What issues might (legacy) FileVault cause? Edit: The below was written before Lion came out, so this post is referring to what is now called "Legacy FileVault", which encrypts only your home directory.

I've enabled FileVault on my computer and haven't had any problems yet, but I've read online that FileVault has issues. What are these issues? Are they out of date and fixed in Snow Leopard or are there still problems that I might have in the future?

I like the idea of my disk being encrypted, and it hasn't seemed slow to me, but I'd like to be aware of any possible pitfalls that currently exist with FileVault.

There are a number of possible pitfalls to having an encrypted home folder; most of them are more-or-less intrinsic to the idea, so they're not likely to go away... ever.

UPDATE: Lion's FileVault 2 uses full-volume encryption rather than just home-directory, so it actually does make some of these issues go away and changes several others.  I've added notes in [] below.  Note that upgrading to Lion does not automatically convert to FV2; you must first turn off "Legacy FileVault" encryption for accounts using the old system, then turn on VF2 to reencrypt.

Speed: obviously, the computer has to decrypt the data to read it from disk, and encrypt it before reading from disk, which'll slow down disk access.  This usually isn't a big deal unless you're doing something like video editing.  There's also a delay at logout as it recovers space in the image (and maybe also backs it up; see below). [VF2 removes the logout delay, and can use hardware AES instructions (on CPUs that support them) to minimize the general slowdown.]
Too much security: the good thing about FileVault is that nobody can get at your data without your login password (of the computer's master password).  The bad thing is that if you forget your password (and don't remember/haven't set a master password), you can't get at your data either.  The recommended procedure is to set a master password (before enabling FileVault), write it down, and store the written copy someplace secure (e.g. sealed envelope in a safe deposit box). [VF2 creates a recovery key, which functions very similarly to the old master key. There's also an option to have Apple store the recovery key for you, although I'd recommend using that in addition to (not instead of) storing the key yourself.]
File non-sharing: FileVault security prevents you from sharing files out of your home folder.  Your Public folder, normally accessible by other users on the computer (and if you have file sharing turned on, other computers on the network) is locked in the FileVault and available only to you. [FV2 removes this limitation.]
Risk of data corruption: normally, if your computer crashes there's a possibility that whatever files you had open could get corrupted; with FileVault, your entire home folder is contained in a disk image, and if that gets corrupted you could lose everything.  IIRC both OS X v10.3.0 and 10.4.0 shipped with bugs that could corrupt the types of images used by FileVault (fixed in 10.3.1 and 10.4.1, but still...).  So backup is very important if you have data you don't want to lose. [FV2 does not have the image corruption issue, but is still vulnerable to normal volume corruption; it will also limit your options for data recovery somewhat, as not all volume repair/recovery tools support encrypted volumes (yet).]  Speaking of which:
Backup time: backing up the FileVault image file is generally only possible when you're logged out.  External volumes (like backup drives) get dismounted when nobody's logged in, creating a bit of a catch-22 for many backup systems.  Time Machine gets around this by doing a backup as you log out (after the image becomes accessible, but before the backup drive gets dismounted), so make sure you log out with the backup drive attached from time to time.  Other backup systems... who knows.  In any case, test to make sure you're actually getting a useable backup. [FV2 removes this limitation. Note that Time Machine under Lion supports encrypting the backup volume, in which case it can only back up when the backup volume is mounted and decrypted.]
Backup capacity: backup systems generally save space by only backing up files that've changed since the last backup.  With your files hidden in a disk image, this isn't really possible.  The image is stored as a series of "band" files (in "sparse bundle format"), so the backup system only needs to store the bands that changed, but since these don't neatly correspond to specific files in your home folder, it's still going to use more space than if it could back up the files directly. [FV2 removes this limitation.]
Backup recovery: since the files you're likely to want to recover from a backup are hidden inside the encrypted image, they're a lot less convenient to recover from backup.  When using Time Machine, its slick view-through-time interface doesn't work with FileVault-protected files, you have to find the backup of the image, mount it, and recover the file(s) you want by hand.  Similarly, if you want to recover a file from an online backup, you're likely to have to recover the entire image so you can mount it and pull out the file(s) you want. [FV2 removes this limitation.]

One more note: to keep people from bypassing FileVault, make sure you have secure (encrypted) virtual memory enabled (in System Preferences -> Security pane -> General tab), and either log out consistently (yeah, right) or require a password immediately after sleep or screen saver (same place) and set the screen saver to run automatically when the computer's been idle for a while.  There is an option to automatically log out after a period of inactivity, but this doesn't always work (a program with unsaved documents will generally prevent logout).  [FV2 encrypts the virtual memory swap along with everything else, although the advice about locking or logging off still applies.  Also, 10.7.0-10.7.1 were vulnerable to FireWire DMA attacks in some states, but this appears to have been fixed in 10.7.2.]


Block youtube on safari in hosts file When I try to block websites on terminal (etc hosts..) it works. But when I try to do it with Youtube, it doesn't.

Typing youtube.com as a url won't open it, but if I search youtube on google for example and then click on it, it will work (redirections.)

I tried to type all forms of "youtube.com" , with https/www, without, I cleared cache, restarted my mac. Nothing worked.

Is there a way i can fully block Youtube?

Thanks

Edit your hosts file:

sudo vi /etc/hosts

Add URLs you want to block. This should be sufficient:

# Block YouTube
127.0.0.1 youtube.com
127.0.0.1 www.youtube.com
127.0.0.1 youtu.be
127.0.0.1 www.youtu.be
127.0.0.1 youtube-nocookie.com
127.0.0.1 www.youtube-nocookie.com

Reset the Directory Service cache

dscacheutil -flushcache

Ping the the hosts for verification:

$ ping youtube.com
PING youtube.com (127.0.0.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.048 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.100 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.088 ms

$ ping youtu.be
PING youtu.be (127.0.0.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.049 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.151 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.082 ms

If you still can access the site, a reboot should help.

sudo reboot


Can I use Dictation in OS X Mountain Lion offline? There is a new feature in Mountain Lion, Dictation.

When I try to enable it in the System Preferences, I get the following dialog:

In other words, what Dictation does is just record your voice and send it to Apple, which does the conversion of your voice into text server side. This makes very little sense on today's powerful laptop or desktop Macs (I can see why it would make sense on a mobile device though). Is there a way to use the Dictation feature offline?

No, your speech is still sent to the Siri/Nuance servers for processing, so you can't use dictation without an Internet connection.

An alternative would be to use a third-party dictation app like Dragon Dictate.

While your machine is probably powerful enough to handle conversion (although maybe not as quickly as Apple's servers), it makes a lot of sense for Apple to keep things on their end. The software used for conversion is doubtlessly quite complex and would be a huge download. Living on their servers also means that they can push updates as frequently and quickly as they like.


How to disable trackpad clicks while typing Is there a way to completely disable mouse clicks while typing (including from external trackpads)? The old option 'Ignore accidental touches while typing' which is apparently enabled by default now does not seem to do anything at all. I'm using MacOS 10.12.2 on a 2016 MacBook Pro, and I have tap-to-touch turned off.

Agreed the setting on by default does not actually disable the trackpad. It just tries to be "smart" about it, ignore accidental touches.

The only way that I have found is enabling "Mouse Keys" in System Preferences > Accessibility > Mouse and Trackpad. Check the "Enable Mouse Keys" checkbox. When it is enabled, you can disable/enable the trackpad by pressing the option key 5 times.

It is not really a full solution, but between that and the "Disable trackpad when external mouse or trackpad is present" option it is as close as it gets.

You can also increase the resistance of the click of trackpad in the Trackpad settings in System Preferences which may help.


can i print from an apple computer to a Dell printer i just got a dell printer that is WIFI because my old printer broke.  my wife now wants to buy an apple computer or laptop.  Would she be able to print from an apple computer to a dell printer?

Yes.

Macs have built-in drivers that allow you to print to just about any USB printer.

And if the computer doesn't already have drivers (although, just about every consumer printer does), Dell supplies drivers for Mac.
You may also need to install the custom drivers if you want more advanced functionality (e.g, some brands require you to install their drivers to enable networked print).

You can easily add printers using the the Print & Scan pane of System Preferences: Just click the plus button.


