Is there a way for locking the screen and putting it to sleep/activating the screen saver to be two different events on a MBP? This question is very similar to what I want to accomplish, except for the fact that I also want to be able to put the display to sleep at times without triggering it to ask me for a password. I basically want to be able to do two things:

At times, lock the screen, much like I do in a PC by hitting Win+L. I'm fine with the screen going to sleep at this time, and if this step was all I wanted, hitting control+shift+power would do the trick if Require password [amount of time] after sleep or screen saver begins under System Preferences > Security was checked. However;
I also want to be able to, sometimes, just put the display to sleep or let it eventually start the screen saver without it asking for a password afterwards. I could also accomplish this one simply, if I unchecked Require password [amount of time] after sleep or screen saver begins under System Preferences > Security, but again that would make me unable to do what I wanted to do above.

I can do this all in Windows by enabling the screen saver, and not checking the box that specifies that it'd get me to the login screen when on resume. That way, I can let the screen saver get triggered and the display eventually go to sleep and it won't ask me for a password when I resume; and I can also simply lock the session when I want to by hitting Win+L, and then the display will eventually go to sleep.

Is this possible to accomplish in a Mac?

There are a number of posts (here and here) on superuser.sx.

To lock the screen (actually invoking the "Login Window…" action from the User menu, and a direct analog to the Win+L shortcut in Windows):

/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu\ Extras/User.menu/Contents/Resources/CGSession -suspend

To sleep the display (I use this all the time as part of my last command before bedtime on my home machine):

pmset displaysleepnow

Either of these options can be invoked through a keyboard shortcut by tying a shell script to a shortcut (using Automator (like this), Quicksilver, LaunchBar, Alfred, etc., see this post).

It's worth noting that BetterTouchTool can also perform these actions (directly mapping shortcuts to actions like this), as noted in this answer to one of the prior questions). The developer has been giving the app some love recently, which has been wonderful to see.


Droplet with a progress bar? First of all, apologies for my ignorance on the subject. All of this ffmpeg and automation is new for me and sometimes I cannot see even evident things.

I am learning command lines to encode videos (I use FFMPEG to change settings of the video, watermark, all this sort of things to improve my workflow)

Now I am trying to transform those command lines in to Applescript droplets apps to make life easier. Last night I managed to turn my first one in an Applescript app droplet but I am missing the progress which I can see when I use the command shell.

I.E.

I can see frames per second, how much inside de video ... this sort of info

I would like to know if there is a way to modify / add something on this script to see similar progress, either tell terminal to open while executing the script or a detailed progress bar pop up.

This is the scrip I am currently starting with

for f in "$@"
do

/usr/local/bin/ffmpeg -i "$f" -vf "drawtext=fontfile=/Library/Fonts/Tahoma.ttf: text='Central Text':\ x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h-line_h)/2: fontsize=100: fontcolor=white@0.2" -s 720x406 -c:v libx264 -b:v 1400k -pix_fmt yuv420p -b:a 192k "${f%.*}_watermarked.mov"
done

If you want to just have terminal open and run you can get an idea from below.

It is not very neat but works of sorts..

example:

on open myFiles
        set bigList to {}
        repeat with i from 1 to number of items in myFiles
            set this_item to item i of myFiles
            copy (quoted form of POSIX path of this_item) & space to end of bigList
        end repeat
     tell application "Terminal"

            do script ("for f in  " & items of bigList as string) & "
    do

    echo  \"$f\"

    done"

        end tell
end open


Mountain Lion - Cycle though windows not working on Terminal Since updating to Mountain Lion, the keyboard shortcut for cycling through windows is not working for me in Terminal (and is driving me nuts!).

Is there any known fix for this issue? The keyboard shortcut shows up on the Window menu as expected, but doesn't work.

I am, of couse, pressing CMD-`, and is not cycling. Selecting the option from the Window menu does cycle through the windows, though.

Update: Although not resolved in Mountain Lion, this got fixed in Mavericks. It was weird: it works properly on Lion and Mavericks, but breaks on Mountain Lion.

Check the Keyboard Shortcuts tab of the Keyboard System Preference-- make sure that Move focus to next window is set to your liking (in the Keyboard & Text item) and that there are no conflicts with any other shortcut settings.  Barring that, a complete re-install of ML has fixed other quirks that cropped up when I upgraded.


Can I ghost/image my jailbroken AppleTV? I have an AppleTV2 (4.4.3) which I have jailbroken and am running XBMC on.  I want to upgrade it to 4.4.4 so it can support mirroring, and jailbreak again, but advice on the internets is split about whether XBMC will run reliably on 4.4.4, so in an ideal world I'd like to create an image of my current setup so I can restore it somehow if 4.4.4 doesn't make the grade.

Is this possible at all?

You cannot do this because even if you backed up your ATV2, Apple recently (or a while ago)  implemented a feature which disables users to downgrade their iPhone/iPad/ATV2 firmware.  The best bet would be to wait until there is a reliable build of XBMC for the 4.4.4 update.  Hope this helps!


Mail app not allowing me to add my outlook(exchange) account At first it stopped getting all my mails from all my hotmail/outlook related account, so I removed it from the preferences
Then now I am trying to add it back and it's giving me this screen.

If anyone else had that issue please help fix it.

NB: Be gentle please I am a noob

I set up the normal way, just add email and it did it magic.
Edit
Well someone mentioned that it shouldn't be an exchange account, for what's worth I did the set up 2~3 years ago I couldn't remember.
So what I did is:
1. Go to system preferences > Internet Accounts > Add other accounts

2. Then select Mail Account

That's it.


Charging an iPhone from a closed MacBook I always thought you couldn't charge an iPhone from a closed macbook without opening it first, and then closing it after plugging the iPhone in. However today my phone was completely dead and I was on a train unable to take my laptop out and open it even a little bit.

the phone charged while it was dead, and when it turned on it was on 2%, however it didn't stay charging, instead 5 minutes later it died again, and starting charging while dead again.

Is there a way to keep the phone charging after it turns on from dead? (without opening the macbook, it seems like it's the phones fault it stops charging as that's the only thing that doesn't change, and it's jailbroken so I can install tweaks)

You would want to enable closed clamshell mode (search Apple.com/support) for the details on what is required on which models:

Attached external display
Connected USB device like keyboard or mouse
Connected to power charger and not running on battery

At this point, you'll get the normal USB charging or the enhanced charge if the hardware detects your iOS device as benefitting from the capabilities of the hardware to charge at a higher rate than 500mA.

If you cannot run in closed clamshell mode, set the sleep to be long enough to get a charge and prevent the lid from closing completely. Setting up power nap will also allow brief moments of charge, but that isn't intended to get a realistic charge over USB.


"show in finder" open the file instead of opening the directory containing it the problem appeared after i tried path finder app, i didn't like it, i removed it using cleanmymac, than i used

defaults write -g NSFileViewer -string com.apple.Finder

and
 rm Library/preferences/com.apple.finder.plist

now every time i click on show in finder, instead of opening the folder containing the file( the default behaviour of finder), it open the file, for EXP: if the file is a dmg it mount it, if it's a text file it open it on an editor, would any one have any idea how to reset finder

I don't know if this will solve your problem but to reset Finder you should relaunch it. To relaunch the Finder, hold down the option key and right-click on the Finder icon in the dock. A list of options will appear. The last option is Relaunch. Click that and the Finder will relaunch.

To relaunch from the terminal: open the terminal and type:

  killall Finder

'


Something was dropped on my iPad Pro, and now the screen is black and won’t turn on? So, my cleaning lady dropped something on my iPad Pro, and now the screen is black. HOWEVER, my problem is a bit... weirder. First off, when I first tried to open it I pressed the home button and saw light bleeding through a crack under the surface of the screen. As I’ve furthered my attempts, small, horizontal lines of light started appearing on the screen. Lastly, when I tried aimlessly tapping, I found that the touchscreen is functioning. In fact, I heard the sound the keys on the sign-in thingy make their usual noises.

I attempted using the age-old method of hard resetting it, but that did not work. Any answers are appreciated greatly.

It is likely that your backlight is broken. If you can, try to shine a flashlight at an angle and look for any images, or use it in a very dark room. If you can see anything being displayed, the backlight is broken.

Either way, you will have to take it in and get it repaired.


Stuck on reinstallation of OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan When I trigger the reinstallation of OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan while in Recovery Mode starting "Reinstall OS X" the InstallAssistant immediately fails:

Mar 16 00:52:25 MacBook-Pro InstallAssistant[458]: @(#)PROGRAM:Install  PROJECT:Install-1000
Mar 16 00:52:25 MacBook-Pro InstallAssistant[458]: @(#)PROGRAM:IA  PROJECT:InstallAssistant-532
Mar 16 00:52:25 MacBook-Pro InstallAssistant[458]: Hardware: MacBookPro12,1 @ 3.10 GHz (x 4), 8192 MB RAM
Mar 16 00:52:25 MacBook-Pro InstallAssistant[458]: Running OS Build: Mac OS X 10.11.6 (15G31)
Mar 16 00:52:25 MacBook-Pro InstallAssistant[458]: Env: DYLD_NO_FIX_PREBINDING=1
Mar 16 00:52:25 MacBook-Pro InstallAssistant[458]: Env: PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin
Mar 16 00:52:25 MacBook-Pro InstallAssistant[458]: Env: PWD=/
Mar 16 00:52:25 MacBook-Pro InstallAssistant[458]: Env: XPC_FLAGS=0x0
Mar 16 00:52:25 MacBook-Pro InstallAssistant[458]: Env: XPC_SERVICE_NAME=0
Mar 16 00:52:25 MacBook-Pro InstallAssistant[458]: Env: SHLVL=1
Mar 16 00:52:25 MacBook-Pro InstallAssistant[458]: Env: __OSINSTALL_ENVIRONMENT=1
Mar 16 00:52:25 MacBook-Pro InstallAssistant[458]: Env: CI_DEFAULT_OPENCL_USAGE=0
Mar 16 00:52:25 MacBook-Pro InstallAssistant[458]: Env: OS_INSTALL=1
Mar 16 00:52:25 MacBook-Pro InstallAssistant[458]: Env: _=/System/Library/CoreServices/Language Chooser.app/Contents/MacOS/Language Chooser
Mar 16 00:52:25 MacBook-Pro InstallAssistant[458]: Can not connect to /var/run/systemkeychaincheck.socket: No such file or directory
Mar 16 00:52:25 MacBook-Pro InstallAssistant[458]: OSInstallChunkedDownload loaded...
Mar 16 00:52:25 MacBook-Pro InstallAssistant[458]: OSInstallChunkedDownload loaded...
Mar 16 00:52:25 MacBook-Pro InstallAssistant[458]: IAPisaDownload loaded...
Mar 16 00:52:25 MacBook-Pro InstallAssistant[458]: IAPisaDownload loaded...
Mar 16 00:52:25 MacBook-Pro Unknown[420]: 2020-03-16 00:52:25.770 InstallAssistant[458:14619] NSColorList could not parse color list file /System/Library/Colors/System.clr
Mar 16 00:52:25 MacBook-Pro Unknown[420]: 2020-03-16 00:52:25.779 InstallAssistant[458:14619] Failed to connect (keyReceivingView) outlet from (IASetupWindowController) to (PUKDiskPickerHorizontalView): missing setter or instance variable

When I look at the above message Can not connect to /var/run/systemkeychaincheck.socket: No such file or directory I guess the issue might be related to the current SIP setting, which is "enabeled".

