Is there character spacing feature in PDFpen? I am trying out the demo version of PDFpen and can't figure out a way to adjust the character spacing. My text edit ended up like this:

The first line is a result from PDFpen editing and the second line is the original.
Please avoid obvious suggestion like using a different font.

I like to know if character spacing is available or not in PDFpen.

Yes, select the text, and choose Format -> Font -> Kern -> Loosen from the menu.

If you need to do this frequently, visit the Keyboard Shortcuts tab of the Keyboard system preferences, then select Application Shortcuts and add a shortcut for Loosen.

Like any customer of ours, you can also email support@smilesoftware.com


Can 2010 MacBook Pro power 2 daisy chained FW800 external HDs? I have a 15 inch MacBook Pro (model MacBookPro6,2) with 2.66 gHz Intel Core i7 and 8 GB RAM from mid 2010.

Right now, I use a LaCie Firewire 800 bus powered Little Big Disk Quadra which works well. There are two Firewire 800 ports on the Little Big Disk Quadra, so I am wondering if I can daisy chain another Firewire 800 bus powered external hard drive to it? Will the MacBook Pro be able to power both?

Thanks.

Yes - I have routinely used up to 4 self powered devices one one FireWire port.

Tom's hardware report that at idle most laptop sized spinning hard drives use less than 1.5W idle and less than 4W at peak - so firewire should start to run out of power between 8 to 10 drives chained together assuming your mac is putting out at least 80% of the design power and they don't all spin up at exactly the same time.


HOWTO convert documents to Kindle / mobi format? I have an HTML file (XHTML 1.1 strict, if you want to be technical about it) that I am trying to make into a Kindle format (.mobi) book.

I've been trying to use calibre and have found the process to be very confusing.

Are there other options besides calibre? (If so, what are they?)
For people who have made Kindle/mobi documents, what have you used as your 'source' materials? Plain text? (X)HTML? Markdown? Word/Pages/Scrivener/etc?
If you have used calibre, how did you figure out which options you needed to use and which to just leave along? There's a metric buttload of them.

ps - yes, it would be nice if Kindle would just accept ePub files, wouldn't it?

I didn't enjoy Calibre.  But then I realised that it comes with a bunch of command line utilities, and that made things easier for me.

Imagine you have a bunch of epub files.

for f in *.epub
do
  anytomobi --dest-profile=Kindle "$files"
done

That's the Linux command line to convert them all to mobi using the calibre tool.  Except I think the command line toold have changed name in the newest release.

Here's a website, from the Calibre pages, that claims to by a guide to converting HTML to e-book formats, including mobi.

http://amalthia.mediawood.net/tutorials/ebooks/index.html

This page seems most important for your question, it has nice screen shots for the settings used.

http://amalthia.mediawood.net/tutorials/ebooks/steps.html


Can I use FileVault only for specific folders? Can I set up FileVault to encrypt only specific folders inside of my Home folder but not the whole Home folder?

I want to do this because it's not very convenient for me to encrypt the entire Home folder because it's too large and there is no place for encrypted data, and it's also not convenient for me to keep all those files out of my Home folder.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: if it not possible, what are the other usable ways of encryption?

It's not possible (at least not that I know) to specify Filevault's target dir. It will work by automatically working with your home folder by creating (if you are in Leopard or above) a Sparse Bundle (or a Sparse Disk Image if you are in Tiger). The reason for the change has to do with Time Machine (and to allow -to a certain extent- to backup a FileVaulted home).

However, you can pretty much "replicate" the functionality of FileVault for a specific folder(s) by using Disk Utility to create an encrypted sparsebundle image of the Folder in question. You'd have to mount this image every time you want to use it but the "effect" is similar.

You can create symbolic links to the files and add the image to the login items if you have an application that needs the data in its original location (which is pretty common). You will possibly have to add the image password to the "Keychain" for it to be automatically expanded.

It would be important to read about Time Machine's limitations too, since a FileVault home directory can only occur when you're logging in (or out). In order to make Time Machine to act as a regular, you need OS X Server edition as a target.

According to the wikipedia entry (which I should have quoted at the beginning since it has all this information, better written and more complete):

  FileVault is limited to encrypting home directories only in versions of Mac OS X prior to 10.7, and only those directories in their entirety. FileVault can encrypt entire disks starting with Mac OS X version 10.7

(emphasis added by me)

It remains to be seen whether this is true or not, since we don't speculate about future versions, but keep that in mind.

As an alternative, there are "multiple" programs that will also help you keep a secure "vault" of things. I'm mentioning Exces because I got it from a Bundle a couple of years ago. I used it three times and it works; there might be free alternatives (as well as using the plain "Disk Utility").

Update: Added the link provided by Kyle, because it explains how to do it, but kept my answer because it's "longer" :)


Why is System Preferences not recognising Pictures folder? [macOS 10.13.4] I want to change my 2016 MacBook Pro's wallpaper to a custom image which is already in the Pictures folder.

If I launch System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver > Desktop, under Folders there is the Pictures one but it looks empty.
Is it normal?

Only workaround by now is to click the '+' button and add the picture manually which, strangely, adds all of the pictures contained into the Pictures folder.
NB: into my Pictures folder there are two custom created  subfolders which gets ignored by this last operation.

What is going wrong here?

Yes, this is normal.

This folder corresponds to the immediate (not including sub folders  folder located at ~/Pictures.

You can access this folder by clicking Pictures in the Finder sidebar or by going to Finder>Go>Go to Folder> ~/Pictures>Go

See pictures below

Example 1

Example 2


Unable to install pkg:s I'm getting errors installing any pkg files. Seems to be valid for all pkgs, I uninstalled one app and run the pkg installer which fails for an app that was successfully installed 2 weeks ago. I'm guessing something related to permissions but I can't figure out what would have changed them... I'm on 10.11.6 and upgrading is currently not an option.

The common issue seems to be:

Oct 20 20:08:16 Js-MBP installd[396]: PackageKit: Install Failed: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=1 "Operation not permitted" UserInfo={NSFilePath=/private/tmp/PKInstallSandbox.XXXXXX} {
    NSFilePath = "/private/tmp/PKInstallSandbox.XXXXXX";
}

More complete logs:

Oct 20 20:16:39 Js-MBP Installer[5195]: Configuring volume "Macintosh HD"
Oct 20 20:16:39 Js-MBP Installer[5195]: Free space on "Macintosh HD": 456,46 GB (456459907072 bytes).
Oct 20 20:16:39 Js-MBP Installer[5195]: Create temporary directory "/var/folders/c7/d1ppw5612z55mkslhqhqjyc00000gn/T//Install.51955utsOk"
Oct 20 20:16:39 Js-MBP Installer[5195]: IFPKInstallElement (1 packages)
Oct 20 20:16:39 Js-MBP Installer[5195]: PackageKit: Enqueuing install with framework-specified quality of service (utility)
Oct 20 20:16:39 Js-MBP installd[396]: PackageKit: ----- Begin install -----
Oct 20 20:16:52 Js-MBP installd[396]: PackageKit: Install Failed: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=1 "Operation not permitted" UserInfo={NSFilePath=/private/tmp/PKInstallSandbox.XXXXXX} {
    NSFilePath = "/private/tmp/PKInstallSandbox.XXXXXX";
}
Oct 20 20:16:53 Js-MBP Installer[5195]: Install failed: The Installer encountered an error that caused the installation to fail. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance.
Oct 20 20:16:53 Js-MBP Installer[5195]: IFDInstallController 5A94F9E0 state = 8
Oct 20 20:16:53 Js-MBP Installer[5195]: Displaying 'Install Failed' UI.
Oct 20 20:16:53 Js-MBP Installer[5195]: 'Install Failed' UI displayed message:'The Installer encountered an error that caused the installation to fail. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance.'.

Been struggling for a while to figure this out, any help is appreciated. Would really like not to have to do a clean install (setting up a new user does not help, tried that).

We observed this issue at some schools running 10.11 where entire labs would get the "restricted" attribute mistakenly set on /private/tmp. If that's the issue, you can fix it by doing the following:

Reboot the computer and then hold down Command-R after the chime.
Choose "Terminal" from the Utilities menu.
Run csrutil disable
Restart the computer again.
Open Terminal and run the following commands:

sudo chmod 1777 /tmp;
sudo chflags -R norestricted /private/tmp/;

Re-enable System Integrity Protection by rebooting the computer, holding down Command-R, choosing Utilities > Terminal, and running csrutil enable
Reboot the computer a final time.


To install Gnufind in OSX? I run

brew search gnufind

and I get

No formula found for "gnufind".
Searching pull requests..

so no gnufind with the request.

I think it must have a different name.
I run

brew search find

and I get

ffind        findutils    frag_find    pathfinder
findbugs     flawfinder   fuzzy-find   rdfind
homebrew/games/robotfindskitten
Caskroom/cask/a-better-finder-attributes
Caskroom/cask/a-better-finder-rename
Caskroom/cask/easyfind
Caskroom/cask/find-any-file
Caskroom/cask/findings
Caskroom/cask/keyfinder
Caskroom/cask/neofinder
Caskroom/cask/path-finder
Caskroom/cask/qfinder
Caskroom/cask/refresh-finder
Caskroom/cask/totalfinder
Caskroom/cask/xtrafinder

I browse the commands by brew info [package] and find that the package findutils is maintained by GNU.
I run brew install findutils.
The package provides commands such as find and locate, docs here.

I do hash -r but no commands updated in my system like g'find or find'g.

How can you install gnufind to your system?

The commands are provided with a g prefix:

Mithos:~ verence$ ls -l /usr/local/Cellar/findutils/4.4.2/bin
total 1328
-r-xr-xr-x  1 verence  admin  233400 Nov 13 05:03 gfind
-r-xr-xr-x  1 verence  admin  143620 Nov 13 05:03 glocate
-r-xr-xr-x  1 verence  admin  229704 Nov 13 05:03 goldfind
-r-xr-xr-x  1 verence  admin    9837 Apr  3 15:09 gupdatedb
-r-xr-xr-x  1 verence  admin   49796 Nov 13 05:03 gxargs
Mithos:~ verence$ type gfind
gfind is /usr/local/bin/gfind

If this is the first time you are using brew to install software, make sure to include /usr/local/bin in your PATH. There is no need to add other paths for brew.


Prevent calls from being made on iPhone My daughter of 18 months loves to play with my iPhone. I'm okay with her randomly rearranging the home screen, resetting highscores and such, but now she's discovered how to make calls from the contacts list, and explaining to work contacts why "I" called on a Sunday night is getting awkward... is there a parental controls setting or somesuch to lock the calling feature while leaving the rest of the phone available to her?