Click a button on floating window using AppleScript I'm having issues getting an AppleScript to run for an app called AutoRate. The script below was originally made for version 1.5.5. I've already tried to mess with AppleScript to get it to run on 1.6, but because I've never really used AppleScript before I'm not getting anywhere. The picture shows 1.6 on top and 1.5.5 on the bottom. The 2nd photo shows the hierarchy for 1.6. Any help is appreciated.

tell application "AutoRate"
    activate
    -- Hide app
     tell application "System Events" to key code 4 using {command down}
    -- Press 'begin rating'
     tell button "Begin" of window 2 "main" to perform action
    -- Try to quit afterwards
     quit
end tell

I just tested this on version 1.6. This code is for clicking the button "Begin Rating"

tell application "AutoRate"
    activate
end tell
delay 2
tell application "System Events"
    click button "Begin Rating" of window "AutoRate" of application process "AutoRate"
end tell

And this code is for clicking the button "Revert Ratings"

tell application "AutoRate"
    activate
end tell
delay 2
tell application "System Events"
    click button "Revert Ratings" of window "AutoRate" of application process "AutoRate"
end tell


Second Hand Mac Mini Factory Reset with No Password I bought a second hand Mac Mini from a friend a couple of years ago. I've only just got round to trying to set it up. He wiped the device before he sold it to me. I believe the device is the late 2009 2.26GHz model. It currently has 10.6.8 Snow Leopard installed.

When the device boots it goes straight into Mac OS, no login challenge. I was trying to set up screen sharing so I can remote into the device and when I attempted to secure the VNC connection with a password, I was challenged for an admin password. I tried the usual basic things to no avail. I then asked the guy I got the mini off and he cant remember what he set it to.

I've spent all afternoon trying all the different options I can find and can't get anything to work. I'm assuming my best option is to try and wipe the device. What I've tried (I'm using a Windows style keyboard) -

Command - R to enter recovery mode. Tried Ctrl - R, Alt - R, Windows - R, Shift - R, none of these work. Each time it just boots straight into OS.
Checked for a recovery partition. Can't see a recovery partition, is this why Command - R does nothing?
Found and downloaded an El Capitan (Mac OS 10.11) image. I believe this is the latest version supported by the device. Then tried to create a bootable USB disk using Disk Utility on the Mac. When I get as far as restore I'm challenged for the admin password which I don't have so can't continue with this
Tried to create a bootable USB on a Windows device using Transmac and another tool that's name escapes me. Did this with 2 different USB thumb drives. Trying them many times in the Mac. Each time booting and holding the Option key (Alt). The device boots to a screen that shows the Hard Drive only, no option for the USB drive. It has the option to log in to WIFI at the bottom of the screen (the device is connected to the network via a cable as well). I tried connecting to the WIFI which worked, but then it gave no further options
Tried the various key combinations I could find to try and launch the internet recovery, is it even supported on a Mac this old? Nothing came up with any of the combinations I tried.
Tried looking for a password hint, doesn't look like he set one

Can anybody offer any advice?

The single user mode solved this for me. As detailed in this post - How can I reset a Mac's password from Single User Mode?

I had to use the version mentioned by Kelli, ie launchctl then passwd [username]

I now have administrator control so I can use the machine. Many thanks everyone


How to unlock iPhone 4 if original carrier doesn't provide the service? I have two iPhone 4 locked by the original carrier. I can't get the factory unlock because this carrier don't provide this service.

I try to unlock via software but I can't, because the baseband (modem firmaware) are 04.12.02 (iOS 6.0.1) and 04.11.08 (iOS 5.0.1). Is not possible that I use Gevey, for the basebands. So, I think that I need wait for other new solution or maybe Apple unlock the all generation of iPhone 4.

If you know, other solution for me, please, help me. Because right now, I have only two iPod touch.

So, is possible that Apple unlock the all generation of iPhone 4?

As far as I know, you can't unlock with Apple after you've purchased an iPhone.

In the US, the laws regarding cellphone unlocking haven't changed, but a Library of Congress exemption to the law has recently not ben renewed so you might only legally unlock if your carrier allows.


Bootcamp partiton in VirtualBox returns errors VERR_ACCESS_DENIED and VBOX_E_FILE_ERROR I have been using this guide: http://danielphil.github.io/windows/virtualbox/osx/2015/08/25/virtualbox-boot-camp.html

But when I try and mount the .vmdk I get this error:

  Permission problem accessing the file for the medium
  '/Users/jordan/win10raw.vmdk' (VERR_ACCESS_DENIED).

  Result Code:  VBOX_E_FILE_ERROR (0x80BB0004) Component:  MediumWrap
  Interface:  IMedium {4afe423b-43e0-e9d0-82e8-ceb307940dda} Callee:
  IVirtualBox {0169423f-46b4-cde9-91af-1e9d5b6cd945} Callee RC:
  VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80BB0001)

I have tried this: https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Security/Conceptual/System_Integrity_Protection_Guide/ConfiguringSystemIntegrityProtection/ConfiguringSystemIntegrityProtection.html

with no luck mounting it on the ide controller

I have figured it out you have to run this command in Terminal:
sudo chown (username) win10*.vmdk


View all a fonts characters app? Is there a Mac app for viewing all the characters of a font?

Font book doesn't seem have this feature.

Font Book does in fact have a view that displays all glyphs provided by a font — just select Preview - Repertoire on the menu bar:

You can also get a preview of a font using Quick Look: select a font file (from /Library/Fonts) and press space.


Extract a GPS track (as .gpx) from a series of jpg photos I have a bunch of .jpg photos containing GPS information. What is the easiest way to extract the GPS information and save it into a .gpx file (or .kml, for that matter)?

I have seen this answer pointing to exiftool, which gives a readable output, but I would like to import the track into other applications (e.g. Oruxmaps or Google Maps).
Answers to this question on gis.stackexchange.com point to Windows programs, but I am looking for a usable alternative on Mac OSX.

exiftool itself can now also generate GPX files. You can download the gpx.fmt template from the exiftool website, then run
exiftool -p ./gpx.fmt *JPG > output.gpx

Some useful options:

-if makes exiftool only process files with a gps tag,
-fileOrder allows processing in a forced order,
-d allows formatting the datatime string.

For example:
exiftool -if '$gpsdatetime' -fileOrder gpsdatetime -p ./gpx.fmt -d %Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ *JPG > output.gpx


Temperature missing from Today widget A few days ago I noticed that the current temperature in the Today widget in Notification Center was wrong. The Weather widget said it was in the 70's, but the Today widget said it was currently in the 30's.

I did some googling for solutions, and while I didn't find that specific problem, I found various suggestions to remove the widget and add it back. I did that, and now the Today widget simply doesn't show any temperature at all.

I also tried the suggestion of unchecking and checking "Weather" in System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Privacy -> Location Services.

The Today widget is in the Notification Center, and it has other information like upcoming calendar and reminder events, just not today's weather.

UPDATE:

The weather information has returned to the Today widget.  I rebooted a couple of times over the weekend -- once because my battery ran out, and later because I was installing Security Update 2007-01; maybe that triggered it. However, I don't think the current weather is correct. It says it's mostly cloudy, but it's at least 90% clear, and the weather widget confirms that it's sunny. weather.com says Sunny, winds WNW 10-15 MPH, not NW 17 MPH. And it doesn't include the temperature at all in the Today widget, like it did before the original problem.

I think I've found the problem. The weather in the Today widget is only correct if Location Services is able to determine the location, which only happens if I enable WiFi. I normally have WiFi disabled because I use an Ethernet connection to my router.

Temporarily turning WiFi on fixes the weather in the Today widget. The Weather widget doesn't require this because you configure the city explicitly.


Is there something similar to RemoteApp for MacOS I'm wondering if MacOS has something similar to the Windows RemoteApp that would allow publishing of an app that runs on the MacOS.  I use Windows as my main environment and wish to use iMessage on Windows.  Is there anything that will allow me to just have a published app instead having to do a full Remote (VNC) session?

You could say that the X11 system for macOS supports something similar to RemoteApp - i.e. allows you to run an app on a distant server and it shows up on your desktop like any other app in its own window - without a full desktop environment like VNC.
However you cannot run the Messages app this way.
The only solution I can think of that comes near to what you want is to run macOS in a virtual machine on your Windows computer, and then use features in the virtualisation software to show each guest application in its own host window. In VMWare this is known as "Unity mode", however VMware currently only supports that mode for Windows guests. In the theoretical case that a later VMware version supports this, remember to check that your for macOS at that time allows you to run the operating system on Windows.


Failed Migration Assistant and now missing capacity on drive Got a new macbook and trying to get the data off the old one... the old one has issues... one of them being overheating.

