What is the "wake for wifi network access" setting in energy preferences? Can anyone explain the "wake for wifi network access" setting in energy preferences for me?  I do not understand it.

Wake for wifi network access (aka Wake on Demand but with Wifi) allows your computer to be brought out of sleep mode when someone else on the network requests access to a service on your computer eg. File sharing.

From this Apple KB article

  Wake on Demand helps you save energy and reduce costs while still
  ensuring full access to all your shared files and devices, even
  remotely across the Internet. Wake on Demand works by partnering with
  a service running on your AirPort Base Station or Time Capsule called
  Bonjour Sleep Proxy. When Wake on Demand is enabled, any Mac on your
  network running OS X will automatically register itself and its shared
  items with the Bonjour Sleep Proxy. When a request is made to access a
  shared item on a Mac running OS X, the Bonjour Sleep Proxy asks that
  Mac to wake and handle the request. Once that request is complete, the
  Mac will go back to sleep at its regularly-scheduled interval as set
  in the Computer Sleep section of the Energy Saver preferences pane.


Using applescript to create spaces and launch apps So the end goal of what I am looking to do is this:

When I am at work I use an external monitor with my MBP.  I have a consistent set of spaces and apps that I setup everyday.  What I would like to do is create an applescript or combination of applescript & automator application that once launched will create the needed number of spaces on each monitor and open then the appropriate apps into each space.

I don't know if this is best accomplished completely in applescript or as I said using a combination of applescript to create the spaces and automator to open the bulk of the applications and browser windows that I use.

To add one Desktop Space to each monitor/display:

do shell script "/Applications/Mission\\ Control.app/Contents/MacOS/Mission\\ Control"
delay 0.5
tell application "System Events" to click (every button whose value of attribute "AXDescription" is "add desktop") of group 1 of process "Dock"
delay 0.5
do shell script "/Applications/Mission\\ Control.app/Contents/MacOS/Mission\\ Control 1"

One can modify the code to add more desktops.

To switch to a particular desktop / fullscreen app in a dual display setting, e.g. Desktop 3:

do shell script "/Applications/Mission\\ Control.app/Contents/MacOS/Mission\\ Control"
delay 0.5
try
    tell application "System Events" to click (first button whose value of attribute "AXDescription" is "exit to Desktop 3") of list 1 of group 1 of process "Dock"
on error
    tell application "System Events" to click (first button whose value of attribute "AXDescription" is "exit to Desktop 3") of list 2 of group 1 of process "Dock"

end try

There are discussions out there about turning an app to fullscreen mode with script.


How Do I Upgrade VirtualBox from the Command Line I need to remotely log into a Mac to upgrade VirtualBox.  The problem is screen sharing is just abysmally slow and I don't want to use 3rd party screen sharing utilities.  I prefer to do this in Terminal (SSH) as it's much more efficient for me.

Is there a way to upgrade VirtualBox from the command line?

How to upgrade VirtualBox via the Command Line in macOS - 5 steps!

This is a quick guide on how to upgrade (install) VirtualBox from the command line.   It will involve mounting a .dmg, installing a .pkg, and finally upgrading (installing) the Extension Pack.

Prerequisites

This guide assumes you have already downloaded the required files found on https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads and have sudo privileges.

You also need the names or UUIDS of the running VMs. You can get that by using the VBoxManage list runningvms command.  Remember if you use the VM name and it has spaces, you must encapsulate it in quotes.  Example: VBoxManage showvminfo "My VM"

1.  Shutdown all running VMs and VirtualBox Application

Shutting down VMs is as simple as logging in and powering down the VM.  However, since this is "Terminal only" solution, we need to look at the savestate function in VBoxManage.

VBoxManage controlvm <vmname|UUID> savestate

Issue that command for each VM by name or UUID and it will automatically save the "position" of the running VM and then close it.  This is equivalent to selecting the Close item in Machine Menu of the VirtualBox GUI.

Note:  This is not like "pulling the plug"  This will save the machine state so that when you power back on, it will pick up right where it left off.

Next, we need to make sure the VirtualBox GUI (management console) isn't running.  To kill the VirtualBox GUI, just issue the command:

killall VirtualBox

2.  Mount the VirtualBox Installation .dmg1

hdiutil attach ~/Downloads/VirtualBox-Version.dmg

You will see several "Checksumming" messages and when finished, you will see the disks and mount point that the image was attached to similar to below (these device identifiers and names will differ from yours):

/dev/disk5              GUID_partition_scheme
/dev/disk5s1            Apple_HFS                       /Volumes/VirtualBox

The important piece is /Volumes/VirtualBox.  This is where the installer will be located.

3. Install the .pkg2

Next, we're going to run the installer to install the .pkg file. Located on the volume we just mounted.

sudo installer -pkg /Volumes/VirtualBox/VirtualBox.pkg -target /

If you get the following message, go back to step 1

installer: Error - The installer has detected running virtual machines. Please shut down all running VirtualBox machines and then restart the installation

If all goes well, you should see the following message:

installer: Package name is Oracle VM VirtualBox
installer: Upgrading at base path /
installer: The upgrade was successful.

You can verify that the new version was installed by issuing the command:

VBoxManage --version

4. Install the Extension Pack

To upgrade the Extension Pack, you need to remove the old one and install the new one.  You can use the VirtualBoxManage extpack uninstall [--force] { name } and VBoxManage extpack install {tarball} commands, but luckily, Oracle provided us with a --replace option to do it in one step:

sudo VBoxManage extpack install --replace ~/Downloads/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-version.vbox-extpack

There will be some license terms, simply enter "Y" to accept.  If successful, you will see the following message:

Successfully installed "Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack".

5. Restart your VMs and Eject Your Volume

Success!  You're all done.  Restart your VMs as needed

VBoxManage startvm <vmname|UUID> [--type headless|GUI|seperate]

Most of my VMs are headless boxes so I issue the command with the --type headless option

VBoxManage startvm "FreeBSD" --type headless

Don't forget to eject the installation media volume.  You won't want unsuspecting users coming in and finding attached volumes!

hdiutil eject /Volumes/VirtualBox

References and further reading

1Is there a command to install a dmg

2Installing .pkg with terminal ?

VBManage Reference Manual


Forcing bluetooth for iPhone incoming calls Is there anyway to force the iPhone to always use Bluetooth for incoming calls? - I'm on a motorcycle and have my iPhone set to auto answer calls, problem is it answers with the built in iPhone headphone/microphone instead of the paired and connected bluetooth headset.

I also cannot answer with the button on the bluetooth headset as it is inside my helmet.

Any ideas? - My iPhone is jailbroken if that helps.

There's no way to do this via the iPhone itself, but there are voice-controlled Bluetooth headsets (such as the BlueAnt Q2) that would allow you to take the call on the headset without pushing a button.


What happened to my MacOS? After I put my MacBook to sleep, like I always do; the following day,  I open the lid and it’s off for some reason. I turn it on and it powers up. I select my user account and enter the password. It loads and then freezes/hangs about half way through. It then reboots and loads some weird screen saying and macOS installation failed either restart, shut down, show log/save log.

What the is that exactly? Did my OS got corrupted for some reason? What should I do now?

If you can boot to Recovery HD,  then you can check for a local Time Machine back up or external drive backup and make a decision.

Data is most important, so take the Mac to another Mac and use target disk mode or an external drive to get a known good backup off the drive. This assumes your drive or the Mac is failing and this isn’t just a software error and time you spend looking at the logs or trying to fix it delays the chance to save your data on a good drive.
Dig a little into the error and try a reinstall of the os. This assumes the data is intact and you’re Ok risking loss and playing the odds.
Find a technician or spend time learning about the console and boot process and specific boot error (see the logs or boot in verbose mode) to remedy a specific failure in the startup process.


Re-arrange items in checklist in Notes 4 app in El Capitan The Notes 4 app bundled with El Capitan is revamped. It now includes a checklist feature. This feature becomes available after you agree to "upgrade" (convert) your existing data.

Is there some way to re-order the items in a checklist?

I tried dragging, but I cannot find any thing on which to click to initiate the drag. I looked at the context menu, but no such item. The main menus offer a Format > Mark as Checked item, but nothing about moving items.

Drag and drop worked for me (OS Version: 10.11.1 (15B42)):

Here is the list

Select the line item that you want to move

3.Drag it to the new place (using cmd click)


Bug - Invisible Window (blue outline only) I've had a problem with the Notion desktop app where windows do not open, an invisible blue window "outline" is the only thing that is displayed. This problem has been around for months, it was not fixed by a restart or an uninstall / reinstall of Notion.

Today, this same identical problem spread to the Sublime app. Any ideas on how to proceed, troubleshoot, or resolve would be greatly appreciated. This is on Mojave 10.14.6 on a macbook pro.

[This answer not final until this sentence removed]

As I'm sure you know, troubleshooting is a process of elimination and often requires patience.

I would start with testing your MBP in Safe Mode to see how it behaves both during Safe Mode and afterwards.

Boot into Safe Mode

Follow these steps to boot your MBP into Safe Mode:

Fully shut down your MBP
Restart your MBP
Immediately press the Shift key and keep it down
Let go of the Shift key when you see the login window (NOTE: If you have FileVault enabled you may need to log in twice).
Take a note of what happens (i.e. use your MBP long enough to establish if the problem reappears.)
Exit Safe Mode by restarting your MBP as normal
Test again to see if the problem reappears

Let me know how you went and we'll go from there.


How do I allow new system preferences in profile manager? We're using Profile Manager on our group of Macs.  The System Preferences options are setup as a whitelist.  However, the profile manager doesn't know about certain options, so they get blocked by default when I'd like to be able to enable them (Example: Java Control Panel and Wacom Tablet settings).

Is there a way to tell Profile Manager that those things exist so that I can enable them (and keep the whitelisting model)?

You need to install the 3rd party control panel onto the Mac running the server - then they appear to be allowed or not.


Disable thumbnail generation in finder Is there a way to tell Finder to not peek inside or generate thumbnails for files based on a particular network share or folder?

I've got a tape archival system which  presents an SMB (Windows) network share to clients. Clients can see all the files and folders that have been put on the network share, and the data gets transparently archived to tape in the background leaving a small 'stub' file on disk. When a read request on a file is issued by a client, the tape system recalls the file from tape and sends it back to the client. The upshot is I get a large amount of cheap high-latency storage, but with a very simple network share interface.

