6.22 ?  Thanks!
tcsh --version
tcsh 6.21.00 (Astron) 2019-05-08 (x86_64-apple-darwin) options wide,nls,dl,bye,al,kan,sm,rh,color,filec

macOS 10.14.4

Same happens on Big Sur. But the standard tcsh in macOS hasn't changed for years, you can install tcsh 6.22.03 (Astron) 2020-11-18 via Homebrew.
% ls
foo_1   foo_2   foo_3   x
% echo foo_[1-4]
foo_1 foo_2 foo_3
% echo foo_[2-4]
foo_2 foo_3
% tcsh --version
tcsh 6.22.03 (Astron) 2020-11-18 (unknown-apple-darwin) options wide,nls,dl,al,kan,sm,rh,color,filec


Rename pictures in iPhoto What's the best way for renaming all the pictures of an event or an album in iPhoto?

I found the solution, it was easy:

Select all the pictures
Menu Photos -> Batch Change...


What does the undocumented switch, `-v`, do for `tmutil restore` command? I couldn't find anywhere what the -v switch does with the tmutil restore command.
An answer would be greatly appreciated.

The tmutil commands restore verb syntax is:

restore [-v] src ... dst

The use of the -voption produces verbose output during the restore, i.e. additional information about the restore that's not outputted without it.

As a side note, tmutil -v will output the version of tmutil.


Get Current Path to Script within AppleScript and Append Subdirectory I have an AppleScript that I would like to be able to use from anywhere in the file system.  Currently, it has some paths which are hardcoded, so it runs only from the Downloads folder.  How should I go about getting the current path to the AppleScript and then appending a subdirectory to that path once obtained?

Setting the current path to the script as a variable would be preferable (perhaps current_path).

You can get the path of the current script with path to me.
Extracting the path to the directory containing the script is slightly tricky:

tell application "Finder"
    set current_path to container of (path to me) as alias
end tell


How can I trigger multiple notifications at the same time from terminal Running osascript -e 'display notification "Message 1" with title "Title"' then osascript -e 'display notification "Message 2" with title "Title"' in terminal shows the first notification then it instantly gets replaced by the second one.

Is there any way to show them both at the same time?

You have to go to System Preferences > Notifications > Script Editor and change the alert style to Alerts:


iCloud Drive for Windows. When? iCloud Drive is a file hosting service for devices running iOS 8, OS X Yosemite, or Windows 7 or later.

When will we be able to start using iCloud Drive in WIndows PCs? I can't seem t find that info anywhere.

A guess would be Sept 17, date of iOS 8 release; though that is just a guess.
It may be with Yosemite, for which no date has yet been announced, afaik.

"When it's ready!" might be a better answer ;-)


Numbers Between Formula IF(AND(B13≤74,B13≥75,B13>90),"0","3, 5")

I'm trying to generate an if statement that outputs either 0 if under 74 or under 3 between 75 - 89 and 5 if over 90. I have been trying the above however I'm getting both 3 and 5 displayed. Could someone help me find the fix?


Sort selected columns by row In Numbers, how is it possible to sort selected columns by a row?
In the following example I want to sort the columns B, C and D by using the values in row 1.

So far, I have only found the reverse action (which does what it is supposed to) "sort selected rows by column".

Transpose the sheet (Table->Transpose rows and columns), sort, and then transpose back. However you may lose some of the formatting, like column widths and row heights.


How can I use my US-iPhone in South Korea? I have an iPhone 4S and I will be going to South Korea for a year for my 1st duty station in the army. What should I do? Can I get it unlocked or should I just by a phone over there? I need contact with my family.

Before buying a CDMA SIM in Korea, check that your iPhone 4s is

a CDMA phone, and
unlocked

Calling stateside from South Korea using a Korea-issued SIM card may be expensive. You should consider getting iOS apps (e.g. Skype, WhatsApp) that relies on WiFi or data plan to communicate.


Add a user that only has access to computer via ssh I'd like to have a user on my local computer to only have access via ssh.  I don't want (don't need) this user to have the ability to login in to the laptop as a standard user.
The only purpose for this user is for some web development testing.
I've already added a user and given Remote login rights to the user ~~but now I'd like to revoke local login rights~~.  I'm trying to remove this user from the initial login screen when I boot up but still allow them to ssh in.

Basically, I want to remove this "other" user from the macOS Login Window as a choice of users to log in as but still allow them to log in via SSH.  I want to remove them from this screen  so all that is left is my "standard" user.

From what I can find, this does not seem possible but I thought there might be a trick to hide the user from the login window.
Is something like this possible and if so, how would I go about doing it?  I've found ho to manage a number of remote login parameters (ssh key setup, default directory, etc) but can't seem to find out how to disable local login.

There is a very similar question here: How can I create a user that can login through SSH but not on the local desktop in MacOS X El Capitan? but it is for an older version of the OS.  They try to use a "Sharing only" user with no luck.

It’s not clear what you gain by preventing log in, but I’ll assume you’ve for a good reason to complicate things.
Removing “other” from the graphical login screen is easy to do and easy to reverse on Catalina and below. Same with ssh, it’s easy to change the log in method and show the username/password or put back “other“.
If you can’t prevent a person with those credentials from sitting in front of the Mac, the first thing that comes to mind is you make a log in item that is a script that logs them out. It will be difficult for them to fix that if you deny them any other credentials to that Mac.
To ssh, you need a home folder and the system to have credentials to validate the password and assign UID/GID etc..
You can set up LDAP or use a network server and have remote accounts, but the design isn’t likely to work for your case or make sense logistically.

https://support.apple.com/guide/server/intro-to-accounts-apdcb06a828/mac

The matrix covers the differences between where a home folder is stored and how local versus network server vs external account validation happens.
The other easy way to have ssh log in without any chance of GUI log in or compromising security is a container. Fire up Docker for Mac and your ssh container is well isolated from the local user accounts.


Clean removal of Acrobat Reader After uninstalling of Acrobat Reader from OS X 10.8.2 Safari doesn't display pdf's. I suppose that Acrobat uninstaller didn't remove plugin from Safari.

My question is how to cleanly remove Acrobat Reader?

Remove this file to disable using Adobe Reader for PDFs in Safari:

/Library/Internet Plug-ins/AdobePDFViewer.plugin

http://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/troubleshoot-safari-plug-acrobat-x.html

If you used Adobe's uninstaller, then you would think it would have deleted that for you anyway.


How can I get a high-quality screen capture on a mac? ⌘ + Shift + 3

The screen capture shortcut on the Mac is one of the most useful tools I know. It grabs the screen and neatly places a .png file onto your desktop.

But is this the highest quality screen capture you can get? Is it possible to get a higher resolution screen capture? Are there any ways to tinker with the settings of this command?

The PNG is losslessly compressed; there's isn't a possible better-quality screenshot.


macbook air mail: how to configure HELO sent to smtp server? Hello I am trying to set up a mail account on a new macbook air (Lion 10.7.5 Build 11G63B). I have gone through all the steps but it will not connect to the smtp server. I am using straight SMTP (not SSL) with a username and password that I have verified are correct.

The connection doctor shows that the connection is being rejected due to the HELO that is sent to it:

HELO mymac.mydomain\.co\.uk
501 HELO requires valid address

I have reproduced the above error with a telnet to the SMTP server. With mymac.mydomain\.co\.uk I get the above error. With mymac.mydomain.co.uk it authenticates correctly.

How do I stop the macbook sending a garlbed HELO ?

Further detail on the SMTP setup. I have set the following:

Description
Server Name = the fqdn of the smtp server (definately correct)
Use custom Port 25 (only while trying to get it to work - I expect the 'use default ports' option would be ok)
Use SSL is unchecked (don't use SSL)
Username set to known correct username
Password set to known correct password

There are no other settings available. The smtp bit of this site: http://www.plus.net/support/email/setup/mail-107-smtp.shtml reflects what I was doing.

(I apologize in advance for the wishy-washiness of this answer, but while I hope I'm on the right track, I do have some gaps in my knowledge.)

The SMTP HELO message, while something of a relic, is supposed to allow the client to identify itself to a server.  It is still required for the protocol and is generally expected to at least be a syntactically valid hostname (which yours is not.)  Your SMTP server appears to be complaining because it is indeed invalid.

Mail uses the name of your Mac, or the hostname assigned by the DHCP server on your network.  DHCP servers don't always assign a hostname.  OS X prefers a DHCP assigned hostname over using the computer's name as the hostname.

Based on this, the first place I'd look is my network configuration.  I wonder, if you opened a terminal and typed hostname -f, what would you get?  Possibly

$ hostname -f
mymac.mydomain\.co\.uk

If you do get this, the next step is to identify where it's coming from.  A likely source could be a misconfigured DHCP server.  You can try

$ sudo hostname mymac.mydomain.co.uk

to temporarily change the hostname for testing, or

$ sudo scutil --set HostName mymac.mydomain.co.uk

to set it permanently.


Screen sharing without allowing others to access my account? I sometimes work from home (MacbookPro-10.6.8) and would like to screen share with my iMac(10.9) at work. The screen-sharing is easy enough, but I share an office with several other people. To put it nicely, my coworkers haven't grown up yet... When I work remotely they are able to see what I am doing, then go to my desk, take control of my mouse/keyboard, make changes to my code "as a prank", etc. It's quite frustrating to say the least. Is there anyway to screen share without allowing someone else to have direct access to my work?

(Someone mentioned to me that there's a way of having a dummy user's account show up on the iMac while I'm working on my own account, but they weren't sure how to do this-and I can't seem to find anything about it. Any ideas?) Thanks!

Yes - the Apple Remote Desktop app allows you to curtain the controlled computer to lock out anyone that's physically at the computer while you work remotely.

You could also set your work Mac to boot to a harmless account that auto logs in and is not an administrator. When you use OS X screen sharing (as opposed to Remote Desktop) it will ask you if you want to share screen with the "dummy" user and you can decline and start your own session that isn't visible locally.

Try the second unless you want to invest in the Remote Desktop tool or can't add a second user due to work constraints.


Google authenticator blank after backup restore My iPhone 7 had issues and I had done encrypted backups using iTunes. Apple gave me new iPhone as replacement. When I restored from iTunes backup, my Google Authenticator is blank.