Question
 Should I rerun the job with SIP switched off? Any advice how to overcome this issue is highly welcome.

Hardware-Software-Environment

MacBook Pro Early 2015 running OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan.
The internal HD is actually a 250 GB SSD comprising partitions EFI, Macintosh HD and Recovery HD. There is no encryption enabled on any of these partitions.

The processing steps sketched below fixed the issue.

Hardware-Software-Environment

MacBook Pro Early 2015 running OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan.
The internal HD is actually a 250 GB SSD comprising partitions EFI, Macintosh HD and Recovery HD. There is no encryption enabled on any of these partitions.
 At the time we started the reinstallation attempt described here, the Macintosh HD partition is unusable as startup volume due to a previously stuck installation attempt, see question above.

Processing Steps

We boot the machine from a startup volume residing on an external HD connected via USB 3.0 Bus. Then we log in to a session in Normal Mode under OS X 10.11.6 .
We download a new El Capitan installation package from
http://updates-http.cdn-apple.com/2019/cert/061-41424-20191024-218af9ec-cf50-4516-9011-228c78eda3d2/InstallMacOSX.dmg
We unpack the package to install the macOS installer.
Now we just run the installer; Internet connection off. The machine rebooted and, after approximately 30 minutes, reappeared with a login screen.
We could verify that OS X 10.11.6 BuildVersion 15G31 had been properly reinstalled to the Macintosh HD partition with no user data or previously installed third party software lost.

Reference
How to upgrade to OS X El Capitan

Acknowledgement
Thanks a lot to @Udhy for the decisive hint to fix the issue.


Unable to understand the instructions for building a symlink I am not able to solve my problem using the instructions below:
Change the default Quicktime screen recording cache in OSX Mojave to be on an external flash drive instead?
I'm trying to change where QuickTime saves its temporary recordings.  I'm pretty sure I have the symlinks set up correctly and still when I do a screen recording, the space on my hard drive decreases quickly and the space on my external hard drive stays the same.
When I execute these commands:
$ cd ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX/Data/
$ ls -alF

I get:
drwx------  12 kylefoley  staff   384 Apr 24 21:30 ./
drwx------   5 kylefoley  staff   160 Apr 24 21:27 ../
lrwxr-xr-x   1 kylefoley  staff    31 Dec 24  2014 .CFUserTextEncoding@ -> ../../../../.CFUserTextEncoding
-rw-r--r--@  1 kylefoley  staff  6148 Apr 24 21:30 .DS_Store
drwxr-xr-x   4 kylefoley  staff   128 May 20  2015 CloudKit/
lrwxr-xr-x   1 kylefoley  staff    19 Dec 24  2014 Desktop@ -> ../../../../Desktop
drwx------   3 kylefoley  staff    96 Dec 24  2014 Documents/
lrwxr-xr-x   1 kylefoley  staff    21 Dec 24  2014 Downloads@ -> ../../../../Downloads
drwx------  30 kylefoley  staff   960 Apr 24 21:31 Library/
lrwxr-xr-x   1 kylefoley  staff    18 Dec 24  2014 Movies@ -> ../../../../Movies
lrwxr-xr-x   1 kylefoley  staff    17 Dec 24  2014 Music@ -> ../../../../Music
lrwxr-xr-x   1 kylefoley  staff    20 Dec 24  2014 Pictures@ -> ../../../../Pictures

I should also add that I'm sure I have the final recording going to my external hard drive.  What I really want to know is how can I find out for certain that where my temporary QuickTime files are going? Also, I was successful in building a symlink that automatically put my screenshots on my harddrive so I sort of know what I'm doing.

UPDATE ##################
$ ls -alF /Users/kylefoley/Library/Containers/com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX/Data/Library/
total 16

drwx------   4 kylefoley  staff   128 Apr 24 23:36 Autosave Information/

Depending on the version of macOS you're running, the temporary files for a screen recording may be stored in different locations by default.

Later macOS use screencapture and the temporary recordings are stored in ~/Library/ScreenRecordings.
Earlier macOS use QuickTime and the temporary recordings are stored in ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX/Data/Library/Autosave\ Information.

In the following commands, replace /path/to/recordings with one of the above paths depending on your version of macOS. You can also safely run each command twice with each of the paths above to symlink both folders to the same destination.

Delete the existing folder to be able to create the symlink in its place.
rm -rf /path/to/recordings

Create the symlink.
ln -s /path/to/destination /path/to/recordings

where /path/to/destination is the path to the folder you want the temporary recordings saved to instead of their normal location. See How can I create a symbolic link in Terminal?.


MacBook Pro hard disk failure. How to recover and clean install? I have a MacBook pro, 2009, 13 inch, Original Snow leopard OS.

Recently, I was experiencing that my MacBook some times froze or restarted automatically! I didn't care, and one day it did not start!

When booting, it does not proceed the first gray page, and circle keeps rotating, until after few minutes the circle changes to a NO Entry sign.

I used Opt key while starting the MacBook and booted into Bootcamp. It works fine, I have been using Bootcamp windows for 2-3 weeks now, and just twice I got the Blue Death Screen, out of sudden!
I got the opportunity to back up all my files.

I used Opt-Cmd-P-R combination and reset the NVRAM.
Also I pressed the D key while starting and made a Apple Hardware Test. The result was recognition of the following problem:
4HDD/11/40000004:SATA(0,0)

Can some one please let me know what my problem is?
If my hard disk is busted, how comes it works (almost) problem-less in bootcamp?
Can the problem somehow be solved? For example if it is a bad sector on my hard disk, by isolating that area or so?
I tried to boot from MacBook DVDs and try to clean install the OS again, but when I restart and press and hold C key, (while the OSX DVD which came by my laptop is inserted), nothing happens! I hear the noise that it tries to read the DVD, and that's it...it just goes on for ages and nothing happens (stuck to gray initial boot page).
How can I have a clean installation of my OSX?
Does my computer (Snow Leopard, MacBook Pro mid 2009), have a recovery hidden partition? How can I access that?

Your helpful comments are highly appreciated.

Thanks.

I'm sorry to tell you that your hard drive is dead (or at least is on the way out), and will need to be replaced. If you're not too confident, you can call Apple Care who should be able to recommend a local shop who can sell you a replacement hard drive and install it for you.

Alternatively, it's quite easy to replace the hard drive yourself. If you google it you'll see there's loads of articles and videos on how to do it (here's a good one to get you started). Apple even has instructions on how to change the hard drive in the macbook pro manual, which is definitely worth a read before you crack it open.


Publishing multiple iOS apps using different developer accounts I need to upload 2 different apps on the App Store using 2 different Apple developer accounts.

Does Apple monitors what apps upload from the same Mac? Can I run into any troubles? Does this interfere with apps review?

Does Apple monitors what apps upload from the same Mac?

No.

  Can I run into any troubles?

No.

  Does this interfere with apps review?

No.

You should be absolutely fine given that you have proper distribution certificates setup for both the accounts and you use the correct ones while creating the app archive and publishing them.

Publishing apps for different account is a routine activity performed by freelancers and companies engaged in offering bespoke iOS development services.


How to move files to trash from command line? I do a lot of terminal work, and today had the experience of typing

rm fileInQuestion.txt

Before finding out that I did actually need fileInQuestion.txt. If I'd deleted in the GUI then I would have just gotten it out of the Trash. I'd like to know if it's possible to overload 'rm' in the Terminal in such a way that it sends the file/files to the Trash on the way out.

The trash command line tool can be installed via brew install trash.

It allows you to restore trashed files via command line or the Finder.


Application shortcuts do not match keyboard layout My MacBook language is set to French, but the physical keyboard layout is US English, therefore I am using a US layout in layout preferences.

Now, this is the problem:

The above image shows the keyboard shortcuts for the Viewer (Aperçu). The problem is that these shortcuts are totally useless when using any layout other than French AZERTY (or maybe also French Swiss Romand (QWERTZ)). Is there something I can do about this (other than change the language, or create a custom keyboard layout)?

It is worth noting that all Apple applications have this issue, notably Safari, Mail, etc.

So, I asked the question on Apple Discussions, here.

There is a solution, but requires one to manually reassign the shortcuts, one by one. Not ideal, but it's a workaround until Apple decides to take macOS development seriously again.

Anyway, the solution is here: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH25377


Mountain Lion boot time extremely slow! After I upgraded to Mountain Lion my MBP (late 2008) started to boot extremely slow. Last time it took 2 hours 46 minutes to boot, now it's already booting for 40 minutes.

I've tried cmd+r (just after restart), which brings up recovery mode; I've tried to repair the drive (via Disc Utilities), but no errors were found; I've tried to fix permissions and etc. I even tried to reinstall (not clean one, just on top).

Any of you know cause/solution to this? (Except clean reinstall, since I really don't want to do it now.)

Also, if I must clean reinstall, is it possible to do it via recovery mode? Or I must have bootable usb/cd etc?

This problem may be the result of failing RAM or a failing disk drive or potentially some other hardware problem.

It should really not take more than 5 minutes to boot a mountain lion compatible Mac in the worst case.