However, there's a significant problem with Mac clients: when Finder sees a directory full of files, it attempts to generate thumbnails and read other data about the file. Finder assumes that it can get data relatively quickly, so when it sees a directory full of 100GB worth of mov files, it requests to read each one so that it can generate the thumbnails.

Predictably, this sends the tape drive crazy, as it tries to pull down each of these files from tape just to generate the thumbnails.

Ideally, I'd like to tell Finder to not read any data inside the file until it's explicitly asked for by the user, ie. they request to copy it to their local disk. Is this possible?

I don't know if this will work in your particular case, but you might as well try it.
Open the Samba share and press Command+J, then uncheck "Show icon preview" and click on "Use as defaults". This way the Finder won't try to extract info from the file to generate a thumbnail, no matter if it is an image, or a mp3, or a movie. However this would be valid only for the root directory you just changed the settings to, so the local hard drive stuff should be ok.


Compiling Swift 2 code I have an app which is written in Swift 2.1. Is it possible to build it in Xcode 9?

If not, how do I build it?

It will not be possible to build Swift 2 code in Xcode 9. You have two options:

Use the compatible version of Xcode (Xcode 7.x.x) and macOS (OS X El Capitan 10.11, or macOS Sierra 10.12) to build the app.
Migrate the codebase to a more recent version of Swift (3.x or 4.x) using the migration assistant built into a recent version of Xcode. Xcode 8 can migrate your code from Swift 2 to Swift 3.

It will not be possible to build Swift 2 code with Xcode 4 as it does not support Swift 2 (doesn't have the compiler).


AirPort Extreme disconnecting My AirPort Extreme routers started to disconnect multiple times a day, and all at the same time. Office2 and TV room stays green most of the time, but Daniel, Kitchen and Master Bedroom always disconnect. Once restarted - they always work, until they disconnect some number of hours later. This is a new problem. My network had been rock solid for years.
That could be the problem?

Over the past couple of weeks I have tried a number of things to fix my routers. I turned off IPv6 sharing, file sharing, renamed 2.4ghz and 5ghz networks to be on the same SSID (they were different before). Over time fewer routers were going down, until only 1 was a trouble spot. I reset that router to factory defaults and re-configured from scratch, but that did not hep.
At the same time, I kept getting email notifications from my thermostat’s cloud service, that it had been losing connection to the internet. I unplugged the thermostat from its power and after I did that, there were no more router problems.
I still don’t know the exact root cause. It has been 2 days of solid network stability. The thermostat has been in my house for 6-7 years, but it is of questionable brand that no one has heard of (Motison). Perhaps, it was poisoning the network.


how do i get my iTunes off 'guest user' & on to another user on same computer? I accidentally synced my phone for the first time under 'guest user' rather than my intended user?

If you already have all of your iTunes contents in your "Guest user" you can transfer your iTunes library contents from your Guest user account to an external hard disk using this tutorial:

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to-a-new-hard-drive/

Then transfer back the iTunes contents from your external hard drive back to your regular user account.


Locating the iBooks folder in iCloud Drive I'm using iCloud drive to sync my e-books via the iBooks app.

I noticed that the synced files show up in the All My Files view.  I tried to find out their exact location, it seems to be iCloud Drive / iBooks (via Cmd+I) but when I try to navigate there from iCloud Drive, the iBooks folder doesn't show up, even when I turn hidden files on.

Is that a bug or how come this behaviour?

I've been trying to figure out the same thing. I did discover that in terminal you can navigate to the following directory to see your iBooks:

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud~com~apple~iBooks/Documents

I have not figured out how to go here in Finder other than the method that you listed.


Can't Open Applications on Old Mac (OS X 10.4) I have a strange problem. I'm having to use an old PowerPC G4 in order to use DVD Studio Pro for a project I'm working on for a client. I have to use an old Mac and OS because the version of DVD Studio Pro I need to use in order to create the final deliverable is only available in DVD Studio Pro which doesn't work on Intel/modern Macs.

The specs of the computer are:

Processor: 800 MHz PowerPC G4
Memory: 1.25 GB SDRAM
Mac OS X 10.4.11

DVD Studio Pro was working fine up until recently and I can no longer open up the application. Every time I try to open the application it just hangs and I get the old loading spinner and it never goes away. The size of the project I'm working on is something around 6 GB so I figured it's just taking a while to load but I've left it running for several hours to no avail.

A couple questions:

Is there a way to determine where the program hangs? I'm not super familiar with application logs so I'm not sure exactly where to look for those. I'm sure those would give some insight. The app doesn't crash, it hangs and I have to Force Quit but I figure it couldn't hurt to look.
Could this possibly be a memory issue? And if so, are there any suggestions on what I can get to upgrade this computer so I can get through this project?

I tried to run the software through Parallels/Virtual Box etc and on a newer computer but there are a variety of reasons why that didn't work. I had it working fine (albeit very slowly) up until this past week.

Any help is greatly appreciate. Thanks!

Update

I turned on my Activity Monitor when I opened up DVD Studio Pro 3. To be clear, I opened up the application from the dock NOT by opening my project directly. I'm just trying to get the program to open up normally.

In the Activity Monitor, when I open up the application, these three processes start:

DSPX_AEncoderSer (Not Responding)
DSPX_EncoderServ (Not Responding)
DVD Studio Pro (Not Responding)

And as you can see they all stop responding. The DVD Studio Pro line item spikes to just over 50% CPU power and then stops responding. Nothing else on the system is eating up any resources.

You can look up the specs on a particular Mac at Everymac.com, which would tell you whether you can add RAM, and what the maximum is. The Everymac site allows you to look up a Mac by serial number, which you can get from the Apple Menu, About This Mac, then  "More Info...", which opens System Profiler. It will also tell you the Machine Model, which might be something like "PowerBook6,8", which can also be used to look up a given Mac's specs.

If you go down to "Memory" in the System Profiler list it will tell you the type of memory installed.

You also might want to watch Activity Monitor as you open the program to see what it does with memory usage. Can you open the program without loading the project you are working on, to make sure the program is OK, then try to open the project?


How do I install new Mac OS onto a new unformatted HD The HD crashed on my old MacBook (white Mid 2007) and appears to be unrecoverable.   Though I bought a new MacBook Pro, I would like to resurrect my old MacBook, by buying a new hard drive.  (It had an 80 GB drive, and those appear to be really inexpensive).

1)  Is there a way for me to get an OS onto my MacBook after I install the new HD?  (Can I do this myself?)  I think it had the Mac OS X Lion.

2)  I think that Apple keeps a record of my devices, and their OS's. If I went to the Apple Genius Bar, would they replace my OS for free and install it for me?

The MacBook 13" Mid 2007 is obsolete!  Meaning that even with the latest version of Mac OS X it supports, 10.7.5, the OS is no longer supported in any respect, has un-patched security flaws that will never be fixed. From a security standpoint, you'd be better off running a current version of Linux Mint then Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 on that MacBook.

That said, if you really want to run the latest Mac OS X that MacBook model supports, then you'll need to acquire a copy of the Install Mac OS X Lion.app application bundle and use DiskMaker X (formerly Lion DiskMaker) to create the USB Installer as it does not support the createinstallmedia command found in the application bundles of the OS X installers starting with OS X Mavericks and later.

If you previously purchased Mac OS X Lion, then I believe it should appear under Purchased in the App Store and can be downloaded again and if not then you'll have to ask a friend to see if it's in theirs.

Another possible option is to take the MacBook to an Apple Store and see if the Genius Bar can install a copy of Mac OS X Lion for you.


24" Intel iMac (2006) date and time keeps resetting on boot, even after new battery and NVRAM reset Since a week my iMac, running Snow Leopard, behaves strangely in two ways:

First, I always unplug the iMac when I don't use it. Now, when I plug it in, it immediately starts, without me pressing the On-button.

Second, after booting, the date and time are 1st of January, 2001, midnight. Several programs complain instantly. The IP address is something strange, certainly not the usual 192.168.X.Y address. As internet access, I use a network cable connected to a Devolo home-plug (connected to a fibre glass modem).

After two minutes of waiting, the iMac gets a normal IP address. One minute later, the date and time are what they should be.

First, when I googled the symptoms, the cause seemed easy: just replace the internal CR2032 battery. After all, it's 14 years old. I did that and it didn't help. It did change the volume of the startup chime though, it's much louder now.

Then I reset the NVRAM/PRAM, with the four button thing when booting. That helped for one boot, but on the second boot, 1st of January 2001.

I booted in Safe mode. Several times resetting NVRAM/PRAM. I checked the system settings, but they are what they have been the last 10 years.

Unfortunately, nothing seems to work. Is there anything else wrong with the machine? Is there some other battery that needs to be replaced?

Sometimes I booted the iMac without the Devolo, and used WiFi. Even when it did not have an internet connection, the time was always what it should be. So the strange IP address should not be the cause of the iMac not knowing the right date/time.

Because I had 1% uncertainty about how I had placed the new battery in its holder and because I wanted to make sure it was firmly in place, I reopened the iMac. And what did I behold? The battery holder is supposed to be connected to the motherboard on two places, the upper and bottom side. And the upper side was loose! This must have happened while prying out the old battery, that is an even trickier operation than I thought it was.

So that was the cause. Now I have the challenge of fixing this. Duct tape (to hold the battery holder down on the board) didn't help, I can tell you that by now. It should be soldered, but I have neither the equipment nor the skill to do that :-(


Vim mappings not working in OS X I have the following lines in my .vimrc for Ubuntu. They insert the current date as a string, and insert my signature at the bottom of the currently open file, respectively:

:map <F2> "=strftime("%B %d, %Y")<CR>Pli<Return><Esc>"
:map <F3> :e ~/.sign.txt<CR>ggV/^$<CR>k"*xG$a<C-R><C-O>*<Esc>:w<CR>:bd<CR>G$a<C-M><Esc>"*P

They're not working on my Macbook, though. The F2 command results in inserting "Q\n", and the F3 command results in inserting "R\n". How can I update these mappings to work on my Mac?

Put this in your .vimrc

" Mac specific fix for function keys
map <Esc>OP <F1>
map <Esc>OQ <F2>
map <Esc>OR <F3>
map <Esc>OS <F4>
map <Esc>[16~ <F5>
map <Esc>[17~ <F6>
map <Esc>[18~ <F7>
map <Esc>[19~ <F8>
map <Esc>[20~ <F9>
map <Esc>[21~ <F10>
map <Esc>[23~ <F11>
map <Esc>[24~ <F12>

From now on you can simply bind to <F1> for example


Center Window on Screen I'm creating a few screen casts and wanted to exactly center my windows in my screen. Any good way to do this on the Mac? I found an Apple Script example (and a few linked screens) but none of them support centering 'Terminal' vertically (although they do support centering other applications vertically).

I enjoy using SizeUp to manage windows, one of which is a center on screen option. Good luck.


Controlling a Mac remotely Is it possible to control the Mac remotely?

My parents live in different country other than where I'm living now, I think about giving one of my Mac to my parents to use iChat. As my parents are not good at using computers, I need to control the Mac remotely.

Is there any software tool for it?

The Mac comes with the server part of the software built-in for "Apple Remote Desktop"; They can be viewed and managed remotely if you have the client software. For most of us that's too expensive a solution, so an alternate is to use VNC. Check out JollysFastVNC and Chicken of the VNC.

Also, iChat, which comes with the Macs, can do screen sharing, which might be all you need. Check out "Share and share alike." from Apple's iChat site and "Sharing your screen with a buddy".


What is `intu-ec-client` listening on TCP port 8021? I'm wondering how I can either kill it or change the port it listens on.
Neither lsof -nP -i4TCP:8021 | grep LISTEN nor netstat -av | grep 8021 or launchctl list | awk 'NR>1 {print $3}' | xargs -I % sh -c 'launchctl list "%"' > launchctl.log give me the process ID so I can kill it or get more info.

So a colleague pointed me to a resource that kind of helps explaining the issue.
https://web.archive.org/web/20201014190758/https://lists.freeswitch.org/pipermail/freeswitch-users/2013-October/100619.html (kudos to @vikasgarg86 for finding  and sending me that link).
Turns out there is this native launchd service com.apple.ftp-proxy.plist living at /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.ftp-proxy.plist that fires /usr/libexec/ftp-proxy (https://github.com/drduh/macOS-Security-and-Privacy-Guide/blob/master/launchd/15B42_launchd.csv#L94) which apparently binds to TCP port  8021.
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
        <key>Disabled</key>
        <true/>
        <key>Label</key>
        <string>com.apple.ftp-proxy</string>
        <key>UserName</key>
        <string>_ftp</string>
        <key>Program</key>
        <string>/usr/libexec/ftp-proxy</string>
        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
                <string>ftp-proxy</string>
                <string>-p</string>
                <string>-n</string>
                <string>-V</string>
                <string>-D3</string>
                <string>-t1800</string>
        </array>
        <key>inetdCompatibility</key>
        <dict>
                <key>Wait</key>
                <false/>
        </dict>
        <key>Sockets</key>
        <dict>
                <key>Listeners</key>
                <dict>
                        <key>SockNodeName</key>
                        <string>localhost</string>
                        <key>SockServiceName</key>
                        <string>8021</string>
                        <key>SockType</key>
                        <string>stream</string>
                </dict>
        </dict>
</dict>
</plist>

However that's only half the way into actually understanding what is going on. What the original author of the conversation linked here couldn't figure and myself too, is how that service got there in the first place. Why is it even running? and what are the consequences of changing the port from 8021 to something else.
Please comment bellow if you know the answers.
By the way sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.ftp-proxy.plist does the job of stopping the service.


Dual boot: I cannot boot in OS-X, after installing Linux (Debian) After swapping the DVD drive with an SSD, I installed Debian Linux on it. I left the original SSD with OS-X untouched.

After a reboot, OS-X (El Capitan) started.
After another reboot, pressing Command-R, Linux started.
After yet another reboot, without pressing any key, Linux started by default, without the option to boot OS-X.

How can I have the option to boot in OS-X again? Do I have to set grub somehow?

I am using a MacBook Pro 17" 2009 with the original drive running Mac OS X El Capitain.

This is the output of diskutil list:

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *251.0 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            250.1 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk1
   1:                        EFI                         248.5 MB   disk1s1
   2:                 Linux Swap                         16.0 GB    disk1s2
   3:           Linux Filesystem                         150.0 GB   disk1s3
   4:           Linux Filesystem                         300.0 GB   disk1s4
   5:                  Apple_HFS shared                  20.0 GB    disk1s5

I installed debian on my computer. I probably did not choose the same configuration as you did. The output from diskutil list disk1 is shown below.

/dev/disk1 (external, virtual):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        +109.3 GB   disk1
   1:                        EFI NO NAME                 536.9 MB   disk1s1
   2:           Linux Filesystem                         30.0 GB    disk1s2
   3:                 Linux Swap                         1.1 GB     disk1s3
   4:           Linux Filesystem                         77.7 GB    disk1s4

The output above shows the label on my disk1s1 is NO NAME. What concerns me about your output from diskutil list is that there is no label given for disk1s1. Your comment states you can not mount this volume. My conclusion is the FAT32 volume was never created in this partition. One possible explanation is your installation of debian never completed correctly.

Another possibility is you have not included all the steps you preformed before posting your question. For example, it is fairly unlikely the debian installer added partition with the identifier of disk1s5.

If you had installed Debian correctly to your second internal disk, then you have to preform the following steps in macOS to finish the installation. Here, I assume 64 bit version of Debian was installed to use the EFI boot method.

The steps below copy the boot file for grub to the correct location in the EFI partition. This is not only a requirement for the Mac Startup Manager, but is also defined in the UEFI specification.

From a Terminal application window, enter the command diskutil mount disk1s1. A new device representing this partition should appear in the Finder application. If you view the contents of this volume a Finder application window, you should see the same as in the image below.

Using the Finder application, navigate to this device.
Create a folder labeled boot in the folder EFI.
Copy the file grubx64.efi found in the EFI/debian folder to the EFI/boot folder.
Rename the  grubx64.efi file in the EFI/boot folder to bootx64.efi.
From a Terminal application window, enter the command diskutil unmount disk1s1.

If you can boot to the correctly installed Debian operating system, then the above steps can be replaced by commands given below. These commands need to be entered in a Debian Terminal window.

  Note: To enter these commands, you will have to know the root users password.

su
mkdir  /boot/efi/efi/boot
cp  /boot/efi/efi/debian/grubx64.efi  /boot/efi/efi/boot/bootx64.efi
exit

Once the changes are made, you can do the following to choose an operating system.

Start or restart your Mac and immediately hold down the option key until the Startup Manager appears.
Select the icon for the desired operating system. Debian will appear with label EFI Boot.
To boot the desired operating system, select the arrow below the chosen icon .

  Note: If you hold down the control key while selecting the arrow, the chosen operating system will be come the default.


HFS on Snow Leopard read only Snow Leopard seems to have dropped support for the HFS (not HFS+) filesystem in Disk Utility. I have an HFS disk image that I created on a Leopard system. In Snow Leopard, this disk image is read only. I also can't create a new HFS disk image in Disk Utility, the option is missing.

Is there a way to mount or create an HFS disk image as read/write in Snow Leopard? (Perhaps a diskutil command?)

This ability has been removed from Snow Leopard.  It is possible with a 3rd party tool.

What you need is FuseHFS.


Determine which device AirPods have connected to using Siri When I put on my AirPods, they automatically connect to the device that they were most recently connected to. However, without checking each device, I'm not sure which device they've connected to.

I'm looking for a command I can say to Siri that will differentiate the device so that I know which device they have connected to. Ideally, it would be something like

Which device are my AirPods connected to?

but if that's not possible then another phrase that identifies the connected device. It has to be something that only needs voice/hearing, not looking at any device's screen.

For iOS devices you can use this shortcut.  I am not able to test it on macos, but it works on my iPad Pro and my iPhone X. When I try it on my Series 3 Apple Watch it just hangs. Just assign it whatever custom text you want Siri to recognize.


Upgrading an iMac/eMac IDE disk What are my options for upgrading the drive of an iMac G4 or an eMac to eliminate the noise from the original drive? Either an SSD, or a mechanical HDD with a lower noise level than the original.

The second hand value of the machine is $100, so the drive must be justifiably cheap, under $30 if possible. Pre-owned and capacity as small as 16-32 GB is fine.

For each suggestion, please specify:

Required adapters (to connect the drive to the iMac)
Expected total price (USD, for easy comparison)
Expected performance (for non-SSD suggestions such as CF/SD)

PS! Reading speed from an IDE drive is around 22 MB/s using dd on the eMac.

PPS! The easiest way to experiment with drive replacement is by using the IDE cable and power to the CD player, which by a lucky shot can be reached from the removable RAM slot. That way you won't have to disassemble the whole eMac until you've done your research.

Upgrade to an SSD
Just get a simple SSD and an IDE to SATA adapter.  You may need a 3.5" drive adapter if you use a 2.5" drive, but those are abundant and easily sourced.

StarTech IDE to SATA adapter (Approx $18 USD)
Kingston SSD A400 120GB (Approx $50 USD)

This will give you a solid state solution for less than $70 USD.  You can probably find these items for less on the used market, but probably not by much when you factor shipping and handling.
That said, your $30 budget is unrealistic as PATA SSD's are notoriously expensive and any small capacity SSDs (16 to 60GB) will run about $20 USD (plus shipping).  In addition, you will still need the IDE to SATA adapter because those cheap drives are all SATA.  You may spend (slightly) less, but it will be a solution based on used (pre-owned) components.
Convert IDE to SATA
The StarTech IDE to SATA adapter will allow you to use newer SATA disks including SSDs.  Whether you choose to go with an SSD or stick with spinning media, this little adapter will be critical in allowing you to use modern drives with your older hardware.

Personally, I have used this exact adapter in an X-Serve RAID (connected to a XServe G4)  to use 1TB 2.5" HDDs (the limitation was 750GB PATA drives).  The X-Serve RAID ran cooler and I increased it's storage capacity limitation by 25% (it was also substantially lighter).  There are other manufacturers of this type of adapter, but this brand seemed to be the most reliable and compact.


Keyboard shortcut to correct spelling mistakes Is there any way for me to get all of the words detected by the standard OS X spelling checker as mistakes, to be corrected to the first available choice using a keyboard shortcut?

E.g. I type aqcuired and several words/sentences later I look up from the keyboard and see the typo. Instead of reaching for the mouse or tediously navigating there with the keyboard for a manual correction, I'd like to just hit some key combination and get it to be fixed to the obvious correction acquired...

Any solution which is applescript based will also do, since I can easily trigger any applescript from the keyboard (using iKey).

I couldn't come up with anything better than this:

--delay 0.3
--activate application "TextEdit"
tell application "System Events" to tell (process 1 where frontmost is true)
    set wasshown to title of windows contains "Spelling and Grammar"
    keystroke "w" using option down
    if not wasshown then keystroke ":" using command down
    tell (window 1 where title is "Spelling and Grammar")
        delay 0.05
        try
            select row 1 of table 1 of scroll area 1
        end try
        click button "Change"
        if not wasshown then click button 1
    end tell
end tell

For the keystroke command to work, create ~/Library/Keybindings/ and save this as DefaultKeyBinding.dict:

{
    "~w" = selectWord:;
}

Other methods weren't really usable when for example the word under the caret was not underlined.

Many words don't have any suggestions. I think it's easier to just press ⌘: and retype words manually, or to press ⌘; and double-click the suggested words.

Adding changeSpelling: to DefaultKeyBinding.dict didn't seem to work.


Apple Automator (or similar): performing workflow triggered by shutdown? I was thinking about turning my desktop into a git repository that automatically syncs with BitBucket. The idea is that, periodically, the desktop is synced as well as automatically before it shuts down, i.e.: shutdown -> sync -> when sync is finished, actually shut down.
Is it possible to do something like that? Just an idea that I had a second ago but I couldn't find the right tools to implement it right away.

Triggering events on shut down is unlikely to be reliable. macOS is not designed to interrupt or pause the shut down process.
If a user is logged in, graphical applications can inadvertently cancel or delay shut down. This behaviour typically occurs when a modal dialog is shown for an unsaved document. In this situation, the preferred solution is to auto-save the work and restore it on next launch; this is considered better than interrupting shut down.
Better to sync periodically or in reaction to changes to a set of files.


hack or something similar on my iPad Air I am new to using an iPad but I clicked accidentally on a bad link in Facebook and since then My Skype has been hacked and sending erroneous messages to my Skype contacts..how do I find out and remove malware on my iPad.  I have tried looking for an antivirus or a way to be able to look on my pad to see where I might be able to see where any malware may be hidden...I.e. On a PC it can be inregistry etc, whereas on an iPad I don't have a clue where to look but I have not been able to find any sufficient answer to help.   This question may be a bit basic for here but I didn't know where else to ask as I wasn't getting any answers elsewhere I.e Apple, Google, etc X

Go to Settings > General > Profiles and Device Management. Delete any profiles you don't remember installing, then restart your iPad.

Next, update it to the latest version of iOS (9.3.2), this should remove the Jailbreak, if there is one, as that version cannot be Jailbroken.

As for what caused it to send spam to your contacts:
If the iPad had malware, well, obviously that was it.
If not, did you sign into it on any other devices?

Also, does your daughter use an iPhone, iPad, or Mac? If so, you can use FaceTime instead of Skype.


Turn off encryption on filevault2 second HDD I have an Early 2011 MBP on which I installed an SSD (in the SuperDrive's bay).
After that I enabled FileVault2 encryption on both the SSD (which has the ML 1.8.2 install) and on the original HDD that's currently mounted at boot-time on /Users (so all the storage for the users go on it and it's still encrypted no matter what).

I would like to add a second (and maybe a third?) partition to the HDD so that I can experiment with Windows 8 (and maybe the latest Ubuntu?) but the error I receive is

Error: -69741: The target disk isn't eligible for reversion because it wasn't created by conversion or it is not part of a simple setup of exactly one logical and one physical volume

Is there anything to do ?

What methods have you used when trying to disabling the encryption on your encrypted non-boot drive? Here's some ways I know about:

Using Disk Utility

Boot your Mac and hold down ⌘-R (Command –R) to boot from the Mac’s Recovery HD partition.
Open Disk Utility.
Select your locked hard drive.
Under the File menu, select Turn Off Encryption…
When prompted for a password, you can enter your password for the drive. Once provided, decryption of the encrypted volume should begin.

The drive should begin decrypting.

From the command line

Boot your Mac and hold down ⌘-R (Command –R) to boot from the Mac’s Recovery HD partition.
Open Terminal.
Run the following command to get the UUID of the encrypted drive: diskutil corestorage list
Once you have the UUID, you can unlock the drive using the following command: diskutil corestorage revert UUID -stdinpassphrase
You’ll be prompted for the password/passphrase of an account that’s authorized to unlock the encryption. Once provided, decryption of the encrypted volume should begin.

The drive should begin decrypting.

For more information, see here:

Unlock or decrypt your FileVault 2-encrypted boot drive from the command line

Using Disk Utility to unlock or decrypt your FileVault 2-encrypted boot drive


Does any data go into SSD from bootable OS USB (besides OS itself)? I made a bootable OS 10.6 in my external HD with Disc Utility's partition & restore functions (with the "source" (as OS disc) and "destination" method...)
And I used that to do a clean OS install on a new SSD.
I then found out I need to return this SSD because of some issues.
So, before returning, I'm just worried, did any of my personal data go into SSD from my external HD? All I did was to use the HD's OS partition to install OS on the SSD. The HD has another partition that is a time machine backup, but I didn't use that for SSD. This HD had been used as various data backups before I made any partitions in it. I guess what I'm trying to say is, can data that's currently on another partition or was stored in the past on the whole HD unknowingly transfer into the SSD by just fresh-insalling OS?

If you used installed OS X on your SSD from a bootable hard drive partition that was cloned from an install DVD, nothing else residing on your hard drive will be copied over without you knowing about it.

The only time user data is copied over onto a new drive is when transferring from a Time Machine volume or a disk in Thunderbolt/Firewire Target mode - something that cannot happen without your knowledge or consent.


Microsoft Surface Ergonomic Keyboard pairing issues I recently bought a Microsoft Surface Ergonomic keyboard. It paired with my mid 2011 MacBook Air running High Sierra straight away. However, when I try to pair it with my mid 2011 iMac (also running High Sierra) it just won't pair.
It occasionally recognises a new device, although the MacBook picked up immediately that it was an 'ergonomic keyboard,' when the iMac recognises it it identifies it as unknown device with a serial number 00-00-00-00-00. It then asked me to enter a code, I've tried the generic 0000 as well as 1234, and even 00-00-00-00-00, but it continually fails to connect.

I've also tried - and failed- to use the 'set up a new keyboard' function in Bluetooth preferences. That button only appears sporadically, but when it has I've tried to 'press the button that appears to the left of the shift key' to identify the keyboard, but this doesn't work either.

I've about come to the end of ideas, anyone out there have a similar experience and managed to find a solution?  Grateful for any help received.

The issue was with the version of Bluetooth. The built-in version (2.0, I believe) wouldn't configure with the keyboard.

I've since bought a Bluetooth 4.0 Dongle (cost about £12) and I can now use the keyboard. It's a bit of a faff, had to download a Bluetooth developer tool from Apple and I now have to manually switch from the internal Bluetooth to the dongle before I can use the keyboard.

Thanks for all your suggestions, though, and hopefully anyone facing the same issue now has a solution.

Kieron


Any good multi-threaded SFTP clients for Mac? I am amazed that there doesn't seem to be a decent multiple connection capable FTP/SFTP client for Mac.

The only one I've seen is CaptainFTP, which looks awful, like it's from the last century.

There's also iGetter, which is equally ancient, and not really set up as a browser, more of a download accelerator.

I've been using lftp, which is amazing, but CLI only, which makes it a pain.

Does anyone know of either (a) a "modern" client app which supports multiple connections, or (b) a GUI for lftp?

Old question, but I found that Cyberduck supports multiple connections. When transferring over SFTP, it's possible to select multiple connections in the upper-right of the progress dialog. Whether that has an effect on the total speed, I am currently not able to measure.


How can I import contacts into iPhone from Palm Centro? I'm planning on purchasing an iPhone 4, and I want to know the most direct method of copying my contacts from my Palm Centro to my iPhone. Extra points for solutions that work on Linux.

Have a look into SyncML, it was the only way i managed to get my contacts out of my decade old Nokia.

I'm not sure what the iPhone uses as a contact manager on Linux (Would MobileMe be a good workaround?), but once you've got them out, it's a lot easier to import them into something else.

Google Sync is also worth a look and would avoid your desktop altogether.


How vulnerable is 10.6 Snow Leopard to hacking? My 2007 Mac Mini is used as a TV media device, for watching free-to-air TV channels and Youtube. It cannot be upgraded past 10.6.8.

I read somewhere that older OS X can be vulnerable to unnoticed outside hacking, cannot find the reference anymore. Is this so? Is there a way to detect?

Yes, there's a variety of exploits available. Though there's no one complete list, there's certainly a variety (see this one), including Shellshock, a remote exploit in Bash, and SeaPea, a root exploit. Apple will not patch these issues, as Snow Leopard is no long supported in any capacity.

While if you're careful, Snow Leopard isn't the end of the world, if you're concerned even remotely about security, given your use case of TV and YouTube, it probably makes more sense to just load up Windows or Linux and roll with that.


Do Apple AirPods have international warranty? I think there's something wrong with my AirPods. I recently got it on a business trip to Japan, now I'm back to India. Can I get it checked under warranty at a local Apple Store?

There have been historical exceptions in the past such as with iPhone, where USA devices on CDMA networks were not serviceable outside the USA because they didn't work outside the USA and so the parts were not held by Apple in non US stores.

Typically however all Apple products have an international warranty in countries where Apple sells products, i.e. during the Iranian embargo any product brought into the country would not be serviceable because Apple doesn't service them.

However Apple does service products in India by the looks of it, so this shouldn't be an issue, you can call Apple Support to save a trip to an Apple Store.

You can also check warranty status online: https://checkcoverage.apple.com/


latest command line tools available for macos mojave? as by subject -- I have lost track of what the latest CL Tools are available for Mojave (MacOs 10.14.x).  I have
pkgutil --pkg-info=com.apple.pkg.CLTools_Executables
package-id: com.apple.pkg.CLTools_Executables
version: 10.3.0.0.1.1562985497

Are these the latest (obvs for Mojave, the very latest require MacOS 11 to install)?  xcode-select seems to believe they are, but brew complains I could get newer tools (or, alternatively it is a bug in brew) so I am not sure which one to believe.

According to XCodereleases the last release of Xcode running in 10.14 is 11.3.1.


