Moving from Lion to Snow Leopard So it turns out that I am not the greatest fan of Lion after all. Is there a way I can downgrade from the Lion OS to the Snow Leopard OS if I bought my laptop in mid 2011?

There are plenty of sites (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2389334,00.asp and http://gigaom.com/apple/how-to-downgrade-from-lion-to-snow-leopard/ are two examples) that demonstrate how to revert back to Snow Leopard if your computer is older and once operated in Snow Leopard. But my MacBook Pro is brand new, and shipped with Lion. Trying to start in recovery mode (command - R at boot) , or from the Snow Leopard disk (C at boot) just results in kernel panics. Running the Snow Leopard disk from the Lion OS results in error messages ("You can't install this version of the application Install Mac OS X with this version of Mac OS X. You have Install Mac OS X 23.1"). And the one thing that does give me access to the Snow Leopard Drive (pressing option during startup with the Snow Leopard CD inserted and choosing "Recovery HD") only allows me to reinstall the Lion OS, not the Snow Leopard OS.

What should I do?

Any time you have problems starting a mac with an installer - do check these three articles:

Finding your Mac OS X version and build information
Mac OS X versions (builds) for computers
http://support.apple.com/manuals/# - enter your serial number on the page or in place of the # in the URL to determine the exact model of your mac.

In your case - you probably have a MacBook Pro (Early 2011) which will boot from (Mac OS X v10.6.6  Build 10J567) or later. You might see the term "retail disk" which means it has drivers for all Macs that can run that level of OS - this is different from the disks that ship with macs - you almost never can use say a MacBook Air restore disk on a MacBook Pro - they just have the drivers for that one model.

Normally, you could just buy a retail copy but the last 10.6 retail copy I've seen documented is 10.6.3 and is too old. You'll need to order a replacement disk through AppleCare online or via phone (or find someone in possession of your MacBook Pro's install media for Snow Leopard)

Most Apple Retail stores are set up to image your mac from the factory builds through the genius bar and since your mac is so new, I can't imagine the seller you bought it wouldn't bend over backwards to make sure you got a copy of the appropriate disk (they might even have a service desk that could assist you)


Bose QuietComfort 15 inline Microphone and mid-2011 Macbook Air The BOSE headphones come with a cable that has a remote/microphone. The BOSE website and even the box says:

  The QuietComfort 15 inline remote and microphone cable is compatible
  with iPod nano (4th, 5th and 6th generation), iPod classic (120GB,
  160GB only), iPod touch (2nd, 3rd and 4th generation), iPhone 3GS,
  iPhone 4, iPad and iPad 2, and Macbook (unibody) and Macbook Pro. The
  remote is supported by iPod shuffle (3rd generation). Audio is
  supported by all iPod models. Requires latest iPod software.

Although it doesn't specifically mention a Macbook Air, one would believe that the machines are using similar technology, but since it's not mentioned, I cannot be sure. I'm ready to go to an Apple store, buy it, test it and if it doesn't work, then return it right there, but perhaps someone can save me the trouble. I'm looking to use Skype (and similar) apps.

Does anyone has first hand experience with this combination and can confirm if the BOSE's inline-microphone will work when plugged into a Mid-2011 Macbook Air audio plug?

UPDATE: I tested this in the Appstore with my Macbook Air and it works, despite the models (air) not being shown in the package description. It appears as "external microphone" (replacing the internal, so you cannot switch between the internal mic and this).

I have a 2011 MacBook Air 13" and I can confirm that the microphone on the original iPhone 4 headphones works when plugged into my Air. They show up as "External Microphone" in System Preferences.

I think that with a Y cable, one could use normal headsets which come with two plugs. There are overpriced Y cables available for recording apps on the iPhone, but I'm sure there are cheaper alternatives.

Note that the MacBooks (also Pro) all have two jacks, one combined for analog/digital out, one for line in. Later, the analog/digital out jack was replaced with analog/digital out, analog in like on the iPhone, but the microphone jack remained. I'm not sure about the current MacBook Pro, but my 2008 unibody MacBook still had two jacks, even though line in was available on the headphone jack, too.

So, regarding your Q: I'm reasonably sure the Bose headphones will work with your Air.


Clean AirPods/EarPods Earwax? I read about people sucking on the mesh part to get the wax out but that isn’t very effective/sanitary...wondering if there are any better ways to clean AirPods/EarPods when earwax inevitably collects on them?

UPDATE: Before using Putty, I recommend using a Q-Tip/tissue to clean the surface (while being careful not to push anything into the mesh).

Wall/Mounting Putty works wonders!

Any brand is fine (likely available in your local drugstore), here’s an example:

Push your AirPods/EarPods (1 at a time) into the putty as much as you can, and then pull them out and you’ll see a bunch of dirt left over on the putty! So satisfying and they’re good as new.


How do I uninstall python 3.2.2 on Mountain Lion? How do I uninstall Python 3.2.2 on my MacBook Pro? I’m using Mountain Lion. Any answers greatly appreciated. I’m a beginning programmer.

If you used the installer from python.org, remove these directories:

sudo rm -r /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework /Applications/Python\ 3.* /Library/Receipts/Python*-3.*.pkg

You can see what files are copied by the installer by pressing command-I, or with lsbom:

lsbom Python.mpkg/Contents/Packages/*.pkg/Contents/Archive.bom


Where are the iCloud Drive Libraries icons located? Some apps, like Preview, Pages, or Keynote have folders with different default preview icons publicly visible in the iCloud Drive folder. Where are those icons stored?

Ok, I found it. iCloud daemon (bird) stores info of all the iCloud containers in:

~/Library/Application Support/CloudDocs/session/containers

The info is stored in a plist file with the name of the container for example:

iCloud.com.pvieito.Example.plist

And the icons are stored in a folder with the name of the container:

iCloud.com.pvieito.Example/40x40_iOS.png
iCloud.com.pvieito.Example/80x80_iOS.png
iCloud.com.pvieito.Example/120x120_iOS.png


Can I glue a MagSafe connector broken at the "computer" end? On the left is what I have; wire part on the left, broken off part on the right. The right is what I would like.

I can just take the broken off part and hold it against the wire part to make it the same as first picture.  It works to get power to the computer but it keeps coming off depending on the angle I try to remove from the computer.  Anyone here have an idea if it's possible to glue or fix it?

This can be fixed with an application of Super Glue or other adhesive for metals.

First, clean it with acetone - use a cotton swab (like a Q-Tip) to ensure that the metal is clean.  This will help the adhesive bond properly

Using a small amount of adhesive that is made for bonding metals like Super Glue, place it around the edges of the part to be repaired.  Hold for at least a minute (the set time for the adhesive) and you should be good.  For best results, allow to cure for an hour before use.  You should be good to go


How can I achieve page-up and page-down in OS X? I am using MacOSX Snow Leopard.

How do I achieve page-up and page-down?

If you have a full keyboard you can use the pgup and pgdown keys on your keyboard, near the numpad.

If you are not using a full keyboard, function, labeled fn on your keyboard, plus the up and down arrow keys will give you a page up and down.

For certain applications, particularly in shell / terminal / tty windows, the expected behaviour is achieved with fn+shift+arrow up/down


Automator crop image is doubling the inputted dimensions I'm using the recommendation from this answer to create an Automator service that crops all photos I send to it. It works perfectly except that the crop automatically doubles the dimensions.

I've tried:

deleting every step except for the crop and it still doubled the dimensions
simply halving the entered dimensions but I need several crops to have an odd number for its size.

I need to crop photos to specific sizes for use on my company's website and can't just crop by percentage.

How can I modify this service to achieve this?

I'm doing this on a late 2013 MacBook Pro running macOS High Sierra.

EDIT!!!

Here's the workflow:

EDIT!!! I'm bad at this - adding more screenshots

Here are better screenshots

I see you are cropping twice. Maybe you must clear the clipboard between getting the variable because automator adds more info to the memory instead of replacing. Try placing an Applescript Action between the crops and paste this code to clear the memory:

tell application "System Events"
    try
        set the clipboard to {}
    on error err_message
        display dialog err_message
    end try
end tell


What is SIMBL Agent and why is it running on my machine? Is this something loaded by Apple or did it come with some third party app I must have downloaded.

SIMBL is not a part of Apple's Mac OS X package, but is an extension that can be used by other developers in their own work to extend applications where they may not have the original source code (like Safari). SIMBL-related files can be found either in /Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins or ~/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins.


Microsoft mouse acting erratically randomly with Thunderbolt to VGA connected? I am unaware if a third party adapter (Thunderbolt to VGA) would cause any erratic behaviour with a wired USB mouse? There is also an HDMI cable plugged in for an extended desktop.

Any ideas? Could that be the cause.

It seems very unlikely that it should be the case.

It might be possible if the adapter was somehow defective and sends out EMI (i.e. "noise") that is picked up by the USB cable for the mouse. If that is the case, your log should be filled with USB errors. However I do not find this scenario to be likely at all.


iPhone 3GS locked to at&t. How do unlock it? I bought an iPhone 3GS, second hand, and I have now found out its on a AT&T network. I live in the UK, I can't get past the "Connect to iTunes" message. Even when I connect to iTunes it says:

  Phone not found. Please try again later.

I can't get into the settings on the phone either. Do I need to unlock the phone from AT&T? If so, how can I do that? If not, how can I get past the errors?

You'll either have to get in contact with AT&T, pay a 3rd party to unlock it or jailbreak it.

If you're going to try and contact AT&T then you'll have to go to their website and fill out a form to start the dialogue. If you need a ZIP code Google the one for Grand Central or something.

The GiffGaff Unlockipedia is a good place to start when looking for a 3rd party to unlock the phone. http://giffgaff.com/unlock/apple-iphone-3g-phone

Not so up on the jailbreaking scene these days but Lifehacker is usually good for the information. http://lifehacker.com/5771943/how-to-jailbreak-your-iphone-the-always-up+to+date-guide-%5Bios-61%5D


Use iCloud files sync: only sync files on desktop is there a way to only sync files which are on my desktop?
I don't want to sync my whole ~/Documents/ directory because it's very big.

Yes and no. The no is Apple is all or none with iCloud sync of files - you get documents and desktop sync when you enable iCloud sync on macOS.

But you can make a new folder called local Documents or whatever and move all the files you want locally to the new folder, then enable cloud sync. Your Documents proper folder is in the cloud as is the desktop, but the Documents will be empty other than what you intentionally want to sync up.


