Automatic DVD to .iso copy after disc insert with two drives I have a lot of DVDs (Movies) that I want to save as an .iso preferably using dd. To speed up the process I have two drives.

I'd like to set up a script (pure bash or bash + AppleScript combination) that runs on insert. macOS allows to configure a script in Settings › CDs & DVDs › On insert…

The process should look like this:

Insert DVD in one of the two drives
Script starts and checks which drive triggered the command (hardest part for me)
Opens a Terminal window and runs the actual script

A rough draft of what my idea is:

#!/bin/bash
diskutil umountDisk /dev/THEDRIVE
echo -n `date "+%Y-%m-%d - %H:%M:%S -> Starting with DISCTITLE"` >> iso.log
dd if=/dev/THEDRIVE | pv -s DRIVESIZE | dd of=/myfolder/DISCTITLE.iso
echo -n `Finished DISCTITLE, took TIME. Ejecting.`
drutil tray eject -drive DRIVENUMBER

Close the Terminal window after ejecting

UnmountDisk for dd, write to log, copy with status using pv, write to log again and eject the disc after finishing.

What I don't know is how I get the part with the two drives right. And set up the script so that it handles it right.

drutil status tells size and device. mount tells the name. But I have, of course, always both drives present.

How could I use e.g. awk or sed to get device/mountpoint, disc title, size and drivenumber (to eject the right one) of the current disc?

I've managed to solve it very easily.

After comparing Mac DVD Ripper Pro, MacX DVD Ripper Pro (don't confuse the two), RipIt and AnyDVD for Windows. I decided to use Mac DVD Ripper Pro.

It has a setting to start automatically after inserting a DVD and ejecting it after being finished.

I run two instances of the app using open -n /Applications/MDRP.app. Since MDRP picks up the first DVD it finds, and the first one won't be available, the second instance will pick up the second DVD drive and vice versa.

Output .iso is not a bitwise copy, since MDRP takes care of the copy protection (at least CSS was no problem) but played well in my tests with VLC and Kodi (on my Media Server).

Only thing I didn't find were log files, but everything else I've been looking for is solved this way.

If you prefer video_ts output over .iso you can do the same thing using RipIt, RipIt also in-officially supports ripping from two drives at the same time.

Note: I haven't yet tried ripping DVDs protected with Sony ArccOS, UOPs, and Disney X-project as mentioned in the comments. CSS protection worked.


My MBP will not startup properly! I have a Macbook Pro 2008 aluminum 15-inch that runs on OSX snow leopard. Whenever I turn on my laptop, it boots up (apple logo and spinning wheel appears), and then goes into a loop of blue screens. I think the problem has something to do with the login process, because I sometimes see mouse and the brightness and sound icons appear, but it always fades away.

I tried doing  fsck (command s), but the same problem's there. Safe mode also doesn't seem to work, unless I do verbose mode, but then again, it loops after the apple logo (grey screen). The recovery mode (cmd r) doesn't work at all. I tried pressing the option key but all i see is one disk, and that one still leads to series of loops. I also tried running the disk utility from my bootable usb but I don't know how to boot it. I tried pressing c and also tried the doing the option key thing. They both don't work, the usb doesn't appear at all. I tried resetting my pRAM, that doesn't help either. HELP! I just know that something is wrong with the disk, but I cant fix it because I can't go to recovery mode.

Blue screen is indicating a user level problem loading your specific settings.

You can overcome this in two ways:

boot in safe mode and log in and make a new admin account - set that new account to auto-log in or disable auto log in.
boot in single user mode, run fsck as directed, then mount the filesystem and delete /var/db/.AppleSetupDone and type exit

At that point, you can let the setup assistant create a new temporary admin (and temp_admin might be a good user name to choose to avoid matching an existing user name) so you can look at the system logs and clean up whatever user preference or program is interrupting the boot cycle.

If as you mentioned, you really can't boot at all off that drive, then you have bigger problems and need to bring a new OS on an external drive (or perhaps SD card) to the mix or seek help from someone that can back up your files or assist in reinstalling the OS from an external source.


How to exit Assembler back to Applesoft Basic on Apple II GS When writing in Applesoft Basic on my Apple II GS, a crashed program occasionally dumps me not at the Applesoft Basic prompt (]), but at the assembler prompt instead (*). How can I get out of the Assembler and back to Basic (no pun intended)?

You can just type Ctrl-C.

(Or Ctrl-B if you don't care about wiping any Applesoft program in memory. Also, ">" is the Integer Basic prompt. The monitor prompt is "*".)


Getting many paid apps to colleague's personal iPad easily without manually installing them through the App Store? I have about 20 apps that are are all paid apps, and I want my team-member to have them. He wants to use his own iPad, but we are tired to individually get apps from App Store. Is there some easy way like restoring from backup or something like that when I only want about 20 apps to the iPad? Suppose I need to do this for 10 people, is there any easy way that I say 'go to this site with your iPad and then you will get the apps and configured desktop for your work'?

If there is no easy way, the guy needs to use two iPads. We are wanting to avoid this situation and not wanting "to force people to new devices" but we want to make sure that everyone has the best apps before any work.

If you want to purchase and distribute a set of apps to many users, Apple's Volume Purchase Program is probably what you want. Purchasing is done centrally, and then you can push out the apps via the Apple Configurator, or a third party management system.


Pages cannot open file File I had to force quit Pages as it was not responding (apparently my computer ran out of application memory and almost all applications stopped working).
After restarting (which involved force quitting all those applications including pages), some (but not all) of the files that were open in the previous session cannot be opened. The error message I get reads

"File" can't be opened right now.
Pages couldn't read the file.

The file exists and was apparently modified at a time after I worked on it last but well before the restart.
Is there a way to re-claim the file or at least the text in it?
Edit. It does not appear that the file is damaged, because even if I recover a previous version from backup, Pages cannot open that either (nor does it want to open a copy). So, it appears that the file is somehow locked.

As it happens, the problem was very similar to another problem with preview I had previously, only that the error message was not claiming a permission issue.

The solution was, consequently, equally similar to that of the problem with preview:

I removed the sub-directory ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iWorks.Pages/Data/Library/Saved Application State/com.apple.iWork.Pages.savedState
I quit Pages and re-started it.


Copying ISO file to USB drive in OS X? I have tried to copy an ISO file to a USB drive. I am unable to do it with Disk Utility. How can I copy the ISO file to a USB drive?

But I get the below. I have enough space in the 16GB USB drive for the 2GB ISO file. What am I doing wrong?

Debugging

Bmike commented "You can isolate the scanning of the image from the restoring to see if the problem lies with the image or the copy. Images -> Scan Image for Restore... from the menu of Disk Utility." but the procedure fires the error below. What does it mean?

IMHO the easiest way is in terminal:

First run diskutil list
then insert your usb stick
and run diskutil list again to see the disk node (e.g. /dev/disk2).
Now run diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskN
and do sudo dd if=/path-to.iso of=/dev/rdiskN bs=1m (or bs=1M with homebrew)
When finished diskutil eject /dev/diskN


Motion tracking no longer working on 6S I recently purchased an iPhone 6S, and the motion tracking worked for a few days, but then in the past four days it has recorded no steps or flights climbed. This morning, the phone started recording data again, but only briefly (maybe 2 hours); it currently is not collecting any motion data. I've been using Apple's Health app and the FitBit app. I tried turning motion tracking off and then back on, restarted the phone, no luck. I'm on iOS 9.0.2. Any ideas?

Try restarting your iPhone by holding the lock button and home button together until you see an Apple logo appear. If that doesn't work, I'd attribute that issue to a bug. The iPhone 6S is kind of buggy, mine won't play system or Taptic Feedback sounds sometimes. So we may just have to wait for software updates.


Is it possible to publish a movie from iMovie to youtube if you have two factor authentication on? I want to publish a movie I made in iMovie to youtube but i have 2 factor authentication on.  When i enter my username and password, the login fails.  Is there any way to support this without removing the extra security?

For apps that don't support two-factor authentication, such as iMovie, you need to generate an application-specific password. This is a computer generated password that can be used to give an app access to Google services, but is intended for use in a single app.

Go here to manage your connected apps and application-specific passwords. Once you generate one (be sure to label it as "iMovie password" or similar), copy it into iMovie making sure to use your full Gmail address as the "Account Name", then you're done with it.

There's intentionally no way to view the password again, the only possible action is to revoke it. This way your account still stays secure as long as the app stores the password securely (and if it doesn't, you can always revoke that one password without causing problems for the rest of the account).


Safari keeps downloading data when Gmail is open If I have a visible tab (non occluded window) open on Gmail, my Safari (8.0 running on Yosemite) keeps downloading data at a rate of 1 MB/s. The same does not happen with Chrome.

I'd like to understand what this is for, and if possible, make it stop.

Some info:

logs don't show anything suspicious.
caches are ok
network panel of web inspector shows no activity
lsof output: https://gist.github.com/Agos/78fa61943af31d634a99

Disabling Chat in Gmail looks like it sovled the issue for me.


verifying download showing on screen for 12 hours and can't turn iPad off? I tried to install the new apple update.  for 12 hours now the screen says "verifying update" and I can't even turn the iPad off?   it is plugged in.   Please help!!!!

Unplug it and do a 'hard restart' > note this is hard on your iPads hardware if you do this often, so only use this when needed.

Press and hold the sleep button while holding the home button until it shuts off and restarts. It should take no more than 10 seconds for it to recognize.


How can I reinstall Snow Leopard when my DVD drive is not working? How can I reinstall Snow Leopard when my external firewire DVD drive is not working?

A few weeks ago I got the typical signs of drive failure so I got Scannerz and tested it (http://www.scsc-online.com/Scannerz.html) and the drive was certainly full of bad sectors so I decided to replace the drive. Today I finally had time to go to a local electronics store and get a drive. I installed the drive, which was a piece of cake.

Unfortunately, about a year ago my optical drive failed (do these things EVER last???) so instead of opening up the unit and replacing it I bought an external FireWire optical drive. It works great, it's a half-height drive and if it goes bad I can easily replace it. It's easy to work with. I've made music CDs, backups etc. etc. without any problems

Well, after putting the new HD in, I plugged in the FireWire optical drive, started the system while holding the alt key while booting, picked the optical drive with the original install media in it, and it starts booting. However, it never gets beyond the Apple with a white background with the spinner running underneath it. I hear noises coming from the optical drive that sound likes it reading, but it never gets beyond that.