Check how much RAM OS X thinks is in the computer Apple Menu > About This Mac. Make sure it is the amount your expecting, for example if your computer when you bought or upgraded it it said it had 4GB of ram make sure its not showing that there is some different smaller number.
Run a Apple Hardware Test for your Mac.
Try running a memory test program, something like memtest
Back up your important data
Try running a disk testing program, something like TechTool Pro

If all the above fails to uncover a cause try a clean install

Make sure you have a boot-able Mountain Lion Installer, etc or have an internet connection and a "OS X Internet Recovery" compatible Mac
Erase the disk drive, and re-install a clean copy of OS X.
Use the machine for a while, and see if the slow booting problem returns( if there is a problem with the disk the issue should return after indeterminable time). If the problem does not then this would fix it.
If the problem does return I would try a different internal drive to boot the machine with, in order to determine if the problem is with the drive or with the mac.
Repair / replace the failing hardware, note that parts may be covered under Apple's Warranty.


How can I retrieve files from a Time Machine backup done with Snow Leopard when my current OS is Mavericks? I have a Seagate GoFlex home 2 Tb external drive that was installed on my Snow Leopard Mac and configurer with Time Machine. A year ago, due to issues with my Mac, the (internal) hard drive was erased and I subsequently installed Mavericks and re-configured Time Machine with the external drive. I would like to retrieve the files from the Snow Leopard backups, which included many photos for example but I am unable to see them in Time Machine. I can only see the Mavericks backups. Here are additional things I tried:

I tried accessing the external drive via Finder but nothing appears in the Time Machine backup folder. I obviously also looked in the other folders and for hidden files but nothing relevant appears.
I looked at the Seagate GoFlex applications that were included with the drive but none of them allow me to access the backups, including the Mavericks backups.
I tried the Migration Assistant (under Utilities) and I can only see the Mavericks backups.
I checked my Time Machine settings and "tell me when old backups are deleted" is enabled. I would have been noticed (which isn't the case). I also read that new backups can override older ones but my disk still has 1.5 Tb free.

Thank you for your help!

The Time Machine backup format is OS-version agnostic. It doesn't care which version of the OS created the backup or which version is trying to access it.

It does care which machine is accessing the data. As far as TM is concerned, erasing your internal drive turned it into a "new" disk volume. The stuff it backed up before the erasure and the stuff it backed up after the erasure are backups of different disks and have nothing whatsoever to do with each other. That's why when you're browsing the backup of your current disk you can't see further back than when it was created.

This can be fixed, but only if you are mistaken when you say I tried accessing the external drive via Finder but nothing appears in the Time Machine backup folder. This can't be right. Your Mavericks backups, which you say exist, should show up in Finder.

If you look on your backup volume, you should see a folder named Backups.backupdb. Inside that is a folder for every computer you are backing up there. I'll assume there's only one. Inside that folder are a bunch of folders, almost all of them snapshots named according to when they were taken, in the format YYYY-MM-DD-HHMMSS. There will also be an alias name "Later" and maybe a few other folders. If that isn't what you see, I don't know how to help you.

Open TM and see how far back in time you can go. Make a note of that date and time. Exit Time Machine.

In Finder, browse through the list of snapshots to find the latest one from before that oldest Mavericks backup. That was the last snapshot taken from before you erased the disk. If there isn't one, if the oldest snapshot is one you can reach with Time Machine, you're out of luck. You must have erased your TM backup when you set up TM to start backing up the new disk, and your old data is gone.

But if you can find such a pre-erasure snapshot, we can re-associate it with the new disk. That is, we can make TM treat it as a backup of your current boot disk.

To do that, log into your admin account and open Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities). Enter the command

sudo tmutil associatedisk -a /

but don't press return yet. Be sure you left a space after the slash. Open up that pre-erasure snapshot, and you will see a folder for each disk you were backing up at that time. (There's probably only one: your boot volume. That's the one we want.) Drag that folder (the one for the snapshot of your boot volume) to the Terminal window. Drop it anywhere; Terminal will put it in the right place.

Press return. If you've never used sudo before, you'll get a scary warning message, which you should read but ignore. You'll be prompted for your admin password, which you need to type blind. Nothing will be echoed to the screen. Press return at the end of the password.

Time Machine should now be able to browse backwards across the erasure.


Updated iMac to Yosemite 10.10.5 and USB keyboard stopped working I updated my iMac's OS to Yosemite 10.10.5 and found that the Apple USB keyboard is no longer working.

I tried different USB ports to no result.

I tried using the keyboard on another computer and it works fine.

I tried an Apple Bluetooth keyboard and it works fine.

Would anyone know what I could do to get it working again?

Try this, while it is very basic: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH19094?locale=en_US
Also check what other USB are working (mouse, etc.)
Do a PRAM Reset
Restart >
Command + Option + P + R
holding the keys when the Apple sign doesnt appear yet on the screen,
it restarts and USB ports start working.

You can also try a SMC: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

I am using a new iMac with El capitan and preferred using my old USB keyboard instead of the elegant wirelerss one. No problems.


Slow transfer between two external drives Copying data to a USB external drive is much slower than expected.
I have a 6TB external RAID drive that holds my photos, and I'm trying to do an archive copy of this data to another external USB drive.
Both are HDD drives, formatted with HFS+. I have turned off the Spotlight indexing for both drives. I'm using a MacBookPro with fast USB-C ports, and USB 3.0 or better ports on both external drives. All cables are 3.0 (SS) cables or better.
The file transfer started at about 200MB/s then slowed to around 20MB/s and sometimes even less. I'm using the Activity Monitor - Disk  to display the read/write speed.
I think the initial transfer speed was the write buffers on the target drive filling up. I'm expecting a real-life transfer speed for USB 3.0 to be around 100MB/s.
Any idea why this is running so slowly. How can I figure out the bottleneck?
Jim

Assuming there is no fault with any hardware or software, the following are some of the major factors that can contribute to a copy speed proceeding slower than the maximum transfer speed that a hard drive is capable of:

Copying large numbers of small files with a single-threaded copying process...
The overhead of simply opening each file for reading and creating each file for writing plus updating the HFS+ file system metadata takes extra time, which can slow single-threaded copy processes like drag-and-drop in the Finder considerably from this extra file system overhead. Some utilities such as the command-line tool rsync can speed up this process by pre-fetching files into its own memory buffer then writing the files to the destination drive from this buffer, thereby reducing the effect somewhat.  Some third-party tools such as SuperDuper!, Beyond Compare, and others also perform some of this buffering to try and speed the file copy process but regardless of the utility used, copying large numbers of small files will naturally result in a lower overall throughput than if large files were being copied, due to this extra file system overhead.
Copying large files from a hard drive with a severely fragmented file system...
Copying at the file-level will open the file on the source drive then copy that file from beginning-to-end to the destination drive, but the file may not be stored contiguously on the source hard drive. In that case, the hard drive read-write head may have to seek to many different areas of the disk in order to read the file in-order, slowing file transfer considerably.  This is more common for files that have changed a lot on disk over the years, and not so much for archival files that were created on the drive once then left (like photos) so this is probably not the case here.
Copying files from a newer shingled-magnetic-recording (SMR) hard drive...
The newest SMR hard drives cannot directly read the area on the drive that the HFS+ file system says contains the file.  It must first read an entire track all the way around the disk, then pull out the portion of the data from that track that contains the file data that was requested. This is especially detrimental to copy speed as it mimics the above "fragmented hard drive" example, except it ensures that nearly every file behaves as if it is "fragmented" so unless you are copying the files off of the drive in the exact same order that they were all created, you will encounter severe slow down in copy speed.  This is especially common among the largest low-cost external USB drives available today.


Failed upgrade from macOS Sierra to High Sierra on late 2010 MacBook Pro 15" I attempted to upgrade from macOS Sierra to High Sierra on my late 2010 MacBook Pro and it failed part way through the installation. On restarting it flashes a folder with a question mark on a white screen.

I boot into recovery with Command + r, go to Disk Utility, perform First Aid and both the internal hard disk and the disk image titled "OS Base System" checks out fine with no issues. I tried unmounting and mounting the hard disk. It still doesn't show any option to choose the disk as the startup disk.

I tried reinstalling macOS from the utility menu and after a long pause it brings up Terms and Conditions. After accepting them, it says it has begun and shows 8 minutes remaining. After staying at 8 minutes remaining for a few minutes it goes to 14h 22m and stays there and has been so for a few hours.

No errors are popping up, and while I don't know much about this stuff, it appears from the installer log it's having some troubles, various errors finding/creating information. I've restarted several times in between all of this stuff and nothing has worked.

I don't believe I have a backup less than two years old and none are showing up as options. How do I resolve this issue?

I have faced the same issue with the same MacBook. What worked for me was to restart and immediately press Option key. The computer asked me which start up disk to select. Avoid the updater and select your hard disk. Right now I am trying to figure out how to fix the High Sierra damaged installer. If anyone knows, let us know.


How do I restart my iPhone and why should I? Often people talk about restarting an iPhone in the same way you restart a computer.

How do you do this, what buttons do you press?

Also how/why is this different to just turning off the iPhone using top button and then turning it back on?

You can restart the iPhone by holding the power button and home button for about 5 seconds (until you see the apple logo pop onto the screen). You may have to do this if the phone freezes, or otherwise becomes unresponsive.
http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/assistant/phone/#section_2


I can't kill the auto-correcting in Mavericks! Running 10.9.2, I have gone in to SysPrefs and made sure Keyboard>Text is set to NOT auto-correct, I have gone to Mail Prefs and made sure spell checking is done after I finish, but no matter what I try, I can type a valid word (I do have to use some science words, and of course company and personal names) and auto-correct changes them to some crazy "corrected" word in a flash! I have to delete and try again, sometimes it works, more often it gets replaced again! This is annoying.

I saw another question with an answer that told of an overlay showing the original word and how to use arrow keys and enter to replace what was correctly written in the first place; that did not work in my test on an email messsage. Just as a test here (Safari browser), I wrote "c o o l g o n i a n" but without spaces) and it is turned into "Colonna", capped and everything!

What might I be missing? I wondered if there is a plist file I might remove to re-do a prefs for the Mac?

CLARIFYING: While I appreciate the info on turning off spell-check in browsers, I guess I failed to state that this is a system-wide problem, not just in email or browsers. If I write that cool word in Adobe Illustrator, it also changes it to Colonna. So I guess I'm stuck with it, but it makes me nuts trying to enter words "correctly" that get corrected as soon as I hit the space bar!

Apple has multiple spelling and dictionary pre-installed.

Many application used them.

You will need to turn of spelling in each application you do not want to use it.

Usually it is simple by right clicking on the misspelled word and disable the spelling in that pop up for Safari, Firefox, Chrome ect. Also every application (word processing) has a menu setting to turn off spelling.

I prefer the way of adding my unique words to custom dictionary.

Example for Firefox

In Chrome is bit different it is called LEARN!