App store still showing beta release of El Capitan months after withdrawal from beta programs? Months after withdrawing from the beta program, following the guides for exiting, and then installing the production release of OS X 10.11 and installing 10.11 back when it was new, then restoring from a Time Machine backup prior to installing the beta release, everything was fine except app store still offers me beta releases. How can I stop this? Right now I am on OS X 10.11.2 the app store is offering me 10.11.4 beta though 10.11.3 is the current OS X version.

This worked for me! After unchecking the beta software enrollment in the system settings, I ran:

sudo softwareupdate --clear-catalog

man softwareupdate doesn't document this flag, but it seems to clear pending updates from the App Store, and on the next run of the App Store it will repopulate based on the current configuration of your system, therefore it will not show the beta update, but it will still show other regular updates for your system.

man page: https://developer.apple.com/legacy/library/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man8/softwareupdate.8.html


iCloud Photos process restarting continuously I noticed in Activity Monitor that the iCloud Photos process is stopping and restarting a few times every minute. The PID is marching up at a pretty regular pace. When a new iCloud Photos process starts up, it uses the CPU for a bit, so I'd like to stop it from running.

Is there any way (a defaults setting?) to prevent this process from running? I don't use iCloud in any way and all of the iCloud services are unchecked in the System Preferences.

I think I've resolved this by installing iPhoto (fortunately I had paid for it before when I wanted to use it before changing my mind), enabling Photo Stream in the iCloud Systems section (without iPhoto I couldn't do this), leave it for a minute then disable Photo Stream.  The iCloud Photos process disappeared from Activity Monitor and has stayed away.

It's odd that the preferences could get messed up if you don't want iCloud, but sometimes writing the in-correct settings followed by the correct one clears the bad setting.


Assign to Desktop x option missing I've noticed that my Mac no longer opens applications I've specified on my second screen. When trying to set the option again via right clicking on the icon and going to Options, the "Assign to Desktop x" is no longer displayed.

What could be the cause of this? There is definitely two screens attached to my Mac as they both display different desktops.

(I am using Mavericks)

Following this discussion on Apple.com :

You'll have to delete the following preference files :

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.spaces.plist (if you have multiple space.plist delete each of them.
~/Library/Preferences/dock.plist


Can I download all pictures on a page? Is there a way I can run a script with a certain web page as the argument that will download all the images from there?

wget -nd -r -l1 -p -np -A jpg,jpeg,png,svg,gif -e robots=off http://www.apple.com/itunes/

-nd (no directories) downloads all files to the current directory
-r -l1 (recursive level 1) downloads linked pages and resources on the first page
-p (page requisites) also includes resources on linked pages
-np (no parent) doesn't follow links to parent directories
-A (accept) only downloads or keeps files with the specified extensions
-e robots=off ignores robots.txt and doesn't download a robots.txt to the current directory

If the images are on a different host or subdomain, you have to add -H to span hosts:

wget -nd -H -p -A jpg,jpeg,png,gif -e robots=off http://example.tumblr.com/page/{1..2}

You can also use curl:

cd ~/Desktop/; IFS=$'\n'; for u in $(curl -Ls http://example.tumblr.com/page/{1..2} | sed -En 's/.*src="([^"]+\.(jpe?g|png))".*/\1/p' | sort -u); do curl -s "$u" -O; done

-L follows location headers (redirects). -O outputs files to the current directory with the same names.


How do I take a screenshot without the shadow behind it? If I take a screenshot with Shift ⇧ + Command ⌘ + 4 + Space, then I get one of the two images:

Either way the saved image is surrounded by the shadow halo. I could then edit it out by hand (using Preview) to discard the shadow, or I could use Shift ⇧ + Command ⌘ + 4 and try to pinpoint the boundary by hand, but neither lets me get a pixel-perfect boundary easily.

Is there a convenient way to save a window without its shadow?

I know this is an old question - but I can never find this information when searching for it (just the information in the accepted answer to turn it off globally), and end up just trying random keys each time.
If you hold option while clicking (after doing the Shift ⇧ + Command ⌘ + 4, Space dance), the saved screenshot will not have the drop shadow.
I'm unsure if this only applies to Mountain Lion and later.


Is there still iTunes plus upgrade for DRM'ed music? Thanks to the tip here, I was able to make a smart playlist containing all the DRM encumbered music in my iTunes library.

I remember in the past there was an offer from iTunes Plus that lets you pay a fee to "upgrade" your DRM'ed songs to unprotected ones.

Does this still exist? How do I get non-DRM'ed versions of these songs nowadays?

Thanks!

BTW, I am running iTunes 10.5.1 on Mac OS X 10.6.8.

Open up iTunes. Go to the iTunes Store. Click on the iTunes Plus link at the bottom of the navigation window:


How do I turn FTP sharing on in Lion? I recently upgraded to Lion and I tried to FTP into it from another Mac, but I couldn't. I went to System Preferences>Sharing and could only find AFP and SMB sharing. How do I enable FTP sharing in Lion?

The option has been removed from the GUI in OS X 10.7 however you can enable it with a few commands.

Here is a good write up on how to do it.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20088844-263/managing-ftp-services-in-os-x-lion/

Summary of the link above:

To Load:

sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ftp.plist

Then to start and stop you would run the following:

sudo launchctl start com.apple.ftpd

sudo launchctl stop com.apple.ftpd

To Unload:

sudo launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ftp.plist


Dual and triple non-TB monitors on a Mac Mini late 2012 (Macmini6,2) I'm trying to find out if I can connect two 27" Dell S2740L 927M9-IPS-LED monitors to a Macmini6,2. One via HDMI and the other via TB or USB 3.0.

The Mac Mini doesn't have a Mini DP that I can see, but from what I've read it seems like TB can act as one? I have the option of TB daisying through a Drobo 5D. The GPU is integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000.

Could the 2nd monitor be connected via TB >> Mini DP >> {VGA or DVI} adapter?

In time, I'd like to add a Wacom Cintiq 22HD touch (DVI) as a 3rd (and the primary) monitor. I'm a bit confused as to how that could work.

Dual yes natively, Triple not without USB adapter one of the displays.
You can look over these two articles:

Apple Thunderbolt Adapters: Frequently asked questions (FAQ) - HT5309
Thunderbolt ports and displays: Frequently asked questions (FAQ) - HT5219

[Item 23] of the HT5219 article is most relevant3:

Q23. How do I connect my Mini DisplayPort monitor or monitor using a Mini DisplayPort adapter to my Thunderbolt-equipped Mac when I have other Thunderbolt devices connected?
When connecting a Mini DisplayPort display or a display using a Mini DisplayPort adapter to a Thunderbolt peripheral (except as described in question 24), make sure the display is connected at the end of the Thunderbolt chain. You can use only one Mini DisplayPort device in the Thunderbolt chain.
Note: Systems with more than one Thunderbolt port, like an iMac, can have more than one Mini DisplayPort monitor or monitor connected with a Mini DisplayPort adapter connected as each Thunderbolt port can support one Mini DisplayPort display.

Item #18, footnote 4 explains that you only get two monitors with the Late 2012 Mac Mini using Thunderbolt and/or HDMI. To add a third, you'll need a USB adapter for the one that has the fewest pixels / slowest refresh rate requirements. Perhaps you can get a newer (or used but more capable) Mac when it's time to run the Wacom Touch.

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012), and Mac Mini (Late 2012) computers can use an HDMI-compatible device on it's HDMI port while using one Thunderbolt display, or they can use two Thunderbolt displays.

You'll want to use either a thunderbolt to the exact adapter for each monitor rather than chaining two adapters together if at all possible.


iTunes movie store only shows 100? It iTunes Store I can search by name, release date or best sellers.  No matter which method I chose I can only see the first 100 titles. For example, if I sort by name I get titles starting with a number and then the letter

I believe this is intentional on Apple's part. The reasons for this are:

reduce server load with smaller queries
reduce time to download results to the end user
prevent scraping the web site for store data (which is against the T&C)
simpler code on the user end not having to present hundreds of results on one page


Disabling the trackpad from the command line How can I disable the trackpad (without restarting my computer) from the command-line on OS X Mavericks?

Try to use the following Code

sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/AppleUSBMultitouch.kext/


Can't register Line app on MacBook According to the instructions on the website I should be able to got to the Line menu, click on Settings, and the register my email address. Massive problem: Settings is grayed out, non-functional, and masses of searching the internet seem to indicated that no one else is having this problem. Does anyone have an answer? (it will help you to know that I do not yet have a compatible smart phone...)

I'm afraid that you won't be able to use it, as for using the Computer Version you need to have previously registered your email on the smartphone version. This is stated on the login screen of the Computer Version.

As a side note, Settings is grayed out because you have no account to configure.


Using CapsLock to switch between ABC and custom keyboard layout In Sierra there's a handy option added to be able to switch, e.g. between Russian-PC and ABC (or U.S. International - PC) input sources.

Previously I've been using some hacks for that (using third-party soft to remap CapsLock to F19 and then using it for switching between input sources in Shortcuts setting. This way I lost ability to CapsLock at all), now I love it.

Except that I don't. Neither one of two given Ukrainian layouts is usable because they both have remapped keys (compared to all other keyboards in the world). No worry - we can edit layout using Ukelele app or find an edited one on the internet.

But after installing this layout - we no longer have that option to use CapsLock for switching input sources:

Does anyone know a way (if at all possible) to customize keyboard layout (using Ukelele or whatever it takes) so that it is acceptable by OS for switching between languages with CapsLock?

P. S.: my OS version is 10.13.6

This special new function for CapsLock does not seem to be very well documented by Apple–which should not come as a surprise to anyone who's been using their products for very long.  Therefore, we don't seem to have been given the information needed to fully utilize or understand that feature.

So, basically, to answer your question:  No, that does not seem to possible at this time.

However, there is a fairly simple work-around that can come close to duplicating that feature although there are some minor discrepancies which for me personally are actually preferable to the way the original feature was designed to work–although your preferences & priorities may obviously vary.

In any case, you could create a single custom keyboard based on the US keyboard that has the appropriate Ukrainian layout programmed directly into the CapsLock-based modifier combinations (keyboard layers or shift levels).
Mac OSX essentially treats CapsLock as a regular, but locking, modifier key without any limitations.  So, with Ukelele you may create a layout which supports both Latin & Cyrillic scripts and uses CapsLock to switch between them.