You could put the phone into Airplane mode, which will work until she figures out how to turn it off. (If she needs Internet access, you can re-enable wifi after putting it into Airplane mode.)


How can I increase the mouse sensitivity of Magic Mouse? I have a MacBook Pro, running Snow Leopard and I'm using a Magic Mouse which connects through Bluetooth.

While I like the mouse, it's way too slow for my taste. Moving the mouse cursor takes ages. On my Windows PC I'm using a Logitech G9 and in Control Panel of Windows I have set Pointer Speed to maximum with the 'Enhance Pointer Precision' box checked.

On OS X I have set the speed set to maximum as well, but it's still way to slow. I'm used to move the pointer from from egde of the screen to another one with minimal wrist movement.

Here are 5 Mac utilities that alter the mouse acceleration curve, speeds, and/or add features to mice in OS X:

USB Overdrive

$20 (Shareware; Free unlimited, fully functional trial)

  USB Overdrive is a popular program
  that works with just about any USB or
  Bluetooth input device. It allows
  users to customize mouse acceleration,
  scrolling, clicking, and more. You can
  even configure per-application
  settings. A new version that supports
  Multi-Touch in Apple’s Magic Mouse is
  in development and expected soon.

Version 3.0.1 compatible with 10.4, 10.5, or 10.6

SteerMouse

$20 (Shareware; Free 30 day trial)

  Aside from mouse acceleration,
  SteerMouse offers a ton of other
  advanced features. Configure up to 16
  buttons, modify scroll wheels/balls,
  and set the cursor to automatically
  move to a specific location on the
  screen when a window is activated.
  Support for the Apple Magic Mouse is
  pending.

Version 4.0.1 compatible with 10.4, 10.5, or 10.6

MouseZoom

Free

  While MouseZoom does not alter the
  acceleration curve itself, it does let
  users bump tracking speeds beyond
  those available in System Preferences.
  An ideal solution? No, but it’s a free
  alternative that helps ease the pain.

Version 2.2 compatible with 10.1, 10.2, 10.4, 10.4, or 10.5

Mouse Acceleration

Free

  This Preference Pane is based on
  Richard Bentley’s MouseFix – a
  non-user-friendly command line
  utility. This version, however, makes
  it easy to increase mouse precision
  and speed up mouse movement with
  visual aids.

Version 1.0 compatible with 10.4 or 10.5

BetterTouchTool

Free

  This is a brand new piece of software
  that just came to be within the past
  couple weeks. It’s in beta and still
  buggy, but it packs some nice features
  and is in active development. I can’t
  say for sure whether it customizes OS
  X’s acceleration curve or just
  supercharges the maximum tracking
  speed. The real reason to give it a
  shot, though, is if you have a Magic
  Mouse or MacBook that supports
  Multi-Touch gestures. BetterTouchTool
  lets users assign specific actions to
  advanced finger gestures and can
  simulate a middle-click. It can even
  bring the Mighty Mouse’s Exposé
  functionality to the Magic Mouse.

Compatible with 10.6

ControllerMate

$15

  ControllerMate is a controller
  programming tool that allows you to
  customize the behavior of your HID
  devices — keyboards, keypads, mice,
  trackballs, joysticks, gamepads,
  throttles, among others.
  ControllerMate’s philosophy is to be
  as flexible as possible, to provide a
  set of basic programming tools, and to
  allow the user to combine those tools
  in an endless variety of ways.

SOURCE: This was posted on Nov 24th, 2009 at MacYourself.com. Some utilities are probably updated now. I’ve used USB Overdrive with certain success.


Does macOS 10.13.4 display 32-bit warnings like the beta versions do? The beta versions of macOS 10.3.4 were reported to include warnings when you started a 32-bit app. From the release notes:

  To prepare for a future release of macOS in which 32-bit software will no longer run without compromise, starting in macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 a user is notified on the launch of an app that depends on 32-bit software.

I've been using the released version of 10.3.4 for a few days, but I haven't seen any notices when I run 32-bit software. Was this feature removed? Or are there special conditions that need to happen before it appears?

Yes, after midnight, April 12, 2018 in the user's local time zone
From Ars Technica's "Apple has begun notifying macOS users of coming 32-bit app incompatibility".

Starting at midnight April 12, 2018 in the user's local time zone, they will see the following message the first time they launch an app that only supports 32-bit in macOS High Sierra 10.13.4:

This app needs to be updated by its developer to improve compatibility.

Along with that message, they'll see a "learn more" link that takes them to Apple's support page on the subject with more information. The support page broadly explains Apple's plans to "eventually" require all Mac software to be 64-bit.


Can the shortcuts app in ios 12 be triggered by location (leaving/entering) I have been messing with the new IOS shortcuts app--it looks like it might be a reasonable replacement to ITTT with better apple support, but I can't seem to do one thing that should be pretty basic...

I noticed I can create a one-time event that reminds me of something when I leave a location.

I also noticed that I can activate a shortcut to send my wife the ETA when I will arrive home.

But can I have it send my ETA to my wife whenever I leave the area of my office automatically?

I don't see a way to "Trigger" off of map events, am I missing something?

Also, does someone with more karma than me want to add a "shortcuts" tag, seems like something that will have a lot of questions in the future.

I have the same question. Unfortunately, from what I can find, as of "right now, Shortcuts can only be triggered manually or by voice".

Possible workarounds:

Use IFTTT
Use Launch Center Pro

Apple tends to release things first with basic functionality and then update and add features as time goes on. We can hope...


Phone numbers different color on iOS wordpress We have a newly created website, with lots of contact information for different employees. The color of the phone numbers in the website are all in black, except for when viewed on an iOS device,

When viewed on an iOS device the color for each contact number is gray, does anybody know how to correct this? And perhaps why this occurs?

Have a look at phone-numbers-changing-to-unwanted-gray-color-on-iphone-and-ipad post.

It is possible that you have the same issue where you link color is what is determining the iOS color and you may need to setup a Browser Specific CSS plugin according to the post

Update: 9th Nov 2014

I found another post update-banning-blue-links-on-ios-devices which effected a change for  a test phone link on my wordpress site.

Although the numbers where a light blue because they are being data detected.

This solution may or may not help you figure your issue.

In the post they offer various ways of achieving a change with various results.

Their favourite is the option 5.

Which is surrounding the number in a custom span class.

Declare you css classes as normal in your head:

.appleLinksWhite a {color: #ffffff !important; text-decoration: underline;}
.appleLinksBlack a {color: #000000 !important; text-decoration: none;}
.appleLinksRed a {color: #FF0000 !important; text-decoration: none;}

and the surround the number in the chosen class

contact: 0205 992 9921


Cannot log in to apps or websites on iPad 1 I haven't used my iPad 1 for a long time. Now I have reset it to factory default.

I can't use login features, e.g. Nextcloud via Safari or the Mixcloud app.
I type in my details and press login and nothing happens.

I have cookies enabled and JavaScript enabled. Everything worked in the past.

Try to enter to your iCloud account on another browser or laptop and look for your old iPad and try to reset it. Another thing that you can do is in Settings app look for your app store login problems.


How strong is mac login password protection? I am trying to strengthen the login password i use on my mac as i feel its the weakest link in all my password.  I use 1password for all my website passwords, but of course i need to be able to remember my login password so its a lot weaker.

1password has the option to generate "four word" passwords, that are random words that are memorable as a login.  In their documentation is says that these are very strong because they are well hashed.

So my question is, if i use their generator to generate a random 4 word password for the login of my mac, is that just as strong?

As far as i understand it depends on the hashing a mac uses and also how long it makes the computer wait between attempts right?

Thanks for any help!

Your Mac password is well protected by macOS in every way. If you are so worried that someone might be able to crack your password, simply enable FileVault Encryption and a Firmware Password. This will prevent others from using Recovery Mode attacks which is the only way possible to extract the password hash and crack your Mac password. Even if your Mac login password's hash is extracted, it is very difficult to crack and may even take days for dedicated applications to crack. Your password would be just as secure whether it was your regular Mac password or a 1Password generated password as long as you have FileVault and a Firmware Password turned on. Even without both, your password is very secure but it is recommended to have both of those enabled.


Complete Specs for Mid-2010 iMac & Early-2011 MacBook Pro? OK, so here I am. I've searched anywhere I could but definitely couldn't find what I was looking for.

I'm thinking of performing some sort of upgrade (e.g. SSD or memory or CPU) and I'm trying to figure out the exact specs regarding the CPU.

That's all I know :

My 21.5" iMac has a Core i3 @ 3.06 GHz.
My 13" MacBook Pro has a Core i5 @ 2.3 GHz.

But, what about the exact models? (I was trying to perform a benchmark comparison the other day between the two, and couldn't figure out what to choose...)

Any ideas?

Also : do you have any idea which of those parts (specifically the cpu) IS upgradeable? and up to what?

iMac (21.5 and 27-inch, Mid 2010) - Technical Specifications
iMac: How to remove or install memory
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011) - Technical Specifications

AFAIK the CPU is not replaceable on any current Mac model.


Stop automatically opening Photos.app when inserting formatted SD card Whenever I put in my SD card, the Photos app opens automatically. I can set it to not open on a per-device basis, but since I format my SD card frequently that doesn't really help.

How can I stop this? I don't really ever want to use the Photos app at all.

Image Capture manages which app is launched for a device. You can disable this functionality entirely by running the following then logging out:

defaults write com.apple.ImageCapture disableHotPlug -bool TRUE


How to map the F11 and F12 keys to Volume Up/Volume Down I have chosen to use the F1-F12 keys with their original -PC- behavior, because I want F5 to refresh the page in Firefox! (and not control the backlight of the keyboard)

Now I would like to "remap" the Volume Up/Volume Down key as originaly intended: F11 and F12 keys (I'm used to that). I don't want to have to press Fn everytime.

I've searched everywhere I can't find a way to do that (for now I have to press Fn+F11 and Fn+F12).

With FunctionFlip, you can individually remap the function keys.


How to mitigate CVE-2015-1130 (Hidden Backdoor with Root) due to lack of Apple support? This is related to CVE-2015-1130, a.k.a Hidden backdoor API to root privileges in Apple OS X. It appears Apple has refused to fix it in OS X 10.9 and earlier. Emil Kvarnhammar, the one who reported this vulnerability to Apple states:

  Apple indicated that this issue required a substantial amount of
  changes on their side, and that they will not back port the fix to
  10.9.x and older.