Why does my MacBook Air's screen look odd for about 20-30 seconds after the battery burned out and I turn it back on? I don't know if this is normal, but about 10 minutes ago my MacBook Air shut down. I plugged it in and pressed the power button and my screen looked odd for about 20-30 seconds. I decided to take a picture of it because it does this every time my battery dies and I plug it in, so here it is:

See how it looks? I don't know why it's doing this. Does anyone know what this is?
Edit (to @OldPro)
Here's a picture of how the screen normally looks:

Normally when you put the Mac book to sleep, it powers down the CPU but leaves power supplied to the memory and other internals so that when you wake it up it can start right away. When you run out of battery power, though, it has to write all of the memory to disk because it doesn't have enough power left to keep the data in memory.   This is called "hibernating" or safe sleep.

When you wake up from hibernation, it takes some time (typically 20-30 seconds) to restore the data from disk to memory. I think that's what's going on in your case.  Is the computer responsive when the screen looks odd like this? If not, then that's almost certainly what's going on.


Clean install macOS keeps restarting and returning to macOS Utilities I'm trying to do a clean install of macOS Mojave on my 2012 13" MacBook Pro using a bootable USB. I'm doing it on a new 1 TB SSD that I've installed after my last one died.

The problem I'm having is that ever time I run the installer, everything looks like it's working, but then towards the end of the installation, the computer restarts and ultimately returns to the macOS Utilities menu.

I've tried formatting the hard drive several times and have even tried installing OS X Mountain Lion via an Internet recovery.

I'm struggling to find a solution to this, so would really appreciate some help.

For the benefit of anyone having this issue in the future. The problem was the hard drive cable.  I've replaced it and now everything is working properly.


Is there a way to preserve terminal tab history across computer restarts? I'm using Mac 10.9.5.  When I run a terminal with multiple tabs (using bash shell), I've noticed that when my computer restarts, the terminal will open up with the same number of tabs that were open in the previous session, but the commands I was running in the previous session (accessible via the "history" shell command) are no longer present in each tab.

Is there a way to preserve each session's history in the appropriate tab between computer restarts?

Try adding this to ~/.bash_profile:

HISTFILE=~/.bash_history.$(basename $(tty))

This creates a unique history file for the terminal associated with each tab.


Connect to ODBC and export data as CSV? Is there a way I can connect to a data source via ODBC and export the data to a CSV file on the mac? Open-source software to do this would be great, otherwise is it possible from the command-line?

Most scripting languages should be able to do this e.g. python, perl, tcl,

Python does this with

AN odbc pachkage - see Python wiki
csv package in the
standard library


Cannot open OpenOffice because the developer is not certified Since the update to Mac OS 10.11.6 the security preferences are not working properly. I'm trying to open OpenOffice and, even though I have disabled limitations, it is refusing to open and keeps telling me that the settings need changing.

After failing to open the app, go to System Preferences -> Security. It should refer to blocking openOffice and give you an option to open it.


How to clear cache of a specific application in iOS? Are there any ways/methods for clearing application cache in iOS? (I am not asking about Is there a quicker way to clear cache on Safari mobile? )

In Android OS, after taking application manager and then selecting a specific app, there's an option to clear cache.

I would like to know if there is any way (like in Android) to clear cache other than closing the application and reopening the same multiple times or uninstalling the application and then reinstalling the same.

If you have installed the app directly from Xcode you can remove the data from the app in the xcode device manager.

Connect iPhone with an USB cable to your MAC
Launch Xcode
Press Shift+Cmd+2
Click on your iPhone in the list
Click on your app in the installed apps list,
Click the "Gear" icon
Click download container
Select where to store the container
Open the container remove the unwanted files,
In Xcode device manager click replace container (Below download container)

Then the cache will be reset.


How to stitch several photos into a single one using Mac OS X in 360 mode or simple? Microsoft made the PhotoSynth application for iPhone but forgot to create one for OS X.

How do I stitch several photos into single one, free apps would be preferable.

I found Hugin to be the best free alternative to PhotoSynth. I only used the Windows version but they have Mac builds too.

PTgui is a commercial alternative to Hugin using the same core library. I remember giving it a spin and not being impressed over Hugin.

Another commercial alternative is Autopano (started as a free GUI to panorama tools and went beyond that with PRO and Giga versions). I has a more polished look and feel and the Giga version is targeted at really large panoramas (think 26 gigapx).


Is it possible to track installed apps usage on iOS devices using MDM profiles? I need to track not enterprise distributed apps, but all other apps installed on the device.
I need the information on when each app was launched, and for how long it was opened.

As I see so far, it is not possible, but maybe I am missing something...

I think your conclusion is correct. This information is not included in the MDM Protocol Reference and therefore isn't available through MDM.

The only way I can think of would be to side-load (using an Enterprise Distribution certificate/profile) an app that uses private APIs to monitor such activity and report back. Not recommended and against the Developer Program T&Cs I believe...


Full-screen apps and desktop arrangements The picture above is a screenshot from Mission Control showing the desktop and full-screen apps. The problem is that I want a different arrangement. I want the order to be Safari-Desktop-iTunes. I can't drag the desktop between Safari and iTunes apps, and when I drag Safari to the left of the Desktop, it goes back to its original place. So how can I modify the place of the Desktop? (I want to use only one Desktop, I know that it is possible when other Desktops are added) By the way I'm using Mountain Lion.

As far as I know, mission control is set up in such a way that the dashboard and the first desktop are immutable (i.e. cannot be changed). There might be a flag or something for it somewhere that you could disable that behaviour, but it would definitely require some serious digging since it's part of how mission control is written.


MacBook Pro / OS X Lion 5 years ago broke my laptop, finally got it repaired but, forgot all my passwords ! Tried to do a factory reset however, the macintosh hd is locked and I can’t find a way to unlock it.
Anyone can help ?

Obviously, if there was a well-known way around passwords that you could just apply, then there would be little point in having them.

There are several different types of password:

Firmware Password
If you see a prompt almost immediately, then that's likely to be a firmware password.

User prompt
Normally, the OS loads and then asks for a username and password.

FileVault password
Sometimes, the OS asks for a password in order to access the encrypted disk.

There is also your AppleID name and password.

It sounds like you're talking about a disk encrypted with FileVault.

Most of these will involve contacting Apple to sort out. You will need proof of your ownership.

Do you have a backup that isn't encrypted? If so, then you can wipe the disk and restore the backup. That will work for a FileVault protected disk.


Why does the file creation date remain the same when copying and pasting a file? When copying a file from flash drive to macOS file system, the file creation date remains the same as the original file.

If it is on Windows, the file creation date of a new file when copying a file and pasting it will not be same as the original file, but will have the current date time instead.

Why is the behavior different between OS? Is this due to the different specification in NTFS and HFS file system?

This is because the GUI copy function on macOS preserves all attributes by default.
To put it in command line terms:
When you copy and paste a file in macOS, by default its doing this:
cp -a /source/file1 /destination/

which preserves attributes such as permissions and timestamps.
The only workaround for this (i.e., to achieve Windows-like behavior) is to copy files using the command line. Applications -> Terminal.app
and use the following command:
cp -r /source/file1 /destination

Alternatively, you can simplify the process by allowing terminal to get file paths by simply dragging and dropping the source file and the destination folder:

Search
Type "Terminal". Press return
Type cp -r
Drag and drop the source file
Drag and drop the destination file
Press return again.


How can I force my keyboard backlight to turn on? I have a MacBook Pro. When it senses the ambient light is low, the backlit keyboard turns on, and there are keys that let me control its brightness.

But when enough light reaches the ambient light sensor, the backlight turns off and I can't adjust it:

In some settings the screen may be illuminated, but the keyboard is not well-lit and hard to see, so I'd really like the backlight to turn on. Is there any way to force-enable it?

gentmatt’s answer seems useful!

Alternatively, you could try going to System Preferences → Keyboard, and unchecking the “Automatically illuminate keyboard in low light” setting. That should prevent the “disabled” icon from your screenshot altogether.


Connecting to password protected AFP server from terminal? I have one Mac set up with file sharing on the desktop, and I am trying to connect to it from my other Mac from the Terminal.  I made a folder mount in /Volumes/, then I used the following command.

sudo mount -t afp afp://user:pass@ipaddress/Desktop /Volumes/mount

(obviously I changed the user/pass/ip to the correct information)

Though whenever I try to access it, it says I do not have permission.  When I access it through Finder with the same username and password, it works perfectly fine.

Is there any reason this is not working?

Edit - If I run the ls command with sudo I can access the files.  So update to the question:

Is there a way to change the ownership of the Volume? chown is throwing the error Operation not permitted, even with sudo.

To mount a share in Terminal use the following commands:

mkdir /Volumes/mount
mount -t afp afp://user:pass@ipaddress/Desktop /Volumes/mount

This works because the folder /Volumes is world read & writable.

If you use sudo mkdir /Volumes/mount mount has the following permissions:

drwxr-xr-x+ 2 root  admin  -       68  8 Mär 02:40 . <- mount
drwxrwxrwt@ 5 root  admin  hidden 170  8 Mär 02:40 .. <- /Volumes

and the only possible command to mount a share is:

sudo mount -t afp afp://user:pass@ipaddress/Desktop /Volumes/mount

because you are not allowed to "write" (=mount) to the folder mount as non-root user.

with the following result:

drwx------  1 root  wheel  -        264  8 Mär 02:38 . <- mount (the share "Desktop")
drwxrwxrwt@ 5 root  admin  hidden   170  8 Mär 02:42 .. <- /Volumes

and you can't even open (=read) the folder with your user.

If you create the mount folder with mkdir /Volumes/mount the permissions looks like this:

drwxr-xr-x+ 2 user  admin  -       68  8 Mär 02:42 . <- mount
drwxrwxrwt@ 5 root  admin  hidden 170  8 Mär 02:42 .. <- /Volumes

After mounting the share with:

mount -t afp afp://user:pass@ipaddress/Desktop /Volumes/mount

the permissions look like this:

drwx------  1 user  staff  -        264  8 Mär 02:38 . <- mount (the share "Desktop")
drwxrwxrwt@ 5 root  admin  hidden   170  8 Mär 02:42 .. <- /Volumes


Siri calls random numbers even though it is deactivated I have Siri deactivated in the General --> Siri settings.

Nevertheless, if I press the Home button long enough, Siri starts to listen, and then calls some random number.

Resisting the urge to rant about Apple delivering such a shame of a feature, I'm simply asking:

How can I REALLY deactivate Siri?