Why does my home directory location keep reverting to the previous setting? I have two hard drives in my MacBook Pro: one is a solid state drive that holds the OS and Applications, the other a spinning platter drive that holds my home directory.

I currently have /Users/ian as a symlink to  /Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/ian.

And in my user profile my home directory is /Users/ian:

When I change the Home directory field to /Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/ian and perform the requested restart of my machine, after I log back in, my home directory is set back to /Users/ian.

Why won't my changes to this setting stick?

I suspect the problem was me trying to change my home directory from my account. I was able to make it work by:

Creating a new user on the system
Giving that new user Administrator privileges
Logging out of my account
Logging in to the new user account
Editing my account's home directory from the new account

After that was done the changes stuck and my home directory is now on my HD instead of SSD. I kept the other account around for now, though I stripped it of Adminstrator privileges.


Right side click on track pad issue I am facing a strange issue with my track pad. My machine is a MacBook Pro Retina Display (Mid 2012) updated with Yosemite.
So when i click on the track pad's right side, the track pad clicked down properly but nothing happens, although the left side is working properly.

What if you click while holding two fingers on the track pad?

If that works then it might just be the setting: from System Preferences, Trackpad, you're looking for the setting pictured in the following screenshot.

(Screenshot courtesy of wikihow.com)


I Can connect Mac OS Lion to Win 7 via cable but not via wireless...help! I have a macbook pro, and netgear n600 modem/router (DGND3700) and a win7 PC that is working nicely with homegroup networking.

when I plug the macbook into the router via a network cable I can 'connect to server...' and get the the win7 shares just fine. but when I try whilst using wireless it refuses to connect.

What should I tweak to make it work? I assume its a problem with the mac because other non-mac computers can see the shares on my win7 box just fine via wireless.

When i connect on a 2.6Ghz range rather than 5Ghz it works. so its probably that the netgear router (or the macbook) is not supporting ipv6 properly on the 5Ghz range.


How to find out which cipher suites an iOS application uses? I'm trying to find out which cipher suites and SSL/TLS protocol an app uses. In the privacy policy it is written that it uses SSLv3 but when I tested the server of the app's developer using an SSL checker it said it supports TLS 1.2 1.1 1.0 and SSL 3.0. Is there any way to determine the cipher suites used and the exact protocol an app uses to send data to a server?

You could install a web proxy on your router or a computer and there are even web proxies on iOS like Charles Proxy.

https://www.charlesproxy.com/

There are great tutorials on the site above using the Mac / Linux / Windows version of this to debug and investigate ios / iPhone traffic. The iOS app to run this on the device itself is here: Charles Proxy by XK72


Using AppleScript to launch specific tabs in System Preferences panes So I'm new to this and I might be overlooking something simple, but after failing to figure it out myself I attempted to follow the instructions from grgarside's solution to this question:
https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/250276/220050

What I am trying to do is open 'System Preferences > Keyboard > Dictation' (in Sierra, 10.12.2) using an AppleScript saved as an Application I've created via Automator. I've managed to open all of the other tabs within the 'Keyboard' pane (Keyboard, Text, Shortcuts, & Input Sources) using their anchors as part of an AppleScript but not 'Dictation', the 5th and final tab.

This is my current script, which opens 'System Preferences > Keyboard' but then halts with no error message. (I did note that it activates the Search field within the Keyboard pane though, which it does not do when scripted for the other 4 tabs)

tell application "System Preferences"
activate
set current pane to pane id "com.apple.preference.keyboard"
reveal anchor "Dictation" of pane id "com.apple.preference.keyboard"
end tell

Any advice?

The following works for me under macOS Sierra:

tell application "System Preferences"
    activate
    set current pane to pane id "com.apple.preference.keyboard"
    delay 1
    tell application "System Events"
        click radio button "Dictation" of tab group 1 of window "Keyboard" of application process "System Preferences"
    end tell
end tell


sudo vs su (as non-root user) My computer has user1 and user2, both administrators.

While I'm logged in as user1 I'm trying to:

"su - user2" -> prompts me for the users2 password, then I can type commands
"sudo --user=user2 [command]" -> prompts me for the password. If I type user2's password I get a "Sorry, try again." error message as if the password is incorrect. If I type user1's password it runs correctly.

Shouldn't the sudo command require the user's password that I define in the "--user" parameter?

This is expected behaviour.

The purpose of su is to switch user. It's called the substitute user identity tool. su takes the other user's password since you are switching to that user.

  The su utility requests appropriate user credentials via PAM and switches to that user ID (the default user is the superuser). A shell is then executed.

Source: Man page
The purpose of sudo is to execute a command as another user. The -u or --user option for sudo specifies that user. You're not logging in as that user, just running a command. sudo takes your password to verify your identity for performing such a task.


Siberia v2 microphone will not work with OS X or Windows XP in Boot Camp Is there a workaround to get my Siberia v2 headset microphone to work with OS X or Boot Camp Windows XP?

In OS X, the microphone is recognized but will not let me switch to it in Steam. The built-in microphone still picks up everything. I tried to switch to into in the Sound options.

In Boot Camp Windows, the microphone isn't even recognized. Under Control Panel > Sound options > Voice... the only option I have is for the built-in mic.

I have one of the newer iMacs.

There are two options for using a Siberia v2 with a Mac. The first is to buy the one that has the proper connector already (they have one with the 3-ring connector) or to buy the standard, dual connector audio/mic v2 and use an adapter such as Headset Buddy to connect.

The adapter works fine, however, but there is a ritual associated with using this headset with that adapter on my later 2012 MBPr (running 10.8.3). It seems that if I mute/turn off the microphone (using the switch on the headset cable) before plugging it in, then the mic will be recognized by my Mac. But, if I do not mute the mic, it won't recognize the headset mic. When I disconnect, mute, and reconnect, it works flawlessly even after enabling the mic. It doesn't sound weak or lossy as other posters have stated that non-powered mics would.

Obviously YMMV, and I did see another poster that said he had to turn his mic off before plugging it in (not sure what headset he was using, though).


Simple 'drag and drop style' video compressor Is there any app really simple to compress videos on Mac?

Something like JPEGmini for videos (do not resize, just reduce file size).

I just know Handbrake, but it is not the most simple solution.

It is not free, but Apple itself has an app called Compressor.

You can see its information here: Compressor

Usually it is used together with Final Cut Pro, but can as well be used standalone.


Unable to open some apps from iOS 12 Shortcuts In the iOS 12 Shortcuts app, I'd like to build a shortcut that opens a specific app. This app doesn't have any specific integration with Shortcuts, but it's sufficient to just have the system open the app. So I added an "Open App" action to the end of my workflow — but the app I want to open does not appear in the list of choices for the Open App action.

I noticed that a small fraction of apps on my phone are missing from the Open App list. It seems pretty random: Apple Pages is missing but Keynote is not, some but not all games are missing, etc.

Is there some reason that I cannot open certain apps via Shortcuts?

You could try using the "Open URL" action to open the app using URL schemes.

You can find some URL schemes by doing a Google search for it(here's a good list).

If you can't find it online, you can get it manually(you need a computer):

Download the .ipa of the app you want to get the URL schemes of(you can use iTunes)
Rename it from .ipa to .zip and extract it
Open the Payload folder
Right click on the application inside and chose "Show Package Contents"(or just open the .app folder if you're not on Mac)
Open the Info.plist file and look for "URL Schemes".


Mac Chess app crashes each time i open it Some days ago I played a few Chess games on the built-in chess app. But now each time i open up chess it does these steps:

It makes the mouse a spinning color wheel
The app crashes
It says that 'Chess quit unexpectedly'

What can i do to fix this?

This is a wonderful issue to follow the two articles Apple publishes on isolating issues (not that it's wonderful to crash, but this is a very small contained issue that should be easy to isolate and then fix):

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203161 - Isolating issues in Mac OS X

That sets the table for you to dive into software isolation (which this is clearly the first thing to try)

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201516 - Mac OS X: How to troubleshoot a software issue

In your case, making a new user account, verifying if the crash is system wide or just your account is the next step I’d take. Once that’s done, you can think about updates / verifying a backup, etc...


Using a USB-C dock with older MacBook Pros Thunderbolt 2 docks have been quite expensive and they will be obsolete once I purchase the new Macbooks with USB-C ports. I currently use a 2014 MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt 2 ports, and I want to futureproof my purchase by acquiring a cheaper USB-C dock now.

The cheapest Thunderbolt 2 dock costs around $200 while USB-C docks cost around $30. Being able to use a USB-C dock with older Thunderbolt 2 Macbook Pros would not only be cheaper but also allows me to use the same USB-C dock if I decided to upgrade to a future Macbook.

For that to work I need a Thunderbolt 2 (male) to USB-C female adaptor, after some searching it doesn't seem to exist. Is there a reason why something like this hasn't been made? Or is the USB-C specification designed such that it is impossible? (hence businesses can still continue to sell expensive Thunderbolt 2 docks...)

I will accept an answer that meets the following requirements:

If there is such an adapter please give a link and some form of evidence that these would have 100% compatibility with USB-C docks.
If there is no such adapter please explain:

Is it impossible to produce?
If not, why hasn't a vendor created one yet? I've explained that its a better financial investment than buying a TB2 dock... surely there's a market for those still using TB2 MBPs wanting to upgrade in the next couple of years. Not only docks but it would open a gateway to cheaper alternatives to those hideously expensive TB2 peripherals.

(Assuming you mean to say that you have a MacBook Pro and not a MacBook because there is no MacBook that was made in 2014.)

You aren't going to find a Thunderbolt 2 to USB-C adapter as it makes no sense for vendors to create one.

First off, let's address the core (technical) premise of the question:

  ...I need a Thunderbolt 2 (male) to USB-C female adaptor,

There is a fundamental difference between thunderbolt 3 using the USB-C connector style as opposed to the underlying data and voltages being compatible for USB to Thunderbolt.  To use a car analogy, this is like asking for a gasoline that specifically works in convertibles.  USB-C is just how the port is physically laid out.  Thunderbolt is neither "compatible" nor "incompatible" with nor does it convert to  USB-C.  Thunderbolt 3 uses a USB-C connector; it "embeds" USB 3.1, PCIe, DisplayPort (DP) and power on the same set of cables.  It's like having 4 different adapters and plugs in one.

