“Airplane Mode” in OS X. Alternative command for `rfkill`? Mac OS X doesn't recognize rfkill from its terminal, and I am looking for an alternative command that has similar functionality (toggling "Airplane Mode").

NOTE: I don't wish to open an .app to toggle. I'd like to execute the command from command line or within script in Bash (or equivalents).

By "Airplane Mode", I meant to borrow the term from iOS support page here. I would like to disable all incoming/outgoing network communications from my system.

Make an ad hoc location named isolated or airplane where all the network interfaces are present and turned off.

Switch to this deaf location with:

networksetup -switchtolocation isolated

It might be more interesting than rfkill since you can protect you
from an unnoticed Ethernet cable which might be listening to all your
communications (and they are a lot) :[.
To check that everything is really off, run:

ifconfig -a | grep '[<,]UP[,>]' | grep -v '[<,]LOOPBACK[,>]'

If this command doesn't display anything, then all your interfaces are down, everything is OK.

If this command output anything, as here:

en1: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500

then it means that the interface name (here en1 which is the wireless
one on this Mac)
is on where it shouldn't. This is the sign that either the configuration made is failing or that some Trojan horse turned it on to reach its control server via the Internet.


How can I stop Keynote from trying to convert movies when opening old presentations? For many years I took advantage of the Keynote feature of being able to embed Quartz Composer patches. I have come to accept that this feature no longer exists, and so most of my talks can no longer be given in their current form. However, some still contain slides without animations that I can use, so I would like to be able to open them.

However, when I try, Keynote informs me that the movies are incompatible and will be converted to another format. This process takes 30 minutes or more with my laptop's fans on full blast, but it ultimately doesn't work. (The movies just come out white.) If I click 'cancel', it closes the file.

How can I tell keynote that I don't want it to convert the movies? I'm fine if it just deletes them from the presentation, since I can no longer use them anyway - I just don't want to wait that long to open each file.

Gah, I figured out a decent answer myself just after posting a bounty.

Simply create a copy of the presentation. Then right-click on the copy, select "view package contents", and delete all the .mov files. Now the copy will open with just a warning that some files can't be found.

(If someone can come up with a way that actually preserves the QC patches, e.g. by converting them into movies in a way that actually works, I'll award them the bounty.)


iPhone 7 Plus stuck in recovery mode and can't restore/update even in DFU after downgrading from iOS 11 Here is what has happened. I'm hoping there is still hope in me fixing this since the weekend is here and the earliest I can get a repair appointment is Monday.

I've been on the iOS 11 Developer Beta for about two weeks now. This morning I decided that I was going to downgrade back to iOS 10. Followed all of the instructions and in a few minutes, my device was being "updated" back to iOS 10.3.2. This is where everything went wrong.

I leave the phone and come back about 20 minutes later to see iTunes says that my phone is in recovery mode and needs to be updated or restored. I click on "Update" and it fails and says it needs to be restored. So this time I click on restore, it goes through the whole process and iTunes says that my phone has been restored and it is currently restarting. However, as soon as it restarts I get the same damn prompt again telling me I need to restore or update.

I do this about 4-5 times with no luck. So next I decide it's time to put the device into DFU mode. Even when my phone is in DFU and I try to restore it to the most recent iOS 10 update I am getting the same problem. iPhone restarts and says I need to connect to iTunes and it's in recovery mode.

Any suggestions? I'm going crazy trying to figure this out.

I would avoid DFU for figuring out what is wrong - it's kind of a last ditch effort to revive a device without a lot of diagnostics or error reporting. Since Apple restricts who can receive betas and asks them to communicate with users on the various seed and beta discussion groups - many people here will decline to engage on beta discussions so you might get better answers on Apple's forums devoted to the beta programs.

Also - since you know the firmware is on iOS 11 at this point, why not try reinstalling iOS 11 again to see if the device is still working?

Foregoing that, what happens when you plug the device into iTunes and attempt a restore?

That operation is designed to log error conditions, statistics, reasons and many items to log files. From there you would benefit from being able to reach out to Apple support and also have a large audience with experience in restore errors. It could be an unlikely hardware failure or a likely firmware issue where you are now committed to running the beta pending some changes to the software either on the iTunes side or on the iOS side to allow you to go backwards in code version.

If other people have this issue, I would suggest asking a new question with specific details like - what version of iTunes and what OS (Mac or windows) and what specific error message you get before you try DFU. As you have acknowledged in the post - recovering from DFU failure is usually with Apple Certified technicians and/ or hardware replacement assuming your PC/Mac and iTunes isn't the cause of the restore issue.


Clam shell mode without external display, keyboard, mouse I have a latest 13 inch MBP retina, running 10.10.

I am wondering, is there a way to run the machine with the lids closed WITHOUT an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse?

We are using the machine as a server in a confined space, and would like to keep the machine closed, but still running.

Thanks

Not natively, but you can use an app like InsomniaX to prevent the device from sleeping when the lid is closed.

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/22211/insomniax


How do you change the format of the OSX Screen Shot file name? I'd like my screen shots to only be named with the current date time, preferably in a format like:

2016-09-02-16:02:48

How should I go about doing this?

So far I've tried inserting an empty string into com.apple.screencapture name

as shown:

$ defaults write com.apple.screencapture name ""
$ killall SystemUIServer

But OSX is still inserting a space as shown below:

So there's two problems I'm having:

How do I change the date time format so there are no spaces?
How do I make sure there is no leading space in the screenshot filename?

Thanks :)

You neither can rename a file to the proposed name - it contains several colons (:) which are reserved (= forbidden) characters in the HFS+ file system - nor does defaults write com.apple.screencapture ... allow a different date format.

One idea though is creating a launch agent to rename all files in a dedicated folder starting with "Screen Shot ...":

A very simple solution, assuming you restore the default naming convention for screenshots and replace user_name by your short name below, is then:

Create a file named "screencaprn" in e.g /usr/local/bin with the content:

#!/bin/bash

mv /Users/user_name/Desktop/Screen\ Shot*.png /Users/user_name/Desktop/"`date "+%Y-%m-%d-%H.%M.%S"`.png"; $2>/dev/null

Change permissions:

chmod +x /usr/local/bin/screencaprn

Then create a launch agent in ~/Library/LaunchAgents with the name "usr.screenshot.rename.plist"  and the content:

<?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>usr.screenshot.rename</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/bin/bash</string>
        <string>-c</string>
        <string>/usr/local/bin/screencaprn</string>
    </array>
    <key>WatchPaths</key>
    <array>
        <string>/Users/user_name/Desktop</string>
    </array>
</dict>
</plist>

Then load the plist with:

launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/usr.screenshot.rename.plist

This works but has a delay of up to 10 seconds (thus changes the seconds and sometimes the minutes of the original named screenshot file e.g. Screen Shot 2016-09-03 at 03.24.02.png to 2016-09-03-03.24.05.png) and adds one com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (usr.screenshot.rename): Service only ran for X seconds. Pushing respawn out by Y seconds. line to the system log.


Why is Face ID on used iPhone X and XS often not working? I have seen plenty of used iPhone X and XS that say the phone works fine except Face ID. This made me quite curious as to why most iPhone X or XS have their face corrupted? Apparently it's a depth camera — are depth cameras more susceptible to faults?

The simplest explanation is that they've had their screens broken and the replacements weren't done by Apple themselves.
The FaceID [and TouchID] secure enclave chips cannot be replaced by anyone other than Apple. If they are in any way disturbed by a third party, they will cease to function.
This is a security measure.


Volume too sometimes jumps to 90% when I connect my headphones to my iPhone So I recently bought an iPhone X  and have been having a ton of trouble with my Sony WH-1000XM2 that I had.

Sometimes when I connect it and play music I suddenly realize the volume is set to 90% I usually set it to 20-10% but the the next time (not always) it's set to 90% again!

The keyboard is also too loud. It's tied to my Ringer and doesn't turn down when I connect my headphones meaning I have to mute it every time after I get scared by the keyboard sound and remember to unmute it afterwards!

iPhones remember the volume settings for different sound outputs. ie. if you have the iPhone speakers, and a set of plugged in headphones, and a set of bluetooth headphones, and a wireless speaker the phone will remember the volume of each of them. When you connect the relevant device the volume is set to where you left it.

In this case you're connecting your headphones and it's setting back to where you left it.

In addition, Sony have a Headphones Connect app that can you can use to set presets for different scenarios. Do you have that app configured?


How to share directory over NFS from Mac? (w/o macOS Server app) First of all, I'm happy to pay the $19.99 for the Mac OS Server app from the app store, so that's no problem, it's just that at the moment I only have one specific need - NFS sharing between my macOS sierra host and a virtualbox VM guest running Debian Sarge (don't ask).

This is something I am used to doing in Linux without any difficulty, but the syntax for /etc/exports doesn't seem to be the same? In the man page for exports on macOS it uses explicit flags?

My regular line in /etc/exports on Linux:

# NFS Share to Virtualbox guests:
/path/to/my/shared/directory 192.168.56.0/24(rw,fsid=root,all_squash,anonuid=1000,anongid=1000,no_subtree_check)

Calling nfsd checkexports returns the following:

getaddrinfo() failed for 192.168.56.0/24(rw,fsid=root,all_squash,anonuid=1000,anongid=1000,no_subtree_check)
exports:2: couldn't get address for host: 192.168.56.0/24(rw,fsid=root,all_squash,anonuid=1000,anongid=1000,no_subtree_check)
exports:2: no valid hosts found for export

And if I simplify and change the etc/exports entry to /path/to/my/shared/directory -network 192.168.56.0 -mask 255.255.255.0 I get the following output from nfsd checkexports:

exports:2: path contains non-directory or non-existent components: /path/to/my/shared/directory
exports:2: no usable directories in export entry and no fallback

Note: /path/to/my/shared/directory is obviously a just a placeholder filepath for this question, not my actual entry in /etc/exports

Is it just because the line in /etc/exports is crap, or I need some other configuration? or do I need the macOS Server app?

From looking at https://help.apple.com/serverapp/mac/5.3/#/apd106E5632-C4E6-4572-8289-B9ACC652E88C it seems like it might not be anything I need the macOS Server app for?