The Latin-based modifier combinations can mostly (if not entirely) be created automatically in several ways (the easiest being to duplicate the US keyboard you use, or create a layout that mirrors the currently active layout).

For the Cyrillic-based Ukrainian layers you can open a keyboard you wish to emulate (or approximate) and drag the key mappings from that keyboard to you yours (with the proper CapsLock-based modifier combination activated).

I don't think that a little bit of manual labor can be avoided, but you can accomplish your objective natively in this way.  There are some potential advantages & disadvantages to this option depending on your preferences.
For example, the flag will not change from US to Ukrainian which may be seen as a disadvantage.  However, you will have the CapsLock LED as an indication which may be seen as an advantage.  This also circumvents having to change the keyboard layout which is sometimes necessary when switching apps or documents, as well as the slight delay involved with that–that is of particular value to me as it drives me crazy when the keyboard layout is potentially different in each app.

If not for the OP, I hope this is informative or helpful to someone.


Remote access via screen sharing app I want to connect to my home mac using screen sharing from another point in the world. But even though I can connect to my home mac from the local network with my macbook (which is nonsense to me). I could not manage to connect it from another network.

I read articles about screen sharing, watched some youtube videos and also installed Screens app. At the end, I am totally confused with the network jargon and app usages.

Could someone help me to sort it out? All I want is to use screen sharing(if applicable) to connect remotely.

Best Regards

There are two parts to remote sharing your Mac computer: software on the computer and configuration of your network.

Software on your Mac

You can use the built-in VNC server on your Mac; there is no need for third party software.

Launch System Preferences and open Sharing.
Select Screen Sharing then click Computer Settings.
Finally, enable VNC viewers and provide a secure password.

Next, test you can access and control your Mac using a VNC client within your home network. This can be done from a Mac, Windows, or mobile device using a VNC client.

Configure your network

To access your Mac from outside of your home network, you need to open a port for VNC:

port: 5900
protocol: TCP
direct the incoming traffic to your Mac

If this port is not open and passing traffic to your Mac, then you will not be able to connect from outside your network.

How you configure your modem/router differs between the make and model of each device. Some routers will have built-in assistants to help set this up.


Move .ssh folder from /var/root/ I tried to set up a ssh key for easily logging into the server which is hosting my website : ssh-keygen -t dsa -b 1024.
The keys (public and private) have been saved in /var/root/.ssh which I dont like because I have to sudo -s prior to rsync for accessing the private key.

Is there any easy and safe way to move the ssh folder from /var/root/.ssh to my user folder, so that I can use the keys even if not root ? what location to move it ? what is the command for newbie to be used for the relocation ? (for mac os 10.10)
Thank you.

Open Terminal while logged in as your usual user, then run

mkdir ~/.ssh
sudo sh -c 'mv /var/root/.ssh/* /Users/'$USER'/.ssh/'
sudo chown $USER ~/.ssh/*
sudo chgrp $(groups | cut -d \  -f 1) ~/.ssh/*
chmod 700 ~/.ssh
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/*

This assumes that you haven't created any ssh key pairs as your usual used (and therefore don't already have files in ~/.ssh).

PS: Some explanations:

First sudo moves the content of root's .ssh folder into the one of the current user. Needs to be done by calling a subshell (sh -c) because the wildcard part (/var/root/.ssh/*) only works after the sudo has changed the current user to root. $USER is an environment variable containing the name of the current user
Third sudo changes group ownership of the copied files to the primary group of the current user. As there is no convenient environment variable for this, the output of groups (which lists all groups a user belongs to) needs to used. Please note the two space characters after the \.


Is there a good application for Mac to manage subscriptions billings? Is there a good software for mac to manage subscriptions billings ?

I need to be payed regularly by my customers.
I need warnings service sending emails to them and me.

And I need to automize the payment process.

It’s not 100% clear what is the meaning of “automatize the payment process” but a very popular Mac application for billings is called… Billings.

There are a few “comparison” reviews out there and you will not have a hard time finding there. Some are more extense (and outdated) and others are short and concise. There are also some round-ups about invoicing apps (which are usually married with billings apps).

I personally use GrandTotal ($) because I needed an Invoicing app for my little company. You can try most if not all of the applications for a few days before deciding which one is for you (or usually which one is “the closest” to what you want, because they all have stuff you don’t need and lack something you wish they had…).


iOS: App to search All Content in PDF files? There are many apps that have search over the names of the files but not all content in the files. It is very slow to test all apps such as iAnnotate, PDF Expert, Amazing PDF Expert and GoodReader. Which app search over all content in PDFs?

For non-PDF files and files without OCR, please, see

  Search over different types of documents such as DjVU sometimes without OCR?

iAnnotate had the ability to search in all the pdf's That are in it's library (easily import from for instance Dropbox). It's also fairly fast in searching


How to upgrade my MacBook Air from 10.6 to 10.9? I was given a MacBook Air from my step mother because she never used it. I tried upgrading everything but every time I try to update it, it stays the same old version. Do i need to go to the store first?

It's still on OS X 10.6.8

Open the Mac App Store (/Applications/App Store.app)
Download the OS X Mavericks app.
Run it from the /Applications folder if it doesn't automatically run.
Follow the instructions.


Will the 2017 15" MBP touchbar work with a Dell U3417W? I need to purchase a new MBP for my boss. He wants all of the bells and whistles and he wants a docking station at home with a nice screen. He likes the Dell U3417W but I'm not clear whether there is a way to have it work with the new MBP.

I'm generally a PC guy so I don't feel qualified to answer the question myself. I found a short discussion about it. The Dell "liaison" recommended the user pose the question on the Apple forum. When I search the Apple forum for U3417w I don't see anything posted.

Can anyone tell me if this will work and if not, why?

Why wouldn't it work?  It's just a monitor and the MacBook Pro is an Intel based computer.

The MacBook Pro will support

Up to two displays with 5120-by-2880 resolution at 60Hz at over a billion colors
Up to four displays with 4096-by-2304 resolution at 60Hz at millions of colors
Up to four displays with 3840-by-2160 resolution at 60Hz at over a billion colors

The Dell will support a maximum resolution of 3440 x 1440 at 60 Hz

Just go from DisplayPort to DisplayPort with the proper USB-C to DisplayPort cable (I prefer to avoid conversion to HDMI) and it should work just fine.

For the record, the only monitors I use are Dells.  I have sizes ranging from very old 19" DVI models to 30" Dual Link DVI models and everything in between.  I use a 24" UltraSharp at my remote office with both a MacBook Pro and a Surface Pro and it performs beautifully with zero issues.


How do I reload an OS X "bash" user-environment I think that I want to ask

How do I reload an OS X bash user-environment

But damnit Jim ; I'm a software engineer not a sysadmin

The Goal

I want Jenkins started as a Daemon on El Capitan
I want to use "UserWhoHasARealAccount" on OS X
For this I should be using a launch-daemon

AFAIK

all /Library/LaunchDaemons/ are started as root
While they can substitute-user with User to become not-root they still retain root's environment.

The Problem

process won't have the full PATH (et al) that I setup

which can work around this but ...

sub processes don't get the PATH I setup for the user

so which whatever-i-want doesn't help when Node.JS tries to run a subprocess and compile my blog ... unless I for Node.JS to invoke subprocesses via absolute paths on my computer

the root environment seems to prevent ssh from working

so I can't have have "UserWhoHasARealAccount" login to localhost to magically get a real path
I may be missing something since I can't find any SSH error messages

Since this is a server, logging in and pressing a button won't "do it for me"

For anyone from the future ..

bash can be run with -l to execute full login goodies.
So, my launchd script goes from;

<ProgramArguments>
    <array>
        <string>java</string>
        <string>-jar</string>
        <string>jenkins.war</string>
    </array>

... to ...

<ProgramArguments>
    <array>
        <string>bash</string>
        <string>-l</string>
        <string>-c</string>
        <string>java -jar jenkins.war</string>
    </array>


Every time I turn on macbook pro I get menu for choosing startup disk Every time when I turn on my macbook pro mid 2014 I have to choose my startup disk to continue with booting. It behaves as if I am holding the option key...

However, the right option key doesnt work when I want to use it in the OS.

When I turn on MP and hold the left option key it starts booting without boot menu, when I do not hold it it shows the menu.
When I hold the right option key there is no difference.

I have tried apple diagnostics and it shows that everything is ok.
Tried resetting SMC and PRAM and doesnt work.

Going out on a limb here due to lack of information, just trying to help.

Your Mac is 4 Years old, and probably (if you are like me) you have a "lunch" stuck under the right Option key.

Clean it.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/How+To+Fix+Sticky+Keyboard+Keys+on+a+MacBook/37709

If that did not help you might have to replace the key.


Move Window by clicking on any part (as on Linux)? On Linux (or X in general), it's possible to move a window while holding down a modifier key (Alt+drag or Super+drag) and clicking on ANY part of the window.

This makes moving windows super easy, as one doesn't have to aim so well ;)

On macOS (High Sierra), this doesn't seem to be enabled/possible by default.

How do I enable this or what add on do I need?

You can use the free utility called "Easy Move+Resize", which allows you to use Cmd + Ctrl + Left click anywhere inside a window to move it. The modifier keys can be customized so that you can choose for example Alt + Left click instead.

You can download the utility from here:

https://github.com/dmarcotte/easy-move-resize

Read under the heading "Installation".


Cannot empty trash after deleting .dmg So, I downloaded Chrome, and I put it in the Applications folder and from there a shortcut to the applications bar on the bottom of the screen. All is fine, but now there's an icon on the desktop that looks like a harddrive with a Chrome icon on it. I don't want it there, but I don't know what to do with it. I also have the DMG file from the download in the Trash, but it won't let me delete it.

So, how do I get rid of the downloaded file which I thought was 'installed' in the Applications folder?
Also, how do I get rid of the Chrome HDD icon on the desktop.
And, in the end how many copies of an application does OS X keep just to make it work? It's rather annoying coming from Windows, where there's only one...

Anyway, help would be appreciated!

The hard-drive looking thing on the desktop is a mounted disk image; the .dmg file is the file where the data for the image is.

To get rid of the image, unmount it. There are three four five good ways to do it:

Drag the disk to the trash. The trash will turn into an eject icon while dragging.
Highlight the disk on the desktop and select File > Eject in the Finder menu bar.
Highlight the disk on the desktop and press Command-E.
In any Finder window, press the Eject button next to the disk in the sidebar.
Right-click (or control-click or two-finger-click) on the icon and select Eject. (from JoshHibschman in the comments below)
You can also eject from the commandline using diskutil if you really want.