I have lot of sites configured and I am not sure what to do now. Any help? I did download the backup codes from Google and it gave 10 codes. How do I used the codes for other sites like coinbase, Amazon, etc.?

You can't restore the Google authenticator, you must reinstall it.

If Google Authenticator is anything like Microsoft's authenticator, it is tied to the device, not just the account.  This is how Google knows it's actually you because you are using a device that you have in your posssession (it wouldn't be secure if you could use it on any device anywhere).

When you restored, you restored the Authenticator tied to your old device and since the devices are technically different, nothing comes up.  This is expected behavior as the app intentionally doesn’t include data in an encrypted backup to allow your tokens to transfer with the rest of the device backup like Apple keychains and health data and other iOS saved passwords and settings.


Can the 2013 13" Macbook Air drive an external 4k monitor? Dell has announced that they're going to release a 4k monitor under $1000 in the beginning of 2014, and also has a 24" 4k monitor around $1300. The product page for the 24" one mentions:

  Optimal resolution:
  3840 x 21601 at 60 Hz (DP1.2*)
  3840 x 21601 at 30 Hz HDMI

The superscript 1 displays this warning:

  Important Details
  In order to display the 3840 x 2160 native resolution, please ensure the graphic card and its drivers used on the PC/Laptop is capable of supporting resolutions up to 3840 x 2160 at 60Hz via DisplayPort connectivity.

So the question is: Can the video card and Thunderbolt ports on a 2013 Macbook Air 13" support resolutions up to 3840 x 2160 at 60Hz via DisplayPort connectivity?

The EveryMac page for this model says it may be able to drive two daisy-chained 2560x1600 Thunderbolt monitors, and this ars report claims that two TB monitors was possible on the 2012 models. So, I'm hopeful that the laptop should be able to drive that many pixels, but I'm not sure whether the Thunderbolt ports, in mini-DP mode, speak the DP1.2 standard necessary to drive this monitor at 60Hz.

No, it won't support it. The Thunderbolt 1 controller in the Air only supports DisplayPort 1.1 and you need DisplayPort 1.2 to get 4K support, as you mention in your question.

Check out http://www.anandtech.com/show/7049/intel-thunderbolt-2-everything-you-need-to-know and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_(interface)#Thunderbolt_2


Why is Time Machine backing up to .sparsebundle file? In the past, I had used only an external hard drive for my backups. It worked great, and it backed up to folders, in a way that I could go to individual files in the backup. I decided that since I was on a laptop, I should be backing up wirelessly (so I don't have to keep it plugged in). After my first painfully long backup to my old Time Capsule, I realized the file was not a folder but a .sparsebundle file. What is this? How do I change it back?

I'm pretty sure you can't, and you wouldn't want to. The OS only bypasses the bundle for locally attached backup destinations.

Direct attached storage (DAS) uses the HFS+ filesystem and /Backups.backupsdb folder structure
Network attached storage (NAS) uses the sparse bundle format to embed a HFS+ filesystem on whatever filesystem that the NAS uses natively.

Time Machine's backup format plays some very interesting tricks with the Mac OS Extended filesystem that aren't really possible over a generic network storage volume. It's also optimized to minimize network traffic when files change. This speeds both backup, browsing and restore operations and minimizes the volume of data file changes on the NAS for small changes on the source disk.

In order to get TM to work over a network connection, it stores a disk image (in sparse bundle format) on the network server, and mounts that locally on the client. Since it's mounted locally, the client has full access to the filesystem and can play all of the necessary tricks.

So, without the .sparsebundle, you wouldn't be able to back up over the network since it optimizes the amount of data sent to the Time Capsule when a file changes as well as reduces the load on the Time Capsule to handle easier IO to the disk.

You can still mount the sparse bundle image on any OS X machine and navigate to files. The only drawback might be if you are using an OS that doesn't have a filesystem plug in for sparse bundle storage format.


What does "leverages the Apple Watch menu" mean when refusing my App I get the following reason to refuse my app: Specifically, upon review of application we have application/device icon leverages the Apple Watch menu., and they attached my app icon. Strange.

Could it mean possibly that your app icon somehow detracts from the design of the home screen or somehow doesn't fit into their design guidelines? That's a I could think of, but I've never heard it stated with that terminology.


OS X Server: Wiki embed youtube video on page On OS X server using the wiki feature, I want to embed a youtube.com video onto a page. I thought the process would be to switch to HTML coding when making the Wiki Entry and cut and paste the HTML embedded like tag of youtube video into the post along with all the other content.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mylinkaddress" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

When I save the page, it doesnt show up.... which makes sense since when I go back to edit the page and view the HTML, the  tag is no longer there. It seems like OS X server is rejecting the tag as invalid when saving the page.

How can I get OS X server to support embedding video into pages?

This occurs on the blog and wiki.

Update:
 this is the Wiki Server

I had the same problem.

On the Server load terminal.app in your Utilities folder, and type in:

On Mountain Lion:

sudo defaults write /Library/Server/Wiki/Config/collabd.plist FiltersEnabled false

On Lion:

sudo defaults write /etc/collabd/collabd.plist FiltersEnabled false

You may need to turn the Wiki Service off and on afterward for the settings to take affect. You can do this by typing:

sudo serveradmin stop wiki

then

sudo serveradmin start wiki

in the Terminal.


Trick Mac into thinking it has an external display I have a weird issue with my MacBook Pro.
The screen flickers when NOT connected to an external display.
Read more about it on this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251849352
Is there a way to trick Mac into thinking it has an external display connected so I don't have to physically connect my Mac to display to use it?

There’s no good way to set this in software, but you can get dummy display plugs for a fraction of the cost and space of an actual display.
They connect to a display output & fool the computer into thinking it's really a display. They're usually used for headless servers, but there's no reason I can think of you couldn't use one for your "second monitor" situation.
They come is various forms, HDMI, DVI, DP, VGA etc. Google/eBay/Amazon etc can find lots of them. Search for Ghost display or headless display. Quality on these can vary widely so consider buying some spares if you are not buying from a vendor with a return policy that you like.
Random pic of many types, anonymised


How can I recover my MS Office 2011 product key? I want to use Migration Assistant to transfer my data from a Macbook Pro to a Macbook Air. I'm told that I need my product key for MS Office 2011.

Is there a way to find my product key on my mac?

This is an old thread, but I ran into this issue and the way to fix it is as follows:

You have to be able to access the hard drive you migrated from.
Make sure all Office programs are closed.

On the new hard drive/computer you migrated to, delete the following file:

/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.office.licensing.plist

Go to the HD you had a working copy on, and copy that same file from the same location to the new HD.

It should have an older date from when you installed it and activated it.


Use external display only with MacBook? I have a Mid 2010 MacBook. Is it possible to make the external display into the only one, so that I can close the lid and keep working on my MacBook with an external keyboard/mouse and monitor?

Yes. It usually "just works," but if you're having trouble, Apple has detailed instructions:

Apple Portables: How to use your computer in closed clamshell (display closed) mode with an external display


How to enable Spotlight search in NAS attached folder with macOS Mojave 10.14.4? I'm using Synology NAS for my file storage solution. It has been doing great, except one thing. I am unable to do Spotlight search to any of my network drive. I have enabled the indexing in my Synology server, but this does not help either.

How can I enable it correctly? Thanks.

I'm looking from long time ago a NAS solution for Mac OS networks with Spotlight search features but at this moment doesn't works in Asustor or QNap NAS for example (Synology is the same at this moment). I've tryed with this two brands but at this moment you can't find a way to do this.
For this reason we must continue with disks connected to Mac OS servers machines.


How can I test if my hard drive is going bad? I've looked over similar questions and searched the internet to try to find symptoms of a bad hard drive, but I haven't found anything that seems to be related to my problem.

I have a late 2008 15" MacBook Pro. It has a Hitachi HTS723225L9SA62 250 GB HD. I'm running the latest Lion with all updates.

Recently I've had a few computer failures; first, I was having issues with the computer locking up (staying eternally on the light blue screen—had to be hard powered off) when changing to the high-end graphics card in my MBP. The Apple Store initially suspected a RAM issue, as when they reseated the RAM, it temporarily fixed itself. The symptoms later reappeared, and they replaced the entire logic board.

Less than a month later, my display stopped working. The computer worked fine, as did the graphics card, as long as I was using an external display. They replaced the display (about two months ago), and it's been working since.

For about a month now, my computer will hang at random times. Most of the time, it happens with Safari (this may be because it's my most-used application, though)—the UI is completely unresponsive, I can't quit Safari, I can't change tabs, I can't even click in Safari to switch focus to the window. This will fix itself and act normally after about 10 seconds. This also happens occasionally with TextEdit, iChat, and iTunes. I never had any issues with freezing until recently.

I'm suspecting a possible hard drive failure, as I don't know what else would cause this, except perhaps memory issues. In the past I've had similar issues in an iBook G4 which were caused by the hard drive.

I've ran the diagnostics utility on the install disc, and every test passed.

Does this diagnosis sound reasonable? What can I do to further test my computer's hard drive and other components?

When i am having all sorts of issues like you describe, i try booting up from Disk Warrior and running its tests.

From your description of symptoms I would suggest that it is a possibility your laptop could have directory, memory/RAM or even at its most extreme, motherboard issues.

Apple's Disk Utility only goes so far. Oftentimes the issues it discovers are caused by other problems from the machine. The best indicators I have seen to an HD failing involve files not being able to write to the disk, or files becoming corrupted. Also, if parts of the System files become corrupted, you would see finder and other system issues ... Like you described. A previous poster's suggestion of booting from another drive is a good one to eliminate this as a possibility. (I use an external HD instead of a memory stick.)

The absolute best safe guard against losing data on a HD is regular back-ups.


Run an applescript on mouse down How can I trigger an applescript on mousedown?
I want this applescript to run when a user doubleclicks on empty space in the desktop (i.e. not clicking on the icons present on desktop).