EDIT:

What I want is the equivalent behaviour and rw permissions of rw,fsid=root,all_squash,anonuid=1000,anongid=1000,no_subtree_check in my exporting, I've got it working with NFS Manager where I can mount the folder on my VM guest but read-only.

What was required was the following line in /etc/exports:

/path/to/shared/dir -mapall=<uid of local user on host machine with correct perms> -network 192.168.56.0 -mask 255.255.255.0

exports(5) is the FreeBSD version, obviously. Once I did some googling for the solution with respect to "FreeBSD" instead of "Mac", the necessary information presented itself, the a colleague pointed out the exact flag needed.

Source: http://www.freebsdmadeeasy.com/tutorials/freebsd/using-freebsd-nfs.php

NFS Manager was helpful in validating the solution but not necessary.


MacBook Pro Retina 13": change resolution to 1920x1200 pixels How can I change the resolution of my MacBook Pro 13" Retina (Late 2013) to 1920x1200 pixels?

The MacBook is able to use this resolution! It's e.g. using it, when connecting a second display which uses 1920x1200 pixels and checking the 'mirror displays' option.

You can use Retina DisplayMenu, QuickRes or SwitchResX.


Able to join captive WiFi network, but not connect to internet I know there are similar questions on the site, but I'm not quite seeing an answer that works for my network.

I work in a hospital, and we have a guest network that uses a captive portal forcing the user to accept terms before use.  On iOS devices, this network connects without issue.  The Apple Captive Network Assistant (or whatever its equivalent on iOS is called) pops up and shows the portal page.

Using my Macbook Air running the latest version of El Capitan, I get very inconsistent results connecting to this network.  I immediately get a connection to the WiFi network, but I do not consistently get the pop-up for the portal to accept terms.  I also cannot force the page, either.  I have tried entering into Safari http://captive.apple.com/hotspot-detect.html.  I've tried 1.1.1.1 which is the address that pops up with the captive portal.  None of these work.

I have also tried to delete my network preference files.  I have tried to manually assign a DNS server 8.8.8.8, etc.

None of these things seems to work.

Sometimes, shutting down and restarting the computer works.  (Software restarts do not typically work).  Or, occasionally letting the computer sit connected for upwards of 30 minutes it will suddenly connect.

Why would I be able to connect to the network on iOS and an Amazon FireStick without issue, but not OS X?

One more thing that you may try that works fairly consistently for me. Under Network Preferences, change Location to some other, if this is the first time you do this, do "Edit Locations" and press the "+" sign and add one using any name you like, copy any old settings that may apply. Apply them, and "Hey, presto!" you get the log-in screen of your internet service.

Hope this helps.


Microsoft remote desktop sends wrong symbol keys I'm using Microsoft Remote Desktop 8.0.9 from the app store and connecting to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2003 based PCs.

Although alphanumeric keys work properly, when I type certain symbol keys into the remote computer they come out as the wrong keys, it seems like a mapping issue. The remote machines are both set as "English (United States) - US" for the input language, which matches what my Mac has.

The following is example of the key confusion:

\ maps to <
< maps to .
^ maps to ?
{ (twice) maps to ^^ (but once does nothing)
} (twice) maps to -- (but once does nothing)

Most other keys work fine. What can I do to correct this keyboard mapping on either the host (OSX Mavericks) or the client (Windows 7)?

I had the same problem using microsoft remote desktop on a mac with OSX Yosemite. My symbol keys did not work correctly, for example the \ became < and @ became *. I opened system preferences on my Mac that was running the RD client, and under keyboard I noticed that my input source was set to Canadian English. I added US English, deleted Canadian English, and restarted the remote desktop session. The special characters were typed correctly after that.


Find logged on user and network home directory with a bash script I am trying to use a script to find the username and home directory of the user that is currently logged on to a Mac. This is what I have, and it works, but is there a better (i.e. simpler) way to do it?

user=`logname`
userHome="eval echo ~`echo $user`"
userHome=`$userHome`

The script will almost definitely not be run by the logged on user.

This is Mac OS X 10.6, joined to an Active Directory, and a network user is logged on. So the username does not appear in /etc/passwd.

This script:

#!/bin/bash
w -h | sort -u -t' ' -k1,1 | while read user etc
do
  homedir=$(dscl . -read /Users/$user NFSHomeDirectory | cut -d' ' -f2)
  echo =$user= =$homedir=
done

will do the following:

find all users logged in (via ssh too!) w -h or can use the who command too
sort and find unique users sort -u -t' ' -k1,1
for each logged user

read username
find his home directory from the DirectoryService daemon via the command  dscl
print out username and his home directory


How can I fix Youtube videos only displaying black with sound in iOS's Safari? Frequently I encounter this problem in iOS's Safari:  I want to watch a Youtube video, and  it starts playing, but the display area is entirely in black, although I can still hear the audio.   Is there some sort of hack that will get the videos to play normally, with a 100% success rate?  Quite frequently I have to refresh multiple times (>5) to get those videos to start playing.

Forcing Safari to quit works reliably for me. Double click the home button,tap the 'X' on Safari.


How do I create a custom ringtone for my iPhone? The iPhone has a very limited selection of default ringtones.

How do I create a new ringtone for my iPhone?

If the song/sound you want to use isn't already in your iTunes library, add it to your iTunes library first.
If you want to use just a part of the song/sound, right click it, select "Get Info", then "Options" tab, and enter a start and stop time there. Remember, ringtones can't be over 40 seconds!
On the File menu, select "Convert" > "Create AAC Version". If you don't have this option, go to Edit, Preferences, General tab, and click the Import Settings button. Make sure the import setting is set to "iTunes Plus" (AAC).
This will create a new file in your iTunes library. Delete it from your iTunes library now, but be sure to check "keep file" in the delete dialog so the file itself isn't removed, just the library entry.
Navigate to where the file was created on disk, somewhere like music\iTunes\iTunes Music\{artist}\{album}
Rename the file from .m4a to .m4r
Drag and drop this .m4r file into the Ringtones folder of your iTunes (or, just double-click it and iTunes will handle it automatically).
Sync your iPhone. Make sure that "Sync Ringtones" is selected in the phone sync options (mine was off by default).

After syncing, you can select your new ringtone in Settings, Sounds at the Custom section at the top.


Where is nmblookup in Lion? I'm trying to call nmblookup in a Terminal on Lion, but it's not available. How can I lookup NMB hostnames from the Terminal now?

On OS X 10.7 (Lion):

smbutil lookup <hostname>

Example:

$ smbutil lookup NAS1
Got response from 10.21.0.133
IP address of NAS1: 10.21.0.133


How to install Windows 10 partition on macOS X Server 10.6.8 without bootcamp? I have a Mac Pro with macOS X Server 10.6.8. I want to install a Windows 10 partition without Bootcamp. Is there a way to do that?

Installing Windows without using the Bootcamp app is risky. However, I will guide you through the correct steps to accomplish this.

Please Note: This method is not encouraged by Apple and may lead to your Windows OS to fail, resulting in a major loss of data. Please perform these actions at your own risk. Only do the following if you are the administrator and owner of your Mac. Be sure to back up your Mac to prevent any major damage.

Back up your Mac with Time Machine - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201250

Let's start off by opening disk utility. Select the Hard Disk of your choice, and select the "Partition" Tab. Once on the tab, select the "+" button, a pop-up screen will appear. If you are using a more recent version of macOS, you will have an option to choose the size of your partition. Please be sure to choose a minimum of 30GB for your partition size, as this will be the boot of your new Windows Partition. If you are using an old version of MacOS X, you might not have the ability to choose the size of your partition.

Name your to partition whatever you want, I named mine Win10. Make sure to choose the "MS-Dos (Fat)" or "ExFat" option for your format. Once the partition has been created, you now want to boot into Windows 10. This part may be more complicated. To boot into Windows 10, you need a Bootable Media Device. This device could be a USB or DVD. Please follow the steps below to find out how to create a bootable media device for Windows 10.

USB Device: (Use another device to do this) (Recommended for newer Macs)

Before you begin: Make sure you have a USB Drive with at least 8GB of storage. When following the steps below, your device will be formatted. Please be sure to back up any files on the USB. Make sure you have a reliable Network Connection before downloading the ISO.

Download the Windows 10 Installation Media Tool from the link provided.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Download, Install and Run the tool. Agree to the Terms and Conditions. You will be taken to a page where the tool will ask you what you want to do. Select "Create installation media for another PC". Select "Next". On the next page, choose your language. For the remaining boxes, be sure to select "Windows 10" for Edition and "64-bit (x64)" for Architecture. Select "Next". On the next page, select "USB flash drive". Select your drive and begin the installation. This download may take a few hours depending on your bandwidth and internet speed.

Once the download is complete, follow the remaining steps to finish off creating your bootable USB.

DVD: (You may use the same device to complete this) (Recommended for older Macs) (Must have internal or external DVD reader)

Before you begin: Make sure your DVD has at least 4.5GB of storage. When following the steps below, your device will be formatted. Please be sure to back up any files on the DVD. Make sure you have a reliable Network Connection before downloading the ISO.

Download the Windows 10 Installation Media Tool from the link provided.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Download, Install and Run the tool. Agree to the Terms and Conditions. You will be taken to a page where the tool will ask you what you want to do. Select "Create installation media for another PC". Select "Next". On the next page, choose your language. For the remaining box, be sure to select "Windows 10" for Edition and "64-bit (x64)" for Architectue. Select "Next". On the next page, select "ISO file". Select your file location of choice where to download the ISO file. Keep in mind, the ISO file is very large. (About 4.5GB) Please make sure to choose a file with enough storage. Begin installation. This download may take a few hours depending on your bandwidth and internet speed.

Once the ISO file has been downloaded, burn it to a DVD. Please make sure your DVD is in the tray at all times during burning the ISO file. For more information on how to burn a file to a DVD, please see the link provided.

https://www.seagate.com/us/en/support/kb/how-to-burn-an-iso-image-onto-a-cddvd-rom-201431en/

Using the bootable media:

Once you have successfully made your bootable device, follow the steps to add the Windows 10 partition to your Mac Pro Server.

For USB: When starting up the Mac, hold down the "Option" key down while on the white screen. When several options appear on the screen, let go of the option key. Use the arrows to navigate to your USB name and select the Return key. You should soon appear on the screen to install Windows 10.