So I connect them using firewire and start up Migration Assistant Wizards and begin transferring the data (about 180 GB).

A few hours pass and it gets about 75% of the way through and then I realize it's not moving. I check the old computer and it's completely frozen... won't turn on (but fan still running). No way to get it back on or wake it.

Eventually I have no choice but to power it down by holding power.

This of course screws up the whole transfer...

The bad part is that my new macbook drive is 420GB (80 is used for a windows partition if you are confused with that number).

However, because it aborted the migration the data did not get cleared away and I'm now left with like 255GB (it was somewhere around 360GB when I started the migration).

So there's over a 100GB of lost aborted data somewhere that I can't find to erase...

I tried downloading app called "Space Gremlin" which can search hidden files to try and find out where it is...

But Space Gremlin doesn't find it either and is only reporting my drive as if it's 100GB smaller than it should be.

Any ideas what I can do to reclaim the space? Both machines are running Lion

The available capacity came back when I rebooted the machine. I should have tried that first. Sorry!


How to view iPhone music history? Is there a way to see the history of played tracks directly on the iPhone? I didn't find an option to do that in the Music app.

No, you can't see this on an iOS device. If you create a smart playlist like this, you can look in iTunes, after syncing your iPhone, to see what you've listened to.


Zagg Keyboard (enter key) I have a Zagg Keyboard. For a while it worked fine when I used messenger. I thing the problem came alone when I up dated software. The issues is before the update the enter key moved the cursor down a line. Now the enter key send message. I can't stand this and want it back like it was before. Any ideas???

This behaviour is up to the app/website to decide, so unfortunately you cannot change it back yourself. However, pressing Ctrl+Enter is a common shortcut on Mac and iOS to insert a linebreak when Enter normally submits.


Application file on Macbook will not show up in Finder and is not able to be deleted from computer One file on my computer "Total War: Rome II Emperor edition" is not able to be deleted from the system. When trying to delete it from the manage storage window panel, there is no way to do it. When I try to click the button "show in finder" nothing shows up. Also when looking for the file on my computer it is nowhere to be found. I had downloaded this application from Steam. Attached are photos of what I have tried to do.

The general method of properly uninstalling games downloaded via steam:

Go to your games Library on the Steam app. Next, use the sidebar to select the game that you want to uninstall. Click on the gear-shaped settings button > manage > uninstall.

Refer to the attached screenshot for a detailed view:


How water-resistant is the iPhone, really? Some iPhones  were advertised as being "water resistant" so I thought that there was no problem with keeping them in the bathroom out of the bathtub so that I could listen to music. Will they be safe?

After all, if you can submerge an iPhone under liquid water for 30 minutes, then water vapor, which is filled with similar sized water molecules while having much lower density of water (and hence the minerals that come with the water) should be of no concern. Am I wrong?

Apple's technical support document suggests avoiding taking an iPhone into a steam room:

  About splash, water, and dust resistance of iPhone 7 and later

  Learn about splash, water, and dust resistance on your iPhone. And learn what to do if your iPhone gets wet accidentally.

  ...

  To prevent liquid damage, avoid these:

  Swimming or bathing with your iPhone
  Exposing your iPhone to pressurized water or high velocity water, such as when showering, water skiing, wake boarding, surfing, jet skiing, and so on
  Using your iPhone in a sauna or steam room
  Intentionally submerging your iPhone in water
  ...

Strictly speaking, iPhone 8/8 Plus/XR are rated as IP67, later models as IP68. See Wikipedia for details, Apple claims 30 minutes at a depth of 1 meter for IP67, 30 minutes at a depth of 4 meters for IP68.


Do I need to wait for an upload to complete before closing Pages/Numbers? After updating a Pages/Numbers document in iOS, I can go back to the app's file browser to get the list of all of my docs in iCloud. At that moment, the document that I had just updated displays a progress bar with the message "Uploading...". If I exit the app, will the upload complete in the background every time?

I am getting into this bad habit of waiting before closing my app "just in case the upload needs to complete". I believe that waiting is unnecessary, but I don't know yet how reliable iOS is when uploading to iCloud in the background. What has been your experience so far? Is uploading of iWork apps always completed in the background? What about Wi-Fi versus cellular? Any pointers will help. Thanks!

I've just answered on a post about iOS background processes that can explain this for you.

The short answer of your specific question is: As the application is made by Apple I expect them to use the background upload so you can close it.


Are there any up-to-date rsync frontends or similar for OSX? For my work as a media professional I have been using the rsync frontend arrsync to back up my work, as time machine doesn't have the features I need. Arrsync, however, has not been in development for some time, and I was wondering if anyone knew of a decent alternative.

Specifically I need something with arrsync's "unidirectional merge" function, which basically just adds new files or overwrites old files with newer versions to my backup hard drives.
This allows me to remove projects from my computer I don't need immediately in order to save space, but still keeps them in backup. In other words, the function does not simply create a snapshot, but an ever-growing collection of all my past projects.

I also need something with an easy to use and understand UI. I realise I can create custom scripts for rsync, but there are other less computer literate people in my office who rely on this program as well.
I have also tried simply copying things across using finder, but this becomes incredibly tedious, even with some of the smarter copying capabilities of OSX, as directory structures can be quite complex.

Sorry this has gotten quite long (I realise I have some frustratingly specific needs!)
Does anyone know of a program, be it standalone of as an rsync frontend, that has these functions and is relatively up-to-date?
Cheers!

I think Carbon Copy Cloner 4 would do the trick here.
Its major selling point is that it creates bootable backups, but it can copy folders with data also.
If I understand right, the equivalent of that Arrsync merge function would be CCC's "SafetyNet" feature, with "Prune archives in the SafetyNet when:" set to Never.
(Edited:) I think the closest equivalent of that Arrsync "unidirectional merge" function would be:

use Advanced Settings
set "SafetyNet" to "Don't delete anything"
set "SafetyNet pruning" to Never.

From http://bombich.com/kb/ccc4/release-notes

Carbon Copy Cloner 4.0.2
... When the "Don't delete anything" Advanced SafetyNet option is specified, older versions of modified items are not deleted, they are moved to the SafetyNet. SafetyNet pruning is now available for tasks configured with this option.

So if I understand right (this will need testing!), this will add new files to the backup, put new versions of changed files into place, and move the out-dated versions to the SafetyNet folder, where you can delete them.  I think this achieves an "ever-growing collection of all my past projects".
CCC calls rsync to do the actual work, so it is fast.  You might consider it "standalone", though, as it doesn't give access to all rsync options.
I think the UI in the new version 4 is great.
There is a 30-day trial.


How to get rid of the grey bar in safari? How do I get rid of this (see below) grey bar in safari? Its getting very annoying.

Bigger view:

I am using safari 7.5.

Go to View → Hide Status Bar or press ⌘/


Find my iPhone can "online, location services turned off" show if someone has not turned off location services manually? Can "online, location services turned off" show if someone has not turned off location services manually? Is there any time that the location is unidentifiable, such as in a downtown area where GPS signals are not reliable?

If location services are enabled and the location can't be obtained by the device because there's no GPS, etc, it will say so: 'location unavailable'.

The fact that it says the location services are off means literally that: the location services have been switched off.


Can the Safari 6 omnibar search be changed from google.com to google.co.uk? How can I change it so when I search using the omnibar it searches google.co.uk and not google.com.

For example when I want to look at prices for a product, I use the omnibar to search google but it shows me prices in dollars as it is looking results in google.com.

I would like to show results from google.co.uk to get localized search for the UK.

Just delete all your google.com cookies (not the google.co.uk ones) and it will magically start working! See http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1157369


How to fix my headphones An earpiece of my iPhone headphones felt into a glass of water for 10 seconds last week.

Now the sound volume form both earpieces is lower and it seems the basses are not that strong anymore.

Is there something I can do to fix my headphones or I can only throw them away ? Also, why both headpieces are now damaged if only one ended up in the water ?

Thanks

I'd rather throw them away. There are a few Youtube videos that could help, though.

The one which felt into the glass of water was, perhaps, the right one? I don't know why, or if it is just mine (and my mother's, actually) but it seems that the left one sounds a lot lower than the right one.

It seems, too, that Apple is quite nice about replacing the headphones while under warranty. It's worth trying, too.


