Microphone Not Working With FaceTime I'm at a loss on this one. My girlfriends microphone is not working in FaceTime on her iPhone 5s. The microphone itself works because we tested it with the Voice Memos app. When we have a FaceTime conversation I can occasionally hear some sort of clicking/crackling noise, but no voice. I don't know exactly what it's picking up. However with strictly FaceTime audio calls it does pick up sound. The sound also does not work with voice recording text messages.

The first thing I thought of was thinking that maybe the app doesn't have permission to access the microphone. I looked though settings and on FaceTime but couldn't find where the permission could be toggled. And I had no idea how to force it to ask the permission question again.

Prior to getting her iPhone 5s screen fixed, she was using an old iPhone 4 for a long time. On the iPhone 4 FaceTime worked just fine. When she got the 5s back I restored it from iCloud with a backup image of the iPhone 4 so she would have all of her apps and what not. Since then the microphone on FaceTime has not been working.

Any tips or ideas on what to try?

I wonder if the iPhone is somehow detecting a pair of headphones in the device only when the FaceTime is active for video calls?

Steps to take:

Reboot iPhone
Try in phone app
Try again with FaceTime

Possibly also try a device backup and then restore either using your computer or iCloud for the backup.

Edit:

When reading your comment, you reminded me that there are 2 separate mics on the iPhone 5S. Microphones on iPhones. I believe the mic on the back is used for FaceTime and the front mic is used for phone calls as well as FaceTime Audio. Here is an iFixit guide list for the iPhone 5S.


How can I mount a hybrid CD in macOS I have a (very old) CD which is supposed to be mountable both on the Mac and Windows. Using Virtual Box, I can see the Windows partition, but on macOS I can’t.
Disk Utility sort of sees it, but the volume is greyed out and cannot be mounted.
Using diskutil list I get the following:
/dev/disk7 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:        CD_partition_scheme                        *1.5 MB     disk7
   1:     Apple_partition_scheme                         1.3 MB     disk7s1
   2:        Apple_partition_map                         1.0 KB     disk7s1s1
   3:                  Apple_HFS Aussie Maths Invaders   531.5 KB   disk7s1s2

which suggests (a) that it can see it and (b) the format is HFS.
I have two copies of the CD, and neither of them can be mounted, which suggests that it’s probably not the media itself.
I cannot successfully mount the Apple Partition using either mount or diskutil, or at least with the options I have tried.
I have tried the following:
$ diskutil mountDisk /dev/disk7
One or more volume(s) failed to mount

$ mount -t cd9660 /dev/disk7 ~/cd
mount_cd9660: Invalid argument
mount: /Users/mark/cd failed with 1

$ mount_cd9660 /dev/disk7 ~/cd
mount_cd9660: Invalid argument

I am on an iMac running macOS Catalina 10.15.6 an external DVD/CD drive.

A few things:
The most likely problem: Apple dropped support for the "Mac OS Standard" HFS file system in macOS 10.15 Catalina. (Catalina retains support for the "Mac OS Extended" HFS+ file system.) While HFS+ was introduced in 1998 with OS 8.1 and quickly took over common usage on hard drives, it includes a "journal" of file system operations that makes it difficult to use with read-only drives, so CD-ROMs continued to use HFS until they were replaced with DVDs which use a different file system altogether.
AFAIK, currently (August 2020) there are no good tools for reading HFS file systems under Catalina. A bunch of attempts at utilities that may mature over time, but nothing ready for prime time. Probably your best bet is to use a virtual machine running compatible software to read the files.

Using Virtual Box, I can see the Windows partition, but on MacOS I can’t.

In general, macOS will not show the Windows partition of a multi-format CD.
You cannot use the CD drive with Virtual Box and the host macOS at the same time. The drive gets attached to one or the other. I am not sure if quitting Virtual Box is enough to make it let go of the drive.

I cannot successfully mount the Apple Partition using either mount or diskutil, or at least with the options I have tried.

I cannot think of a time when Disk Utility could see the drive and partition but not mount it that I was also able to mount it successfully from the command line.
Nevertheless, if you are going to try to mount the partition from the command line, you want to mount the Apple_HFS partition, which in the output provided is listed as disk7s1s2, so the command would be
diskutil mount readOnly disk7s1s2


Automator - Get name of dropped file without file type I have a simple automator app that runs a python script on the file that is dropped on it. However, I need to also extract the name of the dropped file so that I can use it to create a directory name.

for f in "$@"
do
    set myFileName to name of (item f of $@)
    /usr/local/bin/python3 /Volumes/Scripts/script.py "$f"
    mkdir myFileName (without extension?)
done

The first line of your script is Applescript whereas it should be shell (bash by default). The tersest version I can think of:

for f in "$@"
do
    /usr/local/bin/python3 /Volumes/Scripts/script.py "$f"
    mkdir ${f%.*}
done


Preview for PDFs - Incorrect Pages are Bookmarked I'm experiencing a strange error when bookmarking pages in a PDF document using Preview. If I bookmark a file whose book-listed page is 666 and whose actual page within the document is 703, for example, preview will bookmark the book-listed page 703 which occurs in the actual document at page 740. The only way I can get a bookmark for the page listed at 666 is to find the pdf-page 666 and create the bookmark there (which is page 629 in the book-listing).
I never encountered this strange behaviour on my MacBook Air 2013, but I recently upgraded to the Macbook Air 2020. Has anyone else experienced the same issue and if so, how did you fix this?
I'm using Preview version 11.0 (999.4)
I'm running macOS 10.15.7

I was having this problem after updating to Big Sur and tried turning off logical page numbers by going to Preferences > pdf and then unticking the Viewing documents: use logical page numbers box.  This worked for me.
Funnily enough, this is the opposite to what Apple tell you to do, as discussed here.


Can I connect external hardrive with time machine to someone else's mac to access one file Can I connect an external hardrive with time machine to someone else's mac and then access one file on time machine?

Yes, this is possible. A Time Machine Backup is readable by any other Mac as long as the Time Machine Backup is not encrytped. Even then you can unlock it with your password.

Also see this answer.


loginwindow process out of control I have an early 2010 27" iMac that is the family computer.  It has 5 user accounts on it. (Not sure if this is relevant or not).

Often times I'll come home and the login screen won't appear.  Usually I can ssh in from my MBP and kill that process and everything works.

This time, however, I see that there's a few hundred loginwindow processes running, and I can't kill them.  Doing a ps ax | grep loginwindow | wc -l told me there was 829 of them!

It started with a frozen screensaver.  I killed the ScreenSaverEngine process and it brought me to a stuck login screen.

I'm guessing there is a severe software conflict on the machine, but I am not sure how to diagnose this.  It is certainly frustrating to have to power off the machine.

Any ideas on what I should do to fix this issue?  How would I begin to figure out the root  cause?

Alright these are the olden goldies for fixing stuff like that:

1) Repair Permissions:

This is often a bit of a sacrificial chicken but in this case it could very well be that something has caused the permissions on the login database or an associated file to end up corrupted.

2) Verify the disk:
It's unlikely to be a disk problem but whilst you're in there you might as well clear that off.

If they don't do the trick once you're logged back in go to Console in Utilities and post the log files up here, there might be some useful information in them.


Unable to enable AVB under Mavericks on MacBook Pro I have a MacBook Pro that has the Thunderbolt hardware which means it should be able to support EthernetAVB. I have done a search and found the command to enable it at the website Manual Pagez. The command it outlines is avbdeviced and then I place --list-interfaces after it to have it list the devices that can work with EthernetAVB.

When I run the command in terminal (either as sudo or just plain) even after going up to root I receive a response like this

BradfordBenns-MacBook-Pro:/ bradfordbenn$ avbdeviced --list-interface
-bash: avbdeviced: command not found
BradfordBenns-MacBook-Pro:/ bradfordbenn$ sudo avbdeviced --list-interface
Password:
sudo: avbdeviced: command not found

I believe that the system has everything installed as I have a directory called Macintosh HD:Library:Audio:Plug-Ins:HAL:AppleAVBAudio.driver:Contents:MacOS:AppleAVBAudio

Is there a step I am missing or how do I enable the AVB feature?

The more formal information about the system:

  System Version:   OS X 10.9 (13A603)
  Kernel Version:   Darwin 13.0.0
  Boot Volume:  Macintosh HD   Boot
  Mode: Normal

AVB no longer needs to be enabled under OS X 10.9. avbdeviced has been removed.

You should be able to view and connect devices via 'Window' -> 'Network Device Browser' in Audio MIDI Setup.


What's the simplest way to password protect a text file? I'd like to password protect a text file. Not necessarily a .txt file - just a file that's got text in it that I can edit with a standard text editor. I'd like to set a password and be prompted for it every time I open the file in any app. What's the best way?

You can put the file into an encrypted disk image.

Open "/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility"
File > New > New Blank Image...
In the new image dialog make sure to choose:

Encryption = 128 or 256-bit AES
Image Format = read/write disk image

Because you chose encryption, you will be prompted to set a password for the disk image

You now have a password-protected disk image that you can save any kind of file in.


Native Foreign Exchange Trading Software Know anyone any foreign exchange (forex) trading software native for OS X? (Not Windows emulated).

Based on this, it seems that your best choice may be some cross-platform Java app. Another site has reviews of other products.

Everything I've seen from those sites and others in this Google search reeks of marketing and astroturf, so it may behoove you to be wary.


Why can't websites access JRE in Yosemite? Please see the attached image which shows an error/information message I am seeing regularly since upgrading to Yosemite. I don't know which website is asking for Java, as there is a different site showing in Safari each time I see it, but I do know that I am using the latest version of JRE so it's not clear why this message is being shown.

Can someone please advise me the best way to check what process is generating this, and how I can fix it?

As suggested by Moto_Nomad, this appears to have been caused by the Facebook Video Chat plugin requesting Java Runtime Environment. I needed to undertake the following steps to locate and disable this process.