For DVD: (Make sure your DVD is in the DVD tray for your Mac!) When starting up the Mac, hold down the "C" key while on the white screen. This will automatically boot your Mac from the DVD. After a while, you will be taken to a screen to install Windows 10.

I hope this helped you! :)

Cheers, John Williams


How to make an executable .py available everywhere on OS X? I have this directory /foo/bar/. Inside, I have a python file named myfile.py. I made it executable by adding (at the top):

#!/usr/bin/env python

Then, I made it executable by issuing

chmod +x myfile.py

I edited my path by issuing

sudo nano /etc/paths

I added /foo/bar/ to it.

The problem is that although I can run myfile.py by typing ./myfile.py while I am inside /foo/bar/, it doesn't work from any other location. What am I doing wrong?

Thank you.

You need to add /foo/bar to your $PATH environment variable. Navigate to your home directory by typing cd at the prompt, then type nano .profile. Inside this file, add the following line:

export PATH=$PATH:/foo/bar

then save and quit. Exit Terminal.app (or whichever term program you're using) and restart it. /foo/bar should now be in your search path, to make sure type echo $PATH and see if it's at the end. You should now be able to run myfile.py from anywhere.


Problem with installing any app via NPM What's going wrong?

I try to install something and after the install I can launch it. System doesn't see the installed app.

For example:
I tried to install "appium-doctor" and I did it successfully.

npm install -g appium-doctor
/Users/oleg/.npm-global/bin/appium-doctor -> /Users/oleg/.npm-global/lib/node_modules/appium-doctor/appium-doctor.js
/Users/oleg/.npm-global/lib
└── appium-doctor@1.4.1

After that I tried to launch the appium-doctor, and I got the error:

iMac-Ponomarenko:~ oleg$ appium-doctor
-bash: appium-doctor: command not found

My environment:
 - npm -v prints: 4.1.2
 - node -v prints: v6.9.5
 - npm config get registry prints: https://registry.npmjs.org/
 - OS: OS X El Capitan

What problem is the feature intended to solve?

I want to install appium 1.6.3. And i need "gulp" for it.

Try it by providing full path, like /Applications/some_folder/appium-doctor to launch this app. It looks like system is not able to locate the binary 'appium-doctor'.
If it works then you can add that $path in .bash_profile.


Background menu bar stuff visible through current menu bar So this is happening to my menu bar(Look carefully at the menu bar).Looks like menu bar of other apps is visible through it.

Making the menu bar opaque solves it but I liked the transparent thingy.

Have restarted the computer but it's still the same.Any idea on what's causing this?

Your desktop background is a screen-shot that includes a menu bar. Try going into System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver > Desktop and choosing a different background.


Why can't I play songs downloaded on iOS 7? I downloaded songs on my iPhone 5 with iOS 7 and the songs played fine yesterday. When I connected to iTunes, the songs became unavailable on my iPhone with a red square and red circle around the square. The songs also do not appear in iTunes. Please help??

You should check iTunes->Preferences

Automatic Downloads
iTunes in the Cloud Preferences

If nothing helps and if these songs are not listed in your iTunes Store->Purchased history you have to contact apple...


Unknown notifications I'm receiving time to time the notifications as shown on this screenshot.

The notifications are on the top right of my screen.

I can't understand the origin of these notifications thus I don't know to disable them.

What are they and how to disable them?

You're receiving push notifications from specific websites. Here's how to block them in Chrome, from Google's support page.

  Allow or block notifications from all sites

  Open Chrome.
  In the upper right corner of the browser window, click the Chrome menu Chrome menu.
  Click Settings > Show advanced settings.
  In the "Privacy" section, click Content settings.
  In the dialog that appears, go to "Notifications" and choose one of the following:

  Allow all sites to show notifications: You’ll automatically see notifications from all websites.
  Ask when a site wants to show notifications: You’ll get an alert from Chrome whenever a site wants to show you notifications. This is the default setting.
  Do not allow any site to show notifications: You won’t see any notifications from websites.
  You can also block any sites, apps, and extensions that already have permission to send you notifications. Just click Manage exceptions.

  Turn off notifications from some sites

  At the top of your screen in the menu bar, click the notification icon [which looks like a bell].
  Click the gear icon.
  Uncheck any website, extension or app you don’t want to receive notifications from.


Screenshots and images won't open - Don't have permission to view it Every time I take a screenshot I try to open it, but it says that I don't have the permission. It's not only my screenshots; all the pictures that I save say that I don't have any permission to open it.

Can anyone please help me resolve this problem?

I solved the situation.  All I had to do was quit preview.


How to import photos to iPhone without getting unable to delete them? I use iTunes and AnyTrans, but the photos can’t be deleted.

Is there a program to import photos without getting unable to delete them?

You can use iExplorer. It is available for both Mac and PC.

You can easily access data and import it from your iPhone without Jailbreaking your device.


MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports) running Mojave (10.14.3 (18D42)) is does not recognize external boot drive I just got a new Macbook Pro, I was previously using an MBP (13-inch, Mid 2012) running Mojave. I have a 1TB SSD that has a partition with a Windows 10 installation (I followed this tutorial: https://blog.macsales.com/40947-tech-tip-how-to-use-boot-camp-on-an-external-drive/) and another MacOS Journaled partition that I use for general file storage. This setup has worked for me on my old MBP (I can hold option to boot into windows). However, the Startup Manager does not recognize my external drive and only display my internal drive. Using System Preferences startup disk leads to this error: The bless tool was unable to set the current boot disk. I've tried resetting NVRAM as well.
Here is some disk information that may help:
$ diskutil list

...

/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk2
   1:               Windows_NTFS BOOTCAMP                353.1 GB   disk2s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS VECTOTECHS              671.1 GB   disk2s2

$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk2
Disk: /dev/disk2    geometry: 124519/255/63 [2000409264 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
 #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*1: 07 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         2 -  689689262] HPFS/QNX/AUX
 2: AF 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 689690624 - 1310715904] HFS+
 3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
 4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused

My guess is that I need an EFI partition for the newer mac to recognize my drive. Would this entail restarting the entire installation process? Any information would be greatly appreciated :)

Your guess is correct. The 2017 model Macs can only EFI boot Windows. Since the first partition on the external drive starts at sector 2, the drive does not have the space to convert from a MBR partition table scheme to a GUID partition table (GPT) scheme. This means you would need to restart the installation process.
When installing Windows 10, I would recommend you do not use VirtualBox. This recommendation is based on the fact that the Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft and the Windows Support Software from Apple contains all the software required to install Windows 10 to your external drive. Therefore, there is no need to use a third party product such as VirtualBox.

The use of a virtual machine to install Windows dates to when Mac owners removed the optical drive so another HDD or SSD drive could installed in their Mac. After the optical drive was removed, often an owner would discover the Windows 10 installer could not be booted from a flash drive. This led to the use of a virtual machine as the only way to install Windows other than change the hardware configuration.

Since you model Mac can EFI boot from either an internal or external drive, you do not need to use a virtual machine. However, if you wish, a virtual machine can also be used. Below are some references to previously posted methods for installing Windows 10 on an external drive.
Drivers not working on Windows 10 installed (CLI process) on external SSD running on Macbook
Is it possible to use Boot Camp with Windows 10 from an external HDD?
How can I copy the drivers provided by Apple when installing Bootcamp on an external drive?


Why aren't my iPhone 4 keychains being saved? I accidentally deleted my "var/keychains" folder in my jailbroken iPhone 4 thinking that it would solve a problem to a tweak that wasn't work, and now my iPhone is not recognizing the passwords I enter into the phone. It keep asking me to enter my voicemail password, email passwords..etc. I can't even access youtube. I also can't sync my iPhone 4 to my iTunes because there aren't any valid files in the Keychains folder. I have recreated the folder, but I did not back up any of the files in it. I was suspecting that the iPhone would recreate those files once I deleted them, but I was wrong. Can anyone help me out here? I can't restore my iPhone because I haven't backed up any of my important data. I can still use the iPhone, but these inquiries are irritating me hugely.

You are probably in pretty bad shape here, the system keychains are generally created as part of the iPhone's activation process (they include things like the APNS certificate, which is negotiated with Apple during activation). Even if you do manage to create a new keychain, all the certs on it will be different, which means that anything that has exchanged keys with your iPhone (like push notifications, encrypted backups, etc) won't work.

You might be able to create an empty keychain by using the security commandline tool. I am not sure if that is actually installed on the iPhone by default. You might also be able to create an empty toolchain on a Mac and copy it over, but I am not sure if the iPhone keychain is format compatible with the Mac OS X one.

I think it is important to remind people, if you don't know exactly what you are doing then mucking with system files can be very dangerous, and you should always make sure you copy the original files so you can revert it.


Where to source replacement internal fans? (For a mid-2011 iMac) I'm looking to replace one of the internal fans in my iMac (mid-2011, 21.5" version) - is there anywhere these can be sourced?.

I can't seem to find it online, and only see the part mentioned in passing in some of the iFixit disassembly instructions.

The reason for the replacement is that the fan is noisy, and I wasn't able to remedy it after clearing out the dust with plenty of compressed air.

This is the fan I'm looking to replace:

Apple lists service and parts at https://locate.apple.com so you might call and Apple authorized service provider and see if they can get you the part without actually performing the repair.  Craigslist also usually is a good place to buy machines for scrap. They're all sorts of liquid damage and otherwise malfunctioning computers were the chance of obtaining a viable blower are high.  Like anything, you pay for quality inconvenience so shopping for used parts is going to be more of a hassle than paying top dollar to someone who stocks obscure custom oem parts.

P.S.  Unless Apple lists a pecific part as a do it yourself repair part, you likely won't get them to sell you the part in question.


How to serve the personal website from different folder? So far, I read on MacRumors of:

  System-wide site

  Files at /Library/WebServer/Documents will, by default, be shared as the root Web site when Web sharing is turned on. These files can be accessed at http://localhost/ or http://<yourIPaddress>.

  User-specific sites

  Files at ~/Sites, or in your home folder's Sites folder, are considered your user-specific site files. Each user by default has one of these folders. Each user's site can be accessed at http://<yourIPaddress>/~(shortusername).