This is my script so far:

try
    set toggle to do shell script "defaults read com.apple.finder CreateDesktop"
    if toggle = "true" then
        do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop false"
    else if toggle = "false" then
        do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop true"
    end if
end try

do shell script "killall Finder"
delay 0.1
activate application "Finder"

Not sure the double click on empty space can be done, but I'm sure it would be kinder to ask the Finder to quit rather than kill it... Finders have feelings too ;-)

You could always save it as an app & put it in the Dock.

tell application "Finder" to quit
-- /*give it time, otherwise it will try to activate before it's quit & this simple version won't check if it relaunched.*/
delay 2
try
    tell application "Finder" to activate
end try
--my testFinderRunning() --/*uncomment to add the belt & braces method*/

Add this routine to make sure it relaunched

    on testFinderRunning()
    set test to 0
    repeat while test = 0
        log test
        tell application "System Events" to set test to count (every process whose name is "Finder")
        delay 2
        --/*we do this even if active because it doesn't naturally come to front.*/
        try
            tell application "Finder" to activate
        end try
        if (test > 0) then exit repeat
    end repeat
end testFinderRunning

You can put the Applescript menu in the menu bar - http://thepoch.com/tumblr/enable-the-script-menu-in-mac-os-xs-menu-bar.html
short version... launch Applescript, get Prefs, set 'Show script menu in menu bar'

That may allow you to assign Key Commands from System Prefs/Keyboard, but I haven't had time to test yet.


Is the retina Macbook Pro's SSD soldered into the logic board? The Macbook Air's SSD can be manually upgraded.
The RAM of the Macbook Air and retina MBP however are soldered into the logic board.
Question
Is the retina Macbook Pro's SSD soldered into the logic board as well?

No - The SSD card is a discrete component on the new retina MacBook Pro and can be ordered as an Apple service part. Time will tell if an aftermarket supplier decides to supply parts for that model.

Even though it's not soldered, it still is not a user-servicable part.

As ArsTechnica reports:

  While Apple uses the latest SATA protocol, the connector is physically incompatible with either Mini PCIe or mSATA.


Disable Continuity with iMessages.app I have a work Macbook Pro and do not want to use iMessages.app at all to sync to my phone. When I open up the Messages application on my iPhone, Continuity tries to handoff the application to the OSX machine on the same wifi. However, I want to completely disable iMessages.app syncing to this computer.

I have disabled:

(On iPhone)->Settings->Phone-'Calls on other Devices' [Off]

(On MBP)->iMessages.app-> No Accounts setup

Is there a way to disable this iMessages Continuity integration?

If you want to disable iMessage to be synced with your iPhone:

On iPhone --> Settings > Messages > Text Message Forwarding > Remove your MBP device that should appear.
On MBP --> No account setups is ok (double check if your iCloud account has already been disabled).

Finally, you can definitively get rid of Handoff by unchecking "Handoff" in iPhone > Settings > General > Handoff & Suggested Apps.


How to set a text as a footer with Pages? I woudld like to set a footer on my page, in order to make some annotation, like this picture.

I would like to make something like the number 3.

I am using Pages from Mac OS X :)

The feature you are looking for are the footnotes/endnotes

  A document can contain footnotes, which appear at the bottom of the
  page, or endnotes, which appear at the end of the document or a
  section. You can’t have both footnotes and endnotes in the same
  document, but you can convert all notes in the document from one type
  to another.

  By default, footnotes and endnotes are numbered continuously
  throughout the document with Arabic numerals, but you can change this
  formatting.

  You can also restyle the text used within the note. For example, you
  can italicize or underline a book title within the note.

  Use the Footnotes pane of the Format inspector to format footnotes and
  endnotes.

  Insert a footnote, endnote, or section endnote
  The first time you
  insert a note, it’s a footnote by default. If you want document or
  section endnotes rather than footnotes, you must first add a footnote
  and then convert it to an endnote.

  Click in the text where you want to insert the symbol for a footnote
  or endnote.
  Click Insert in the toolbar, then choose Footnote.

  The symbol is inserted in the text and the insertion point moves to
  the footnote text field at the bottom of the page.

  Enter the footnote text.


Mac OS X Mavericks Changes Default Font of Online Math Expressions Generated by MathJax After I installed Mac OS X Mavericks on my MacBook Pro, an undesirable result was that all online math expressions generated by MathJax, such as those seen in Math StackExchange and MathOverflow, were displayed in a font that looks a lot like Times. I really hate this Times-looking font and would like the OS to return to displaying all MathJax-generated online math expressions in the standard Computer Modern font used by LaTeX. Could anyone kindly explain to me how to do this? Thank you so much!

I believe you need to install the STIX fonts mentioned on this page.

  In Mac OS, open the Font Book application (it is in the Applications
  folder). Drag the fonts from their archive folder onto the “All Fonts”
  collection at the top left of the Font Book window. If you want to
  install them for everyone on your computer, drag them to the
  “Computer” collection instead. Alternatively, you can double-click on
  each font and select the “Install Font” button in the font window that
  appears.

*If that happens to be the ugly font you're referring to, then I would presume you could uninstall it, or disable it, and MathJax will use another (default) OS X font in place of it.

  See this question/answer for details.

There is also a fix listed here that will allow MathJax to use TeX fonts instead of STIX.


Sound broken on Windows 10 with Akitio Node Pro plugged in (works when unplugged) Summary:

My MacBook Pro 2017's audio works in Windows 10 with Boot Camp. When I have my Akitio Node Pro plugged in through Thunderbolt 3 to the MacBook, using an Asus GTX 1080 card, the audio doensn't work.

Hardware / Software in use:

MacBook Pro 2017 13" with Touch Bar
Akitio Node Pro PCI Express external GPU box
40 Gbps Thunderbolt 3 Cable
Asus GTX 1080 8GB
Windows 10 Pro latest, updated
Nvidia official game-ready driver, latest
Cirrus Logic audio driver

What's working and not working:

When the Akitio Node Pro is plugged in to the MacBook Pro's top-left Thunderbolt 3 port (the one it's supposed to use), the audio doesn't work in Windows 10
When the Akitio Node Pro isn't plugged in to the Mac, the audio works fine in Windows 10
The Akitio Node Pro must be plugged in immediately after the Windows logo shows up on boot. If it's plugged in before boot, or after boot, it hangs the system with graphics flickering and distortion.
When the Akitio Node Pro is plugged in, I see the volume levels fluctuate in Sound preferences when music is supposedly playing, and I can see the volume levels fluctuate for the microphone when I make some noise.
When an HDMI monitor is plugged in to the HDMI port on the Asus video card, the sound actually works, and comes out of the monitor automatically.
The video card works and can render games with good performance.

Driver Information:

Audio driver details in Device Manager:

Driver Name:     Cirrus Logic CS8409 (AB 54)
Driver Date:     2017-02-09
Driver Version:  6.6001.3.38
(no issues reported by Windows)

Display driver details in Device Manager:

Driver Name:     NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080
Driver Date:     2018-04-22
Driver Version:  24.21.13.9731
(no issues reported by Windows)

Does anyone know how to get the audio working out of the MacBook Pro's speakers, with the Akitio Node Pro plugged in?

This post in the eGPU Forums has the most automated solution.


Why does stock Mac OS X allow me to rip CDs but not DVDs? When I insert a music CD into my iMac, iTunes opens and gives me the option to "rip" (i.e. import the content and save as files) the tracks using any of these encoders: AAC, AIFF, Apple Lossless, MP3, or WAV.

When I insert a video DVD into my iMac, DVD Player opens, but I don't see any menu item to rip the DVD.

Why are music CDs and video DVDs treated differently in the software that ships with OS X with regard to ripping?  Why does Apple allow me to rip CDs but not DVDs?

This could get very technical but the answer is actually relatively straightforward.

The act of "ripping" takes place in 2 stages, reading the source material, and writing out a converted version of same.

For music this is straightforward, mainly because the technology is old enough to predate stuff that was later incorporated into DVDs.  Music CDs do not have any form of encryption.  The data is laid bare for you to use as you see fit.  This means anyone can read it without requiring the use of a licensed decoder which you can them laden with prohibitions on use.  Once you can read it, you can convert it, so long as you have a suitable encoder, which Apple provides to allow encoding into the formats you list.

For a movie, this is different.  The source material is encrypted and copy protected in a way that Music CDs never were, and never will be.  This means you need a licensed decoder just to be able to read them.  The terms of the license will often dictate that you can only decode for playback, and not for conversion.  Most often this is purely a legal distinction, and not a technical one.  Obviously Apple have to abide by the terms of these licenses or they could not provide you with them, and as such they will not allow you to subsequently decode a film, then instead of watching it immediately encode (rip) it into a different format.  They do provide an encoding mechanism for movies, but it will only work on unencrypted and decoded files.  Of course, there is nothing to stop other programs that Apple do not supply from ignoring such paper restrictions (or providing replacement decoders that are less inhibited in what they allow), and happily ripping away.


How to backup iPhone by iTunes? I'm new to iTunes and everything doesn't make sense for me.
I need to do backup of contacts, photos and music on my iPhone.

I've tried to follow several manuals how to do backup on my Windows PC but can't pass few steps.

My iPhone is connected by USB cable and is detected by iTunes
I can't select anything from iTunes -> File -> Devices as all functions are grayed out
In many manuals peoples refer that I have to turn off iCloud. I dont't see iCloud anywhere on iTunes or iPhone

By the wording in your question - it appears that two things are in order:

Short answer on what a backup is
Short answer on how to start one

Answering the how to backup is easiest. From the view menu, be sure you choose "Show Sidebar" so that you have a place in the main iTunes window to see the device when it gets connected over USB. Make sure the main window of iTunes is visible and connect your phone. If you have a Mac, the phone usually shows up under Devices within half a second or two. On a PC, you may need to wait for antivirus scanners, or the OS to recognize the device and perform a step or two in the OS to allow the computer to talk to the phone. It too should eventually show up in the sidebar. Either way, once it appears, use the mouse to click once on it. It should show the summary tab, but if not, click that at the top of the window just below and to the right of the play/pause button.

Now iTunes will show you one of many screens to manage the device where it normally shows the store or your music library.

Here you can see on the left where the device might be configured to back up to iCloud. You can change that or leave it as it appears. On the right, you can click Back Up Now and get a local backup.