Again: I deactivated it in the General --> Siri settings, but it's still not deactivated.

If you disable Siri iOS still leaves VoiceControl enabled. This is the basic pre-Siri voice-control system on the phone for queuing music and dialing by voice without needing an internet connection.

There is no publicly documented way to disable it completely short of disabling cellular access (i.e. airplane mode).

However, you can stop calling from the lock screen:

Open Settings
Open General
Open Passcode Lock (which is named Touch ID & Passcode on newer devices)
Turn off Voice Dial

Now, if you press it, it will tell you calling is disabled. Not perfect, but better than calling random numbers.

Alternatively, if you just want to stop Siri pocket dialing, you can turn Siri back on, and then on the Passcode Lock screen,you can disable access to Siri from the lock screen. That prevents Siri from appearing when locked completely. Might be a better solution if the pocket dialing is your underlying issue.


Is there a better photo application than iPhoto for managing iPhone videos and photos? I've been using iPhoto for my photos and videos.  However, it's become so slow, I'm lucky if it can download my 2 or 3 photos/videos when I leave my computer on overnight.  And then I have to often force quit iPhoto even after unplugging my iPhone because it just makes my computer unbearably sluggish.

I'd love it if I can solve this problem, but really iPhoto is not ideal for me anyway.  Backing up through dropbox is not seamless.  I need to create aliases and each computer needs to have their own folders and cannot share the organization.  The organization of the photos and videos is not great either.

I think I have pretty common needs for photo/video management.  I also love the iCloud photostream.  What's the best photo/video management tool?

The only other app on the Mac that can access photostream is Aperture. So your choices are migrate to Aperture - and that's even less designed with sharing in mind - or fix iPhoto. Performance issues like you describe can be down to a number of issues - Disk Space, Ram, bunged up caches and so on. What fixes have you tried?


What is the highest resolution external display that can be driven by the Late 2012 13" Retina MacBook Pro The MacBook is configured with 2.5 GHz Intel i5 processor, 8 GB of RMA and the Intel HD Graphics 4000 with 768 MB shared memory.

It's running Mac OS X 10.8.5 (12F45).

In particular, I'm wondering if it can drive Ultra HD display with a resolution of 3840 × 2160?

If you are talking about the non-Retina version, then the highest it can go is 2560 x 1600 pixels for one display. (Source (under "Graphics and Video Support")).

If you are talking about the Retina version, then it can also go up to 2560 x 1600 pixels, but up to two displays. (Source (under "Graphics and Video Support"))

Conclusion: you should still be able to use the display in question, but your Mac will only let your monitor go up to 2560 x 1600.


Can I configure the relative brightness level that auto-adjust will set? I enjoy the Mac OS X brightness auto-adjustment on my MacBook Air, but I would usually prefer the screen dimmer than the level it decides on. This would also conserve some charge.

I don’t suppose there is a way to bump it down a few notches? (I have searched for this and found nothing, so I assume the answer is no. But it is difficult to pick keywords that will produce relevant rather than almost-relevant results so there is a slim chance that I am overlooking it, and I shall remain hopeful yet.)

This would be in 10.7.4, in case that is relevant.

You can use Shady.
The way it works is that it...

...pull(s) a virtual shade over your screen ... dimming the display to a more comfortable level.
Shady will save your shade level and restore it next time you launch the app.

As it's just a virtual (but effective) dimming method, I doubt that this saves much energy, but I cannot confirm this as LED displays should consume less power if displaying darker colors.


hdf5: where are you? (brew) On yosemite.  I want to install octave: but hdf5 can not be found.

00:48:51/shared $brew tap homebrew/science
Warning: Already tapped!

So I went to try to insstall hdf5 directly:

wget https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-science/blob/master/hdf5.rb
$ mv hdf5.rb /usr/local/Library/Formula
$ 00:47:59/shared $ll /usr/local/Library/Formula/hdf5.rb
-rw-r--r--     1 steve  staff   70014 Jan 13 00:46 hdf5.rb
$ brew install hdf5.rb
Error: No available formula for hdf5
Searching formulae...
hdf5
Searching taps..

It's been moved to homebrew/science but it seems there is a a conflict with the main homebrew listing for it.

The workaround if you're just trying to install octave is to edit the octave recipe and explicitly point it at homebrew/science/hdf5 for the dependency.

In the command line type

brew edit octave

Find the line:

"depends_on "hdf5" => :recommended"

and change it to:

"depends_on "homebrew/science/hdf5" => :recommended"

Save your changes and brew install octave again


With Firefox Aurora, Mountain Lion hung - but the mouse still worked I've just had my first Mountain Lion lockup. The screen was entirely frozen in place (I have seconds displayed on my clock in iStat Menu and even that wasn't moving) BUT the mouse still worked. I could move that around. Nothing else did anything.

I noticed that the keyboard backlight also didn't come on if I typed anything in.

I have SSH access to the machine and that also still worked so it looks like just the GUI was the problem.

Anyone else had this, and have a fix if it happens again?

Its a MBP Retina, 2.6/16/512, with the SMC update from yesterday applied. No optical bay. Graphics: Intel HD4000 integrated, and a discrete Nvidia GT650M.

At the time of the hang it was on mains power, undocked, no external devices plugged in. The NVidia GT650M was in use (it always is, some of my running apps force it on for some reason, postbox for example).

I had Firefox Aurora (their bleeding edge version) active and it was actually in the middle of rendering an Ebay login page as well.

Suspect an issue affecting the WindowServer process (brief edition for power users)

The symptoms you describe are familiar but not commonplace and in my case, not frequent.

Diagnosis – at the time of the problem, if it recurs

Remotely,

sudo sysdiagnose

After you regain local control, you can analyse the end result.

Remotely,

top -o state

Processes that are stuck should be at or near the top.

Is WindowServer stuck for any length of time?

Workaround

If WindowServer is stuck, you might kill remotely –

sudo killall WindowServer

– but this will cause a local log out, so be prepared to lose unsaved changes.

This relatively short answer is tuned to the opening poster's confidence with remote ssh and bleeding edge stuff.

For a more detailed answer, accepted under a similar question where the cause of a problem may be different: Suspect an issue affecting the WindowServer process (long edition)


How do I install one extension for all Firefox profiles? I run many firefox profiles simultaneously. Since moving to the mac, I've lost the British English dictionary. I can install it as an extension on each profile, but I'd like to install it once across all profiles.

I've tried firefox -install-global-extension "/path/to/extension.xpi" but that appears to have no effect whatsoever. I've tried copying the installed extension into various folders in /Library and ~/Library but nothing has worked.

How do I install a Firefox extension once so it is active for all profiles on the computer (or this user account, either is good)?

You need to put the global extensions (.xpi files) into the /Applications/Firefox.app/MacOS/extensions folder (when you select Firefox.app, right-click and "Show package contents").

If Firefox doesn't recognize the xpi, try to install it for your profile, then move it from ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/<profile>.default/extensions to the path mentioned above.


OS X El Capitan – "package is not compatible" error The build machine used in my project is not based on OS X El Capitan – it is running Yosemite.

So far I've never had problems with the generated installer file (.pkg), but on El Capitan, I receive the error "this package is incompatible with this version of OS X..."

What could be the reasons of such incompatibility? I've found one thread about using SIP protected locations but it doesn't seem to be my issue.
Is there any way to verify if my PKG file is compatible with El Capitan without actually having El Capitan installed?

In case anyone wonders, on El Capitan installers can't copy files to /usr/bin. That was the reason.


Where is `defaults -currentHost write domain key value` written to? When I use defaults write domain key value the information is written to ~/Library/Preferences/domain.plist.

When I use the -currentHost flag, it has a higher priority then when I just use defaults without a specified host.

But where is the value actually written to? It is consistent between system startups, so it must be somewhere on the disk...

If you use -currentHost with defaults it acts on .plist files in:

$HOME/Library/Preferences/ByHost/

As an example, I did not have a com.apple.finder plist file at that location and when I executed the following command, one was created at that location.

defaults -currentHost write com.apple.finder GoToField "/foobar"

$ defaults -currentHost read com.apple.finder GoToField
/foobar
$

Note the full file name contains a UUID however you do not need to include it when -currentHost is used, the normal naming is all that's needed as shown in the command line above.

Example: $HOME/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.finder.6966D045-28DC-544A-97C2-98CDB668DC8B.plist


How can I make Finder display correct 'today' date? 'All my files' shows 'today' as three days ago - even though I've done all kinds of work since then.

Any fixes?

Is it possible the date field is the created date-rather than the modified date? If so, change the displayed properties to the modified date.


Automator can't find Symbolic Links? I'm trying to create an automator workflow that starts out by finding all symbolic links in a given directory.

What's happening however is that even if I set it to return "all files", I end up with every single file except symbolic links.  Automator seems to be unable to see them at all.

Is there a way to get Automator to return symlinks (not aliases)?

I'm unable to reproduce this. Automator seems to returns all files/folders, whether they are symlinks or not.

I set up the following:

$ mkcd testfolder
$ mkdir originalfolder
$ ln -s originalfolder symlinkoforiginal
$ ls
total 24
drwxr-xr-x   5 grgarside  staff   170B 23 Jul 20:04 ./
drwx------@ 11 grgarside  staff   374B 23 Jul 20:04 ../
-rw-r--r--@  1 grgarside  staff   6.0K 23 Jul 20:04 .DS_Store
drwxr-xr-x   2 grgarside  staff    68B 23 Jul 20:04 originalfolder/
lrwxr-xr-x   1 grgarside  staff    50B 23 Jul 20:04 symlinkoforiginal -> /Users/grgarside/Desktop/testfolder/originalfolder

I ran the following Automator workflow:

As shown in the results, both the folder and the symlink were returned.


Using an Italian Windows keyboard in remote management of iMac I'm using TeamViewer on a Windows computer to control an iMac. The keyboard on my side is this, but I set it so that it works like this one (when I push \ I obtain `, when I push Shift\ I get ~, and so on).

At the beginning I thought it was unavoidable, so I started to get used to these changes (hard to do, since I write in LaTeX and the backslash is the most important non alphabetical character). Accidentally I changed the settings such that the keyboard is mapped in the right way, but I don't know how. So far, it's fine; then I unfortunately (and accidentally) turned things back, so I think it's the moment to understand how to manage this settings.

In System Preferences > Keyboard I see there's only the Italian keyboard. Furthermore, even if I add and select other keyboards, I always get ~ when I press Shift-\ (the original behavior).

Could the problem concern being connected remotely?