I have an OS X 10.8.5 machine and an OS X 10.9 machine. I can't upgrade either machine due to requirements outside of my and Apple's control.

In the absence of Apple patching OS before 10.10, how can we mitigate this on OS X 10.8 and OS X 10.9 machines?

I would say it's simply not possible.

It apparently took Apple months of effort to close this door. They specifically asked the reporter to hold long past the accepted announcement embargo period, in order to give them sufficient time to fix it before it went public. They say the reason for not back-porting it to earlier OSes is the sheer amount of effort involved.

If they can't do it, I doubt anyone else could.

If it could be even slightly mitigated by any action on your part, I'm fairly sure there would have been advice from them to that effect.


iMac won’t power on. 24hrs later it did, but now dead again! I updated my nov 2016 iMac to Mojave last week & everything ran super slow. Then I bumped the power cable out and it wouldn’t restart, no matter what I tried.

24 hrs later I tried again & it finally powered up & seemed back to normal. I shut down, but it didn’t completely shut down... Just a black screen with the mouse cursor still visible & working, so I held down the power button to shut it down.

Now it won’t power up again!

What is going on? Anyone had anything like this?

It’s under extended warranty so I can send it off for repairs but I’d like it working sooner if I can :-(

I strongly advise to never update when a new OS comes out. They always take at least one year to fix all the bugs. Here is a check list from Apple Support:

Check for display issues

If your Mac doesn't appear to turn on, it's possible that the computer is turning on but the display isn't working. To see if it's a display issue, press your computer's power button. Then check for these signs that your Mac is turning on, even if the display remains dark:

You might hear a startup chime.
You might hear fan or drive noise.
If your Mac has an LED sleep indicator, it might turn on.
If your Mac notebook has a backlit keyboard, it might turn on.
When you press the Caps Lock key, the key's light turns on.
If any of these things happens and your Mac is connected to an external display, get help with video issues on external displays connected to your Mac. Otherwise, continue to the next section.

Check for power issues

If your Mac won't turn on and you've ruled out display issues, try these steps:

Make sure that the power cord and adapter are securely connected to your Mac and plugged in to a working electrical outlet. Plug in a lamp or other device to make sure the outlet works.
Try another power cord or adapter if the outlet works but your Mac still has no power.
If you're using a Mac notebook, make sure that you're using the right power adapter and cable and learn about troubleshooting MagSafe adapters. Leave the power adapter connected long enough to provide an adequate charge to the battery.

Check for other issues

Try these steps if you've ruled out power and display issues:

Disconnect all accessories that are plugged in to your Mac. This includes things like printers, USB hubs, and mobile devices.
Hold down the power button for ten seconds. Then press the power button again to see if the Mac turns on.
Reset the System Management Controller (SMC).
If you recently installed memory or a drive in your Mac, make sure that it's compatible and installed correctly. If possible, reinstall the original memory or drive to see if the issue persists.
If your Mac still won't start up after you've tried these steps, contact Apple Support. You can also visit an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider for help.

Source: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204267


Removing MacCleanse Helper While looking at the activity monitor it occurred to me that I've a Mac Cleanse Helper process visible in the Energy tab. I might have installed this program in past but I got rid of it. How can I completely remove all the related files from the system?

Programs that install system components can't be uninstalled by simply throwing them in the Trash.

Usually an Uninstaller is provided in the original .dmg file, or can sometimes done from within the app itself.

If you delete the app, you may be too late to use that method.

Most companies that make apps which must be correctly uninstalled will have instructions on their own site as to how to achieve this, either by re-downloading the original .dmg, or they may provide a dedicated uninstaller app.

Koingo has such an app listed on its MacCleanse Manual page

Direct link -
http://www.koingosw.com/products/maccleanse/download/maccleanse4_uninstaller.zip


git not works after update to El Capitan I have just updated my OS X to El Capitan.

In previous version I have git installed with Xcode (as it was recommended settings).

After updating I could not use git. git command shows.

xcrun: error: invalid active developer path (/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools), missing xcrun at: /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin/xcrun

git --version also shows same error. I have installed XQuartz but the problem didn't resolve.

I will mostly use git from terminal or from Jetbrains IDE

One solution might be install git again.

But to ensure it works like before you may install Xcode by running

xcode-select --install


How to press Alt Gr in Parallels Desktop? I have a MacBook Air and I run Windows Vista as a Parallels Desktop guest. In Windows I need to press Alt Gr but I don't have that key on my MacBook Air.

How can I press Alt Gr in Parallels Desktop?

According to this article on macosxhints you can press ctrl-alt to get AltGr.
Sometimes that doesn't work, so you'll have to remap your keys under windows, which is described in the linked to article.

There's also this article on Parallels' forums which suggests you do this:

  Stop any running VMs, close all instances of Parallels Desktop for Mac.
  Launch “Macintosh HD” - “Applications” – “Utilities” – “Terminal”.
  Type the following commands in Terminal (without quotes), please mind that the system might ask you for the Administrator password after each command – type it and hit Enter:
  “sudo touch /Library/Parallels/.keyboard_config”
  “sudo chmod 666 /Library/Parallels/.keyboard_config”
  “sudo echo "numenterisaltgr" > /Library/Parallels/.keyboard_config”
  Close the Terminal.
  Launch Parallels Desktop for Mac and check Right Enter key behavior in VM – everything should work as you’ve set.


iOS text tone doesn't sound I just realized that my iPhone SE, iOS 12.3, isn't issuing the "ding" tone when texts are received. The Messages app shows a badge (small red circle) when a message arrives. The ring for a phone call works correctly.

The text tone sounds correctly in Settings > Sounds > Text Tone, Do Not Disturb is turned off, and Settings > Notifications > Messages is set to "Allow." I've restarted (soft and hard), and the Mute switch on the side of the case is in the up (sound allowed) position. Selecting another text tone has no effect, the different tone is also not issued.

What else might I try?

It appears that if you have Messages in iCloud enabled on the iPhone, and you're also signed in to Messages on a Mac with the same Apple ID, and the Mac is logged in and awake, then the iPhone doesn't make an alert sound for new messages. Presumably the idea is that you're at the Mac and will see the message alert there.

I don't know of a way to configure this other than switching off Messages in iCloud on the phone.


How do I get my Google contacts in Gmail on my Gmail app on the iPad? I don't have a Mac or Exchange (which seem to be two ways of doing this.)

When I open the iPad Gmail app (from Google) there are no Contacts and the email "to" field doesn't autocomplete. I effectively can't email unless I've memorized the email address.

I don't want to sync 1000 contacts. I just want to see a contacts link like I do when I use gmail on a computer. It couldn't get much simpler than that.

I don't know why everyone seems to over complicate this, you don't need to export contacts and import them somewhere else nor do you need exchange. Steps to sync contacts with your iDevice are as follows:

Plug your device into your computer and open iTunes
Select your device in iTunes and click the "info" tab
Check "Sync Contacts" and then "Sync Google contacts"
Enter your google login info

Done! Contacts will sync with gmail.


Option + click in iTerm In Terminal, Option + click allows me to place my cursor at any point on the current line-- great for editing really long commands.

How can I do this in iTerm2?

Update: According to this page, the feature has been around since 0.7.0 (2003). I've also noticed that if I hold Command+Option, the cursor changes into the familiar cross like in Terminal...  but clicking still does not reposition my cursor.

I was wondering "How Hard Can It Be(c)" to implement it and gave it a go today.

The Terminal.app seems to emulate 'move cursor to left/right' ESC sequences. You'll hear the famous 'beep' if you try to place the cursor in the shell prompt. And you'll hear it as many times as there are invalid moves.

The solution in iTerm2 works the same by invoking the appropriate ESC sequences. Although it beeps only once if you try to place the cursor in an invalid area ;)

Terminal.app seems not to be able to handle multi-line prompts, only moving on the last line seems to work. Multi-line prompts in this implementation should be handled correct.

Results can be found on github. It's a fork of the original with a pending pull request. The branch I work on is named 'option-click-hardcoded'.

And of course it's highly untested. That means tested only by me on my late-2007 MacBook Pro running Mac OS X 10.7.3.

If you'd like try it out by compiling it yourself or download the precompiled binary for i386/x86_64/ppc iTerm_v1.0.0.git-085ec22c.zip).


"iTunes can’t verify the identity of the server ..." after a Security Update in Mavericks or upgrade to El Capitan Prior to the security update released early April my system was working fine. After that, I'm getting invalid certificates everywhere:

iTunes says "iTunes can’t verify the identity of the server “init.itunes.apple.com”." and "iTunes can’t verify the identity of the server “xp.apple.com”." when I open it.
Chrome gives me warnings for many https sites (e.g. Google is fine, Twitter isn't).
Most importantly I can't connect to the App Store anymore, which I was planning to do to upgrade to Yosemite given that Apple decided to not fix one of the security vulnerabilities for the previous versions.

I checked my certificates in the Keychain Access and I don't see anything wrong with them. I've also tried deleting some files related to certificate caches as I've seen mentioned somewhere else, but it didn't help either.

I'm using OS X 10.9.5 in a MacBook Air, Late 2012.

Update

This problem also applies to some systems updated from OS X 10.10 Yosemite to OS X 10.11.1 (15B42) El Capitan.

The reason:

After installing Security Update 2015-004, multiple users found that they couldn't browse to any website using the root certificate "VeriSign Class 3 Public Primary Certification Authority - G5" without a security warning ("invalid certificate").
2015-004 updated the list of trusted root CAs, and for a reason I'm still unclear about, many of us have an identical entry in our Login Keychain. The certificate name is the same, but the serial number is wrong. The conflict causes the problem.

The solution:

Open Keychain, and look up your Login Certificates. Export any Verisign certificates (as a backup), and then delete them. Restart your browser.

I had the same issue and asked it in https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/85830/why-is-symantec-verisign-ca-appearing-as-an-invalid-authority .

You can see a full discussion in https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6984765


Replies to text messages sent from iOS arrive at OS X only I own both an iPhone and a MacBook. I have disabled iMessages on the iPhone and I prefer to keep it this way. I employ the latest versions of both iOS and OS X.

When I send SMS text messages from my iPhone to contacts who also use iPhones their replies arrive on the MacBook (in its Messages application) but not on the iPhone.

I suspect this could be the case because those contacts have iMessages enabled and so their replies get routed by default to a device of mine which supports it as well (i.e. my MacBook but not the iPhone).