Now to answer the "what is backed up" - you can read over this article while your backup is running. HT4946: iTunes: About iOS backups In particular, music is not backed up since it either came from a computer or from the cloud, so iTunes and iOS assume you back up your computer and they back up the cloud so you don't need to waste space on your computer and time backing up something that was just synced to the iOS device as opposed to being created there or only being stored there.

Once your backup is complete - click on the info tab and perhaps consider syncing the contents from addresses and calendars which will make a copy of that data available on your computer as opposed to having it stored away in a backup file where you can't really get to the contacts other than restoring them again onto a phone (replacing the contacts that were on that device in the process).


recover a deleted file while the filevault is turned on If I turn on the file vault and someone turns it off and recovers the deleted file, does it recover to an encrypted state?
And if someone knew the password on my MacBook, could someone decrypt the recovered file?

The disk is what's encrypted, not the individual files.  So no, and no.
But if they knew a password that could unlock the FileVault, they don't need to decrypt the recovered file.


Monitor turns off for two seconds after login I have a mac mini 2018 model that runs mojave with an external monitor connected via hdmi output of mac mini.
After login with my credentials and when the progress bar is loading my monitor turns off for about 2 seconds and then it turns on again.

Do you have any ideas about what could be happened?

This is standard behaviour with the built-in HDMI port of the Mini 2018 - the governing circuitry has a 'security interlock' controlled by the T2 chip, and it gets toggled when the machine moves from the PREBOOT OS (which is where your main login window actually lives) over to the standard install.


Is there a way I can set the Tab key as (part of) an application keyboard shortcut in System Preferences > Keyboard shortcuts? Basically, I would like ⇥ and ⇧+⇥ to "Shift Right" and "Shift Right" (Menu items to indent or unindent selection) in TextMate.

However, I can't set them using the System Preferences GUI, as pressing ⇥ tabs to the next UI button.

Is there a way I can do that, maybe using a TextMate-specific custom KeyBindings.dict?

You could cp /Applications/TextMate.app/Contents/Resources/KeyBindings.dict ~/Libary/Application\ Support/TextMate/ and add:

"\t" = shiftRight:;
"$\t" = shiftLeft:;

That would prevent expanding snippets with tab though.


Can I revert to the Mountain Lion style labels instead of Mavericks tags? How? I don't like the almost invisible little colored dots (tags) that have replaced the full-length color highlighted labels used in Mountain Lion.  Is there a way to go back to using full-field labels?

I have the same problem, and so do others: just search the Apple support discussions. The only solutions currently are:

Reinstall OS X 10.8
Install PathFinder, a third party patch that brings back labels
If PF is too pricey, try asking binaryage (makers of TotalFinder) to also enable this feature, as TotalFinder is only $18, compared to Pathfinder at nearly $40.

There's also a few other semi-workarounds, like coloring folders using 3rd party tools (though this is tedious and only works for folders, not files)

And remember to tell Apple that you want labels back! If enough people speak out, they will change it.


USB-C Power Injector I was wondering if a device exists for this yet:

I have a normal screen that currently as an AUKEY HDMI to USB-C running from it to my 2017 MacBook Pro. It works well. I charge the laptop with the adapter provided with the MacBook (a seperate cable):

Is it possible to instead inject the power from the power adapter into the USB-C cable used for screen? That would mean that I only have to plug in one cable. I know that certain limited screens are capable of delivering the the 83W of power required along with the display signal, so I think technically this is possible with an injector but I've not been able to find anything on the market. I'd prefer to be able to inject the power supplied by the Apple power adapter vs some third party device if possible.

Any usb-c hub with power delivery should do the job, eg. Anker Premium USB-C Hub with Power Delivery


Bootcamp: 'No Bootable Device error' after resizing partition El Capitan I have a Macbook Pro (Retina 15 inch end 2013) with OS X El Capitan 10.11.1.
I have Bootcamp on it to run Windows 7, always using it without any problem. I wanted more space on the Bootcamp partition so I decided to resize the Macintosh HD partition to make some more space (+10 GB) for the Bootcamp partition.

When I made the Macintosh HD partition 10 GB bigger I've tried to reboot into Windows with Bootcamp but unfortunately the error 'No bootable device, press any key' appears.

I can still see Windows bootcamp in the startup disk of system preferences, but just can't boot into Windows anymore.

Here are some messages I've got by Terminal;

MBP-van-Daniel:~ daniel$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.3 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            418.4 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
   4:       Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP                81.0 GB    disk0s4

And some more

MBP-van-Daniel:~ daniel$ sudo gdisk -l /dev/disk0
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.1

Warning: Devices opened with shared lock will not have their
partition table automatically reloaded!
Partition table scan:
  MBR: hybrid
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with hybrid MBR; using GPT.
Disk /dev/disk0: 977105060 sectors, 465.9 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): A0D4786F-9935-4899-9856-F9B9D0B378CA
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 977105026
Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries
Total free space is 137 sectors (68.5 KiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1              40          409639   200.0 MiB   EF00  EFI System Partition
   2          409640       817633503   389.7 GiB   AF00  Customer
   3       817633504       818903039   619.9 MiB   AB00  Recovery HD
   4       818903040       977104895   75.4 GiB    0700  BOOTCAMP

I've tried some suggested solutions I've read on the web but unfortunately without result.
I think I have to restore the MBR using fdisk but how do I do that? I'm not very familiar with terminal

Sorry about my English. I mean I've made the Macintosh HD partition 10 GB smaller so I later could make in Windows the Bootcamp partition bigger. When I made the Macintosh partition smaller, Disk Utility made a new unnamed partition of that 10 GB. This means there were a total of 5 partitions. In Terminal the BOOTCAMP partition was situated on number 5 and the unnamed new empty partition on number 4. I think the problem is that the system only can boot the first 4 partitions. I've deleted the new empty partition again and set the Macintosh HD at its original size, so BOOTCAMP is now again on #4;

MBP-van-Daniel:~ daniel$ sudo diskutil list
Password:
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.3 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            418.4 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
   4:       Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP                81.0 GB    disk0s4
/dev/disk1 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk1
   1:               Windows_NTFS My Passport             1.0 TB     disk1s1
/dev/disk2 (disk image):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     Apple_partition_scheme                        +10.5 MB    disk2
   1:        Apple_partition_map                         32.3 KB    disk2s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Remote Desktop Conne... 10.3 MB    disk2s2

In my first post I had deleted the 10 GB empty partition already. I've installed Refind and after using the reinit and write command I'm now able to choose every time I start up my macbook, several options to boot like Macintosh, Windows and other devices. Now I can boot again into Windows. The only problem is that if I make Macintosh HD partition smaller, a new partition is created that comes at #4 so that BOOTCAMP moves to #5.

Answering klanomath's question brings this;

MBP-van-Daniel:~ daniel$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk0
Password:
Disk: /dev/disk0    geometry: 60821/255/63 [977105060 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
 #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -     409639] <Unknown ID>
 2: AF 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [    409640 -  817223864] HFS+
 3: AB 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 817633504 -    1269536] Darwin Boot
*4: 0C 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 818903040 -  158201856] Win95 FAT32L

and;

MBP-van-Daniel:~ daniel$ sudo gpt -r show /dev/disk0
Password:
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Suspicious MBR at sector 0
      start       size  index  contents
          0          1         MBR
          1          1         Pri GPT header
          2         32         Pri GPT table
         34          6
         40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
     409640  817223864      2  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  817633504    1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  818903040  158201856      4  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7
  977104896        131
  977105027         32         Sec GPT table
  977105059          1         Sec GPT header


How to disable certificate transparency check in macOS Mojave(10.14) In macOS Mojave, certificate transparency check is enabled. Because the OS terminates all TLS connections that doesn’t use transparent certificates, macOS Mojave cannot connect to WPA2 Enterprise corporate networks. Is there any solution to turn off certificate transparency check for one special certificate or for all certificates?

Certificate Transparency only applies to publicly trusted certificates, which mean WPA2 certs aren’t affected by CT.
It’s probably because the certificate was signed with MD5, which isn’t trusted, starting from iOS 12 and macOS Mojave.

The reason why MD5-signed certs aren’t trusted is because MD5 weaknesses allow fake TLS certs to be created.

There is simply no such way to make macOS Mojave to make trust MD5 certs; request the network administrator to update & resign the cert with a different algorithm.


Air Play-ing music from a sleeping iPhone A couple days ago, I was experimenting with Air Play. What I'd like to do is play music behind a party, driven from my iPhone in my pocket. I sleep my phone while iPod is playing music all the time, it keeps going just great, but this time it would die after a few minutes of sleeping. I believe what's happening is it's losing WiFi and killing the Air Play connection.

Any solutions for playing an evening's worth of music through Air Play from my pocket, without pulling the phone out and restarting it every few minutes?

EDIT: I should have mentioned, this phone is not jailbroken and I'd prefer not to jailbreak it. I'm a developer and my phone is one of my testing devices. I need to be able to test it in the conditions most users will be in.

If you can avoid bumping the sleep/wake button, you should have hours of playing time using AirPlay. Once the screen is dimmed due to a time-out, you can press sleep/wake to show the current track, just avoid pressing it to force an immediate sleep/screen dim. Let the timer do the work to ensure music playback.

I have Auto-Lock set at 5 minutes (with no passcode lock) and often set down my iPhone on the counter or place it in my pocket while I walk around the house, playing music until a low battery warning pauses playback. If you have to, shorten this setting during the party to avoid uncomfortable musical silences.


Remove old user from Remote Login permissions list On OS X 10.8 I deleted a user account which had Remote Login permissions.  Now, in the Sharing tab of System Preferences, that user shows up as "Unknown User", and clicking the minus button won't remove it.

Found the solution here, hope this helps.

1) First remove all users that can be removed from GUI In System Preferences -> Sharing -> Remote login

2) Run the below command which shows the configuration of users who have remote login access

sudo dscl  . -read /Groups/com.apple.access_ssh

example result:

AppleMetaNodeLocation: /Local/Default
GeneratedUID: 2F60778C-0931-47A4-B656-DBE07ACD843F
GroupMembers: **3D7C31B1-DEDE-4A5A-AAA8-CDD55645DC75**
GroupMembership: youraccoutname
PrimaryGroupID: 404
RealName:
Remote Login ACL
RecordName: com.apple.access_ssh
RecordType: dsRecTypeStandard:Groups

3) remove the group GroupMembers that the user(Unknown User) is in

sudo dscl  . delete /Groups/com.apple.access_ssh GroupMembers 3D7C31B1-DEDE-4A5A-AAA8-CDD55645DC75

4) Go to System preferences and see the result


Does “Expired” certificate gets removed from the Apple's Developer Portal automatically? Does "Expired" certificate gets removed from the Apple's Developer Portal automatically? I had a certificate for Development and Distribution on Apple's Developer Portal, but it expired, and now I can not see it on Developer Portal.