How can I send iPhone to iPhone messages rather than SMS messages? My friend has an iPhone the same as mine, but when we message each other they get sent as SMS messages not iPhone to iPhone messages? This of course costs us more money through our telephone provider.

You probably want to use iMessage or another messaging service like WhatsApp etc.


Can you use an APFS-formatted Mac with a pre-APFS Apple Time Capsule? I'm thinking of upgrading to macOS High Sierra, however I'm a bit cautious with the APFS, also because it just came out.

Are you able to use Time Machine on a Mac with APFS-formatted disks with an Apple Time Capsule that uses an HDD an older file system (HFS+)

My guess is it won't work so you have to also manually convert the Apple Time Capsule to APFS.

Yes, you can use a normal Time Capsule that is not APFS-formatted with APFS-formatted disks.

  APFS and Time Machine

  You don't need to change any Time Machine settings to back up
  APFS-formatted disks. Any Time Machine share points must be shared
  over SMB instead of AFP.

Source: Apple.com

This applies to Apple’s TimeCapsules as well. They are just network attached hard drives with Wi-Fi routers made by Apple.


How can I hide / remove updates from the Mac App Store? I installed an app, didn't like it, and then moved it from Applications to the Trash and emptied the trash. Now when I go into the App Store, I am stil being prompted to update the application even though it has been removed.

I tried searching the hard drive and I don't see any other copies of the Application.

I also tried running this command which is supposed to update the database of what is actually installed on the system for the App Store:

sudo /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user

It is still showing up. How can I get rid of it?

On a related note, I accidentally hid another update that I wanted to install by right clicking on it and choosing "Hide Update". I was not able to hide Clyppan which is the app I'm trying to ditch - but if you do accidentally hide something you want to install, how do you get it back?

Does it still show up in Launchpad? Or have you tried downloading the application again and removing it from Launchpad? It runs uninstalld, which doesn't normally remove many other files than the application bundle, but it probably makes some other changes.


Why can't I move the first Desktop in Mission control? All spaces are moveable between each other except the first. Why?

The first desktop is considered the master all of others (more like the one ring of Lord of the rings ... One ring to rule them all) ...
For example, if you try changing the background on one of your desktops, it will only change for this one. Except the first one will change the background of all your desktops.


With Apple Music Family Plan, can two devices with the same Apple ID stream at the same time? Let's say I have the Apple Music Family Plan and two iOS devices signed into the same Apple ID.  Can these two devices both stream at the same time?

Background: All the documentation around Apple Music Family Sharing assumes that each member of the family uses their own device with their own Apple ID.  For us this is not the case.  Family members just pick up whatever iOS device is lying around and want to stream music from that device.

Yes, my wife and I share an Apple ID for Music, since we use iTunes Match as well as Apple Music. It works fine.


mac goes for sleep on screen lock On screen lock mac goes to sleep impacting the downloads & etc.  Is there any way I can lock the screen with password protection and not loose the connections ?

OS version: EL Captain

Currently

Have you tried the following:

Go to System Preferences > Energy Saver
Set computer sleep to Never (or an appropriately long period of time)
Set display sleep to occur when you like
Now go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy
Click on General
Tick the box for Require password...after sleep or screen saver begins
Click on the drop-down menu to select how long after sleep you want the need for a password to be activated (Immediately, 5 secs, 1 min, etc etc)
Exit System Preferences

Note, if you want you can also use the Screen Saver function to achieve the same thing. You would still do the above steps, but in addition:

Go to System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver
Select the Screen Saver tab
Set the Start After option (at bottom left) to dictate when you want the Screen Saver to start - note you may want this to be set at a shorter period than your Energy Saver sleep settings (e.g. If you set your display sleep to occur after 15 mins, you may want your screen saver to start after 5 mins - this means your screen saver will be active for 10 minutes before your display will fully go to sleep)
Choose any other Screen Saver options you like
Exit System Preferences

If you have any problems/questions, let me know.


Recovering an entire partition that has been somewhat formatted (I seriously messed up an external HD's filesystem) I have an embarrassing but very urgent problem. A friend of mine asked me to set up their new external HD for both Time Machine and file storage, and to transfer over files from their old HD. I started to partition the new drive using Disk Utility, but the partition option was greyed out. The entire disk was formatted as exFat, so I thought to reformat it as HFS+. I began to do so with diskUtil: diskUtil erasedisk hfs+ External /dev/disk2 (Note: this is on a Macbook Pro running El Capitan)

However, I mistyped. The new drive was not disk2, it was disk3--I had started to erase the old disk instead, which has important data in it. I realized my problem in an instant and ^C'd my way out of there, but the damage was done. Here's the sitch:

Terminal output says:

Starting erase on disk2
Unmounting disk
diskutil:interrupted
$ diskUtil list
...
/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk2
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk2s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS                         999.8 GB   disk2s2

As you can see, OSX recognizes the drive as GPT and the partition as HFS+. However, the drive will not show up in Finder.
Windows (10) recognizes that I have an external HD plugged in, but nothing shows under "Volumes" when I view its device in Device Manager.
Linux (Arch) recognizes the drive and the partition, just like OSX. I tried running ntfsfix, but to no avail. (It gave me a warning that said something about being unable to fix it and to try using chkdsk).
I am not 100% certain what the state of this HD was before I half-formatted it. It was first used and formatted on a cheap Windows laptop when Vista was the newest Windows OS, so I would think that it was NTFS on an MBR scheme before I violated it. (Perhaps I'm wrong and someone knows better, but that's what I'm led to believe).

Anyways, here I am. I need to recover about 700GB of data, perhaps NTFS/MBR, on a drive that thinks it's HFS+/GPT. All of the data has got to be there, more or less at least, but I need help accessing it. If you have any insight or knowledge that could help me out, I would truly appreciate it.

(Lastly, I've downloaded and installed some data recovery software from Easeus. It's running a "scan" on the drive, and I suspect it'll fix my problem if I dish over $90 or so. This is just a last resort, though. I'd really rather not have this headache become an expensive one, and since it's picking a lot of data, I know there's gotta be a way to solve this with some elbow grease.)

You should be able to restore at least the boundaries of the old NTFS volume:

Windows (like OS X) uses some default partition schemes to partition and format a disk.

An MBR/NTFS disk usually has an MBR in the first block (block0). The first partition usually starts at the 1 MB boundary (that's block2048) with a special block - the NTFS Boot Sector - and ends with a special block. Both blocks start with EB 52 90 4E 54 46 53 20 (hex) or ∂RENTFS(x20). The last 4096 blocks (2 MiB) are empty space usually.

Depending on how much was written while creating ("erasing") the new main HFS+ volume (usually about 120 - 160 MB after the process finished) the success of a data recovery may vary.

Detach any external drive except the broken one!

To recover the old NTFS volume boundaries you have to delete the GUID partition table and restore an MBR partition scheme:

To remove the GUIDpt, first open Terminal.app and get an overview (below I assume the disk identifier of the falsely formatted disk is disk2):

diskutil list
sudo gpt -r show disk2

The result is similar to the one below (your total size - here 1953525760 blocks and the main volume - here 1952853936 blocks - may differ slightly):

         0          1         PMBR
         1          1         Pri GPT header
         2         32         Pri GPT table
        34          6
        40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
    409640 1952853936      2  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
1953263576     262151
1953525727         32         Sec GPT table
1953525759          1         Sec GPT header

Remove the GUIDpt:

diskutil umountDisk disk2
sudo gpt destroy disk2
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/disk2 bs=512 count=1

Search the disk for the string ∂RENTFS(x20) in the last sectors of the disk:

hexdump -s 930g /dev/rdisk2  | grep "eb 52 90 4e 54 46 53 20"

-s: Skip offset bytes from the beginning of the input. The size is KiB/MiB/GiB. In my example the disk has a size of 931.51 GiB, so I searched the last 1.51 Gib only.

The result is e8e0bffe00 eb 52 90 4e 54 46 53 20 20 20 20 00 02 08 00 00 with e8e0bffe00 being the offset in hex.
Converted with a hex2dec service this means an offset of 1000203091456 (dividing this by 512, the result is equal to block 1953521663).

Since this block is the last one in the previous volume you can determine the old volume size: 1953521663 (last block) - 2048 (probable start block) + 1 (counting starts with 0). The result has to be divisible by 8!