Is there a way to remedy the situation without me having to enable iMessages on the iPhone? (I don’t care for iMessages over SMS and I would like to receive all text messages on the iPhone.)

If their reply is in blue, it's an iMessage, and you disabled iMessage, so it won't come through. If the message is in green it is an SMS, which will always come through. The only way around it is to disable iMessage on all your devices so that your friends' iPhones don't pick you up as iMessage-enabled contact and hopefully send you SMS instead of iMessage. If the iMessage didn't went through they can touch and hold the blue message and tap "Send as text message" to send as SMS.

So the solutions are to enable or disable iMessage on all your devices. I'll go with enable, because you have nothing to lose and makes life easier for everyone and yourself.

If you really don't want to enable iMessage on your phone, at least narrow down the emails/numbers where one can get to you. (if that is the reason why you don't want iMsg??)


macOS packet filter (port forwarding) I am trying to redirect the outbound traffic to destination port 80 to the local proxy port 127.0.0.1:8080 without success

/etc/pf.anchors/com.forwarding

rdr pass inet proto tcp from any to any port 80 -> 127.0.0.1 port 8080

/etc/pf.conf

scrub-anchor "com.apple/*"
nat-anchor "com.apple/*"
rdr-anchor "com.apple/*"
rdr-anchor "myproxy"
dummynet-anchor "com.apple/*"
anchor "com.apple/*"
load anchor "com.apple" from "/etc/pf.anchors/com.apple"
load anchor "myproxy" from "/etc/pf.anchors/com.forwarding"

Then:

sudo sysctl net.inet.ip.forwarding=1
sudo pfctl -ef /etc/pf.conf

The local traffic 127.0.0.1:80 is redirected to 127.0.0.1:8080, but not the external, the one towards internet.

You can only redirect incoming traffic. Any outgoing traffic to port 80 isn't affected by your rdr rule.

To redirect outgoing traffic to port 80 you have to re-route it first to lo0 then redirect it to the proxy port:

The order in the config file is necessarily rdr incomming packets, then filter packets (like pass), but chronologically the 2nd rule will hit first (on en0), which will then activate the first rule (on lo0).

# Step "2". redirect those same packets that were routed to lo0 below
rdr pass log on lo0 proto tcp from any to any port 80 -> 127.0.0.1 port 8080
# Step "1". Route new IPv4 TCP connections leaving en0 to lo0
pass out on en0 route-to lo0 proto tcp from en0 to any port 80 keep state

in pf.conf this would look like this:

...
scrub-anchor "com.apple/*"
nat-anchor "com.apple/*"
rdr-anchor "com.apple/*"
rdr pass log on lo0 proto tcp from any to any port 80 -> 127.0.0.1 port 8080
dummynet-anchor "com.apple/*"
anchor "com.apple/*"
load anchor "com.apple" from "/etc/pf.anchors/com.apple"
pass out on en0 route-to lo0 proto tcp from en0 to any port 80 keep state

In the above example I assume en0 is your only outbound en interface.

Unload your current pf.conf and stop pf: sudo pfctl -d. Then add the two additional lines above. After modifying pf.conf check the syntax of the file with sudo pfctl -vnf /etc/pf.conf which should result in the following output:

pfctl: Use of -f option, could result in flushing of rules
present in the main ruleset added by the system at startup.
See /etc/pf.conf for further details.

scrub-anchor "/*" all fragment reassemble
nat-anchor "/*" all
rdr-anchor "/*" all
rdr pass log on lo0 proto tcp from any to any port 80 -> 127.0.0.1 port 8080
anchor "/*" all
pass out on en0 route-to lo0 proto tcp from en0 to any port 80 flags S/SA keep state
dummynet-anchor "/*" all

and if successful load it with sudo pfctl -e -f /etc/pf.conf.

A proper system and proxy configuration (and well-behaving apps) don't require such pf rules!


Can't empty the trash after deleting user account I had an old user account on this machine that I no longer needed and was taking up a lot of space. I removed it by going to System Preferences > Users & Groups and deleting the user. It took a while, but it seemed to work and the user disappeared from the list.

However, I didn't seem to reclaim any disk space, which I thought was odd. So I checked and the deleted user's folder was still present in /Users.

Since the user was no longer listed in Users & Groups, I tried just manually deleting the user folder from the Finder and then emptying the trash. This worked up until it hit file 103,556, at which point it seemed to get stuck. I let it run overnight for 8+ hours and when I came back to it this morning, it was still sitting at 103,556.

I couldn't cancel the delete operation or anything, so I force-restarted the computer and tried emptying the trash again. Again, it counted up to the same file and then stopped.

Is there any way I can force-empty the trash to get rid of this user account?

If someone runs into the same problem you need to disable Syestem Integrity Protection before deleting old user folders.
SIP was introduced with Mac OS X El Capitan 10.11 in 2015.

To turn off SIP, one need to start into Recovery Mode.
Turn off the device, press and hold command + R, start the device, and wait until load screen.
In Recovery Mode, click Utilities and start the Terminal application.

Check the status rather SIP en- or disable:

csrutil status

To disable it:

csrutil disable

and to enable

csrutil enable.

Restart the device for changes to take effect.
Start your system as always (not into Recovery Mode).

It is recommended to enable SIP after you deleted the user folder.


Is there a single window application that can read CHM, PDF and DJVU? I discovered recently that Preview.app can be configured so that it's using only one window for all documents, instead of one window per document. The drawback is that you can only read one document at a time, but I'm fine with this limitation.

I often have 5 to 10 text documents (CHM, PDF and DJVU) open at the same time, and I hate to have each document eat space in the Dock.

I'm looking for a way to gather all the text documents in one application, with only one window. Is there a software which handles the three formats I mentioned, and limits itself to one window ?

Firefox can with plugins. Like most browsers, Firefox already has a pdf viewer built in, but there are plugins available for chm viewing, as well as for djvu viewing. With tabbed browsing, you can have many documents open in a single window.


How can I tell which device purchased specific apps? I have had a problem with children downloading apps. I would like to be able to see which apple device has purchased which app. How do I do that?

Sync your iPhone to iTunes, Select the App you want to know from which account it has been purchased, right click, go to Get info, under the File tab you will find something like below image where you can see who purchased the app. I have removed my Apple ID but the different names is for different accounts.


Flashback malware on Snow Leopard My Mac OSX Snow Leopard got exploited by the Flashback malware. There's a summary by F-Secure that I'm trying to follow in order to remove it. This link is similar, and provides a little more detail.

The first step is to type the following:

bash-3.2$ defaults read /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Info LSEnvironment
{
 "DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES" = "/Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/.NeroLite \022@.xsl";
}

This shows the malware. The next step is to do the following:

bash-3.2$ grep -a -o '__ldpath__[ -~]*' /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/.NeroLite \022@.xsl
grep: /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/.NeroLite: No such file or directory
grep: 022@.xsl: No such file or directory

As you can see the file path includes .NeroLite \022@.xsl and the space backslash combination has got me confused, and the system can't find the file. Anyone how I can locate this file? What is the \022@ trying to do? How to complete the next step?

UPDATE1

I've tried the following:

bash-3.2$ grep -a -o '__ldpath__[ -~]*' /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/.NeroLite\ \\022@.xsl
grep: /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/.NeroLite \022@.xsl: No such file or directory

bash-3.2$ grep -a -o '__ldpath__[ -~]*' "/Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/.NeroLite \022@.xsl"
grep: /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/.NeroLite \022@.xsl: No such file or directory

bash-3.2$ ls /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/.Nero*
ls: /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/.Nero*: No such file or directory

bash-3.2$ grep -a -o '__ldpath__[ -~]*' /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/.NeroLit*
grep: /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/.NeroLit*: No such file or directory

UPDATE2

I executed the following commands:

# sudo defaults delete /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Info LSEnvironment
# sudo chmod 644 /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Info.plist
# defaults read ~/.MacOSX/environment DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES
2012-04-01 21:42:40.706 defaults[891:903]
The domain/default pair of (/Users/myuser/.MacOSX/environment, DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES) does not exist

Which is good, according to the first link above.

THEN I REBOOTED THE SYSTEM. However, when I then try to start Safari, it won't start, but instead gives me the same old error:

Safari cannot be opened because of a problem.

Process:         Safari [882]
Path:            /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/MacOS/Safari
Identifier:      com.apple.Safari
Version:         ??? (???)
Build Info:      WebBrowser-75345503~2
Code Type:       X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process:  launchd [110]

Date/Time:       2012-04-01 21:41:24.286 -0700
OS Version:      Mac OS X 10.6.8 (10K549)
Report Version:  6

Interval Since Last Report:          501264 sec
Crashes Since Last Report:           11
Per-App Crashes Since Last Report:   11
Anonymous UUID:                      <removed>

Exception Type:  EXC_BREAKPOINT (SIGTRAP)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000000
Crashed Thread:  0

Dyld Error Message:
  could not load inserted library: /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/.NeroLite @.xsl

Binary Images:
0x7fff5fc00000 -     0x7fff5fc3bdef  dyld 132.1 (???) <removed> /usr/lib/dyld

<...lists installed hardware...>

The safest way to ensure removal of live malware is to (re)boot from external media and to then re-install the OS and all your apps and executables.


2015 Macbook Pro running Catalina keeps restarting while in use I've had this issue intermittently over the last ~month or two where I'll be doing something on Chrome on my laptop and it will suddenly restart; usually the screen freezes, the audio repeats its last beat a handful of times, and then it goes through the rebooting process.
The only known issue is that I have way too many Chrome tabs, but I also use a plugin to keep them from using too much memory (The Great Suspender).
Does anyone know what is causing this and what I can do to stop it from happening going forward? The main concern is that it might reboot while I'm in the middle of an important video call (which thankfully hasn't happened yet).
If it would be of assistance and if it doesn't contain any identifying information, I could post the problem report (the message is all greek to me and very long so I don't know if it's okay to post or not).
Thanks in advance!

You start by not opening so much tabs, or you can try a different plugin like RabbitMQ because the plug-in Could be the case.


Present Keynote without showing editor The scenario is that I have a computer whose screen is being projected and visible to an audience. Is it possible to start a Keynote presentation without showing the editor (and thus all the text on the first slide) to the audience? I know Microsoft Powerpoint lets you export a presentation so that opening it immediately starts the presentation. Can Keynote do this?

Go to the Document inspector and enable Automatically play upon open.


Activate Emoji & Symbols and Character Viewer independently Sometimes when editing text, I want to use the Emoji & Symbols viewer to quickly type a symbol. Other times, I want to open the full Character Viewer window. Unfortunately, there only seems to be one keyboard shortcut to open them (Edit > Emoji & Symbols, ⌃⌘space), and it simply remembers which you used last. Changing which interface is displayed seems to require the use of a mouse to click the toggle button in the top-right of the window.

How can I easily select which of them to bring up? Ideally, I would like to end up with two keyboard shortcuts, one for each interface. Third-party solutions are acceptable, but a native solution would be ideal.

Possibly useful starting point: "Show Emoji & Symbols" in the Input menu (enabled via System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard > Show keyboard and emoji viewers in menu bar) seems to always bring up the full Character Viewer, regardless of the last state. Activating this with a keyboard shortcut would be perfect, though I would much prefer doing so programmatically rather than via the menu GUI.

If I were in a similar situation, I would do the following:

Change the default keyboard shortcut for Emoji & Symbols from ⌃⌘Space to ⌃⌥⌘Space so that the default ⌃⌘Space can be used as a shortcut with one of the scripts, the primary one.
Create two AppleScript scripts, one for showing Emoji & Symbols, (the primary one for me), and the other for showing Character Viewer. (This could be done in one script however, for coding simplicity two will be used.)
Use FastScripts to assign a keyboard shortcut to each. The first for My Emoji & Symbols to ⌃⌘Space and for My Character Viewer, use ⌃⇧⌘Space as shown in the image further below.
Note that I have no affiliation with Red Sweater Software, the developer of FastScripts, and am just a satisfied user.

Note that in place of using FastScripts, an Automator Service can be used. However, I prefer the former because it has worked better for me then the latter.

The following was tested and worked under macOS High Sierra...

First, change the global keyboard shortcut for the Emoji & Symbols menu item:

System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts

Click the [+] to add a new shortcut with the following settings:
Applications: All Applications
Menu Title: Emoji & Symbols
Keyboard Shortcut: ⌃⌥⌘Space
        See image further below.

Next, create two AppleScript scripts (.scpt) files in ~/Library/Scripts/, one named My Emoji & Symbols and the other named My Character Viewer, adding the following to each:

For My Emoji & Symbols:

do shell script "defaults write com.apple.CharacterPaletteIM CVStartAsLargeWindow -bool false"
delay 0.5
tell application "System Events" to keystroke space using {control down, option down, command down}

For My Character Viewer:

do shell script "defaults write com.apple.CharacterPaletteIM CVStartAsLargeWindow -bool true"
delay 0.5
tell application "System Events" to keystroke space using {control down, option down, command down}

Note the only difference between the two is the value of -bool, being true or false for the CVStartAsLargeWindow key. Also, the value of the delay command is to allow time for the defaults command to make the write before System Events triggers the new global keyboard shortcut for the Emoji & Symbols menu item. The value of the delay command may need be adjusted, so do so as needed.

Then in FastScripts > Preferences... > Script Shortcuts, assign ⌃⌘Space (or ⌃⌘␣) to My Emoji & Symbols, and assign ⌃⇧⌘Space (or ⌃⇧⌘␣) to My Character Viewer.   See image below.

Note that FastScripts will need to be added to: System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility   See image below.

If using Automator Services, use a Run Apple Script action with the example AppleScript code, show above, replacing the default code in each and assign keyboard shortcuts via: System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Services

Note that the mentioned naming conventions and or paths, et cetera, have changed for some items in macOS Mojave and will need to be adjusted accordingly. I am not yet running macOS Mojave however, have seen posts on some of the differences. You'll need to adjust as necessary if running macOS Mojave.

Key Symbol Legend:

Shift: ⇧
Control: ⌃
Option: ⌥
Command: ⌘
Space: Space

System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts

FastScripts > Preferences... > Script Shortcuts
     • Note that the ␣ character, shown in the shortcut below, is for the space character.

System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility


XCode 8.3 - How many times can we deploy to an iOS Device with an expired Developer ID? Good day everyone, I'm developing an iOS application and I was wondering how many times I can deploy to my iPad Mini (the device I use to test) without signing up for the iOS Development Program again. I had signed up before, but I don't have the cash right now to sign up again.

Does anyone know if there's a limit to how many times I can deploy to a device? I'm a bit uneasy because I might hit a restriction later on and it would stall my development process.

Thank you.

(If this belongs to StackOverflow instead, kindly let me know)

Source:

You can deploy to your personal devices as many times as you want; there's no restriction on deploys of this type.

You only have to pay the membership fee if you want to use the more advanced features such as TestFlight and the App Store.

Update:

Here's a list of supported capabilities that require either a free account or paid one.
The provisioning profile is only good for 7 days.  After that you need to generate a new one and deploy it to the device.
Max number of connected devices is limited to 3.


New Macs keep asking about old discarded Mac credentials I have only been using modern Macs for a year or so now. I was due to get a 2019 MBP from work in early 2020, so I got a 2009 MBP a few months before that to orient myself.
I created an Apple ID and an iCloud account on the 2009 MBP. With a little difficulty, I was able to apply those credentials to the semi-locked-down 2019 MBP from work.
Since then I have

done a fresh install of the 2009 MBP
left the previous employer, returned the 2019 MBP, and started a new job
bought a 2020 M1 MBA

During the 2009 MBP reinstall and the M1 MBA setup, I was asked for the login password on the 2019 MBP from my former job. I still remembered it, but that kinda freaked me out.
Now I'm about to get a new Intel MBP from the new job. I don't want the credentials from the previous 2019 MBP to be associated with my personal 2020 M1 MBA or the new job's Intel MBP in any way.
Does this make sense to any of you? How can I undo those links and not create any new links from the surrendered 2019 MBP to any future Macs I get?
Update
Thanks to @jaune, I went to my Apple ID web page and looked at the Devices section. The 2019 MBP from my previous employer did not appear. I guess I need to learn more about the keychain, @jksoegaard !

Could it be that you forgot to sign out of iCloud on the 2019 MacBook Pro from your former job?
When setting up a new device, if iCloud Keychain is active, you will be asked to type the login password or passcode of another device that you are signed in to with your Apple ID, see Approve a device to use iCloud Keychain for details.
If you forgot to sign out of iCloud on one of your devices and have given the device away, it could happen that Apple asks you to type the password of that device. In this case, you will have to manually remove the device, as explained in this support article: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205064. For example, using the Apple ID website:

Sign in to your Apple ID account page (https://appleid.apple.com), then scroll to Devices.

Click the device to see its details, then click "Remove from account."

Review the message that appears.

Click again to confirm that you want to remove the device.

For more information on how Apple designs security, see the Apple Platform Security website.


Delete and merge Partition My MacBook's HDD has 2 partitions. One has OS X 10.8 installed, the other one 10.9. I'd like to delete the first partition and merge the free space afterwards to the 2nd partition.

What's the easiest way to do this? Can I use diskutil eraseVolume/mergePartitions?

iPartition

For all my partitioning, I use and recommend iPartition. It will allow you to resize partitions without deleting any data. It also works for Boot Camp volumes and other PC disks. It will automatically move partitions if necessary to allow resizing into free space that is located before the partition.

  With iPartition, resizing a partition is as simple as selecting it, grabbing the resize handle and dragging. Not only that, but if you have several operations to perform, iPartition lets you queue them up and run them one after another, so you can have a cup of coffee while iPartition works. This feature, coupled with iPartition’s ability to automatically rearrange your existing partitions when necessary, makes iPartition the easiest partitioning tool that you’ll ever use.


Help downloading iOS 7 with link that drops I recently purchased an iPad 4 and I have been trying to update to iOS 7 for weeks but the link keeps dropping. What can I do so I can pickup download from where it stopped. My connection is very slow and 1,2 gigs can sometimes take days to download.

You can download the IPSW specific to your device here:

http://www.redmondpie.com/download-ios-7-final-ipsw-for-iphone-5-4s-4-ipad-and-ipod-touch-direct-links/

Use iTunes to restore your device using that IPSW (shift-click Restore and select the IPSW).


What is this flickering menu bar icon? Can anyone identify this menu bar icon?

Every minute or so, it quickly appears and disappears in my menu bar, just for a few seconds.

It looks like the screen sharing icon, from iChat; when someone is sharing your screen.


Connect old Cinema Display (24") as 2nd Display to newest iMac? I'm considering buying a new 27" iMac (current model sold now).  I still have a 24" Cinema display (mini display port) that I currently have connected to an older iMac.

Now I'm wondering if this will work on the Thunderbolt socket.

There is no reason why it shouldn't. TB has the same connector that mini display port. So you won't even need an adapter.


Is it possible to change the "Ignore built-in trackpad when mouse is present" setting with a keyboard shortcut? I like to use my MacBook with a USB mouse most of the time, and keep "Ignore built-in trackpad when mouse or wireless trackpad is present" option checked to avoid accidentally moving the cursor while typing. However, occasionally it's useful to switch it back on for certain tasks, and I'd like to be able to do this with a keyboard shortcut.

I've tried recording the process of switching it on/off with Automator, but when I copy the resulting script and run it, it gets as far as the Accessibility settings and then gives me a syntax error saying 'Can not click checkbox 3 of window "Accessibility" of application process "System Preferences"'.

I've also tried setting "USBMouseStopsTrackpad" in defaults to 0 and 1 in the terminal, but it doesn't seem to do anything. I can see this changing to 0 or 1 when I check/uncheck the box, so I'm fairly certain I've got the right option, but nothing happens when I change it.

Apologies if this is really obvious and I'm just not seeing it! I'm still not too familiar with this machine. I'm aware of this question:

Is it possible to switch off the trackpad in OS X with a keyboard shortcut

but I don't think it's a duplicate as I'm trying to do something slightly different.

This can be done natively with no third-party anything needed, simply and easily using AppleScript and UI Scripting.

The example AppleScript code can be implemented in a number of different ways, as a script, an AppleScript application, or as an Automator service , the latter of which can have a keyboard shortcut assigned to it.

Specifically how to implement as an Automator service has been covered more then enough times that a Google search should provide an answer on how to do that. I know I written directions for it more times than I can remember.