It was not a problem concerning TeamViewer, nor the preferences/settings of the Mac. Evidently I accidentally pressed Alt-Shift, thus changing the keyboard input method in Windows from Ita to Eng. I realized this by simply visualizing the keyboard on screen and watching it change depending on which window was active.


Problems setting up gmail on ipad On my IPad I use a GMail app for my email.
However some applications seem to require sending via the built in Email client.
That's question #1 - why doesn't for example my camera app allow me to send pictures via gmail?
And question #2 is - the IPad default email client is not allowing me to create a new GMail account with my Gmail configuration in settings.
I  am doing the following in Settings:

Mail, Contacts, Calendars
Gmail
Enter my Name, email address, Google password and description
It gives me a dialog that says "The user name or password for "imap.gmail.com" is incorrect.

Why? This is the same info I use to configure my gmail client, and it works perfectly well.

What to do?
Signed
Cant move stuff off my IPad.

At the moment the way iOS is set up is that if you want to send or share something it will only go through the Mail app.  It's a bit of a bummer, but that's how things are at the moment.  There are slight work arounds, so if you try to attach within an app it uses that app, but in all other cases by default it will always use Mail.

In regards to your Gmail not working, try referring to this article to add your Gmail account to mail.  There are some things that have changed recently with Gmail on iOS devices.  It's not longer setup through exchange so it might not work as effectively as you would if you used the Gmail App.  Your mail will not be pushed automatically you will have manually open the Mail app and refresh to receive new mail.  Another bummer.

I hope this information helps!


How to make iPhone camera silent? On my iPhone, the camera shutter sound follows the ring/silent switch. However, I'd like the camera to be always silent, regardless of whether incoming calls & messages make a sound. Is there any way to configure it that way?

(Non-jailbroken iPhone 4 with latest iOS.)

A simple solution is to use the mute switch on the side of the phone.  The camera shutter sound is controlled by the ringer volume, since the mute switch mutes the ringer the shutter sound is also mute.  However, you are asking an optional permanent solution.  So far there is none.  The application doesn't have any additional options within the app or within System Preferences.

Digging into the app store there is a simple camera application called Secret Camera - Taking Photo Secretly for $1.99. Apple Store Link It looks like it functions like the normal Camera application, but reading its description it doesn't explicitly mention a shutter mute option.  I assume this is an implied feature due to the app's name.


System sounds "queued" up Occasionally, when I've had my mac on mute for a period of time (eg., several hours), and then plug in a set of headphones, I get a backlog of system sounds played to me.  (chirps, new email sounds, etc).

These are sounds that would've/should've been played over the day, but weren't.  It seems the sounds are queued / buffered, then when I plug in my headphones, the queue is emptied.

What causes this, and how do I prevent this?

This is a bug that still exists in 10.8 unfortunately. It also randomly happens now when turning on AirPlay Mirroring so you can hear it on the big screen!

www.apple.com/feedback


How to determine original location of file that is currently in the Trash? Suppose some file "Any File.pdf" is in the Trash (aka ~/.Trash).

How can I determine its original location?

By "original location" I mean the folder where that file would be moved to if one were to apply the "Put Back" command to it (but without actually doing so)?  (See figure below.)

(I had hoped that this information would be available through running "Get Info" on the file, but I did not find it there.)

Data containing a file's original location before being placed in the Trash is keep in the .DS_Store file in the ~/.Trash folder.

Since the trash folder is hidden it can not normally be found using the finder application.  The easiest way to find this file is by using the Terminal and entering the following commands.

$cd ~/.Trash
$open -e .DS_Store

This will open the file in TextEdit.  From there you should be able to quickly search for the file by its name and its original path.

Its seems that files in .DS_Store follow the pattern of:

FILE_NAME ptbLustr ORIGINAL_PATH_TO_FILE

Note spaces are added just for readability.


FaceTime “poor connection” never resumes I FaceTime every other week or so with my parents. We talk for 1-4 hours when we do. Most times, 1 to 3 times throughout the call, the image will freeze, go blurry, and give me the error “Poor Connection, the video will resume automatically when the connection improves” but the video never resumes, even though if I hang up and call back, the video is fine. Is there a way to fix this so that I don’t have to hang up and call back to get the video back?

I usually use a MacBook Air, but it also happens on my iPhone 6s. My parents are usually using either an iPhone 6s Plus or an iPhone 7.

I believe that sometime after I posted this question, Apple resolved the issue with the ability to resume the connection in the case of my MacBook Air and my parents' iPhone 6 & 7, but I only know this because of the same issue recurring in a very specific case:
A few months after the pandemic started, I had set up a FaceTime Portal with my parents between 2 dedicated devices: my iPad Mini and their iPad Air (1 or 2, maxed out at iOS 12.5).
For 3 weeks, it worked great. I ran it every weekday for the whole work day (8 hours per day). I was initially running iPadOS 13.7, and after 3 weeks, I updated to 14.x. Immediately after updating, the problem described in my question started happening consistently every time within a minute or 2 of placing the call.
Calls would barely last a minute before I would see a burry darkened background with a "poor connection" warning. Maybe 10 seconds after that, I would without fail, get a call failed error.
I immediately reached out to Apple. They told me that there was a bug. Initially they told me to watch for an update of iOS 12.5, but ultimately, the problem must have been server-side, because after a few months, it just suddenly started working reliably.
There had been a 12.5.1 update that I had my parents install during that time, but multiple tests after that update showed the problem persisted. I had also updated my iPad Mini to 14.4, and again, the problem persisted.
Then one day, I randomly tested it, as I occasionally did, and it stayed connected all day. I still occasionally get the poor connection message, but it almost always comes back. Nothing changed on my side.
So the answer to this question is, the only thing you can do is call Apple and complain. My feedback carried weight because I had been using FaceTime 8h/day for 3 weeks and they could see it in the logs they requested and they could also see all of the failed calls after the 14 update. Plus, we were each using Airport Extremes for our WiFi connections.


What are the verifiable privacy features macOS provides? Being tired of reading new privacy issues affecting Windows, release after release, and OEMs introducing their own privacy-breaking software (or vulnerability - such as the recent Dell remote execution bug,) I'm looking into how macOS is different. Having heard so many people talking how much Apple cares about their users privacy, whether it's macOS, Macbooks or various devices.

Is there a reliable source / list of privacy feature / officially and legally-binding privacy policy (without having to go through all the fluff) I can refer to, to form my opinion?

Apple has detailed pages describing their intent and operation. There's also an overview of the security technologies used in MacOS.

On MacOS, the main feature is FileVault (or the default encryption on the newest Macs with "T2" controller chips. Disk encryption means that the data on your Mac can only be accessed by someone with the password.
Safari has been at the fore-front of technologies to stop user tracking and maintain privacy.

On iOS, I'm sure you will have seen new reports of the US government wanting Apple to help them get into iPhones, and Apple indicating that is unable to comply, (and also unwilling). Here's Apple's iOS Security documentation.

There will always be vulnerabilities, exploits, and mistakes, of course.


Does the "powermetrics" command line tool come pre installed on mac? I wanted to know if "powermetrics" command comes pre installed on macOS or is it something that needs to be installed?

It is present on macOS, (my MBA is running Catalina,) but you need to run it as root using sudo:
Last login: Wed Nov  4 07:52:42 on console
[tech-computer:~] admin% powermetrics
powermetrics must be invoked as the superuser
[tech-computer:~] admin% sudo powermetrics
Password:
Machine model: MacBookAir8,1
SMC version: Unknown
EFI version: 1037.4.0
OS version: 19H2
Boot arguments: chunklist-security-epoch=0 -chunklist-no-rev2-dev
Boot time: Wed Nov  4 07:52:07 2020
.
.
.


How to delete one history entry in Safari on iOS? On iOS, I have the history of Safari.

I want to delete some entries one by one. Is this possible ? I have tried going left — to no avail.

I have an iPad mini on iOS 7.

On iOS 8, I can delete an entry from the history by sliding left on it and clicking Delete.

This is a very nice addition. :-)


Is there a way to switch between two folders for iTunes Media, especially for Macbook Air or Macbook Pro for limited storage? For Macbook Air and Macbook Pro, with SSD, the drive might be limited to 128GB or 256GB.  The drive also might have bootcamp for Windows, so that will further decrease the drive's size for Mac.

When the drive is closer to being full, can we "switch" between

/Users/mike/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media

and

/My Passport/iTunes Media

any time we want?  (My Passport is a Western Digital Passport Drive with 1GB).

That seems ok as the Help in iTunes's Preferences says:

  iTunes Media folder location

  To change where songs and other files you import into iTunes are
  located, click Change.

  To change back to the original location for files (Home/Music/iTunes),
  click Reset.

This is also useful if we want to keep, say, 20GB of music on the MBA or MBP, so we can take it with us any where, and keep all the PodCast videos, movies purchased on iTunes, iTunes U videos on the external drive, so when we are home and plug in the external hard drive, we can change the path back for the videos.

(This is not so convenient, as we need to change the path for music and then for videos, but at least it may be a workable solution.  My library is about 550GB on iMac so I am afraid it may mess things up if I change it to the external drive and change it back and all the references to songs and videos, and the indexing for search are gone).

(what if we create a "symbolic link" from /Users/mike/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/iTunes U to /My Passport/iTunes Media/iTunes U and the same for Movies and Podcasts as well, and copy all those files over?  Then when the drive is plugged in, things should work, but if we unplug the drive and take the MBA or MBP to a coffee shop, will iTunes act weird or lose the references or index to those missing videos?)

Hold the Option Key (alt) and then open iTunes and it will ask which iTunes library you would like to use.

I use one as my main library and another on a NAS as an archive for stuff I hardly ever listen to but can't bring myself to delete.


Is my MacBook security compromised? About a week ago, I installed an application in my MacBook from a dubious source. Since then I noticed some weird behaviours.

First, while I was making a bank transfer in Safari, I got the following popup warning:

  “Safari” would like to control this computer using accessibility
  features

I denied the access, as it never asked for it before and I saw no reason to grant it.

A couple of days later, while I was browsing, I clicked on a google result and got redirected to a blank page. I thought the site was not working so I clicked back. I then got this message:

Which was not the site I clicked at all in Google results. I got back to Google results and clicked again on the same result. I was redirected to the correct page without any problem.

I got suspicious and installed Antivirus Thor Lite from the App Store. It detected several infected files with Pua.Win.Trojan. But I think that these are files infected with Windows viruses and that they don't compromise my Mac. Malwarebytes does not detect any issue either.