To continue the vehicle analogy - imagine having one pump that could safely detect if diesel (and which blend) or gasoline (leaded or unleaded) or ethanol (of many different blends) is needed from the same one hose that is inserted in to the side of the vehicle. Many fuel types can flow through one connector as opposed to designing a different connector for each fuel type.

  Being able to use a USB-C dock with older Thunderbolt 2 Macbook Pros
  would not only be cheaper but also allows me to use the same USB-C
  dock if I decided to upgrade to a future Macbook.

Yes it would be cheaper, but unfortunately, that's not how it works.  There are a couple of mix-ups between what a TB dock is and what a USB dock is:

The type of dock (TB or USB) is how the connection originates.  You plug a TB dock into a TB port.  You plug a USB dock into a USB port.  A TB dock uses the TB protocol, while the USB dock uses the USB protocol.
USB-C is just the plug type.  It's a USB 3.1 port.  So, to use a USB dock with a USB-C adapter it must go into a USB 3.1 port with a USB-C connector.
As such, there is no such thing as a "USB-C dock."  This is like asking for a "convertible gas station."  What exists is a USB dock.

A Thunderbolt 3 port with a USB-C connector supports USB 3.1.  However, a USB 3.1 port with a USB-C connector DOESN'T support Thunderbolt.

So, unlike TB3, TB2 does not have USB signaling embedded (and this is where it gets confusing). It's PCIe, DP, and power only.  So, to get USB, you need an adapter.

To better understand what PCIe is, the best way is to have a look at it in it's most common format.  Below is photo of a PC motherboard but not any technically different than an Apple logic board (they are essentially the same thing).

To add USB ports, you need an interface into this "bus" like the adapter below:

Thunderbolt is basically the PCIe port in the first picture in a nice, clean cable and your TB adapters (USB, Ethernet, storage, etc) are dongle version of the second picture.

You can't really "future proof" anything in Tech.  Ask anyone who purchased an Xerve G5.  What you can do is architect the solution that maxes out your investment.

So, what you need is a path to go from Thunderbolt 2 to USB 3.  Once you have USB 3, you can get whatever adapter it starts from (USB-A) and convert it to what you need (USB-C).  What is important to understand here is that while you can connect USB device with USB-C connectors, you will be limited to Gen 1 speeds - 5Gbs as opposed to 10Gbs.

The device that gets you closest to this is the Elgato Thunderbolt 2 Laptop Dock with Thunderbolt Cable.

To get your USB-C connected devices, you will just need the right USB 3.1 A to C cable

As to your questions as to why this adapter doesn't exist:

  If there is no such adapter please explain:
  Is it impossible to produce?

Not at all.  As explained above this is basically a USB to PCIe adapter and may adapters like Ethernet already exist.

  If not, why hasn't a vendor created one yet? I've explained that its a better financial investment than buying a TB2 dock...surely there's a market for those still using TB2 MBPs wanting to upgrade in the next couple of years. Not only docks but it would open a gateway to cheaper alternatives to those hideously expensive TB2 peripherals.

Is a better financial investment for YOU or for the manufacturer(s)?  Without getting into a lengthy history of TB1, TB2, TB3 and its market share, it's quite safe to say that the time between the release of TB1 and TB3 is quite short.  In fact, the time between TB2 and TB3 is about a year and the only major vendor to include TB2 ports was Apple.  TB2 never had a chance to even gain interest, let alone acceptance and adoption before TB3 and USB 3.1 was released.  As it stands, we are talking about a technology (TB2) that is already obsolete for a product (MBP 2014) that now 3 years old.

Keep in mind that Apple's Mac shipments for 2014 was around 7% of market share on about 20 million units.  While that sounds massive to you and me, keep in mind, it would be best case scenario that 10% of the market, or about 2 million potential units.  Again, huge for you and me, but tiny for the manufacturer(s) who, by the way, would have to split that small market between the other vendors.

Manufacturers are going to create products for markets that have growth potential, not for ones that will only continue to get smaller with the passage of time.

  Do you know the surest way to go broke?  Keep getting an increasing
  share of a shrinking market.
  ----Lawrence Garfield (Danny DeVito, Other People's Money)


Messages App in iOS simulator? I know that there exists an iOS simulator for Mac (how to get it eludes me - if you could give me a download link I'd be grateful).

Many people want to know how to use multiple Apple IDs with Messages.  Can I use the Messages app inside the iOS simulator to run a second Apple ID?

Mac OS X 10.11.2
2011 Mac  Mini

No, you can't.  The Messages app is actually in Xcode, the Apple development environment.  Within Xcode are the iPhone, iPad, and Mac simulators.  Apple prevents the simulators from sending actual messages.  I have created iOS apps that send messages so I've tried doing this many, many times.  Each time you try to send a message you'll receive an error stating Cannot Send Message.


Will I be able to upgrade to iOS 7 on iPod Touch 4G? I bought an iPod touch 4G and I'm looking forward to iOS 7... until I read on this site that it is only compatible with the iPod Touch 5G. Does that mean that I'm "Out in the woods" for security? Or does this just mean I don't get the new Airdrop, iTunes Radio, and camera filters?

I don't mind that much that I don't get the new look (although if I could, it would be nice), but I just want my device to be secure.

The thing that I don't get about this is Apple supported the iPhone 3GS up until now (It is three models old), but when another device is one model old, "No! We can't support this device!" Apple could be changing it's views on how to run their business so they make more money, but I like my iPod Touch just fine. In fact, I like the older design better and I can't see running out to the store to spend 300 bucks to get a design I don't like as much just to have a security upgrade.

Towards the end of the WWDC keynote, Craig Federighi showed a slide listing the devices on which iOS 7 would be supported. In the official keynote video, this occurs around the 1:54 mark.

Here’s a picture of the slide:

It reads:

  iPhone 4 and later
  iPad 2 and later
  iPad mini
  iPod touch (5th generation)

This matches the images and descriptions on the pages for iOS 7 for Apple’s website, so this seems to be the canonical list.

It’s possible that Apple will add support for the 4th generation iPod touch between now and the release, but currently it looks like you won’t be able to upgrade.


How can I make existing permissions apply to new files? I have an SSD that I have created two partitions on. The first is used for the OS X to install the OS (Mavericks) and the other to place all the source of code of my projects and data that I don't want to lose when I do a format. Both partitions are formatted as Mac OS X Extended.

Right now everything is working fine. I have created a partition called Data and placed the files. I have edited Apache files to load my http://localhost from the right folder on the Data partition and do my development that way.

My only problem that when I create a new project and put the WordPress files there I cannot start using it if I don't go edit the permissions every time. I tried to use this command:

sudo chmod -R 777 /Volumes/Data/

and even though it works for the existing files it does not work for new projects, so every time I start a new one I have to do it again.

Do you know if there is an adjustment I have to make somewhere in order to avoid having such permission problems? What am I doing wrong? Is this problem related to the format of the partition?

That Terminal command only aplies to existing files as you might have guessed. And there is no modification to it so that it will set the permissions of future files right. It doesn't work like that.

I think you might have a problem with your disk's ownership. Through your Mac's view, you don't owe that disk partition. You must set that right.

And if you ask why the Terminal command works when I don't owe the disk, it's because of that sudo keyword in front of it. sudo initiates the most privileged user in a UNIX/Linux system, which is the root user, that it can pretty much do whatever it wants. Even if you're the admin user, you can't do everything on your OS; you must switch to the root user. It's basically a safety system in place.

Anyway, in order to set your disk's ownership right,

open a Finder window,
right-click to your external drive,
select Get Info
at the bottom, there must be a Sharing & Permissions section. Check to see if you are listed there. Otherwise add yourself to the list.

Also, besides your current problem, why did you partitioned the SSD into two? You said you did it not to lose your data when you format the OS but when a new Mac OS comes, it's exchanged with the old one when all your personal data stays intact. Besides a Time Machine backup would be much safer if you don't want to lose your data.

Frankly, it's a personal choice and when you look at it as bits and bytes nothing really changes, but keeping the SSD as a whole would be much neater.


Homebrew + Imagemagick + php54-imagick not working Based on this post here, I am having a versioning issue with Imagemagick.

php54-imagick version => 3.4.3_2
imagemagick => 7.0.5-3

I understand that I need to downgrade my imagemagick to 6.9.*

My issue:

  brew install php54-imagick

  Automatically installs the required imagemagick 7.0.5-3 package

-

  I uninstall imagemagick 7.0.5-3

  brew uninstall --ignore-dependencies imagemagick

-

  I install imagemagick 6.9.* (6.9.8-1 to be specific)

  brew install imagemagick@6

The error:

macos1:~ $ php -i | grep imagick

PHP Warning:  PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library '/usr/local/opt/php54-imagick/imagick.so' - dlopen(/usr/local/opt/php54-imagick/imagick.so, 9): Library not loaded: /usr/local/opt/imagemagick/lib/libMagickWand-7.Q16HDRI.0.dylib
  Referenced from: /usr/local/opt/php54-imagick/imagick.so
  Reason: image not found in Unknown on line 0
Warning: PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library '/usr/local/opt/php54-imagick/imagick.so' - dlopen(/usr/local/opt/php54-imagick/imagick.so, 9): Library not loaded: /usr/local/opt/imagemagick/lib/libMagickWand-7.Q16HDRI.0.dylib
  Referenced from: /usr/local/opt/php54-imagick/imagick.so
PHP Warning:  Unknown: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected the timezone 'UTC' for now, but please set date.timezone to select your timezone. in Unknown on line 0
Additional .ini files parsed => /usr/local/etc/php/5.4/conf.d/ext-imagick.ini

The question:

How would I use php54-imagick version 3.4.* with imagemagick 6.9.*?

I have resolved my own issue! Since I was using the readImage method from ImageMagick class, it required ghostscript to be installed alongside ImageMagick.

However, when you brew install imagemagick, ghostscript is an optional dependency that is not installed by default.

To resolve my issue, here is what I did (all the steps):

brew install php54-imagick
brew install imagemagick --with-ghostscript

Now I can readImage('test.pdf')!


Builtin terminal app seems to be eating some character sequences on clipboard paste I am trying to paste a string  blah.cjijjepceyd6.ap-south-1.rds.amazonaws.com into the Terminal.app but what actually shows up is  blah.cjiyd6.ap-south-1.rds.amazonaws.com.  When that string is pasted to vi it is uncorrupted.  What might be going on during the clipboard copying to the Terminal ?