I thought maybe the media was bad, so I put it in another Mac and it could be read. I thought maybe the optical drive had gone bad, so I tested that in another system and it too is working fine. I finally put the media in the FireWire drive in another system and it reads it (won't install it, but I didn't expect it to since it's not the orignal system). Therefore, there is no problem with the FireWire drive or the media.

Is there some trick I don't know about to get this thing to use the external FireWire optical drive for booting the install media? It's almost like it isn't being allowed to boot the system. I was thinking maybe I need to reset some parameters to make the FireWire a valid installation unit. Does anyone know anything about this?

I have no idea why the FireWire external drive didn't work, but the following did:

I took a neighbors Mac Mini and put it into target disk mode
I connected the Mini to my unit via FireWire
I put the media into the Mac Mini
I booted my unit holding the alt key down
When the list of available boot drives/media showed up, the OS install disk was showing up
I selected the optical drive (from the Mac Mini)
I installed the OS

I have no idea why this would work but my external FireWire optical drive wouldn't. It was incredibly slow but it did get the job done.

Although this is a solution, and maybe something that may be of use to someone else, I still have no idea why the external FireWire optical drive wouldn't work.


Publishing app under a different name from that of credit card I've recently completed a simple game, then I found out I need to be at least 18... No worries, you can let someone older publish it for you! Then how would anyone know it was ME who created it? Can my publisher register an apple ID with MY legal name but using their credit card / bank account and birthdate? Or can I use a different name (my name) when publishing it? Or can I at the very least write my name inside the game?

Create a business entity, say "T.Miller Apps LLC" and publish under that. It will require legwork with forms and such.

There is no charge to transfer your membership but you will need to work with Developer support once you have established your LLC and gotten a D&B number.

I would expect 3 months of paperwork / emails and about $150 of legal filing fees to establish a US LLC properly with the correct registrations for Apple to accept it as a company. If you're handy with paperwork or can do all of it yourself, you might cut half the time and cost off.

Choosing which location to register will affect your costs and taxes so you might want to research that before transferring your program to an LLC.


OS X Server: Multiple Mobile Homes syncing to a single Network Home Directory? Looking for validation that Profile Manager in Mountain Lion Server can be used to keep Portable (Mobile) Home Directories on multiple Macs in sync with one Network Home.

Users have "main" desktop iMacs and "secondary" MacBooks. We would like to keep their ~/Documents and ~/Library in sync on both machines. (Also need to sync /usr/local/, ~/.bashrc, ~/.rvmrc, etc. etc.)

Wondering, among other things, what happens when both machines are on and try to sync at same time?

Anyone tried this? Success? Pitfalls? Alternatives? Thoughts?

This is still a supported function.

It's something that needs care and tending (like any sync solution) when a burp causes problems, but Mountain Lion server hasn't made it better or worse than recent server versions (Lion, Snow Leopard) in the management and deployment of network home folders that sync.

If you allow multiple log in or true mobile syncing where a copy of the home folder gets literally copied to each Mac - then you will get a sync conflict dialog should there be three edits to the same file and the system can not systematically resolve the conflict.

In practice, the pre-deployed filters work well so that users become accustomed to not opening the same app on multiple computers once they start seeing merge dialogs. You can also modify the sync rules if you have particular problems with a specific software package/file or user.


Is it possible to install Xcode 7 in 10.9 OS X? I have very slow Mac with an HDD (MacBook C2D 2.24Ghz/2.40Ghz) and there is no possibility to install El Capitan or Yosemite (very,very slow).

I want to use a newer Xcode to learn programming though.

Is there a way to install a newer Xcode with OS X (10.9) – maybe there is patch for Xcode or some hack for exec?

If you really wish to remain on Mavericks and not upgrade to El Capitan I would suggest installing it on an external drive or partitioning your main drive just for a test. Make a new 60 gb partition(just in case you actually like El Capitan) and if you are not satisfied with its productivity, trash it. I guess you could use it just as a "developer" OS and switch to it only when you'll be using it but that in my opinion would be inconvenient. I am using El Capitan on 2008 MacBook Pro the OS itself runs perfectly. The startup is a bit slow compared to most newer computers and the CPU isn't the best(2x2.4Ghz) but it works fine for such an old machine.


How can I restart an app game from the beginning I would like to restart two games, bubble safari and bubbleseason, from the beginning. When I delete the app and reinstall it from the App Store all my old data is on there and I start from the same level I left it at, I want to start all over from scratch.  Is this possible?

Deleting the game from iOS devices usually removes the game stored data, unless, those data are stored in iCloud. Here are the steps to delete saved games data in iCloud.

Make sure you’ve deleted the games you want to reset. Some of those games will push the local saved data to iCloud even if you’ve deleted the data in iCloud.
Access those saved games data in Setting > iCloud > Storage & Backup > Manage Storage.
Select Show All to view all the saved data. You’ll see non-games app in this location too because it shows all your iCloud storage.
Tap on the games you want to reset.
Tap Edit at the top right.
Tap Delete All to delete the saved games data.


How to clone startup disk? In the process of upgrading to a new SSD in my iMac 2017 Catalina. After setting everything up using Disk Utility, it is asking if I want to restore from “iMacintosh HD” or “Macintosh HD - Data”  I read here of someone having a similar question but his situation was slightly different. I simply want to clone my existing startup disk so I can swap out the old drive with the new one. Can anyone guide me through this?
Many thanks in advance.
-JJ

Cloning isn’t easy in my experience since you need to first learn a bit about specifics and how to select a proper clone tool tool and understand any filesystem differences between your exact versions of OS.
Why not install a fresh OS on the SSD and then when it first starts migrate everything from the old OS?
Apple tools handle this for you including all the version difference if you choose a different OS on the new disk. And with two disks, you can thoroughly test the new drive before you install it or wipe the internal drive.


My macbook pro is getting some current while connecting to external monitor My macbook is getting some current or can be said as vibrating when i connect it to Thunderbolt to VGA adapter to external monitor.
and then when i connect macbook to magsafe connector for charging , the vibration effect has gone.
please help me.

I get this too, a vibrating sensation when I touch the metal casing of the MacBook, when my external Samsung monitor is connected to my MacBook Pro via HDMI. Like you, it goes away when I plug in the MagSafe cable. The vibrating only occurs when my MBP is on battery AND when the external monitor is connected.

It is NOT normal.

My belief is that current from the monitor is being passed into the MBP because the monitor is not earthed. I'm using a 2 prong plug on the monitor, while my MBP is using a 3 prong plug. I'm going to try and buy a new cable for my monitor with a 3 prong plug to solve this because I'm worried it's doing my MBP no good. (Currently I leave my MBP plugged into the mains when I use the external monitor, something which doesn't do the MBP battery any good either!)

UPDATE
Well, I bought a new cable for my external monitor with an earthed plug (or so the shopkeeper said) but it's had no effect. Still get the vibrating!


Spontaneous high pitches & loud squeal in headset connected to Mac USB port This has happened 4 times on my MacBook Pro Retina in the last 6 months but also on two other Macs. Beats headsets to cheap Logitec. It is high volume, high pitch, spontaneous, comes out of no-where and definitely damaging to ears.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Have had similar problem.
It seems to be connected with Safari somehow.
This fix works, but you may need to do it when the sound comes back.

If Safari is running, quit it.
Hold down Shift key and launch Safari
Keep Shift depressed until your homepage appears
Releases Shift and clear history.

This seems to stop the problem for a time, but I have had to do it about once a month for the last 4 tor 5 months may


I want to use my iPad as a multi-video monitor I have four wired video cameras on my RV, and would to replace the monitor with my old iPad.  Does anyone know the adapter(s) / software that would allow me to do this?
Thank you

Duet display might be what you're looking for
Duet Display by Rahul Dewan
https://appsto.re/us/qLNX3.i


Time Machine backup taking a loooong time, is this normal? I bought an external hard drive, plugged it into the USB port of my Airport Extreme base station, turned on Time Machine, set it to use that drive for backup.

It's backing up 350Gigs of data and it's literally taking days to work its way through.

Is this normal? It seems like it's taking a way too much time.

350 GB is a lot of data, especially to transfer wirelessly. It will take a long time. In the future, only changed files will be backed up, so the backup will be much faster. To make the initial backup faster, you could try connecting the drive directly to the computer using the fastest possible port (see this question for a discussion of which ports are fastest). You will still be able to use the drive through the airport for future backups.


How to change the hostname for the Xcode service on Mac Server I needed to change the hostname of the server I have setup after I started the Xcode service. My server is currently named as follows...

Except, to view the Xcode service I still need to enter the old hostname (with hyphens), I have tried rebooting the computer and the service, no luck.

How do I change the hostname that is displayed in the "Status" field?

It is easiest in the Terminal. SSH into the server and then at the command line :-

sudo scutil --set HostName new_name

You will be asked for your password and then the name will be changed.


How do i turn off email notifications on my laptop? I keep getting email's notifying me of my upcoming meetings. This would be fine, but i never asked it to do this.

I use Gmail for email and Google Calendar for my scheduling. On my laptop Mail.app and iCal are linked to my Google account although I never use either of them.

Can someone point me in the right direction for turning email notifications off?

sign in to google calendar at http://google.com/calendar
Click on the 'gear' icon at the top right and choose 'Calendar Settings'
Click on 'Calendars'
Click on 'Notifications' for the appropriate calendar
look for 'Event reminders' and remove the 'By default, remind me via [Email]' entry


Has Apple released updates for its Airport base stations to protect against the KRACK vulnerability? Regarding the vulnerability in WPA2 known as KRACK, has Apple released firmware updates yet for the Apple-branded AirPort Base Station devices?

At present there are no updates for the AirPort product line.  Apple is notoriously tight lipped about security issues.

  For our customers' protection, Apple doesn't disclose, discuss, or
  confirm security issues until an investigation has occurred and
  patches or releases are available. Recent releases are listed on the
  Apple security updates page.

If/when Apple releases an update that's security related, it will be listed on the Apple Security Updates page.  You can get more info about this from the question/answer "Has the WiFi KRACK vulnerability been patched for iOS?"

Additionally, you can check the AirPort Firmware Update page which will provide directions, links, and details on the updates and how to apply them.

At the time of this post, the most recent update were (dated Dec. 20, 2016)

7.7.8 for the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule 802.11ac products
7.6.8 for the Airport Extreme, Express and Time Capsule 802.11n products

Therefore, at the time of this answer/post there have been no updates to address the KRACK vulnerability.