After you eject the disk

Insofar as the application "file" is concerned, there is only one copy of the application: the one in the /Applications folder. The icon in the dock is only a link (not really a shortcut, as there's no file like a shortcut in the Start menu or the Quick Launch bar, but it's not bad to think of the Dock icon as a "shortcut".)

And to answer your first question, this is a great place to come with questions. Hope you have a good time on the Mac!


Erasing and Partitioning Hard Drive from Internet Recovery My MacBook Pro (mid 2012) was encrypted and running Yosemite 10.10.3. (The last update with Photos ruined it.) Yesterday, all of a sudden, everything freezes. I forced Shut Down and since then, it´s all gone.

I've tried every single possibility that I could find in apple support discussions forums. Tried to verify, repair, erase and partitioning the HDD and I just can't. The only possible way to boot my Mac is through Internet Recovery (cmd+R, because there´s no Recovery HD left). I tried to erase the HDD through Terminal, with diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ MacintoshHD /dev/disk1*.

*Sometimes the HDD I want to fix is disk0, others disk1...WTF!?

I had no success. I tried to partition it without success. When I try to re-install the OS or restore from Time Machine, the hard disk doesn't appear. It's like it isn't mounted.

Is there a way to solve this without buying a new hard disk? I don't mind going extreme, because I have backups. Is it possible it is something related with the fact that it was encrypted?

UPDATE: I tried every single possibility I could reach (e.g. GParted, TestDisk, tons of different command lines on Terminal, boot from USB, from CD). It seems to be dead.

Some brief example of errors

  diskutil repairDisk /dev/disk0
  Nonexistent, unknown, or damaged partition map scheme
  If you are sure this disk contains a (damaged) APM, MBR, or GPT partition map, you can hereby try to repair it enough to be recognized as a map; another "diskutil repairDisk /dev/disk0" > might then be necessary for further repairs
  Proceed? (y/N) y
  Error repairing map: MediaKit reports bad partition or no map found (-5324)

  diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+
  New /dev/disk0 Started erase on disk0
  Unmounting disk Error: -69825: Wiping volume data to prevent future accidental probing failed

This sounds like your hard drive failed entirely. I see that it's a typical SATA drive in that model. You should be able to open it up and remove the drive, then wire the drive to a desktop and see if it is detected. If it is not, that confirms that the hardware failed.

Comment by OP: It turned out to be a SATA cable failure, see Hard Drive Issues with MacBook Pro 13-inch mid-2012.


Can Aperture be migrated or reinstalled from iMac to MacBook Pro (which has no DVD drive)? Can Aperture be migrated or reinstalled a new MacBook Pro which has no DVD drive? Would target disk mode work to simply copy the file? I think Aperture usually runs an "installation" rather than just drag onto the Applications folder. But I can't remember since it has been years since I installed it on my iMac.

Two options:

Option 1) Share the DVD drive from your iMac to your MacBook Pro.

Go to the "Sharing" panel in System Preferences on your iMac.

You can then install the software over your LAN connection.

However, this doesn't always work, and it's very slow.

Option 2) Make an ISO of your installation CD/DVD.

This requires using the Terminal.app, but it's fairly painless.

Insert the disk in the iMac
Go to Terminal.app and type mount and press return, and you will see something like this:

/dev/disk1 on / (hfs, local, journaled)
devfs on /dev (devfs, local, nobrowse)
map -hosts on /net (autofs, nosuid, automounted, nobrowse)
map auto_home on /home (autofs, automounted, nobrowse)

except that you will also see a "/dev/disk" entry for your DVD drive. I'll use "/dev/disk2" as an example but yours will (probably) be different.

Then you want to enter this in Terminal:

/bin/dd if="/dev/disk2" of="$HOME/Desktop/Aperture.iso" bs=2048

once you press enter you will hear the DVD drive spin up, but Terminal won't say anything.

Note: if you get a message about the device being "busy" launch DiskUtility.app and "unmount" the DVD (but do NOT eject it).

Terminal will just work quietly for awhile and then after 10-20 minutes (or more or less, it depends) it will say something like "18397+0 records in" and "18397+0 records out" (note: I just made up '18397' as an example, the point is that the records "in" and "out" should be the same.)

This will leave you with a file called "Aperture.iso" on your Desktop.

Eject your Aperture DVD/CD now (if you used DiskUtility to unmount it, use DiskUtility to eject it now)
Once the DVD is ejected, double click on the Aperture.iso file, and it should "mount" just as if you had inserted the DVD again.

If it did not work, you probably had the /dev/disk wrong or there was an error reading the disk.

If it mounts as expected, simply copy the ISO file to your MacBook Pro and use it as the installer.

I have been doing this with all my DVD installers since I bought my MacBook Air a few years ago. It's a nice backup and installation from an ISO is a lot faster than from an actual DVD too.


Send an address in a sms to map app If a friend sends to me an address in a SMS or IMessage, for example "I am at 123 Main St" can I send that to the Map app to get directions there?

The iOS will hyperlink things such as addresses, and phone numbers, in things such as emails. If it doesn't do that, it is simple to tap and hold the address, copy it, and paste it into maps.


How do I transfer my iOS developer profile to another computer? I got a new MBP and would like to transfer my certificates and profiles from my old computer.  According to TN 2250, under "Transferring Your Identities," I need to transfer three sets of items:

all iPhone Developer certificates in your keychain
all iPhone Distribution certificates in your keychain
all Provisioning Profiles in the Xcode Organizer > Devices tab > Provisioning Profiles section under "Library"

TN 2250 suggests I click a link entitled "Transfer Your Developer Profile to Another Computer" to find out how to do said transfer, but that link effectively gives a 404 and refreshes to a page called "About Xcode"

How do I transfer my developer profile to another computer?

My old machine is running OS X 10.6.8 and Xcode 4.2 (4C199).
The new machine is running OS X 10.7.4 and Xcode 4.3.3 (4E3002).

Import/Export works differently in Xcode 5+. This Apple Developer guide shows you how to do it.

Your account is shown under Xcode → Preferences → Accounts, and can be exported by clicking the gear icon () in the lower-left.


How to make `sudo su` run startup scripts? Supposedly the bin/sh shell that is the default root shell is not strictly a "bash" shell, but is a POSIX compliant equivalent.  According to this site, when you invoke the shell executable of a "POSIX compliant" shell, it runs any of the "profile files" listed here:

$HOME/.bash_profile
$HOME/.bash_login
$HOME/profile.ksh       ($HOME/.profile on UNIX systems)
$HOME/.profile

I've tried putting them all in /var/root and none of them execute when I run sudo su from my terminal.

Running sudo bash works, by the way.  But why doesn't sudo su?

Your information is incorrect. /bin/sh on macOS is actually a real bash shell. The manual you have found is for a Windows program that "mimics" a Linux environment on Windows. It doesn't have anything to do with macOS.

The profile files for bash are:

/etc/profile
~/.bash_profile
~/.bash_login
~/.profile

Note that ~ and $HOME are the same thing. They both mean that it refers to the user's home folder.

The problem you're seeing is because you're using the command sudo su. This means that you use sudo to start su in order to get an interactive non-login shell. This means that the profile files are not executed - instead only .bashrc is executed.

What you want is really a login shell, which would mean that the profile files are executed. You can do that by using the command sudo su - instead.


Do the symbols shown when viewing an encrypted file have any meaning? Just for my curiosity and knowledge, from a Software and Hardware stand point prospective, I opened some encrypted files such as Keychains, FileVault, etc.  I do understand that these are encrypted files and they are impossible to decrypt.

I do noticed that some symbols, I guess used to encrypt and mask the real data, are always the same (for the most part).

Example: ^@^@^@-^@^@^@1^@^@^@5^@^@^@9^@^@^@=�^@^@^A^@^@^@^@sdmn^@^@^@^@^@^@^

My question is, are these symbols below have a specific meanings?

^

@

�

Thank you so much and have a wonderful day.

What you're seeing is an attempt to make the raw file data viewable.

^@ is a method of displaying a "control" character in plain text. This arose as a method of directly displaying (and entering) data that a font or keyboard couldn't otherwise handle. You can see a list of them here, see the column "Caret Notation".

The question mark in a diamond is a common way to indicate a character that can't be shown in the current view for various reasons. See Replacement character.

As for "looking the same", some file types have an easily recognizable signature, such as GIFs that start with "GIF89a". This is to let a program quickly decide if a given file is something it can handle. Here is a Wikipedia page that discusses them: Magic Number.

If you're using Quick Look to view a file, it tries to find a "filter" that  converts the file to something useful. For instance, you can view binary plist files because they can be converted to xml using plutil.

On the other hand, Text Edit doesn't have the concept of filters, so it'll try to convert the otherwise binary format to something it can display.

In terminal, less will ask "com.apple.finder.plist" may be a binary file. See it anyway? to give you the chance to avoid trying to make the terminal interpret control codes that might have undesirable consequences.

Sorry, this turned into an essay :)


Calendar problems with iOS 7 right after updating the device Calendar on iPhone 4s does not work with iOS 7. It stopped working 2 days ago. It won't open on the phone. iCloud is working fine and so is iCal on my MacPro.

How do I get it to work again?

Make sure you have a Calendar set up in iOS, either an iCloud calendar (Settings -> iCloud) or another one (Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars). If your only calendars are read-only, like Facebook Events and Birthdays, you won't be able to create events.

In iOS 7 and 8, you can check the calendars that have been set up by tapping "Calendars" at the bottom of the calendar view. If you don't see an iCloud calendar or another one you can edit, you'll need to create one.


I would like to upgrade my iMac 2017 4K Retina 21.5 inches I read the answers for the post (How can I speed up my new (but slow) 2017 iMac?).

Is the iMac still under warranty if internally upgraded (RAM & hard drive)?
Is it possible to do it myself or I need a professional technician?
Could you evaluate the cost of internal upgrade compared to external solution with SSD drive (without RAM)?

You have three questions here, so I'll try to answer in order asked.

Is the iMac still under warranty if internally upgraded (RAM & hard drive)?

It depends on where you live because you may or may not be covered by laws that protect you.  In the US, we have the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act which allows you to open/service your product without fear of invalidating the warranty.  Specific to your situation,
They cannot "tie in" genuine Apple Parts (i.e. hard drives or memory) to keep the warranty in tact:

(c) Prohibition on conditions for written or implied warranty; waiver by Commission; No warrantor of a consumer product may condition his
written or implied warranty of such product on the consumer’s using,
in connection with such product, any article or service (other than
article or service provided without charge under the terms of the
warranty) which is identified by brand, trade, or corporate name;

However, you need to check your local laws governing repairs to see if you're covered.  Generally speaking however, it's very difficult to impossible to tell if you've opened an iMac (there's no tamper seal).  So technically, they wouldn't know.

Is it possible to do it myself or I need a professional technician?

It depends on your technical skill.  You have to remove the LCD which means literally cutting the adhesive that bonds the LCD to the frame of the iMac.  If this is not something you're comfortable doing, take it in for service.

Could you evaluate the cost of internal upgrade compared to external solution with SSD drive (without RAM)?

It's a moot point.  Plugging in an external SSD is easier and will be cheaper if you need to hire a tech to install the drive internally, but the internal drive will always be faster are more reliable.  Bottom line is the external drive doesn't require special skills to install, so you won't have to pay for it.


Can't generate a Reflow project from photoshop CC According to this video importing a psd from Photoshop CC to Reflow is as simple as going to the menu File > Generate and clic Edge Reflow Project.

But this menu item is not showing in my case.

I'm using a Mac OSX 10.8.5, the 30 days trial of creative cloud for the moment with both Reflow and Photoshop CC installed and up to date. I also have Photoshop CS6 installed on my Mac.

In the case of exporting Edge Reflow projects, if you are not able to see a menu option for:

File
Generate
Edge Reflow Project

Please check that you have the folder:

  < install directory > /Adobe Photoshop CC/Plug-ins/Generator/reflow.generate

If you do not have this directory, uninstall and reinstall Edge Reflow.

The Edge Reflow installer should automatically install the plug-in for you.


Why does Spotlight think "CHROM" matches Chrome, but "CHROME" matches Calendar? This behavior has been consistent for months, maybe even years at this point, and I finally decided to make a screen recording of it just to have some verification that it's really happening.  The steps are:

Command-space to open Spotlight search.
Type the letters C, H, R, O, M, E in order with pauses.
For CH, CHR, CHRO, and CHROM Spotlight thinks the best match is Google Chrome...
But as soon as I add the final E, Spotlight thinks the best match is Calendar.
Delete the final E and Chrome comes back to the top of the list...
Re-type the E, and it's Calendar again.

Video evidence:  https://youtu.be/nkWuhXLrN1I

I just can't think of any rational text matching/lookup system in which this behavior makes sense.  What on Earth is Spotlight doing?

It is possible the Spotlight index has gone wonky and needs a rebuild. You should follow these instructions, extracted verbatim from this Apple Support document, and reindex the Macintosh HD volume:

Choose Apple menu () > System Preferences, then click Spotlight.
Click the Privacy tab.
Drag the folder or disk that you want to index again to the list of locations that Spotlight is prevented from searching. Or click the Add (+) button and select the folder or disk to add.
To add an item to the Privacy tab, you must have ownership permissions for that item. To learn about permissions, choose Help from the Finder menu bar, then search for “permissions.”
From the same list of locations, select the folder or disk that you just added. Then click the Remove (–) button to remove it from the list.
Quit System Preferences. Spotlight will reindex the contents of the folder or disk.


Is there a limit to the number of attempts to logon to an iPhone 8? A relative managed to change her password, yet can not input the correct password.  She does not want to reset the phone to avoid loss of data (pictures, contacts, messages, etc.).  Will the phone eventually stop accepting logon attempts?

By default, there is no limit. One can be set - usually on sensitive business phones rather than consumer devices - where after 10 unsuccessful attempts the phone will wipe itself, permanently.

However, without that parameter set, each successive failed attempt will lengthen the time before another attempt can be made. If you keep trying, eventually the time can become months or even years, so be careful.

There is no way to force an iPhone to let you in. If you really cannot remember the passcode, you will eventually have no choice but to wipe it & start over.
At that point, you will also need to be able to correctly login to the Apple ID that 'owns' the phone to release the activation lock.

See Apple KB - If you've forgotten the passcode on your iPhone, or your iPhone is disabled for further detail.


Request Applescript to copy only one file type from 2 folders, into a 3rd folder Hi I've been trying to find utilities that will do this but I am guessing applescript/Automator on Catalina mac would work too.

Basically I have 2 folders with all kinds of books (.pdf, .mobi and .epub) and subfolders too. I want to only copy files of extension epub type in these 2 folders, into a 3rd folder.

So by running the script the third folder would have only unique EPUB files from the former two folders.

Can anyone please advise me how to write this up in Automator? Thanks!

There are actually many different ways to do it in Automator! Here is one set of actions you could use:

Ask For Finder Items
Get Folder Contents
Filter Finder Items
Copy Finder Items


Identify the web site loaded in web view iOS application? I have an iPhone application that just shows a web page when you use it. I don't know the URL of the site it loads. Is there any way I can get the URL of the page the application loads?

To determine the web site, you will need to intercept the network traffic travelling between your iPhone and your Internet Service Provider (ISP).

To do this you need to set your phone to use WiFi and to pass network traffic through a proxy. Proxies include squid and Charles.

A good proxy will offer log files and allow you to see server addresses and, if not encrypted, requested URLs.

Alternatively, you could contact the application developer and ask.


My Internal HD won't boot I'm having the following problem.

When I try to boot my MacBook Pro 13" mid 2009 with "El Capitan" installed from my internal HD, a prohibition sign appears on the screen and eventually my mac turns off. I have an external HD with El Capitan installed and it boots nicely. When I try to repair the volume on Disk Utility I get the following message

I can use the terminal to force unmount the volume and then repair it. But after that, when trying to repair it again I get the same mistake, and also the HD still won't boot. I have discarded a defective SATA cable and a corrupted HD since I'm able to copy files from the HD to my bootable HD without problem, so I'm guessing this issue is software related.

Any help would be most welcome.

Update: When I use first aid on the main drive I get the following message:

Even after doing that, the partition won't boot or unmount for repair.

I'm assuming that the partition Backup OS X on your external drive is a bootable partition.

Turn on the Mac and hold down the option key. This will show you all the bootable partitions that the Mac can find. If the partition Internal HD in your internal drive does not show up then EFI has not discovered the required files for a boot partition and the OS on it can be considered damaged and should be replaced.

From what you describe I suspect some sort of damage to the low level formatting of the partition.

At this point I would boot from another partition and use Carbon Copy Cloner or a similar tool to backup the damaged partition and then erase and reformat the entire drive before installing a new System or a known good backup.


Can I shorten the typing needed to `cd` into some well know directories I find myself opening a terminal and then CD'ing a lot into the same directory the path of which is very long.

This means I am cd'ing a lot and using the tab to speed things up a lot.

IT would be great if I could have some sort of link to this directory and then just cd to that so that I would be in the deep nested directory quickly.

Is this possible?

Here is the way to deal with complex paths to cd frequently.

mkdir ~/Links
ln -s /complexpath/there ~/Links

this will create the symbolic link

~/Links/there

To use this new Links directory efficiently,
if your login shell is bash
just include this command in your ~/.profile (which is used by all Bourne style shells bash, ksh, zsh…):

CDPATH=~/Links:.
export CDPATH

This means that for every cd, your shell will look within 2 directories to
find a localpathname:

~/Links
.

You won't need to restart you session to test it, just run:

. ~/.profile

which means just read my ~/.profile.
(You won't have to put it in your ~/.bashrc since there is no need to repeat the same variable initialization when you don't change it.)

Once you have tested it, you will be able to restart your session ;).

From now on, everytime you will want to go to there you will have to type:

cd there


iPhone lost and erased for no reason I've had my iPhone for 2 years, and this has never happened before. I turned airplane mode off and my phone screen turned white with the apple logo and had a loading bar underneath it. Once it reloaded, it informed me that everything was erased off of my phone.

Now it won't let me use the Apple ID log in. It states that the owner used 'find my iPhone' to erase everything.

I have never used 'Find my iPhone'. What is happening here?

If you bought the phone from some other person, and not from an official store, the seller might have stolen the iPhone and sold it to you and now the owner is looking for it (I doubt it since you had it for 2 years)

If you bought your phone from the official store, your iCloud ID might have been hacked. The solution to activating it would be to go to an Apple store, prove to them that you are the rightful owner and they will reset it for you. After that, if you have a backup, restore the phone from the backup. Also, change your iCloud ID password Immediately. If you cannot log in, it might have been hijacked. In that case, click forgot password and reset from email.


Is Automator intended to create distributable stand-alone apps? I have a series of executables which I would like to wrap into a stand-alone .app. A bit like ffmpegx does for the executables contained under its /Resources folder.
I've noticed that Automator allows you to create a stand-alone application, but it's not clear to me how to:

include my executables within the .app package
specify a relative path when adding a "run shell script" action, so I can execute my executables when the user double clicks the .app

Is Automator intended to be used as "application maker" or should I use something else? If Automator is the way to go, how can I solve the two above issues?

It's not really designed for this, but I think you can hack it to do what you'd like.

First, to get the relative path to the .app package, you'll want to add a Run AppleScript action before your shell script. The code for the AppleScript should be something like this:

on run {input, parameters}
   set p to POSIX path of (path to me)
   return {p}
end run

That will pass the path to your .app bundle to your shell script action as an argument. Just set the Run Shell Script to pass input as arguments and you should be set to use the path in your shell script however you need to:

Once that's done, you can package whatever executables you need in the Contents/Resources folder of the .app bundle. You can get there in the Finder by right/command-clicking the .app and selecting Show Package Contents.

Important Note: Automator rewrites the .app bundle every time you save it, so you'll have to add the executables again every time after you make a change.


Launching Finder in macOS 10.15, Catalina, with a shortcut I've previously used shortcut alt+cmd+space to launch new finder windows. In macOS 10.15, Catalina, this has changed in a way that search is now mandatory and I cannot select View -> Show sidebar (it is disabled).

Is there a way to launch new Finder window with keyboard or a way to get old behavior back?

Edit: This seems to be problem in this computer. I have access also to another Catalina running macbook where alt+cmd+space works as before.

In the end this was simple as View -> Show Toolbar. Finder cannot show sidebar if toolbar is not enabled. Maybe catalina upgrade changed this, or I have accidentally pressed shortcut to hide toolbar.