This was due to the ~/.inputrc  . I had the following keystroke in there:
"jj": vi-movement-mode

The base36 encoded dns name from aws happened to contain jj.  I have commented out the jj from my ~/.inputrc to resolve


Relay calls from one phone to another Does anyone know of an app (on iOS, Android or any platform) that will allow me to place one phone in a part of my house that has good phone signal, and have it relay all calls to another device using my home's WiFi?

Yes - handsfree bluetooth accessories will work to extend the range a good 25 or more feet in many cases. You could also rig a wire and have much, much longer extension, but I can't imagine wanting to be wired to the phone and using a handsfree in that manner.

There are many, many mobile base stations that work with all manner of cellular towers and technologies, so those would be my next choice if you can't get the phone close enough to reception for bluetooth to extend the range to your body.


How to move Lion installer to another Mac? I installed Lion on my MacBook Pro.  Worked great.

Now I want to install it on my iMac, I don't want to re-download it from the App Store because it's a 3.5GB download and I have to pay for all my bandwidth (yes, I'm Canadian).

Is the installer executable on my MacBook Pro somewhere?  If so, where is it and can I just copy it to the iMac and run it?

Thanks,
Rob

Unfortunately the installer package contains the source files for the installation and this package is deleted once installation has completed.

If you still have the installer in Applications, right-click on it and Show Package Contents then browse to the /Contents/SharedSupport/ folder and look for the InstallESD.dmg disk image. This image can be burnt to a dvd saving future downloads but I am afraid you are going to have to download it again.


Display forwarding - for non-X programs? I ask this anticipating the answer is 'no', but - is it possible to forward graphics windows on mac the way you would forward X11 windows, i.e. via ssh?

I'm thinking specifically of the python display windows generated by matplotlib, which I'm guessing use cocoa or something similar.

A workaround for this question is to use Screen Sharing with ssh tunneling, but I'm asking if the direct solution is possible.

As you say the answer is no. OSX does not include a remote graphics display whilst X11 does. (The Cocoa API is based on the NeXTStep API which was drawn by Display  Postscript which allowed remote graphics display - however the license cost too much for Apple to use)

However this is a general answer for all applications. But you can configure matplotlib to use an X11 backend and this can be displayed remotely. See this StackOverflow question.


Back up different folders to different drives In Time Machine one can back up to several drives at the same time. It is also possible to control which folders are backed up and which are not. However, it seems to me that the same folders have to be backed up to all drives.

Is it possible to exclude a folder from being backed up to one drive, while including it in the backup to another drive?

I use OS X 10.10.1.

I also believe Time Machine's GUI is not able to do that.
But if you feel like fiddling in CLI from terminal, and do some basic scripting, it can be done quite easily using the tmutil command:

tmutil addexclusion and tmutil removeexclusion would allow to change your exclusion list by script whenever you want.
tmutil startbackup -destination would allow to trigger a backup by script to the desired destination, at the appropriate time (what about just after you changed your exclusion list? ;)  )
script scheduling could be done using launchctl (or with a basic crontab job)

Of course, you should disable Time Machine in the Preference Pane, in order to prevent it from starting automatically while your scripted backup may be already running.

Bottom line, have a look at man tmutil. Backups would still be plain standard TimeMachine backups, just triggered differently. Restore could be done in GUI as usual.

Of course, if you have no previous experience in terminal mode or scripting, this gonna be a little harder. But if you feel like learning something geeky, this is the time to try (and then ask for help if needed!).  ;-)


Add urls to a list via Automator What is the simplest way to append a list of urls with a selected URL when browsing either chrome or safari. I tried to do this with automator and it was easy to achieve by creating a service with a Write Text to File action (from an add on package). But it does not add a new line after each entry. It doesn't even write a space after an entry. So you end up with a file like

http://example./Ahttp://example.com/Bhttp://example.com/Chttp://example.com/Dhttp://example.com/Ehttp://example.com/F

My next attempt to use a Split Text action somehow resulted in 100 new files being created, each containing a single URL. (>_<)

What I'm trying to achieve is:

Select a URL in the browser's (chrome or safari) address bar
Right click the highlighted URL to get to the services menu
Click on the created service (we'll call it Add to List)
Add the selected URL to text file in the Home folder followed by a new line.

The desired output being:

http://example.com/A
http://example.com/B
http://example.com/C
http://example.com/D
http://example.com/E
http://example.com/F

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

This seems like an effective solution. A single Automator Run AppleScript action with the following script:

set text item delimiters to linefeed
set my_list to "/Users/username/Documents/URL_list.txt"
tell application "Google_Chrome" to set new_items to (get the URL of the active tab in window 1) as string
do shell script "echo  " & quoted form of new_items & " >>  " & quoted form of my_list

display dialog new_items with title "Added to the list"

Save as a service
Service receives selected URLs
Input is only URLs (probably doesn't matter)
Tested and working in both Safari and Google Chrome

If using Safari change the get the URL of the active tab in window 1 to get the URL of the current tab in window 1. Just to clarify: use active tab for Chrome and use current tab for Safari.
If you have several windows and tabs open and want to grab every URL to populate a list: tell application "Google_Chrome" to set new_items to (get the URL of the tabs in every window) as string


Security implications of Lock Screen vs. Sleep vs. Log Out vs. Shut Down for physical access I have a MacBook Pro with full disk encryption. I'd like to secure my information from someone who steals my computer or has physical access to it while it's unattended. Are any of these methods more effective than others?

Lock Screen with password required
Sleep
Log out
Shut down

I'm interested in attacks that would allow them to unlock and use the computer as well as ones that would allow them to access information stored on the computer without unlocking it.

This question is partly theoretical, so for the current purposes please assume that:

The attacker can't guess / brute-force the password
I'm not concerned about hardware attacks like inserting a hidden microphone or physical keylogger
I'm not interested in options to remotely wipe or lock the computer
I understand that there's no such thing as perfect security; I'm just interested in differences between the options

Shut Down

Shutting down your computer is better than all the other methods. A shut down computer has less surface area to attack.

Who is the Attacker?

If the attacker is a nation state, well funded, or highly motivated, then the difference between a computer that is asleep, logged out, or locked is likely insignificant. For all these states, the computer is booted with the storage accessible to at least one process.

If the attacker is one of the above, then physical access will be enough to compromise your computer.


Does Apple TV support Netflix/Love Film in the UK? I was playing around with my in-laws 2nd Gen Apple TV and I couldn't find any way of getting to these services.

I'm fairly sure I remember seeing iPlayer and the like in the old UI when I was playing with one in an Apple store but the UI seems to have been updated since then and I couldn't find any features aside from streaming from a computer on the network.

Have these features been removed are are they just well hidden?

Netflix - yes, just in the last few months.
iPlayer - no, never has.
LoveFilm - no.


Will upcoming Skylake based MacBooks support 5k displays? Details about Intel's upcoming Skylake processors indicates that they support DisplayPort 1.2 and Thunderbolt 3, but not DisplayPort 1.3 or DisplayPort 1.2a.

Does Thunderbolt 3 support an external 5k display?

Specifically, is this bandwidth enough to support 5k resolution at 60 hz?

Update, 16 Jan 2016: According to this MacRumors article "Apple may wait until at least Cannon Lake chipset (which promise SST 5K support) in the second half of 2017, before releasing a 5K Thunderbolt Display"

A lot depends on the manufacturer of monitors. Clearly, Intel is backing this as the display technology going forward and Apple is also clearly on board.

Using 4K displays and Ultra HD TVs with your Mac - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202856

I think it's early to talk about what a 5k display means - so forgive me if you have a specific resolution and monitor in mind. Apple pulled punches to make their 5K iMac work since the GPU/controller/cables are all internal and they don't have to interoperate. The industry will have to standardize a bit for us to all be comfortable saying 5K display in general.
Currently, you need two cables for the Dell 5K display:

Some displays with resolutions higher than 4K require two DisplayPort cables to connect the display at full resolution. With OS X Yosemite v10.10.3 or later, the Dell UP2715K 27-inch 5K display is supported on the following Mac computers:

Mac Pro (Late 2013)
iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014 and later)
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) with AMD Radeon R9 M370X

That being said, the Late 2013 Mac Pro can drive three 4K displays and doesn't have any of the Thunderbolt 3 advances, so it's inconceivable to me that you won't get two displays over TB3 at 5k and 60 Hz which is currently the gold standard for video workflows that demand high-k displays.
Since nothing is released from Apple saying they Support 5K, you're going to have to read the tea leaves and wait for shipping displays and shipping chipsets with Thunderbolt 3 to know for sure, but I see no reason to be pessimistic about what you want happening on any Mac that ships this fall assuming Thunderbolt 3 over physical USB-C port is part of that Mac.
Intel states that you get 2 4K displays per TB3 connection - so I would presume one TB3 per 5K display would suffice. The single TB3 is listed as DisplayPort 1.2 but has 8 lanes of DisplayPort 1.2 (HBR2 and MST) so I think it's really in the monitor maker's court to get as much of their 5K from one Thunderbolt 3 channel.


Expunge a corrupted Excel program All my downloaded spreadsheets are going to Excel which is totally corrupted. I want them to open in Numbers instead and ditch Excel if possible.

Just move it to trash from the Applications folder. This page has list of files installed by Office 2011, but you don't have to care about them if you just want to remove Excel.

You can also change the default applications for file types from Finder's information windows (⌘I).


What is the technical reason why OS X can't write to NTFS devices? Mac OS X can't write to a hard drive with the NTFS format. It can, however, read it.

Why can't it write to it?

My basic understanding is that a file format dictates how is data stored and retrieved in a device. So, the key to working with a storage device is to know the rules for data storage and retrieval.

Since OS X is able to read devices with the NTFS format, obviously OS X knows such rules. What exactly stops OS X from following the necessary rules to write data to an NTFS device? It knows that it is NTFS (just do Get Info), so I see no reason why it can't do this.

OS X can write to NTFS volumes.  However, it's a hidden switch, and it's not supported.  Use it at your own risk.

OS-level support for a file system is a major technical investment.  It's not just about knowing the rules.  There are fundamental differences between HFS+ and NTFS, such as characters supported in the name and maximum file size.  When writing an OS, not to mention applications, it's very easy to make assumptions in your code that rely on the expected file system.