The following example AppleScript code works for me and toggles the "Ignore built-in trackpad when mouse or wireless trackpad is present:" check box:

if running of application "System Preferences" then
    try
        tell application "System Preferences" to quit
    on error
        do shell script "killall 'System Preferences'"
    end try
end if
repeat while running of application "System Preferences" is true
    delay 0.1
end repeat
tell application "System Preferences"
    reveal anchor "Mouse" of pane id "com.apple.preference.universalaccess"
    delay 1
    tell application "System Events"
        click checkbox 1 of group 1 of window 1 of application process "System Preferences"
    end tell
    quit
end tell

Note that the value of the delay commands may need to be adjusted for your system, and or additional delay commands may or may not be needed. Adjust values of and or add/remove the delay commands as appropriate.
This was tested and works under macOS High Sierra; however, note that depending on the version of OS X/macOS you're running, the click checkbox ... line of code may need to be adjusted depending on the version of the OS.

For example, with macOS Catalina you'd need to use:

click checkbox 2 of tab group 1 of group 1 of window 1 of application process "System Preferences"

Note: The example AppleScript code is just that and does not contain any error handling as may be appropriate. The onus is upon the user to add any error handling as may be appropriate, needed or wanted. Have a look at the try statement and error statement in the AppleScript Language Guide. See also, Working with Errors. Additionally, the use of the delay command may be necessary between events where appropriate, e.g. delay 0.5, with the value of the delay set appropriately.


Finally reinstalled macOS Sierra, but now I get a kernel panic I got stuck in an endless loop trying to reinstall macOS Sierra but after following Monomeeth's advice in this question: Stuck in endless macOS Sierra installation loop I was able to get it installed.

But now I get a kernel panic when booting up. I do not understand kernel panics and did a Google search and read this question/answer: What is a Kernel Panic and what does it mean? but am none the wiser.

I cannot paste the kernel panic as it happens every time I now boot up, and only appears briefly, so here is a photo I took:

I see that it says Mac OS version: Not yet set.

What does that mean? Is that my problem? Can anyone help me interpret this?

A kernel panic is nothing more than a software crash. A bit like when an application quits for no apparent reason, except in this case, it brings down the entire system, since the kernel is the heart of the operating system. It looks like you weren't done with the installation, because it appears to be trying to continue the installation, but can't for some reason. I'd boot into recovery and reinstall from there by holding down commandrwhile booting.


How to install Apache into a custom directory? How to install a copy of Apache into a local custom directory via Terminal (to ~/Desktop/ for example), so it can live without conflicts with another global version of Apache and I cant start and stop it from there?

homebrew

Consider using homebrew to manage a private, isolated, installation of Apache httpd on your Mac.

To install brew and Apache httpd on your Mac, follow the steps on homebrew; the two main steps are:

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/go/install)"

This will install the brew command line tool.

Next use jabberwik's tap to install httpd:

brew tap jabberwik/homebrew-httpd
brew install httpd24

MAMP

An alternative approach is to use a pre-packaged application, such as MAMP. Running MAMP will immediately provide Apache httpd, PHP and MySQL preconfigured and ready to use.


Can I safely uninstall iTunes from my Mac? The only use I ever had for iTunes was updating and syncing my iDevices, but since the introduction of over-the-air updates and iCloud, I no longer have that need.

My question therefore is if I can safely remove iTunes from my Mac? Or are there other applications that depend on iTunes being available?

Thanks!

In order to uninstall iTunes, you need to delete (drag to the Trash) a lot of items:

The application's icon.
/Home/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iTunes....plist (a lot of files) and drag them to the Trash.
Look in /Library/ folder for an iTunes folder and if you find one drag it to the Trash.
Look in /Home/Library/ folder for an iTunes folder and drag it to the Trash.
Last, in /Home/Library/Preferences/ByHost/ folder look for two files with names com.apple.nnnnnnn.plist and drag them to the Trash.

Open Activity Monitor (Utilities folder) and in the process list look for iTunesHelper. Select it, then click on Quit Process icon. Quit or Force Quit the process. Now open the Accounts preference pane, click on Login Items tab, look for the iTunesHelper entry and select it, then click the "-" button and remove it from the list.

Empty the Trash. This should fully remove iTunes and its associated files/folders.

You can find all the information on this page.

But, there is no harm in deleting iTunes, except other iLife apps (iMovie, iPhoto,...) won't be able to get music out of the iTunes library for compiling their things (movies, slideshows,...)

So I'm seriously wondering why you want to delete iTunes at all. My advice is to leave it as it is and just ignore it.
You won't do any harm by it if you just leave iTunes there.


Login error after httpd.conf edits I am having a very weird error that I cannot find any help on the rest of the internet for. My issue is that I was editing my httpd.conf (in /Private/etc/apache2) so that I could run the web server out of a different directory. After attempting multiple times (and failing) my system started to act strange. I tried to open XAMPP's httpd.conf using Sublime Text 3 but that threw Sublime Text into a crash loop. I then tried to open another program, and it gave me an error saying that it could not write files. I then tried to close Eclipse and it gave me the error that it could not write files. I figured that a reboot would help and rebooted.

After my system booted up I was unable to log into my main user account. It was giving me the error "You are unable to log into the account "asdf" at this time. An error occurred."

I honestly have no idea why it is not working, but here is what I have tried.

Rebooting
Repairing the main SSD (Where I store my system files, it said that all was fine)
Repairing Permissions on the HDD that holds the User Files (it fixed a ton of applications that were set to different permissions. But it did not change any files that I had been editing.
Repairing the main HDD (all was fine...)

I am at a loss, any help would be greatly appreciated as I cannot use my main user account currently.

For anyone in the future that might have this issue (who knows...) here is what I did to fix it:

Go into System Preferences and delete your old user account. Leave your home folder. DO NOT ERASE IT.
Recreate the user.
Right click on the user and select "Advanced Options"
If the home folder location is wrong (if you had it on a different hard drive) change it to the correct place.
Restart your computer.
Fixed!


Where is the 'Where from' meta data stored when downloaded via Chrome? I'm running Mavericks with Chrome, and when I download an image/file it saves the 'Where from' when viewing via Get Info. This also happens in Safari.

Now, I understand there is a separate download history which can be viewed and deleted via the the tricks in the following article: http://www.cultofmac.com/179873/list-your-macs-entire-download-history-at-once-os-x-tips/ These are used when opening Applications for the first time to show the user where they come from.

However, I've deleted this and confirm it's empty but yet it still shows in the 'Where from.' I've done some further tests and uploaded the image to view the EXIF and meta data but it doesn't appear to be stored in the files meta data at all. So where could it be stored?

Does anyone know how this 'Where from' meta data is stored, and where it is stored. Does it stay with the file if you put the file on the USB drive and open on a different computer?

I'm not so much worried about removing it, but I just can't see where it comes from?

It's stored in an extended attribute on the file. Specifically the com.apple.metadata:kMDItemWhereFroms attribute. It may stay with the file when you move it to different computers, but it depends on the filesystem or file sharing protocol you use. If you move it to another Mac on an HFS+ disk, it will likely keep it, but not necessarily if you transfer over the network, and most likely not with an external disk with a non-HFS+ filesystem.

You can check a file by running xattr -lp com.apple.metadata:kMDItemWhereFroms myfile in the Terminal, or remove it with xattr -d com.apple.metadata:kMDItemWhereFroms my file. ls -l@ flag is also useful; it will list the names of xattrs along with the usual ls information.

If you want to remove it from multiple files, have a look at this question: How to remove xattr com.apple.quarantine from all .webarchive files with that extended attribute?


Why is my time machine backup so large after updating from OSX 10.13.6 to 10.15.4? Yesterday, I took my 2015 Macbook Pro running OSX 10.13.6 and backed it up using Time Machine to an external hard drive. I then immediately updated my laptop to 10.15.4. I plugged in my external hard drive to do back it up again using Time Machine, and the subsequent backup was over 70GB(!).  Looking at About This Mac -> Storage, I currently have an 256GB SSD, with 84GB of Photos, 78GB of documents, 18GB of Music, 7GB of Apps, 11GB of System, 16GB of other.

I can not figure out why this backup was so enormous.  What did Apple change so significantly over the past two operating system iterations? I know they dropped 32bit support for applications from 10.13 -> 10.14.  Could this be why this backup to be so large?

My cloud backup service (SpiderOak One), also decided that it needed to backup 40GB of stuff. It looks like its doing mostly photos in Photos Library.photoslibrary/originals, but likewise I don't see why it would need to do this.  I have it running constantly and I believe it was working and up to date prior to this backup.

I believe that these two issues are related. Perhaps Apple changed its file system yet again (like from 10.12 -> 10.13, where it changed  to AFS)?  Maybe it changed how it handles Photos?

Question:
1. Why was my Time Machine and SpiderOak backups so large?  The only thing I did was update my operating system.

First off I can definitely say that the large backup is not caused by the drop of support for 32-bit applications, nor is it due to yet another change of file system from APFS to "something new" (note that Apple used HFS+ for ~20 years before moving to APFS, so file system changes are definitely not done often).

One of the big changes that comes with the update from 10.13 to 10.15 is ofcourse the operating system files themselves. Most of them have changed in some way, so that contributes a lot to the difference. Also Catalina split system and other data over two volumes (while preserving a unified view) so that to a backup system some files could seemingly have moved around.

I can't immediately find a reason for Photos to have made changes to your originals. I would suggest comparing one or two photos in the backups from before and after your upgrade to find the differences - perhaps there has been some kind of meta data change, but I haven't experienced that when upgrading to Catalina.

In general you can use a tool such as BackupLoupe to examine the Time Machine backup made just after upgrading to figure out, which files were changed/moved and made the backup larger.

Another tool that can be used is GrandPerspective, which will visualise the data taking up space in the backup, allowing to you get a high level overview of what taking up the most space.


Trying to upgrade to macOS sierra from OS X 10.8.5 Every time I've tried to download macOS sierra from the app store I'm getting this message: "macOS sierra failed to download. Use purchases page to try again".

I've rebooted my computer many times and tried clearing the app store cache. I just tried resetting the application from the debug menu and set the logging level to 2. I'm seeing these phrases a few times throughout the logs:

02/25/17 12:10:06.560 DownloadOperation: Download failed with error: Error Domain=ISErrorDomain Code=3 "URL Error" UserInfo=0x7ff5d204ae90

02/25/17 12:10:06.561 absolutePathForAppBundleWithIdentifier "com.apple.InstallAssistant.Sierra" path "(null)"

Does anyone know anything else I can try to fix this?

Just so everyone knows, I was finally able to download Sierra on a different network. It might've been something related to my ISP.


Sync used iPhone for first time My wife received an 3G iPhone from her sister after her sister bought a newer version.  My wife has already had the iPhone switched over to her AT&T account but has not synced it with a computer.

I am PC guy and don't know much about Macs in general.