Launch Terminal, and type the command launchctl list | grep facebook

This results in something like the following:

-   1   com.facebook.videochat.<yourname>.updater
-   0   com.apple.facebook.xpc

Where <yourname> is your Facebook id. To delete the process, type the following command:

launchctl remove com.facebook.videochat.<yourname>.updater

Remember to replace <yourname> with the Facebook ID returned in the first step. To check the command has worked, type launchctl list | grep facebook again. This time you should see the following:

-   0   com.apple.facebook.xpc

Having done this myself I can confirm that the dialog shown in the question is no longer appearing.


Can I use MST on one mDP and 4k on the other? I have a mid-2015 MacBook Pro 15" retina (A1398), and I'm trying to setup external displays as follows:

4k tv (TCL 43s405) @60 hz with mDP to HDMI adaptor
2x HP VH240A 1080p using mDP to 2xHDMI MST hub

When I have just the 4k tv hooked up, it works fine at 4k 60hz. When both mDP are in use, it drops to 30hz.

When I have just the MST hub hooked up, both displays work, but are only recognized as a single display in System Preferences. It seems to be working more like a splitter than an MST hub.  I thought this might be because only one mDP or the other is 1.2, but this is the situation no matter which it is plugged into.

So, 2 questions, and a plea for help:

Are the mini DisplayPorts on my MacBook Pro 1.2 or 1.0? If they are
1.2 then my MST hub should allow the displays to be recognized separately, right?
Why does my display drop from 60hz to 30hz when both mDP are used?
How can I get this arrangement setup?

Turns out macOS only support MST on thunderbolt and for >4k screens, but not for daisy chaining or multiple displays on mDP 1.2.  Point for Windows on this one, I guess.


Apps for making geometric shapes (math) Is there any apps for making geometric shapes (math)? I need to make shapes like rhombus and equilateral triangles.

I have already posted this in the math forum, but I think this is more related to apple.

Grapher.app

You might want to take a look at /Application/Utilities/Grapher.app. It is a graphical calculator that can create 2D and 3D shapes.

x2y2z2=42

Here is a starters tutorial that looks fine: http://computers.tutsplus.com/tutorials/getting-started-with-grapher-your-macs-built-in-graph-tool--mac-48440


Reading pdfs on iPad without storing them permanently I'm a software developer and my software is generating a lot of PDF reports which I know will consume a lot of space if downloaded. My clients use iPads. Is there a way they can view PDFs without having to store them permanently on the iPads (temporarily store them while viewing and auto-delete them when closed)?

The Safari browser by default just views the PDFs. That should be sufficient.
It also has the option to "Save to iBooks" so you can access it later.


Persistent Beachball in Messages A few days ago, I was chatting via Messages and because the phone I was tethering off of went dead, and I reconnected after connecting to the wireless network of the hotel I was in, which is...dubious at best.

Now Messages isn't working. It loads, I can receive messages via notifications and the unread messages number increments, but any attempt to interact with the application directly gets caught in a beachball, and Messages shows as Not Responding in Activity Monitor, and is taking up 100% of a core. Weirdly, it's persisted past a simple OS reinstall, which is surprising.

Any idea what's going on here, or how to fix it?

You can try and remove the ~/Library/Messages and
~/Library/Caches/Messages folders, then restart.


Possible to integrate Keynote in custom UI? In Windows it is possible to load and instantiate COM/ActiveX components, e.g. PowerPoint, and use them to render in your UI of choice.

With e.g. WebKit, this seems to be possible as WebKit is accessible through /System/Library/Frameworks/WebKit.framework.

Is it possible to do something equivalent in OS X with Keynote?

Yes, on OS X - the technology used to make most programs is Objective C where messages get passed from the UI to the logic and a model-view-controller idiom is used.

If you are skilled, you can do things like patch the binary to swizzle a method or use SIMBL to modify apps that do not have a plug in system like Keynote.

These reverse-engineering feats require some very detailed skill and can break each time the app is updated, so something that is theoretically possible becomes unlikely to happen as something you can download for free with the work already being done for you.

Your commend about the quicklook ability to preview keynotes is where I would start if you wanted to develop a true application to read keynote files. From there, you would need to reverse engineer the storage format by discovering that a .key file is really just a fancy zip file and go from there.


“qnmqkmkrqwfq” is damaged and can’t be opened , even though i set Allow applications downloaded from: Anywhere i just finished updating my Macbook pro to macOS Catalina and after the installation finished i got this error message that keeps reappearing. i do not know or have a file named "qnmqkmkrqwfq" (i tried searching for it) and when i press show in finder or ok it disappears for a second and then pops up again for no reason and i am not trying to open any files or apps. i searched and the only solution i found was setting "Allow applications downloaded from: Anywhere" but it did not work. Please Help.

The first step is to run all Apple software updates since this appears to be malware or adware and Apple will block that if it’s prevalent or spreading.

The name is generated, so your Mac might have a different inscrutable name popping up. (e.g. urhsuneqbbth, geohxjhmvzab, qnmqkmkrqwfq, or jjfnurchyhas )

This isn’t likely a harmless error, so I would connect a new drive and back up your critical files (keeping any older backups safely offline) and then boot to internet recovery and reinstall the OS, run Disk Utility to check for filesystem errors.

When that’s done, you want to scan for malware with a tool like Malwarebytes for Mac.

the name is suspicious unless you know why you’d have an app named that
It launching itself is suspicious
It’s not being indexed by spotlight is suspicious

I would also disable all apps not signed and apply any security patches you don’t have as well if you can or don’t want to run the reinstall today to buy a little extra security from any new apps that get installed or downloaded. The ones that ran before won’t be stopped,  but it’s looking less likely this is just a corruption of your OS and one bad app.

If you can get the finder window open, control click and show package contents and consider uploading the file to https://www.virustotal.com/gui/home/upload if you’re not comfortable using terminal to type the command file and drag the bookmark “file” into the terminal window to check if the file is deceiving you - named like a text file but actually a program.


How to change default LC_TYPE? My OS X (Mavericks) seems to be setting LC_CTYPE environmental variable to UTF-8 by default.

How can I change the default? I need LC_CTYPE to be en_US.UTF-8.

There's a catch: I don't want to overwrite default with another value by using export LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 in my local .profile or .bash_rc. I'm interested in changing the default itself, at the very root wherever it comes from, so that it works without additional startup scripts (and also I'm curious what controls env vars in OS X :)

The reason I want to change it at the very source is that I want to be able to:

launch remote shell quickly in iTerm2, which doesn't run local shell's (slow-ish) startup script
have remote servers inherit my local LC_ variables so that I have UTF-8 support on other machines without having to configure them specifically.

In Terminal.app you can change the default encoding in the Advanced settings. This will be set before it spawns a shell.

Looks like iTerm2 has the setting under Preferences, Profiles, Terminal.

Is that 'the very source' you are looking for?


macOS Big Sur - How do I disable keyboard backlight permanently? I don't need the keyboard backlighting on MacBooks, and yet every time I turned it off, it's automatically turned on again after waking up from sleep / reboots.
How do I turn off backlighting permanently on MacBooks running macOS Big Sur?
Edit: Add my current settings in Sys Prefs:

Yes, Adjust keyboard brightness in low light is unchecked.
Backlighting is always automatically turned on after the Mac wakes up from a sleep of more than 6 hours, the keyboard brightness won't change as long as I keep using the Mac / the Mac is not put to a sleep for more than a few hours.
This bug exists in Catalina too, before I upgraded to Big Sur.

You need to uncheck the "Adjust keyboard brightness in low light" setting in the "Keyboard" pane of System Preferences. Then, adjust the backlight to zero by pressing F5 (or tapping the setting on the Touch Bar).

(image from https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202310)


iPhoto '09 referenced library - modified files are saved locally? I've been trying to organise my photos better on a NAS (QNAP) that is exposed as an AFP share. I've copied all the JPEGs into an organised structure on the NAS volume manually. I'd like the files on the NAS (RAID5) and the library on the MBP. They have a direct gigabit connection and jumbo frames are enabled.

I created a new iPhoto '09 library, changed preferences to NOT copy the originals to the library, then imported a directory hierarchy of this years photos. I then proceeded to do some face recognition, tagging and placing as a test.

I then looked at the external NAS files and the internal HDD files and can see many, many files duplicated within the Modified folder of the new iPhoto library

My question is - is this the expected behaviour? Is this avoidable somehow? Can iPhoto be made to save modifications to the original files in the referenced location?

Note: I would prefer to use iPhoto but I also have Aperture if that is usable in some way. Or open to other suggestions

Couple of thoughts:

You're running a Referenced Library (where iPhoto does not copy the files to the Library on import). You're doing this with the Library on one volume and the files on another. In iPhoto 09 and earlier, iPhoto uses a system of aliases to track the location of the files. Aliases are very unreliable across volumes. If the path to these files changes you could find yourself fixing each one... one at a time for the entire library. There are other pitfalls to this set up - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3062728?tstart=0 for more
No. iPhoto will only store the modified images within the Library package. There is no way to change this behaviour. iPhoto will never modify the original file.
If you have Aperture then forget about iPhoto. The pitfalls mentioned above simply don't arise as Aperture is designed with Referenced Masters in mind, you can manage and (if need be) relocate referenced masters from within Aperture. Also, Aperture (and iPhoto 11) does not make a Modified version. It does make previews, these will always be stored within the Library package, but with Aperture you can choose not to generate them.


Web/PC interface for iPhone text Messaging There is a great web app at https://messages.android.com that syncs with an Android phone's SMS/messaging to allow texting from the computer.

(This is great for those of us who type faster than we text on a little phone; and for those who are sitting at a desktop all day and don't want to open their phone to address every incoming text message.)

Is there an analog for iPhone Messages?  I.e., a web or PC app that can send and receive native text messages for an iPhone?

No web or PC interface are viable.

Just messages on macOS allows a non iOS interface, however all recent iOS devices have full keyboard support. Wired and wireless keyboards work great even on an iPhone and command tab app switching lets you rock keyboard shortcuts and navigate almost everything out of the box without a touch interface.

https://www.macstories.net/?s=Keyboard
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202041
Lightning to USB Camera Adapter - https://store.apple.com/xc/product/MD821AM/A

TLDR - hook you PC keyboard to your iPhone for fast messages texting and writing.