You may also check the first blocks of the disk with:

hexdump /dev/rdisk2  | grep "eb 52 90 4e 54 46 53 20"

You should get at least one line like this: 800 eb 52 90 4e 54 46 53 20 20 20 20 00 02 08 00 00. This is the NTFS Boot Sector at block 2048 - the 1 MB boundary - since these blocks are usually not erased by Disk Utility. Enter ctrlC to stop hexdump.

Now having the first block and the last block of the NTFS volume you should be able to restore the old MBR partition with fdisk:

fdisk -e /dev/disk2
Would you like to initialize the partition table? [y] y
fdisk:*1> auto dos
fdisk:*1> edit 1
     Starting       Ending
#: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*1: 0C    0   1   1 - 1023 254  63 [        63 - 1953525697] Win95 FAT32L
Partition id ('0' to disable)  [0 - FF]: [C] (? for help) 07
Do you wish to edit in CHS mode? [n] n
Partition offset [0 - 1953525760]: [63] 2048 #probable start of the NTFS volume
Partition size [1 - 1953523712]: [1953523712] 1953519616 #use the probable size of YOUR NTFS volume found previously here.
fdisk:*1> write
Writing MBR at offset 0.
fdisk: 1> q

Now you may be lucky and the NTFS volume just pops up or you have to use a data recovery tool.


Any reasons that prevent Apple Remote Desktop to wake sleeping Macs? Is there any known reason why I cannot wake up sleeping Macs with Apple Remote Desktop?

I have checked the Energy Saver Prefs "Wake for network access".
I have checked the Sharing Prefs "Remote Login" and "Remote Management".

"Wake for network access" refers to the system receiving a special "Wake On Media" or "Wake On LAN" packet from the local ethernet network.

Simply trying to connect with a network application will not wake it up.  That's because while the computer is sleeping, it cannot process any network traffic.  WOM works at the hardware level of the ethernet card: the card stays powered on and when it sees an ethernet packet with its MAC address and a certain byte pattern, it wakes up the computer.

Because WOM is based on ethernet frames, it generally cannot not work by itself outside of your local LAN.  Some routers provide utilities which let you remotely instruct the router to generate a WOM packet, but not typically consumer grade routers.


How to edit Safari form values? I would like to be able to selectively edit specific auto-fill form values in Safari - rather than just delete the entire form data for that site.

I know I can do the latter from Prefs > AutoFill > other forms > Edit… but I'd rather be able to remove only the the oddities my errant typing appears to have generated, rather than the actually useful auto-fills I already have in there.

As an example, from the Edit panel in Ask Different itself, I appear to have several aborted versions of "Formatting". I would rather have just the 'correct' entries.

A guess would be that the data resides in ~/Library/Safari/Form Values but that file seems to be either encrypted or perhaps binary - I can't tell which.

OS X 10.10.4 Safari 8.0.7

~/Library/Safari/Form Values is a plist file, but it's encrypted with AES-128. The encryption key is stored in the System Keychain as Safari Forms AutoFill.

You can decrypt this file with the decryption tool found here:

http://encase-forensic-blog.guidancesoftware.com/2013/06/safari-form-values-decryptor.html
Decrypt Safari's Form Values file


Stop unwanted Keychain sync between users Every now & then my mother has a login to some service on her iPad autofill with a login of mine. Initially I thought it was a few Keychain entries inherited as a result of a clumsy first handover of an old iPhone of mine to her (iPhone 3Gs in 2010). However looking at the passwords on Mum's iPad shows that passwords of mine are still syncing to her iPad, or have been until inside the last year, because there are accounts of mine that are less than a year old.
Things I've done...

Manually deleted a bunch of passwords of mine from Mum's iPad (while hoping that deleting won't sync back to my devices).
Checked Accounts on Mum's iPad for accounts of mine & found none.
Checked the Keychain on my Mac for passwords of Mum's & can't find any (making me think whatever is happening is one way).
Checked for devices associated with my Apple ID, where I found Mum's iPhone 7, which used to be mine (Mum inherits my old iPhones when I upgrade but bought her iPad for herself). I've removed that iPhone from devices associated with my Apple ID.

What other steps can &/or should I take to stop accounts of mine syncing to Mum's iPad?
If this was caused by Mum's iPhone still being associated with my Apple ID, can I expect passwords of mine to disappear from Mum's iPad now that I have removed it?

Most probably you both are using the same apple id. Try creating another one for your mom. They will no longer sync.


Can volume automatically decrease during communication activity? A feature of Windows 7 that I really like that it can decrease the volume of system sounds/music by 50%/80%/mute entirely when it senses communication activity, ie. Skype call, Google Voice call, etc.

Is it possible to do this in OS X either out of the box or with a third party app?

Skype has a preference called "Pause iTunes during calls", enabled by default. In "Telephone" it's called "Pause iTunes during call" and iChat pauses iTunes automatically, without any preference. There is no system-wide setting however, but there are not many phone apps remaining than those as well.


Getting Mac to ask for disk encryption password Sometime in the past if I turned off the power to my Macbook Pro, when I started it up it would ask for a disk password. After that it would load the OS and ask me to select a user to login.

Now when I boot from power it no longer asks for a disk password. It goes straight to asking for a user. FileVault is still on.

How do I get it to ask for a disk password again? I don't want any user to be able to unlock it. I only want myself to be able to unlock the disk. All other users should only be able to use the machine if I've unlocked the disk first.

The proper tool to add or remove FileVault users is fdesetup.

Open Terminal and enter sudo fdesetup list -extended to get a synopsis.

To remove a user by UUID or user name use:

sudo fdesetup remove -uuid <UUID>
sudo fdesetup remove -user <username>

All users removed won't be able to log-in with their passwords at the first password prompt because they aren't listed anymore. The user still exists as OS user though. To login as such a user either has to use fast user switching or log out as FileVault enabled user and log in with the non-FileVault-enabled user.

To reenable FileVault disabled users either use sudo fdesetup add -usertoadd <username> or open System Preferences > Security > FileVault > hit the "Enable Users..." button and enable a listed user.


Graphics-Card and the Mac Pro I'm considering to buy a Mac Pro (or wait till mid 2013 because of the update of the Mac Pro lineup).

What i'm concern about is: How is the support for graphics card under OS X Mountain Lion?

I've read something that since Lion, many more ATI 7xxx cards are supported without any flashing or something like that.

I want a Mac Pro because of its extensibility. And the graphics card is my only concern.

For which reason: Playing games from time to time could so be possible.

Is there any source or community which uses the Mac Pro heavily and is helping me with this kind of questions?

Thanks!

EDIT: Or, let me put it this way: I want a strong power machine with OS X, so i can have multiple OS Versions on multiple hard drives.

  But, with this machine, i want to also play games, maybe on windows.
  So: There are drivers for "gaming graphics cards" for windows. Can i
  plug two graphics card in the mac and only "activate" the one i need?

  Sure, it isn't that easy, but how would a work around look like?

You're better off using an Mac-supported cards from Apple or others.

Apple's card are seriously outdated, both 5770 and 5870 are slow card in today's standard.

There "should" be a renew of Mac Pro some day, you can wait for that.

There are a cards like the Quadro K5000 that is Mac-compatible. But NOT out of the box. You need to install the driver first, and then install the card.

Also, support for AMD HD 7 series cards ARE NOT IN YET in 10.8.2. I had one of those in my old Hackintosh running 10.8.3, and it's still recognized as "AMD Radeon HD 7xxx series", so I will say wait for it.

Don't make any moves before AMD 7 series is out, maybe Apple or third-party will release cards for it.

Good luck!


Pin an Application to the screen Question

Is there any way to pin an application on to the screen in macOS?

Description

I am looking for a way to pin an application to the screen. I mostly work on two external displays and I would like to have my browser always open on one of these and prevent any other applications hovering on top.

Known solutions

I have a Linux setup; such thing can be easily achieved with awesomewm rules; KWin does it as well.

Notes

It is not about "full-screening" application. This is completely not sufficient, because it will make a "Space" and you can easily loose focus from another "Space" on same "Screen".
I would like to enforce a visible application (at my case - browser) and do not loose focus on this browser at any circumstances.

The answer to this very much depends on what you are trying to achieve.

Window on top, not full screen

If you want to keep a window on top, but not fullscreen that is only possible if the application developer has implemented it, usually in macOS applications this is called something like 'stay on top'.

The recent few releases of macOS have really locked down the ability of each application to control others for security reasons, which means it's not possible to get a third party app to do this.

Full screen

One solution would simply be to make it fullscreen on the display, as the main display will remain usable. Some applications use a legacy fullscreen mode in macOS but that is pretty rare in 2020 as this was deprecated years ago.