Does it get removed itself or somebody removed it (No one from my team mates deleted it) or did Xcode removed it, as we can now automatically handle Provisioning Profiles from Xcode?

Can we get a history of our Certificates on Developer Portal?

My experience is no - Apple will not mess with your certificates and profiles and you will need to manage them once they are expired.

Think of the hassle of having a cert expire but not seeing it in your list so you know to take action to renew and replace it.

I'm gun shy to let Xcode "fix anything" automatically since then I'm at a disadvantage to remedy things when I need to manually make a change.


Since it's a "virtual drive" is Parallels Desktop unaffected by system restore on a MacBook (2009)? I used a free trial of Parallels Desktop 11 on my 2009 MacBook and the trial expired before I deleted my files from Windows. I'm going to restore the computer to factory settings before selling it using "clover leaf + R". But if the buyer installs Parallels Desktop will they get "my" Parallels Desktop (with all my files) because it's a virtual drive unaffected by system restore? If so, how can I erase my files from Parallels Desktop as well?

A "virtual" drive that Parallels creates when you make a Windows virtual machine is like any other file in your Macbook. Once you restore to factory settings (reformat) your old files (and the Windows virtual drive) are no longer accessible (not easily at least, unless they purposely try to recover your files using special tools). So you don't have to worry too much about your virtual drive unless you have very sensitive information there and you think the buyer will try to recover your files with recovery tools.

If you want to be extra safe, when you restore your computer and it is time to Erase your hard disk, click on Security Options and slide the slider all the way to the right to "Most Secure". This process will take some time depending on how large your hard disk is but it will ensure that the buyer will not be able to recover any files.

For more info, read this article and pay attention to step 4:
https://support.apple.com/kb/PH22241?locale=en_US


Remember Window Dimension / Position Single Screen Laptop Is there any way to have windows remember where they were and how big they were on OSX?

I've tried the suggestions in this discussion but it's still not working.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5471042?tstart=30

I would suggest using a tool like Divvy to position and remember window positions. OS X simply doesn't handle it in an ideal manner.


Missing two of the black "feet" at the bottom of my Macbook Pro/Started making a clicking noise inside I noticed a clicking noise comming from the underneath the keys around the number 5, 6 and 7 (make a circle with your thumb and pointer finger around those numbers, and thats where the sound is comming from). It mainly does it when I tilt the MBP back and forth or left and right. I turned the computer over and noticed the black foot on the front (nearest the spacebar, not the screen) left side was gone. The one on right has been missing for a while but it has a black "stick" in the center where the hole is.. But the one that I noticed is missing today doesn't have that "stick" in the hole and I can see right into the computer. I have put black duct tape over it to prevent any dirt or anything from getting in there. The noise has actually stopped, unless I tilt it forward nearly upside down..

1.) Does someone has any suggestions on what I can do to fix this myself?

2.) Is this harmful to the MBP?

3.) Is it okay that I put the duct tape on the "feet" holes tempararily?

4.) Should I try taking the bottom panel off my MBP and see if that little black stick fell inside?

P.S. - Please don't suggest going to an Apple store or Genius Bar because I'm in Laos (South East Asia) and there is none of which anywhere near me. It will be 20 days before I get somewhere that has an Apple store. Do you think the computer should be okay until then?

-Macbook Pro 13" 2009, Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5.

The feet help air to get under your Mac and cool it, which is essential because heat destroys just about everything a computer needs to keep working, like the processor or hard drive. The clicking noise is probably your internal harddrive beginning to fail. You should back up your data immediately and prepare to replace your hard drive, as clicking is often a good indicator that the drive is about to stop working. You can check the drive's SMART status using Disk Utility.app, but it may not report anything amiss until its too late.

You can find detailed instructions on checking the drive's SMART status here, but the meat of it is accomplished just by stealing their image, which I'll link to below.


iOS development with Whited00r 7 I am an iOS developer, and have an old 3G device. If I setup whited00r 7, can I use that device for development as I can use a device with iOS 7? (Register provisioning profile for that device and install ipa on it?) Are there any restrictions?

No. whited00r uses a heavily customized version of iOS 3.1.3 and 4.2.1.  They've tweaked the OS to look like iOS 7 and provide similar functionality.  They cannot backport Apple's proprietary and copyrighted iOS 7 APIs to older devices.

Additionally, the latest version of Xcode requires ARMv7 devices, which does not include any of the devices supported by whited00r.

You must have a device that can actually run iOS 7 if you want to develop apps on the device.


Recover deleted files from Filevault 2 On one partition of an external drive encrypted with Filevault 2, I have accidentally deleted a folder and files. Does decryption also decrypt the deleted files?

No - encryption/decryption is a completely separate process that will not affect what the OS sees as data (files/folders) versus available space.

You will need to run a file recovery program, such as DiskDrill or Data Rescue; the chance of success at retrieving your files will vary.

Finally, you should seriously consider a proper backup solution, anything from Apple's built-in Time Machine to 3rd party solutions like CrashPlan or BackBlaze.


How to fix locate.updatedb not respecting directory excluded from /etc/locate.rc? I wanted to exclude some directories from the results of /usr/libexec/locate.updatedb by editing /etc/locate.rc.  Unfortunately if I edit locate.rc locate.updatedb runs forever and does not actually terminate -- I have to kill it, and then the database for locate is an empty file.

Any ideas on why locate.rc is not respected?

I'm on ML (OS X 10.8), using bash from Macports (bash 4.2.37(2)-release), and my locate.rc reads:

#
# /etc/locate.rc -  command script for updatedb(8)
#
# $FreeBSD: src/usr.bin/locate/locate/locate.rc,v 1.9 2005/08/22 08:22:48 cperciva Exp $

#
# All commented values are the defaults
#
# temp directory
#TMPDIR="/tmp"

# the actual database
#FCODES="/var/db/locate.database"

# directories to be put in the database
#SEARCHPATHS="/"

# directories unwanted in output
PRUNEPATHS="/tmp /var/tmp /Users/me/.vim /Users/me/.cups /Users/me/tmp"

# filesystems allowed. Beware: a non-listed filesystem will be pruned
# and if the SEARCHPATHS starts in such a filesystem locate will build
# an empty database.
#
# be careful if you add 'nfs'
#FILESYSTEMS="hfs ufs"

Have you tried the terminal command:

/usr/libexec/locate.updatedb --prune-path="<path>"


Does anyone know of a Crystal Reports viewer app for iPad? Right now I am using Logicity on my PC. I would like to know if there is a way to see Crystal Reports files on iPad.

While there are ways to boot into windows and then run my file (use iTap / TeamViewer to log in to Windows and then run Logicity), I would like to know if there are any native apps, web services, which would make the process of running this .rpt file easier.

Check out Report Runner Web Portal. It's a customizable web interface to run Crystal Reports. Very affordable and user friendly. The company provides excellent technical support, too.

http://www.reportrunner.com


Open Outlook new message window from terminal I would like to open a new message Outlook window from terminal and ideally prefill the message body too.

Any ideas on how to accomplish this? Txn!

Office is moderately scriptable with AppleScript, so the command line interface to AppleScript can get the job done.

Try this (adapted from this blog post by Jim Shank), replacing the subject text, name and email as appropriate:

osascript -e 'tell application "Microsoft Outlook"' -e 'set newMessage to make new outgoing message with properties {subject:"My Subject"}' -e 'make new recipient at newMessage with properties {email address:{name:"John Smith", address:"jsmith@example.com"}}' -e 'open newMessage' -e 'end tell'

It's a bit lengthy, but it will get the job done. You could adapt this into a small script that you could call and provide parameters to more concisely (i.e. sendoutlook john@example.com "My Subject" "Hi John, blah blah blah") without too much work, but that's probably best left as a separate question.


Increase the quality of the screen recorder in iOS I like the screen recorder in iOS 12, but I was hoping that it would get more frames per second.

I don't see any settings screen. Am I missing something simple?

You aren't missing anything. There are no settings whatsoever that you can change to customize the capture characteristics of the built-in iOS screen recorder.

How to record the screen on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

However, a simple Web search reveals a bunch of 3rd party iOS/macOS/Windows screen recording apps that you can try out to see if they offer better quality/cutomizations.

https://filmora.wondershare.com/screen-recorder/best-ios-screen-recorder.html
https://www.aiseesoft.com/screen-recorder/iphone-screen-recorder-app.html
https://itunes.apple.com/app/techsmith-capture/id1266321056
https://iphonebyte.com/iphone-screen-recorder-apps/


Where can I purchase a replacement screw for my MacBook Pro SuperDrive? While replacing the logic board on my MacBook Pro (15" 2.4 GHz) and I stripped one of the 3.3mm 00 Phillips screws for the SuperDrive.  I have found only one source online that had replacements in stock (http://www.impactcomputers.com/), and they wanted to charge me $19.99 + shipping for 5 of them.  Are stores like this my only recourse, or does anyone know of a better online distributer of Mac parts?

I have checked ifixit.com and I would like to avoid buying full $60 sets for one replacement.

Have you tried ebay? ebay search for "macbook pro screws"


How do I Export Apple mail database to Outlook 2016 for Mac? I don't like the series Mail/iCal from Apple, reason why I bought Outlook 2016 for Mac. I was able to transfer the contacts but I am facing difficulties transferring the email database. It seems that outlook doesn't support the email format of the apple mail.

Is there a way to transfer all the emails with their categories from Apple Mail to Outlook 2016 for Mac ?

Apple Mail archives its database in .mbox format and outlook for mac can only import either .pst or .olm format files. It definitely cannot import emails exported from apple mail. If you have an Imap enabled account then you can directly sign in to the outlook mac, it might take a while depending on your email database size, your files will start uploading.