First I want to know how to sync it for the first time. She does not care about any music/pictures/apps etc. What is most important are the contact/addresses/phone numbers.

Further. I want her to be able to sync with her laptop on a regular basis but I want to be able to restore from my computer in case her laptop gets stolen/destroyed/corrupted.

Her laptop is a Windows 7 and my computer is also a Windows 7.

The first time I tried to sync I received an ominous warning about all data being removed or something to that effect. So what is the best way to go about this?

The data being deleted is in reference to the data already stored on the phone (e.g. the sister's contacts). An iPhone can only be synced to one PC at a time, and if you want to setup syncing with this new PC, you will need to delete all of the data on the iPhone.

If your wife wants her sister's contacts, then she shouldn't sync and wipe the data before she has a copy of all that info. One way to to get the info on to the iPhone is to sync it with outlook (via iTunes) on the sister's PC. Then export the contact's from Outlook, copy the file to the wife's PC, import into Outlook. Then proceed ahead with the sync that will wipe all the data, and set it up to sync with Outlook. This way your wife will have all the original contacts.

If your wife does not care about her sister's contacts, then you can go ahead with the initial sync that wipes all the data.

When the phone is synced with Windows 7, it will use the following folder for backups: \Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\. Therefore, you should back up that folder if you want to keep a second copy on your computer.

If the most important data that will be used on the phone is Contact information, I would recommend that instead of using Outlook, that your wife use Google Sync. This will allow her to store all of her contacts in Gmail, such that if anything happens to the phone, the contact info can easily be accessed again online, all without ever having to sync or backup (or double backup) the phone. Google Sync can also sync your Calendar. If you setup a Google account as IMAP, you could even have the Notes synced to the cloud as well.

Keep in mind that when the data gets wiped, everything on the phone will be deleted. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:

  Music
  Videos
  Podcasts
  Address Book and Address Book favorites.
  App Store Applications and their data.
  Application settings, preferences, and data.
  Autofill for webpages.
  CalDAV and subscribed calendar accounts.
  Calendar accounts.
  Calendar events.
  Call history.
  Camera Roll (Photos, screenshots, images saved, and videos taken.)
  In-app purchases.
  Keychain (this includes email account passwords, Wi-Fi passwords, and passwords you enter into websites and some other applications.)
  List of External Sync Sources (Mobile Me, Exchange ActiveSync).
  Location service preferences for apps and websites you have allowed to use your location.
  Mail accounts.
  Managed Configurations/Profiles.
  Microsoft Exchange account configurations.
  Network settings (saved wifi spots, VPN settings, network preferences).
  Nike + iPod saved workouts and settings.
  Notes.
  Offline web application cache/database.
  Paired Bluetooth devices.
  Safari bookmarks, cookies, history, offline data, and currently open pages.
  Saved suggestion corrections.
  SMS and MMS (pictures and video) messages.
  Trusted hosts that have certificates that cannot be verified.
  Voice memos.
  Voicemail token.
  Wallpapers.
  Web clips.
  YouTube bookmarks and history.

(This list was slightly modified from Apple's page)


What advanced calendar scheduling can Siri do? I just found out that Siri can do complex calendar schedules, such as scheduling something for every three days.  The calendar app has a very limited interface for complex scheduling, so I'm wondering what other calendar scheduling I can do with Siri that I can't do with the regular calendar interface?

One thing I'm curious about is whether it can schedule monthly "first ... of" repeating events.  For instance, I have a meeting I attend on the second Tuesday of each month.  Can I schedule that using Siri, and what is the best phrasing to use?

While I am sure its not a complete list (the only people who would have that would be Apple), here is a list I found on many of the phrases Siri understands:

Adding Events

Set up a meeting at 9
Set up a meeting with Michael at 9
Meet with Lisa at noon
Set up a meeting about hiring tomorrow at 9am
New appointment with Susan Park Friday at 3
Schedule a planning meeting at 8:30 today in the boardroom

Changing events

Move my 3pm meeting to 4:30
Reschedule my appointment with Dr. Manning to next Monday at 9am
Add Lisa to my meeting with Jason
Cancel the budget review meeting

Asking about events

What does the rest of my day look like?
What's on my calendar for Friday?
When is my next appointment?
When am I meeting with Michael?
Where is my next meeting?

More available at http://www.iphonehacks.com/2011/10/iphone-4s-features-exhaustive-list-of-phrases-siri-can-understand.html

I personally have found that many of these features are available through the UI, but so complex or have a confusing workflow that most people wouldn't deal with it (for example, think of how many taps it would take to set a meeting at a time somewhere and invite someone?). For example, in the linked question about every three days, I wonder if it set a repeat that way (which is not available in the UI), or created new independent events.

After seeing your updated question, related directly to recurring monthly events on a certain day-of-week, I could not reliably get this to work. Using a phrase like 'schedule _ for the first Thursday of every month' did prompt for a time, but then tried to create the even for every day. This may work on a month to month basis, as in 'schedule __ for the second Tuesday of April'. I did another test just now, and it actually created a repeating event, but nothing more than a repeating one on the 30th of every month (it said it was creating a new event starting today). This was using the same phrase, and gave obviously different results.

I am not sure if this was due to a limit of Siri, or the fact that the recurrence options of Calendar on iOS is limited. This feature is easy to do on iCloud.com or in iCal itself.


Why does the Mobile Safari Browser on iOS not allow file uploads? As already known, it's not possible for iOS users to select image files to upload from Safari on iPhone, because the browse button to display the "select file"- dialog is disabled. It works fine on Android, but not on iPhone...

What is the particular reason for that issue?
I heard that the browse button is disabled because there isn't a file browser on the iPhone. Someone other said that Safari just disabled root access. Is there any reliable source which explains the issue? (I need it for my thesis.)

iOS apps can only read data in their own directory and thus only Safari would be able to use these files - so how could you create them and put them in Safari's directories?

From Apple's Filesystem basics development documentation

  An iOS app’s interactions with the file system are limited mostly to
  the directories inside the app’s sandbox. During installation of a new
  app, the installer code creates a home directory for the app, places
  the app in that directory, and creates several other key directories.
  These directories constitute the app’s primary view of the file
  system. Figure 1-1 shows a representation of the sandbox for an app.

  Figure 1-1  Each iOS app operates within its own sandbox

  Because it is in a sandbox, an app is generally prohibited from
  accessing or creating files in directories outside of its home
  directory. One exception to this rule occurs when an app uses public
  system interfaces to access things such as the user’s contacts or
  music. In those cases, the system frameworks handle any file-related
  operations needed to read from or modify the appropriate data store


Unexpected -bash command not found error when starting new mac terminal window I was messing around with ssh keys and permissions and other things I'm not too familiar with and ended up causing some problems on my mac, including denying myself permission to my user account, changing the root directory and other annoyances. Most of the other things were fixed by a restart or fiddling, but I know I get this error message every time I start up a terminal window and can't figure out what to do. How do I get rid of it?

I tried this Terminal returns not found for most commands Mac OSX, but I don't think it's the same error because if I write bash into the terminal it starts a bash interface. Something is entering -bash into the terminal on startup and I can't figure out from where or why?

Last login: Tue Dec  4 08:57:20 on ttys003
-bash
Ludos-MBP-3:~ ludo$ -bash
-bash: -bash: command not found
Ludos-MBP-3:~ ludo$

It's also not a duplicate of this -Bash command not found appearing every time I start terminal because I've checked the .bash_profile file and nothing has changed since last time I checked it. I tried all the statements in there and none of them generate that error.

echo $PATH generates

/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.6/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework/Versions/Current/Commands:/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/latest/bin

Troubleshooting syntax errors in the shell scripts is the fastest way to remove this.

Backup and rename all . files for your shell - .bashrc and .bash_profile

Verify the issue is resolved. Build up your files line by line or by doing a split half search (add half the things the file does at a time - adding / removing half) if your files are very long or involved.

You're in good company on this one:

-bash: 1: command not found - Immediately on loading Terminal
terminal -bash: command not found
Terminal command not found
Unknown error message in Terminal

It doesn't really matter that nothing changes in the file if it sources other files or the global environment has changed - setting aside your files is the fastest way to get to a stable bash (or whatever shell you prefer) and then build things up slowly.

Once you're sure it's not the startup files, then look at the application running. If it's terminal.app - it can be set to run a command or script when it starts - you can remove those preferences or perhaps make a new user account and verify it's either a system wide issue or just restricted to your user account and user preferences.


How to extend PATH of LaunchAgents in ~/Library/LaunchAgents? I noticed that ~/.zshrc is not loaded... I need to add /usr/local/bin to PATH.

How to extend PATH of LaunchAgents in ~/Library/LaunchAgents?

You can use the following for example:
<key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
<dict>
    <key>PATH</key>
    <string>/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/sbin</string>
</dict>

Add it to your XML Plist file in an appropriate manner so it doesn't break the other key groups.
I'd place it at the top of the XML Plist file, for example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
    <dict>
        <key>PATH</key>
        <string>/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/sbin</string>
    </dict>

Then the rest of your XML Plist file.

Notes:

If my XML Plist file in ~/Library/LaunchAgents is calling a shell script, I typically set the PATH (path) in my scripts as well as at times use the fully qualified pathname of the executable.

When using Launch Agents and Launch Daemons, I highly recommend reading the manual pages for launchctl, launchd.plist and launchd.

You can read the manual page for command  in Terminal by typing command and then right-click on it and select: Open man Page


Am I able to replace In-App purchase with Apple Pay? Apple Pay commission fee is much lower than 30% for In-App purchase. It seems it is more worth to use Apple Pay.

I use now In-App purchase to enable remove ad from my app. Do you think I can replace it with Apple Pay?

No, Apple Pay is for physical goods or services only.

  Apple Pay or In-App Purchase

  It is important to understand the difference between Apple Pay and In-App Purchase. Use Apple Pay to sell physical goods such as groceries, clothing, and appliances. Also use Apple Pay for services such as club memberships, hotel reservations, and tickets for events. On the other hand, use In-App Purchase to sell virtual goods such as premium content for your app, and subscriptions for digital content.

Source: https://developer.apple.com/apple-pay/Getting-Started-with-Apple-Pay.pdf (page 2)


How to enable ssh proxy every time I resume desktop I start ssh proxy by a command similar to the following when I login to the desktop.

ssh -N awsproxy.vpc

Also, I need to type this every single time I resume my desktop from sleep mode. Can you tell me any automated way to switch ssh proxy on if you know, please?

SleepWatcher will let you run shell scripts when the computer goes to sleep and wakes up.

There are step-by-step instructions at http://theglenbot.com/sleep-and-wake-scripting-osx/ but the premise is pretty simple, there's one script which runs when the computer is going to sleep, and another one which runs when it is waking up.

However, I would also recommend checking out Keyboard Maestro which can trigger events off system wake and a lot of other criteria, and it's a lot easier and more fun to use.


Java developer planing to buy Mac I'm mostly a Java developer and have been developing on Linux for the past 5 years. I'm pretty happy with Linux but time to time I need to run proprietary software that is not supported on Linux so I've decided to give Mac a try.
I was wondering if anyone has any advice like how do you organize your development environment.

For what it's worth, many of the applications running on GNU/Linux are also available for the Mac. I use Eclipse and Git routinely on a Mac. Since I'm still on OS X 10.5, the first thing I did was to set my default JRE version to 1.6 (Mac bundles 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6), since the default setting is 1.5 (not sure if that's still the case with Snow Leopard).


How do I delete qmasterd in Incompatible Software folder? I have this pesky file "qmasterd" that has been moved to the "Incompatible Software" folder by the macOS Installer. It must have been lying around on my Mac from years ago when I had Final Cut Pro v6 installed. Anyway, I cannot delete it, and I've tried a lot...

The file has these permissions:

-r-sr-sr-x  1 root  daemon  280688 27 Apr  2007 qmasterd

When I try to chmod, chgrp, or chown all I get is:

bash-3.2# chmod g-s qmasterd
chmod: Unable to change file mode on qmasterd: Operation not permitted

Ideas please?

Right, a solution that worked for me...

Restart in Recovery mode, launch Terminal from the Tools menu, move to the directory with the offending file, rm filename and "Bob's your Uncle!"  :-)


Installation failed when attempting to reinstall MySQL in OS X 10.6.6 I had earlier installed mysql-5.1.50-osx10.6-x86_64.dmg and then uninstalled it using the below command (found on Stack Overflow):

$ sudo rm /usr/local/mysql
$ sudo rm -rf /usr/local/mysql*
$ sudo rm -rf Library/StartupItems/MySQLCOM
$ sudo rm -rf /Library/PreferencePanes/My*
$ rm -rf ~/Library/PreferencePanes/My*
$ sudo rm -rf /Library/Receipts/mysql*
$ sudo rm -rf /Library/Receipts/MySQL*
$ sudo vi /etc/hostconfig
$ sudo rm -rf /var/db/receipts/com.mysql.mysql*
$ cd /Library/Receipts/

Then I have tried to reinstall from mysql-5.5.9-osx10.6-x86_64.dmg.

However I am getting the following error:

  The installation failed
  The installer encountered an error that caused the installation to fail. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance.

This might be a little late, but Homebrew for Macintosh is a stellar way to install software such as mysql. There is information on the their wiki on how to install and then once brew is installed, it is just brew install mysql in your terminal window.

Good luck!

Update: DOH. I fail at reading. Problem already solved. Anyway, for people in the future, if you have trouble installing mysql, give brew a try.


Mouse middle click in Mac OS — Misson Control and Close Tab at the same time: How To? How to make wheel mouse button work this way in Mac OS X El Capitan?

1. If I wheel press on chrome tab, this tab gets closed.
else: 2. If I press on chrome link, it gets opened in new tab.
else: launch mission control.

There is one program that I have found that does this really well:  ControllerMate

Technically, it's very much overkill in comparison to what you need and what is provided by the commonly known apps like Karabiner, BetterTouchTool and Keyboard Maestro.

With ControllerMate, you can create a a sequence of events depending on what button is pressed with whatever modifier in whatever application you specify.

For example, I created a sample workflow that checks to see if the middle button of the mouse is pressed and if the mouse is on a Chrome Tab (this will have to be written outside this example), it will issue the Command W (Close) keyboard shortcut.

If you notice, I have this setup specifically for the "Chrome Group."  With this setting, you can create a "programming page" that is only active when you specify:

Bottom line:  this can be done, with a little Apple Script programming (so that you can detect when your Chrome Tab is in Focus) or when you are on a URL.


Macbook keeps ejecting OSX install disks I have this 15 inch Macbook Pro (Mid 2007) with OSX Tiger 10.4.11.

I am trying to upgrade OSX to Snow Leopard (10.6) but all CDs and DVDs keep getting ejected without my doing anything.

How can I prevent this automatic ejection of install discs?

Often this happens when the disc needs cleaning. Soft cotton cloth, warm water, a little dishwashing liquid ... gently, gently ... rinse ... dry softly with aforementioned cloth, not in circular fashion but from center of disc towards outer edge, turning disc as you go.


Is it possible to replace a whole keyboard on a MacBook? I have a German keyboard-layout at my MacBook Air. Is it possible to replace every key to have a English keyboard?

  Is the structure and the size of the keys the same in every country?

I want to switch to the English keyboard in the system preferences and also have the keys from the English one!

Replacing an entire keyboard on a MacBook (Air or not) is a hard operation or a delicate operation if you just do the key caps. It is in the realm of possible, but almost never is it practical. The systems are designed to have the top case swapped out and over time, the battery is also becoming part of the top case in some cases as are the keyboard caps. Where they require delicate tools and glue / adhesive skills to replace parts other than the whole top case.

In every case I've seen, there is at least one difference (typically a handful of differences on the 82 or so keys) in the key cap physical size between a US model and a european model. Total replacement of keycaps isn't a viable option.

Apple doesn't sell key caps to end users, so you will want to look up a Service Provider to ask them what they would charge you to sell you the black replacement caps if you ordered a set for the US model of your Mac.

https://locate.apple.com

You'll also ask them how much the scissors underneath would cost (and how long parts take to arrive) in case you break the delicate plastic parts while removing the caps. My guess is you'll get many of the keys replaced easily for not a whole lot of money, but the special keys will be shaped in a way that you can't replace them.

Source: How to identify keyboard localizations

German (G):

US:


How to configure Automator to log into a website, each time generating a new random UID and email address? I need to find a way to log into a company intranet site multiple times in quick succession on OS X 10.8.2, each time with a new completely random user ID and email address. The website only requires the UID field to be filled out with unique text and to have the email address field populated with anything as long as it ends with .com (i.e. UN: jegfwkgfb email: kfgwkgb@wkefhwk.com PW: password). NB The password field can be filled out with the same password each time.

It needs to be a little script that I can run manually whenever needed as I need to log in multiple times quickly.

So in summary it needs to:

Visit the site
Populate UN, PW and email fields (with a different, random UN & email each time)
Hit enter to complete the login

I was hoping this could be accomplished in Automator and / or Applescript?

Thanks in advance guys

Try running a script like this in AppleScript Editor:

do shell script "jot -r -c 24 a z | rs -g 0 8"
tell result to set {user, mail} to {paragraph 1, paragraph 2 & "@" & paragraph 3 & ".com"}

open location "https://accounts.google.com/ServiceLogin"
delay 1
tell application "Safari" to tell document 1
    do JavaScript "document.getElementById('Email').value = '" & mail & "'
    document.getElementById('Passwd').value = 'password'
    document.querySelectorAll('#gaia_loginform input[type=submit]')[0].click()"
end tell

For Chrome, replace document 1 with active tab of window 1 and do JavaScript with execute javascript.


No NTFS read support in OSX Mavericks? I recently upgraded my mac Mavericks at the same time as I swapped the hard drive for a new, larger capacity one, making for a fresh install (i.e. not an upgrade of the software). I kept the old hard drive, mounted it into an external caddy, and I am now trying to recover my files.

The issue I am having is that I cannot access (or even see) the old NTFS Boot Camp partition. I can access it with a windows laptop, so I know the partition is there and seemingly healthy. My mac can access the old HFS+ boot partition, but Disk Utility doesn't even identify the ntfs partition as existing. The disk has a GUID partition table if that makes any difference (I suspect that isn't the problem however, since it can see the size of the HFS+ partition).

I am finding this to be a difficult problem to diagnose, as every search I attempt reliably informs me that all recent versions of OS X have read-only support for NTFS built-in, and thus most articles and forum posts are about how to enable write support. While writing to the disk would be nice, I only really need to be able to read from it for now.

Mavericks does have read support for NTFS partitions enabled by default. However I doubt the problem is with the NTFS filesystem itself.

More likely the problem is with the partition table on the drive. If you are confident in the use of command line tools you can use TestDisk to attempt to locate and restore the missing NTFS partition. There is a detailed guide here on how to restore missing partitions.

PLEASE NOTE: Before attempting this though I would backup all the data on that drive (using the Mac to backup the HFS+ partition and the Windows laptop you mention to backup the NTFS partition), as a misstep could result in losing both partitions.


Data recovery from 2012 MacBook Air SSD using 2011 MacBook Air Unfortunately my 2012 MacBook Air came off second best with a cup of coffee. Everything toasted except the SSD! As luck would have it, I have access to a 2011 MacBook Air (El Capitan) which I am now using. The only issue is I would like to get the data off the old one.

I have removed the SSD, purchased a SATA converter which I plug the SSD into, and then a SATA -> USB cable to plug this into the 2011 MacBook Air.

When I plug this in, the disk does not mount. From inside the OS I can

See the SSD in Disk Utility however it won't let me mount (button disabled)
Run First Aid, which runs successfully with no issues

From single-user mode, I have tried the following

fsck /dev/disk2s2 - this says 'unknown volume signature : 0' and then gives a series of hex readouts
sudo fdisk /dev/disk2s2 - this results in 4 rows, all of which have zeroes in every column entry

Added as an answer after comments...

Initially a guess, that the disk was formatted APFS, which would be unreadable by El Capitan.

Upgrading to High Sierra would enable the disk to be read & written as normal.

As regards permissions; you could either add yourself to the user list, as an ACL, or you could just Get Info on the drive itself & check the 'Ignore ownership on this volume' box.


Unable to adjust partition of USB drive with Mountain Lion Disk Utility I have a 500 GB USB drive, which I once partitioned into two parts: one encrypted—Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted), and the other not—Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

Now I want to change the partition layout, and probably add a new partition. However, I was unable to do this in Disk Utility: all options related to partitions are greyed out. See the screen cap for example (clicking on the partitions does not work, either).

This is pretty weird: not only can't I resize or add partition, I can't make any change to the partition layout, including completely reformatting the disk! Any ideas about this?

You cannot resize a drive that has been encrypted. You will first need to unencrypt the drive, then resize the partitions, then re-encrypt the drive.