It's all depicted when activating Web Sharing:

But my static files are in a different folder, so I would like to serve them from ~/Projects/js-spa instead of from ~/Sites, but reading about configuring Apache, I can't find /etc/httpd/httpd.conf on Lion.

How can I configure where do I want to serve the personal website from?

If you're up for it, httpd.conf should be in /etc/apache2/ on Lion/ML. Some mac-centred help is at this blog.

Have a look at "How to turn Mac OS X Lion into a web server?" for instructions on the Web Sharing pane, and doing similar things in Terminal under Mountain Lion.


spctl: command not found I recently upgraded to MacOS Catalina, on a 13-in, 2019 MacBook Pro.

I am installing some software, and the OS was complaining that it is not from a verified provider, so I decided to bypass it using:

sudo spctl --master-disable

However, I only got:

-bash: spctl: command not found

Here is my ~/.bash_profile

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:
export PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$HOME/.local/bin/
export PATH=$PATH:/bin:/usr/bin
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin/
export PATH=/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:$PATH

Any ideas how to fix it? spctl is a default function, so I guess I deleted something.

$ type spctl
spctl is /usr/sbin/spctl

So make sure to add /usr/sbin (and /sbin) to your PATH.

Usually this is done automatically in /etc/profile which takes all the paths listed in /etc/paths. As has been pointed out in the comments, you override this by setting the PATH to LD_LIBRARY_PATH in line 2 of your .bash_profile. If you fix this, you won't need line 3 (nor probably line 4) any longer.


Where does OS X store unsaved TextEdit documents? Where does Mac OS X store TextEdit's unsaved documents?

I want to programmatically:

increase/decrease that size
flush the cache
provide configuration option to control the frequency of auto saving/caching

For Lion: It is in ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.TextEdit/Data/Library/Autosave\ Information/, e.g. Unsaved TextEdit Document.rtf.

Note that ~/Library is not visible by default in Finder in Lion, but you can access it by pasting the path in Finder (without the backslash in "Autosave Information"; the formatting above is for cd-ing in Terminal.app), or there is an option to enable the visibility (chflags nohidden ~/Library)

For Snow Leopard (credit goes to @binarybob, his comment is below) it is in ~/Library/Autosave Information also named Unsaved TextEdit Document.rtf


iCloud signed into wrong user on iMac This question may have already been asked... I made an attempt to find it and was unable.

Yesterday, I ran the most recent HighSierra update on my Late 2009 iMac. This computer has three separate user accounts, I am the only one who has an AppleID and I am also the admin. My mother was the one who initiated the update; from her user account on said computer.

When the updates were finished, she was the first to try and use the computer, being that she does not have an AppleID or admin privileges, I came over and did the seemingly usual sign-in process. However, I was unwittingly signing my iCloud and all that goes with it into her user.

I do not want all those things signed into her user, because she now has access to my iMessages, my emails and other things. As a temporary fix, I went into her Mail app and edited my iCloud mail setting so that that would not be coming into her inbox, I also went into System Preferences and turned off most of the iCloud services (contact syncing, notes etc).

However, the above was just a temporary fix, how do I get this reset so that my iCloud is only signed into my user and my mother does not have access to my emails and such?

Just sign out of iCloud and your Apple ID.

Go to the System Preferences>iCloud>Sign Out
Go to the App Store>Store>Sign Out
Go iTunes>Account>Sign Out

That should log you of everything associating your Apple ID with that user.

For more Info:

Signing out of iCloud: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208242

Signing out of iTunes: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH19633?locale=en_US

Signing out of App Store: How do you log out of the Mac App Store?


Installing Mavericks instead of Yosemite I am trying to install Mavericks (I have my reasons not to install Yosemite yet) on my MacBook with Lion. Obviously the possibility to upgrade to Mavericks from the App Store is now gone so one must install via installation dvd. I have downloaded one, mounted it, but when I try to start the installation, it fails with:

  To download and restore OS X, your computer eligibility will be verified with Apple.

When I press Continue:

  Could not find installation information for this machine.

There is no one universal installation DVD for OS X. Each DVD has files specific to that Mac model. For example, you cannot use DVD from "early 2011" Mac for "late 2011" Mac. That OS X is called "Maverics" but each Mavericks build can start only Macs that were made before that build was released.

I found this accidentally while trying to restore my wife's Macbook with my own DVD (miner is older) and could not. On the other hand, her newer DVD worked with my Mac. So I made a research and found that not all OS X DVDs are equal.

Search for another DVD.


Keyboard for IPA, open back rounded vowel "ɒ" I need to write/modify a keynote using many characters from the international phonetic alphabet (IPA). Currently, I am doing this on an iPad within Keynote.

I started by copying and pasting the characters, since many of them don't appear while keeping press a key like for example the "Open back rounded vowel a" ɒ.

Is there any keyboard that could be used in order to allow entering these characters by just keeping pressed key a?

Give a try to IPA phonetic keyboards, it is not free, but definitely worth it

Then add it to your keyboards:


Why can I no longer open the Security & Privacy pane of System Preferences? Problem
Since April 2012, one user of my MacBook Pro can no longer load the Security & Privacy pane.
When I click the icon, a sheet drops down:

Translated from Chinese to English:

Error
Cannot load System Preferences pane "Security & Privacy".

This is chaotic for me. Please: what has happened, and how can I fix it?
I also posted to Apple Support Communities:

Security & Privacy System Preferences pane cannot open!

Environment
Lion, Mac OS X 10.7 -> 10.7.1 -> 10.7.2 -> 10.7.3 (Build 11D50b).
I setup two users:

zoomq — my own account
wan — my wife's  account, not often used by her
zh-CN (PRC Chinese) (Mainland China, simplified characters) preferred for both users
both are administrators
install/uninstall software is all standard steps.

Troubleshooting
User zoomq can not load the pane.
Switch users, wan can open the pane without problem.
All other preference panes open and work fine.
When the problem occurs, nothing is logged. I have tried tail -f and all kinds of /var/log .log files.
I have not touched many system files.
I try remove
/Users/zoomq/Library/Preferences/com.apple.se*
com.apple.security.plist
com.apple.security.revocation.plist
com.apple.security.revocation.plist.lockfile

and rebooted, nothing changed.
$ ls /Library/Preferences/com.apple.se*
com.apple.security.appsandbox.plist
com.apple.security.plist
com.apple.security.systemidentities.plist
com.apple.servermgrd.plist

For wan, ~/Library/Preferences/
com.apple.security.* files are not present.

Try applying a combo update

You might try:

download the most recent MacOSXUpdCombo10.7.3.dmg
log in as zoomq
prefer British English or British
install the combination update
restart the computer, you should find 11D50d or greater
run Software Update until all other updates are installed
prefer Chinese (simplified)
quit System Preferences
reopen System Preferences, retry the preference pane.

Background

At OS X Lion Update 10.7.3 (Client Combo) there is no hint that Apple published different downloads with identical names. Differences between 11D50b, 11D50c and 11D50d are not published by Apple. This situation surrounding 10.7.3 is most unusual.

Generally, without focus on 10.7.3: in some problem situations, people find that installation or re-installation using a combo has a positive effect.

In this case: the b in your current installation, 11D50b, probably indicates that a combo (combination) update has been applied once already — maybe through the Software Update routines that are integral to OS X. Reapplying the same update, or a more recent build of the same update, should do no harm.

There may be more technical ways of investigating causes of your problem. However: because the symptoms are unusual, I am inclined to suggest a combo update before anything else.


Shortcut to copy text to clipboard and then search it on safari? is there a shortcut for this:
I'm on Safari and see a term I'd like to google. Maybe an obscure term or something I want more information of (gadget, e.g.)
Now what I do is:

I copy the text
open a new tab
paste the text
and press enter.

Is there a shortcut? Like copy+search key combination?

Thanks!

Using the built in 'Search With Google' service for Safari you can assign it a shortcut key combo.

I had to make sure that the normal service did not have a shortcut. Giving it one here does not work on my 10.10.2 os x

Now add a new Application shortcut for Safari: Using Search With Google  as the Menu title.

You then may have to relaunch Safari for it to pick it up and you can use it.

But now all you need to do is select some text in Safari and use the shortcut.


You cannot remove the first volume on the disk - Mac How can I remove "First Volume"(Macintosh HD) on the disk. Minus sign is grayed out.
Unable to remove it via recovery either.
Even if I erase the volume, I can't use that space for macOS10.12.1... volume.

You can't work on the volume you are booted from.  The recovery mode is a minimalist partition at the start of the volume.

Easiest way is to create a bootable USB stick, boot from that.

A second way is to install onto a external hard drive, boot from that, then work on your main disk.


Suggested hardware requirements for Xcode 7 I'm having a little trouble finding any decent information on the minimum requirements in terms of hardware for the latest Xcode. I'm soon going to be starting iOS development, but I want to see whether I ought to get a new Mac or not. I currently have:

MacBook Air (13-inch, Late 2010)
2.13 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM
Running OS X Yosemite

I have read that this MacBook will support El Capitan, which the newest Xcode will require, but I've no idea if it will run it well. In your guys experience, would it run the latest Xcode alright, or is it a bit of a memory hog? It will be something I want to last at least a few more years, so wondering whether I'll need to make that investment now or will it hold off? I appreciate the 13-inch size is going to be rather small, and I'll be hooking it up to an external monitor, so this is purely down to the capabilities of the system. I have a feeling it will work, but was hoping for someone's experience in the matter to suggest whether (for a newbie iOS develop) it would be really scraping the barrel in performance or if it should suffice. Sorry for the amount of ambiguity and personal preference this question might include!

This question is primarily opinion-based, but in my experience, your MacBook Air should be good enough for you to use to begin iOS programming. I currently use a 15-inch Mid-2009 MacBook Pro (2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB RAM, 256 GB Intel 530 Series SSD) for my iOS app development and it's alright. Would I like a newer MacBook? Of course. But, it's not like I'm making a complex 3D-platformer using Metal or something, I'm just developing a simple 2D game. Apple does a good job of supporting older hardware, so it may be a few years before I get a new Mac. In short, yes, you should be able to use your MacBook Air for learning how to do iOS app development, just don't expect to have an easy time developing complex 3D games on it. The fact that this machine is lean on RAM is compensated for by it having an SSD. This will greatly help with the memory intensity of running a dev env including a simulator.