How to export all elements in a iPhone WhatsApp chat? I need to export all contents in a WhatsApp chat, going back several months, including lots of audio and other media. This is for legal reasons, thus I absolutely need each and every element in the conversation. WhatsApp is running on a iPhone 5s, the phone is synchronized with iTunes on a Windows PC, and all elements in the chat have never been deleted.

I tried using WhatsApp's "email chat" function, but it skipped several media, probably due to message size limits (the email was exactly 10 MB); unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be an option in WhatsApp to split the log into multiple emails.

I have an iTunes backup and I can perform an iCloud backup; however, I don't know how to extract WhatsApp data from them. There seem to be lots of apps out there for extracting this kind of data, but they are not free (and I also don't know if they work as promised); I'd prefer a free solution, but a paid one is ok if it can fulfill my requirements.

I already wrote to WhatsApp support, and I'm waiting for their reply; however, I'm also asking here, maybe someone can help.

CopyTrans Contacts is an application which can export WhatsApp chats in several formats, including HTML pages and Word documents with intenal links to attachments; this allows easy and comfortable reviewing of the exported chats.

CopyTrans Contacts is not free, but a limited trial is available; the trial allows up to 50 actions to be performed, and a full export of a WhatsApp chat counts as a single action; therefore, the trial version is more than enough for exporting the full contents of one or more chats.


Comma in 1000 separate in Excel app does not work Even i check the box "use 1000 separate (,)" but nothing is shown in the number. Please Help

In System Preferences > Language & Region, you need to select the Region setting as "United States" instead of "United States (Computer)". You'll need to relaunch Excel after this.

This setting is required in Excel 2011 only. In Excel 2016, it works fine.


OS X Mavericks seems to be corrupting my sleep image I've been running Mavericks and there seems to be some issue with sleeping.  If I run the battery down to zero, the laptop automatically hibernates as usual.  When I turn the laptop on, it boots, then immediately restarts - losing the sleep data in the process.

There don't seem to be any other issues, no kernel panics or anything like that.  Indeed there are no error messages of any kind, save for the obvious fact that it's just done a normal reboot.  Most applications deal with it gracefully, opening as if they crashed, but services like Python close and if the program doesn't handle it properly, data gets lost.

I'm wondering if it's a battery issue?  I had issues with an old battery (since replaced) where OS X would just die at low battery instead of hibernating, but even then it didn't reboot after turning on.  However, this has only started since I upgrade.

Any suggestions?

I have a mid 2009 13" Macbook, OS X 10.9, 4GB RAM and a 256GB Crucial M4 SSD.

Assuming you aren't running any 3rd party utilities or have previously changed your hibernation settings here is what I would do:

run sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 3
Verify your disk using disk utility. repair any problems.
delete the sleep image sudo rm /private/var/vm/sleepimage

if that doesn't fix it try an SMC reset


Using Migration Assistant corrupted Time Capsule hard drive Recently, I tried to migrate a Time Machine backup to a new Mac. The Migration Assistant completely messed up. I ended up with a scrambled hard drive and completely empty Time Capsule. Called Apple, they could not help in recovering the Time Capsule.

Is there any way to recover my Time Capsule hard drive after it is completely formatted to its previous state?

I know that there are file recovery solutions like Photo Rec, Disk Drill, etc. But the results will give me lots of scrabbled files, my goal here is to retrieve the Time Capsule to its previous state, and go back to recover my computer from it.

Few clarifications (from comments):

I do not have my previous Mac to re-backup and recover from
I am able to retrieve files, but the time machine contains a large amount of mess, it had backup of 3 separate computers
Searched online for "Using Migration Assistant lead to an empty Time Capsule", but it doesn't seem to be a know issue

Update: few days later

I have mounted the Time Capsule hard drive on a docking system, recovered most of the data on it using Disk Drill.
It seems that somehow, while using the migration assistant, there was some kind of error which damaged the Time Capsule hard drive filesystem and/or partition.

You are most likely so far down the road that it is impossible to go back.

You CAN, however, take out the harddisk of the time capsule, buy a spare harddisk, bitcopy the contents of the time capsule to the spare harddisk and use advanced forensic tools to salvage parts of the file system not overwritten by what you did so far.   You may be lucky.  A Time Capsule is essentially a small Mac using a HFS filesystem internally to my understanding.

If your data is important enough to warrant spending money on them, consider contacting a professional company.

In the future, you may want to use the "dump contents to external disk" feature of the Time Capsule.    This gives you a stand-alone Time Machine backup that you can save off-site for disasters like this.  Combined with iCloud you have a relatively cheap and simple coverage of your data.


Apple TV, content from two users on same mac My parents have an iMac that they share using fast user switching. They each have an iTunes library, where mom keeps the pictures from the family's digital camera and her music collection, and dad maintains his music and the family's movie collection. Also, they each have an iPhone, which is synced to their respective music library.

We recently got them an Apple TV, so that they'd be able to enjoy the content on their tv. We've gotten both picture viewing, music streaming and movie watching work, but the problem is that all content is not accessible at the same time.

To me it appears that the culprit is the fast user switching. Both libraries appear on the Apple TV, but usually only one of the libraries is accessible. I have not been able to establish a pattern with regards to who is the active user on the iMac, i.e. it does not appear to matter if dad's the foremost user on the mac when trying to access his library from the tv (or if mom's foremost when trying to access dad's library).

Any suggestions as to what can be done to solve this problem? The goal is that all content should be accessible from the Apple TV at all times.

They are using iTunes 10.5.3, unfortunately I can't tell the software version of the AppleTV right now.

Firstly, in order for AppleTV to see the iTunes Library a user must be logged in and running iTunes. If both of these are not present then AppleTV won't work.

Since they are on the same physical Mac might I recommend combining the iTunes Media folder and placing it in the /Users/Shared/ directory. As all users have access to the Shared directory the actual media files wouldn't be duplicated and they can each maintain their own iTunes Library. After moving the iTunes Media folder to the Shared folder you will need to go into iTunes Preferences for each user and under the Advanced tab select the new iTunes Media folder location.


Install Windows 10 via Bootcamp Assistant on MacBook Pro from mid 2010 As the title says, I'm looking for a way to install Windows 10 on a mid 2010 MacBook that is currently running OS X Yosemite.
The laptop has a broken optical drive which doesn't recognize any media. Unfortunately, Bootcamp Assistant insists on this boot media and completely ignores the bootable Windows 10 USB that I have plugged in.
I followed these instructions and it got me as far as installing and an initial run of Windows OS. But things get impossibly complicated the moment I update drivers either via Apple's Bootcamp driver package or Windows Update. Going either way results in blue screen and/or endless restart/repair cycle that can't be fixed by anything I tried. There's always a problem with one of the mountmgr.sys or igdkmd64.sys drivers.
Having thought that the graphics driver is the most probable culprit, I tried disabling the built-in Intel HD graphis card, hoping it would help, but to no avail. Sooner or later, the thing blue screens.
I've already wasted 10 hours on this. What bugs me is the fact that this very laptop used to run Windows on Bootcamp successfully in the past, but it was installed via Bootcamp Assistant from a DVD. Since this is no longer an option, my only hope is USB.
How can I make the Bootcamp Assistant recognize my bootable USB stick?
UPDATE
I tried to install Windows 8.1, as suggested. I used the official ISO from microsoft.com. The installer proceeded to copy all the files, but then, at the end, it complained that it couldn't update the boot configuration. After restart, I found that that Windows partition is unbootable. I can still get into the OS X by holding down the Option key at boot, but Windows is no go.
I tried installing the Windows 10 again, this time disabling internet connection during setup. I got much further, because it didn't try to automatically install drivers. I then tried manually installing latest NVidia driver for my GeForce GT 330M card. It succeeded, but the driver wouldn't take for some reason. Looking at Windows Device Manager, there was an unspecified problem with the display adapter corresponding to the NVidia card.
What else can I try? I have no clue.
UPDATE 2
I've now even tried it with an official Windows 7 ISO. This one won't go past the very first "Windows is loading files..." setup screen, before even copying any files. It just hangs at that point.
It's starting to really look like I'm not getting any Windows version on this MacBook... Which is sad. The only reason I want Windows is because my kids would like to play a Windows-only networked game with me, and this is the only other free computer we have...

The instructions, you have linked to, install Windows to EFI boot. The Boot Camp drivers provide by Apple were designed for a BIOS booting Windows. In other words, you need to hybrid partition the drive and the instructions explicitly insure the drive is using a fully protected MBR. If you can select EFI Boot of the Windows 10 installation flash drive from the Mac Startup Manager and successfully boot from the flash drive, then you can install a BIOS booting Windows 7, 8, 8.1 or 10 to your Mac. However, you will have to use the command line (CLI) to install. In your case, the graphical user interface (GUI) provided by Microsoft will only allow EFI booting installations.
The are many examples on the web of how to use the CLI to install Windows. For example, these instructions install for a dual boot. Perhaps you could adapt the instructions for your use.


Can I fix things when iOS 13.0 disconnect smart battery case on iPhone 6S? I've been using the Apple Smart Battery Case on my iPhone 6S for the past few weeks to hold me over until I can get the iPhone battery replaced, because it's dying. The case has been working great for a while now.

Last night I upgraded to iOS 13.0, and now my iPhone no longer connects to the Smart Battery Case at all. It just doesn't show up under the batteries list that you can see if you swipe left from the Notifications Center, it doesn't charge the phone, etc.

I know that the battery case is fully charged because it shows a green light when I plug it in.

I have turned off the new Optimized Battery Charging feature to see if that would help, but it didn't.

Can you think of anything else I can try?

This issue has been fixed in iOS 13.1. Hooray!


How to indent selection in TextMate? Situation

I would like to indent the selection and move it to right in TextMate.

How can you indent this kind of selection?


Including Python Script Dependencies (virtualenv contents) in Platypus I'm trying to turn a python script into a OS X App that you can run directly from Finder. I'm trying out Platypus, which seemed like the simplest option. The problem I'm running into is with the packages I'm including in the script. I installed them through pip into a virtualenv. Wondering what the best/most proper way to include those files in the Platypus bundle would be. I know I could just copy them over to the same directory and include them in the Platypus bundle, but would prefer to do something cleaner like including the virtualenv, although it seems like that would then have to be installed by the users of the app.

I also ran into py2app which seems to be able to achieve something similar to Platypus, but their documentation is somewhat obscure.

The way I've solved this is in the past is by bundling the contents of the virtualenv directory into Platypus and then activating the bundled Python interpreter with a script.

Here's a screencap of the Platypus interface to show you what I mean:

You'll notice that I've bundled the entire venv directory (which was created with the virtualenv command), and my Python script, my_app.py.

The script that I'm actually telling Platypus to run, run.sh, is a shell script with the following contents:

#!/bin/sh

"$PWD/venv/bin/python" my_app.py "$@"

All this script does is use the python binary in the venv directory to run the bundled Python script. The "$@" is there to pass any arguments to run.sh directly into my_app.py without changing them.


Chess OS X Catalina Game Connected but Moves not Updating I am trying to play a Game Center Chess game on the Mac OS X Chess app with a friend who is also on OS X.

So far, we've been able to connect to each other to start a new game and at the top of the window it says I'm vs. Him in the game details, however , when he makes a move it doesn't update on my screen.

If one of us forfeits the game then the other can see they won so it updates that info.

The problem is our moves aren't updated as we're playing even though it says we are connected and playing against each other in the details of the window as a Game Center match.

Other info:
We are friends on Game Center on iOS and Mac

I am seeing the same thing. I have been testing this out locally with two computers and two gamecenter accounts (both on High Sierra).  I see one game that says "Black to Move", while the other says "White To Move".

I have found one way to force an update is to go to the menu and choose Game -> Close, and then Game -> New -> GameCenter -> Start, and then it will show existing game center games, and you can choose to have your turn. Pretty annoying though.


Notes on iOS 7 crashing on Startup After upgrading to iOS 7 the standard Notes app crashes when starting it.

I'm running iOS 7.0 and have reproduced this after a clean power down of the phone.

Took me a while to figure this out so I'll share it if it helps someone else:

Instead of tapping on the Notes icon, search for a specific note in spotlight then open that note.

After that Notes will work normally again.

(Apple knows about the bug but they didn't fix it in time for the release.)


True fullscreen browser display I confess I'm not a regular Mac user so apologies in advance if this is a stupid question.

I'm building a web page to be displayed (offline) as a projection on a wall. On the Windows PC, running Firefox in full screen mode (F11) gives me exactly the desired effect -- no toolbars or other distractions, just the web page filling the entire display.

Over on the Mac (v10.8.5) I've tried getting this effect in both Safari and Firefox. On Firefox I got stuck because I couldn't figure out how to hide the navigation bar (yes, I do feel stupid).

On Safari I can manually get rid of all the toolbars but even after that I'm still stuck with a bright white line across the top of the display where the menu bar would appear were I to drag the mouse up there.

I'm after a solution that doesn't require installing add-ons or other software (this isn't my machine) and that is as low-hassle as possible (non-techy folks will be setting it up each day). I might get away with something that can be run off a USB stick if that helps.

This is actually a lot easier in OSX El Capitan now because there is an option to not show the toolbar in fullscreen mode.

However, in Lion, I believe you can still do this:

Enter Full Screen mode
Secondary click on the grey area above the address bar and choose "Hide Toolbar" in the Contextual Menu displayed.

That should get you what you need.


Why is the CAcert root certificate not trusted on iOS devices? I distinctly remember that when I bought my first iPhone and iPad a couple of years back, I was able to install the CAcert root certificate on those devices and iOS would trust the certificate. These days, however, I can't get this to work anymore. Whenever I install the certificate, iOS always marks it as "not trusted". What is the reason for this? And even more importantly, how can I fix it?

The devices I am talking about are an iPad 2 (iOS 7), an iPhone 3GS (iOS 6) and an iPhone 4S (iOS 7).

It turns out that iOS 5 and newer no longer trust certificates that are signed with the MD5 hash algorithm. This is confirmed by the official Apple support document http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4133.

The current CAcert root certificate is signed with MD5, so there is no fix for the problem until CAcert issues a new root certificate.


Is there a way to make notifications center always visible on mac? Is there a way to setup the notification center stays visible until closed manually i.e. via keyboard shortcut?

For example, if I’m using a calculator I sure don’t won’t to open/close the thing for each calculation.

I don't believe that it is possible, unless you manage to go into the Notification Center code on the computer and edit it to keep it open even when clicking off of it.


How do I prevent a MacBook laptop from sleeping when closed with no external keyboard, mouse, or screen? Context/goal:

I have a 2008 MacBook pro (running El Capitan with the latest updates) that I want to use as a media center/server.

It will be controlled exclusively via Screen Sharing and remote control apps (like Kodi/XBMC, Airfoil, etc). It's stored underneath my TV, which doesn't allow enough room for the laptop to stay open, so it has to be closed. I know that MacBooks can get hot if run while closed; it's not covered on any side where it sits, so it should be able to stay cool.

The laptop will always be connected to HDMI and speakers. The TV and speakers may not always be on; sometimes just the speakers will be on (e.g. for audio streaming).

It will be constantly connected to wired internet/Ethernet. My shared wireless connection is spotty, so it will often not be connected to WiFi.

Question:

I need the laptop to stay on without going to sleep. There are reams of advice on the internet for how to enable clamshell mode. However, in my case, there's no external dock, mouse, keyboard, or thunderbolt peripheral connected.

How do I prevent a closed, disconnected-from-everything MacBook running OSX 10.11 from going to sleep?

There are lots of similar questions on StackExchange and the internet, but none of them that I've seen deal with laptops that will be disconnected from everything but internet and speakers; most other questioners seem to want to use an external monitor or dock-like device.

What I've tried:

I zapped the PRAM/PMU before starting tweaking stuff to ensure that there were no stale settings lingering around.

Disabling sleep entirely while on AC/battery.
I tried various nvram commands to disable the internal display. While the internal display then didn't stay lit up during other attempts in this section, this did not seem to change sleep behavior.
Temporarily connecting a Bluetooth keyboard, so there's at least a disconnected Bluetooth peripheral to make it consider clamshell mode. I don't want to use a Bluetooth device to control the media center in the long term; screen sharing other apps only. No luck; with the TV disconnected or off, even a connected Bluetooth accessory seems to make it go to sleep as soon as Screen Sharing is disabled.
Enabling Internet Sharing, File Sharing, and the Bluetooth PAN. This doesn't consistently work; it seems to work more consistently when a WiFi connection is available, but my apartment's WiFi is flaky and is often not connectible.
Installing InsomniaX and configuring various modes with it; this occasionally keeps the MacBook on while the TV is on and connected and a Screen Sharing session has ended, but does not seem to work for audio-only streaming.

I use a program called "NoSleep". It allows me to do exactly that - helps me download updates, for example, while I go home from work.

You can get it from here:
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/37991/nosleep


Will I lose my game saves when I downgrade to iOS 4 from iOS 5? I have just recently upgraded from iOS 4.3.5 to iOS 5.1.1 on my 3rd generation iPod touch, but it seems that my iPod is slower and a little unresponsive, so I want to downgrade back to 4.3.5.

I want to know how to backup the data (mainly game saves) so that when I restore to 4.3.5 my game save is still there.

iTunes will backup the data, but there is another option.  You can also bring your game saves back to your downgraded firmware, but it will take some work.

Here is a walkthrough focusing specifically on Angry Birds, but you could use the same process for other games as well.


MacBook Pro makes a scratching noise? Whenever I pick up my computer and it's on, it makes this horrible scratching sound. Where is this sound coming from? Am i wrecking the computer when this happens? How can i prevent this from happening?

I've had this problem as well an posted this question which is very similar yours.

Here's my solution:

On the whole logic board you'll find tiny elastic sticks. They can be pushed a little. These sticks hold the aluminum bottom off the logic board and cause the disturbing mechanic noises that your are talking about.

Do not take any chances and apply insulating tape on every place of the aluminum bottom that the sticks can contact. Apply the tape again as it easily wears out.

Now, the Macbook Pro does not make any of the previous noises anymore.  It feels like a solid aluminum brick on my lap.

And a close up...

This is what the back cover looked like when I was done. Uh, it's ugly! I'm glad it's on the inside.


How to backup NAS using Time Machine I just purchased a new Iomega NAS IX2-200 4TB. I need to regularly backup this NAS. Time Machine would be the best option. How do I setup so the Time Machine will backup this NAS to my external Hard Drive?

I don't want to backup my Mac, that's already been done on the Time Capsule. Instead I just want to backup my NAS drive. But I'm not sure how to go about this, as the NAS is a network drive.

I wouldn't use Time Machine for this, it is best at backing up your local Mac. The NAS you have has a built in backup function that can use a local USB drive or a network share (as well as other options). So if you want to backup the NAS to a drive mounted on your Mac just set the share up on the Mac then configure the NAS to backup to that share on a schedule. If you really want to use Time Machine you would have to mount the NAS or more likely specific directories on the NAS then include those in Time Machine on the Mac, This article gives good info on backing up several types of network shares to your Mac thru time machine: http://lifehacker.com/5685547/how-to-set-up-time-machine-to-back-up-to-a-networked-windows-or-linux-machine


Fixing iMessage/Message to not use email address (OSX and iOS) How do I fix my little Apple ecosystem, iPhone (8.1) and Mac (Yosemite), to not associate any email addresses with my identity?

Background: Years ago (may well have been before Mavericks), you could set up Message (on your iPhone), and iMessage (Mac OSX), such that any message sent to you from other Apple users would appear on all your devices, as well as any messages you would send out as well. This was awesome for me, as you could converse on a thread with iMessage on the Mac, and then leave your Mac, having just your iPhone, and continue to follow the conversation.

With the arrival of some minor releases, however, my email addresses started creeping into my settings, my icloud address (which I never use), and the email address associated with my Apple Id. Never understood why. And then, this "mirroring feature" of messages feature started behaving weirdly.  That is, some of messages that I would send out would appear at the recipient's iPhone as they always have with just SMS, except for the blue bubble, of course, and then some of the messages would appear as being from my email address. With the latter, that means they would appear as being from a different user than normal (identified as just my email address), so that your recipient would have difficulty following a conversation, and you would have difficulty following responses on just your iPhone, depending on which of the two entities representing you (phone or email) your recipient responds to.