If you want more than one application on the display is is partially possible by switching into Mission Control and making one applciation full screen, then dragging a second onto that full screen application creating a split screen view which adjustable widths.

Picture in picture feature

Some web browsers such as Firefox and Safari now have an integrated picture in picture mode for video play back, if you are specifically trying to keep a video running and visible while working you can do this and this window can be set to stay afloat.


How can I move my photos from my iPad storage to my Windows 7 computer without a USB cable, AirDrop and iCloud? I tried to select all the pictures, which is rather tedious, and upload them

to Google Drive, but if >100 pictures, Google Drive won't upload all the images.
to SendAnywhere, but this would take over an hour. However, I cannot disable auto-lock on my iPad (iPadOS 13) (the maximum auto-lock period is 15 minutes), and whenever the iPad gets locked, uploads are stopped.

How can I move my photos from my iPad storage to my Windows 7 computer without a USB cable, AirDrop and iCloud?

There is a way but you need to enable 1 thing in windows - it means - make a writable ftp server and connect to that server directly from ios app named „files” then you can do it. Only that you need to know how to configure ftp in windows (but that’s not a place I think for sharing thoughts about windows).


Can finder move to next item with same starting letter like windows explorer will? On windows inside a folder if there are multiple files with same starting character, if I press the character again it selects another file. How to do this on mac?

It works the same way (or close to it)

Yoh have to press and hold a starting character and it will jump to next and so on.

Granted the holding time is bit tricky to master.


Can Spotlight search for text within Safari for iPhone? Is there a way to search text within Safari by doing a Spotlight search on an iPhone? There currently is no such way to run a find/search within Safari (boo), so I need a work around.

No, Spotlight doesn't search the current page from within Mobile Safari (but it does search Reading List and other saved/bookmarked pages) but you don't need a workaround since this function exists in Safari.

It used to look like this.

On iOS 9, it's integrated with the main search field - begin like you're searching for a new web page and then scroll down to "On this page"

Once you tap that, you get this interface to pan to each instance of the search results with the term highlighted.


Will Lion updates be included in the App Store download? I would want to download Lion before I start clearing my system for a fresh install, but would the fixes released in the next few weeks be included in the download?

The information page on the App Store shows:

Released: Jul 20, 2011
Version: 10.7

Therefore, I think it's safe to assume that the 10.7.1 update will have to be applied via System Update after installation.
EDIT
As of today, 23 August 2011, the App Store shows:

Updated: Aug 23, 2011
Current Version: 10.7.1

So, I guess the fixes are included in the download after all!


Unable to boot Mac OS and disk utility unable to repair disk after bootcamp delete win10 simillary to the someone else problem described here: Unable to boot Mac OS and disk utility unable to repair disk after bootcamp delete windows partition
The laptop is: MacBook Pro 15” i9 2019
Last used system: macOS Big Sur
Problem: I’m not able to repair and run Mac OS. On startup there is a folder icon with the question mark. I was able to enter the recovery mode but there is no startup disk that can be found.
Here are the steps that I executed:

In the Recovery mode (Don’t know why but was shown the recovery mode for macOS Mojave but I’ve updated it to macOS Big Sur more than 1 month ago) I’ve ran the repairVolume commnad for disk1 in terminal but waited for 16h to complete but didn’t so I’ve started to look for different solutions. The error says allways: and didn’t stop, just running over and over.

 Checking the container superblock,
error: nx_block_count is 122061322, while device block count is 103759765

I decided to go step by step in this problem:
But the commands and responses looked like this

[-bash-3.2# gpt remove -i 2 disk0
disk0s2 removed
[-bash-3.2# gpt -f add -i 2 -b 409640 -s 976695384 -t apfs disk0
gpt add: /dev/disk0: error: no space available on device

As the previous error says that device block count is 103759765 and I cound’t use 976696384 so I’ve replaced it to 103759765 and ran again

gpt -f add -i 2 -b 409640 -s 103759765 -t apfs disk0

This time it works and response was that disk0 added

Restarted the mac but still the same error (folder icon with question mark). But from this time when I’m opening Recovery panel (command + option + R) It’s shown as macOS Big Sur.

In disk utility I don’t have First Aid option anymore and the disk0s2  is displayed as Not Mounted. When I click to Mount icon the error is shown:

output of diskutil list:

output of diskutil list /dev/disk0:

output of gpt -v -r show /dev/disk0:

output of fdisk /dev/disk0:

output of diskutil apfs list:

It seems that here might be the problem, but I don’t know how to fix it. *Previously before step 2 it shows simillary to this:

|
+-- Container ERROR -69808
|   ======================
|   APFS Container Reference:     disk1
|   Size (Capacity Ceiling):      ERROR -69620
|   Capacity In Use By Volumes:   ERROR -69620
|   Capacity Not Allocated:       ERROR -69620
|   |
|   +-< Physical Store disk0s2 F31C2BCB-9CEA-4449-9CAD-4893BBF532A5
|   |   -----------------------------------------------------------
|   |   APFS Physical Store Disk:   disk0s2
|   |   Size:                       372000141312 B (372.0 GB)
|   |
|   +-> No Volumes

output of diskutil info /dev/disk0:

output of fsck_apfs -y  /dev/disk0s2

I will be obligated if anyone can help with adding APFS container and running the system again!

You were close. The correct commands are given below.
gpt remove -i 2 disk0
gpt -f add -i 2 -b 76806 -s 122061322 -t apfs disk0

The question you gave as a link had a drive with a 512 byte sector size. Your drive has a 4096 byte sector size. The means your APFS container partition starts at sector 76806 instead of the value you choose of 409640. You can see this in the image you posted in step 8. Here you posted the output from the command gpt -v -r show /dev/disk0. In a typical macOS installation, there would be no free space between the two partitions.
Generally, running any application or command from a older version of macOS to repair a drive containing a newer version of macOS is not a good idea. On my 2018 Mac mini, I have Mojave and Big Sur installed in the same APFS container. When I run diskutil verifyVolume disk0s2 using Mojave and again using Big Sur, I get different results. Mojave incorrectly finds errors and Big Sur does not.  Using Mojave to try repairing an APFS container with Big Sur installed could more damage than good. In your case, I do not know if any of your attempts at repair damaged the contents of the drive.


Is there an upate to Apple Hardware Test? It locks up while testing Apple Hardware Test 3.3.1 -3A152 comes with my MacBook Pro 17", 2008 on the included OSX 10.6.3 DVD/CD. When I use it on my not-booting Mac, AHT locks up and never finishes tests and therefore there is no result list.

Wished AHT would list tested hardware and show results as it goes - step-by-step. Instead of listing results at the very end, when AHT might have locked up - with no results at all...

There have been many updates…
unfortunately your machine is too old to use them.

It can only use a DVD-based version, not the latest internet-based test.

There is a blog post about how to boot to AHT from a downloaded AHT file, loaded to a USB key, but you will need a working Mac to be able to construct it.

From : Riven by Five - Download and run Apple Hardware Test (AHT) from a USB drive.

My additions in italics

  1) Download the AHT for your computer (see downloads below for specific models).

  1b) My copy had me convert the downloaded .dmg from some “old” type using Disk Utility. (Just open the .dmg in Disk Utility and “Convert” to a new target, then mount the target.)

  2) Mount and completely wipe a USB stick.
  Format it GUID/Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
  Most USB sticks will be MBR/FAT by default, so just formatting to Mac OS without changing the underlying structure to GUID will not work

  3) From the AHT image, copy /System to the root folder of your USB stick:
  by typing the following in Terminal [Applications/Utilities]

  cd /Volumes/USB_STICK/ && cp -r ~/AHT_ARCHIVE/System

  4) Now, from the USB drive, copy the /System/Library/CoreServices/.diagnostics/diags.efi to the root directory:

  cd /Volumes/USB_STICK/ && cp ./System/Library/CoreServices/.diagnostics/diags.efi

  5) Shutdown all applications, except Terminal.

  6) the original 6) below assumes you are booting to the same machine you are trying to test
  to attempt to use this on a different machine omit the && sudo reboot & instead eject the USB after that command, then move to your target machine

  6) “bless” the USB drive in mount-mode, with the EFI file, and immediately reboot:

  cd /Volumes/USB_STICK/ && sudo bless --mount /Volumes/USB_STICK --setBoot --file diags.efi && sudo reboot

  7) Cold boot your target machine
   You should now be booting into AHT -- don’t hold down any keys.