You can take alternatives as well, where some application are available that can convert the file format. Here is one I found online: http://mailexporterpro.com/

I hope this suits your needs.


How can I independently adjust the horizontal and vertical mouse tracking speed on a Mac? I have searched long and hard and have found no way to independently adjust the tracking speed of the mouse cursor on a Mac. I'm running 10.11.6 El Capitan on my 2013 15" Retina MacBook Pro.

For whatever reason my mouse moves WAY faster horizontally than vertically. I have without success tried both USB Overdrive as well as Steermouse to see if they have any options that would let me adjust this. I've searched for ways to adjust this via the terminal.

At first I thought it was a Logitech mouse issue. I have been using a Razer Orochi mouse with the Razer Synapse software installed it's been working great. I wanted to try out a Logitech M705, and started noticing this issue. I tried installing the Logitech Control Center to see if that would help. No luck. Then I tried an Apple Magic Mouse, and noticed the vertical tracking speed is faster vertically than it is horizontally. Very odd.

Any ideas?

If you use your Razer Orochi along with the Synapse software from Razer, it will give you the option to change the vertical sensitivity.


iTunes library file damaged after manual migration to new Mac On my old computer, I had the following setup:

iTunes Folder containing iTunes Library.itl on my main hard disk (~/Music/iTunes)
Music folder on a second HD where all the actual music files lived (I had checked "Keep library organized").

My new laptop has only one HD, so manually I copied the Music Folder (2) to the new HD and put the iTunes Library.itl, iTunes Library Extras and iTunes Library Genius into it (both from a time machine backup).

Opening iTunes brings up a blank library. When I open iTunes by clicking the app icon while holding alt, choose the library it says:

  iTunes library is not valid. iTunes has created a new library and renamed the original to "iTunes library (damaged)".

(translated from German)

I am using Apple Music, too. Am I missing something?

As user33958 has pointed out, iTunes Library.xml needs to be copied too.


Mac OS X: Backing up my Mac So my aunt wants me to update her Mac OS X (10.5.8), and while I have the DVD for the next update, she also wants her files backed up because they are important to her (pictures and what not).

I'm not entirely sure about what I should back up on, as she has this harddrive cd thing (like the picture) and it comes up as a dvd that can be burned.

I don't know if it's okay to burn the disk with a back up or if it's even possible. I don't know if my aunt has anything on the disk but if she does, I would want those files untouched but I still want to put the back up on it.

Is it possible to back up on this disk and keep the data on there okay or would it erase over it all? Do I need to get another hardrive to back it up on? And if so, what kind?

The device in the photo is called a USB SuperDrive. It is a CD/DVD reader made by Apple. I wouldn't recommend making a backup on CD or DVD discs. But you'll use the SuperDrive to run the update on the update disc you have. Do not overwrite that update disc or make any changes to it, or it will become unusable.

I recommend using a USB external hard drive to back up your aunt's files. You can buy an external hard drive at Apple, Amazon or any computer store. 1TB is the standard amount of storage these days, and it is unlikely that your aunt has more than that to be backed up.

Finally, I highly recommend using Time Machine (an application that is already installed on your aunt's Mac) for backing up. It backs up the whole system (photos, music, applications, documents, everything), and it is the safest proprietary backup method. I recommend doing this before attempting an update.

You can use an external hard drive with Time Machine to backup the system. When you plug in an external hard drive for the first time, the Mac usually asks if you want to use it with Time Machine.

If your aunt really doesn't care about anything other than a few files, you can back them up to a free service like Dropbox designed to hold small amounts of data. Just be aware that if something goes wrong during the update, you risk losing everything that isn't backed up.

Short of this, Apple has really excellent technical support, and while I can't make promises for them I've found that they're more than willing to explain these concepts in more depth. (They just can't perform a backup for you.)


Problems after switching from MacBook Pro 13" Mid 2018 to MacBook Pro 16" Late 2019 Today I've got my new MacBook Pro 16" Late 2019. It will replace my "old" MacBook Pro 13" mid-2018.
I've set it up as a new MacBook and just copied over some files.
I now have a massive battery problem. It says "Battery not charging" all the time. It even losses Power. My setup worked well with my 13" Macbook. I've tried the article from the Apple Help Page, but that didn't work.
Also, I've connected my 2 LG 32UK550-B Monitors. They now have a really ugly tint to it. The Color Options also change in the Monitors menu depending on the connected MacBook. My 13" is just fine with like 20 Color Profiles and my 16" just has 4 profiles. All look ugly.
Can someone help me here? Do I have a faulty MacBook?

Well it turned out I really didn’t use the correct power supply. I used the one from my 13” MacBook and it turned out I need the full wattage charger.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201700

The Monitors also work now. Just had to turn off HDR in my MacBooks Display Settings.


How can I set up a shell script as a wrapper to the main executable of an app? I have an application that I want to launch via a shell script that does some setup and then launches the app itself with some specific options. Ideally, this script would be run whenever the application would normally be launched, i.e. when I click on it in the dock, double-click in the Applications folder, launch from QS, or even click on a file that opens in this app.

Right now I have an applescript wrapper "App" for my script, but the downside is that it appears as a separate app from the main app that sits in my dock, so I have to remember to not click on the main app's icon, but launch this alternate app instead.

So is this something that is possible to do? One idea I had is to rename the main executable in the app to something else, and then replace it with my script. Is that a reasonable thing to do, or is there a better solution?

For those who are curious, I am trying to set up Emacs.app to launch a daemon and then open using emacsclient. Basically, I want to have this script launch instead of emacs (and I'm going to modify the script to take file arguments and open them as well).

Use /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/Emacs (or other executable in that directory).

Generally, application bundles are structured as above. Use Terminal to 'ls' your way to the file.


What constitutes "significant changes" when releasing a new TestFlight build that has passed beta review? Is there any documentation or first hand experiences as to what constitutes significant changes to an app when submitting a new TestFlight build that has already passed beta review?

Apple asks: "Have you made any significant changes to this build since your previous submission?"

We added some in app purchases which turn on/off some features but those features already existed in previous submission so maybe this change isn't "significant".

Significant changes would be adding a new code SDK, new advertising, new IAP purchases - basically anything that isn't just a little change to some refactoring or some new cosmetic changes.

If you are changing tens of lines of code and tens of classes - that seems minor unless your code base is extremely small.


Importing a slow-mo video to Windows I recorded a slow-mo video using my iPhone 5s. How do I import that video to my Windows PC without losing the slow-mo effect?

When uploading the video directly to Facebook from the iPhone (from the film roll), the slow-mo effect is preserved (thus, slow-mo effect is part of the video file itself).

I've tried with "Import pictures and videos" which gets the video on the PC, but the imported video seems to lose the slow-mo effect both when playing it on the PC and after uploading the imported video to Facebook.

The slow-motion effect applied to the video in Photos.app is not actually applied to the video file. This means that the 120 fps video remains at 120 fps and is played at this higher fps in Windows.

To slow down the video, use a video editor, either on Windows or on the iOS device (such as iMovie which is free on the 5s) to save the slowed video file.


MobiControl Device Enrollment Profile Installation Failed with "The request timed out" I am trying to enroll my iPad to be a remotely controlled device via SOTI MobiControl. The Wi-Fi is internal and is currently not able to access public IPs. After I tap on Install, it times out after 45 seconds. The error message is:

  Profile Installation Failed
  The request timed out

Does anyone know what the device is trying to do at this point? I am thinking the iPad is trying to communicate with Apple, but I am not sure.

The profile information states that the profile contains a 'device enrollment challenge'. A device enrollment challenge requires connection to a device enrollment server—not Apple's servers, but another server that the payload is informed of.

When you press Install and enter your passcode if appropriate, all the payloads that are contained within a mobile configuration profile are activated. The device enrollment challenge payload attempts to connect to the aforementioned server at this point. It is at this stage that the error shows: "The request timed out". This is to inform you that the server that the payload is attempting to contact is unavailable and the request has timed out.

To fix this, you'll need to allow whatever is preventing the connection to succeed. The problem may not be the device though—the server itself may be unavailable. Unfortunately, a 'request timed out' error is very broad and could be caused by many different reasons, but the basis is that the server (again, not Apple's) is unavailable to the device requesting the connection.


Upgrading early 2015 Macbook pro from Mojave to Catalina/Big Sur? I have an early 2015 Macbook pro with 8GB RAM and i7 dual core processor. It runs Mojave smoothly, and I haven't upgraded to Catalina nor Big Sur. I read that Catalina won't slow things down compared to Catalina, but what about Big Sur?

If you have enough free disk space, the best thing to do is:

reduce disk space for Mojave.
create a Catalina or Big Sur test environment and so you will see for yourself.

The other option is to install the new system on DDE USB-3 and, despite the loss of performance compared to the internal SSD, you can also test without touching in Mojave.
What is important to know is that Catalina or Big Sur no longer support 32-bit applications.


Unable to remove default shortcut for iCloud Drive from MacOS Catalina I have been trying to follow various posts on how to replace system default shortcuts, but been unable to replicate results. I'm currently on Mac OS 10.15.6.
Initial attempt
I want to remove the default shortcut:
Shift-Command-I: Open iCloud Drive.
And replace with a Services shortcut:
Shift-Command-I: New iTerm2 Window Here.
I've implemented the shortcut in the Keyboard page, however, the shortcut still just opens iCloud Drive when Finder is open. Outside of Finder, the shortcut works.
Next attempt
I've tried following posts on here, like this one on how to read and write global shortcuts, however I fail to find any. My assumption is that the shortcut would be available through com.developer.finder based on what I've read.
defaults write com.apple.finder NSUserKeyEquivalents -dict-add "iCloud Drive" nil

However, even after running this, I'm unable to see any NSUserKeyEquivalents.
defaults read com.developer.finder NSUserKeyEquivalents
# 2020-08-24 08:06:47.084 defaults[1073:19364]
# The domain/default pair of (com.developer.finder, NSUserKeyEquivalents) does not exist

I've tried running with "Open iCloud Drive", writing to com.apple.Finder, but nothing has worked.
Questions
So:

Have I fundamentally misunderstood how doing this is supposed to work?
Are the shortcuts under the Finder --> Go menu able to be changed in this way?
Is there another method to remove the open iCloud keyboard shortcut?