Reading a file from a different file system is significantly easier than writing a file to a different file system.  In only reading a file, there is very little chance of data loss.  In writing a file, it is imperative that the act of writing the file does not lose data (either in the file that you are writing, or other files on the disk).

Supporting another file system means that there is a massive expense to the OS development and test teams.  If you take a look at this comparison of file systems, you can see many places where these two file systems differ.  Without official support for NTFS, the safest assumption is that it hasn't been sufficiently tested and might not support all of the features of NTFS.


How to view Silverlight traffic in Safari Web Developer? I'm running a Silverlight application in my browser. The app communicates to a web server over HTTPS. I want to see the communication between the app and the webserver. Now when I open Web Developer I can see the requests being made. However, when I try to inspect the response from the webserver, a spinner is shown and it stays like that. How can I view the response in Safari 7?

I can't understand if your app do a XmlHTTPRequest.

Anyway... in the resource section (red circle in the image) you can find all the information about a request, even its response.

Hope this will help you! :)

PS: Sorry, my GUI is in italian, but you will understand as well


Verifying LibreOffice after each restart? Why does macOS need to verify LibreOffice each time after a restart? I haven't updated the app in a while, and after the first verification it opens normally the next time. This is annoying and it takes a long time (about a minute). This should happen once, after installing (in the /Applications folder), not repeatedly. This doesn't happen for other apps.

How can I make macOS stop verifying LO after a restart?

NB: Saw the same happening to Firefox, but not Thunderbird and Evernote.

Update

I installed this app several months ago. And I mention that this happens after a restart. So I don't open the app from a DMG, which would be unmounted after a restart anyways.

You still seem to start LibreOffice from the DMG file it was delivered in. Just drag the LibreOffice icon into your /Applications folder to install it properly. You can then eject and delete the DMG file.


Where in iOS 9 Beta 5 is the iTunes Store App? Iam a verified developer and have downloaded the latest iOS 9 Beta 5 from https://developer.apple.com/ios/download/.
But my other colleague has same version 9.0 (13A4325c) but he has the iTunes Store app but mine doesn't have a word of mention about the iTunes Store app.

Has it been marinated into Music or is this a bug??

Ensure that Restrictions (Settings > Restrictions > iTunes Store) is enabled.


Apple watch stopped unlocking due to Chrome Remote Desktop's screen sharing I think I found the culprit - Chrome Remote Desktop - but is there a way to fix it? Even though it's not actively running (i.e. a remote connection),  I get this on the lock screen:

With the little binoculars in the top right:

When I uninstall Chrome Remote Desktop it will unlock again with the watch. I feel like perhaps I'm not doing something right because it didn't do this on Mojave.

Why is my screen being shared even when it's not active?

(Additional note: I also have Screens Connect actively running without issue -> I can still unlock the mac with the watch, and the binoculars do not appear on the lock screen. It's definitely something going on with Chrome Remote Desktop)

Sorry for posting a comment as an answer to the main question, but unfortunately it appears I do not have enough reputation to leave a comment.

Anyway, I just wanted to point out that there was indeed an update on Chrome RD side: to be sure, I checked current version (80.0.3987) of /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/ChromeRemoteDesktopHost.app and went into Time Machine to compare with the version I had before a couple of days ago (78.0.3904).

Also, I remember that a few days ago that I was asked to enable some Privacy settings in the Preference Pane when the update passed -- and I did so as instructed by some Google-looking GUI that appeared at start-up. I think they were 'Accessibility' and 'Screen recording'.

Since the update, I too have been experiencing the very same symptoms: that is, unlocking with Apple Watch stopped working.

HTH

Sergio


Public Wi-Fi connection difficulty My iPhone 5 will not connect to some public Wi-Fi connections. I have found that if I turn off cellular data it will usually connect. It is as if the two are competing. Anyone know why this happens or how to fix?

If the iPhone decides that the cellular data connection will provide a better connection quality, it will choose that connection over a poor Wi-Fi connection. However, given no other choice (because you've turned off cellular data) the iPhone will attempt to maintain the poor connection over Wi-Fi.

There is no way around this other than to improve the Wi-Fi connection or to disable cellular data manually.


Create new partition from brand new MacBook Air I just purchased a macbook air, and when opening Disk Utility, I see the following:

251 GB Apple
 - Macintosh HD

I want to have a 10GB partition besides the current one, which will have the format: Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive).

I am wondering if I can do that just from the Disk Utility (by clicking on the '+' sign), or that will delete the current partition?

Yes, simply click + to add a new partition. It will take space from the end of the current partition and add a new one to the end. No data will be destroyed — you can confirm this in the confirmation pane once you click Apply.


MacBook VPN connection disconnects after two minutes My MacBook Pro's VPN disconnects two minutes after it connects. I change the account and I had no luck with it, Any ideas?

Under the built-in client, this is solved by:

setting the following on the VPN custom connection:

a) "lifetime time 24 hours;" or more
b) dpd_delay 0;
c) proposal_check claim;

This can be done by creating a file, e.g. /etc/racoon/fix.1.1.conf and adding the lines above in there.  Also ensure that the line "include /etc/racoon/*.conf" is not commented out in /etc/racoon/racoon.conf.


Dual boot (old model) MacBookPro9,2 running new macOS (APFS) without rEFInd Is it even possible to dual boot macOS without using rEFInd? In my system, I have a EFI, APFS and Ext4 partitions storing ESP, macOS (either Mojave or Sierra) and Debian. I used to be able to dual-boot, but some grub update killed my setup. I can now successfully boot directly into grub2 then Debian. But grub2 does not detect the APFS partition so cannot boot it, neither does pressing Alt while powering on brings up macOS disk/drive. Without being able to boot into macOS, I cannot "bless" anything either.

If macOS does not appear as an option from the Mac Startup Manager (i.e. holding down the alt key at startup), then you have something wrong with the macOS installation. This problem would be independent the installation of Grub and Debian.
You have not specified which version of macOS is installed. With the latest versions of macOS, the bless command can not set a default startup unless SIP is disabled. So, most users execute the bless command from macOS Recovery. You have not indicated if the internal macOS Recovery is bootable on your Mac. If not, then your model Mac can access macOS Recovery over the internet.
It would be helpful if you could boot to macOS Recovery and post the output from the command diskutil list. Of course, you should choose a version of macOS Recovery that can support APFS.
Most versions of Linux can be booted from the Mac Startup Manager by default or by copying certain Grub files to the EFI/BOOT folder in an EFI partition. Here the boot file needs to be renamed to BOOTX64.EFI. The problem with copying files is when Grub is updated, then most likely the copied files will not be updated. This is why many users prefer to install rEFInd to the EFI/BOOT folder instead.


Configure iPad 2 interface languages? How can I configure my iPad 2 interface languages, to allow using English as system language and, when writing, be able to have Spanish word recognition auto-complete?

In the latest public release of iOS, you need to follow these steps:

Tap on the Settings icon.
Tap on General.
Tap on International.
Tap on Keyboards.
Tap on Add New Keyboard.
Select Spanish.

The Spanish keyboard is now added system-wide in addition to your default keyboard (let's say it was English for this example). Now whenever you see a keyboard layout on your screen, you will see a new button with a globe icon on it on the bottom-left corner of the screen, right next to the "123" button that switches to the numeric/symbolic keyboard.

The globe button works like the "123" button in that it alternates between your International keyboard layouts. In this example, it will alternate between English and Spanish layouts. The spell checking and the auto-complete only work for whichever language you have have selected. In other words, you won't get English auto-complete when the layout is Spanish, which makes sense.

I use this feature all the time when composing e-mail messages in Spanish. Here's another tip: Tap and hold on the "n" key to get access to the "ñ" character. Also, tap and hold on any vowel to get the "á", "é", "í", "ó", "ú" and "ü" characters.

Hope this helps.


Thunderbolt 27" resolution I have a mid-2012 Macbook Pro with Retina. I love it, but I needed more screen real-estate for my current work, so I got a 27" Thunderbolt display. It's very big, and I have lots of room now, but I do have a problem. If I use the native resolution (2560 X 1440), I find text everywhere to be slightly too small. If I try the next "step" in the Display options (2048 X 1152), the text is bigger alright, but of course, it gets too blurry. Is there some way of doing an "in-between" step, between the native and the 2nd step? Or are there other ways of slightly enlarging the text? I guess I could "zoom" in Chrome, for example. Any other similar suggestions for other programs?

The display is crispest at it's native resolution of 2560 X 1440. I would suggest adjusting the text size in each app. This is a bit of a pain because it seems that some apps render the same font/size combo differently. Most apps seem to have font/size adjustments with some, like Mail.app, having adjustments for each of the major control areas (mailboxes, summary, mail display).

There are third party apps like SwitchRes that may show you intermediate steps. When I run a monitor at a non-native resolution I get a headache in about 5 minutes. The only exception to this is on my Macbook Pro Retina running the "More Space" (1920X1200) setting in the Display preference panel.


How to fast navigate through emoji panel On mac we can use Cmd+Ctrl+Space to quickly launch an emoji panel and type in emojis. And on that panel, we can navigate around with the arrow keys and press enter to type in the selected emoji. I am wondering if there are ways that I can navigate through without having my hands leaving the main keyboard. Or in other words, to press the arrow keys you always need to move your right hand to the arrow keys, which is kind of inconvenient. I think the ideal case would be using vim's hjkl to navigate. But not very sure how to configure.

And moreover, I have a touch bar on my mac, is there a way to have the emojis always displayed on the touch bar whenever I type? Because now I need to press the face icon first and then will the emojis show up on the touch bar, and this also seems not that convenient. I just hope the emojis could standby on the touch bar all the time.

The quickest way for me is to simply search for the emoji. After you use the shortcut, just simply start typing keywords to find your desired emoji.


How do I move a music collection Sorry for what must be a very simple question but how would I move all the tunes I have on my laptop to an external drive connected to the laptop.  Storage has become an issue and the laptop is quickly running out of space so I want to put all my tunes on an external and free up some space.  This would not be for a backup but to free up space.

This is pretty straighforward, the steps are essentially:

Open iTunes and consolidate your existing library (File > Library > Organise Library)
Quit iTunes
Copy your ~/Music/iTunes folder to the external drive
Open iTunes while holding down the Alt key, which will prompt you to select the new library
When you're sure it's working, delete your original library.

For more details on each step, see this iMore article. And as always, make sure you have a working backup before you start.


Can't run vi from terminal Every time I execute these commands:

vi

or

vim

in the terminal, it gives me the following error:

-bash: /usr/local/bin/vi: No such file or directory

or

-bash: /usr/local/bin/vim: No such file or directory

How do I get it to look at /usr/bin instead of /usr/local/bin?

type -a vi vim

returns

vi is /usr/bin/vi
vim is /usr/bin/vim

and

echo $PATH

returns

/usr/local/bin:/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages:/Users/carlo/android-sdk-macosx/platform-tools:/Users/carlo/android-sdk-macosx/tools

I effed up my settings when I was screwing around with MacVim and Homebrew. And now I can't even start vim with vi or vim.

Set your path to be the following and then you should have temporary control (or just unset the $PATH and type things in exactly like /usr/bin/vi whatever)

 export PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin

Once you've confirmed all is well, you'll want to sort out the scripts that run each time you log in and set $PATH or just be sure that you delete things from /usr/local to clean up the problems.


Do Apple stores refuse to repair your iPhone if not purchased directly from Apple? I am planning to buy an iPhone 6 from an online store. But I have been told that if I buy from anywhere except the Apple store, I won't be able to enjoy the benefits of the warranty and guarantee. Is that true?

You can research Apple's warranty at http://apple.com/legal

You will have consumer law protections if you can prove you purchased product in a certain place. Those trump any warranty.

Apple's warranty is attached to the phone (or any serialized product), so all that matters is what country that serial number was first sold as Apple's records show. They then warrant that one device under that one legal framework.

The warranty doesn't need proof of purchase, but most of the agreements I've read say "Apple or its agents may require that you furnish proof of purchase details" which protects them against stolen or counterfeit serial numbers if there is doubt.

I would recommend you get a written invoice with the business name and the serial number of the iPhone so you are covered in case Apple exercises the "may require" clause, but I've never heard of anyone actually reporting that they needed to provide proof of purchase as Apple typically honors their warranty to the letter and often treats consumers better than the warranty allows.


False file permission denied error when opening one specific word document on my Mac There is one specific word doc that contains a draft SOP for running a piece of manufacturing equipment. When I select this file to open it from the Finder or from Word, I get a permission error, and "Select this file to give access to it". I select it, and then it raises the error: "User does not have permission to access this file."

Historically, I have had no problem opening this file. All the sudden, I get permission denied. I have tried selecting [CTRL] and [right click the file from Finder] and select [get info]. When I do, I get, as expected, I get: me: rwx, staff: r--, others: r--.

Does anyone have any idea what is going on?

Thanks for your time.

The permissions look okay.  Maybe you're not (or are no longer) the owner.  Try opening Terminal.app  Then type: chown USER ~/Desktop/FILE replacing USER with your username, and FILE with the filename plus the extension, assuming it's on your Desktop.  If you've executed the command successfully, it will seem like nothing has happened.  If you fail, it will complain, but you're not going to harm anything.

Then try to open it.

Aside from that, I'd maybe you could have encrypted it by mistake?


Does a first generation iPod touch have the ability to download apps and use emojis? I am getting a 1st gen iPod touch for a friend and I was wondering if you can download like apps and games on it and if it has emojis? It would help to get an answer before I buy it!

Yes, the App Store exists as that was introduced with iPhone OS 2.0, however most apps on the store do not support iPhone OS 3.1.3 (the last version available for the 1st generation iPod touch).

Emojis can be activated through 'emoji hack' apps on the App Store.


Testing an iPhone 5C without a battery or screen I have a previously broken iPhone 5c that I removed the offending parts from. The screen was shattered beyond repair, and the battery was in pretty bad condition. I'm planning to buy some new parts and repair it, but I don't want to spend around $100 and find out that other parts are broken and it's non-salvageable.

Is there a way to test the phone, maybe by making it ring or vibrate, without a battery or a screen?

Update: It works, it's charging and vibrating, but it seems to be trying to notify me of something important, as it is vibrating every 3 seconds. is this normal or what

I think on iPhones the 3 second vibratíon indicates a screen problem


List DHCP leases held from client Does Mac OS X Snow Leopard store complete information on the client DHCP leases it holds on Snow Leopard Server?  It is apparently not recorded in /var/log/system.log — although this information is logged here on Tiger.
I can get the DHCP leases granted from sudo serveradmin fullstatus dhcp; this is the other end to what I want.
The issue arose when I managed to cripple the machine so that, while it was quite capable of accessing the local network, it couldn't play its part in receiving a fresh DHCP lease, and so the router wouldn't talk to it on any channel other than 80, isolating from anything outside the local network.  I fixed the issue by rolling back the state with Time Machine, but I'd like to know how to troubleshoot this issue in future.
Postscript
Which it did, and being able to verify that no leases had been generated in the past week (by looking at the date of the leases directory in the output of ls -l /var/db/dhcpclient) was useful in debugging the situation, so kudos to Harv.  You can get more information on the individual leases by looking at ipconfig getpacket $INTERFACE, but not the date of when the last lease was issued/deleted.
What happens is that the ipfw firewall was blocking the ports used by DHCP.  Switching off the firewall allows DHCP leases to be granted.  Now, why these ports were blocked is still a mystery to me.

I don't think you can find lease information from the client end, I believe it's stored on the server end.  I don't quite understand, though, your predicament.  You managed to cripple your network connectivity somehow?

Try /private/var/db/dhcpclient/leases.


Reading math eBooks on iPhone I want to read eBooks on my iPhone 4. Those eBooks are heavy on mathematical formulas and sometimes diagrams. I have some problems though:

When I convert PDFs and DJVU to ePub format and download the ePub file to iPhone, then I open it with Stanza, mathematical equations do not show correctly.
When I open PDFs and DJVUs using Stanza without converting to  ePub format, the text appears fuzzy and when I zoom in or out I lose the ability to flip through the pages – and I can't change or close the book.

Regarding pdf, comverting to another format normally makes things worse rather than better.  For reading pdf, best use an app specifically designed for that, like goodreader or adobe reader, instead of an ebook reader like stanza or ibooks.


Two external displays without Thunderbolt I need to buy a new laptop (Mac) for work and the top priority for me is having at least two displays.

Unfortunately, due to budget limitations I cannot buy Apple Thunderbolt Displays. Now, and correct me if I’m wrong, the Apple Thunderbolt Display currently seems to be the only Thunderbolt display out there.

Is it possible, using MBP or MacBook Air, to use two external displays that do not s use Thunderbolt? … Without using additional hardware (like the Matrox multiplexer used elsewhere – this doesn’t work, and the DisplayLink USB to DVI adapter drivers don’t work yet on OS X Lion).

No - you need at least an USB to whatever input your third display (the second external display) accepts.

I suppose some would say you could use another computer and use some sort of virtual screen / VNC software to have the system make a virtual screen and send that data over the network to the other computer to push to the third display.


Can I get OS X Dictation to work in Lotus Notes? I really like enhanced (offline) dictation in OS X 10.9, and use it a lot. I'd like to use it within Lotus Notes (9.0.1), but unfortunately double-pressing the "Fn" key when I'm composing an email doesn't seem to do anything.

Do applications have to do something special to support dictation? Is there anything I can do to get additional applications such as Lotus Notes to support dictation?

Sadly it doesn't work at this time. I tried looking for a matching SPR but I couldn't find one.

So I have created SPR SODY9GMBDH so that development can investigate further. Do not treat this as a final answer though (as someone may have worked around it).


Mac Screenshot Markup/Annotation with Text that Sticks to Arrows I'm looking for a screenshot markup/annotation tool that attaches text to the origin of an arrow.

Screenshot markup/annotation apps usually allow you to add arrows that point to parts of the shot. They also allow you to add text, commonly to explain the problem.

Commonly for me I add an arrow that points to an issue then add some text at the arrow's origin. Often I end up needing to move the text around or because there's not enough room, it ends up on an unreadable background color, etc. When I do so, though, the arrow origin doesn't stick to the text so I'm constantly moving the text, then moving the arrow, then moving the text, then moving the arrow, etc.

Do you know of any tools that allow the text box to "stick" to the arrow's origin so I can more easily make changes this way?

(It might sound a bit of a nitpick but when I'm marking things up I can easily add 100 or more such annotations in a few-hour session.)

Edited to add: I realize that I might not have been clear enough. Here's an example using the app Napkin. It's the perfect app for this but it has other issues that make it not usable for me (and hasn't been updated in years):

If you open your images in Apple's Preview, you can use the toolbar to add arrows, and text:

Then you can command-click each of the elements to move them respective of each other's position.

All of these annotations were done with Apple's Preview. You can do the same thing for PDFs as well.

And of course, taking screenshots are incredible easy in MacOS. cmd-shift-4 with  a space bar afterwards lets you take pics of windows.


Is there any way to Select All on a PDF on an iPad? If you are viewing a PDF on an iPad, is there any way to select all text? I tried CMD A with the external keyboard after highlighting a word, and it didn’t work.

There are two ways on the iPad to select all text inside a PDF:

Touchscreen:
Select / highlight one word by long pressing and then tap on select all from the options that pop up.
External Trackpad:
Basically, the same approach as with the touchscreen, but instead of long pressing, you have tap with two fingers on the trackpad to select a word.


How To Remove Only The Characters Inside Brackets [ ] From A String So I have been searching for hours on how to do this via Applescript and I see no post about it.

Basically, I have the following string:

  @junior_cat23, [ID]-[E9B-Z8X-H1V-722]

I want the script to remove only this part:

  , [ID]-[E9B-Z8X-H1V-722]

So I am left only with:

  @junior_cat23

I am using "AppleScript's text item delimiters" but the problem is that it will also remove the characters from the text I want to keep.

This is the script I am using:

set theName to "@junior_cat23, [ID]-[E9B-Z8X-H1V-722]"

tell application "Finder"

    -- Remove Characters

    set oldDelims to AppleScript's text item delimiters
    set the_strings_to_strip to {"[", "]", "-", "A", "B", "C", "D", "E", "F", "G", "H", "I", "J", "K", "L", "M", "N", "O", "P", "Q", "R", "S", "T", "U", "V", "W", "X", "Y", "Z", "1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "0"}

    set the_files to theName
    repeat with a_file in the_files
        set the_name to theName
        repeat with I from 1 to count of the_strings_to_strip
            set AppleScript's text item delimiters to item I of the_strings_to_strip
            set the_text_items to text items of the_name
            set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
            set the_name to the_text_items as string
        end repeat
    end repeat

    -- Remove Preceding and Trailing Spaces in String

    set trimName to "echo \"" & the_text_items & "\" | xargs"
    set nameTrimmed to (do shell script trimName)
end tell

I get the following result:

  "@_,"

I just want to remove the characters in side of the brackets and keep the others. I will appreciate a solution that does not require a handler since I will be using the script with an application that does not accept handlers.

One of the reasons you were not getting returned what you wanted is in some cases AppleScript is case insensitive and wrapping the -- Remove Characters code in a considering case block handles some of the issues, but not all. Additionally, since you have numeric characters in both what you want retained and not, then as currently coded it removes all numeric characters.

While your current code could be reworked, I'm not inclined to do that as from both deleted comments and still existing comments you've left out vital information in the OP. That said, I'll assume for the moment that all target strings will have either , [ ... ] or [ ... ] that needs to be removed and the following sed command handles the example value of theName variable in your OP and in the comments.

So whether you have:

set theName to "@junior_cat23, [ID]-[E9B-Z8X-H1V-722]"

Or:

set theName to "@junior_cat23 @james_cat24 [ID]-[E9B-Z8X-H1V-722]"

Then:

do shell script "sed -E -e 's|\\[.*||' -e 's|,||g' -e 's|^[ ]+||' -e 's|[ ]+$||'<<<" & theName's quoted form

      • Hint: Mouse over and horizontal scroll to see full code.

Returns:

@junior_cat23

Or:

@junior_cat23 @james_cat24

Without any leading/trailing spaces.

Understanding the do shell script and sed commands:

do shell script -- Executes a shell script using the sh shell.
sed -- Stream Editor.

-E -- Interpret regular expressions as extended (modern) regular expressions rather than basic regular expressions (BRE’s). The re_format(7) manual page fully describes both formats.
−e command -- Append the editing commands specified by the command argument to the list of commands.
's|\\[.*||' -- Removes everything from the first [ character to the end of the line.
's|,||g' -- Removes all commas, if they exist.
's|^[ ]+||' -- Removes all leading spaces, if they exist.
's|[ ]+$||' -- Removes all trailing spaces, if they exist.
<<< -- Here Strings - A variant of here documents, the format is: [n]<<< word - The word undergoes brace expansion, tilde expansion, parameter and variable expansion, command substitution, arithmetic expansion, and quote removal. Pathname expansion and word splitting are not performed. The result is supplied as a single string, with a newline appended, to the command on its standard input (or file descriptor n if n is specified).

& theName's quoted form -- Appends the single quoted value of the variable theName to the end of the command line of the sed command in the do shell script command so as not to expand any shell special characters in the value of the variable theName, if any exists.


Mouse pointer enlarges for a moment I have an iMac running macOS High Sierra. Sometimes, when I'm moving the mouse pointer around it will enlarge to 2-3 times the size for about 1 second. It happens a few times per day.

I assume I'm either pressing some key that causes it or I'm moving the pointer over something that triggers it.

What is causing this behavior? Is there a way to disable it? If yes, how do I do so?

The behaviour that you are encountering is due to an accessibility setting called Shake mouse pointer to locate.

First introduced in OS X El Capitan 10.11, it helps in locating mouse pointer for people with vision disparity. It is also widely used for easily locating the mouse pointer when using a multi-monitor setup and/or high-resolution display(s).

The setting can be enabled/disabled by going to System Preferences → Accessibility → Display.


How do iPads detect when a cover closes? Some iPad cases (particularly those that look like book covers) provide a feature that when the cover closes the iPad enters suspended mode and when the cover opens the iPad wakes up. The one provided by the link claims it provides this functionality through a magnetic strip. Does this mean iPads have the ability to sense nearby magnetic fields built in? Why and how does this work?

PS. It appears Apple's Smart Covers provide this functionality too.

The Smart Cover has a magnet that interacts with the sleep sensor of an iPad. So whenever you close the Smart Cover, iPad will know when to sleep. The same theory for waking up.

Info from MacRumors


How can I transfer large files from Linux to iPad over a cable or wifi? I am looking for a way to transfer large files to the iPad without using iTunes or pushing to and pulling from a remote server.

I run an Ubuntu laptop as my only OS at the moment and want to be able to transfer movies to my iPad.  I currently transfer most of my files by way of the dropbox app which works well for small files but is quite slow for larger files and eats up my bandwidth.  Ideally I'd like to be able to transfer over a cable or through WiFi.

Thanks for any tips.

Simply install VLC app from the app store and use its wifi transfer feature (in the sidebar of vlc app) to transfer videos(in all formats recognizable by vlc) into your vlc library....

UPDATE: This method not only works for audio/video formats but pretty much all file formats. Ofcourse, VLC won't show these files but one could access them using any decent File manager app such as Document.


Delete iPhone MMS Messages Only I'm running out of space on my little 16GB iPhone 4S. I have noticed that a very large chunk of the space is taken up by the Messages app. I believe this is due to the tons of MMS messages I've sent and received over the years. I would like to easily delete all MMS messages (pictures/videos) without deleting any conversations and without having to manually find and delete each one. Is this possible?

On iOS 7, in the conversation window, if you hold on a message balloon you get the context menu with two options: Copy and More.

When you tap More, you will get into the edit screen where you can select and delete individual messages.


Printing Error Error: invalidfont Ricoh Printer I have a Ricoh Aficio MP 2000 printer. I have macOS Big Sur running on a Mac mini. It is possible to connect to the printer and print graphics, web pages, etc. But I have problems to print PDFs with embedded fonts. I always get Error: invalidfont.
I tried the following drivers.

Generic Postscript Printer
Driver provided by Ricoh
Ricoh Printer Drivers v3.0 for macOS

What else could I do?

From the Finder, select Go > Go to Folder...
In the dialog box enter: /Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources
Open the ppd file for your printer in e.g. TextEdit and change the TTRasterizer setting to None e.g.:
*TTRasterizer Type42 change to *TTRasterizer: None
Save the ppd file. If using the generic ppd file just add the line *TTRasterizer: None  after Language level entry.
Install your printer using this new PPD.


What is the difference between .command, .tool, and .sh file extensions? I saw a couple of questions about executing command line scripts? I saw that the .command and .tool extensions were mentioned. I have always used .sh. What is the difference between these different scripts? Do some extensions allow for different commands?

.command - (Terminal shell script) Specifically associates a shell script with Terminal. Sometimes referred to as a "Terminal File."
.tool - (Terminal shell script) Same as the ".command" file extension.
.sh - (Shell Script) A basic shell script that is associated with Xcode 4.1.

Programmatically, I'm sure the difference between the first two (.command vs. .tool) are subtle, while the third is essentially a simple, default shell script. And does in fact associate with Xcode 4.1.


Whatsapp on iOS, how to delete voice messages? Some of my Whatsapp group chats contain about 100mb of voice messages and I want to get rid of them. However, they are not being displayed as "media".

On Android I could just go to the Whatsapp data folder and delete them from there but I can't access that on iOS.

I've also found the whatsapp support being useless, so I am trying here.

Now, after 1000 views on this question it's worth updating my answer:

Recently, a function has been added to Whatsapp that lets you delete ALL voice messages from a chat.

open Whatsapp
hit "Settings"
click "Data and Storage Usage"
click "Storage Usage"
select a chat
click "Manage..."
remove every checkmark except for "Voice Messages"

(You can also delete other stuff in there but I wanna keep all of that haha)


Prevent duplicate tabs in Xcode editor In Xcode editor, is there a way to open files in a new tab only if one is not already present, and if it is, then switch to that tab. If it isn't possible to do so via the preference settings, can it be done via script?

There is no way in Xcode (both natively or via any preference) to switch to the tab with the file already open (when attempting to open a file from another tab/window).

This seems appropriate, as many a times a file may be required to be open in multiple tabs/windows. Also, alongside the assistant editor feature of Xcode, having such a feature may not be practical/desirable.


SSD causes freezes and beach balls I replaced my MacBook Pro optical drive with an Agility 3 SSD from OCZ, currently operating at SATA I speed only (it should run at SATA II speed, but that's another story). After a clean install of Mac OS X Mountain Lion, I noticed a few problems that made the whole user experience nearly unbearable: constant beach ball cursors and unexpected freezes and pauses (up to one minute) when editting basic system preferences, copying files, using Safari, etc. Agility 3 SSDs have their own Trim manager, so I applied no hacks whatsoever. Here's what I've done so far:

Made several clean installs of Mac OS X Lion on the SSD: all problems persisted;
Enabled Mac OS X native Trim support, using Trim Enabler: didn't notice any changes;
Didn't install any software and didn't use the HD: all problems persisted;
Ran a "Verify disk" scan using Disk Utility: no issues returned.

I assume the problem is related to the SSD, because these beach balls and pauses started happening right after I installed the SSD. I do notice my Mac Book Pro is much faster though, whenever these issues don't freeze it. These are my relevant specs:

MacBook Pro 5.1 (late 2008):

2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo;
8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3;
SMC version: 1.33f8;
Sudden Motion Sensor: Enabled.

Agility 3 SSD:

Model: OCZ-AGILITY3;
Revision: 2.220000;
Serial Number: OCZ-F2YXP9LB8741651B;
Native Command Queuing: Yes;
Queue Depth: 32;
Medium Type: Solid State;
TRIM Support: No;
Partition Map Type:   GPT (GUID Partition Table);
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified.

Here are some similar issues I found when browsing through Apple discussion forums, all with the very same Agility 3 SSDs:

Macbook late 2009 - SATA III SSD issues
SSD beach ball freezes
occasional stalling

I guess I should be more specific and run some sort of diagnostics, but I honestly don't know how to do it. Is there anything I should do to provide more information on this issue? Any suggestions would be much appreciated, as I totally depend on this MacBook Pro to work and procrastinate.

Quick update: I just checked my System Report and my SSD is running (only) at SATA I speed, while it should only have backwards compatibility with SATA II. Maybe that's the problem. I just don't understand why it's not running at SATA II speed, as is the other HD I have on my Mac Book Pro (which, by the way, only supports up to SATA II).

This may also be an issue with the ICH8-M AHCI SATA interface chip. I have a late 2008 MBP that came with a 250 GB HD. I upgraded to a 640 GB and had endless beach balls. Turns out the models with a ICH8-M AHCI and a PATA superdrive interface cannot be upgraded higher than a 320 GB 7200rpm HD. Anything faster or larger will stall out as the FW for the ICH8-M AHCI cannot be upgraded beyond SATA I speed without killing the PATA interface.
Some models with a ICH8-M AHCI and a SATA superdrive interface can be upgraded with a FW update released by Apple.
Check for updates.


Possible to use Siri to trigger custom actions? These days, Macs have Siri.

Siri even works offline for tasks like dictation.

When Siri interprets audio into written words, can I somehow capture those written words, and trigger a self-defined action if a certain pattern is detected?

For example, if I say "Hey Siri, run my backup script", could a shell script located in my home folder then be executed?

(Bonus question: If Siri cannot do this, is there some other free technology that can?)

That’s one interesting idea. It seems to be possible by registering custom vocabulary in your app. Since there is SiriKit it should be possible. Besides people from Homebridge achieved the same you want with garage doors and so on.
https://github.com/nfarina/homebridge/blob/master/README.md

Things like custom vocabulary can be found here:
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/sirikit/registering_custom_vocabulary_with_sirikit

So if I understand the docs correctly you can specify

IntentPhrases that allow you to react for a word shell for exemple

But I love the idea. First thing I will connect will be ‘fastlane’ and I will shout ‘deploy!’


NTLM hash function in Terminal? I'm aware there are a number of hash functions available in terminal such as echo "text" | openssl <hashname> or perl -MDigest::SHA -nle 'print Digest::SHA::sha224_hex($_), ":", $_'. However, I have been unable to find any way of hashing into NTLM.

Is anyone aware of a method (preferably an efficient method) for hashing into NTLM through terminal?

You can hash using the NTLM method like this:

perl -MAuthen::Passphrase::NTHash -nle 'print Authen::Passphrase::NTHash->new(passphrase => $_)->hash_hex, ":", $_' < infile >> outfile

However, according to your comments your question is a XY problem. You're actually really trying to build a web site that allows everyone to hash any string efficiently using any hashing algorithm. For that that purpose, the above mentioned command line is not suitable.


I can't write to a file that I own on /Users/shared I am running macos Sierra 10.12.1

It's a plain text file. I've put rw permission on it for all users, but the only way that I can write to it is by having an account with admin privileges use sudo to edit it. It claims to be 'locked' in TextEdit, and I don't have the permission to unlock it.

Here is it ls -l@ entry:

-rw-rw-rw-@ 1 thelma  staff  15424 Oct 28 12:47 addresses
    com.apple.metadata:_kTimeMachineNewestSnapshot     50
    com.apple.metadata:_kTimeMachineOldestSnapshot     50

A "Locked" file is a different situation than file permissions and who owns it and can write to it. It's actually locked for everyone including the owner.

This will require admin privileges

Go to finder
locate the file.
select it and right click then choose "get info" or cmd+i (with it selected)
Uncheck the "locked" option.

If this isn't the actual issue then permissions are wrong and need changed.

EDIT: Apologies for the delay in editing! Been rather busy!

tldr; Perhaps you are not a member of the group associate with the file.

I tested this with a file myself. I navigated into /Users/Shared (Capital S for shared, this is wrong in your question heading, just to ensure correct directory), and then made a file with:

touch test-file-permissions

This created a file named test-file-permissions with group assess of wheel, and administrator group. This was the outcome:

-rw-r--r--  1 MyCurrentUserName wheel  0 Nov  3 19:00 test-permissions

From here I was able to both use Nano, a terminal editor to edit the file and sublime text without sudo(GUI and terminal editors can make a difference for example: when editing the /etc/sudoers file it must be done by a terminal editor and command visudo).

I then changed the file permissions for group ownership and permissions with editing writes still in my abilities and no problems.

Note: We have two commands here. chmod and chown.

chown -- change file owner and group

AND

chmod -- change file modes or Access Control Lists

Using chmod I tested personal rights to the file without group permissions, and then even changed which groups had ownership with no problems with requiring sudo to change the file. I didn't need it, simply put.

Note: TheGroupNameIChangedTo is a group on my machine. I, the user account, must be a member of this group, in which case I am.

Don't know your groups? Run command: groups

Moving on..

chown MyUserName:TheGroupNameIChangedTo test-permissions
chmod -v 0660 test-permissions

Outcome:

-rw-rw---- 1 MyUserName TheGroupNameIChangedTo  27 Nov  3 19:11 test-permissions

Therefore I believe your group may not be correct on the file. Your two user accounts, Admin and Standard must be a member of the same group. A solution would be to create one named whatever you like that doesn't conflict with existing, and add both users to it DO NOT ADD STANDARD USER TO WHEEL GROUP FOR SECURITY PURPOSES, ALTHOUGH THIS WILL SOLVE IT IN A WAY, IT POSSES A RISK .. I emphasize this because I understand and actually applaud with your two account system here separating Admin and Standard users. This is very smart!

Update me if this is what you want/needed, I'll keep peeking in on the question. My answer may be a bit out of the way, but I wanted to cover everything for you and others viewing the question. I'm open to edits from viewers. All else aside, it'll still get edited later for clarity.


Safari still caching even with "Disable Caches" enabled I'm debugging JavaScript on my iPhone and I can't get Safari to stop caching the JavaScript files.  I have "Disable Caches" enabled under the develop menu, and have cleared the cache numerous times but as you can see in this screenshot some script files are still cached:

The only way I've found to fully clear the cache is to wipe all content from Safari though my phones settings.

As well, all requests returned by the server prohibit caching through response headers:

Cache-Control: no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate
Pragma: no-cache
Expires: 0

Disable Caches is for Safari on OS X, not for Safari on your connected iOS device.
You can't disable caches on Safari on iOS.


How to use internal HDD as a file sharing drive if I boot from external SSD on mac mini? I'm running Mojave 10.14.6 on mac mini late 2014.
It has internal hdd drive. I bought an external ssd to speed things up and run everything from it, and use internal hdd as a data storage\time machine
I installed OS on ssd and am running the mac from it, but I can't seem to erase the internal hdd drive. When trying to partition it in Disk utility I'm getting an error
The volume “osx” on disk1s1 couldn’t be unmounted because it is in use by process 82 (securityd)

After this error happened, disk utility shows that hdd has two partitions, 500gb each (that's how I set it up on 'partitioning' step), but I can see only the partition that was there before, no new partition that I added. Might sound confusing - please see the screenshots here.
Now, I'm very sure that I run OS from external SSD, so I don't understand why any process would use internal hdd and what should I do from now on.
So the question is, how do I use internal hdd as a data storage drive, and erase the OS from it?

Thanks to a comment from @benwiggy I was able to solve my problem. Appears you need to explicitly unmount the disk before partitioning it. Not sure why it was mounted anyway. In any case, after unmounting with
> diskutil unmountDisk force /Volumes/my_disk_name

Partitioning went without error.


How can I stop fseventsd for certain volumes? I also have a partion with Ubuntu installed. Unfortunately, every time I have an error while working on the Ubuntu partion (I believe it's ext3), I get a Kernel Panic and I have to restart. I believe this is related to fseventsd, since it my try to log the errors on the root of the Ubuntu partition.

How can I stop fseventsd logging events on that Ubuntu volume?

Thank you!

Preventing file system event storage

Whilst you should not stop the daemon, you can disable logging on a per-volume basis.

In the Mac Developer Library

File System Events Programming Guide: File System Event Security: Preventing File System Event Storage advises:

  … To disable logging on a per-volume basis (for creating a backup
  volume, for example), you must do the following:

  Create a .fseventsd directory at the top level of the volume.
  Create an empty no_log file in that directory.

  So if your volume is mounted at /Volumes/MyDisk, you would create an
  empty file called /Volumes/MyDisk/.fseventsd/no_log.

Kernel panics

Please consider creating a separate question.


Safari 7.0.5 on 10.9.4 fails to check code-signing I noticed that the Little Snitch's Research Assistant told me that the signature for Safari was invalid so i ran codesign to check and in fact i got this:

codesign -vvvv /Applications/Safari.app/
--validated:/Applications/Safari.app/Contents/MacOS/SafariForWebKitDevelopment
/Applications/Safari.app/: a sealed resource is missing or invalid
file modified: /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/InfoPlist.strings
file modified: /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/ServicesMenu.strings

Is this dangerous? I found out that this issue could be related to 1Password: https://discussions.agilebits.com/discussion/14419/safari-plugin-unverified

I have 1Password installed but the plugin works, so can someone explain this? Should i worry about?

EDIT: find another one: Safari seems to be modified

I don't think this is dangerous. I don't think you need to worry about it.

The affected files are just pairs of strings and the translated version for a particular language. The InfoPlist.strings file contains the file descriptions that appear in the Finder (and other places I assume) for the Document Types that Safari supports, for example "HTML document" and "CSS style sheet". The ServicesMenu.strings contains a similar short list of the Services provided by Safari, for example "Add to Reading List". The two files that are being flagged as modified are a bit boring as they are providing English translations for strings that are already in English. If you check the same files in another language folder within the Safari bundle, like for example French the concept is clearer.

<key>Web internet location</key>
<string>Adresse Internet du Web</string>
<key>Web site URL</key>
<string>Adresse URL du site web</string>
<key>Web site location</key>
<string>Adresse du site web</string>
<key>Windows icon image</key>
<string>Fenêtres icône image</string>

Within the thread discussing 1Password it doesn't appear that the modification was caused by 1Password. In fact it was initially suspected to be the reverse, the discussion in that thread was about whether the modifications were causing a problem with 1Password because someone was having trouble running it. In the end it turned out that the problem with 1Password was caused by Sophos. The modified Safari files had nothing to do with it.

For what it's worth I get the same errors when I run codesign against Safari on both my Macs. I tried reinstalling the latest OS X update (which includes Safari 7.0.5) but that made no difference. Even tried repairing permissions (which funnily enough did make one correction to a file in the Safari bundle) but unfortunately didn't resolve this issue.

Unless you have a problem running Safari or running extensions within Safari, I wouldn't worry about this.