This "less than perfect" situation continues today with Yosemite, in spite of the feature being modernized with a new name (Relay something) and publicized as a new feature.

Your email address, which is your Apple ID, is what ties everything together. That has not changed since iMessage was introduced.

You can change where the message is coming "from" by going (on iPhone) to Settings > Messages > Send & Receive > and at the bottom under "Start new conversations from", adjust the checkbox to change what shows up as the "from" to your recipients. Most people would use their phone number here.

You should ensure the same setting is selected on your Mac. Go to Messages menu > Preferences > Accounts > select the account which says "iMessage" in small type below your email address on the left side, then on the right side, click the Settings tab and at the bottom, adjust the "Start new conversations from" setting.

The new feature you are referring to is SMS Forwarding, and is mostly unrelated to the above. It allows you to set your phone to forward messages, received on the phone as SMS, to your Mac as if they were iMessages. Replies made on your Mac are sent back to the original sender as SMS, again through your phone.


How can I stop iTunes uploading my tracks from my iPhone 6s to iCloud? The answers already posted to questions similar to mine don't seem to apply to my phone. I can keep individual tracks on the phone by pressing the download button, but with nearly 2000 songs on the phone, this seems like a long task, with no guarantee that the song won't simply upload again. Is there a way (as for photos) of preventing it?

Using the Cloud is difficult where 3G/4G reception is poor, underground in London, and it uses up my data allowance very quickly indeed.... However, I do need email and calendar to be up to date, so I don't want to turn off the Cloud entirely.

From my reading of your question, there's actually three separate things you're trying to achieve and/or concerned about.

Email and Calendar

Keeping your email and calendar synced is an iCloud setting. To ensure these are up to date, go to Settings > iCloud and ensure that both Mail and Calendar are toggled on.

Music

If your music is uploading to the cloud then you must have iCloud Music Library enabled, so you would need to disable this. To do this, go to Settings > Music and ensure that iCloud Music Library is off.

NOTE: You should be aware that this will mean you won't be able to access songs, albums and playlists from Apple Music. However, if the only reason you're wanting to stop this is out of concern for your data allowance and patchy 3G/4G reception, then refer to Mobile Data below.

Mobile Data

You can actually leave your iCloud Music Library enabled, but restrict all syncing to WiFi networks instead. You can do this by going to Settings > Music > Mobile Data and selecting what options you want enabled/disabled.


Can a jailbroken iPhone and a non-jailbroken iPod Touch operate on the same machine/itunes I have a iPod touch that is not jailbroken. Recently I was given a jailbroken iPhone by somebody. I want to know if I can use both devices with the same iTunes installed on my laptop? Will using a jailbroken iPhone mess up with the iPod touch syncing?

Thanks

Sure, it'll be fine.  I did that for a while after I got my iPad and still had my jailbroken iPhone 3G.

Jailbreaking, at least at its basic level, doesn't mess with most of the basic functions of the device such as syncing.  All bets are off if you install some JB app that is specifically meant to alter some part of the sync process, but even then it's very unlikely it will cause trouble of the iPod.


Repair Bent Unibody Case Mac Book Pro 15" I dropped my 15" MacBook Pro off of the couch onto hardwood floor (a drop of about 24 inches). It works fine still, but the bottom part (not the LCD) has bent inwards as a result. So if you are looking at the laptop with your eyes at desk-level the left hand side of the case is bent in a few millimeters on the bottom. This warping has caused the bottom-panel (the big panel screwed into the bottom) to jut out slightly.

I talked to Apple and they said that this sort of damage isn't covered by any warranty, and all they could do is replace the entire lower unibody frame for something like $600.

Does anyone know if there are Mac repair shops that will bend a unibody frame back into shape? Is there a reliable national chain that offers this? An online repair shop that you would trust mailing your laptop to? Tips on locating a local shop that might do this sort of work?

Also, I live in the S.F. Bay Area so if anyone knows personally of a repair shop that does this sort of thing, that would be awesome to know as well.

I could not recommend you any service, but here is my story.

I was almost the same situation about a year ago. I decided to replace the "top-case" which is the keyboard actually. I've got the old bended part and later it was easy to bend it back to it's original shape (it's really elastic aluminum) by myself.

The sad thing that the whole inside should be screwed out and back to replace the "top-case". So it's not an easy job, they even shortcut something at first time at the Apple service.

The bottom part which is just an aluminum plate can be easily bended back at home.


Is there an Arabic Easter Egg in Snow Leopard? I just observed something that I'm having trouble believing.

To push Lion onto my daughter's laptop without waiting for yet another giant Lion download, I turned on sharing on my MBP, connected from my daughter's SnowLeopard MB, and dragged.

While the copy was in progress, the file name label on the desktop was 'MacOSX Lion <arabic word>'. Once the copy finished, the Arabic disappeared.

Is the evidence of a special easter egg, a feature, or my need for better medication?

Sometimes when copying a large file, a temporary file will be created at the destination. The temporary file could be named <actual file name> <some additional random data>. Once the download completes, the temporary file is renamed to the actual file name.

I'm pretty sure Firefox behaves this way, but not certain whether Finder does. Also, I'm not sure why the suffix was in Arabic; perhaps the random data Apple uses is not limited to just A-Za-z0-9?

Interesting phenomenon nonetheless.


Change iTerm2 Default profile preset with "defaults write..." I want to do this in my dotfiles script.

I managed to download the preset I want using curl and open it, but I don't know how to set it in the default profile:

curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chriskempson/base16-iterm2/master/base16-ocean.dark.itermcolors > /tmp/base16-ocean.dark.itermcolors
open /tmp/base16-ocean.dark.itermcolors

I tried AppleScript, but I never used it, and it seemed to be too much work for little... I believe it could be a simpler way, using defaults write, for example.

Any ideas?

To expand on the existing answer, if you load the colours you'd like once then you can export your preferences list file from the 'General' tab to a location in your dotfiles.

Thus, in my setup script, I have:

defaults write com.googlecode.iterm2 "PrefsCustomFolder" -string "/Users/ojf/dotfiles/iterm"
defaults write com.googlecode.iterm2 "LoadPrefsFromCustomFolder" -bool true

As long as your custom folder plist also says to load from the same custom folder (!) you'll be fine.


Linking between tables in different spreadsheets in Numbers I wonder if it's possible to link tables from different spreadsheets.
I have several live projects running at the same time, for each I have a "Project finance" sheet, in which I have different tabs (Labour cost, Material cost, Project summary).
I would like to create a SUMMARY sheet with all my project, where I can link/mirror copy the project summary tables from all my projects. This needs to be "live", i.e. as we make changes in the project finance sheets (as the projects progress), on this summary table it would update automatically.
In Google sheet this is the formula I would use, but I only recently started using Numbers and I couldn't find anything similar in there.
=importrange("https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/138XdwtZoMVsdMwJOzT4R8Zzg2NNc9pxTV-ARDPvHoj8/edit#gid=63426406","Customer finance!A1:N100")

You can basically create a "live carbon copy" this way.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You can reference every table on every sheet by name/title, as long as they are within the same document.
(In the screenshot below, there is a table "Material Cost" in the sheet "Material Cost" with some values in column B that add up to 15.)


Why do PDFs disappear from the Books app on iPadOS? I have five magazine issues in PDF format in my Box account. I wished to keep them in my iPad’s Books library and read them there. So for each I did the following.

Opened PDF in the Box app and waited for it to fully download.
Used the sharing action Open in Books.

They all opened in Books and I could page through them. But when I exited the PDFs there, only two of them remained in my library. The other three immediately disappeared from my library.

Why would that happen? Is there anything I can do about it? I can make them available offline and read them in the Box app but I prefer to collect all my reading material in Books.

This happened on an iPad Air 2 running iPadOS 13.3. I doubt this is caused by the Box app; could it be some property of the PDF that causes Books to remove it immediately on closing?

I doubt this is caused by the Box app;

This is highly unlikely. Once the PDF is copied into the Books app, it's not possible for the Box app to remove it from the Books app.

  could it be some property of the PDF that causes Books to remove it immediately on closing?

No.

You can additionally check if you have sufficient storage space available on your iPad. Also, to keep the PDFs into Books app across your devices or between reinstalls of Books app, make sure you have iCloud for Books enabled.


How do I disable the Notes App on ipads? My students are using the Ipad Notes app to pass notes in class.  Some are not appropriate either.  Is there a way to disable the Notes app on an ipad?

You cannot disable the Notes app in iOS devices, either with Restrictions or with Apple Configurator. There is no way I know of to delete or hide any of the pre-installed Apple apps, either.

You can lock each iPad to a single app using guided access, described here.

Your best mechanism for preventing this behavior is through social engineering: a clearly written Acceptable Use Policy signed off by by parent & student; and trips to the principal's office, with penalties for infractions.


How to attach spotlight found document to mail message with os x yosemite? In my mail message I want to attach an image. I located the image via spotlight and now I want to attach it to my mail message (plain apple mail). The image file is somewhere deep in my folderstructure where I don't want to go now. How can I achieve this with as less effort as possible?

As the other answers suggest, you can simply drag and drop into your mail message.  However, I found that this is not always the behavior that I want.  Sometimes I want to see the file in the context of its own folder, or get additional files around it.

Holding down the Command ⌘ key, while double-clicking on the Spotlight result, will open the containing folder of your image (or any file) in the Finder.  I use this function all the time.

As a bonus, just holding the Command ⌘ key will show you the path of the file underneath its Preview, as illustrated in the following screenshot.


How to backup all iOS text messages to mac or DropBox How can I backup my entire text message archive to my Mac in a format that I can read? I am eventually trying to save it to DropBox, but just figuring out how to get them onto my Mac will answer everything.