Copy and paste entire song in GarageBand for iPad In GarageBand for iPad, how do I get my song to repeat, so that the song is played twice its duration?

The song has ten tracks and 25 sections. I just want to select all and copy-paste the whole song at the end of the song so it’s twice as long and repeated once.

Maybe your project is too big? I have heard that GarageBand, even on a Mac, has limitations when the project gets too big. It would refuse an operation or just hang or crash without much feedback. Try with a much smaller/simpler test song and see if you can accomplish what you want. Or try posting exactly the steps you do to copy and paste, and exactly what happens (what GarageBand does) after.


Grouping albums in iTunes I just can't find a way to group albums, I have my albums in an external hard drive organized in folders like "albums from when I was back in high school" or "albums my dad recommended", that sort of thing. I don't like the albums I used to listen to in high school mixed with the ones I got yesterday. Is there a way to separate them in categories or something that gives them that sort of order?

The best way to do this would be using playlists. You can drag folders of songs directly into an iTunes playlist. If the songs in question are already part of your library, doing this will create duplicates, so I'd recommend deleting theses songs from iTunes before adding them to your playlist.


Prohibitory symbol on MacBook? I’m getting the prohibitory symbol when starting up my mac. I can get into recovery mode. Neither disk utility or reinstalling macOS Sierra are working in recovery mode. They both fail. It just says unable to unmount volume for repair.

For some reason, your mac cannot find the startup partition. You have tried disk utility.  You can try resetting the machine.

Sometimes if volumes don't appear in Startup Manager (what you get when you hold down the Option key at startup), you need to reset the Mac's PRAM, NVRAM, and Open Firmware. Shut down the Mac, then power it up, and before the screen lights up, quickly hold down the Command, Option, P, and R keys, until the Mac has chimed twice more after the powerup chime.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

Your next step is to take it in for repair or replace the drive.   The simplest solution would be to buy an external drive.  I like OWC external drives.


What are those ._ files? I downloaded a Java library and noticed, that for every file and directory there is a binary file of the form ._<name>. It contains something like:

  "Mac OS X ... com.apple.quarantine ... com.google.Chrome"

Have those files been added by an Mac OS X IDE (I'm an Ubuntu user planning to use the library with Eclipse)? Can I safely remove those files?

TIA for your help!

Those are extended attribute files, which OSX uses when the filesystem doesn't support resource forks or extended attributes.  You don't care about them.  (The entry you quoted is a message to the Finder to display a "This file was downloaded at (date).  Downloaded programs may be unsafe.  Do you want to open it?" dialog along with a button which will open Chrome and take you to the page the file was downloaded from.)


Delete all admin user except administrator I would like to delete all the users who have admin privileges except for a user named "administrator"

  dscl . -delete /Groups/admin

I think the above command will delete all admin users, but is there a way to edit the command to accomplish what I want.

You need to iterate over all users in the admin group, deleting them one by one, leaving your chosen account alone as opposed to deleting the admin group itself.

Also, use care to not delete any built in accounts since that would break your os. Typically user accounts have ID greater than 500 so you’ll piece together a bit of scripting:

https://superuser.com/questions/279891/list-all-members-of-a-group-mac-os-x

I’m not going to post a working script since you’ll want to carefully craft your deletion to be reversible and also clean up user home folders after you delete each user. Making an error on that script could cause substantial data loss.


Is there an official direction for scroll zoom? I am using a Magic Mouse on Lion and I have scroll direction set to natural.

Google Maps: Scroll Up zooms out
Excel: Ctrl + Alt + Scroll Up zooms out
OSX Zoom Dekstop: Ctrl + Scroll Up zooms in

I find the inconsistency annoying.

Thus, I'm wondering whether Apple has an official usability rule regarding what direction constitutes the recommended scroll direction for zoom in?

If natural scrolling is disabled, scrolling up zooms in in all of those three cases. Scrolling up zooms in the screen even if natural scrolling is enabled though.

Scrolling while holding control could be considered to be a separate gesture where enabling natural scrolling does not invert the scrolling direction. When using a multi-touch surface, I think it's more natural that dragging up increases the zoom level.

It's also possible that applications shouldn't invert the scrolling direction when scrolling is used for zooming, but many applications do. But I didn't find anything about it in the HIG, and I don't know any applications by Apple where scrolling while holding option or command would have a special meaning.


Root password same as admin? I have a mac with single user on it (who is Admin). I see tutorials which ask for the root password, is this the same as my user password or something else?

The root user password has to be set by you and they could be the same if you choose so, but it is not advisable to do that.

From the Apple menu choose System Preferences.
From the View menu choose Users & Groups.
Click the lock and authenticate as an administrator account.
Click Login Options.
Click the "Edit" or "Join" button at the bottom right.
Click the "Open Directory Utility" button.
Click the lock in the Directory Utility window.
Enter an administrator account name and password, then click OK.
Choose Enable Root User from the Edit menu.
Enter the root password you wish to use in both the Password and Verify fields, then click OK.


Tools for presentations with Xcode Have you got any tools you use for presentations with Xcode? I'm preparing for some live 'showdowns'. Anything is welcome - mouse pointer enhancers, fast typing with snippets, etc.

Omnidazzle is nice. I can't really think of anything else... Try using a clipboard saver to paste faster than you could type and still seem professional.


HIgh Sierra spell checker can't be disabled I have a Mac with High Sierra (10.13.6) and I am unable to disable the spell checker.

I've tried going to System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Text and unchecking all the boxes but the spell checker still works. Every time I type "echo singlequote" (singlequote was meant to be enclosed in diamonds) the system tries to guess what I'll type next.

I have also disabled System Integrity and renamed the /System/Library/Services/AppleSpell.service/Contents/Resources directory, but the system still tries to guess my typing every time I use quotes.

I don't have the issue on another machine with High Sierra.

I can't type without checking the screen every time I type a single or double quote, or even the ^ symbol. Having to hit the space bar every time I type a quote is driving me mad.

Does anyone know how to stop this spell checker from jumping in every time a type a quote?

Go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Input Sources and make sure you have only one item on the list, and that its name is US or ABC (and not US International PC).

(Note that your problem is not connected to spellcheck.  You are using a special keyboard designed to use various symbols to create the accented characters needed for Spanish, French, German, Italian, etc.)


How to move iTunes database from Windows 7 to Lion where the music is on a network drive? I asked this question months ago and I finally had a chance to try the answer.  I followed the instructions in the answer but it didn't work. After I copied over the iTunes folder from Windows to Mac as per the instructions, when iTunes starts on the Mac, I see all of my music listed.  But iTunes can't locate any of the songs and throws this error: 'The song “Hard Days Night” could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?' Doing a get info shows that iTunes thinks that the file is located here: file://localhost/192.168.1.6/music/HardDaysNight.mp3

So clearly the path is incorrect.  The correct SMB path is smb://192.168.1.6/music/HardDaysNight.mp3.  How do I fix this?

I cleared out the iTunes folder and simply added the file directly to iTunes.  iTunes copied the file from the network directory to the local hard drive which is not what I want.  I want to keep my files on the network folder.  How do I replicate what I had on Windows on the Mac where iTunes references music stores on a network drive?

Here's what finally worked.

Copy the file "iTunes Music Library.xml" from Windows to somewhere on your Mac, like your desktop.
Change all references to network location of the audio files to something the Mac can understand.  For example, all of my MP3 files started with file://localhost//192.168.1.6/music/  So I did a Find & Replace and changed them to the path the Mac mounted my remote music folder: file://localhost/Volumes/Media/music/
Clear out the iTunes directory in ~/Music.
In iTunes > Preferences > Advanced, uncheck "Copy files to iTunes Meida folder when adding to library".
Then import the XML file from step 1 into iTunes by File > Library > Import Playlist.

The "Re-creating the iTunes Library file" section near the bottom of this article helped.


Do not show Mac Mail headers when forwarding, but do show in Inbox Is there a way to view the detailed header of an email in Mac Mail without having to include all that detailed info when forwarding an email?

I am periodically interested in the header information from emails so I want to keep the option of viewing those details in my Inbox. However, I do not want to have Mail include that information in forwarded emails.

Most solutions posted online suggest going to Preferences → Viewing → Show header detail but this prevents me from viewing header details in my Inbox. Is there a way for me to have my cake and eat it too?

The detailed Header view is a Menu bar Icon (you can set it up) that allows you to view headers from Received emails.

To set it up right click on the mail menu bar and choose Customize.

From the new screen drag the "All Headers" icon to your menu bar.

Without some serious hacking, any email you send will also include the extended header information, same way as you can see it.


Setting caps lock key to CTRL but still function as caps lock if I press for long enough I just started out using tmux, so I figured I would set my Caps lock key equal to the Ctrl key.

Though sometimes I do need the Caps lock key. I don't care if it requires playing with the Terminal or system files, I'm not afraid of that. However it would be nice if I could just run Terminal commands so that I can put it in a script. Also, if possible, it would be nice if it doesn't require extra software, although if it's necessary then there's no problem.

How can I make it so that it's normally a Ctrl key, but if I press it for say 5 seconds it triggers a normal Caps lock. I was wondering, how can I do this?

Using KeyRemap4MacBook, you could add this to private.xml:

<autogen>--HoldingKeyToKey-- KeyCode::CONTROL_L, KeyCode::CONTROL_L, KeyCode::VK_NONE, KeyCode::CAPSLOCK, Option::NOREPEAT</autogen>

The threshold for holding a key is 0.2 s by default, but it can be changed in the second tab.

This would change fn+caps lock (control) to caps lock:

<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::CONTROL_L, ModifierFlag::FN, KeyCode::CAPSLOCK</autogen>


QuickLook HTML plugin? I'm looking for a plugin that will display me the text of HTML files in QuickLook rather than a preview of the rendered HTML.

Does anyone know of such a plugin?

You are looking for qlcolorcode. qlcolorcode allows you to have syntax highlighting in your quicklook preview:


Change default app for file extension I just set up default app for certain file extension by mistake. Now i cannot revert it back to default, i can only set another app to open this type of file (CMD+I).

I've tried to rebuild LaunchServices then reboot, but nothing changed. I still can open .twig files with SublimeText 3

Duti sets associations, see https://github.com/moretension/duti/ or if you use Homebrew simply brew install duti then follow the included instructions.


iCloud Restore — WiFi only? If I enable the iCloud Backup feature, can I later restore from an iCloud backup, but while tethered to iTunes?