Thanks.

com.developer.finder is wrong.
com.apple.finder is more likely, but the shortcut is available in file dialogs, so may not be under the purview of the Finder.
First off, I'd try changing the shortcut to something else. Either do it in System Preferences, or try adapting your command from nil to -string "@$^~i"
(@ is Command; $ is shift, ^ is ctrl, ~ is alt.)
Next, you could try adding it to the user Global preferences.
defaults write -g NSUserKeyEquivalents -dict-add "iCloud Drive" -string "@$^~i"

However, it's equally possible that some key commands are hardwired and cannot be changed.


Can Mail count unread messages (for the Dock icon) from only some of my accounts? I have 7 mail accounts configured with Apple Mail. The dock icon shows the count of new emails for all of my accounts. How can I disable notification for 2 of those 7 accounts, so it just shows me the counter for the other 5 accounts?

Do a SmartMailbox with the folders from which you want the counts to come, and then select that in Mail's General settings --> "Dock unread count" (it's the fourth drop down list)


Can't delete or move item from trash using sudo rm in terminal, in superuser account, or even single user mode At some point in the past I was messing around with the battery menu on my 2012 macbook pro running High Sierra to see if I could it to display the estimated time remaining rather than a percentage. Anywho, I created a copy of the file /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Battery.menu which I no longer needed, so I trashed it.

Since then I have been unable to move the item from the trash or delete it.

I have tried:

deleting normally
using the force delete option (option + delete)
trying to drag item out of trash (makes a copy, which is deletable)
sudo rm -vrf ~/.Trash/Battery.menu (result: Operation not permitted)
renaming and moving the file with sudo mv ~/.Trash/Battery.menu (result: Operation not permitted)
running the above commands after su in terminal
using the root account to try the above
booting into single user mode, mounting the file system, using above commands. (result: Operation not permitted)
using setfile to try to set the busy attribute to not busy and to unlock the file (though it is not locked) using setfile -a z ~/.Trash/Battery.menu. Result:
ERROR: Unexpected Error. (-5000)  on file: /Users/myuser/.Trash/Battery.menu
repairing permissions, then trying everything again
booting into recovery, turning off SIP, and trying to delete again.

Any ideas?

Thanks for your help!

I recently had a file I could not delete from Trash. Finally I moved it from the trash back to the desktop, which I have synced to iCloud. Then I was apple to use the Files app on my iphone to delete it.

Another path to pursue: boot to recovery and turn off SIP (until you get the file deleted.)


How do I make iTunes video play slower or faster? I want to play videos in iTunes faster (1x, 2x, double speed, etc.) or maybe slower. How do I do that?

Right click on the file in iTunes and choose "Show in Finder." Then right click the file and open in Quicktime Player. In Quicktime Player you can choose the playback speed by using the A/V Controls (Command + K or Window>A/V Controls). From there, you can select the playback speed:

Alternatively, you could use VLC or another music player.


iTunes 11 interface illegible I'm having issues with the iTunes interface being illegible. It is especially a problem in the iPhone management area. I have searched the world for similar issues and so far nothing has turned up. Hoping someone here has ideas on how to resolve. Thanks!

Have you MD5'd iTunes.app? The easiest solution might be to backup your library and completely reinstall iTunes, being sure to clear out anything in ~/Library, /Library and the like.


Swipe between full-screen apps by a non-apple mouse I just bought a Magic Mouse, but I find its sensitivity is not great (we obviously cannot play a shooting game with that). So I want to buy a gaming mouse.

But one thing I am worried about is how to do Swipe between full-screen apps in a gaming mouse.

Does anyone have an idea?

The first thing to know about this "swipe between full-screen apps" is that in terms of functionality, this is exactly the same as changing a Space (A little more on mission control and spaces here). Fullscreen space is just a type of space that contains just one window/application.
Some mouse software may have a built-in "action" that might be called "Move left a space" or "Move right space", but that is not guaranteed. However, pretty much any mouse software lets you set shortcuts to all or some of the buttons that trigger certain actions. Luckily, in this case, there are native shortcuts in Mac to go change spaces:

You can move left one space with the shortcut Ctrl + Arrow Left.
You can move right one space with the shortcut Ctrl + Arrow Right.

At the bottom of this answer I wrote where these can be changed or enabled if necessary. You can also go directly to a specific space. It's the Switch to Desktop... in the screenshot at the bottom.

How you can trigger these shortcuts (or actions) will depend on the mouse and its software. Many mice, especially gaming mice, have a Mac software even if they are not advertised as Mac mice. So if the mouse software can set shortcuts, then you're all set. There's nothing I can say about how that works exactly without knowing which software your mouse would use, but typically those are fairly simple: Pick a button and remap it to a shortcut that changes the space.

3rd party applications may allow you to change any key, while manufacturer applications may only allow you to customize a few.

If for some weird reason your gaming mouse doesn't come with software capable of adding a shortcut to a key or it's just terrible, there are still many 3rd party applications that can do it.
Here are two 3rd party apps that you could try:

SteerMouse
BetterTouchTool

I'm pretty sure both of these have their own built-in "Move right and left a space" actions you can remap to buttons, but like I said before, It's not necessary because as long as the application can make the button trigger a shortcut you should be all set.

Additionally, there is the "Mission Control" shortcut, which is by default in the F3 key in your keyboard. When you click it, you can pick a specific space from the top of the screen using your mouse. If that works in games, which I think it might, it might be the best way to do it.

You can change the native shortcuts in:

System Preferences

Keyboard

Shortcuts (top)

Mission Control (left panel)

Move left a space / Move Right a space (right panel)


Newly created alias should be activated constantly I add an alias to `~/.bashrc and activate it.

    # add some helpful aliases
    alias l.='ls -d .* --color=auto'

Activate it

source .bashrc

It work well on current bash.

    $ l.
    ls: --color=auto: No such file or directory
    .   .cups   .python_history  ...

Unfortunately, it refuses to work when I quit and restart the bash

    $ l.
    -bash: l.: command not found

It has to be activated manually again.

  $ source .bashrc
  # then it works
    $ l.
    ls: --color=auto: No such file or directory
    .   .cups   .python_history  ...

What's the problem with my configuration?

Terminal opens a login shell. The config file is .bash_profile!

You either have to source .bashrc in .bash_profile or add the alias to .bash_profile.

The proper alias would be: alias l.='ls -dG .*' (to get rid of ls: --color=auto: No such file or directory!


Applescript: Help to extract PDF "Author" metadata and set it in iTunes Author field Using other applescript as template, I've been trying to modify this particular one to do the following task:

Extract "Author" tag from a PDF file and write it automatically in the iTunes12 "Author" tag and for as many PDF files I select in my Books collection in iTunes (yes! I got rid of iBooks and got back Books in iTunes)

After grooming for years all my books in the iTunes library, I moved to iBooks. I didn't like iBooks so I went back to Books in iTunes. But this comeback, although worthy, it's been painful, because I lost all the iTunes tags I filled for years manually, but few at the time.

I would love to have this script done to alleviate the pain of writing the +4,000 author's book tags, which are sitting inside the properties of each of my PDFs.

My tweaked script can't get the Author tag from the PDF file and place it in iTunes. It just place the character I want to set at the end of the author in case I want to add info to the tag in the future.
This is, that the only thing that appears in the iTune tag is the "-".

I'm not a expert. I'm not even a basic coder. I just try to learn, little by little about coding when I have these challenges. I've been banging my head to get this done, but this time I need help. I looked everywhere for a similar case from which I could translate the concept to no avail.

Could anyone of you please tell me what can I do to get this done. Where to look for info, what to change in the code or even say: "that's impossible"!

Thank you very much in advance!

-- PDF Meta Author to iTunes Author | script (iTunes-Acrobat)

tell application "iTunes"

set sel to the selection

if sel is {} then display dialog "Please select something" buttons {"Cancel"}

repeat with i from 1 to count of sel

    set the_track to item i of sel

    set the_alias to location of the_track as alias

    tell application "Adobe Acrobat Pro"

        open the_alias

        set authorfield to Author of document 1 as list

        set Author to item 1 of author field

        close document 1 saving no

    end tell

    set artist of the_track to (authorfield & "-") as string

    end repeat

    end tell

This uses the built in unix commands to get the Author.

Try it and let me know if it needs a tweak.

tell application "iTunes"

    set sel to the selection

    if sel is {} then display dialog "Please select something" buttons {"Cancel"}

    repeat with i from 1 to count of sel

        set the_track to item i of sel

        set the_posix_path to POSIX path of (location of the_track as alias)

        set authorfield to paragraph 2 of (do shell script "mdls -name kMDItemAuthors " & quoted form of the_posix_path & "|  awk -F\\\" '{print $2'}")

        set artist of the_track to (authorfield & "-") as string
    end repeat

end tell


PDF reader that refreshes at updates and stays put I am looking for a pdf reader which refreshes when the pdf is updated, while staying (roughly) at the same page it was before the refresh.

Adobe and Foxit don't refresh. Preview does refresh, but gets you back to the first page after every refresh.

The reason for all this: I am using Texstudio to edit LaTex files. TexStudio has an internal pdf viewer which does exactly what I want (refreshing when I recompile the pdf, and staying roughly at the same position in the pdf). But Texstudio only allows you to open a single pdf viewer window. I would want to open several to be able to look at the pdf output in different places at the same time (it would significantly improve my productivity).

(OS X El Capitan)

The answer was in a comment by Jonathan Schuster to the question Reopen PDF in Preview on the same page when modified externally that Graham Miln pointed at.

In his comment, Jonathan wrote

  For what it's worth, I've found Skim to be a good viewer that doesn't
  have this issue. Just make sure to check "Check for file changes" in
  the Sync section of Preferences.

which neatly answers my question.


Where did my "Default Group" preference go? In iOS 4.x.x, I remember having a preference in:

Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Contacts

that would allow me to select a Default Group.

Now that I've upgraded to iOS 5, that preference is no longer visible.

Was it removed?  Moved?  Do I have to have a specific setup in order to have that preference available?