Using family sharing, can a child account do in-app purchases without approval? I recently added my son to our "iTunes family"; I have set his Apple ID up as a child account and have checked the "Ask to Buy: require approval from parent for all purchases ..." checkbox.

Yet today I received an app store invoice for an in-app purchase my son made in one of the games he plays. Do in-app purchases not fall under the "require approval from parent" rule?

(I know that I can prevent in-app purchases by configuring "Restrictions" on his iPad, but that is not the point)

In app purchases do fall under the same rule, however if your Apple ID is signed into, say a family computer, he could approve it himself on that device.


Applescript is inexplicably failing in Big Sur EDIT: I've made a much simpler script that exhibits the same problem. The previous script is moved below.
I've been using TextExpander to run this script and it recently started failing after updating to Big Sur. Thinking it was related to TextExpander, I created a similar shortcut to run it in BetterTouchTool but am having the same issue. It's not throwing a visible error, it just plays the error tone when it finishes and doesn't output anything. What's odd is that when I run it from a script editor, it performs just fine. It's only when its being called from another process that it fails.
The basic idea of the script is to take raw number input in a dialog box and output formatted time code in the frontmost app. For example, entering "207" outputs "01:00:02:07"
I've scoured the code and can't find what would possibly be causing the error since it's all very basic text manipulation. Any thoughts would be greatly helpful.
(The "System Events" block is to keep from bringing TextExpander to the front when the "Display Dialog" pops up.)
tell application "System Events"
 set frontProcessName to name of first process whose frontmost is true

 set test_text to text returned of (display dialog "Text?" default answer "")

tell application frontProcessName to activate
 end tell

 return "test_text"

Here's the original script:
tell application "System Events"
--Set process that called text expander aside so it can be returned to the front
set frontProcessName to name of item 1 of (processes whose frontmost is true)

-- Get the raw numbers from the user
set raw_timecode to text returned of (display dialog "Timecode" default answer "")

-- Set the default variables
set user_timecode to "" as string
set rt_length to the length of raw_timecode

--Check to see if the TC field is blank
if raw_timecode = "" then
    set raw_timecode to "01000000"
end if

--Parse the user supplied numbers and replace any "." with "00"
repeat with n from 1 to rt_length
    if character n of raw_timecode = "." then
        set user_timecode to user_timecode & "00" as text
    else
        set user_timecode to user_timecode & character n of raw_timecode as text
    end if

end repeat

--Set to 00:00:00:00 if only digit is 0
if user_timecode = "0" then
    set base_timecode to "00000000"
else
    set base_timecode to "01000000"
end if

set x to the length of user_timecode

-- Trim extra digits off base timecode
if x = 8 and user_timecode ≠ "0" then
    set raw_timecode to user_timecode as string
else
    repeat while (length of base_timecode) + (length of user_timecode) > 8
        try
            set base_timecode to characters 1 thru -(x + 1) of base_timecode as string
            set raw_timecode to base_timecode & user_timecode as string
        on error
            display dialog "Invalid timecode"
            error number -128
        end try
    end repeat
end if
set new_timecode to characters 1 thru 2 of raw_timecode & ":" & characters 3 thru 4 of raw_timecode & ":" & characters 5 thru 6 of raw_timecode & ":" & characters 7 thru 8 of raw_timecode as text

end tell

-- Return the previous app that called text expander to the front
tell application frontProcessName to activate
delay 0.5

return new_timecode

I don’t have TextExpander or BetterTouchTool so I could not test exactly how you needed it to be tested.  However, I made a few small tweaks to your code and I saved the script to the Script Menu Bar and ran it from there several times while working in several different applications. I got no errors on my end.
If your only reason for using ”System Events” is to make sure the application you were working in at that moment, when running your code, remains front most after your dialog window disappears… then all you need to do is insert an activate command before your display dialog command.  This will bring the dialog window to the front then when it gets dismissed, the current application you were working in remains front most.  If so, using ”System Events” is not necessary at all.
-- Get the raw numbers from the user
activate
set raw_timecode to text returned of ¬
    (display dialog "Timecode" default answer "")

-- Set the default variables
set user_timecode to "" as string
set rt_length to the length of raw_timecode

--Check to see if the TC field is blank
if raw_timecode = "" then set raw_timecode to "01000000"

--Parse the user supplied numbers and replace any "." with "00"
repeat with n from 1 to rt_length
    if character n of raw_timecode = "." then
        set user_timecode to user_timecode & "00" as text
    else
        set user_timecode to user_timecode & character n of raw_timecode as text
    end if
end repeat

--Set to 00:00:00:00 if only digit is 0
if user_timecode = "0" then
    set base_timecode to "00000000"
else
    set base_timecode to "01000000"
end if

set x to the length of user_timecode

-- Trim extra digits off base timecode
if x = 8 and user_timecode ≠ "0" then
    set raw_timecode to user_timecode as string
else
    repeat while (length of base_timecode) + (length of user_timecode) > 8
        try
            set base_timecode to characters 1 thru -(x + 1) of base_timecode as string
            set raw_timecode to base_timecode & user_timecode as string
        on error
            display dialog "Invalid timecode"
            error number -128
        end try
    end repeat
end if
set new_timecode to characters 1 thru 2 of raw_timecode & ":" & ¬
    characters 3 thru 4 of raw_timecode & ":" & characters 5 thru 6 of ¬
    raw_timecode & ":" & characters 7 thru 8 of raw_timecode as text

--set the clipboard to new_timecode
activate
display dialog new_timecode buttons {"OK"} giving up after 6
return new_timecode


Skype continutes to crash with SIGSEGV error (OS X 10.9.5) (Skype 7.2.412) I have been waiting for a new version of Skype to come out but I am getting impatient. Skype one day just stopped launching. It will launch with these two windows and then crash with a segmentation error.

I have a guess that some software must of updated and did something to a system plugin or library that is causing C++ to have a fit but I can't find any log to prove it.
I have done a full uninstall of Skype including any files found in system or library directories but when I reinstall it some hidden cache, properties, or configuration file allows Skype to remember it crashed which leads me to believe that it is also possible that that hidden file is corrupted. These are the files I deleted:

/Applications/Skype.app
/Users/[USER]/Library/Application Support/Skype
/Users/[USER]/Library/Application Support/CrashReporter/Skype_[CRASH ID].plist (All Crash Report Files)
/Users/[USER]/Library/Address Book Plug-Ins/SkypeABDialer.bundle

This is software I installed with Homebrew:

bash        ffmpeg      lame        xctool
berkeley-db grails      readline    xvid
faac        groovy      x264

I remember installing Open Broadcast Software around the time the problem arose.

And finally, the latest crash report

This not a answer to your actual problem, but a guide how to completely remove Skype.

Following  are the files and Folders to remove:

Since you mention it, the Open broadcast install, it could be interfering with Skype, so try removing it to see if it fixes that problem.


Is there any way to stop the auto-reloading tabs in Safari 5.1 In Safari 5.1 older tabs will auto-reload after being flushed. This has to be the wonkiest, most unproductive "features". I can't imagine this being done for memory usage reasons as I have plenty to spare.

Is there any way to stop this?

I believe (for clarification) that you are referring to the behaviour whereby a page currently open in a tab will be "flushed" from memory, such that the tab and it's title remain but when you switch back to it will have to load the page again in order to show it to you.

This is new to Safari 5.1, and mirrors the similar actions that happen in iOS devices with mobile safari.

Unfortunately there is no way to stop this short of reverting to a previous version of Safari, or using a different browser.  You may have plenty of memory, but with Lion Apple seem to have gone down the road of trying to make things as efficient as possible.  To use a car analogy, just because you have loads of fuel in the tank, doesn't mean they can't change the engine mappings when you are idling at stoplights to save even more.

That's not to say that it achieves its aims all the times, as the page reloading may be more of an issue to you than the internal efficiency of the OS, but it's how they are doing it right now, and it's similar in other areas, such as programs that can be automatically closed if they are considered to be inactive.  Some of it is bringing across some of the "anti bloat" methods over from iOS, some of it is change for changes sake.

So, in summary, you can see why they might want to do this, but it doesn't quite work as seemlessly as it needs to for people not to care, but there's nothing you can do about it without you change your choice of browser.


Recommendations for iPhone Bluetooth Headsets for Listening to Music? I have a Motorola ROKR S9-HD headset and the Previous and Next buttons don't work with my iPhone 4.

I'm thinking about buying a different headset to replace it.  What options exist and which are the best?  Does the previous and next function work on any of them, or is this an iPhone problem?

I'm pretty happy with the Nokia BH-214 for my iPhone 3G. It's relatively cheap, and it turns any headset into a bluetooth headset.


How to Repeatedly capture fixed screen region to sequence of images I need to repeatedly capture a fixed region from each of a sequence of web pages to a series of images that I can then compile to a PDF. Ideally I could just navigate from page to page and press a hot key to capture the area and save the image to an automatically incremented filename each time.

What I want to stop doing is manually defining the region each time (it's irritating and when I drag to create the region it's even more irritating to try to get the exact pixel dimensions correct), which seems to be the only option with Skitch and others I have tried.

What software will allow me to do this most efficiently?

You can use screencapture commandline utility. Create an Automator Service (takes no input) which will do a shell command and assign keyboard shortcut to it.

The shell script will look like this:

/usr/sbin/screencapture -R0,0,1000,400 /path/to/save/FileName$(date +"%m_%d_%Y_%H_%M_%S_%s").png

screencapture has -R modifier not listed in man but it's listed in help as:

-R<x,y,w,h> capture screen rect

The values I used above captured this image which also shows how the rect coordinates worked.

Change x,y,w,h values for those You need.

The date +"%m_%d_%Y_%H_%M_%S_%s" adds a timestamp to the file name

You can actually use Screencapture to find the rect you want by using cmd +shift+4  which will give you some cross hairs with the numbers on for click drag release capture rect.