So if my phone ever dies, is the only way to restore from iCloud to do it over WiFi, re-downloading every app, or is it smart enough to let me plug into iTunes, use the iCloud backup to figure out which apps go where, and then push the actual apps from my PC onto my iPhone?

The closest question I could find is this

Yes, you can restore from iCloud, but to restore your device, you have to connect it to iTunes, and restore its firmware, then restore contents either from iCloud or from backup on your mac.

  Restoration that’s not a project. When you set up a new iOS device or
  need to restore the information on one you already have, iCloud Backup
  does the heavy lifting. Just connect your device to Wi-Fi and enter
  your Apple ID and password. Your personal data — along with your
  purchased music, TV shows, apps, and books from iTunes — will appear
  on your device.2 If you’re an iTunes Match user, you can download your
  entire music library from iCloud.3

So the point is this: if you want to restore your contents from wifi, you just plug your device, and connect it to wifi, iCloud will do its job; if you already tethered your device to iTunes, you can just restore it from mac.


Should I buy the 2 year Apple Care, for my Macbook Pro with faulty butterfly switches? The class-action lawsuit is ongoing

I have a late 2017 Macbook Pro that has various stuck butterfly switches, since I use an external keyboard most of the time, I didn't even attempt to get it fixed and ruin my life

But my 1-year warranty is about to expire, and I can't decide whether I should purchase the extended warranty or not

There are many things to consider:

1) Lawsuit could miraculously fail, I would be out of warranty

2) Lawsuit could succeed, a fix would be impossible, they would replace the devices, then, would the extended warranty apply to the new device?

3) I purchase the warranty, waste more money on Apple - so better not purchase it

Unfortunately, it's too late to buy AppleCare for you MacBook Pro. From Apple's MacBook AppleCare page:

  Purchase AppleCare+ with your new Mac. Or buy it within 60 days of your Mac purchase:

If you are at all concerned about the faulty switch, you should get it to Apple before the one year warranty runs out.


Applications - (Registered User Name Visibility) How do I hide (not change) the name of the user on a Mac application start up screen. I have a software package that is authorised to all users through a encrypted licence file. The software splash screen displays the name of the IT manager on start up.

I am authorised to use this but would prefer not to display the registered name each time it starts.

There is no generic way to hide such a name as the implementation of such a splash screen differs from app to app.

Displaying the license holder’s is usually part of the protection features of the software. Therefore you’re not likely to find an official way of hiding the name.

Hiding the name is usually something wanted by those that do not have a license and don’t want others to see that. If you’re in that category, contact the vendor to see about transferring the old license or buying (possibly at a discount) another seat or license of the software.


Is there any possibilty to choose a next song on Spotify when the app is minimalized? is there any kind of a shortcut to choose a next song while the app is minimalized? I got the SpotMenu and Karabiner app.

The keyboard key fast forward works for me without issue. Thats the alt F9 key.
It skips to the next song.


Problem connecting to public wifi on Macbook Pro When I try to connect to public WiFi networks that have a pop-up window to finish connecting, a notice comes down saying “A problem occurred. The webpage could not be loaded” and I am unable to fully connect.

Are there any tips on how to authenticate to a WiFi network when the authentication/authorization page won't load like that?

Since you have a pop up, it’s almost certain the WiFi link is connecting and you are dealing with the networking side / captive portal.

One thing that sometimes helps is opening a web browser and going to http://captive.apple.com or just any web page.

Typically the security / registration / portal then lets you answer whatever questions / accept any EULA and then give you a proper IP address / DNS server / connection to the internet.

Past that, you’ll need to look at DHCP response or contact the person that supports that network to check their side.


Text to speech won't work in Chrome anymore I like to use Apple's "Text to Speech" option (under System Preferences → Dictation and Speech) to have my computer read things to me like articles and whatnot. However, the keyboard shortcut to make this happen just suddenly stopped working properly in Google Chrome.

Normally, you just select some text with your mouse, then press the keyboard shortcut (which I have set to Option + Tab), and then the computer voice reads the selected text to you.

This keyboard shortcut still works in other applications like Finder and Firefox, but when I do so in Chrome it doesn't read the selected text - instead, it reads the <title>Web Page's Name</title> and that's it.

If I highlight the text, right click → Speech → Start Speaking, then it'll work like normal and read the text aloud.

So if that works, then why can't I use the keyboard shortcut to use text to speech anymore?

Upgrade/Reinstall Operating System
I recently installed MacOS Mojave and now the "Text to Speech" function works perfectly, just like it used to.
While this didn't identify what was causing the problem, it did solve it.


Macbook won't turn on I have a 2008 aluminium unibody Macbook and after being off for about a month won't turn on. It is full charged (it has a battery indicator on the side). I've tried an SMC reset and the like but am really very stumped. Does anyone have any ideas?

Since you did not specify what  have you tried this is going to be a guess game:

1***Take the battery out and put it back in.

That usually solves the problem of "oxidized" connectors.

You can try to clean the connectors but normally just in and out does it.

2*** try the power button, by pressing in rapid sequence or holding it for 10 seconds.

Since you just disclosed that when plugged in the battery shows to be charging, and before you said it is fully charged, so give it time and see if the charging light goes off.


Is Lion server really a valid server for small business? I'm considering to replace my existing windows based server on my small business (< 10 employees) with a mac mini server with Lion Server installed. But after a look at the App Store, I noticed a lot of 1-star reviews labeling this OS as "a toy", "unstable", "downgrade with respect to Leopard Server" and so on. My usage for this would be essentially for e-mail management (but using Kerio to have exchange support), calendar, internal web site (web apps), account management, some centralized apps (to be accessed using VNC), iOS based devices management, Windows virtualization to support legacy apps (essentially for accounting), VPN.

I'm not asking for a complete review of this OS, this is not a right place, bust just a short comment from the users in the community that had the change to work with this new OS.

Besides, and this is a bonus question, do you have some experience in using Lion server to manage centralized Xcode development? (we currently use our own MacBooks and we keep in sync using Git, I'd like to know for different approaches based on OSX Server).

I've never tried any of the Mac Server products. But AnandTech has a pretty good in-depth review of Mac OS X Lion Server. A few of the conclusions:

  ...server administrators will be happy to know that, in spite of its deeply cut price and consumer-friendly distribution method, Lion Sever stacks up favorably against Snow Leopard Server.

and

  OS X Server is most useful in a handful of different scenarios: the first is that you have a small network that’s in need of a full-featured but easy-to-manage and simple-to-license server product. The second is that you’re managing a network of any size that used to be all-Windows, but hosts a growing number of Macs (this is often the case in education, for example) - OS X Server knows that it’s going to be finding its way into a lot of Windows houses, and as such it integrates fairly well with existing Active Directory setups. The last is that you have a bunch of iOS devices flooding your network and you have no idea what to do with them - iOS management may be Lion Server’s ace in the hole.

(emphasis mine)
Seems to fit your intended usage pretty well.

About your other question:

  Besides, and this is a bonus question, do you have some experience in using Lion server to manage centralized Xcode development? (we currently use our own MacBooks and we keep in sync using Git, I'd like to know for different approaches based on OSX Server).

Keep using git, use the OSX server as central repository (maybe consider buying GitHub Enterprise or using an free/open source alternative for managing your git interaction). Install a CI-tool (Jenkins or similar) on the server and use it to create automated builds. Should work quite nicely.


How to calibrate external monitor with MacBook Pro? I’m trying to calibrate the colour of my external monitor, which attached to my MacBook Pro as a second monitor, with my Spyder 5 colorimeter and DisplayCAL software as the colours are vastly different between the two and assume the MacBook’s is the more accurate one of the two (might calibrate both though but starting with monitor).
My issue is that unlike Windows, where you can delete any current colour profiles and calibrate from the default colours with no profile active, on the Mac it seems like there is always one profile active, and so would make the calibration results inaccurate as a result as they’d be starting at the wrong baseline so to speak.
Is there a way to do this on the Mac to not have any active profile when calibrating?
Or is the default “no active profile” the one at the top which is simply the name of my monitor which the Mac has automatically picked up (in my case "Dell S2716DG)?

It doesn't matter at all what profile you already have loaded or installed.
The current profile is unloaded at the start of calibration… otherwise there would be no good start point.
Mac colour calibration is simply miles ahead of what you can achieve on Windows.


Turn off Touch bar Preview on display I do not see this on other Macbooks. Not sure how I got it, but I cannot find any settings in the Preferences.

Basically, every time I touch the touch bar, I get a preview of the touchbar as a strip on the the bottom of the screen display. Long Press is delayed as a result of this as there is a circle progress that shows to help users in long pressing.

How can I disable this? It is intrusive and not useful at all.

Go to System Preferences -> Accessibility -> Zoom. Uncheck Show Touch bar zoom (not sure what exactly it says, not on my computer right now).

As of 10.12.3, there is a bug. If that checkbox didn't appear, restart your computer will make it appear.


Why is the folder in ~/Library/Application\ Support called "Avian" for Textmate 2? I would expect one of:

~/Library/Application\ Support/Textmate
~/Library/Application\ Support/Textmate2

Or maybe:

~/Library/Application\ Support/Macromates

What's the story here?

"Avian" was the project's 'code' or 'working' name so the developers chose that string over the other choices.


iMessage often fails to send SMS on non-iOS device Since iOS 10.1, my iPhone often fails to send SMS. After sending, it waits, then display the red (!), saying "not delivered"

it seems to only happen on non-iPhone recipients
most of time (everytime??), my recipient still get my message (in spite of the not delivered warning)
someone told me "why do you always send your messages twice?".

How this correct this issue?

This could be down to people previously using an iPhone and having their number registered with iMessage, and then moving to a non-iOS device. In this case, your phone is still trying to send the message over the iMessage platform even though the recipient can't receive it. They can check and de-register here.


iPhone 5S Blocked numbers Instead of that person not knowing that they have been blocked, is there a wayto set up your iPhone to send an auto-response to someone that they have indeed been blocked?  Similar to email when one goes on vacation, they get an automatic response that they will be out of the office.

Does anyone know how to send an auto response to someone that has been blocked?

If you've blocked them on your iPhone then there's no way to send them any type of auto-response.


How to make TextEdit open with a blank file by default? In Lion, TextEdit used to open with a blank file by default. On Mountain Lion, it launches  with a file picker by default — either for choosing to store the file in iCloud or for opening a local file.

How can I make TextEdit launch with a blank file by default in Mountain Lion?

If you don't want to disable syncing documents and data, run

defaults write -g NSShowAppCentricOpenPanelInsteadOfUntitledFile -bool false

and quit and reopen TextEdit to apply the changes.

To restore (thanks to comments run)

defaults delete -g NSShowAppCentricOpenPanelInsteadOfUntitledFile

To set this for TextEdit only (thanks to comment by gklka)

defaults write com.apple.TextEdit NSShowAppCentricOpenPanelInsteadOfUntitledFile -bool false


How to get the FileVault recovery key? I want to mount my (non-bootable) Filevault encrypted drive on Linux. I know the user-facing password to decrypt it, but not the recovery key. From what I've read, I assume that the recovery key is the actual XTS-AES-128 key. Linux can't decrypt the drive with a password, but it can with the AES key. There's obviously a way to obtain the recovery key given the password, since that's done every time you decrypt the drive with a password. Hence I need a way to get this recovery key.

Alternatively, a Filevault driver for Linux would also be a way to mount my encrypted drive.

You may be able to use libfvde to access FileVault 2 encrypted drives on Linux.

OS X turns the password for the drive into a derived key by using PBKDF2. That derived key then unlocks the encrypted drive. I'm not aware of a way to display the key.


iPad Pro 11" keyboard case stops working when screen is laid flat against the back sleeve i just spent an hour troubleshooting and rebooting my new iPad and then time with support online only to realize it will only work in stand up mode ?

i don't like to stand it up because the angle is way too steep for a tall person.

is there a reason why it stops working as soon the screen is flat against the back of the case ?

i tried to post this on discussions.apple.com but it kept giving me the super descriptive "You are not allowed to create or update this content" error.

The previous generation 10.5" has this same limitation. There is a magnetic switch in the bottom edge that prevents the keyboard from activating if it's not in one of the slots on the keyboard case - simply having the connection to the iPad is not sufficient.


How can I recover from failed app update? Twice now I have apps fail to install during an update and then been unable to restart the process or use the app. I am using the Update All function in the "Apps" App.

Last time it effected only one app. Despite full reboots and going back into the Update screen the failed app was stuck at the "Installing" step. I could not resume the update or use the app. I finally deleted the app and reinstalled and things seem to go fine.

This time it failed installing the Twitter app and the two apps after it in the list now are also stuck. Again I've tried full shutdown and reboot with no luck. I can update other apps but those three seem stuck in limbo. I suppose I can delete them are reinstall as before but is there a better way?

This has now happened a couple of more times. I've been able to resolve this the last couple of times by tapping the app back on the main screen (ie not in the app store). The label below it changes to 'Waiting'. Then tapping it again it changes the label to 'Loading' or 'Installing' and the update finally completes. I can then update other apps.

Otherwise the only other solution is to delete and reinstall the app.


Mac Audio output remove high pitch / high frequency sounds I suffer from tinnitus and sometimes, in videos or video calls, there is a random high pitch noise which is really irritating for me. Also, in video calls some people talk really softly and some are really loud.
Is here an app which can act as a high pass filter for high pitch and frequency sounds?

I recommend Rouge Amoebas Audio Hijack.
What you are looking for is actually a low pass filter. Low frequencies should pass it, high frequencies should be attenuated.
Audio Hijack is a high-quality macOS audio tool, which offers not only audio manipulation via an equalizer, but also a dedicated low pass filter.

Start Audio Hijack, add a New Session and select the preset Sweeten. This is a pre-build audio enhancement workflow for all sounds that are played by your selected output device. Then select the category Build-in effects and drag the Low Pass Filter block into the audio processing chain. It should look like the screenshot i attached. You can easily customize the cutoff frequency with a slider.
As soon as you press the start button on the bottom left, the audio effects will be applied.
In case a plain old equalizer is sufficient for you, you can try the free eqMac App.


How to show Hard Disk icon on Desktop via Terminal? Is there a command in Terminal that allows you to show the Hard Disk as an icon on your Desktop?
I know the manual process of doing it, which is, Finder > Preferences... > General and check "Hard disks" under "Show these items on the desktop:", but I want to be able to apply this configuration through the command line.
Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks!

To show various drive icons on the desktop use the following commands in Terminal:

External hard drives:

defaults write com.apple.finder ShowExternalHardDrivesOnDesktop -bool true

Hard drives:

defaults write com.apple.finder ShowHardDrivesOnDesktop -bool true

Removable media:

defaults write com.apple.finder ShowRemovableMediaOnDesktop -bool true

(To complete all options available in the Finder preferences: mounted servers:)

defaults write com.apple.finder ShowMountedServersOnDesktop -bool true

Afterwards restart the Finder:

killall -HUP Finder

To disable showing the respective desktop icons simply replace true by false


Updating bootcamp without re-installing Now that the 10.8.3 update is out for Mountain Lion with Windows 8 support, I would like to update my existing Windows 8 installation (upgrade from 7) to have the new drivers without re-installing Windows.

Does the Apple tools in Windows handle the update or is there a process that I must follow?

The reason for wanting to update the drivers to get newer graphics drivers specifically.

Run boot camp on your Mac and download the updated Windows Support files. Once downloaded, install them on your Windows PC as you normally would.


Image problem : Can't Open with... Preview On Mojave 10.14.6, selecting jpgs on a server but I can't use Open with... > Preview

Preview is the default app for jpgs, and 'Open with' is working fine with other file types and apps.

Any idea what's the cause and fix?

There are two possible issues at play here.

The first is a file association issue. If you right-click the file, and choose Open With, does it show Preview (default) at the top? If not, then it's a file association issue.

The second is either a) file permissions issue; or b) corrupt file. For instance, you may be able to view the file listing on the remote share, but not actually access the file itself. To verify that either of these issues are not a concern, copy the remote file to your Desktop and try to open it locally. If you get an error copying the file, then you know it is a file permissions/accessibility issue. If you can copy it, but it fails to open properly in Preview, then you just have a corrupt file.


Does my late 2012 iMac 21" support fusion drives? Back in June 2013 I bought an 21" iMac with a standard 1TB HDD. By now OWC offers upgrades for these machines in the form of an SSD expansion board, which can be used to form a fusion drive with the HDD.

However, they point out that some iMacs don't sport the slot for this. Is there any way I can find out if my iMac supports the SSD board, without opening it?

From the page you linked -

  The initial production of the base model for the 21.5" iMac didn't come with a slot for the SSD. Later production models included the SSD slot, but there's no way to determine if the 2012 21.5" iMac with a 2.7GHz processor has the SSD slot without opening it up to see if it's available. If you have already opened the iMac up and it does have an SSD slot, this SSD is compatible.

The 2.9 & 3.1 GHz machines should be compatible.


"Enter your passcode" without a passcode My iPhone 6 is running iOS 9.1 (13B143), not jailbroken. Installed one app, f.lux, which is sideloaded, everything else is from the App Store.

Occasionally, about once per day, while charging or after unlocking the screen, the phone will present the "Enter your passcode" screen.

Just to be clear: I have never set a passcode, yes I know the "skip" step during upgrades, I do not have roommates or other people touching my phone, I do not use Touch ID or Apple Pay, and I have never set a passcode.

The passcode screen includes a full QWERTY keyboard, not the digits one. And entering anything in there will just shake the screen (incorrect passcode). I have not attempted experimenting with 4 or more incorrect attempts in a row.

The workaround is to simply lock and unlock the screen once or twice and then slide to unlock. This method will unlock the phone without a password 100% of the time.

Has anyone seen this before and can it be cured?

It's an issue of f.lux, but it seems there's no solution for the problem. And sadly I don't think this issue will be patched soon as Apple stopped f.lux team developing the app for iOS.


Problem with iCal invitations I have noticed a problem with iCal invitations.

When I recieve an invitation (via email) it pops up in my calendar. I then click it to say accept. When I do my calendar shows that I have accepted, but the person who sent me the invitation does not see my status.

In addition I get an error Mail with the following error.

<com.apple.calendarserver+2594a782-bbe9-4385-8ea7-239172296549@MYSERVERNAME.com>:
XX.XX.XX.XX does not like recipient.
Remote host said: 554 5.7.1 <com.apple.calendarserver+2594a782-bbe9-4385-8ea7-239172296549@MYSERVERNAME.com>: Relay access denied
Giving up on XX.XX.XX.XX.

Both sender and recipient are using OSX Lion Server as Mail and Calendar servers and the standard calendar/mail app. With static IP-Adresses. Does iCal need a special port to be forwarded? Or do I need to set some flag in postfix's configuration so that iCal mails are relayed?

The servers relay outgoing mail through a separate host which requires authentication. Could it be that iCal does not use the authentication when it tries to relay the message?

Thanks

This solved it without having to dig into the plist: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-enable-email-invitations-in-lions-ical-serv.html


Does apple reviews apps on slow network? When starting my app it prefills local cache from server side. It takes me 25-30 sec. Apple refused my app because they claim after the first minute content is still not loaded. Do you know do they test app during low network conditions on purpose? Apps should be responsive even in offline mode?

I don't believe that the majority of app reviews would enable Network Link Conditioner or test the app on an intentionally hobbled network.

Given the extra time that would add to the review cycle and how much time it takes for the mandatory issues, I believe that Apple's role isn't a performance tester and would expect user reviews and the developer to test adequately for network errors.

Yes - I would bet that some of the best testers test for no network condition from time to time when their intuition shows that the app is marketed in that respect or if they are looking for a reason to push a build back to the developer, but my hunch is that this isn't the typical testing workflow at present.

I think it's awesome that they noticed your current incarnation of server side content deployment resulted in a delay to the user. Did they ask you to look at using their solution for App Slicing and on-demand resources so that your apps not only installed quickly, but were useful at first launch and then could retrieve assets from Apple's CDN rather than from your servers directly?


Can you downgrade a 2021 iMac to Mojave? We work on an older SAN that will not run on OS beyond Mojave.  And yes, if money was no option and I could replace 400TB with a more modern system I absolutely would.  However, it is what it is and I would like to get the best system I can for our current environment.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

You can‘t run old macOS versions on newer hardware, there usually are some drivers missing. There are special constellations in some cases (and we probably have some answers beneath similar questions) but as of now it‘s highly unlikely that there is a way for a 2020/21 iMac to run Mojave.
Options which may work for you

Run Mojave in a VM and access the SAN from there
Get an older Mac mini/iMac capable of running Mojave via eBay or similar


Can Time Machine volumes be easily encrypted with FileVault 2? Now that File Vault 2 can encrypt the entire disk and encrypt external drives, can I have a fully encrypted Time Machine volume?