Right now I'm suspecting that I may be somehow infected. What do you guys think? Whats the best way to know for sure if I'm infected?

download, install and run a scan from Malwarebytes for Mac. Sounds like you have malware installed.


How to capture a high quality screeshot in 1920 x 1080? I want to make 1920 x 1080 screenshots of the entire screen, but there's no 1920 x 1080 option in the Displays menu.

There's a 1920 x 1080 option on SwitchResX, but when I select that one, the text on the screen becomes slightly blurry. I suppose that happens because that ratio is not supported, therefore the monitor is stretching or compressing the screen. That said, there shouldn't be any blurriness because there's one black strip on top and one on the bottom of the monitor meaning the monitor is adjusting the size so there no need for stretching or compressing.

Anyone know how to get a clear view in 1920 x 1080?

I am using Macbook Pro 2016, macOS Sierra 10.12.6.

I set the resolution to 1280 x 800 in the Displays menu:

However, when I take a screenshot of the entire screen, the produced image has a resolution of 2560 x 1600.

If I set the resolution to 1920 x 1200 on the Display menu, the produced screenshot will be 3840 x 2400. I also to set the resolution using the SwitchResX app instead of Displays, but I get the same behaviour.

My end goal is to get a screenshot of the entire screen in 1920 x 1080. How can I do that?

P.S. I also need to capture screencast videos using Camtasia in that same resolution, but the same blurriness issue happens with videos.

I am using Mac Pro 2016, macOS Sierra 10.12.6

The reason you're having problems is that you are currently using "Retina-mode". This means that the systems outputs a high resolution to the display, but makes it "look like" a lower resolution - which is what is stated on your screenshot. I.e. the display might "look like" 1280x800, but the actual resolution is 2560x1600.

The idea is that the system render text at a much higher resolution, but changes the font size to match, so that the output text is at the same physical size as if you had the low resolution, but it is displayed at the higher resolution meaning that it will be sharper, crisper and easier to read.

In order to change the real resolution to 1920x1080, you'll need to use SwitchResX and change the resolution to 1920x1080. However, take care that you choose the option that doesn't say "HiDPI" to the right. This is the name SwitchResX uses for Retina Mode. If you choose 1920x1080 at the bottom of the list where it is stated without HiDPI, you'll get that real solution - and screenshots are then taken with that resolution.

Doing it this way introduces no artificial blurring, stretching or anything of the sort. Text and everything will be rendedered in 1920x1080 without modification. However, the text will not be as "clear" as when you're using Retina-mode - but you cannot expect more with a 1920x1080 resolution.


When you connect your phone to a public wifi, is it possible for someone to see your photos being uploaded to iCloud? When your phone backs up the photos, can someone see the photos?

Short answer, no.

Essentially, not only is the transmission encrypted -  see
iCloud security and privacy overview
but also since iOS 8 your phone changes its MAC address pseudo-randomly, so it can't even be identified as 'your' phone for a lot of the time.

Every time a new potential exploit is discovered, there will be an update to close the door on it - see About the security content of iOS 8 for some eye-glazing detail… ;)

Some of this is not actually published by Apple, as the last thing they want to do is give away how they are trying to ensure your security.


MacBook OS X Mavericks reinstallation I'm trying to reinstall OS X Mavericks on a MacBook through internet the error that i receive is:
"This item is temporarily unavailable."

For me at least, since I previously "purchased" Mavericks from the App Store, it showed up in my previous purchases list so I was able to download it. If you never actually installed Mavericks from the app store directly (i.e. upgraded an older Mac using the App Store) then it probably won't be there. This is a strange oversight on Apple's part - some apps out there still don't properly support Yosemite, and my workplace also has had problems with Yosemite working with their directory infrastructure, so we still use Mavericks as a matter of course.

If you didn't "buy" (read: download for free) Mavericks officially from the App store, your only option is to find a friend who did and ask them to create you a USB installation media. Instructions for doing this are easily found on the Internet.


Backing up External Drive without Time Machine I'm not too familiar with Time Machine. I cannot recall if Time Machine creates full version-controlled images, or just changes what's different since last time.

I'm interested in the latter, I don't need rollback iterations or anything, just a clone of the present.

I ask because the backup drive I just got is not that large, I don't want any space wasted.

Time Machine use an incremental backup approach, where each backup only contains the differences since the previous backup. For a single, changing, file over time, Time Machine keeps state snapshots of the file so you can move backwards in time and see how the file was at previous, different states.

As the disk fills up, Time Machine will purge the oldest snapshots it has. Time Machine will do this opportunistically to ensure that your backup disk always has enough free space to store the next incremental snapshot of your live data it wants to make.

Time Machine doesn't back up everything. It has user-specific exclusion lists as well as a built-in exclusion list. Because of this, the target backup drive doesn't need to be many times bigger than source drive, only a few times bigger than the data set on the source drive that it will be backing up. You can exclude the operating system files for the most part.

For example, on this Mac, you can see that even though there's over 500 GB of storage used on the Main drive, the Time Machine drive isn't 100% full and actuall stores many, many months of incremental backups:

My rule of thumb is you'd like 2x the amount of data you have if you want a long history. But you can get by with 1.5x if all the files on your source drive aren't changing frequently which is true the vast majority of the time.

If you just want to make regular, scheduled, clones of your drive you can use something like Carbon Copy Cloner, which includes a feature for scheduling clones, to take a snapshot of your source drive to a target drive that doesn't contain incremental backups, but is made by taking an incremental update approach. It will only update files on the target if they've changed since the last backup was made and the target drive will only contain the state of your source drive as it was the last time a backup was done.


MacBook Pro 2013 NVME booting Issues A while back I did an SSD upgrade on my 15" MacBook Pro 2013.  The SSD I'm using is an ADATA SX6000 256gb.  I purchased the Sintech adapter to use with this drive and I had no issues installing MacOS Mojave or any of the sleep issues that I've seen people have online.

However, after a month of use my MacBook suddenly won't boot and all I can see is a folder with a question mark flashing.  I thought maybe the new SSD unfortunately failed but when I installed it into my main PC it was able to recognize it without any issues.

What I'm wondering is if this is an adpater problem as the original drive still works with this MacBook, it's only the new one that doesn't.

I'm looking for help or advice on how I can narrow down the problem?

You have pretty much answered your own question.

Tried SSD on another system and it works, CHECK
Old drive works fine, so it's not the Mac, CHECK

This points directly to the only other piece of hardware you haven't tested elsewhere, the adapter. So, unless you can test that adapter and drive in another similar Mac I would say you should replace the adapter.

Note that I have been doing computer support (Macs, PCs) for a long time and have learned that nothing is always as simple as that. Your issue seems cut and dried, and if I was a betting man I would bet on the adapter being the culprit. But computers are complex beasts and don't always yield to logic. They're too complicated, too many parts interacting in too many ways, for everything to be bug free.


Send hotkey combinations to remote Mac? I'm working on another Mac remotely, via the Screen Sharing app. Is there a way for me to send my swipe gestures and "hotkey" keystrokes to the remote machine?

It's kinda annoying to have to keep minimizing "Lion fullscreen" apps to switch back and forth. In the interim, I've set up hot corners, but it's also clunky, because my MacBook is 13" and the remote machine is a 27" iMac.

Screen Sharing.app's support is pretty limited; while its never ideal to rely upon a third-party solution, you might want to check out the excellent TeamViewer.  It's free for personal use, cross-platform, and has iOS versions available.


My Itunes and AppStore are in German, and I can switch them to english Every thing else seems fine in english.  just bought the thing today. My head's about to pop off my neck.  Any suggestions on how to fix it?

First check Region of your Apple ID:
Open iTunes and click on iTunes Store. In the store, click on Anmelden on the top right and enter your password. Under Apple ID Übersicht select Land oder Region ändern. Choose the appropriate one.

Then check your system locale. You can find it under Systemeinstellungen (System Preferences)->Sprache & Text (Language & Text)->Sprache (Language). Drag English to the top of the list. This will change your system language to English.

If you don't want to, you could use Language Switcher to permanently or temporary to change the language iTunes starts up in. This does not affect the stores!


How to clean MacOS? (Ad keeps popping up) I installed some video player and might accidentally clicked to install something in my Mac. Then I deleted the player from the application folder. Now, after several hours, the system pops out a small window (alert window, with accept and reminder me later button on the right). Safari and AppStore also pop out with the PDFExpert app page shown.
I am wondering is there any place to fix this issue. I didnot find anything special in my Notification center nor any special app installed in my Application folder. Is there anywhere else I need to check to fix it?

If no, I might need to us my timemachine to recover.

I would run Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for the Mac and clean things up. It is free. Get it direct from Malwarebytes: https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/


What is a good way to move my MacBook life to a temporary computer, and back to primary computer? I use my MacBook Pro extensively, for work and pleasure. I have a lot of apps and settings. I have a ton of data in my Calendar app and Contacts app. I have a sequence of year-based project directories in ~/Documents/Projects/2019/, ~/Documents/Projects/2018/. I keep backups on two different drives.

And this MacBook Pro is broken, so I have to repair it. Repairs will take a week. I don't want to stop all that activity for a week. I want to move enough of my apps and settings and data to a temporary computer that I can keep working, then move back to my main computer when it is repaired.

What is an effective way to stop changes on my main computer, transfer all of my state to the temporary computer so that I can work without disruption, then transfer all of my state back to the main computer when it returns?

Note that it's important to have a clean way to be able to keep accumulating project data on the temporary computer, and to move all that project data seamlessly back to the main computer when it returns.

I have a file server, which keeps archives of the past year's project directories. Let's assume that I can copy ~/Documents/Projects/2018/ and earlier to that server, and delete them from my main computer. Thus what I really want to transfer is what is in my home directory outside this year's projects, and apps and settings, and the accumulated project data from the time I am on the temporary computer.

Here are some assumptions to clarify the problem:

I have access to the temporary computer for enough overlap time (a day? a week?) before and after, to perform the transfer
The main computer still functions. It can do its part in the transfer. I can delay the repair until a convenient time.
I have access to plenty of storage locally
I want to avoid cloud storage in favour of local storage which I control
I am willing to buy utility software if it helps
I am comfortable running sysadmin tools, using the command line, etc.
I need a way to delete all my data from the temporary computer when I am done
It would be nice, but not essential, to delete the data on my main computer while it is in for repair

The temporary computer might be a rental, in which case let's assume I could install or delete anything I want, because they will re-image the system when they get it back. Or, the temporary computer might be one of my spare laptops, in which case I can create a new user account for temporary use, and delete it after, but I can't completely blow up the contents of the disk.

I especially hope for answers which describe something you actually do, and which has worked well for you.

Make a complete copy of the primary computer's hard drive using Carbon Copy Cloner to an external SSD / hard drive. Boot the secondary computer from this new disk (turn off computer, connect drive, hold option when restarting to select it as the boot disk). Booted from the external drive, the secondary computer will be just like the primary one now, same files and configuration.

When the primary computer comes back, use CCC again to copy the data from the external drive back to its internal hard drive.


Screen Rotation Lock now turns off iPad speaker After upgrading the iPad to 4.2.1 the screen rotation lock button no longer has any effect on the screen rotation.  Instead it turns off the speaker.  I've looked in settings but I don't seem to find any way to change this behavior.

At iPad: Understanding screen rotation lock, Apple says:

  Beginning with iOS 4.2, the switch previously used for screen rotation lock functions as a silence switch for notifications and system sounds.

Sucks, doesn't it?

It is still possible to lock the screen rotation on an iPad (and that article explains how); there's just no hardware solution any more.


NTFS and Veracrypt VS HFS+ Encrypted? I want to create a backup disk where I occasionally connect it to my macOS and copy important things manually.

I may also connect this disk to Windows in rare cases.

I also want to encrypt the disk/container.

I accept to lose the ability to use this disk on Windows. (which may occur if I choose HFS+ encrypted)

What is the most reliable and fast way to achieve this?
Using NTFS and Veracrypt?
Using HFS+ Encrypted?

If you format the disk exFAT you will have a disk that is read and writable on both systems. Then on the mac side you can create an encrypted disk image on that drive that is only accessible on a Mac. You can also create an encrypted .zip file on the PC (with 3rd party software) that is only readable on a PC.

Alternatively, if you don't mind partitioning the drive, you can create a drive with one NTFS and one HFS+ partition on it then you can encrypt both at the file system level and each will be accessible only on their corresponding operating system.


Bash Ctrl-A Returns to Start of Line but Doesn't Display Properly When I ssh into a Linux server from bash Terminal, I can use CTRL+A to return to the start of line properly, and CTRL+E to go to end of line and everything works fine.

When I use bash locally on my Mac, when I use CTRL+A it logically goes back to the start of the line, but doesn't display the cursor in the correct place.  It displays the cursor 7 or so characters off and doesn't update the line text correct.

Example

find . -name "hello.cpp"

CTRL+A!

find . -name "hello.cpp"
       ^~~ cursor shows here ????

Insert "this is a test" (just to show)

Displays:

find . this is a test -name "hello.cpp"
                      ^~~ cursor is still here ???
       ^~~~~~~~~~~~~^ text inserted here ???
^~~~~~^ unchanged for some reason

Command executed

this is a test find . -name "hello.cpp"

I use the same

PS1=\n \e[1;95m \u@\h \e[0;32m\w \e[1;30m $(__git_ps1 " (%s)" ) \n \e[1;95m \@ \n $ \e[0;30m

as I do on Linux.

Version Info

bash version: 3.2.57(1)
terminal version: 2.6.1 (361.1)
OS X El Capitan, 10.11.5

Add \[ and \] around the colour codes to enable bash to calculate the line length correctly. Something like this:

PS1=\n \[\e[1;95m\] \u@\h \[\e[0;32m\]\w \[\e[1;30m\] $(__git_ps1 " (%s)" ) \n \[\e[1;95m\] \@ \n $ \[\e[0;30m\]

(This answer is taken from @Mark's comment on the question.)


DNS doesn't work properly in OS X Yosemite There is a problem with resolving DNS in my OS X Yosemite.

Safari doesn't load web sites, ping says "unknown host" to google.com. DNS servers set to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.

dig google.com

Gets proper information about google.com domain and others. nslookup also works properly.

I cannot reboot because I've got another user logged in and his data will be lost.

Restarting discoveryd doesn't seem to help. TCP dump shows no UDP activity when Safari or ping trying to resolve.

I experienced that problem on my MBP as well. I suppose it's a bug in Yosemite.
Here's a related question: Yosemite cannot resolve domain names maybe it gives you some insight

My work around is flushing the DNS cache:

sudo discoveryutil mdnsflushcache

if that command doesn't work try this one instead:

sudo discoveryutil udnsflushcaches

I am not sure if this helped fixing it, but I did a PRAM and SMC reset as well.


Erratic battery percentage behavior I purchased an iPod Touch in December 2011. It came with a Target 2 year warranty. From the time I started using it the battery never read correctly. I decided before the warranty was up in February 2013 to send it in for repair. They returned it and said they replaced the battery. It still does not read correctly.

I have done backup and restores as well as full wipes without restoring the backup. Upgraded OS. Currently it is jailbroken but it performs this way with the jailbreak installed or not.

I installed a cydia package that displays the actual battery health and it says the design capacity is 930 and currently it is at 859. So I dont think its a bad battery. I have uploaded a video to YouTube to show the issue.

Anyone have any ideas?

I'm a n00b so can't reply to your comment, but can hopefully give some more details in this answer.

Yes, the battery on the 4th gen touch (assuming that's the correct model) is soldered to the board. It would be interesting to know what Target did, as Apple don't do actual repairs on iPods - it would have been replaced like-for-like under their warranty. The fact that you're having the same issue persisting after the battery was replaced, and you've ruled out software by restoring would obviously suggest something else as you mentioned. There's not much in the way of diagnosis avaliable for these but I'd guess that it's likely to be an issue with the power management IC on the board.

If you're experienced with BGA work, this could probably be replaced, but it would be easier to replace the board if you can get hold of one, or to be honest just replacing the iPod in this case I think. Depending on the storage size, an out of warranty swap from Apple is maybe around $100 if you're in the US (90 day warranty), or they should give you around 15% off a new one in-store if you give it to them for recycling and buy a new one. Lastly, you could of course punt it on eBay or the like and get a new one.

Hope that's of some help.


Cannot update macOS with new Apple ID I have a MacBook Pro with macOS 10.8.5. I am trying to update to High Sierra with a new Apple ID. After entering my Apple ID it says 'This Apple ID has not been used with the App Store, please review your account information.'

When I click Review, it says 'Software update required, to make changes to you need to upgrade your mac to the latest version macOS.'

I dont have any other apple devices to set up my Apple ID with.

I assume you are doing that from one of the System Preferences?

If so, log into https://appleid.apple.com/#!&page=signin with that new account in a web browser.

You may have to feed it a credit card or some other payment option because That Is The Way Apple Works (sigh...). Once you have done that you should be able to log in and download the new OS.


How to prevent Finder from waking up the second hdd? I do use a SSD+HDD setup on MBP but from time to time Finder is trying to access files from the HDD and is waking it up.

I'm not saying about usual cases, this happens even when I do nothing.

Doing a lsof |grep /hd/, hd being the mount name of my hdd shows me that Finder is the cause.

Also, I do not want to disable Finder for the entire drive, and btw, I heard that this could not be the solution.

sorin@sPro ~ $ lsof|grep /hd/
iTunes      269 sorin   24r     DIR               14,5       136   397463 /Volumes/hd/sorin/iTunes Media/Automatically Add to iTunes.localized
iTunes      269 sorin   25r     DIR               14,5       442   397461 /Volumes/hd/sorin/iTunes Media
iTunes      269 sorin   26r     DIR               14,5       306 13961723 /Volumes/hd/sorin
Finder      276 sorin   18r     DIR               14,5       204 14556315 /Volumes/hd/Backups.backupdb
Finder      276 sorin   21r     DIR               14,5       170 16025097 /Volumes/hd/sorin/Movies/boxoffice/The.Iron.Lady.2011.720p.BluRay.x264-Felony
Finder      276 sorin   24r     DIR               14,5      2380 13959970 /Volumes/hd/.Trashes/501

The files are being accessed in read-only mode - the r in the fourth column, the file descriptor column, indicates this.

Is this a media and/or backup drive of some sort?

In any case, I believe Finder is opening those directories because the volume is mounted. Even seemingly innocuous actions may call Finder to wake and read the drive, such as opening a file browsing dialogue in another application.

You may try removing from the Sidebar of Finder any folders on that drive. Also go into Finder's preferences, go to the 'Sidebar' tab, and uncheck either 'Hard Disks' or 'External Disks' under Devices, depending on whatever drive this is. That might prevent Finder from calling the drive.

Barring that, you may try try checking off Put hard disk(s) to sleep when possible in the Energy Saver's preference pane, which will keep the drive awake perpetually, and avoid pauses while it wakes.

You may also want to run ps -ef to check and see if there are any background processes that may be indexing or calling the drive.


Can Python/Ruby/Perl/etc (or even bash) replace AppleScript? I'm not inviting people to hate on AppleScript in general; I'm just wondering if what makes AppleScript useful can instead be used by other general-purpose scripting languages. I.e., Lion & Mac Apps probably give AppleScript hooks & APIs—could any language use those? Or is AppleScript in its own special category?

Context: I'm learning about Unix and how it underlies OS X, and trying to become aware about opportunities and strategies for automation & abstraction. Aaaand I already feel like my brain is leaking, so if I have to add more to my plate I try to do so sparingly.

In terms of general purpose Unix scripting, many languages like bash, perl, python, or ruby are more capable than AppleScript. But AppleScript has a special role in MacOS with great native support for Mac specific things, particularly related to the GUI.

There are bindings between other scripting language and MacOS events. For instance, see the MacPython OSA Modules°°° or Apple's Ruby and Python for Mac OS X°°°. In general I'd consider these efforts second class citizens; they may work and be a good choice but it will be a bit of an awkward fit.

¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
°°° EDIT:
Both languages are not supported on latest MacOS systems. These links return:

  Retired Document – Important: The current version of Ruby (2.0) is not
  supported as a Cocoa scripting language in OS X v10.9. The remainder
  of the content in this document has not been reviewed for accuracy.
  Apple recommends Objective-C for the development of Cocoa apps. [My highlighting.]

Documents are finished with this line:

  Copyright © 2013 Apple Inc. All Rights Reserved. […] Updated: 2013-09-18


How Does iTunes Sync Loved Metadata? A tcpdum of "loving" a song on iTunes yields an empty ppcap file. Is the data cached and synced later? If so, when and where?

Check out this thread
I believe it is a server side stored field.
I do not believe it is suppose to sync (even though it would be nice)
If you want to keep track of the music you "love" I would recommend just adding to a playlist.