  8) Run the tests, and yank the USB key after AHT reboots you.

  You can download the AHT package for your computer using this URL:

  http://download.info.apple.com/Apple_Hardware_Test/018-[MODEL NUMBER]-A.dmg

  where [MODEL NUMBER] is the four-number ID below:

  3282 for Mac-F4208AC8, Mac-F42289C8 Xserve1,1 and Xserve2,1
  3259 for Mac-F42C8CC8 MacBookAir1,1
  3273 for Mac-F42C88C8 MacPro3,1
  3254 for F4238CC8, F42386C8, F4218EC8, F4208EAA, F4208DC8, F4208DA9, F4238BC8, F42388C8 and F22788C8 inclusively.

  or more specifically:
  3085 for Mac-F22788C8 MacBook3,1
  2886 for Mac-F4208EAA Macmini2,1
  2845 for Mac-F42386C8 iMac7,1
  2833 for Mac-F42388C8 MacBookPro3,1
  2770 for Mac-F4238BC8 MacBookPro3,1
  2769 for Mac-F4208DC8 MacPro1,1
  2667 for Mac-F4208DA9 MacPro2,1
  2766 for Mac-F4208CAA MacBook2,1
  2592 for Mac-F42189C8 MacBookPro2,1
  2591 for Mac-F42187C8 MacBookPro2,2
  2590 for Mac-F4208CA9 MacBook2,1
  2579 for Mac-F4218FC8 iMac6,1
  2535 for Mac-F4218EC8 iMac5,2
  2534 for Mac-F4228EC8 iMac5,1
  2533 for Mac-F42786A9 iMac5,1
  And these are there, but too old to identify: 2418, 2405, 2398, 2393, 2392, 2342, 2216, 2215, 2158, 2120, 2079, 2056, 1880, 1879, 1680 and 1594.


How to install LP_solve solver on Yosemite? I want to install java based "lp_solve" LP solver on my MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite. I tried to follow the instructions given here. But when I run sh ccc.osx, it is not creating the liblpsolve55.dylib and liblpsolve55.dylib. I need help installing this solver. Or maybe suggest me a similar solver which is easy to install on OS X Yosemite.

The easiest way is doing it using homebrew. You just need to type the following couple of commands in a terminal window:

brew tap brewsci/science
brew install lp_solve

If you don't have homebrew installed, just type the following to install before the previous commands:

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"


Push photo from MacBook to iPhone via USB I can drag and drop an image from a folder on my MacBook into Photos. Now I want to push it to the photos on my iPhone. They are connect by USB.

I don't want to mess with clouds in the "interweb". Just move it 80cm along a wire from one of my very expensive apple devices to another.

There must be a better way than photographing my laptop screen!

edit 1: I'm looking for a way to do this "normally" meaning using the standard Apple features on my phone and laptop - thanks!

edit 2: A simple example; taking photos of my MacBook screen because I don't know how to push a screen capture to my phone seamlessly!

Any USB file transfer application should do that. What works for me is using TDownloader [Free, appstore].

Go to iTunes (on your Mac) then click on your iPhone > Applications and scroll all the way down to "file transfer".

Then, drag your photos to the application's folder and you're done.
The only thing left would be to go to the App and save those photos to the Library.

I have been looking for a more simple way for long, but until now that's all I've found that's reliable.


How do I find out what entitlements an app has? Sandboxed apps have to declare their entitlements.  Of course, that doesn't do me any good if I can't tell what entitlements it declares.  A text editor that has entitlements for Core Location, Network Server, and my Address Book, without my knowledge, could be much worse than an unsandboxed app.

How can I see what entitlements an app has?

After some more searching, I found a command-line answer:

codesign -d --entitlements :- /Applications/Whatever.app/

This will print out an XML plist with values like:

<key>com.apple.security.app-sandbox</key>
<true/>
<key>com.apple.security.files.user-selected.read-write</key>
<true/>

For more information see https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/qa/qa1798/_index.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/DTS40014167-CH1-IOS_STEPS

If anyone knows an easier/nicer way, though, I'd love to hear it.


Is there any way to let apple know shellshock patch download is broken? I am trying to patch Lion (10.7.5).
According to shellshocker.net, I am vulnerable to 6 out of 7 possible exploits.
The download link for Lion is broken:
https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1767?locale=en_US
leads me to the following empty file:
https://support.apple.com/downloads/DL1767/en_US/BashUpdateLion.dmg

Is there anyway to report this without paying 30 for tech support?

That DL article works for me on 10.10 - Do you have another browser or computer to do the download? If not, you might have to go to a friend's or Apple Store and get help directly from the genius bar.

There is no charge for in-store help and you probably can resolve this with a USB stick and a different browser/OS combination.

Also, I've put a link to the dmg on dropbox, but you really, really shouldn't trust internet downloads unless you can checksum the file and are confident it's as safe as what you'd get from Apple directly.


How to transfer ONE photo FROM PC to iPhone 6 From time-to-time I want to transfer only one or a very few photos FROM my PC (Windows 7) to my iPhone (currently an iPhone 6).

I can find plenty of advice on how to transfer from the iPhone to the PC, but there seems to be a dearth (severe lack) of info on how to do the converse.

I have iCloud, Wifi, iTunes, and a cable. I (and I'm sure another of 10K of your best friends) will be grateful for instructions that are "written for grandma." (I'm not a grandma, but I am a late adopter.)

The Apple way is to pick a folder on your PC for sync. You do this through iTunes, by connecting your phone and picking the photos tab. Full information here: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4236

However, if it's just 1 or 2 photos, the easiest way is to use Dropbox (you have Dropbox right?). Put the photo in your Dropbox, go to the same folder using the Dropbox app on your phone, click on the photo, click the little share button in bottom left, and then choose "Save Image."


Updating iphone 4s OS 5.1.1 to ANYTHING more current 6.1.1? 7.0? I have not updated my iphone 4s since the day I got it. I am still on IOS 5.1.1. I jailbroke the phone when i first got it, but the jailbreak was outdated and stopped working so I deleted it off the iphone. If i want to update my IOS can I just backup my files and hit update on my phone or itunes to a more updated IOS ? I do not wish to jailbreak my phone afterwards, I dont need it. My concern was in the past i heard that if you updated your OS with a jailbroken phone, the phone goes into a loop on the restart. I had this happen to my on my iphone 3G. Any thoughts?

can I just backup my files and hit update on my phone

Yes.

Pressing the Update button will cause a jailbroken iPhone to 'go wrong', usually resulting in a reboot loop. Pressing Update on a non-jailbroken iPhone is fine, even if it was previously jailbroken.

To update a jailbroken device, removing the jailbreak…

Backup the device using either iTunes or iCloud.
Restore the device. You can use a previously-downloaded IPSW, or let iTunes download the latest one for you.
Restore from backup. When setting up your iPhone, choose to restore from backup and let iTunes/iCloud restore the backup.


Extend Netgear CG3100 Router network with Airport Express A1088 I have a Netgear router (CG3100) which is in my office and the base of our wireless network. A few rooms to the back of the apartment we have an Apple TV but the wireless connection here is flaky and keeps dropping out so I want to extend it.

I found an old AE base station (A1088) which is good and working - I understand though that this can't extend the Netgear wirelessly as you need all Apple products for that, but it can extend the network when connected by Ethernet.

Been searching for how to do this but can't find any info.. can anyone point me in the direction of some resources/how-to for this or let me know how to do it?

Cheers!

The problem with that model of AirPort Express is that it only supports 802.11b/g and not the much faster 802.11n. Using it with an Apple TV, I doubt you'll have sufficient bandwidth to watch HD content. If that's not a problem for you, then here is how I got my AirPort Express (A1264) to extend my TP-Link connection via Ethernet. I'm assuming you know your Netgear's IP and Subnet for the following.