According to the Lion features page, encrypted backups are supported.


How to prevent iPhone from dropping wifi connection when it goes to sleep? I am using whatsapp web version and the iPhone needs to be connected at all times for it to work. However, when the iPhone goes to sleep (screen goes off) the wifi connected is automatically turned off to save battery and the whatsapp on my browser disconnects. Is there a way to force iPhone to keep wifi connection up when locked and/or asleep?

I have the same iPhone and the same problem. I just went into Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings. Then reconnect to your wifi like normal.

This worked for me, however if the problem is still there, maybe turn your data off when using wifi. Hope one method works for you (:


Is there some way to sync only Reminders to iCloud? Under Mountain Lion, syncing Reminders to iCloud is linked to syncing Calendars for some reason:

In contrast, under iOS (version 5), you're able to sync Reminders to iCloud separately:

I sync my Calendars to a Google Calendar, and my Reminders to iCloud on my iOS devices.  However, in Mountain Lion, this doesn't seem to be possible.
Is there some workaround to the limitation in the preference pane in OS X?

Yes you can. Just add your google account from System Preferences as usual. Then open iCal > Preferences > Accounts > iCloud and untick "Enable this account"


Recovering from Laptop HDD crash My Windows 7 Laptop HDD crashed. I bought a new HDD and installed Windows on it. I also installed iTunes.

I'm patting myself on the back for setting up full backups of my laptop to an external HDD. I have a backup taken from 2 weeks ago!

All my songs are on an external drive, but I do not have an XML copy of my library.

What do I have to do to restore my iTunes content from the backup?

Reimport the content to your library from the external hard drive. Go to File - Add folder to library and select the folder where your iTunes content is. I would recommend having it copy files to iTunes Media Folder when adding to Library from Edit->Preferences->Advanced. Your playlists and podcast subscriptions probably won't be restored but at least you'll have your content back.


Arrow keys output numbers when connecting to Ubuntu VirtualBox guest on Windows 7 host via remote desktop connection I have a Ubuntu guest running on my Windows 7 host.  I then wanted to connect remotely from my Macbook Air in bed, and so accessed the VM via Microsoft's OSX remote desktop client.  I'm able to successfully connect to the Ubuntu guest VM, however my Macbook Air's arrow keys output numbers when pressed making it impossible to navigate with them (a big problem for coding).

Additionally, the touchpad is hyper-sensitive when using two fingers to scroll on the page.

I found a random forum post suggesting to turn off Numlock on the Windows host machine which I did, however nothing changed (even after rebooting the VM and reconnecting).

How can I fix the arrow keys so they function as arrow keys?

The problem is that the NumLock state gets stuck to On inside the RDP client. Tools like numlockx don't help - the client returns the state back to On. It's not just the allow keys that stop working - Ins, Del, Home, End, PgUp and PgDown are affected as well. The solution I found is to remove all references to keypad keys affected by NumLock from the xmodmap settings. To do that, run on the guest

xmodmap -pke | sed 's/KP_\([^ ]*\) KP_.*/\1/' > $HOME/.xmodmap

.xmodmap will be loaded on the next login. To load it immediately, run

xmodmap $HOME/.xmodmap

Alternatively, use the newer version of the RDP client (Microsoft Remote Desktop 10). It fixes the arrows. It's a full rewrite of Microsoft Remote Desktop, it has its own issues with the Insert key and middle mouse button.


View the actual configuration of a remote printer Someone in the office set up printing from a Mac to a printer connected through USB to a Windows computer (the only Windows computer in the office).  He can't remember how he set it up and no one else can get a configuration to work.

Viewing the print queue settings or options doesn't tell us much.

How can we see the detailed configuration?

Please note, this question is not about getting the printer to work, it is only about reviewing the details of an already configured remote printer so that it can be identically set up on another Mac.

The working computer is running OS 10.8.4.  We want to export to 10.8 and 10.7

Lets see if this works for you:

Using the one Computer that successfully made the connection to the printer to find out the printers information.

How to Set or Change Default Print Settings on Mac OS X, using CUPS interface which is an Apple’s printing system.

http://localhost:631/printers

You might get an Message saying the access is blocked (that is normal setting).

Open Terminal and copy paste following:

sudo cupsctl WebInterface=yes

Enter the password (system password)

Open the Link now and you will be presented with the printers administration screen.


Why does MacbookPro Retina require the dedicated GPU to access external displays? This is a general graphics question although I would especially like to apply it to my Early 2013 Macbook Pro Retina 15". I have gfxCardStatus running and whenever I connect one of my 1280x1024 or 1920x1200 external monitors, it tells me it has to switch to the dedicated graphics chip to continue running - and promptly the battery indicator in the top menu bar recalculates a significantly lower remaining time (when running on battery). Here is another example where connecting multiple external screens made the fans in the Macbook Pro go mad and the whole system react slowly even when otherwise idle.

This confuses me for two reasons.

My old Macbook Pro (2009, non-retina, internal GFX) could effortlessly drive the same external display with only an internal graphics chip. Why can the new Macbook Pro not do that?
I have been using multiple monitors since 2000 when I bought my first TFT and hooked it up to the second output of my NVIDIA Geforce2 card. Why do graphics cards in 2013 choke at driving three or four screens when graphics cards in 2000 could do two easily (even with 3D support) and hardware nowadays is several orders of magnitude faster?

It's likely that the external display connections are simply wired directly to the discrete GPU. The internal display is connected to a gmux chip that handles switching between GPUs and it probably would have been significantly more complex to route the 3 external ports the same way.

I think it's fair to assume that most users connecting external displays will have AC power available, so this seems like a fine way to simplify things.

It's definitely not an issue of graphical power - I use an external 2560x1440 monitor with the new Iris Pro-only 15" rMBP and previously used it with an Intel HD 3000-equipped 13" MBP, both of which handle it fine.


Transfer iPad games to external hard drive? I have a 16gb iPad 2. Most of the space is taken up by games and it's hard figuring out what games I want to remove to open up space. Is there a way to transfer the games wirelessly to an external hard drive? I know on Android, you can transfer games to a micro sd card. Not sure if it's possible on an iOS device.

No, unless the device is jailbroken. Without jailbreaking, the applications can't be transferred elsewhere and remain useable.


Apple Mail App :: "Erase Junk Mail" is greyed out I'm running OS X El Capitan, and have 3 Gmail accounts signed into it. For some reason, the Erase Junk Mail menu option is greyed out. How can I use this option?

Go to mail>preferences>junk mail>under when junk mail arrives make sure options #2 move it to the Junk mailbox is selected and this should fix your problem immediately.

Let me know if you need any help, this is what worked for me after I let my junk mail build up to over 600, which was killing me, I can understand you want it gone! Should look like this:


How to keep PS1 changed in terminal? I'm able to change the terminal prefix with PS1="[\\W]$".

However, whenever I restart the terminal or open a new instance, it reverts to the default.

How can I make this change permanent?

Thanks!

Here's the content of ~/.profile file:

PS1="[\\W]\\$"

If both .bash_profile and .profile exist, bash reads only .bash_profile when opening a login shell. So try adding the line to .bash_profile instead.


Am i able to install Win 10 on a Macbook Pro '15 running Catalina (model no. 12,5) with/without bootcamp properly? I'm running Catalina 10.15 on this 5 year old Macbook Pro, and i was wondering if it could install the free version of Win 10 (possibly upgrading to full Windows 10 Home after) with the installer or media creation tool, preferably. I've researched other people change to Windows only using third-party tools not Bootcamp only (creating a partition for the OS, have a USB stick, then deleting macos and finally adding the drivers and programs needed).

Bootcamp would be my other choice of course if it isn't possible with either the model i have or macOS version. Hoping to have just Windows 10 on it because i am fed up with macOS and its limitations (don't know why i bought it back then, lol). Heard bootcamp does have a few kinks like boot time and other software stuff on Mac so thats why i'm not planning to do it like that.

So if anyone that knows all this well could get me through this, it'd be cool! Am decent with computers and all but not too savvy on Macs/macOS. Thanks.

If you wish to create a USB Windows 10 installer, the process if fairly simple.

Use the Boot Camp Assistant to download the Windows Support Software (the drivers).
Download the Windows 10 ISO from this website.
Erase a 16 GB or larger flash drive. Use the Master Boot Record scheme and ExFAT format.
Copy the files from the Windows Support Software download and Windows 10 ISO to the flash drive.

If you do not wish to use the Boot Camp Assistant to install Windows 10 to the internal drive, then apply the following steps.

If you are going to keep some existing partitions, then create free space or contiguous partitions which can be deleted during the Windows installation.
Restart the Mac and hold down the option key until the Mac Startup Manager icons appear.
Select the EFI Boot under the external drive icon.
When asked for a Product Key, you can select to skip this step. If you skip, then at some point (30 days?) you will need to enter a product key.
During the installation, either erase the entire internal drive or install to available free space. This may require first deleting any unneeded partitions.


EPUB files are not syncing through iCloud for iBooks along with iOS 9.3 Since 21 March 2016, I am able to sync any books via icloud between devices. It works pretty good for pdf. But it doesnt work for EPUB files. I have downloaded for my iPhone some EPUB file from the website and saved to iBooks, but it didn't appear on my another device, while the pdf did appear.

What is wrong?

In iOS iBooks try tapping the "Collections" selector top center of the app below the system time and turning OFF "Hide iCloud Books".


Do application leftovers have any impact on performance? Apparently, uninstalling an app by dragging it to the bin may leave application leftovers in some folders (such as Library/Preferences/, Library/Applications Support/, Library/StartupItems/ etc...). Several sites explain how removing such leftovers can increase disk space.

However, I have no problem with storage. So, this is my question: apart from taking up disk space, do these application leftovers have any negative impact on performance?

Application preferences and caches will not have any impact on system performance, but if there are leftover startup daemons running, etc., there could absolutely be a performance penalty. There is no way to know for certain how much of an impact there could be. The best advice I can offer is to always check the application developer's uninstall guidelines. Some applications utilize uninstaller applications to ensure all the application support files are removed.


How do I make a volume mounted using sudo sshfs visible without sudo? After upgrading my Mac to macOS Sierra (10.12.5), I upgraded FUSE for macOS (https://osxfuse.github.io) to the latest stable releases: FUSE for macOS 3.6.3 and SSHFS 2.5.0.

But now this no longer works:

$ sudo mkdir -p /Volumes/ssh_fs_5810 && sshfs dspitzer@dspitzer-5810:/home/CORP/dspitzer /Volumes/ssh_fs_5810/
mount_osxfuse: failed to mount /Volumes/ssh_fs_5810@/dev/osxfuse0: Operation not permitted

/Volumes/ssh_fs_5810 exists:

$ ls /Volumes
Macintosh HD ssh_fs_5810

Apparently sshfs now requires sudo:

$ sudo sshfs dspitzer@dspitzer-5810:/home/CORP/dspitzer /Volumes/ssh_fs_5810/
dspitzer@dspitzer-5810's password:

But now /Volumes/ssh_fs_5810/ is not visible without sudo:

$ ls /Volumes
ls: ssh_fs_5810: No such file or directory
Macintosh HD
$ sudo ls /Volumes
Macintosh HD    ssh_fs_5810
$ sudo ls /Volumes/ssh_fs_5810
.ICEauthority           .ssh
...

How do I make /Volumes/ssh_fs_5810/ (the directory I mount into using sudo sshfs) visible without sudo?

Update (addressing SteppingHat's comment):

Yes, the owner of /Volumes/ssh_fs_5810/ is root:

$ sudo ls -l /Volumes
Password:
total 16
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root      wheel     1 Aug 22 16:09 Macintosh HD -> /
drwxr-xr-x@ 1 root      wheel  4096 Aug 22 16:06 ssh_fs_5810

But this doesn't work:

$ sudo chown dspitzer:admin /Volumes/ssh_fs_5810/
chown: /Volumes/ssh_fs_5810/: Operation not permitted

And note above, /Volumes/ssh_fs_5810/ is visible after I create it using sudo, but not after sudo sshfs:

$ sudo umount -f /Volumes/ssh_fs_5810
$ sudo ls -l /Volumes
total 8
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root      wheel    1 Aug 22 16:09 Macintosh HD -> /
$ sudo mkdir /Volumes/ssh_fs_5810/
$ sudo ls -l /Volumes
total 8
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root      wheel    1 Aug 22 16:09 Macintosh HD -> /
drwxr-xr-x+ 2 root      wheel   68 Aug 22 18:05 ssh_fs_5810
$ ls /Volumes
Macintosh HD sh_fs_5810

Update #2 (in response to klanomath's "I've tested my alternative proposal..." comment on his answer below):

Here's what happened when I tried klanomath's alternative proposal:

$ ls /Volumes
Macintosh HD
$ sudo mkdir -p /Volumes/ssh_fs_5810
$ ls /Volumes
Macintosh HD ssh_fs_5810
$ sudo sshfs dspitzer@dspitzer-5810:/home/CORP/dspitzer /Volumes/ssh_fs_5810/
dspitzer@dspitzer-5810's password:
$ ls /Volumes
ls: ssh_fs_5810: No such file or directory
Macintosh HD
$ sudo chown dspitzer:admin /Volumes/ssh_fs_5810/
chown: /Volumes/ssh_fs_5810/: Operation not permitted
$ ls /Volumes
ls: ssh_fs_5810: No such file or directory
Macintosh HD
$ sudo ls /Volumes
Macintosh HD    ssh_fs_5810

Create a mount point in your user's realm and mount it there:

mkdir -p ~/Shares/ssh_fs_5810 && sshfs dspitzer@dspitzer-5810:/home/CORP/dspitzer ~/Shares/ssh_fs_5810/

As an alternative you can add a sudo chown command after creating the mount point in your example (mounting to a subfolder of /Volumes):

... && sudo chown %user%:%group% /Volumes/ssh_fs_5810 ...

with %user%: dspitzer and %group%: staff (or admin - depends on your user privs).

The total command is then:

sudo mkdir -p /Volumes/ssh_fs_5810 && sudo chown dspitzer:admin /Volumes/ssh_fs_5810 && sshfs dspitzer@dspitzer-5810:/home/CORP/dspitzer /Volumes/ssh_fs_5810

Running this command for the very first time seems to be rocky sometimes. Connecting to the remote host via ssh first (to add the remote host to the known_hosts file) and/or adding two times sleep 0.5 in between may help.


What is the difference between developer.apple.com and iTunes Connect? The two sites seem to be related, but I don't understand the conceptual difference between them.

developer.apple.com is the developer portal with access to documentation, videos, tools etc. required to develop software for macOS, iOS, watchOS etc.
iTunes Connect is the entry portal to the App Store used to manage content on the iTunes Store and Apple Books.


How do I force text messages to send and receive via iMessage? When I chat with two of my friends (say A. and T.), our iPhones use text instead of iMessage. It used to work using iMessage, but one day, it switched to text. A, T and myself otherwise use iMessage with other contacts without any problem. It's only A <-> me and T <-> me which uses text.

How do I reset iMessage in order to re-enable it with these two friends?

Try disabling iMessage in Settings → Messages → iMessage. Turn it off and then turn it back on. After doing this, close all apps and restart your phone by holding down the Lock button and the Home button for ten seconds. If this does not resolve the issue, it may related to the other users' devices.

You can also try restoring your iPhone though iTunes and setting up as a new device if you don't believe it's related to the other users.


Typing lag on SE sites - Safari This is a strange one & only seems to affect text entry [questions, answers & comments] on SE sites. I've not really noticed it anywhere else, but this is where I do most of my web-site typing.

As I start to type into a text field, all is well, but the longer I type, the slower the input gets, until eventually I can be  half a sentence in front of what's appearing on screen. [It's doing it now, as I type this question]

First thoughts would be RAM/paging, CPU busy, overall computer speed - however, I have 64GB RAM, about 12GB in use, swap is 0 bytes; CPU is doing about 2% right now; machine is a Mac Pro 5,1 3.46GHz 12-core.

I've tested using a completely clean admin account, in case of any legacy prefs/extension issues etc [as this is a migration from an older machine], with the same results, typing lag after just 2 or 3 lines of text.

This also used to happen on my old machine, Mac Pro 3,1 2.8GHz 8-core, so it's not machine-specific.

I just discovered it doesn't appear to affect Chrome, so I'm suspecting Safari itself more than anything else.

I've tried disabling all Edit > Spelling & Grammar and all Substitutions with no improvement.

OS X 10.10.4 Safari 8.0.7 - though it's not been exclusive to those versions, it is getting worse over time.

I'd appreciate any further troubleshooting ideas, or even just confirmation that anyone else may have seen this behaviour.

I guess we should mark this one down as
"El Capitan & Safari 9 fixed it"

I no longer see anything like the 'lag' I was getting before & all behaves as it should.


Where is my .bash_profile located? (Mac OS 10.10.5) Disclamer: I am a newbie to UNIX programming.

I downloaded Anaconda but then realized that I did not need it. I deleted and uninstalled it as fully as I could find out how. It seems that everything to do with Anaconda is gone except that the $PATH variable retains paths to folders which no longer exist.

In the terminal when I type

echo $PATH

It returns

/Users/Name/anaconda/bin://anaconda/bin:/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.5/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/opt/X11/bin:/usr/texbin

How do I remove the Anaconda path? I know that I have to change the .bash_profile, but where exactly is the file located in Mac OS?

Two additional side questions:

1) is the 'Python.framework' path part of the built in Mac python distribution, or is that related to Anaconda as well?

2) what is the /opt/X11/bin related to in the path?

You can edit bash profile with vi ~/.bash_profile make sure the PATH was not added in ~/.bashrc or to /etc/profile

To remove the PATH you can either remove it from the file where it was added, or simply re export the ones you need export PATH=/here/is/one:/here/is/another


Restore a Mac to default state What is the best way to restore a new Mac (running Yosemite) to its "unused" state i.e. if you use a new mac to try it out, but have to return it to its owner, how can you make sure that any personal information (Apple ID, emails, web history, Pages Documents etc) on the Mac has been removed. I would like to do something similar to how you can delete all user data on an iPhone i.e. without having to format the disk and re-install the OS.
To be clear, I do not want to save anything from the Mac, but purely to restore it to "factory fresh" state.

For the OSX factory reset, backup all your data, then restart your Mac and hold down Command + R key. Use Disk Utility to erase the hard drive. Click on Disk Utility > Continue. Select the main volume and click Unmount then Erase. Quit Disk Utility. Click Reinstall OS X and Continue. Follow the instructions to reinstall Mac OS X.

For IOS, go to Settings/General/Reset and select Erase All Content and Settings


Does Apple provide notifications if device is hacked I recently used an app that was for live wallpapers and then got a pop up that made a beeping sound (like the typical bomb from movies).  I read some reviews of the app which describe the message as a scam, but for the future does apple even provide this type of message?

Link to the google search of the app cover for the app I was using when the incident occured

Link to img search of app cover of app I downloaded minutes before this one that may have also caused the incident (This one did lag which is a symptom listed for a virus, but also my device is sort of outdated and doesn't get updated any more so maybe the app is too updated

1st link used for research

2nd site used for research

No, any scary popup about viruses on any computer can safely be ignored. An actual message from an actual virus scanner (which doesn’t exist on iOS anyway) will be more measured.


Is it impossible to delete/move a file named "␀" on mac? When I try to move, rename, or delete a file named ␀in Finder, I get this error message:

  The operation can't be completed, because an unexpected error occured (error code -50).

With mv, rm or find -delete in Terminal

 rm: /Library/␀: Invalid argument
 mv: rename /Library/␀ to /tmp/␀: Invalid argument
 find: -delete: unlink(/Library/␀): Invalid argument

Can I move or delete this file in Mac OS X or do I have to use another operating system?

I even tried creating a file with this name in /tmp and it has not gone away since 8 reboots.

You can attempt to remove the file by its inode number. List the files in /Library
with the -i option

ls -il /Library

The first column is the inode number of the file. Then use find

find /Library -inum XXXXXXX -delete

where XXXXXX is the inode number of the file.


Option + b results in ∫ Instead of Jumping Back a Word Just got a new MacBook Pro and can't seem to recall how to get the emacs bindings to work in the general MacOSX GUI.  On my old Mac Option + b went back a word and Option + f went forward a word.  Option + d deleted a word.

Still works fine in the terminal.

For Reference: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/162896/emacs-on-mac-os-x-leopard-key-bindings

Option-B has always been mapped to ∫ in OS X, and option-B has never been mapped to jumping back a word in emacs. What you're thinking of is the meta-B shortcut, which is only sometimes mapped to the option key depending on the app. In the Terminal you can enable it by going to Preferences > Settings > Keyboard and checking "Use option as meta key".

You're also probably confusing it with the Ctrl-B keyboard shortcut to jump back one character. That's the emacs shortcut that is available in all OS X apps. You can jump back one word using option-Ctrl-B, delete one word using option-Ctrl-D, etc.

If you want to use option-B and the other emacs shortcuts across all apps, you'll need to install some additional software for triggering the emacs behaviors when pressing the OS X keyboard combinations, as seen in this thread:

Emacsify OSX throughout: word-forward (⌥ + F) and word-backward (⌥ + B) instead of 'special characters'?


Aperture can't see certain files for importing Directory of miscellaneous jpegs that I want to bring into Aperture to keyword and export at web resolutions.

So they are on /Volumes/Bugkiller/temppix

When I go to import them, the directory appears blank.

Permissions:

/Volumes/Bugkiller/Temppix
816 ==> ls -ld .
drwxr-xr-x  59 sherwood  staff  2006  9 Jan 20:47 .

-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff   303401 30 Dec 10:03 Ceileidh+Radar.jpg
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff    98669  9 Jan 16:37 LarchInSummer-Big.jpg
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff   176272  9 Jan 16:40 LarchOnLakeInFall.jpg
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff   107908  9 Jan 16:35 Larix-Fall_colour.jpg
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff  1770468  7 Jan 10:13 Manitoba_Maple-male-flowers.jpg
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff  1760805  7 Jan 10:14 Manitoba_Maple-new-leaves.jpg
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff  1291674  7 Jan 10:14 Manitoba_Maple-seeds.jpg
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff   257811 16 Aug 06:55 SB-willmore (1).jpg
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff   227425 29 Jul 15:27 SB-willmore.jpg
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff   154776  6 Oct 19:01 Unknown_Plant2_1.jpg
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff   176432  6 Oct 19:01 Unknown_Plant2_2.jpg
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff   179114  6 Oct 19:01 Unknown_Plant2_3.jpg
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff   154398  6 Oct 19:01 Unknown_Plant2_4.jpg
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff   330779  6 Oct 19:01 Unknown_Plant2_5.jpg
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff   249686  6 Oct 19:01 Unknown_Plant2_6.jpg
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff   186695  6 Oct 19:01 Unknown_Plant2_7.jpg
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff   332698  6 Oct 19:01 Unknown_Plant2_8.jpg
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff   304529  6 Oct 01:36 Unknown_Plant_1.jpg
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff   313172  6 Oct 01:36 Unknown_Plant_2.jpg
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff   322168  6 Oct 01:36 Unknown_Plant_3.jpg
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff   308523  6 Oct 01:36 Unknown_Plant_4.jpg
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff   410239  6 Oct 01:36 Unknown_Plant_5.jpg
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff   411188  5 Dec 15:19 What flower?.jpg

In this directory they are all visible:

/Volumes/Bugkiller
819 ==> ls -ld NikonTransfer/
drwxr-xr-x  705 sherwood  staff  23970  3 Jan 16:21 NikonTransfer/
/Volumes/Bugkiller

/Volumes/Bugkiller
821 ==> ls -l NikonTransfer/ | head
total 29007472
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff  15034112 28 Oct 19:10 2016-10-28_19-10-03.50.JPG
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff  15080790 28 Oct 19:10 2016-10-28_19-10-55.60.JPG
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff  11888291 28 Oct 19:11 2016-10-28_19-11-18.30.JPG
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff  13237397 28 Oct 19:11 2016-10-28_19-11-42.20.JPG
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff  16067523 29 Oct 14:31 2016-10-29_14-31-38.60.JPG
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff  15532431 29 Oct 14:32 2016-10-29_14-32-03.40.JPG
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff  14049542 29 Oct 14:32 2016-10-29_14-32-12.30.JPG
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff  16522512 29 Oct 14:32 2016-10-29_14-32-27.40.JPG
-rw-r--r--  1 sherwood  staff  16769283 29 Oct 14:32 2016-10-29_14-32-37.70.JPG

ls -l@ shows neither the directory nor the files with any extended attributes.

copying a file from NikonTransfer to Temppix, and the new file is not visible.

Navigating to this location in Finder shows the files.

A simple photo browser iSmartPhoto shows the files.

What am I missing?

Aperture can't see ".JPG" but can see ".jpg" and ".jpeg". I just went through a similar arduous process, name changing ".JPG" to ".jpg" and then re-importing hundreds of files; Aperture was then able to see them.

Capture 1 Pro8 was able to see both extensions; as I just wasted an hour, this has pushed me over the edge to abandon Aperture forever, which hurts, as I have used it professionally for many years. I recently updated to El Capitan, too, and this squirrelly behaviour re. these extensions started then.


Can iPad be upgraded to iOS8 if desktop is running lion? Question: Current hardware is a 2007 Mac mini running Lion. From what I read, I cannot upgrade to Yosemite (if incorrect, please let me know) but the question is that I also have an iPad 2 and will I be able to upgrade to iOS8 if only have Lion on the desktop/mac mini?

Per Apple's iTunes 12.0.1 support article, OS X v10.7.5 (last version of Lion) is the minimum requirement for iTunes 12, which in turn is required to sync a device that is running iOS 8.

Based on this, it can be done. Not sure if I'd want to (performance may be horrendous in iTunes on hardware that is closing in on a decade old, and that wasn't particularly powerful even in its time) but it's possible.

You're probably safe til next September/October when iOS 9 (will presumably) be released - it will probably align with iTunes 13 that would almost certainly drop Lion support.


Can I reset app windows to default size/position? I was just wondering if there is a way to reset app windows like Mail or Finder to there default size and position. Is this possible and so yes, how?

Thanks in advance.

Window size preferences are generally stored in the .plist files found in
/HD/Users/YourName/Library/Preferences

You may need to enable hidden files by using:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES  in command line, followed by a relaunch of Finder.

As an example, for Finder the file is called com.apple.finder.plist and the window state information is under the key WindowState for each different type of finder window (e.g. standard folder, searchview...) Other applications have similar naming (ctrl+F is your friend here!), e.g. the Fontbook app uses the NSWindowFrame key.

You should be able to safely remove the window state information as it get auto read from defaults database anyway.

Having said all that, this doesn't appear to work for a few applications such as Maps and Mail (which is what you want unfortunately). But hey, it's a start.

(Also apologies for the lack of codeblocks, they are refusing to show up for some reason)


Apple network share - how do I restrict access for user or staff group? I have a Mac mini acting as a file share server with external hard drive as a 'shared drive'.

I have separate accounts for each user. Previously they were all in the same 'Team' group and could read and write every subfolder in the 'shared drive'.

However I have a new user that should only be able to access one subfolder, so I'd like to restrict permission for that user. However when I look at the info of the folder on the shared drive, there is no option to remove 'staff' group from permissions list.

If I create a folder on the system hard drive I can see the 'staff' group permission and can remove it. However on the external drive there is no option.

Edit: I figured out that I had 'Ignore ownership' enabled on the external drive which allowed any registered user to connect. I disabled this and re-enabled permissions on each subfolder which allowed me to finely control access.

I'd probably change the group from staff to something else. Or remove the group access using:

chmod g-rwx /path/to/folder


On the iPhone, can I let YouTube run in the background and play the audio while I use other apps? For example, if there is some live stream, or some videos that I can just listen to, and then I'd like to use other apps such as Gmail or Facebook, can I go to those apps without YouTube interrupting the video?

Currently YouTube stops playing the video when I go to another app.

You'll need to signup for YouTube Premium to have this feature. You can signup here:

https://www.youtube.com/premium

The price is currently 11.99$ per month.

A free method of achieving something similar is to use a non-Safari browser such as Opera Mini, and open youtube.com in that browser. Start the video, exit the browser and the audio stops. Then swipe up from the bottom to access the Control Center, you'll see playback controls in there for the YouTube contents. Press play to keep the audio playing.


Custom Data Labels in Numbers Chart? I have 3 columns of data that I'm using for a scatterplot.  X variable, Y variable, and Year.  I have the chart working properly for the data but cannot find anyway of labeling each point with the corresponding year.

Am I just being thick here?

Welcome to Ask Different!

I hope I am wrong but I don't think the answer for Numbers has changed ("in general, there is no practical way of doing it outside text boxes") since this question and its answer were posted a few years ago.


Resetting Advertising ID on iPad does not work? I'm really really sick and tired of these websites showing me ads 'in my interest'. So I did some research and 99% of the answers from nearly 20 sources say to reset advertising ID and turn on limit ad tracking.

I do this and there is no change. I clear cookies, passwords, auto fill, cache, and browsing history. Every piece of browsing data has been terminated (including uninstalling/reinstalling browsers AND restarting iPad) (RIP saved passwords, your cause went to nothing)

No matter how many times I do this "simple and ONLY fix" available within 6 pages of web searching, it fails to un-personalize ads.
I tried getting the services that were tracking me to clear the data they have on me, but no avail.

Conclusion: I'm at a dead end with no leads.

I've been at this for hours.
Can someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong? And if I hear "click reset advertisement ID and check limit ad tracking" (without extra instructions) one more forsaken time, I will break.

I'm running IOS 10.3.3 ipad(mk9p2ll/a).
I don't plan on updating unless my current version is PRECISELY the issue here.

If I were to try and think why it's not working, I'd figure this much:

Maybe it's not my browser or ad id (I think this because the same exact trash is happening on my pc) (Maybe my IP is being used for ad tracking?)

Or maybe I'm just an idiot wasting everyone's time because he doesn't know anything else than "clear browser data" and "click reset ads" that google displays for a good 6 pages.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205223 explains what is under Apple's control.

  Ads that are delivered by Apple’s advertising platform may appear in the App Store on iOS, Apple News, and Stocks.

Other websites use a lot of other methods to collect advertising data

  including browser cookies, mobile advertising identifiers as well as other non-cookie technologies *

Although Safari limits tracking by "Intelligent Tracking Prevention", "Fingerprinting defence" etc., it is not fully preventable against the trackers.

What you can try is to install ad and tracker blockers. You might want to look into their permission to read and transfer content.

Also, opt-out of Google Adsense can reduce the "Behavioural" Advertising. You'll still see ads, just less relevant.
https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/142293?hl=en

*From  http://optout.networkadvertising.org/?c=1