You can use something like Phone View or iExplorer to export messages from your iPhone to your computer.
Phone View:

Save your SMS, iMessages and WhatsApp messages
Search and view your texts, plus picture and video messages, even when your iPhone isn’t connected to your Mac.
Export messages as beautiful PDF files.

iExplorer:

Some text messages are meant to be saved. With iExplorer, you can keep any or all of your text messages easily, allowing you to remember special moments, preserve important data, and get more done across your devices with simple iPhone SMS backup. The beautiful, intuitive app interface lets you search and save iPhone text messages with ease.
Export to PDF, CSV, TXT, all Images, all Attachments


Mobile hotspot missing on iphone 4 I updated to the new IOS 7 and it took my mobile hotspot option off the menu settings. Not sure what to do any information would be appreciated.

If you are you on a carrier that is officially supported by Apple, your need a mobile contract that allows Personal Hotspot, otherwise it will not work. If your carrier allows it, update your Carrier Settings:

Make sure internet works
Settings > General > About
You will see a popup to inform you of the update.

If you are on an unofficial carrier, you should configure Personal Hotspot manually:

Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Network
Scroll to the bottom, under Personal Hotspot, enter the APN, Username and Password you received from your carrier.

If any of the above options are missing, it means that your carrier has disabled them.


How to enable file sharing for the new 'private' folders in Catalina? The new data protections in Catalina make some folders inaccessible by default (for example the 'Documents' folder).  When an application tries to access one of these folders the OS presents the user with a dialog box to ensure they intended the access.

See the Data Protections section here.

This seems to have had the effect of breaking home folder network shares.  If you enable file sharing in macOS, any registered user is able to access their home folder using their own credentials.  This works in Catalina, but the special private folders (Documents, Downloads, Desktop) can't be interacted with.  Attempts to interact with them result in an 'access denied' error and no dialog is presented to the user on the server machine that would allow access.  On the client machine, in both Finder and Terminal these folders simply appear empty and you get a permissions error if you attempt to create a file.

I can see no configuration in either the Security and Privacy settings for these files or in the File Sharing settings that would solve this problem.

How do I allow access to these folders as part of the user's home share over a network in Catalina such that it works as it did in previous versions of macOS?

This is probably a bug. You can solve it by deactivating the file sharing option in the Sharing section of the Preferences window and then reactivating it.


Can I install 64 bit software on a 32 bit macbook pro I have mac book pro, Processor: 2.16 Ghz intel Core Duo, Memory: 1 GB 667 Mhz DDR2 SDRAM, Model Identifier: MacBookPro1,2, Total Number Of Cores: 2, Boot ROM Version: MBP12.0061.B03.

uname -a: Darwin khalil-chs-MacBook-Pro-17.local 10.8.0 Darwin Kernel Version 10.8.0: Tue Jun  7 16:33:36 PDT 2011; root:xnu-1504.15.3~1/RELEASE_I386 i386

My question: Can I install 64 bit software on this mac?
Or could I "update" my 32 bit to 64 bit?

No, you can't.  That Macbook has a 32-bit processor (http://ark.intel.com/products/27237/Intel-Core-Duo-Processor-T2600-2M-Cache-2_16-GHz-667-MHz-FSB), so there's no way to have it use 64-bit software.


Help with AppleScript moving email messages I have written the script below to move messages from one mailbox to another in Mail.

But when I run it, just a few email messages are moved at a time. E.g. if I have 10 messages in the mailbox, only three or four are moved. So I have to run the script multiple times to complete the operation! As far as I can tell it's pretty random how many move each time.

So does anyone know why this might be, and how I could improve this script?

Many thanks!

use AppleScript version "2.4" -- Yosemite (10.10) or later
use scripting additions

tell application "Mail"

    set theWorkInbox to mailbox "Work Inbox" of account "Work"
    repeat with currentWorkMessage in every message of (mailbox "Work Holding Bay" of account "Work")
        set mailbox of currentWorkMessage to theWorkInbox
    end repeat

end tell

I'm using macOS Sierra

It's better if you capture a reference to every message in a variable, instead of getting the reference every time you loop.

tell application "Mail"
    set theWorkInbox to mailbox "Work Inbox" of account "Work"
    set TargetInbox to mailbox "Work Holding Bay" of account "Work"

    -- CAPTURE REFERENCE TO EVERY MESSAGE OF MAILBOX IN A VARIABLE
    set EveryMessage to every message of TargetInbox

    repeat with currentWorkMessage in EveryMessage
        set mailbox of currentWorkMessage to theWorkInbox
    end repeat

end tell


How do I clear Google Chrome's DNS cache entirely? Chrome is quite aggressive about caching HTTP responses. I assume this is for speed.

However, for a web developer such as myself, this can often be problematic, since pages I work on often change a lot.

For instance, my company's public website had a connection problem that I fixed but Chrome still gives me a ERR_CONNECTION_RESET page whenever I visit it (the root domain and every URL under it). If I use any other browser, or Incognito mode it works. Also visiting subdomains works.

I've tried the following:

Restarting Chrome
Clearing browser data
Going to chrome://net-internals/#dns and clearing host cache
Going to chrome://net-internals/#sockets and flushing socket pools
Closing all tabs and restarting
All or some of the above and flushing the OS DNS cache with: sudo dscacheutil -flushcache;sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder;

On my colleagues' Windows computers, simply clearing host cache in Chrome works.

I'm using Chrome 52.0.2743.49 beta on El Capitan / 10.11.5 (Btw: Have had the same problem with non-beta Chrome in the past)

Any advise?

Just clear the "Cached images and files" in step 2 works for my Chrome on Mac Sierra most of the time, sometimes I need add step 3 and 4.


International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) dictionary guide in OS7 How do I change the settings to display the in the dictionary the IPA pronunciation guide, rather than diacritical, guide in the iPhone 5S iOS 7?

As far as I know, there is no way change the dictionary to IPA or download custom dictionaries to iOS (save for jailbreaking it). However...

This isn't a complete solution, but if you hit "Manage" and download "Oxford Dictionary of English" it will give you an English dictionary with IPA pronunciation. The only caveat is that it will be British English pronunciation.

Which depending on your use may or may not be useful since it will depend heavily on the particular word defined and your own dialect. For instance, the word "solution" in American English is usually pronounced something like suh-loo-shun while British English would pronounce it more like sull-yoo-shun (pardon my bad almost-diacritics), which can throw you off if you are using it to learn or reinforce already learnt IPA.


Why does my external monitor brightness increase on 144 Hz? I have an external display connected via DisplayPort.  With 144 Hz refresh rate selected the image brightness goes up by quite a bit.  Any other refresh rate (even 120) will show a darker, less washed out image.  The actual monitor OSD settings are not changed when this happens.  Anyone know why this would happen and if it can be prevented?

Turns out this was related to another issue I had, caused by a monitor with defective timing.  I got a replacement which solves this.


Music app without iTunes I don't always have PC with me. Also, I have quite big music collection on my DropBox. Is there any good app for iPhone that I can use to download music from DropBox and listen to without connecting to iTunes?

I managed to find appropriate app for this purpose. Its name is VLC for iOS -> https://itunes.apple.com/pl/app/vlc-for-ios/id650377962?mt=8

I can connect my DropBox account and play music.


Using a screensaver as a desktop wallpaper? I've looked around a lot for a way to use one of the screensavers as the wallpaper for my desktop. I found a few options but all of them didn't seem to work on macOS Catalina. The way I tried to attempt this was by using the following code.
/System/Library/CoreServices/ScreenSaverEngine.app/Contents/MacOS/ScreenSaverEngine -background &
All this does is launch the screensaver, instead of making it my wallpaper. Any way that this could be done on Catalina?

If you just want a still image of a certain frame in the screensaver you can do a screenshot of the screensaver at the right time and then use the sceenshot as your desktop.
if you want the running screenshot to be your desktop there was a similar question asked and the answer is given here for High Sierra and that may apply to Catalina.


Thunderbolt Display does not recognize USB keyboard I have a Macbook Pro which I use in combination with a Thunderbolt display.
I also have a standard Apple USB keyboard with numeric keypad which is plugged in one of the USB ports of the Thunderbolt display.

The problem I have is, that the keyboard is often not recognized. Usually when I shut the laptop down and start it again. I usually managed to bring it to work when I unplug the keyboard several times and plug it in again OR I open the settings and wait for some time and do random things.

I don't have any problems when I just put the Mac to sleep. The keyboard will still work when I wake the Macbook up again.

The keyboard works perfectly well when I connect it with the Macbook directly - so it seems not to be an issue with the cable. Other USB devices work in the ports of the display - so this seems not to be the issue as well.

But of course I want it to work with the display so that I don't have to unplug too many things to take my laptop away.

I discovered that when I plug the USB cable of the keyboard into the short USB extender cable (that came with the keyboard) and then plug the extender cable into the Thunderbolt display, it works for me. Maybe it will work for you too.


Why can't I update my OS? Whenever I try to download anything from the App Store it says "_____ can’t be installed on “Macintosh HD” because OS X version 10.11 or later is required."

And true enough when I check "About this Mac" I find I'm currently running "Yosemite 10.10.5 (14F2511)"

But when I click software update the app store checks and says "No Updates Available".

It also tells me I've recently (early September) installed updates for iTunes, the security update and Safari.

What do I do?

Automatic software updates only do minor MacOS updates, not new versions. You need to download the newest MacOS version (High Sierra) from the App Store and install it.


Is it safe to turn off Block IPv6 on my Airport Extreme I think I am having issues trying to connect to servers that are using IPv6. Mainly related to local web development.

On this Github Issue relating to my specific problem and they recommend disabling IPv6 on the Mac and while this does fix the issue I would like to turn on IPv6 if possible, as long as it is secure to do so.

https://github.com/composer/composer/issues/4748

I went digging in the Airport Extreme Router to see if there might be some setting causing an issue. I found this setting that blocks incoming IPv6 connections.

I wanted to see if there was a reason that this blocking of IPv6 incoming was ENABLED and found a security bug from 2007. I am assuming it is fixed?

So the questions are:

Is this setting safe to disable on AirPort Extreme routers?
Would this setting be part of the problem causing me not to connect to IPv6 machines?

It has been my experience, that with OS X, enabling IPv6 is not a good idea. I live in the USA and outside of the USA things may be different. The default should be to prefer IPv6 over IPv4. Since most, if not all, of the USA is still using IPv4, one is better of setting your computer to prefer IPv4 over IPv6. With Windows, this can be done by downloading from this site.

The problem is OS X prefers neither. Instead it tries to determine which is better. The result is you end up waiting. Sometimes this can be a long wait. It is my understanding that if you can configure OS X to prefer IPv4 or IPv6, the operating system will ignore the setting. The only reasonable option is to turn IPv6 off.


iOS payment apps: does Apple charge 30% of transacted amount? I'm in the process of developing a micropayment system, in which the consumers will use a mobile app to make payments.

Does Apple take their 30% cut from the revenue of a competing iOS payment app like this? The payment app in question is Bitcoin-based, so it does not make use of credit cards.

Can anyone point me towards the App Store terms of service pertaining to this?

From what I understand, Apple says

3.1.5 Physical Goods and Services Outside of the App:
If your app enables people to purchase goods or services that will be consumed outside of the app, you must use purchase methods other than in-app purchase to collect those payments, such as Apple Pay or traditional credit card entry. Apps may facilitate transmission of approved virtual currencies (e.g. Bitcoin, DogeCoin) provided that they do so in compliance with all state and federal laws for the territories in which the app functions.


does a 4K GoPro video airdropped into an iOS device take up space? I took two 4K videos of about 1 and 2 minutes each on a GoPro and since I couldn't get the full resolution videos directly from the GoPro iPad app, I used AirDrop on a MacBook to send them to the iPad.

I have been unable to play them back on the iPad, so I just want to make sure that they don't take 10+GB of space for nothing.

How do I make sure that these videos aren't on the iPad if I can't see them? Image capture on a MacBook didn't show them, but when I add up all the items reported in space usage, about 15-20 GB are unaccounted for. (I tried airdropping at least one of the videos 2-3 times when it wouldn't show up in the photos app...)

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated!

In the Settings, go to General -> Usage -> Manage Storage in order to see how much space every app is using. If you can't find the twenty gb there, it might be in a temporary file that should disappear if the power is turned off and the phone is rebooted.


How do I copy files off a failed system partition without encountering permissions problems? So I'm about to copy files off a system partition, and I'm afraid I'll have problems with permissions.

A bit of background - OS X won't boot (looping progress bar) and Mavericks Recovery's Disk Utility says it can't repair it. Files are viewable in MacDrive on the Boot Camp partition (which I'm using, so I don't think the disk has failed, just something wrong with that particular partition).

My plan is to remove the drive and mount it on another Mac and see what I can copy.

Thing is I've recall having bad experiences with doing things like this in the past - I'm afraid there will be permission issues somewhere down the road when I try to use these copied files.

Ideally I'd like to copy the files, and apply them with "default" permissions from my working Mac, as if those files had been created the working Mac, and not the failed Mac.

I don't want to access my files and not be able to/having to authenticate, because they "belong" to another user (i.e. the account on my old Mac).

tl;dr is there a way to copy another user account's (mine) files from a system drive, without running into permissions problems down the road? Maybe stripping the files of all user account-related permissions?

The simple solution to this is to reset all the permissions on all copied files to everyone read/write and let the system handle fixing them.

Reset all the permissions on a folder and its contents recursively with:

chmod -R 777 /path/to/folder

Then, run Repair Permissions in Disk Utility, and reset the ACLs on your home folder using the ACL tool on the Recovery HD:

Boot into the Recovery HD using ⌘R.
Run resetpassword in Terminal (available from Utilities → Terminal).
Select your account from the drop-down list.
Click the Reset button for Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs.


Can't authorize computer to play iTunes songs I purchased music on my old computer with different email addresses ans passwords. The computer died and I need the old passwords to play some of my music. Is there an email address for iTunes support where I can request my old passwords? I have tried calling the support number but they could not resolve the issue.

Many thanks for any assistance.

If you still remember and have access to the email addresses you used, you can go to this page to reset your passwords: Forgot my Password


Mac OS X Yosemite Facebook photo posts to OSX Album only The native integration of facebook and Mac OSX Yosemite. I am trying to post a photo with the native integration and the dialog already has "Timeline" Selected but yet it posts to "OS X Photos" album on FB.

How do i configure Mac OS X - to post to my FB timeline? I do not want to post it in an album.

Photos on Facebook are classified as a album. Every album contains a bunch of pictures. You cannot post images separately to your timeline without having it part of a album.

When you try to post on facebook.com as a timeline photo, the images are put into a album called "Timeline Images".

When you post pictures from OS X from the share tab it puts the images in the OS X Photos album. You can manually select another album to post to from the toggle beside the text Timeline.


iPhone asking for Apple ID for a former roommate At some point several years ago a former roommate used my phone or iTunes for something. I can't recall for what, but since then each time I get a new phone, or need to restore from a backup, I'm prompted to login with her Apple ID. In the past I would just cancel out of the login prompt a couple of times and then it wouldn't happen anymore (at least until the next time I needed a restore).

I just got the iPhone 6 and have been trying to get everything setup, but this time canceling out doesn't appear to be doing the trick. It keeps prompting me for it and will not finish the initial iCloud restore until I've logged in as her. I have no idea what app(s) or music on my phone would be attached to her account, but I would gladly delete them.

Is there a way to unassociate her account with my phone, or at the very least determine which apps are apparently tied to her account so I can remove them?

EDIT (11/23/2014)

The solution marked below should work. What ended up happening with my issue was that I kept declining the prompt and after several hours it finally offered to finish the sync and said that anything I hadn't logged in for would be permanently removed. I said that was ok and it finished the restore.

I suppose you restored your iPhone 6 from a backup of your older phone. If I understand the issue well enough, the phone keeps asking you for your friend password because you have an app that is his. If this app is on your computer in iTunes, there is a solution.

In the iTunes' list view of your Apps, right-click on an app, "Get info" (or just press cmd ⌘+I), and, depending on your OS version, either go to the Summary or the File tab. The Apple ID of the buyer, as well as his name, will appear, and you just have to go through your files (pressing cmd ⌘+P and cmd ⌘+N) until you find the culprit.

Unfortunately, iTunes cannot sort apps by buyer. However, you could sort Apps by "Date Added" in the list view to make the whole process much easier.


How can I run a set of terminal commands using one click? So I have this program I use to watch movies on my Apple TV that runs from my Mac in Terminal and goes to the TV. Well whenever you wanna start the server up you have to run a set of commands in Terminal.

$ cd Desktop
$ cd PopcornTV
$ sudo npm install
$ sudo node atv.js

These commands start the server which my Apple TV than connects too. Is there anyway I can make a Automator Application or anything of that sort that will run these commands for me when I click a button.

Running it in an apple script is not that bad. you just have to run the entire script as root because sudo requires user interaction. if you do an apple script like this one:

do shell script "cd ~/Desktop/PopcornTV && /path/to/npm install && /path/to/node atv.js" with administrator privileges

replace then/path/to/npm and /path/to/node with the output of which npm and which node

it will open up a dialogue and ask you for your password.


iPhoto Smart Album for non-geotagged photos? Is it possible to make a Smart Album in iPhoto that gathers all the photos without any location info, to facilitate geo-tagging them?  I can't seem to find "lack of location" as a filtering option on its own for Smart Albums, but I'm hoping someone can finagle a sideways solution that comes out to the same thing?

Just create a regular album not a smart one and then use the search box to look for the geographic location, example "Paris". Once you find it, select Paris from the search results, it will show all the pictures you took in Paris and then add the moments to your new album.


When reconnecting my laptop to an external monitor, the USB ports stop working To reproduce my problem:

Start up laptop (Macbook Pro, version 10.8.5) with it connected to an external monitor (Apple Thunderbolt Display) that has the mouse and keyboard connected to the USB ports on the external monitor. (At this point, USB mouse and keyboard still work fine)
Remove thunderbolt display cable from laptop.
Reconnect thunderbolt display cable, re-enabling external display. The USB mouse and keyboard do not work and are unresponsive.

Interestingly, the ethernet connected to the external monitor does work, which makes me think the issue is isolated to the USB ports. Connecting and reconnecting the USB devices to the external monitor doesn't work either.

The only way to fix the issue is to restart my computer.

Any ideas on what's going on and how to fix it?

Thanks @Buscar웃 for answering this. The problem was Outlook. Dang Microsoft.

Turning off Outlook before I reconnect the Thunderbolt display cable solves the non-responsive USB device issue.

Huge bonus points to whoever can get MS to fix this issue in Outlook 2011. For those interested in the error messages associated with this issue, see the console messages link above.


What good PowerPoint editing apps are there for iPad? It would have to be able to edit and view PowerPoint presentations. I'd prefer pptx support but I can live without it.

Try:

Keynote (not 100% compatible with powerpoint; some things are lost in the translation from Microsoft's to Apple's format)
Documents To Go
Office2 HD
QuickOffice

Personally, I prefer Keynote over what I've seen of some of the others, but they all have their limitations. Keynote's just the one I have the most familiarity with.


Sync Dailymotion videos I have Dailymotion app in my iPhone 4s iOS 8.3! Plz tell me how to sync Dailymotion videos so that I can watch them offline?

Dailymotion does not have a provision to download the videos for off line viewing.

There is no setting in the Sync to do that.

You will need a another 3d party app to download the videos so you can watch them off line.

There is a number off applications to download videos, example https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/video-downloader-download/id733735644?mt=8

or this one http://mediatapdownloader.blogspot.com/2013/03/how-to-download-videos-from-dailymotion.html

and so on....Search for "Dailymotion" "Video download" in Apple Store.


How to re-encode iTunes m4a files to mp3 I want to convert some of my iTunes m4a files to mp3 files but because I have multiple iTunes accounts, iTunes wont play these files due to computer authorisation issues therefore I can't use iTunes to encode.
Can anyone recommend a free music encoder software? (VLC isn't working;)
Cheers

Honestly, for working with audio files quickly, my favourite tool is Fission Audio from Rogue Ameoba. It can open and convert to most popular formats, including the two you're after , and more importantly here I would think, it has a batch conversion mode. It's $32 USD, but it's so polished and works so well it's worth the cost.

But if you really want free I don't think you can beat the command line for converting lots of files, quickly and easily.

To complete these steps you'll need Homebrew installed -- a free package manager for OS X that'll make it easy to get the command line tools you need to do your coversions. See the installation notes for Homebrew on how to install it.

With Homebrew installed you'll need a few command line tools to do the conversion. Namely: ffmpeg and lame. But don't fear! Homebrew makes it very easy to install them. Open a Terminal window and type:

brew install lame ffmpeg

You'll get a bunch of other dependencies installed along with those two things. But those are the two key pieces.

With these tools installed, you can convert an entire directory full of .m4a files to .mp3 like so:

for f in *.m4a; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -acodec libmp3lame -ab 320k "${f%.m4a}.mp3"; done

Just run that from a directory full of .m4a files and watch the magic happen.


What is Apple's policy for supporting security updates on older versions of OS X? Does Apple have a policy regarding how long they will continue to release and support security fixes for each OS X release?  I've looked around the Internet, and found some forum posts that claim "only for the current, and most recent previous, versions" but none appear to have an official reference.  Further confounding the issue are some relatively recent posts claiming they still receive security updates for versions as old as 10.2.

My concern here is primarily from a security standpoint. The National Institute of Standards and Technology of the Department of Commerce of the United States of America states in this document: NIST SP 800-53, control SI-02 (Flaw Remediation) that there are requirements that (among other things) "The organization ... identifies, reports, and corrects information system flaws". For systems running OS's that are beyond their support lifecycle, we cannot be reliably expected to correct discovered vulnerabilities because the vendor will no longer supply patches.  So, knowing a product's expected support lifecycle (and, especially, if it has already expired) is critical to continuing to maintain compliance with this control.

Does Apple provide this information anywhere online for the general public?  What versions are currently supported (current version being Lion), and how long (presuming no change to the policy) will they continue to be supported?

I'm sure Apple has a policy, but it's clearly not released to the public and probably gets re-evaluated constantly based on many factors.

Whenever I need to know what's supported now, I go to the index of what Apple Care covers (since AppleCare is the support wing that maintains knowledge base articles, answers questions, etc...)

The Apple Support Sitemap - This answers your question about the definitive list of actively supported OS. As of May 2012, this includes three major versions. 10.5, 10.6, 10.7 As of September 2012 (after Mountain Lion has been out for more than a month), the support for 10.5 isn't yet removed from the Support Sitemap so we are in a window where four major versions of the OS are still supported.

You can of course see the latest updates for all OSX OS at their respective support pages, even past the time when they are "actively in support"

Lion Support
Snow Leopard Support
Leopard Support
Tiger Support
Panther Support
Jaguar and Earlier Support which presumably covers Puma and Cheetah but not Kodiak.

I don't think Apple publishes a hard and fast policy. My experience is that the current and past two versions have always been supported. There are times when more than three versions are supported, so you may get to see this when 10.8 gets released. It also might be more tied to hardware that was sold. Apple generally bases support on US sales dates with a 5 year window for hardware support after a model is discontinued for sale. I would also expect that large institutional orders (education, government) will tend to keep older hardware and software in support due to contractual agreements or the local law.(Examples for that are anything sold in California or Turkey, government contracts in Virginia and still different regulations in France.)

If you have a business relationship with Apple due to being certified as a technician or have help desk level support in place, then you will get pre-announcements of which products and software are announced to go into non-support before the time arrives.

Basically, if you need to know this sort of non-public information ahead of time, you can become certified (cheaper, takes more time and knowledge) or pay for this level of support and have access to information that looks forward so you can plan for change and know you are supported by Apple. As you can see, there are several factors that seem to play into the length a support window stays open and there are several free options to help you guess the timing if you don't need to pay for this information.


New M1 Mac mini - No audio on USB after sleep The problem
I have a new M1 Mac mini connected to a Philips monitor, connected via the Thunderbolt (USB C) port.  Whenever the Mac wakes from sleep, the audio is not working and is fixed by toggling the following setting: Audio Midi Setup > Format
I can see that there is an error, but there's no tooltip to explain what it is.

Hardware
Mac
Mac mini M1 with 16Gb and Mac OS 11.1
Monitor
Philips 499P9 with a built-in docking station, featuring:

Audio
Ethernet (which appears as USB Ethernet in Network settings, but won't connect)
Multiple HDMI and USB C inputs
USB B connector for HDMI 1 device
Multiple USB A ports for shared peripherals (keyboard, mouse, headsets, etc.)

The Exclamation mark in a speech bubble is not an indication of an error, but shows which audio output is configured for system alerts and sound effects.
Having said that, I've experienced problems with external audio after sleep on my 2018 Mini. I suspect it's a bug. I have to kill the coreaudiod process to get things working again.
sudo killall coreaudiod

Then enter an admin password.
If you are changing the Sample rate to get things working, then it may be that doing that restarts coreaudiod. (Assuming it's the same issue.)
Note that some audio apps may crash or get confused if you change the sample rate while they are running.


Changing an Apple ID from one @icloud.com address to another I have an Apple ID which ends with @icloud.com and I want to change it to another @icloud.com, @me.com, or @mac.com. I've found a page which describes how to do that but it seems it doesn't work for me. I turned off two-factor authentication and removed all my devices. But there is no the following option:

  Under your Apple ID, click Change Apple ID.

Could you help me?

From the Apple Support page about changing your Apple ID (emphasis added by me):

  If your Apple ID email address ends with @icloud.com, @me.com, or
  @mac.com, you can only change your email address to another
  @icloud.com, @me.com, or @mac.com email that's already associated with
  your account.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202667

If you created your Apple ID recently with an @icloud.com address as identifier, you most probably can't change that. I think the support document I linked to is targeted at users who have old @me.com or @mac.com addresses that Apple used to issue a long while ago. Or maybe there could be special situations where you actually have two @icloud.com addresses associated with one Apple ID as the result of merging two IDs with the help of Apple Support, but those would be rare exceptional cases. For a recently created @icloud.com style Apple ID, typically you can't change it.


Different Spotlight preferences per boot volume In my Mac Pro, I have two boot volumes — one stable with Mavericks and one for testing Yosemite.  When running Mavericks, I want Spotlight to ignore the entire Yosemite volume, and vice versa.  But Spotlight privacy preferences seem to be shared between the two systems.

Spotlight indexing and searching (or the respective privacy setting) is volume based and not system based. So turning off Spotlight on one volume is enforced, whether you boot from one or the other system volume.

So the only possibility I see is the following solution:

Don't mount the respective alternative volume while booted to one. Or mount it read only (Spotlight will not index it then, but will search it).

Example (while booted to Mavericks):

diskutil info /Volumes/NameOfTheYosemiteVolume

Locate the volume UUID, select and copy this number.

Open Terminal and run the following command to edit the "fstab" file (you will be prompted for your password):

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Then add

UUID=UUIDFoundAbove none hfs rw,noauto

or

UUID=UUIDFoundAbove none hfs ro,noauto

or

UUID=UUIDFoundAbove none hfs ro

The first of these will prevent the drive from being mounted, but if you do mount it using Disk Utility or another means, then the drive will be read and writable.
The second of these will prevent the drive from being mounted, but if you do mount it using Disk Utility or another means, then the drive will be read-only.
The third option will make the disk be treated as read-only, but it will still show up automatically in the Finder when you start your system.

When finished with the edit, press ctrlo followed by Enter or y and Enter to save the changes, and then press ctrlx to exit the editor.

To undo these changes, simply run sudo nano /etc/fstab in the Terminal again to edit the fstab file, and delete the lines you added.

Afterwards revert the Spotlight privacy settings to the default settings.

This should prevent the Yosemite volume being mounted after a restart.
As a result Spotlight shouldn't index or search the volume, if you have chosen one of the first two options.

Now boot to the Yosemite volume and repeat all for the Mavericks volume.

The drawback of this solution is that you probably have to hit the alt/opt button while booting to select an alternative start-up volume, because the respective PrefPane shows only your current one.


How do I force Safari to ask me to save all passwords? I'm using 10.10.3. iCloud keychain is enabled.

Anyway, I find that Safari will ask to save passwords for some sites but not for others.

examples of sites where I get prompted: eBay, amazon, some local discussion forum, stackexchange

examples of sites where I don't get prompted: macrumors, xdc-developers and many others

I've checked the settings and "Auto-fill username and passwords" is enabled i the password tab. I've removed all passwords but it's still happening.

Any ideas on how to fix it?

This is, technically, not an answer but might be a reason why some sites do not save passwords.

They (those web sites/pages) have code in them to tell the browser to not save the password.

I used to have a JavaScript bookmarklet that would (with varying levels of success) remove the code that said "don't save the passwords" but when I moved over to 1Password I stopped needing that.

Possibly a password manager might do that for you (there are free ones, I believe) or a bit of google-fu might find you that bit of JavaScript that worked some of the time in telling sites to stop telling your browser to not save the password.


Add specific services to network location with terminal I want to automate the creation of my network locations (say Home and Work) and was looking into networksetup -createlocation <location name> [populate]

Adding populate adds default services to the network location (USB LAN, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth PAN, Thunderbolt Bridge) and without leaves the location empty.

Is there a way to add specific services to a network location? networksetup -printcommands | grep -i location is not coming up with anything helpful.

networksetup uses a somehow hierarchical name system for the subcommands. location subcommands are used to manage locations itself only: you can either list, get (the current), create, delete or switch between locations.

Modifying the network services of a location is done in the networkservice "name space".

To manage the network services in one location you can either use  "blacklisting" or a "whitelisting":

If you execute networksetup -createlocation <location name> with populate and remove unwanted network services it's blacklisting, without populate you have to add all required network services and it's rather whitelisting.

To remove a network service in case of blacklisting use:

... -removenetworkservice <networkservice>

To add a network service in case of whitelisting use:

...  -createnetworkservice <networkservice>


Apple Developer certificates for signing mail? If every registered Apple developer have a certificate for signing their apps. Is that certificate also good for signing mails? And by this, I also mean if their certificate is backed up by a root authority CA recognized by other operative systems.

If you have a look at a developer certificate in Keychain, you'll see that the root CA is Apple itself. I'm not familiar with mail signature authorities, but I'm guessing that Apple isn't recognized by most of them (and I would also suspect that the developer root CA would be distinct from any other CA they may run).