I need to select a "Default Group" in order to reproduce a bug reported by a beta tester, so it'd be handy to be able to set this preference.

In iOS 5.1, you can define a "Default Account" for Contacts in Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars.  Scroll down until you see a Contacts heading; Default Account is at the bottom of that section. This setting will affect where new Contacts created on the iPhone are placed.


Can I dual boot Mac mini with Windows 8? I am planning to buy a new computer. I want to use Visual Studio 2013 and app development for iOS.

Is it possible to make a Mac Mini dual boot with Windows 8? Will I be able to run all Microsoft programs in Windows installation area smoothly?

I have never used Mac before, so I'd like to get some feedback.

Yes you can.

Windows 8 support was provided to Boot Camp in version 5, along with drivers for the Mac hardware.

  Boot Camp 5 adds Windows 8 (64-bit) support. Use the Boot Camp Assistant and a USB drive to install the latest Boot Camp drivers for your computer. These new drivers support both Windows 7 (64-bit) and Windows 8 (64-bit). You should download the newest drivers available any time you install Windows.

Source: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5639

Per the quote above, you can use the Boot Camp Assistant to partition your drive, then install Windows 8 from ISO or disc.

You can find the full guide to installing Windows through Boot Camp on Apple's Help site:

Apple: Boot Camp Help: Install Windows on your Mac

To summarise:

Open Boot Camp Assistant from /Applications/Utilities/Boot Camp Assistant.app.
Follow the instructions to partition your disk.
Let it reboot using your install media.
Install Windows normally.


How to make ntfs-3g drive visible in Finder I was using Tuxera NTFS for a while on my external drives but then my trial ran out.

So then I installed ntfs-3g from macports.

When I connect my external drive, OSX automatically mounts it, but it is read-only.

But if I unmount the drive, and use ntfs-3g to mount the drive in a terminal, then I can get normal read/write access to it.

The problem is that Finder doesn't list it in the list of drives that it sees.

How can I get Finder to recognize the drive?

How can I get OSX to use the ntfs-3g program that allows read/write access instead of whatever it normally uses when connecting an external NTFS drive?

If I let OSX automatically mount the drive and type mount, this is what I get for the external drive.

  /dev/disk2s1 on /Volumes/Expansion Drive (ntfs, local, nodev, nosuid,
  read-only, noowners)

The problem is the part that says "read-only." How can I remove that?

I finally got it working. I used the info at this site. The instructions are now included in brew installations.

Basically use brew or macports to install ntfs-3g, fuse4x, and fuse4x-kext.  If you have an icon in System Preferences for fuse or macfuse, remove those, you don't need them. Follow the instructions after you finish installing them. You can also use brew info to see those instructions if you missed them before.

When I did brew info ntfs-3g I found this.

To replace the default Mac OSX automounter:
    sudo mv /sbin/mount_ntfs /sbin/mount_ntfs.orig
    sudo ln -s /usr/local/Cellar/ntfs-3g/2012.1.15/sbin/mount_ntfs /sbin/mount_ntfs

I also did brew fuse4x-kext and found this.

  sudo cp -rfX /usr/local/Cellar/fuse4x-kext/0.9.0/Library/Extensions/fuse4x.kext /Library/Extensions
  sudo chmod +s /Library/Extensions/fuse4x.kext/Support/load_fuse4x

After running those commands I got the ntfs drives to automount and be visible in Finder with read/write access.


Remove command removed my important documents on El Capitan I have just made a stupid mistake that cost me a lot. I tried to uninstall a software on my Mac, it is this one here: Uninstallation Ureka and I followed the instructions in the link. On the terminal, I typed exactly as in the documentation:

rm -rf $HOME/.ureka

when I suddenly realised after a couple of seconds that this deletes all my important files! I killed the process before it ended but I think it deleted my home folder. All my school work, important files were there.
Is there a way I can get them back ? What happened? Could you help me somehow?

Except that the command from the Ureka Web site doesn't do that, of course.  So what did you actually type?  Perhaps something more like

rm -rf $HOME / .ureka

Note the extra spaces.

In any case, if files were actually removed, learn from the experience, restore your backup, and move on.


Can I download older versions of apps? I've got a 1st Generation iPod with iOS 3.1, and I'm frustrated because I most apps don't run on such an old iOS, but I can't put a new iOS on. Is there eny way to get old versions of all those apps?

I'm afraid not. You can keep running old versions of apps, but you can not download them. For example, Check the Weather was recently updated to require iOS 6. If you have an iOS 5 device you can no longer purchase it on the device, but I can keep running the version I have as long as I don't delete it.

I understand and share your frustration.


Moving the cursor using the touchpad inserts "C" This problem happens when I use Parallels (Windows) and Beyond Compare.
When I move the mouse using the touchpad, it will automatically insert C in any place that can input characters.

My OS X is 10.10.5.

Update 2015-12-29
I find when I move the cursor, the Edit will shines, also I imagine C related to copy.

After three months, I finally found reason. The Eudic I installed has function called Zoned word translation. When I open this function, the program will automatically copy text when I use mouse to select it. That will be fine in OS X. But in some application like parallel, it will show this problem.

Solution: cancel this function in the Eudic program setting.


How to get OSX Yosemite outside the Mac App Store I have the following scenario.

At work I run an Ubuntu PC machine with fast connection.
At home I have a Mac without any kind of outside connection (offline)

My question is how do I get the OSX Yosemite offline installer to install it on my home Mac, obviously I can't access the Mac App Store in my Ubuntu machine at work. Is there any way that I can get a direct link for an offline installer ?

Note:

In previous versions I get the ESD dmg file that contains everything that I need to install. But I can't find any kind of that link with Yosemite. All of the current ones redirects to the Mac App Store.
I need the final version released yesterday, Betas or GM aren't an option

It's on usenet already & no doubt torrents [though I don't go there]
The Release build is 14A389

  the release version of Yosemite is build 14A389—the last developer seed was build 14a388, also known as GMC3. The last public beta version was build 14A388b. That makes the MAS release newer than all other released builds

Up to you, of course, to decide whether you trust the source.

SHA1 hash for OSX 10.10 Yosemite public release? Has the SHA1 so you can check whichever version you get...

Extract...
run this command in Terminal:

shasum /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg

response should be

eebf02a20ac27665a966957eec6f5e6fe3228a19  /Applications/Install OS X Yosemite.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg


Using launchd to update MacPorts I want to use launchd to update my MacPorts tree periodically (i.e. port selfupdate.

I have created /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.selfupdate.plist:

$ ls -l /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.selfupdate.plist
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  669  8 Nov 12:49 /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.selfupdate.plist

It has the following contents:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>org.macports.selfupdate</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
    <string>/opt/local/bin/port</string>
    <string>selfupdate</string>
</array>
<key>StandardOutPath</key>
<string>/var/log/org.macports.selfupdate.log</string>
<key>StandardErrorPath</key>
<string>/var/log/org.macports.selfupdate.err</string>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true/>
<key>StartInterval</key>
<integer>604800</integer><!-- 1 week -->
</dict>
</plist>

I've loaded it and verified that it's loaded:

$ launchctl list | grep macports
-   78  org.macports.selfupdate

But it doesn't look like it actually run.

$ port info wireshark
Warning: port definitions are more than two weeks old, consider updating them by running 'port selfupdate'.
wireshark @1.12.8_3 (net)
...

What am I missing?

You probably put the plist in ~/Library/LaunchAgents/. Since /opt/local is owned by root:wheel (that's at least the default), you don't have the proper permissions to write to certain necessary folders (e.g. /opt/local/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/tarballs/tmp). The log files (i.e. /var/log/org.macports.selfupdate.log/err) neither can be created, because only root can write to /var/log/.

So run the selfupdate service as launch daemon:

Remove the launch agent from the launchd database:

launchctl remove org.macports.selfupdate

Move the plist to /Library/LaunchDaemons/:

sudo mv ~/Library/LaunchAgents/org.macports.selfupdate.plist /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.selfupdate.plist

Modify owner and permissions:

sudo chown root:wheel /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.selfupdate.plist
sudo chmod 644 /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.selfupdate.plist

Load the daemon:

sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.selfupdate.plist

Such launch daemon is run with root permissions and can update MacPorts data as well as write to /var/log/.


Uploading photos to Icloud and deleting on the Computer I started to upload my photos from Macbook to Icloud in hopes that I could delete from the Macbook to free up some space. Then I find that if I delete from Macbook, they delete from iCloud.

How can I delete locally nad have iCloud store all the photos?

Think of the iCloud library as one library that exist in the cloud. Setting aside the moment between when you turn it on and when all of the photos are uploaded for just a moment, each of your devices will have some mail of every image in the library as well as a larger version of the file.

On a device per device basis you can request the original sized file or let the system shrink, compress, optimize when storage runs low.

This design works well for people that just want to have one library and not several versions of the library.  The point of iCloud photo library is if you have a 50 GB library total, you'll still end up with the same number of photos on each device even if the entire library size is 10 GB on an iPhone 30 GB on an iPad and 20 GB on your Mac.

The compression only kicks in once your space gets low  on a specific device. I believe there are several settings of compression so that as you begin to fill up your storage with things other than the photo library, the images can continue to shrink up to the point where you have nothing left but thumbnails, presumably.


What's a good Font Manager for OS X? I am searching for a good font manager for Lion. It should work especially with google web fonts.

I need a good overview of non-alphabetic unicode characters. And activating/deactivating would be great i.e. to check, if web pages I work on work well with fonts being installed or not.

So basically I need a font manager, that supports me for developing websites.

Font Case is the app you are looking for. It has activation/deactivation, web preview mode, glyph overviews, collections etc.


How can I completely disable desktop background change? I need to block the possibility for a single user to change the desktop background, or at least to make it possible only by inserting his password on OS X Lion / Mountain Lion.

I want to lock every possibility, from iPhoto to Safari…

One possible solution would be to set the permissions on ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist to be read-only for the user.


Mac OS X 10.6 includes Java 6? The default install of Mac OS X 10.6 includes Java 6, or is it still Java 5?

On my Mac mini under OS X 10.6.5, a java -version gives me Java 1.6.0_22.

It's an out of box + upgrade from 10.6.4 to 10.6.5 and installation of last Xcode 3.