In Terminal.app  typing: /usr/sbin/screencapture -h  will give you the help documentation

usage: screencapture [-icMPmwsWxSCUtoa] [files]
  -c         force screen capture to go to the clipboard
  -C         capture the cursor as well as the screen. only in non-interactive modes
  -d         display errors to the user graphically
  -i         capture screen interactively, by selection or window
               control key - causes screen shot to go to clipboard
               space key   - toggle between mouse selection and
                             window selection modes
               escape key  - cancels interactive screen shot
  -m         only capture the main monitor, undefined if -i is set
  -M         screen capture output will go to a new Mail message
  -o         in window capture mode, do not capture the shadow of the window
  -P         screen capture output will open in Preview
  -s         only allow mouse selection mode
  -S         in window capture mode, capture the screen not the window
  -t<format> image format to create, default is png (other options include pdf, jpg, tiff and other formats)
  -T<seconds> Take the picture after a delay of <seconds>, default is 5
  -w         only allow window selection mode
  -W         start interaction in window selection mode
  -x         do not play sounds
  -a         do not include windows attached to selected windows
  -r         do not add dpi meta data to image
  -l<windowid> capture this windowsid
  -R<x,y,w,h> capture screen rect
  files   where to save the screen capture, 1 file per screen


Safari will not let me delete saved passwords I'm leaving my current company and want to clear saved passwords from Safari. I go to Preferences -> Passwords, select all of my accounts, and click Remove All. Doesn't work. I try to do them one at a time with Remove. Doesn't work. What am I doing wrong?

Using Safari 6.0 (7536.25) on Lion 10.7.4.

I don't typically use Safari's password storage, but I just tested it, and I got the same results (also on 10.7.4).

What you can do as a workaround is open up Keychain Access, and in the search box, tip in "Web form password". That should show you all the passwords Safari has stored, and you can delete them there. Re-open Safari Preferences to double-check you got them all, but that should do the trick.


Is this possible to print a Pages document on Windows? I know it's a bit weird, but I received a Pages document. I'm currently on a Windows machine. Can I have some kind of preview/quicklook of the document or print it?

Try this...

Save the file locally on your windows computer.
Right click on the file and select rename.
Remove .pages extension and enter .zip as the extension and press enter.
Open the zip file and it should allow you open the file and its contents.


Migrating Parallels to a new Machine Hi I am migrating my Parallels install and VMs to a new machine. Is there an easy way to do this without having to reinstall all my software on my VM?

Yes there is! The Unofficial Apple Weblog has dedicated a whole topic about moving your copies of Parallels.
Basically it's just a matter of copying your Parallels folder to the new Mac. The only thing you need to do, besides moving the folder, is reinstalling the Parallels Tools.


iPhone + Messages Beta: prevent iPhone from vibrating for every message? I'm using the Messages Beta on Lion to receive iMessages on my MacBook Pro. I also have my iPhone set up with my iMessage account.

When I receive a message, it's delivered on both devices. If I read the message on my computer, it disappears from the lock screen of my iPhone, so it doesn't fill up during a conversation.

But, this doesn't prevent my iPhone from vibrating every time I receive a message — and if I'm having an extended rapid-fire iMessage conversation with someone using my computer, this can get annoying. Is there any way to prevent this from happening?

I'm afraid that's not possible in the current iOS.

But there are a few work-arounds:

You can define a specific vibrating tone for that specific contact person which will do almost nothing (unlike the default long and hard vibrating)
or you can disable vibrating when you enter Silent Mode and when you start having this rapid-fire conversation, just switch your iPhone to silent mode and no vibrating will happen!


iMac 12,2 - Likely hardware problem: How to properly diagnose? The problem:

All applications that are launched on the iMac take a very long time to start. E.g. on a clean startup Word takes about 40 seconds to fully start, Adobe Reader about double. The same problem also happens when starting things like the settings menu.

Starting multiple applications simultaneously often leads to a complete stall.

Once an application is (or multiple applications are) running there isn't really a noticeable lack of performance anymore.

Steps taken so far:

Fully updated macOS via AppStore as well as all relevant 3rd party software. Also cleared ~/Library/Caches and many cache related folders of individual applications.
Ran a check of the HD via Disk Utility, it did not find anything wrong.
Ran ps aux in Terminal to see if any application or process is slowing things down. Yet I did not find any particular program, the highest CPU and MEM usage mostly coming from Terminal itself and not surpassing 5%.
Ran a full check of the system integrity via OnyX (Maintenance Tab - first checkbox). It did not report any problem.
Ran EtreCheck 3 times to see if any clear problem would present itself. No major issues where found. Three minor issues appeared:
Upgradeable RAM - (the iMac runs on 4GB, 1333Mhz)
Unsigned files - Which resolved to launch agents of Adobe, Skype, etc.
Low performance – EtreCheck report took over 5 minutes to run. This is unusual. - NB: Problem only appeared once in three runs of EtreCheck.

The full EtreCheck report can be found here.
Ran Apple Hardware Test (by pressing D during startup). It showed an error: 4SNS/1/40000000:TH00-9.000 which led to this possible cause / answer. Basically it boils down to problems with newly installed HD's that do not have a circuitry for fan sensors integrated into the drives.

Current gut-feeling:

The low-ram mentioned by EtreCheck might be part of the problem, but I would find it strange if a 4GB RAM would cause such a slow iMac, especially when ps aux isn't reporting any real activity most of the time. Also, I would not understand why the problem occurs mostly during the launch of applications while not slowing them down once they are up and running.

The problem found by Apple Hardware Test resolves to a problem with the temperature-regulation of off-the-shelf HD's. The iMac did indeed receive a new HD at one point in its life, it was installed by a professional computer store (though not Apple). So my gut feeling is that maybe this is what is slowing it down. This answer would strengthen that believe, yet it doesn't really explain why it would cause the problems that I am experiencing.

Questions left unanswered:

Apple Hardware Test stops after it detects the error mentioned above; is there anyway I can force it to continue its test to see if there might be anymore errors?
Could a fully functioning hard-disk cause the problems as described simply by badly communicating fan-sensors?
What else could I do personally to further diagnose the exact problem?

Although your times seem too long, this could be due to your HDD. You said it was replaced, any idea on the specs?  A slow drive can be indicated by the problem you describe. Loading an app may be very slow since it is being read off the HDD. Once loaded the speed will be determined by your RAM unless you output a lot of data to disk.


iTunes remembers my friend's iPhone from when he plugged it in to recharge Every time my friend's iPhone is on the same WiFi network, iTunes asks me if I want to update his phone's OS and then later asks if I want to update his carrier profile or something like that. How can I keep this from happening?

I'm on Mavericks, and this previous question doesn't help and this Mavericks specific question seems to be asking for something different.

His device does not appear in iTunes > Preferences > Devices, but does show up in File > Devices (even when he isn't on the same WiFi network)

New Information:
It seems like his device appearing in File > Devices was just because that menu keeps the last device connected around. Now that my phone has connected it is the only device in that menu.

Make sure 'Sync with this device over WIFI' in the summary tab is not selected.


Cannot open Parental Controls preference pane in Yosemite I cannot open the Parental Controls preference pane in OS X Yosemite. It just gives me: "Preferences Error. Could not load preference pane."

Here are the console logs I got:

System Preferences[609]: an error occurred while attempting to connect to listener 'com.apple.view-bridge': Connection invalid
System Preferences[609]: *** Assertion failure in +[NSXPCSharedListener connectionForListenerNamed:fromServiceNamed:], /SourceCache/ViewBridge/ViewBridge-99/NSXPCSharedListener.m:394
System Preferences[609]: ### com.apple.preferences.parentalcontrols instantiatePrefPaneObject exception:NSXPCSharedListener unable to create endpoint for listener named com.apple.view-bridge

Tetsujin said:

  I'd run Disk Utility, repair perms, check disk, then if no joy, run the latest combo updater from support.apple.com/kb/DL1820


Is there anyway to show stopwatch on iOS Lockscreen? I was wondering is there anyway (app or tweak, jailbreak or normal) to show the currently running stopwatch on the lock screen of iOS device?
just like an album art and music controls running background.

I've needed this feature recently when was on exam duty as an invigilator because students never stop asking for how much time remaining. Sadly, I had to get my iPhone out of my pocket and enter the pin to answer that.

(It might have been a bit arrogant to show off the awesome 5S.)

There's an app called TimerBar available in Cydia.
It will display a timer in your statusbar at the top.

Source: http://iphonemonsta.com/timerbar-ios-ipad-iphone-stopwatch-cydia-tweak


Cannot change directory in Terminal if target has spaces in it I plugged my external HD, then in a Terminal, I type

ls /Volumes/TOSHIBA\ EXT

This lists files and folders as expected, but then entering:

cd /Volumes/TOSHIBA\ EXT

throws the following message

-bash: cd: /Volumes/TOSHIBA\: No such file or directory

I can even reproduce this behavior with my own folders.

What is going on here?
How do I change to a directory when it has spaces?

this is my environment context

uname -vsr
Darwin 17.5.0 Darwin Kernel Version 17.5.0: Mon Mar 5 22:24:32 PST 2018; root:xnu-4570.51.1~1/RELEASE_X86_64

Spaces in file names can be a hassle in the shell. Your best solution would be to both wrap the name in " characters and use the shell's built in completion to get the right name.

Type cd "/Volumes/TOSH then type a tab and the shell will complete the name with any spaces and non-standard characters included. If the tab completes the entire path then the shell will even insert a "/ at the end so you are ready to then hit return.

Note that standard bash completion will work on file paths and names for most shell commands, not just cd.


How to uninstall Numbers and Keynote on Mavericks? I installed Pages version 5 on Mavericks via the "App Store". But the problem is Keynote and Numbers are installed also.

I'm not interested in Keynote and definitely not in Numbers. I want to uninstall them. On Google, some people say use AppCleaner and others say don't use it because it will do harm.

So how to uninstall Numbers and Keynote (the right way)?

I recommend you just delete Numbers and Keynote using Finder.

The Mac App Store will detect the missing apps and allow you to reinstall them in the future if you ever need them.

Alternatively, you can use AppCleaner to delete them. This will remove all associated preference/cache files. This is usually superfluous unless you have an actual need to delete the preferences. They're not doing any harm leaving them there.


Apple Script for copying path and name and pasting it in Spotlight Comment box Mac OS X 10.9.5 (and 10.11.4) I have a bunch of files to rename from someone else that sit inside folders and subfolders, and would like to copy the path and file name to the Spotlight comment of each file before I do anything with them.

The script in answer to this question for adding the file name to the Spotlight comments works great, but I don't have the skills to modify it to include the path. I have tried replacing a few items with path or POSIX path in a meaningful way, but can't get it to work, nor do I find the commands elsewhere. Any help is appreciated.

Building upon jackjr300's answer, you can add the path to the comment with this modified script:

set input to choose file with prompt "Select files (to put the file name into the Spotlight Comment)" with multiple selections allowed
tell application "Finder"
    repeat with i in input
        tell item i to try
            set tName to (get name)
            set tPath to POSIX path of i -- get the path of the file
            set comment to tName & " - " & tPath -- this set the comment to the name of the file, and delete the existing comment
            set name to "Done_" & tName
        end try
    end repeat
end tell

The changes to the original script are these two lines:

set tPath to POSIX path of i -- get the path of the file
set comment to tName & " - " & tPath -- this set the comment to the name of the file, and delete the existing comment

The first line sets tPath to a string containing the path to i. In this case i is the file being examined.

The second line appends the path to the file's comment using the segment: & " - " & tPath. The section between the two double-quotes can be changed to something other than a hyphen.


Why is domain name resolution slow in Sierra I have a Linux web server running in VirtualBox and after upgrading to Sierra I found that my sites on the web server are extremely slow to load.  It takes minutes.  I thought it had to do with something about the VirtualBox guest installation so I set up my sites in a Docker container but I'm seeing the same thing.

On a whim I turned off all networking and suddenly my sites load instantly.  This leads me to believe there's some kind of domain name resolution problem but I'm not sure where to look.

My development domains are in /etc/hosts which looks something like this:

127.0.0.1 firstdomain.dev
127.0.0.1 seconddomain.dev

When I ping firstdomain.dev I get this:

PING firstdomain.dev (127.0.0.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.089 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.109 ms

When I host firstdomain.dev I get this:

firstdomain.dev has address 127.0.53.53
firstdomain.dev mail is handled by 10 your-dns-needs-immediate-attention.dev.

I don't understand why the OS isn't looking at /etc/hosts first and going from there.  What else can I look at or do to resolve this?

Edit: I have tried changing the .dev to .local but I still see the same thing.

I assume you already executed all usually proposed mDSNResponder tasks to reset it, clear caches etc.

.dev is a proper "New gTLDs" since 2014. Probably you are using Google Chrome to access your site(s) which often uses its own DNS query service. The flaky name resolution management in OS X as well as the Google Chrome "service" (which both seem to ignore /etc/hosts entries sometimes and then fail to resolve a real firstdomain.dev in the WAN) suggest to simply use another TLD like .development, .devhome or .devwork.

And/or set up dnsmasq with homebrew and use localhost/127.0.0.1 as only DNS server in your network preferences. Setup proper IP addresses instead of a lot of 127.0.0.1 IP-addresses in the config files.


"Show In-App Purchases" Not Showing In App Store I have an app on the App Store that has In-App Purchases, but on the store there isn't a button that says "In-App Purchases" where a user can see what the IAP are.

Where on mine (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/uidesign-draw-your-concept/id725323019?mt=8) says it Offers IAP but there isn't a button at the bottom that shows what the IAP are.

How do I make it available for users to see what IAP i have in my app.

I was having same problem for my new app - submitted a question to apple support - they replied:

  The In-App Purchases section of your app’s product page will contain
  the top In-App Purchases for the app only after a minimum purchase
  requisite has been reached. If the number of completed In-App
  Purchases doesn’t exceed the minimum threshold, this area will not
  appear.


Apple Mail is trying to use certificate and won't send without I created an account on a website and they installed a certificate on my machine for authentication. I'm not sure how this technically works but the certificate is somehow linked to my GMail address.

Now, when I want to write an e-mail from Apple Mail (from my GMail address), Apple Mail asks me if I want to use this certificate that I mentioned above.

If I say "allow access" it sends my e-mail just fine. However, I don't want to use this certificate to send e-mails but if I deny Apple Mail to use this certificate, nothing happens. It doesn't send the e-mail, it doesn't give me an error message, it doesn't even put it in the "Sent" or "Outbox" folder in the sidebar.

I can see the certificate in my Keychain Access under "My Certificates" if that helps.

Can anybody help me with this?

Thanks a lot!

I just noticed that there is a new toggle button available in Apple Mail when writing a new mail that lets me send the mail without digitally signing it:


How to create MacOS/*nix command explainer text like this using a tool? ┌── ln(1) link, ln -- make links
│   ┌── Create a symbolic link.
│   │                         ┌── the optional path to the intended symlink
│   │                         │   if omitted, symlink is in . named as destination
│   │                         │   can use . or ~ or other relative paths
│   │                   ┌─────┴────────┐
ln -s /path/to/original /path/to/symlink
      └───────┬───────┘
              └── the path to the original file/folder
                  can use . or ~ or other relative paths

Found this useful method to explain Linux Commands, but have no idea how @grg did it.
Manually is very time consuming. Is there a tool to do stuff like this?

Source: How can I create a symbolic link in Terminal?

That's my answer! I did it manually, but used PressAndHold.app (built into macOS) to speed up entering the box drawing characters. The text was abridged from the man page manually.

By customising PressAndHold.app keys, basically editing /System/L*/Inp*/Pr*/*/P*/*/*/R*/ to add box drawing characters, I can type the characters directly into the text field whether here on SE or elsewhere.

Add the following to your language's keyboard file within that folder, such as ‘Keyboard-en.plist’ for an English keyboard layout. Open the plist with a text editor to paste the XML below, or open with Xcode and manually create the dictionary, pasting values as necessary. Replace ‘f’ with the key you wish to use. You can then insert box drawing characters by holding down the key and then selecting a number, or if you have a Touch Bar the keys appear there too with High Sierra.

<!-- f: box drawing characters -->
<key>Roman-Accent-f</key>
<dict>
  <key>Direction</key>
  <string>right</string>
  <key>Keycaps</key>
  <string>─ │ ┌ ┐ └ ┘ ├ ┬ ┤ ┴ ┼</string>
  <key>Strings</key>
  <string>─ │ ┌ ┐ └ ┘ ├ ┬ ┤ ┴ ┼</string>
</dict>


Command and Option keys not working on one keyboard (not hardware) I am using a PC keyboard on my Mac. Today, it stopped recognizing the Command and Option keys.

This likely happened because I experimented with Karabiner and Yosemite Modifier Keys yesterday.

I have tried:

Resetting modifier keys to defaults.
Checking private.xml through Karabiner (blank).
Undoing my settings on Karabiner.
Uninstalling Karabiner entirely.
Restarting OS X.

None of these things have worked. Keyboard Viewer is not registering key presses on Cmd (Windows key) or Option (Alt). Any ideas?

I opened "Keyboard Preferences" and clicked on the Modifier keys. Clicked on "Restore to defaults". And the modified keys started working again. After that I switched the modifier keys back to my preferred set. And things are still working. Feel quite good. It saved me an avoidable reboot.

I am in such a similar issue often. The problem used to get fixed after restart (probably will also work, after logout/login -- did not check). Today it happened again. I tried the defaults method above and it worked.


Is it normal for iPhone to take longer than 8 hours to erase contents and settings? I've been waiting 8 hours now for my iPhone 5C to erase content and settings and still not finished.

How long is it normal to take to reset an iPhone to factory settings?

Try again. This should not take more than a second. Everything on your iPhone is encrypted with a randomly-chosen encryption key, and all that's needed to "erase content and settings" is to discard that key. For security reasons, wiping the phone is designed to be nearly instantaneous so a thief has no time to intervene.

You might have better luck if you turn the phone off and on again before trying again. By "off" I don't mean screen sleep. Hold the power button down for several seconds until a "Swipe to turn off" slider appears.


New SIM card does not support data traffic in old iPhone I have just received a new SIM card I want to use in an iPhone 4S. The phone reports decent 3G connectivity and can make phone calls, but it does not connect to data services. Data services work when using older SIM cards from the same carrier. Also, the new SIM card works when installed in newer phones (testet on an iPhone SE and an iPhone X).

So, out of six possible phone and SIM combinations, the only one not working is the oldest phone with the newest SIM card. All SIM cards are from the same carrier, and the Mobile Data Network settings are as recommended by the carrier, and identical across the phones, except that the oldest phone is a 3G phone, while the newer models support 4G/LTE.

Can the new SIM card be incompatible with older phones? If not, what can the issue be? The carrier support has been unhelpful so far.

I heard back from the carrier. They informed that the subscription for the new SIM card only accepts 4G connections and not older. So these types of subscriptions will work for iPhone 5 and newer, but not iPhone 4S and older.


Cannot change permissions on /System/Library I am running OS X 10.11.8. I am attempting to change some settings in /Library/Filters/. I am logged in as an administrator (verified in System Preferences > Users & Groups). When I go to Finder > Get Info for /System/Library/, I am able to click the unlock icon, and my password is accepted.

However, when I try to change the permission for "everyone," I get the following error:

  The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have the necessary permission.

How can I resolve this?

You'll need to disable System Integrity Protection to make changes to permissions in /System.

  To disable System Integrity Protection, you can do the following:

  Boot into the Recovery HD by restarting whilst holding ⌘R.
  Open Terminal (from the Utilities menu).
  Run the following command in Terminal:

csrutil disable

  Restart.

Disable OS X El Capitan Rootless and permit write actions to System Integrity Protection locations


How do I change the e-mail address that receives Apple Pay notifications? When I submit a transaction using Apple Pay, all of my notification e-mails go to the wrong address (one of mine, but not the correct one).
On iOS, the relevant setting (Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay > Transaction Defaults) already has the correct e-mail address, but it's not used. I've also added the correct details within the Apple Pay payment screen but that isn't used or even remembered for subsequent purchases either.
How do I select a different address for use with Apple Pay?

From the Apple Pay Support page:

Update your billing and contact information
Learn how to update your billing and shipping information for the cards that you use with Apple Pay.
iPhone or iPad

To change your billing information, go to Settings > Wallet & Apple
Pay, tap a card, then tap what you want to update.
To update your email address, phone number, and shipping address, go to Settings >
Wallet & Apple Pay, then choose what you want to update.


Monitor your Wi-Fi connection not found on High Sierra Your Mac can monitor your Wi-Fi connection for intermittent issues, such as dropped connections.

Well I know that and used it before, but can not find it on High Sierra.