Disconnect from your current WiFi network.
Plug in your AirPort Express and connect it via Ethernet to your Mac. If you don't have a Mac, make sure you have AirPort Utility on your Windows computer.
We want to start with a completely fresh configuration, so use a pen, paperclip, hair pin, whatever to hold in the little grey reset button until the light starts to rapidly flash amber.
Open AirPort Utility on your computer and select the AirPort Express Base Station, if it doesn't automatically open up the wizard. It may take up to a minute to show up so be patient. Make sure that you are scanning on Ethernet, too.
AirPort Utility should automatically assume you want to create a new network, so enter your existing SSID (the name of your network) that your Netgear router is using under "Network Name".
You can name the Base Station anything you would like, such as "My AirPort Express", or "Dopey" or "Batman", it really doesn't matter so long as it doesn't share a name with another device on your network.
Enter an access password to prevent unauthorised users from altering your settings and click "Next"
The AirPort Express will verify your settings and then probably ask you to cycle your modem's power. You can ignore this and just click "Next".
After resetting the Airport Express again, AirPort Utility should now show you your AirPort Express with a blinking amber alert and a few errors. Select it, and select "Edit".
Select the "Internet" tab and in the "Connect Using" dropdown, select "Static". This will allow us to specify the IP and Subnet that we want to use.
Set the IPv4 Address to something within your current network range (typically 192.168.1.xxx) If your Netgear router is 192.168.1.1, consider using 192.168.1.2, for example. Unless you have an atypical Subnet set, leave the subnet mask field, and fill in the Netgear's IP under "Router Address" and "DNS Servers".
Switch to the "Wireless" tab and confirm that the "Wireless Network Name" is correctly set to the SSID of the Netgear router. Change the "Wireless Security" drop-down to reflect the same security that your Netgear uses, and also type in your network password that you use to connect to the Netgear router.
Click "Wireless Options" at the bottom and set your Country. You can leave the Channel set to Automatic here, but if you would prefer, you can set the channel to whatever your Netgear is using, but offset by 3 either way (so if your Netgear uses Channel "2", set your AirPort Express to use "5"). Click Save.
Switch to the "Network" tab and set "Router Mode" to "Off (Bridge Mode)". This will allow all traffic to pass through the AirPort to the Netgear router.
Click "Update". You will be notified that the device will be temporarily unavailable. Click "Continue".
Disconnect the Ethernet cable from your computer and connect the AirPort Express to your Netgear router.

If everything went according to plan, you should be able to connect to your usual WiFi network and have the AirPort Express show up under AirPort Utility. From there, you should be able to connect your Apple TV without any problem. If it was connected to the Netgear network, it should automatically join the extended network anyway.


This version of macOS 10.12.6 cannot be installed on this computer How can I update my Mac from 10.11.6 to 10.12? I got a link to install Sierra. When I click on download it says it can't be installed on the Mac version I am using now.

For the release of macOS Sierra, support for various Mac models was dropped. Macs which supported macOS El Capitan 10.11 and not macOS Sierra 10.12 were:

MacBook from 2008 and early 2009
MacBook Air from 2008 and 2009
MacBook Pro from 2007, 2008 and 2009
iMac from 2007, 2008 and early 2009
Mac Mini from 2009
Mac Pro from 2008 and 2009

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/see-which-macs-will-and-wont-work-with-macos/
These Macs do not officially support Sierra and the installer will refuse to install Sierra.
There exists an unofficial patcher which adds support for older Macs to the Sierra installer, with caveats. You can download the patcher from http://dosdude1.com/sierrapatch.html.


Unable to re-purchase an app after reporting and getting refunded by Apple How do you buy an app on the Mac App Store that you purchased but asked for a refund from Apple? I purchased an app that I reported and got refunded for due to an issue, but the developer eventually fixed the problem in question.  I would like to purchase the app again.

I just have an Update button when I go to the app listing and I get the following error when I click on it.

This update is not available for this Apple ID either because it was bought by a different user or the item was refunded or cancelled.

I don't see any option to purchase the app again.

It appears that this is by design. This is likely to avoid potential gaming of the App Store where users purchase an app, ask Apple for a refund and continue using the app.

Apple disallowed to update or re-download refunded apps on both App Store for iOS and Mac App Store. While this may hurt genuine use cases like yours where an app update has potentially fixed the problem.

Both pros and cons of the approach has been discussed. A few articles are linked below:

Apple makes it impossible to get updates for refunded apps
Apple now makes it clear you’re not allowed to update or redownload refunded apps

In case like yours, the recommended approach to take would be to file a bug report with Apple. It would also make sense to bring this to the developers attention.


Why max inode count became 2^32-1 on my hdd after update to OS X 10.12 Sierra After upgrade from OS X 10.10 Yosemite to 10.12 Sierra i noticed that % of used inodes became 0% instead of 99%.

As far as i understand max number of inodes became 2^32-1 but i can't google anything about it.

Is there any information from Apple? I tried to contact apple support but no luck.

You do not detail which file system you're using, so I'm assuming you're using the default HFS+ file system on Sierra.

The HFS+ file system does not have an "inodes" concept similar to other file systems. Therefore the inodes free/used counts really do not make sense for HFS+, and never have.

In order to comply with standards the df command on macOS do report inode information. However it is just made up figures more or less.

On older version of macOS the df command consistently reported that you were using approx. the same ratio of inodes as the ratio between free and used space. So if you were using 500 GB out of a 1 TB drive, it would report that you've used about 50% of your inodes.

On Sierra Apple must have decided that it was better to just report 0% usage. Either number is okay as it is entirely bogus anyhow.

In the underlying file system on disk, nothing have changes in regards to the maximum number of files you can save. It was (2^32)-1 before, and it is still (2^32)-1 now.


Count the number of open windows Is there a tool to count the number of windows I have open, including on all Spaces?

I am curious and too lazy to do it manually. :)

I guess this AppleScript should do:

set numberOfWindows to "0"

tell application "System Events"
    set allProcesses to application processes
    repeat with i from 1 to number of allProcesses
        tell process i
            set numberOfWindows to (numberOfWindows + (count windows))
        end tell
    end repeat
end tell


How to get Gmail priority inbox sections on Mail? I use Google priority inbox so I've a Starred section, Important, and Everything else as separate sections on the web gmail.

Now, I just set up my "Mail" on Mac OS X (using IMAP) but Mail will just show 1 inbox, is there a way to prioritize the mails like the web version of gmail.

In Mail.app 9.3 (and possibly earler versions—I've never tried) this can now be done fairly easily—more or less, anyway:

In the mailbox list, beside "Smart Mailboxes", click "Show" then click "+" to create a new smart mailbox.

For "Important", select messages that match all of the criteria "Message is in mailbox Inbox" and "Message is in mailbox Important".

For "Starred", create a new smart mailbox that matches all of "Message is in mailbox Inbox", "Message is not in mailbox Important" and "Message is flagged":

…or, if you're like me and instead have Gmail show "All Starred", you can use the "Flagged" mailbox.  This isn't quite the same as the (misnamed) "All Starred" section of Gmail's Priority Inbox view, which excludes starred items already shown in any of the sections further up the page (notably: threads which are both important and starred), so if you want to be really pedantic, create a new smart mailbox that matches "Message is Flagged" and "Message is not in mailbox Important" (and make sure that's the smart Important mailbox; select the regular Important mailbox and you'll unintentionally exclude important starred messages not in the inbox!)

For "Everything Else", create a new smart mailbox that matches all of "Message is in mailbox Inbox", "Message is not in mailbox Important" and "Message is not in mailbox Starred":

Finally, drag these new smart mailboxes to the favourites bar at the top of the window:

Caveats:

Mail.app will only show one of these mailboxes at a time, whereas Gmail's smart inbox will show up to four different sections all at the same time.
Because Gmail keeps track of labels and important status per-message (even though they are displayed as if they apply to the whole thread), you will occasionally see threads appearing in more than one of these smart mailboxes at the same time.
No guarantees about what happens to important status when you start dragging messages to other mailboxes!


What does "Increase Contrast" option change? Many forums say, that enabling Increase Contrast option in Accessibility Preferences helps Yosemite to make the animations, like entering Mission Control to be much smoother. This is also consistent with my experience.

Increase Contrast off: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctOj1U4OZio&index=3&list=PLsZWReFinrU5GLvs7ILwGvAVTICcjLhTD

Increase Contrast on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNac3VPZDKI&index=2&list=PLsZWReFinrU5GLvs7ILwGvAVTICcjLhTD

What I am interested in, debugging what causes the general slowness of Yosemite interface. It is clear, that at least one of the reasons is canceled when I turn Increase Contrast on. Common sense says, that Increase Contrast turns on Reduce Transparency option too, so it might be the reason, because calculating the transparency of the semi-transparent layers is a hard thing to do. This is not the case, because enabling Reduce Transparency only has no effect on the speed at all.

So the question is: what does Increase Contrast switch? Some GPU parameters? