Trouble with my partitions I have some trouble with my partitions on my Macbook Pro.
I created 2 partitions. One named "Yo" where I have installed Yosemite release. Another one named "Save" where I put all the stuffs I need to keep secure for work.

I want to create a 3rd one to re-install Mavericks just because one of my app is not working on Yosemite.

The trouble is that I can't do it through the Disk Utility GUI because everything is disabled. I saw a post here where they talked about using diskutil command in the terminal. I tried to follow it but I have something weird when I try to list all my disk. Here is the output:

$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *251.0 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         224.9 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
   4:                  Apple_HFS Save                    24.5 GB    disk0s4
   5:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s5
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS Yo                     *223.3 GB   disk1
                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2
                                 C5EE25C4-6BC6-4E56-961A-F43335118355
                                 Unencrypted

What I want to achieve is having these 3 partitions:

"Yo" -> 180GB
"Mavericks" -> 45GB
"Save" -> 25GB

Is that achievable without having to reinstall Yosemite and if so how can I succeed to do that?

The problem is that the Yo volume is inside a CoreStorage logical volume group. You can manipulate them from the command line, but the easiest thing to do is just revert it to a normal partition (in the terminal):

diskutil coreStorage revert /dev/disk1

This shouldn't cause data loss, but as always when working with partitions, back up anything you can't afford to lose. Once it's a normal partition, you should be able to manipulate it in Disk Utility again.

See man diskutil for more information.


IOS 10 Music App and Music Videos Where are the music videos in ios 10? they are not in the built-in video app.

Music videos are located in the Music app.  See this article describing the new Music app.

  The “Browse” tab is also entirely new, replacing the “New” tab. Along the top are side-scrolling headers much like we’ve seen in the past, but otherwise the interface is very simplistic. There are quick links to “New Music,” “Curated Playlists,” “Top Charts,” and “Genres.” The “New Music” interface shows “Hot Tracks,” new albums, new music playlist, new artists, music videos, and “Featured Curators.”


Launching/showing calendar from the menu bar Is there any app that would allow me to preview the calendar from the menu bar (i.e. show calendar with a single click)?

It's all I need, I don't even need to open calendar from that app, though it would be nice.

Day-O

  Day-O is a simple menu bar clock replacement with a simple calendar
  for your Mac. It’s free, as-is (which means I’m not providing support,
  taking feature requests, addressing perceived inadequacies or
  releasing the source code).


Does a usb-c to hdmi cable actually exist? So my macbook pro has a usb-c  cable. I want to connect it to my tv using hdmi.
I've come across this product
However, I'm not sure if it's a punk. It's my understanding that I need an intermediate adaptor to connect to it to my tv. Whereas this product claims to directly connect my macbook pro to the TV. Am I missing something?

Yes, I have one (not that make specifically but another HDMI to USB-C) and it works fine with my MacBook. There’s no need for any other components along the way.


Bootcamp over external USB drive Is it possible to use boot camp on external drive? I would like to install windows on an SSD connected using USB 3.0 and boot from there. Has anyone done it ? Any problems with that ?

Boot Camp will not install to an external drive, (pg. 6) but you might be able to clone a Windows system to the external volume; not sure if a Mac will support booting it via USB 3.0 though.  I'd say you should wait for the next Boot Camp update which will likely bring USB 3 support (and hopefully native drivers for all the new Mac models introduced at WWDC 2012).


How can I remap these keyboard keystrokes? I am beginning to use the U.S. keyboard because, as a developer, I have the key I use the most available more.

Only problem is I lost direct access to the accent keys. So I want to remap the keyboard so that Alt+a would give me à, Alt+e would give me è, etc. since I don't use these convenient combinations for anything else.

How can I do this on macOS Sierra?

You can also make accents from the USA keyboard by just holding down the key for the base letter and selecting the one you want from the popup menu that appears.

One pretty easy way to remap keys the way you want is to make a custom keyboard layout with Ukelele:

http://scripts.sil.org/ukelele


Can't compile PHP 5.6.1 from source I'm trying to compile PHP 5.6.1 on my MacBook Pro but I can't seem to get pass all the problems.

I get stuck with the error message at make:

clang: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)
Makefile:138: recipe for target 'libs/libphp5.bundle' failed
make: *** [libs/libphp5.bundle] Error 1

I compiled the Apache v. 2.4.10 from source with configure options:

sudo ./configure --prefi=/usr/local/apache2 --enable-so --enable-modules=most

Apache is working normally.

My configure options for PHP:

sudo ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/php --with-apxs2=/usr/local/apache2/bin/apxs --disable-ipv6 --enable-dtrace --with-zlib --with-curl=/usr/local/cURL --enable-ftp --enable-mbstring --with-mcrypt=/usr/local/libmcrypt --with-mysqli=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql_config --enable-opcache=no

I can't get pass the make process. I've tried everything: sudo make clean doesn't help. I've reinstalled Xcode and CommandLineTools. And tried everything that I could find searching the web but to no prevail.

Does anyone know why it doesn't work?

My last resort would be reinstall mavericks (if anything was overwritten or broken) but that is the last resort I want to take and start over again on a fresh copy.

Thanks for all your help.

Pending my research: PHP only throws the error when trying to configure it with mysqli.

Undefined symbols for architecture x86_64:
  "_dns_free", referenced from:
      _zif_dns_check_record in dns.o
      _zif_dns_get_record in dns.o
      _zif_dns_get_mx in dns.o
  "_dns_open", referenced from:
      _zif_dns_check_record in dns.o
      _zif_dns_get_record in dns.o
      _zif_dns_get_mx in dns.o
  "_dns_search", referenced from:
      _zif_dns_check_record in dns.o
      _zif_dns_get_record in dns.o
      _zif_dns_get_mx in dns.o
  "_res_9_dn_expand", referenced from:
      _php_parserr in dns.o
      _zif_dns_get_mx in dns.o
  "_res_9_dn_skipname", referenced from:
      _zif_dns_get_record in dns.o
      _zif_dns_get_mx in dns.o
ld: symbol(s) not found for architecture x86_64
clang: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)
make: *** [libs/libphp5.bundle] Error 1

What am I missing?

Managed to find the problem.

Remove the previous installation and then:

--with-mysqli : I used the native MySql driver ( omitted the folder path )

So when you forget to add a module to your initial compilation and you are stuck with some kind a freaky error delete the old instance that successfully installed and do the ./configure ; make clean ; make ; make install just to be sure:)

Thanks goes to David Parker for helping me with the problem.

Thanks David.


I can't get my launch daemon to run my shell script For some reason, I am unable to get my shell script to run when the computer boots.  My script fine by itself, but for some reason my Launch Daemon is not starting the job.  Please help.

My launch daemon is saved in /Library/LaunchDaemons/local.pingtest.plist

My Launch Daemon Plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
    <dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>local.pingtest</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/bin/sh</string>
        <string>/pingtest/pingtest.sh</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

my shell script:

/usr/bin/nohup /sbin/ping -i 5 ipaddress | /usr/bin/xargs -L 1 -I '{}' date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S: {}' >> /pingtest/Ryan-lou.txt &

/usr/bin/nohup /sbin/ping -i 5 www.google.com | /usr/bin/xargs -L 1 -I '{}' date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S: {}' >> /pingtest/Ryan-int.txt &

/usr/bin/nohup /sbin/ping -i 5 ipaddress | /usr/bin/xargs -L 1 -I '{}' date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S: {}' >> /pingtest/Ryan-fcc.txt &

First I'd check the path of pingtest.sh relative to how it's defined in local.pingtest.plist.

I've not played around with the launch daemon on Macs yet but there may be some special need for it to be in /System/Library/LaunchDaemons instead. Not sure why it'd end up ignoring the other location by the time you're logged in and looking at it but I've seen specifications ignored before on systems so worth a try.

Next I'd check for things like conflicting Label identifiers and that my other keys mean what I think they mean.

Doesn't look like your script is dependent on non-launchd daemons, but those are things to keep in mind.


Xcode - how to "export" app solution I am very new to coding, especially to using an IDE like Xcode.

I have a finished app that I'm done compiling and testing it within Xcode itself. I wish to create a file that the user would double-click to run.

How do I get my program out of Xcode as a self-standing application?

Use Product → Archive to create a binary of your app. Then go to the Organizer window and optionally validate it. Lastly, export the app to your desktop so you can distribute it as you wish.


What can cause all my accounts (facebook, SO, gmail, ...) to be disconnected all at once? I usually don't have to login to Facebook, Gmail, ... the browser "remembers" me, and I surf the web a few times a day.

And this evening (I used the computer a few hours ago) All my accounts were disconnected, which I find strange. Every 30(?) days gmail asks for my password again, Facebook more rarely, ... and those should be independent events. Is there another cause?

I don't remember doing anything else than checking emails / surfing a bit the news. Thanks

A few possibilities I can think of:

Cleared Cookies

Cookies are the basis of how a site remembers your session details. If you clear the cookies the session details are forgotten and you won't be logged in automatically when you next visit the sites.
Using a different browswer

Probably not the problem, but if you switch from chrome to safari or similar the session information isn't transferred.
The cookies expired at the same time

Sessions usually have an expiration time. It is possible they have all expired since you last visited those sites.
Someone signed you out

Hopefully this isn't the case. Some services allow you to sign out other logged-in devices. If someone did have access to your account it may be possible for them to sign you out of the other devices.


How to stop mac from default booting in deleted windows via boot camp? I bountied this question Boot into Mac from Windows after failed Bootcamp after being trapped in Windows hell on my mac, after the first time using boot camp.

When I got back to my mac I erased windows and reformatted boot camp following the answer to this question How to remove Windows Operating system from Bootcamp?

  If you installed Windows on a disk that has a single partition

  Start up your Mac in OS X.
  Open Disk Utility, located in the Other folder in Launchpad.
  Select the Windows disk, click Erase, choose the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) >format, then click the Erase button.

Now whenever I restart my mac I have to hold onto the option key to select the mac (and reboot it from there as it defaults to the Windows keyboard and the keys do not match, so I cannot submit my password - don't' ask).

This is what I have when I open boot camp and disk utility:

Erasing the boot camp volume does nothing, as does unmounting. I'm too scared to play around with it beyond this. If I never had to touch Windows OS again I'd be happy, but it's an unfortunate evil. I've gone back to Parallels desktop.

Most of the solutions I've found online have not helped me remedy any of these issues from trying to make it work to wanting to get rid of it - which is why I'm here.

I accept I may have sacrificed the disk space and may never be able to claim it (grrr can't think too hard about it). But I swear to Apple, they'll be taking this machine back if I can't stop it from booting up on Windows.

My machine:
iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015)
4 GHz Intel Core i7
32 GB 1867 MHz DDR3

How can I stop my mac from defaulting to open Windows?

The NVRAM holds the location of the default OS, so resetting that might get you back to the default search order. If you want to set it explicitly, Apple’s article linked below as well can help:
From How to select a different startup disk:

Use Startup Disk preferences
When you use Startup Disk preferences to select a startup disk, your
Mac starts up from that disk until you choose a different one.

Choose Apple () menu > System Preferences, then click Startup Disk.
Click the lock and enter your administrator password.
Select your startup disk, then restart your Mac.

NOTE: Restart the Mac by clicking the Restart... button. This process checks the system has the correct permissions to start, then writes your choice to NVRAM.


When Does Google Photos Choose To Backup My Images So I have downloaded the Google Photos app and selected free unlimited back up plan.

It seems to display a recycle bin next to images that haven't been backed up.

Now could someone explain how and when the app chooses when to back up photos?

Do I have to have the the application open to backup photos or not?
Is there a way to force sync this on my computer maybe?

It seems very inconsistent and there seems to be no sync button that I have found.

The Mac desktop uploader actually works really well in the background!

I leave the iPhone app open and let it upload everything periodically although it does seem to upload when I leave the app open in the background.


How to make Apple Maps work for transit directions and finding businesses: The initial release of Apple Maps is... challenged with regard to business listings, and lacks transit directions.

But most of the other apps Tim Cook suggested in his apology fail to solve the problem:  the straight-up GPS nav apps lack transit directions and have mediocre POI data, and the webapps are slow and lack many of the features of the native ones.

What's the best workaround until Google releases an iPhone native app (likely months) or Apple's databases catch up (likely years)?

I've gotten myself to a pretty good solution, so I thought I'd share.  Mine is NYC-based, but the POI solution will work almost anywhere, and the transit one should work in most major cities in the US (which are the only places transit's likely to be a must-have.)
Here's the really short version:
Download Where To? for  business listings ($2.99) and Embark Transit for subway directions (free, if they cover your city).
Both plug directly into Apple Maps app, and plug its two major gaps.
How to find businesses and points of interest:
Dowload Where To? on your iPhone.
Yes, it costs $2.99, and there should be good, free solution, but there isn't, and it works.   Where to? will let you just click from categories to find common business types near you without typing:

And, if you're looking for something specific, you can search, and its database is not just limited to chains and common stores (I tested it by searching for B&H, a well known, but single-instance NYC electronics specialty store.)
You can see the results in a list, or on a map.  Importantly, once you find somewhere you want to go, you can click on a little "right curve ahead" icon (it's also the app's icon) to get directions there, using either apple maps (which can then provide turn-by-turn directions since Where To filled the gap of finding the business), or using other apps you may have installed (MotionX, TeleNav, etc.)
There's also a 0.99 in-app purchase that lets you put locations on a camera picture, augmented reality style.   This probably more cute than useful.  It might be functional in dense cities if the compass worked better in them, but you can try it free to see if you like it first, so there's not much harm.
How to get transit directions:
Dowload Embark Transit on your iPhone.
Embark is free, pretty solid, and has apps that cover:

Boston
Chicago
Philadelphia
London
NYC
Washington, DC
San Francisco
Caltrain
NJ Transit
Metra
LIRR

It's got the full map of the system, but can also route the best path between two addresses and give you step by step directions of what station to walk to, where to transfer, etc.

And it works underground, as the data is stored locally. It doesn't cover every city, and it's not good at finding much without an address (like business names), but because it plugs into maps, and we now have a good way to get POIs there using embark, that's not a big deal.
Here's how to use Embark (or any 3rd-party transit app) from maps:

Install the app on your phone.
In Apple maps, click the "right turn" icon that goes to the directions screen - it's in the upper left corner of the app.
On the top of the directions screen, click the "bus icon"
Enter your Start and End (if they didn't pre-fill), and click "route"
You'll get the choice to use any installed transit app - in this case, it'll show you Embark, and if you click it, it'll open with that route pre-filled.

Yes, it's all a little more kludgey than it has to be.  But it works.


Connect Xbox to iMac I am trying to connect my xbox to my iMac using a Thunderbolt HDMI adapter. One end is an HDMI port, which I plugged my xbox HDMI cord into and then I plugged the Thunderbolt into my computer

The Xbox works on a TV using an HDMI cord.
Early 2013 iMac
macOS Mojave 10.14.2
AmazonBasic mini DP to HDMI

However, when I press Command F2, nothing happens. It just makes a sound like its saying "no" or whatever, like the incorrect sound.

Is there another way to go into Target Display or is there a program that I need to actually view the screen on my Mac?

Target Display Mode just isn't popping up, so I've already tried it. What else can I do?

A cheaper alternative to using cables and adapters is OneCast which allows you to stream your Xbox to your Mac(costs $20).


Drawing diagrams in Pages don't stay in place with text I feel like I'm missing something, but maybe this is just a flaw in the software.

Whenever I draw diagrams in Pages, or insert images, they seem to just float there, and if I change text above, it causes the text to go past the image I inserted. For example, if I have a paragraph of text that references "the diagram below", and I add another paragraph above it, the diagram would now be above the paragraph of text because it doesn't move with the text as its editing.

Pages allows for several ways to insert graphics and either float them or anchor with the text.

Dragging in a image or object

Press Command ⌘ as you drag and the blinking cursor will indicate the insertion point

This will keep the picture relative to the text where it was inserted.

Working with the Inspector

The settings for objects are found in the Inspector.

Stay on Page

This will anchor the image or object relative to the page regardless of the text added.

Move with Text

This will allow the image to move with the text as more is added.  Essentially anchoring the image to a place in the text so that when text is added above the insertion point, the image will move down the page along with the text.


How to view the quota limits of an APFS volume that I had set at the time of its creation? I had set limits on a Time Machine volume on an external hard drive but I'm unable to view it with the "View Info" menu option. I understand we can't change them once created but is there a way to see its quota limits?

Yes you can with the terminal command :
diskutil ap list diskX

where diskX is to be replaced by the Container "Time Machine" identifier
On my Mac i get this :
    diskutil ap list disk4
|
+-- Container disk4 8C53B410-FC36-4221-9F13-F528C24CA4EC
    ====================================================
    APFS Container Reference:     disk4
    Size (Capacity Ceiling):      80134217728 B (80.1 GB)
    Capacity In Use By Volumes:   7213264896 B (7.2 GB) (9.0% used)
    Capacity Not Allocated:       72920952832 B (72.9 GB) (91.0% free)
    |
    +-< Physical Store disk3s6 D6E20B9A-34FF-462E-8AEE-5648523C1E5D
    |   -----------------------------------------------------------
    |   APFS Physical Store Disk:   disk3s6
    |   Size:                       80134217728 B (80.1 GB)
    |
    +-> Volume disk4s1 8E6FC6CF-149A-4A8C-BD4E-228953A8C07F
        ---------------------------------------------------
        APFS Volume Disk (Role):   disk4s1 (Backup)
        Name:                      Time_Machine_BS (Case-sensitive)
        Mount Point:               /Volumes/Time_Machine_BS
        Capacity Consumed:         7091273728 B (7.1 GB)
        Capacity Reserve:          None
        Capacity Quota:            20000002048 B (20.0 GB) (35.5% reached)
        FileVault:                 No


MacBook Air forgetting display arrangement My Mac seems to be forgetting display arrangements for external monitors. It doesn't matter what type of connector it is (Tried Apple converter to VGA as well as non-apple to DVI). Within only a few hours after unplugging the display it will be reset.

Has anyone seen anything about similar issues? Is it maybe Mavericks-related?

Deleting /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist as well as all files in ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost which began with com.apple.windowserver seems to have fixed the issue.


Encrypted APFS drive will not mount, RepairVolume reports disk OK I had to encrypt an external backup volume while traveling. Unfortunately, now the drive will not mount. It shows up in diskutil and RepairVolume shows the volume being OK. Despite the passphrase being stored in my Keychain, however, I am still prompted for it and providing the passphrase does not cause the disk to mount, nor does the 'mount' button in disk utitlities. Repair Volume shows the volume being OK but does not officially 'finish' (progress bar continues scrolling.)

 dxxx ~ $ diskutil list
/dev/disk0 (internal):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                         500.3 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     314.6 MB   disk0s1
   2:                 Apple_APFS Container disk1         371.0 GB   disk0s2
   3:       Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP                128.4 GB   disk0s3
   4:           Windows Recovery                         505.4 MB   disk0s4

/dev/disk1 (synthesized):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      APFS Container Scheme -                      +371.0 GB   disk1
                                 Physical Store disk0s2
   1:                APFS Volume Macintosh HD            341.2 GB   disk1s1
   2:                APFS Volume Preboot                 47.6 MB    disk1s2
   3:                APFS Volume Recovery                510.3 MB   disk1s3
   4:                APFS Volume VM                      1.1 GB     disk1s4

/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *5.0 TB     disk2
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk2s1
   2:                 Apple_APFS Container disk4         4.9 TB     disk2s2
   3:       Microsoft Basic Data POISK                   127.8 GB   disk2s3

/dev/disk3 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *63.9 GB    disk3
   1:                 DOS_FAT_32 BUDrive                 63.9 GB    disk3s1

/dev/disk4 (synthesized):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      APFS Container Scheme -                      +4.9 TB     disk4
                                 Physical Store disk2s2
   1:                APFS Volume Kosmos                  4.4 TB     disk4s1

Tue Oct 29 10:55 AM
dxxx ~ $ diskutil RepairVolume disk4
Started file system repair on disk4
Repairing storage system
Performing fsck_apfs -y -x /dev/disk2s2
Checking the container superblock
Checking the EFI jumpstart record
Checking the space manager
Checking the space manager free queue trees
Checking the object map
Checking volume
Checking the APFS volume superblock
The volume Kosmos was formatted by hfs_convert (945.275.7) and last modified by apfs_kext (945.275.7)
Checking the object map
Checking the snapshot metadata tree
Checking the snapshot metadata
Checking the extent ref tree
Checking the fsroot tree
Verifying allocated space
The volume /dev/disk2s2 appears to be OK
[\   \   \   \   \   \   \   \   \   \   \   \   \   \   \]

I realize the very likely outcome is 'reformat disk' but there are a few files which travel logistics meant are not backed up, so if anyone has solved issues with encrypted apfs disks and has suggestions, I thought it worth asking first. Thanks so much!

Rather than using diskutil RepairVolume, which runs fsck_apfs -y, let's first see whether the APFS container has any issues with fsck_apfs -n. That is, please share the output of fsck_apfs -n /dev/disk2s2. This will run fsck on your APFS container, answering "no" to all questions (rather than -y, which answers "yes" to all).

Doing so will probably provide the same output as you have already provided, but should at least get you past the progress bar you're seeing, in case there are any further issues that fsck might report.


iOS 14 - Application does not have an entry in the device settings I develop an enterprise application and I updated my iPad Air to iOS 14 to test compatibility of app with this brand new iOS but after OS update I reinstalled the app and I saw that for the application I don't have an entry in the device set
Did anyone have the same problem?

Normally you can get the apps to appear by simply quitting and reopening the Settings app.
On the iPad Air you can do that by double-clicking the Home button to get the app switch. Swipe upwards on the Settings app in order to quit it.
After opening the Settings app again, the list should be refreshed.
If this doesn't help, ensure that you can actually start the apps in question. I.e. tap them to run them.


How does iTunes make its decision as to what artwork to provide? I'm trying to download Album Art by right-clicking a track in iTunes and choosing Get Album Artwork.  Sometimes this works fine, but sometimes iTunes finds the wrong Album.

As an example, I have A Taste Of Things To Come from the Mortal Kombat Soundtrack.:

But this is the only track on that same album with Album Art, so I ask iTunes to Get Album Art for the second track.  This is what it finds:

The Quigley soundtrack, starring Gary Busey and Oz Perkins.

How does iTunes make its decision as to what artwork to provide for any given track?  And ideally, how can I encourage iTunes to make better choices?

I'm running iTunes 10.6.0.40 on a Windows 7 PC.

iTunes uses an external site to search for album art.  I don't remember exactly which site it is, but I do remember that it was crowdsourced, so there's a high likelihood that, especially with relatively rare music, it will get the wrong thing.


Installation of Win10 on MacBook4,1 I am trying to install Win10 on a MacBook 4,1. The Boot Camp Assistant doesn't download/find any drivers, so I had to choose the other option and download drivers by myself.

After partitioning and booting from the Win10 installation CD, the setup is missing some drivers. But unfortunately the previous downloaded drivers don't help here.

Do you have any ideas?

The simplest answer is to install 32 bit Windows 7 with SP1 and then upgrade to 32 bit Windows 10. I say this because Apple officially supports 32 bit Windows 7 on your model Mac. Although Apple does not officially support Windows 10 for your model Mac, upgrading to 32 bit Windows 10 from 32 bit Windows 7 is should be supported by Microsoft. The Windows Support Software (the drivers) can be found by following the links on the Apple webpage Install Windows 7 on your Mac using Boot Camp. I believe the correct link should lead you to Boot Camp Support Software 4.0.4033. You will probably need the optical drive to be working in order to install Windows 7 by using the Boot Camp Assistant application. If the optical drive is not available, then read the other pertinent options given below.

Window 7 can be purchase rather cheaply. For example, this retailer offers Windows 7 Professional 32/64bit Download for 19.50 USD. You may still be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. See this article for details.

Your Mac has a 64 bit processor with 2 cores (Core 2 Duo). If you want 64 bit Windows, then there potential problems you may need to overcome. Some of these problems and possible solutions are given below.

According to Microsoft, you will need at least 2 GB of memory.
If your Windows 7 media does not include SP1, then you should get a newer ISO file from the Microsoft website Download Windows 7 Disc Images (ISO Files). The download is free, but you will need to enter your Windows 7 product activation key to enable the download.
The current version of Windows 10 can found by clicking on this link. Note: the link is dependent on the browser you are using. In other words, Safari will goto a different website than Microsoft Edge goes to. While the download is free, you may still need to buy a license key to continue using Windows 10.
The Window Support Software may not work with 64 bit Windows. See the question Using Boot Camp Support Software 4.0.4033 to install 64 bit Windows 7, 8 or 10 for installation instructions.
Some 64 bit Windows installation configurations can both BIOS and UEFI boot. However, some early Intel Macs can not handle this type of configuration. If you have this problem, then you will need to remove the UEFI boot files. See the question “Select CD-ROM Boot Type:” error during Windows install for instructions.
The newer versions of macOS automatically install firmware updates. If you are running an older version of macOS (OS X) then you may need to manually install firmware updates. See About EFI and SMC firmware updates for Intel-based Mac computers for more information.
If you do not have a working optical drive, then you can try installing Widnows by using the rather complex method described in the question No bootable device USB 2.0 MacBook Pro mid 2014.
User have reported being able to install Windows by using a flash drive. In my opinion, your Mac is to old, but I will include the following link anyway: Bootcamp - No ISO Option.


Get full file path on shared network drive when mounted volume includes subfolder We have a shared samba file server with paths like

smb://server/folder1/folder2/file.txt

It is common for people to "connect to server" directly to smb://server/folder1/folder2

This mounts a volume called "folder2".  We need the full path of the path, to share it e.g. smb://server/folder1/folder2/file.txt

mount

this command would show you the SMB URL, e.g
//server/folder1/folder2/


Recover files from one volume to another on the same Drobo? One evening we had a momentary power outage, causing sudden shutdown for my Mac mini and the attached Drobo (4 bay). When the system came back up, only one of the two volumes mounted on the desktop. The primary 2 TB volume is of course the one that didn't come up. But the Drobo shows no errors or problems with the unit.

Disk First Aid, er... I mean Disk Utility can see that there's supposed to be a volume there (HFS+/Journaled) but cannot mount it. Using the Repair function leaves me with two error messages after 3 hours: "Incorrect Number of Thread Records" and "Invalid Node Structure". Running fsck_hfs -ypr on the drive gives the same message as Disk Utility.

Disk Warrior wouldn't touch the volumes, but Data Rescue 3 trial version can see it and has also recovered a file from it.

Can I safely recover the files from the first volume into the second volume on the same Drobo?

Drobo Support told me to NOT recover from one unmounted volume to another, but did not clarify why. It seems odd that there would be a potential of overwriting the first damaged volume, so I don't understand what's going on here.

Fortunately I was able to find an external hard drive that I could recover the most critical files to using Data Rescue 3. (New purchase for $100).

Moral of the story: Buy a UPS for your Drobo. That may have prevented this problem.


How does one interpret Load Average in iStat menus? I'm trying to find the actual GPU processor load on my iMac with the M290x. The load average being reported never goes above 5, even when running Cinebench 3d benchmarks. Certainly that doesn't mean only 5% GPU utilization does it?

How do I interpret the Load Average (i assume that it's the reading for the GPU)? I've attached a screen shot.

Running latest Yosemite.

Load average is CPU based, not GPU based. The numbers represent one, five, and fifteen minute averages of the load on the CPU.

  A single-core CPU is like a single lane of traffic. Imagine you are a bridge operator ... sometimes your bridge is so busy there are cars lined up to cross. You want to let folks know how traffic is moving on your bridge. A decent metric would be how many cars are waiting at a particular time. If no cars are waiting, incoming drivers know they can drive across right away. If cars are backed up, drivers know they're in for delays.

Source: http://blog.scoutapp.com/articles/2009/07/31/understanding-load-averages

1 core with a load of 1 means that core is 100% busy. But you can add loads when heaving more cores. 4 cpu's with a load of 1 means the total of the 4 cores is 25% busy, a load of 4 means 100%. A load higher than the number of cores means that the cores can not handle the load an the cpu is running 100% per core (and is the bottleneck of your system)


Prevent iMac from sleeping, for VPN login? We have an iMac in the office, and I have been getting inconsistent access when trying to log in to it. The firewall isn't going down, since I can connect to the VPN. After discussing it with the people at the office, we suspect that the iMac is going to sleep.

Is it possible to keep the iMac "awake" 24 hours a day? How do I instruct the people at the office to configure the iMac? What settings should be changed? The iMac is running OS X Lion 10.7.3.

You can disable sleeping in the Energy Saver preference pane of System Preferences.

Alternatively, you can use a free app called Caffeine to easily prevent your Mac from sleeping just with a click of the mouse.  Both work exactly the same, but Caffeine makes it easier to dynamically switch between the two settings.


On macOS, if there are multiple notifications showing, how to dismiss them all at once? Sometimes I don't touch a Macbook 12 inch because I mainly use the Macbook Pro, and after a day or two, there can be many (8 or 9) notifications at the right hand side. It seems that I have to click many times to dismiss them one by one.

How can they be dismissed all at once?

You should be able to show the notification center (top-right icon, looks like a list), which shows you your historic notifications grouped by day.  There's a little x at the top right of each group, which dismisses the entire day's notifications.

[


Multiple kernel panics per day on MacBookPro4,1 2008 mostly in web surf mode I've had freezing issues more and more frequently (now multiple per day) with my early 2008 Macbook Pro 4,1

I've pasted a recent kernel panic log beneath, and hope someone can point me in the right direction.

This problem was happening on OS X 10.6 recently, and I did a Rember test on the memory which looked "ok", as well as verified the hard drive in single user mode—also checked out "ok".

I've since done a clean install of 10.8 but the problem persists. Other stuff that may/may not be related: optical drive is dead, and the battery barely holds a charge any more :/ maybe 6 years is enough for this baby

 Machine-check capabilities 0x0000000000000806:
 family: 6 model: 23 stepping: 6 microcode: 1548
 Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     T9500  @ 2.60GHz
 6 error-reporting banks
 threshold-based error status present
Processor 0: machine-check status 0x0000000000000005:
 restart IP valid
 machine-check in progress
MCA error-reporting registers:
 IA32_MC0_STATUS(0x401): 0x1000000000000000 invalid
 IA32_MC1_STATUS(0x405): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
 IA32_MC2_STATUS(0x409): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
 IA32_MC3_STATUS(0x40d): 0x0020000000000000 invalid
 IA32_MC4_STATUS(0x411): 0x0000000000000011 invalid
 IA32_MC5_STATUS(0x415): 0xb200001806000e0f valid
  MCA error code:            0x0e0f
  Model specific error code: 0x0600
  Other information:         0x00000018
  Threshold-based status:    Undefined
  Status bits:
   Processor context corrupt
   Error enabled
   Uncorrected error
Processor 1: machine-check status 0x0000000000000004:
 machine-check in progress
MCA error-reporting registers:
 IA32_MC0_STATUS(0x401): 0x1000000000000000 invalid
 IA32_MC1_STATUS(0x405): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
 IA32_MC2_STATUS(0x409): 0x0000000000000000 invalid
 IA32_MC3_STATUS(0x40d): 0x0020000000000000 invalid
 IA32_MC4_STATUS(0x411): 0xf200000000060151 valid
  MCA error code:            0x0151
  Model specific error code: 0x0006
  Other information:         0x00000000
  Threshold-based status:    Undefined
  Status bits:
   Processor context corrupt
   Error enabled
   Uncorrected error
   Error overflow
 IA32_MC5_STATUS(0x415): 0xb200003008000e0f valid
  MCA error code:            0x0e0f
  Model specific error code: 0x0800
  Other information:         0x00000030
  Threshold-based status:    Undefined
  Status bits:
   Processor context corrupt
   Error enabled
   Uncorrected error
panic(cpu 1 caller 0xffffff8001cb8389): "Machine Check at 0x51ce37a4f09a70c0, registers:\n" "CR0: 0x0000000080010033, CR2: 0x000000005aae0000, CR3: 0x000000002b9bb000, CR4: 0x0000000000000660\n" "RAX: 0x3f63e0cb68ad5356, RBX: 0x0000002300000000, RCX: 0x9f7eb0c600000000, RDX: 0xbffb0ed0bffb0e58\n" "RSP: 0xf4692a1fbaab5046, RBP: 0xbffb0e1000000000, RSI: 0x0000002300000023, RDI: 0x000000000000000f\n" "R8:  0xbffb0eecbffb0ecc, R9:  0x0478021800000001, R10: 0x5aae0000bffb0e98, R11: 0x0021028600000000\n" "R12: 0x0000001b00000000, R13: 0x01ab378b00000000, R14: 0x00000000ffffff80, R15: 0x01cced7000000000\n" "RFL: 0x10b24c7051b04c20, RIP: 0x51ce37a4f09a70c0, CS:  0x000000000000b18d, SS:  0x000000000000a30e\n" "Error code: 0x1dfaf9b50de147ea\n"@/SourceCache/xnu/xnu-2050.7.9/osfmk/i386/trap_native.c:280
Backtrace (CPU 1), Frame : Return Address
0xffffff8074e25f20 : 0xffffff8001c1d5f6
0xffffff8074e25f90 : 0xffffff8001cb8389
0xffffff8074e26100 : 0xffffff8001cced7f

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: Google Chrome He

Mac OS version:
12A269

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 12.0.0: Sun Jun 24 23:00:16 PDT 2012; root:xnu-2050.7.9~1/RELEASE_X86_64
Kernel UUID: 8D5F8EF3-9D12-384B-8070-EF2A49C45D24
Kernel slide:     0x0000000001a00000
Kernel text base: 0xffffff8001c00000
System model name: MacBookPro4,1 (Mac-F42C89C8)

System uptime in nanoseconds: 4887982849617
last loaded kext at 1927504231579: com.apple.filesystems.smbfs  1.8 (addr 0xffffff7f83d9d000, size 229376)
last unloaded kext at 176428418700: com.apple.driver.AppleFileSystemDriver  3.0.1 (addr 0xffffff7f83cb1000, size 8192)

You log shows Google Chrome He as the problem maker.
Reinstalling the OS would not fix that since it is Chrome problem.
As for the problem solving, try following:

Uncheck the 'Enable hardware acceleration' checkbox to disable hardware acceleration for the Flash player in Chrome.

Follow this instructions to Resolve Kernel Panics.

Why did I recommend to test in Safe mode (in the comment above)

Rule out incompatible third-party kernel extensions, Startup Items,
and Login Items.
Start up in Safe Mode and use your Mac normally for a time to see if
the panic recurs. Third-party kernel extensions, Startup Items, and
Login Items are not loaded in Safe Mode. Note that running in Safe
Mode may prevent you from using third-party hardware that depends upon
associated third-party kernel extensions.
If the problem does not recur, then this implies a third-party kernel
extension, Startup Item, or Login Item may be the cause.
You can identify third-party kernel extensions by examining the panic log and then troubleshooting them by process of elimination. You
may also be able to identify the culprit by following steps 5 and 6
below.
To rule out corrupted or incompatible Startup Items or Login Items, follow the procedure specified in our "Troubleshooting Startup
and Login Items" FAQ to ascertain if these are causing kernel panics.


How do I make an app go full screen to the LEFT of my desktop? I only have one desktop in spaces, and when I take an app full screen, it always goes to the right of my desktop... I know I can re-arrange by hand in mission control, but I'd like to be able to skip that and have an arbitrary app open to the left of my desktop.

If I have understood your question correctly, you can achieve this by the following:

1. Launch Mission Control
2. Add a new desktop by clicking Add to the right
3. Drag the desktops in order of preference
4. Exit Mission Control
5. Navigate to the desktop you want an app to open on then right-click the app icon in the dock, choose Options and select This Desktop underneath Assign To (this assigns the selected app to the active desktop in either full screen or normal maximised views)

Note that when you drag the desktops, the naming will always be ordered numerically from left to right. So if you began with a single desktop, adding any subsequent desktops will change the name of the original desktop to Desktop 1. If you drag another desktop to the left of Desktop 1 then Desktop 1 will become 2.


How to Multicast audio stream on my laptop - MAC-OSX - Mavericks - the source and destination is same here? I am using VLC to multicast an audio stream - song on my OS-X mavericks. I need multicasting streaming only here. However, I cannot hear the audio. The volume level of my machine is fine. Looks, like the audio streaming or receiving is not working.

Here are the steps that I did to setup a multicast streaming.  I am streaming a MP3 song.

a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

f.

g.

h.

Receiver Setup -

Again on the same pc - I opened the VLC-- following options --

Now, in order to confirm that I am streaming, I checked on a wireshark. I am on a wifi interface.

Note that VLC does not support streaming from live video or audio sources on Mac OSX


iMessage between iPhone and MacBook Pro If i am on my MacBook Pro's iMessage and messaging someone that has an iPhone through iMessage will their replies and my messages show up on their phone bill. if it shows up will it be as data or as texting?

iMessage uses data not SMS. It can use either Wifi or 3G. However, it is a free service for all users. The only charge anyone can receive for iMessage is if they had to pay for every byte of data they used, but most contracts and even pay as you go offers data, and iMessage doesn't use up much data unless you send a photo or video.


What could be preventing my backup script from running? I'm having trouble getting a simple backup script to run. The following script runs most of the time, but occasionally it fails entirely (without printing out any log information). Is there something in the script that could intermittently prevent it from running?

Even when it does run, the test log messages are sometimes delayed in appearing (as if the log file is not touched when it is written to, or the write to the log file is delayed), making diagnosis difficult.

#!/bin/bash

printf "`date`: Start of Runkit backup Power Manager script:\n" >> ~/Library/Logs/Mine/tests.log

if [ $(mount | grep -c '/Volumes/Run Kit') != 1 ]
then
    printf "\tDon't copy: /Volumes/Run Kit not mounted\n" >> ~/Library/Logs/Mine/tests.log
else
    if [ $(pmset -g ac | grep -c 'Wattage') != 1 ]
    then
        printf "\tDon't copy: Not plugged in\n" >> ~/Library/Logs/Mine/tests.log
    else
        caffeinate -s -t 1200 &
        printf "\tDo copy: /Volumes/Run Kit mounted\n" >> ~/Library/Logs/Mine/tests.log
        /Users/Rax/Library/Application\ Support/SuperDuper\!/Scheduled\ Copies/SDUtil -i || open file:///Users/Rax/Library/Application\%20Support/SuperDuper\%21/Scheduled\%20Copies/Smart\%20Update\%20Run\%20Kit\%20from\%20Main.sdsp/Copy\%20Job.app
    fi
fi

printf "`date`: End of Runkit backup Power Manager script:\n" >> ~/Library/Logs/Mine/tests.log

exit 0

I would first convert the printf statements to logger -p user.info statements since they are easily observed in the console app (and syslog) whenever the script runs.

You could also make a second script that just logs test messages or creates empty files /usr/bin/touch /tmp/test.$$.log to determine if your script above is the culprit or the Power Manager tool you are using is not reliably launching the script.

Also, you could try using an app like Lingon to have launchd start your script. The system uses that facility to run itself, so it' highly reliable and logs failures well if you ever need to troubleshoot a problem down the road.


How to get pass "Downloading Windows support software" in Boot Camp Assistant? I am having a problem in my Windows laptop, so I need to make a Windows 10 bootable to repair/restore it.

I am using  a Mac for making the bootable for the PC.
I downloaded the windows 10 .iso file and started bootcamp to make the bootable.
The process seems to get hanged at "Downloading Windows support software" step.
I tried keeping it overnight, no change in the progress bar. Just stuck there at 50/60%.

The problem got solved by formatting the disk.

I formatted the disk first in FAT format. Then the Boot Camp Assistant worked easily.


iMessage shows ICE instead of contact I am trying to have an iMessage conversation with my family, but instead of showing their name it shows "ICE" because that same number is listed in my In Case of Emergency (ICE) contact. Is there anyway to change it so it shows their name not "ICE"

iPhones have a neat feature that allows you to put your emergency contact information on the lock screen so no one has to unlock your phone to access it. You can set it up through the Health App on your iPhone.

Since your Contacts won't be accessible on your iPhone without your passcode, this is a reasonable alternative.

If you set this up, you could theoretically delete the entry in your Contacts that is listed as ICE, thereby fixing your problem with the contact name showing up as ICE.


In Sierra, did Apple remove the ability to play HLS streams in Quicktime Player? For years, I've been able to use Quicktime to play live HLS video streams such as http://hls.twit.tv/flosoft/mp4:twitStream_720/playlist.m3u8. I open Quicktime, go to File -> Open Location, and paste the URL.

After upgrading to Sierra, streams such as the above example no longer play.

Did Apple remove this feature in Sierra, or is there something else I'm doing wrong? Are there any types of live streams that Quicktime still natively supports? Is this just a bug that's likely to get fixed? I can't find actual documentation on this anywhere.

I have macOS Sierra 10.12 Beta (16A313a) and it seems, that Apple has fixed the issue.

I can't find release notes or something like this to point on exact QuickTime version, where this was fixed.


Apple Two Factor Authentication: why verification code popup don't display? I turned on Two Factor Authentication mode, it worked very well. But yesterday, I reinstalled my Macbook, and iPhone, verification code popup don't automatically display when I login new device. I must get code through text message, or manually getting verification code from iCloud setting. I logged both iPhone, and Macbook, but all don't show popup (I also try to log from another pc but same result).

I’m using Mac OS 10.12.3, and iOS 10.2.1

I think two cases:

It's a problem occurred when I reinstalled my device.
Someone (may be a "hacker") controlled my apple ID and my devices. (I'm worry about this!)

When you restore a device, it is removed from the trusted device list in case you want to sell it. Here's how you can add the iPhone back to the list:

Go to appleid.apple.com and sign in.

Under security, go to Trusted Devices.

Refresh devices then follow directions to confirm your device.

Remove your unused versions of devices.

You will only be able to receive codes on your iPhone, not your mac.


How do I restore default terminal command for Notifications on Yosemite? On Yosemite I disabled notifications with the following terminal command:

cd `getconf DARWIN_USER_DIR`
rm -rf com.apple.notificationcenter
killall usernoted; killall NotificationCenter

Does anyone know what I need to type to restore the original default notification setting?

What you've done here is delete the entire Notification Center database, not simply disable Notification Center. You will need to restore this container, preferably from a backup. Alternatively, you can reinstall OS X.


Safari showing bookmarks from Google Chrome I've only recently just started using Safari, mainly to separate my personal accounts from my work accounts. As such, I've logged into Gmail in safari for one of my email accounts. I spent a while setting up bookmarks, configuring toolbars, etc.

I've just updated my MacBook Pro to 10.11.3, and suddenly Safari is showing all of my Chrome bookmarks, mixed in with the Safari ones I set up earlier.

I'm not logged into iCloud, I can't find anything in preferences to suggest syncing the bookmarks, and a quick google even leads me to suggest that it's not trivial to do so!

Any ideas?

I just had the same happen to me, and likewise I prefer to keep my work and personal bookmarks separate. I was searching through menus and preferences when I noticed the small pop-up message at the bottom of the Favorites page display that asked something like "Favorites showing bookmarks and recently visited from Google Chrome. [Keep] or [Do Not Keep]" so I clicked on Do Not Keep and it all went away.

I don't like not being able to undo something, so I was looking for where in the settings or preferences this could be toggled, but alas no luck so I guess it's permanent.


How to install OS X on a Windows only Mac? I tried to use Boot Camp Assistant to install Windows on my MacBook Air. Long story short, due to installation issues, I wiped my MacBook Air drive.

I couldn't get my Mac to recognise a bootable disc of Yosemite made using this guide. After some more fidling I managed to install Windows 7 on my Mac but now I need to find a way to install OS X.

Turn your Mac off.
Turn it on, but hold down the Option key until you see images of two hard drives on screen.
Use the arrow keys to select "Recovery", press enter when you have selected it.

If you wish to erase Windows and your Windows data, if not, skip to step 9:

Click Disk Utility.
Click the partition under whatever your internal SSD is called, typically the brand name followed by some seemingly meaningless characters.
Select Erase in the toolbar
Confirm you wish to erase the drive
Upon completion of the wipe of your drive, close the window.
Select Install OS X and follow the on-screen instructions.


Mac is slower and has strange nuances in operation after liquid contact I need some advice with my MBP late 2011 model (13″ Intel i5, 2.4 GHz, 500 GB HDD, 4 GB RAM).

It all started one day when was a heavy rain which went through my windows. I had my Mac on my bed and my bed was completely soaked.

I wiped off the rain water on my Mac and when I powered it on it didn't turn on. I had to press and hold the power button until it came back to life.

Observations afterwards

Each time I have to turn on my mac, I have to press and hold the power button until the sleep light indicator starts blinking then I release it before it turns on.
I performed resetting the SMC and it didn't work: http://support.apple.com/en-au/HT201295
I also realized that the mac is considerably slower after the rain incident so I upgraded to an 8 GB RAM. However even after the upgrade it's still slow. Much slower
than my Windows 7 8 GB RAM i5 Acer laptop. I had to download novabench to benchmark their performances for comparison.
I also formatted my 500 GB hard drive and perform a clean install of OS X Mavericks since that was what I performed the benchmarks on. The newly installed
OS together with the 8 GB RAM is still really slow (you can tell from using it and also as indicated by the benchmark result)
I have replaced my 500 GB with an old 256 GB running Mavericks and the performance is still poor.

My question is what could possibly be wrong with my mac and how can I get its performace as it was before the rain incident. The 8 GB RAM isn't improving the performance. I am thinking of getting a SSD hoping it will improve the performance but I highly doubt that.

I really think your best option is to take it into an Apple-licensed fix-it person and have them open it up. I expect they'll find some kind of damage on the motherboard (probably up and around the underside & top). Water does some gnarly things to electronics, so just because it's still turning on and 'working' doesn't mean there isn't something damaged on the mobo.


Why are my AirPods Pro stuck on low quailty audio during discord calls? I have my audio muted from the discord app, but it is still stuck being low quality. This also happens when using other apps where my mic is muted, but has the option to be unmuted.

I solved this by turning off the mic from System Preferences > Security and Privacy > Privacy > Microphone.
It involves an app restart each time you want to switch between mic off and on, but it works.


suspect message "sshd-keygen-wrapper would like to receive keystrokes from any application" I am receiving this message about "sshd-keygen-wrapper would like to receive keystrokes from any application", here is a screenshot:

I find it suspicious... this binary is located at /usr/libexec/sshd-keygen-wrapper and never had this message before. the closest to a solution that I found is that it is harmless... does anybody know a bit more about it?
(disclaimer: I am using a MacOS, and this relates mainly with unix / linux software - so after some thoughts, I thought it was more apporiate to post it here than on another forum.)

I assume you have just enabled SSH logins for you Mac - if not, I would find it suspicious too!
When you enable SSH logins, the system needs to generate a host key. The host key is needed for clients to be able to verify that they're logging on to the same computer each and every time they connect. This works the same way as on Linux and other Unix-type systems.
In order to generate a host key, the SSH software needs a lot of good, random numbers. An common input source in generating random numbers is sampling keyboard input (amongst other things). This is why it requests access to receive keystrokes.
You could give it access, generate the key and revoke the access immediately.
You could also generate the SSH host key via other means or on a different machine, and securely transfer it to this Mac. This way you won't have to grant access. The host key is stored in the /etc/ssh/ folder.
Please note that you should not just copy over the host key already in use by another computer - this would defeat the purpose of the key!


MS Remote Desktop to Windows - Not enough space in a shared folder Not quite sure if it's a right place to ask but I'll try. I use MS Remote Desktop to connect from iMac to my remote Windows 10 computer and exchange files between two computers through a Redirected Folder (the folder itself is on my iMac, and it's visible in Windows as a network drive among other drives like C:).

The issue is when I am trying to paste some files into the Redirected Folder through Windows File Explorer, it returns an error:

Since my remote desktop is in Russian here is the translation:

  1 action aborted
  No enough space at \\tsclient\MyRedirectedFolderName. In order to copy these files the destination should have extra 439 Kb

The requested space is always different depends on files I paste.

Meanwhile, I still can save files into the folder from any other apps (e.g. I just saved a large PDF file opened in Adobe Acrobat through Save as). Additionally, I don't have this issue when I connect through my MacBook.

Any chance to fix it?

Microsoft Remote Desktop for Mac beta version 10.3.4 (1688) solves the issue.


iCloud mail: Is there a way to block emails from an address for a week? A friend of mine is sending many emails every day and I would like to be notified about his emails only once per week.

Is there a way to avoid to receive emails in the inbox until the week later? and disable notifications for those emails only?

What I want:
- I want still receive his email but read all of them let's say on Mondays only
- I don't want to get notifications every time I receive an email from him
- I don't want his email in the inbox until Monday

As Richard Dickins you can set a rule on the server this can be done on iCloud as well as Google and I think on most others.

You create a new folder and set a rule to send the mail there so not in inbox or showing a notification or adding to the count of unread,  but you have to add a separate reminder say in Calendar setting the alert as an email to remind you to read the mail.

You can also do this on OS X mail if that is the only mail reader you use, this can be automated with Applescript to copy these messages back to the Inbox


iPod no wireless networks problem My daughter has an iPod Touch 4th generation I think it is with iOS 6. We have a problem with it whereby it doesn't show any wireless networks at all. Previously, it connected fine and would show networks available without issue.

Note: Like a lot of iPods it has been dropped in the past and ended up with a cracked screen which has been replaced.

On the two most used networks, I've restarted the routers to no avail.

The only network it 'sees' is when I turn my iPhone 5 into a personal hotspot. It then sees and connects to that wireless network.

I've also tried manually entering the SSID details of the two home networks but it immediately returns something along the lines of 'Cannot connect to ...'.

Additionally, when first going into Settings>Wi-Fi it briefly displays the circular 'I'm doing something' next to the 'Choose a Network' text but then disappears.

I've obviously restarted the iPod and Reset Network Settings.

Any help would be very much appreciated!

Thank you.

lets try this one step at a time, first go in to your settings- general, then scroll down to reset and tap reset all network settings this will remove all your previous passwords and internet connections. then just for the hell of it, reboot!

this should fix your problem, if not, let me know and we can figure out the best possible fix for your problem!


How to transfer music from friends iPhone to my laptop I have been trying to transfer music from my friends iPhone to my laptop but I can't seem to do it. Is there any way to transfer the music from his phone to my iTunes?

You could use another app (such as iMazing 2, AnyTrans, TunesGo... you can find a nice comparative here) to get files from your friend´s phone into your computer. And then, you just have to add them manually to iTunes.


Why should disabling wifi on Router speed up internet connection? I'm having an odd issue with my home network.

I have a TPLink Archer D7 connected to my phone line and wired to an Airport Extreme in my basement.

Each of these is connected (by cable) to a MacMini.

We have 3 x iPad, 2 x iPhone and 1 x AppleTV that connect to the 2.4GHz and 5GHz wifi networks.  Mostly to the Archer D7 but also, less frequently, to the Airport Extreme.

The problem I get is that from time to time my internet speed becomes horribly slow.  Impossible to stream video.

What I have discovered is that if I disable both WiFi networks on the Archer D7 then the internet speeds go straight back up to normal (acceptable to good for video).

This happens when none of the connected devices are in use, or they maybe in use for games that do not require an internet connection.

When the Archer's WiFi is disabled the devices automatically connect to the Airport (which is just within range) and can be used as normal without disrupting the internet speed.  So unless they are causing some sort of priority setting on the router then I don't see how they can be choking the connection.

I have SSID broadcast off and have strong WPA2 passwords on all networks.
I have MAC addresses set for all devices, filtering on and no guest networks enabled.

I'm starting to think it can only be someone piggy-backing my connection but I'm not sure what else I can do about that (if it is the case).

Do any other possible causes of this type of problem spring to mind?

I have no idea if this is an Apple specific problem because I have no non-apple equipment I can use to check it.

Turning off the main WiFi is a pain because without that network I can't use my AppleTV.

All suggestions gratefully received.

You mentioned that the Airport Extreme is just within range. It could be that as the Airport Extreme is not able to put through as high a throughput (weak signal) it leaves more internet bandwidth available.

An alternative diagnosis is that since you are using a full range of encryption and filtering on the Archer D7 you are maxing out the processor. The TP Link specs suggest the processor is single core (usually manufacturers tout dual or quad core when available).

The easiest way to deal with the Apple TV would be to hardwire it using TP Link's own powerline adapters (only about $30/pair for 500 Mbps version, other brands are available but TP Link are the least expensive first rate powerline adapters and the one's I'm using at both home and work) which would allow you to use the Airport Extreme for your wireless knowing that your Apple TV is sipping directly on a reliable wired connection.

You could equally move the Airport Extreme to a better position in your home using the TP Link powerline adapters. I've lived with separate wired ethernet routers and wifi access points for years at a time (principally with Airport Express routers which burned out regularly alas but worked great while they worked).

I've been building networks at work and at home for fifteen years with up to forty live users at a time. Out of the hundreds of hours spent troubleshooting these various networks, about ninety per cent of the time has been spent troubleshooting wifi. Apple in particular has not always been compatible with the standards to which Airport promises compatibility. The less wifi you can build into your networks, the less time they will take to maintain.

Incremental Testing to Troubleshoot Archer D7 wifi

If you do want to keep trying with the wifi on the Archer D7, I'd recommend:

resetting the router
doing a firmware upgrade to the latest reliable firmware
testing the wifi without encryption

If the wifi passes the tests without encryption, then you can gradually turn on encryption first and then filters, step by step, ready to undo whatever settings cripple performance.

As you are concerned about piggybacking, you should be able to monitor in the Archer D7 interface what devices are connected via the DHCP server menu item. Just make sure to go and check when you find your network has slowed down. You can also monitor what connections are active. Unlike Tomato firmware, I don't think you can monitor bandwidth per connection via TP Link firmware.

Long Term Home Network Maintenance

Something else to keep in mind is that routers go bad all the time. They small closed plastic boxes which run hot. Make sure to give a router the best ventilation you can. Even then you should expect two years of 24/7 use to cook the circuit boards. As you've learned, even the slightest router flakiness turns a household or a business upside down. Always keep a working backup on site (can be older generation 100 BaseT for emergency service). The only routers I've had which have stood the test of time are industrial strength routers in much larger cases (also TP Link btw) which are generally two to five times the price of the consumer routers.

Buying middle of the road and upgrading every couple of years is the most economical way of keeping close to state of the art performance, while maintaining working backups on hand. If you just leave the old router configured exactly as it was when you remove it from the network and you don't not remove the wifi credentials from your computers you can just drop the old router in any time you like with zero downtime.


iPad plugged to charger turns off due to low battery My iPad is connected to charger yet battery level decreases (not as fast as plugged off but still).

Is it a fault that can be directed to Apple Support for warranty or normal behaviour? I though that charging by cable and using device means power is taken directly from grid while battery loads.

PS
It's charged by iPhone plug. iPad plug is bigger and I am in trip so took smaller one. Those end plugs give different charging capabilities? Is it safe to actually swap them like that?

An iPad needs twice the power of an iPhone to charge.

A phone charger will slowly be able to charge an iPad, but possibly not be able to keep up whilst it is in use & doing intensive tasks.

It's safe to swap them, an iPhone using an iPad charger will not be damaged, but as you see, the other way round, the iPad is not getting sufficient charge.

Even switched off, the iPad may show 'not charging' at the top right - but it actually will still be charging, just very slowly.


Does overcharging an iPhone degrade its life? I often like to charge my iPhone for long periods at a time (like say when I'd get home I will just plug it into the charger regardless of how much battery there is left).

Will this spoil my phone by overcharging or will it in any way, degrade my phone?

An iPhone (in working order) stops charging when it reaches 100%, even if you leave it plugged in.  Or are you perhaps asking about a malfunctioning iPhone, where for some reason this cut-off is not working?


How do I drag a text box in Preview? When using Preview, I can create a text box to add text on top of a PDF. However, the text box is not always created in the correct area. I find that I can use the Arrow Keys to move the text box. Or, I can stretch the text box with my mouse and pointer. However, I cannot move the text box using my mouse. What am I missing? How do I do that?
Apple's reference says, "To move the text box, just drag it." But, I haven't figured out how to do that.

You select the text box and then position the cursor over the center of the text box. Now left-click your mouse button and wait a second or two. The cursor should turn into a closed fist and then you can move the whole text box.


How to have iTerm2 hotkey window slide up and down instead of fading I'm using iTerm2, and my hotkey window used to slide down and then back up. A while ago, the animation changed to having it fade in and out. Is there any way to get it to go back to sliding? I prefer that animation.

Sorry, I had to take that out because it didn't work well on Mac OS 10.10. It is generally unhappy about windows being outside the bounds of the screen and it led to some ugly problems.


Apache config resetting after every OS update This is infuriating. I have a lot of custom settings on my development Mac and every time there is an OS upgrade I have to go back and reset everything.
I read somewhere that the old config is saved in httpd.conf~previous, but that file doesn't contain my changes either. It seems to be more or less the same as the new one.
Questions
Why does this happen on every Mac update?
What can I do to avoid this? Should I install a second copy of apache with brew? and if I do that, is it reasonably possible to disable the built-in MAMP?
All solutions are greatly appreciated.

Yes, this is a general PITA. Why Apple feels it needs to blow away your httpd.conf settings (not to mention any others) is beyond me. Especially since they stopped supporting Apache "out of the box".
The good news is they don't actually "blow them away" and there is an EASY way to see what files are changed on update AND GET THEM BACK:
/Users/Shared/Relocated Items/[All your files Apple deems worthy of fight you over] <= It retains the Native structure, so you can immediately spot what you need to change. No guesswork.
If you miss an update there is ALSO /Users/Shared/Previously Relocated Items xxx/
xxx in the above is a number which represents every update. Mine is up to 13
In my case it's not just httpd.conf, but also ../extra/httpd-userdir.conf, etc.
I'm sure you can script a fix, but it would require a bit of logic. I just eyeball them after an update take a minute to rename (or mv, etc.)


Downloading Xcode libraries with slow internet connection I need to find the link to install the Xcode 4.3 developer library (237 MB) and the iOS 5.1 Library (Apple iPhone OS 5.1) (395 MB).

Since I have a slow internet connection, I am unable to download it from my Xcode, so I will have to download it from another machine and copy it to my Mac.

So, does anyone here know the direct link to the above downloads?

Note: I am running OS 10.7.3 and my Xcode version is 4.3.1.

Sorry, you cannot do it, or at least not in a way that would pay off.

I would be much easier to go with your laptop to a McDonalds and get it from there.

Trust me, I've been there ;)


Is there a free hypervisor that runs on a Mac Mini? I need to run 4 instances of Mac OS X desktop (10.4 to 10.7) for our continuous integration setup (so they need to be on all the time). I've used PC hypervisors in the past (XenServer, ESXi, etc) but never for a Mac.

Is it possible to run those guest operating systems on a Mac Mini hypervisor?

Edit: Ideally, it should be managable remotely (like XenServer and ESXi), desktop virtualization software (like VirtualBox) isn't really what I had in mind.

You might take a look at VirtualBox which includes a GNU GPL version as well. It offers limited/experimental capabilities to run virtualized OS X VMs, but I think Apple generally forbids virtualizing OS X via their licensing/usage terms.


Documents folder not visible in Finder on macOS The Documents folder on my Mac (macOS Sierra 10.12 beta) is not visible under my user in Finder. I can see the folder is there through Terminal

But in Finder, I can't see it:

I can see the folder in Finder under iCloud Drive:

Please help.

This is a new feature in macOS Sierra. It allows you to put Desktop and Documents folder in iCloud Drive so you can access it in all of your Mac connected to that account and even iOS devices. You can disable it by pressing Apple Menu -> About this Mac, then go to storage and click Manage under Macintosh HD( or the name of your macOS partition) then in the iCloud part you can turn that feature off.


Forward or redirect email with attachments using Apple Mail to another email address I'm on MacOS Sierra. I'm using Apple Mail with Exchange Server. I want to set a rule that when an email is received from a specific sender, then redirect the email to another email address. I'm trying to use the "forward to" or the "redirect to" options but both only forward the email without the attachment.

Can anyone please tell me how to set the rule to send the email along with its attachment to the specified email?

Why not set up a server side rule using an exchange client? Webmail or outlook might work well and be included.


Is it better to upgrade to Mavericks or to perform a clean install? I got my MBP yesterday. It's almost new. Before using it, I want to know should I normal upgrade to Mavericks or perform a clean install? Which one will be better for me? I have several applications installed on it. Should it be removed after upgrading?

First, take a backup (using Time Machine or a cloning tool like Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! or Clonezilla) so that you can revert to it if at all something goes wrong and you're unable to salvage it through simple troubleshooting and fixes.

After that, just do a straight upgrade to OS X Mavericks. If you have several apps already installed, then an upgrade will save you a lot of time. The upgrade to OS X Mavericks will retain all your applications, settings and files (they won't be removed).

Also, a clean install is recommended only if you're having some issues in the system that you're unable to trace and resolve through other means. For every other case, a straight upgrade is reliable and quicker.

On the other hand, if you choose a clean install, then you would have to (follow this tedious and time consuming process):

Backup your system (using Time Machine or a cloning tool like Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! or Clonezilla)
Install OS X Mavericks
Configure all the settings for OS X Mavericks as if you were setting up a new system
Install all your applications afresh
Configure each of your applications according to how you'd like
Copy all your files and folders from the backup


The Kindle app on my iPhone 4s isn't downloading books I've been using the Kindle reader app on my iPhone and it was working as advertised for a while. However, yesterday for no apparent reason it has stopped being able to download books. I bought a book, went to my list of books in the Kindle app, and tapped the "download" control. The message reads "Downloading 0.0%" and just stays there. I tried downloading another recent purchase. Same deal. I tried restarting the Kindle app, and then the iPhone, but that didn't help. I tried going onto the Amazon and "sending" the books to my iPhone with no result. I made sure the iPhone is connected to my home wi-fi network.

Has anyone else seen this problem? Know of a solution?

You say it suddenly started working again?

My best guess is that it was caused by GoDaddy's DNS servers going down.  This has caused generally odd behavior across the internet as many sites and URLs were 'forgotten' temporarily.  Many sites became unreachable.

There's a chance the Kindle downloading mechanism relied on an address that was affected.


Blocked contact and multitasking menu iOS 8 What happens if I call or send a message to a contact I have blocked?

Does that contact show up on the recent contacts multitasking menu?

Yes. Even messages to blocked contacts display that blocked contact in "Recent" in the app switcher.

You can disable the "Recents" altogether if you would like. Go to Settings -> Mail, Contacts, and Calendar -> Show In App Switcher (under Contacts).


Gmail message about safari When I try to access my gmail account the following message appears: "This version of Safari is no longer supported. Please upgrade to a supported browser."

I know my safari version is:  Version 5.1.10 but that's all I know as I am not very computer literate just a basic user. What can do about this?

Safari is a integral part of the Operating sytem.

Your version 5.1.10 is the last version available in Snow leopard (your operating system)

Now you have 2 choices:

1- Upgrade to next version of Operating system with new version of Safari (big job)

2- Switch to Google Chrome or Firefox browsers (very easy to do)

I personally prefer Firefox and use it to access my gmail.

Just click on one of the links in my answer and follow the instructions to Install.


How to remove a keychain in OS X? I'm using Mac 10.11.3
I installed Card Reader for PIV and mess something and now I have 'wrong' Keychain CAC-000... It is not one that I need.
I have to get rid of it and setup another Keychain.
I tried to 'Reset My default Keychain' option but it did not remove this one.

How could I remove this one?

I hate keychain issues...

In Finder use key-combo Command+Shift+G and paste in: ~/Library/Keychains/

Rename the CAC keychain file with .bkp extension at the end if you don't want to delete it. This should remove the file from your keychain.

If it is not gone in Keychain Access after that right click and delete it and select Delete References and Files.

The 'login' keychain is your default, if you want to reset it then go to the Keychain access preferences and select reset from there.

Then restart your Mac.


Apps "cannot be opened because of a problem" Whenever I am trying to open an app, most of them won't open with the error as below.

I am really helpless here. Is there is any issue with my machine?

I have a Ubuntu background and recently started using OS X.

Mac version :

Apple let a vital App Store certificate apply, unfortunately. Update your OS and that should fix the issue.

While this does not speak well for Apple, many OS manufacturers have had critical (or if you will stupid) flaws in their OS. Which makes it a good idea to keep up to date on released updates in the App store.


MacBook Pro 16 and Dell tb16 I bought a month ago MB Pro 16 2019, and I'm trying to use it with the Dell TB16 docking station.

I've enabled it with Thunderbolt3Unblocker and all seems to be working fine except external display(HDMI, other display ports probably are not working) which is randomly flickering(every few seconds) with green or noise. I've tested it with 2 monitors and TV, always the same.

TB16 with other laptops works well. I've tried to use some instructions found on the internet about resetting NVRAM or so but nothing helped. I've seen some green flickering on internal display too when I was watching a movie on fullscreen, but it was less common than with external display on TB16. Also, I didn't notice that the issue on an external display connected via HDMI dongle to MB.

Do you have any idea how to fix it?

The developer of "Thunderbolt3Unblocker" lists this as a known issue and recommends a firmware update on the TB16 which apparently helped some users.

Source: https://github.com/rgov/Thunderbolt3Unblocker/issues/28

  video output does not work. Unfortunately, this is out of scope for this project.


Unable to type the shortcut Command-Shift-B on Yosemite On Yosemite (Mac OS X 10.10.4) I'm not able use the shortcut Command-Shift-B, while Command-Shift-<another-letter> works as expected.

I've double checked this in the Keyboard Viewer: pressing Shift, Command and B simultaneously won't show the B button as pressed.

That is, this is what I see when pressing the 3 buttons:

Same goes by pressing Shift-Command and then clicking the B in the Keyboard Viewer with the mouse pointer.

Is there any setting that might prevent the B from getting pressed?

If you have ClipMenu installed, the default key bind for the snippets menu is CMD+Shift+B.

To get this shortcut working in other programs, you'll need to either disable the shortcut or change it to another combination in ClipMenu Preferences:


Use pkg-config with Homebrew installed software I have installed some libraries with Homebrew but if I use pkg-config it does not find them because there are missing .pc files.

For example, if you do:

brew install opencv

and, after it is installed:

pkg-config --libs opencv

I get this error:

Package opencv was not found in the pkg-config search path.
Perhaps you should add the directory containing `opencv.pc'
to the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable
No package 'opencv' found

This error is caused because Homebrew does not create any opencv.pc.

Is there a way to configure Homebrew to create the .pc files so that all packages installed with brew can be found by pkg-config?

Check with brew ls opencv that there is no opencv.pc installed.  I tried it and I have one.  If you don't get one, then there is a bug in the package.

Otherwise, check that you are using the correct Homebrew pkg-config.  Check with which pkg-config and ls -l $(which pkg-config) where it is coming from.


Should I ignore this disk error? So I recently took a 500GB HDD which already had error with catalog-B tree from a dead MacBook to recover from files, So after recovering the data I formatted the disk and started it using it for backup purposes and I wanted to repair the disk and check for any problems and I did get a problem when I ran first-aid on the parent Disk:

And I ran a terminal command to fix it the problem but it failed:

bash-$ diskutil repairDisk disk
Repairing the partition map might erase disks, proceed? (yN) y
Started partition map repair on disk
Checking prerequisites
Checking the partition list
Adjusting partition map to fit whole disk as required
Checking for an EFI system partition
Checking the EFI system partition's size
Checking the EFI system partition's file system
Checking the EFI system partition's folder content
Problems were encountered during repair of the partition map
456789
Error: -69854: A disk with a mount point is required
bash-$ exit
exit

But if I format the parent disk as Apple Partiton Map or master boot record it does not show any error while repairing the parent Disk. So should I worry or should I do something about it?
Any ideas?

EDIT: Thanks for all your answers but I don't know how but the problem has fixed itself:

You should never ignore disk errors. Assume it's dying; make backups, you can never have too many. I use time machine and carbon copy cloner, but do what suits you. I also use disk warrior sometimes to buy some time if I think a disk is going. But don't kid yourself, that drive is probably not healthy and it wouldn't be good to fool yourself into thinking everything will be fine. It may be, but it also may not be; if you have important files, act accordingly, and while hoping for the best, plan for the worst.


How to assign iPhone "Shortcut" to record video? iPhone XR large button on right: double-tap brings up Apple Pay.  I would like to be able to remap the double-tap to record videos and not miss recording key events tapping through the menus to invoke video recording.
The goal is to pull the device from the pocket and start recording with a single command (preferably without looking at the phone, so as to keep an eye on the event).
How is this possible, if not, what is the next best option?

You cannot change the action of a double-press of the side button.
You can configure back tap accessibility feature:

Create a shortcut to Take Video with the Camera app.
Configure back tap (Settings → Accessibility → Touch) to run the shortcut you created.


Seamless Time Machine Wi-Fi backups now that Time Capsule is discontinued? With Time Capsule discontinued, what's the best option for seamless network backups with Time Machine? Something that's out of mind, doesn't need babysitting and that can be trusted to work reliably when needed.

Some suggestions I've seen:

External storage attached to a Mac computer with macOS Server.
An AFP compatible NAS with the TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes option enabled.
Time Capsule is still the best solution, and we're stuck with that until it becomes painfully out of date and unmaintained.

The dedicated Mac solution seems clunky: aside from the cost of a dedicated computer, the Mac is yet another thing that needs to be maintained, updated, etc. The AFP NAS solution seems best, but I want to make it can be relied upon (relevant question). Does a NAS work as seamlessly as I'm used to with Time Capsule? (e.g. no need to mount/unmount, etc.)

What are the other options?

It would also be nice if this solution supported APFS, given High Sierra's direction.

Yes, some NAS work as seamlessly as the Time Capsule. For example Synology DSM has great Time Machine support. There's no need need to manually mount/unmount the network share for each backup.

You can read Apple's list of other options here:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202784

It is essentially either a local drive connected to your Mac (via USB, Thunderbolt, Firewire, SATA, whatever) or a network volume using AFP (NAS, PC/Mac, Time Capsule or AirPort Extreme with external drive connected).


Can't erase Time Machine partition Error message "could not unmount disc"

Only tried Time Machine one day with new Snow Leopard install on MBP.  Have been happy with CCC & want to use the space for a bootable CCC clone.

Time Machine won't let go of the space!!!

If there is nothing else on this particular hard drive that you wish to keep, you can pick the "Partition" section in Disk Utility and repartition the whole drive to your liking rather than simply delete the Time Machine partition. You may have more luck with this than with editing the existing partitions. However, given that it's telling you it can't unmount the disk, Disk Utility may not let you do this either. You can most likely get around this by booting from your Snow Leopard installation DVD and using Disk Utility to repartition the external drive (careful, not your internal drive!) from there. Using the recovery system on the Snow Leopard DVD will avoid anything (like Time Machine) keeping the disk "busy" when you want to partition it.


Close safari automatically Safari can ben opened from a terminal automatically

open -a safari

When comes to close it, I have to press 'Cmd+Shift+W' or click quit option in dock

Is it possible to quit safari automatically? like

close -a safari

One of the Apple-supported ways to do it is the following AppleScript command:

tell app "Safari" to quit

Use the following one-liner to run the same thing from your shell:

osascript -e 'tell app "Safari" to quit'

Or, use the bundle ID if that’s more your thing:

osascript -e 'tell app id "com.apple.Safari" to quit'


Unistall Realtek USB Ethernet Network Adapter I would like to uninstall the "Realtek USB Ethernet Network Adapter"
I can find it under System Information -> Software -> Installations in a list but don't know how to get rid of it.

Check the Realtek site for the latest driver of your USB Ethernet adapter and download it. The driver zip file should contain an uninstall.zip. Unzip this also and double-click the resulting uninstall.command file. Enter the admin (root) password and reboot your Mac.

Using an uninstaller provided with the driver installer is recommended.

Provided it's a RTL8153 chip you can also pour the following content into a uninstall.command file and execute it:

#!/bin/sh
. /etc/rc.common

echo "                                                                  "
echo "Please type the password of \"root\" to Uninstall ..."
FROM=`dirname "$0"`

echo "Removing Apple USB Ethernet Driver..."

sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/IONetworkingFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleRTL815X*.kext
sudo kextunload /Library/Extensions/AppleRTL815X*.kext

sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/IONetworkingFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleRTL815X*.kext
sudo rm -rf /Library/Extensions/AppleRTL815X*.kext

sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions/
sudo touch /Library/Extensions/

echo "Uninstall Complete."

Depending on your system version you have to disable SIP.

In Catalina you have to disable SIP in Recovery Mode first and mount the system volume read-write after rebooting: sudo mount -rw /. Additionally you have to chmod +x uninstall.command and add it to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Full Disk Access.

Enable SIP after uninstalling the driver!

If your kext has a different name (e.g. AppleUSBRealtek8153Patcher.kext) or paths have changed, you have to adjust it respectively in the file uninstall.command (e.g. AppleRTL815*.kext). Use at your own risk!


What does the option to "Allow Full Access" for my iOS keyboard do? A keyboard I recently installed on iOS 8 provides an option (in Settings) to "Allow Full Access"?

What does this setting do?

"Allow Full Access" has nothing to do with using the actual keyboard. The keyboard is accessible for you to use throughout the system regardless of this setting. In short, allowing full access grants the developer of the keyboard additional access to some of your information and gives the developer access to the internet. From the technical specifications under "Designing for User Trust", Allow Full Access does this:

Keyboard can access Location Services and Address Book, with user permission
Keyboard can send keystrokes and other input events for server-side processing
Containing app can provide editing interface for keyboard’s custom autocorrect lexicon
Keyboard can employ iCloud to ensure settings and autocorrect lexicon are up to date on all devices
Keyboard can participate in Game Center and In-App Purchase

The second bullet point is what Apple really wants you to understand. With Allow Full Access a developer COULD send your keystrokes to their server for processing, which might include:

analyzing your sentence for grammar
analyzing a word for spelling
predicting the word you are typing.

Apple is highlighting the fact that a developer COULD use your keystrokes for nefarious reasons instead of the legitimate reasons I listed above. It is possible for a developer to record your sensitive information such as credit card number or street address.

In my opinion, it is not possible for a developer to write a fully-fledged keyboard extension without requesting full access. Without Full Access I can't utilize In-App Purchases, I can't sync your preferences using iCloud, I cannot even provide a basic auto-correct feature.

I just finished developing a keyboard extension for iOS. My keyboard never sends your keystrokes across the internet. I will never see what you have typed. There are no privacy concerns in my opinion, yet you still receive a scary message from Apple when you turn on Allow Full Access. If you have concerns about turning Allow Full Access ON, ask the developer how they are using your data/keystrokes.

One additional note, you cannot use a custom keyboard to type into a password field. iOS will always use the system keyboard for password fields. Developers that do process your keystrokes will not have access to your passwords, unless you type your passwords into a non-password field.


As a merchant can I set up Apple Pay to link to multiple bank accounts? I haven't even attempted to set it up and admittedly don't know much about Apple Pay, but I assume that, as a merchant, when you first set it up you link it to a bank account, so that when people swipe their phones to pay, it will direct the funds to your merchant account.

Is it possible to link more than one merchant account? For example, have it set up in a way that it automatically pays 5% to merchant account #1 and then the rest to merchant account #2?

Apple Pay is a very different technology from something like Square, which would operate similarly to how you describe. You sign up as a merchant with Square and link it to your bank account.

In this situation, Square is the point-of-sale, acquirer, and merchant account all in one. And as a matter of fact, they support using Apple Pay at the payment terminal.

In a more traditional merchant situation, you have a merchant bank, which will put you on a specific processor platform, as dictated by the needs of your payment gateway and point of sale. As a merchant, you don't have any interaction with Apple at all; if you want to accept Apple Pay, you just need to make sure that your point of sale is capable of accepting NFC payments, and that this is all supported by your gateway and platform. Typically, though, you will only be interacting with your merchant bank, and they will be able to facilitate the set up of an Apple Pay-compatible POS.

So, this means that typically the funds will all be deposited into the merchant account that is linked to that point of sale. You could probably have your merchant bank set up deposits to your business checking accounts in percentages as you suggest, but there is typically a 1:1 relationship between Point-of-Sale or Payment Gateway and your merchant account.


if I delete private/var/folders/zz to free up space will it cause any problem? I am very new to mac. I want to upgrade to the latest version of mac but there is not enough space in my mac. After some digging, I found there is a folder called private that is taking more than 38GB of storage. I have given the screenshot below. But some forums on the internet say, I should not delete the private/var/folders. I am not sure what to do. I have no important data to lose. Now should i delete this folder? If yes what is the correct way to delete these huge files?

You can do a Safe Boot (press the Shift Key when you boot) and verify if you get free space after doing a normal reboot.
The Safe boot clean system cache files.


Hear ambient sound while listening to music with headphones on OSX I don't want people to yell at me when they want to say something while I'm using headphones on my desktop computer.

I'm thinking an app could just listen to the ambient sound and lower the volume when it is loud. Apparently, Awareness does something like this on iOS. What about OSX?

There is an app in the macOS app store called "Dumbo" that lets you monitor room audio from your mac mic when you have headphones on. It doesn't automatically lower the volume, but you can adjust the mic input level as well as the iTunes level to get the mix you want.

Here's the link to Dumbo in the US Mac App store.


iPhone and iTunes Match I have a quite large library of songs and I do like the majority of them on my iPhone (main reason I purchased the 64Gb version).

Problem is that we have very slow internet here and turning on iTunes Match on my phone and telling it to download all songs in my main play list can take days up to weeks to complete.

I would turn iTunes Match off just on my phone but I like to see my entire library and download a single new song when I add one to my pc. Is there a way I can do an old fashioned sync of 1 playlist and then turn iTunes Match on without the phone first deleting all the previous wired synced songs?

Just to save redownloading them all from iCloud really.

Any thoughts?

Turn off iTunes Match on the iPhone and synch your playlists/songs via iTunes. After synchronisation turn iTunes Match back on. You will receive a warning message, but your synchroniszed songs will stay on the phone (you can easily verify that by checking the cloud icon, which should not be there).

The only important thing is, that the songs you've synchronize must be part of your iTunes Match library. Else they will vansih after re-enabling iTunes Match.

For me that works perfectly fine.


Safari on iPad can't resolve local network names I have a number of local Windows, Linux and Mac machines on my local LAN, but no matter what, Safari will not resolve them by name.

How can I get this to work as there is no "server" on my network? I use the machine names only without suffixes.

It's likely that the computers are using NetBIOS name resolution (aka WINS or occasionally SMB). This is used commonly for Windows file sharing, and is typically set when you enter a hostname for a computer. On Macs and Linux, it's not always broadcast, unless Windows file sharing is enabled/installed, but it typically is, so it's usually a workable option for small networks without a lot of fuss.

However, iOS devices don't use NetBIOS (since they don't do Windows file sharing, there's not a lot of point, and there may be licensing issues, I'm not sure). So unless you've explicitly set up DNS hostnames on your network, this is most likely why you can't address your machines by name from your iPad.

The best solution here is to assign hostnames using static DHCP on your router — because your machines most likely already use your router for DNS, you should be able to change your settings on the router without needing any changes on any of the machines. Most home routers have some way of doing this, but it varies from model to model. The basic process is to assign a DHCP reservation for each machine and add the host name (some routers might allow for a hostname based on MAC address, without a static reservation). Those host names should then be resolvable from all machines, including the iPad via DNS.

If you need further help with this, add some information about your router (although searching for an answer on Superuser might yield the information you need).


How do I export mail.app rules to other filtering solutions such as procmail? In the past I handled email filtering using Mail.app's Rules. I want to move my filters out of Mail.app and into another solution, such as a centrally-organized IMAP + procmail setup.

Is it possible to export apple mail.app rules for use with procmail?

If not for procmail per se, how about exporting to other formats that might be an easier intermediary between Mail.app and procmail?

You can find them in plist format (just an xml flavor) in:

~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData/MessageRules.plist

You can write a script in the language of your choice to parse this file and produce rules suitable to procmail.

Here is a python draft:

#!/usr/bin/env python

import plistlib

pl = plistlib.readPlist('/Users/<user>/Library/Mail/V2/MailData/SyncedRules.plist')

for rule in pl:
    print
    print ':0:'
    mbox = ''
    for key in rule:
        if key == 'Criteria':
            for c in rule[key]:
                print '^%s:.*%s' % (c['Header'], c['Expression'])
        if key == 'CopyToMailbox':
            mbox = rule[key]
    print mbox


If I turn on FileVault for a TimeMachine drive, are previous backups encrypted I have been running TimeMachine for a couple of months, but just now decided to encrypt my backups.  Having ticked the box for encryption for my backup drive, TimeMachine nows says I have no previous backups.  However, when I look in the backup drive I can see all the backup folders.

Are those backups encrypted, or is it just future ones?

FileVault itself does not encrypt TimeMachine backups at all. But you can specify TimeMachine encryption separately under the TimeMachine options. All contents on the disk should be encrypted then.