The output looked like this

If Wireless Diagnostics finds an issue, it stops monitoring and shows a brief description of the issue.

So where is this wonderful tool on High Sierra.

Just to make it clear..I am not looking for this 160MB WirelessDiagnostics_C02W92Z5J1WL_...tar report. It is loaded with files no normal human can understand.

I believe that it can be found in /System/Library/CoreServices/, but I'm not sure what it will be named in High Sierra, maybe Network Diagnostics.app


Using laptop as third monitor? Best way to set up (without thunderbolt)? I currently  have a 27' iMac that uses a Samsung 16' monitor as a second display using Mini Display Port to VGA. I also have a 2011 Macbook Pro and was wondering if there was a way to set up this up as a third monitor to the iMac. The MDP is already in use, so what would be my options (if there are any) for connecting a laptop as another monitor? Also note that this monitor does not have thunderbolt, so thats out.

Thanks in advance for help.

Take a look at AirDisplay. It supports turning you Mac, Windows, iOS or Android into an external screen.

There are several other apps like this such as Screen Recycler, but AirDisplay is the one I currently use.

Any of these apps will likely work best on a wired ethernet connection.


Mouse cursor jittery when hover state on browsers in OS X Lion I recently upgraded to OS X Lion from Snow Leopard. One bug I've found is that in browsers (Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera), when you hover over any link, the cursor doesn't only change, it jitters around for a second before changing.

Since the bug is annoying but difficult to explain, I tried to make a short clip of it. This is weird: it doesn't show up on video when recorded with various screen recording softwares. How odd.

It's driving me nuts. Does anyone have a fix for this, or have experienced this problem?

I'm using:

MacBook Pro 2010
Trackpad
All web browsers
Hovering over links
Quickly

Since this seems to persist, you might need to perform some more troubleshooting to narrow it down:

Test by creating an entirely new user account on the Mac with the problem and see if the issue is repeatable.
Log when and where the issue happens (assuming it's not a 100% guaranteed item that you can make happen any time you want in 5 seconds of setup).
Install a clean OS onto an external USB drive and see if that setup has the issue.
File a bug or work with Apple to isolate the issue further.

The clue that the screen recording is clear, but the artifact is visual seems like a great thing to capture with a video recording of the screen and a simultaneous camera recording of the image from the screen. The frequency and placement of the issue might be enough for someone else to diagnose a likely culprit.


Rearrange styles in the Microsoft Word Quick Style Gallery Is there any way to re-arrange the order of the styles in Microsoft Word's Quick Style Gallery?

A Workaround

The workaround is to make a separate list somewhere, even on paper (!) or in your head, of what styles you want in the Styles Gallery and then remove everything (or nearly) and reinsert them in your desired order.

HOW TO:

Remove styles until your first choice style is at the front of the list. If necessary, remove all styles and add your first choice to be at the front. Proceed through your list, adding styles into the list in the order you desire.

Since you are identifying your top 6 or 10 styles, reinserting them into the list manually is not an onerous task.

This works if you only use your own defined styles. However, if you use some of the built-in styles, those may get bumped to the front of the list anyway. For instance, you usually only use Title once per document, so it's not really a style you might want in your "Top 5" list, unless you need to be reminded to always give your document a title. But if you add it to the Quick Styles Gallery, it will always be near the front of the list.

If the previous post is true, and it appears to be so, that it is "currently not possible" to change the priority level, that's very sad and another way that shows that Microsoft is not interested in Word being useful for professional writers and designers. (Changing the priority may be possible through editing the XML code, according to one post, but many people could not make that method work for them.)

This is a useful tool and it really should be simpler, if Word is to be a truly professional tool. Making the Style Gallery order drag-n-drop would be the "user friendly" thing to do. But since Word has far more amateur customers than professional, don't hold your breath for it being done "right".


Launch XQuartz app via Automator I'm trying to launch meld (installed via Homebrew) via an app shortcut, ideally ending up in my Applications folder. A recommended way to launch console apps in Mountain Lion seems to be using Automator.

Running /usr/local/bin/meld in a terminal starts XQuartz and meld launches fine. My Automator script looks like:

But when running all I get is the 'Run Shell Script failed' error. XQuartz doesn't launch. If XQuartz is already running meld still doesn't start.

Is there a way to get more useful (stdout/stderr) from Automator actions?
What does the shell do differently do launch XQuartz and apps within it?

Edit: I can get it to work by using open /usr/local/bin/meld in my action, but I then also get a Terminal window (which I don't want).

Aha. Looks like Homebrew wants to run meld via it's own Python, rather than the system one. Terminal sets this up correctly, but obviously Automator doesn't.

Solution: use Run Shell Script in Automator with:

/usr/local/bin/python /usr/local/bin/meld


Why does Yosemite Safari never time out trying to go to *.local? On the version of the Safari web browser that's included with Mac OS Yosemite, trying to go to any web site whose hostname ends in ".local" will cause the browser to sit there forever waiting for a response, never timing out. For example, "http://foobar.local" or "https://baz.qux.local". Same thing happens when running Safari in the iOS Simulator on a Mac (but on a real iOS device, the request properly times out).

I'm just curious - why is this? Is it likely to be a Safari bug, or a networking thing in Yosemite that I could fix by editing some config file?

I'm working on a web site that uses different URLs for media, and when running the site locally (for development) we use .local hostnames for the media sites, which used to work fine as long as /etc/hosts points these hostnames to 127.0.0.1. But now under Yosemite it's causing these requests to hang. Before I update the URLs in our code and tell all our dev to update their hosts file with new hostnames, I wanted to see if there might be a simpler fix.

I suppose it's because looking up a .local hostname is basically a browsing request for Bonjour services; devices & services register themselves through multicast, so since foobar.local points to no IP (unless you create it), Safari probably never reaches the stage of testing a site's reachability.

In your situation I'd rather a) setup a simple DNS server to reroute requests or b) announce your services through dns-sd:

dns-sd -P Webservice _http._tcp local 80 foobar.local 127.0.0.1 path=/webservicename

This should announce a proxy website within your network with name "Webservice" for the hostname foobar.local to be reached at http://127.0.0.1/webservicename


Mac HDD Firmware for non-Mac-HDDs? First of all: I use a MacBook (white) 13.3" 2Ghz (It says it's a MacBook3,1).

There was an 80GB HDD (Hitachi) built in, which just turned out to be a little too...
Well, it's not enough anymore.
So I cloned the drive with Carbon Copy Cloner (can recommend it by the way) to a 250GB FUJITSU MHY2250BH.

Now it has been my understanding that I need a special Mac Firmware for the drive to use certain features, for example the HDD temp display the iStat dashboard widget usually gives me. Google couldn't come up with anything useful so far, so here's what the question actually is about:
Can I get the drive to be "fully functional", e.g. with some Firmware upgrade or something else?

If I am completely wrong with any of my assumptions – pointing that out would be an acceptable answer, too.

EDIT: Just to specify: The HDD itself works, but there are some minor inconveniences left:
The system boots slowlyer and iStatPro can't display the HDD's temp.

You do not need a special OSX firmware to use a different internal disk. Just plug it in and all will work.


Will a ThunderBolt 3 (USB-C?) to ThunderBolt 2 cable allow me to use a MacBook Pro as second monitor? Yesterday I brought a iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017) which has two ThunderBolt 3 (USB-C?) ports. I also have a MacBook Pro Late 2013 which has two ThunderBolt 2 (I think) ports. If I buy a ThunderBolt 3 to 2 cable. Would I be able to use the MacBook as a second monitor?

If you mean Target Display Mode, then no - that was a feature only available to a select few iMac models & now defunct.

See Apple KB - Use your iMac as a display with Target Display Mode for details.
It was essentially available on iMacs between 2009 & 2014.


How to recover from 'An error occurred' in iTunes? It happens every single bloody day.

At the beginning iTunes works fine. I can see my 'Recommendation' and 'Connect' in the 'For you' tab. However from time to time the following error message appears. It can happen multiple times in a day.

How can I recover from it short of restarting itune?  The 'OK' did nothing.

I had the same problem the other day.

I signed out from my account (go to Account -> Sign out...) and then I quit iTunes. I signed in after relaunching and everything seems to be working. It has been working fine for the last two days.


Does OSX have a "plug & play driver" concept? Windows when it detects an unsupported device, it requests a driver from the user. Does OSX have a place when I can find information on unrecognised devices?

For local devices/services you can use the System-Profiler to check all available devices in your computer. Most devices are directly supported through Apple and thus you don't have to install any drivers. For some 3rd party tools like external Audio/Video systems you may have to install the drivers supplied with the tools, but you should be able to discover the devices through the System-Profiler.

For devices and services available through the network Apple has developed a plug and play system called Bonjour. It allows zeroconf of e.g. printers and file-sharing services. There is a 3rd pary tool called Bonjour Browser which is advertised to be able to discover all services/devices available through Bonjour. I never used the software and can't comment on how well it works.


kernel_task is using 90% CPU, what could be the cause? I have a 13" MBP late 2009, 2.53 GHz, 4 GB RAM, and on OS X 10.8.3. As soon as I boot up the fans start going at the highest rpm and like I mentioned the kernel_task is always at around 90% when no apps are being run. I read somewhere that I should try safe boot and see the effect but there is none.
Any ideas as to what is causing it?

Thanks

It might actually be spotlight trying to index your drive.


After latest Safari update, bank websites don't recognize my computer or autofilled name+pwd I'm running 10.13.6 on a late-2014 MBP.   After the latest Safari update (to 12.1), bank websites don't recognize my computer and/or autofilled user name+password.  Facebook says it doesn't recognize my browser, so it asked me to implement the second-half of two-factor authentication; I did this, and can now login to that site.

I don't have this issue logging into lower-security websites, like discussion forums, nor with sites for which I have a persistent login (i.e., those I can use without needing to re-login).

Is this standard behavior following a browser update, such that sites suspect I'm using a different computer or browser?  I don't recall this happening with previous Safari updates (but maybe it did and I simply don't remember).

Try launching Keychain Assistant.

Find the password for the site in the Passwords section.

Just double-check that the password is correct if you enter it manually.

I haven't had Safari/Keychain forget a password, especially a financial password, since I became a Mac convert in 2010, across many machines/devices and OS upgrades.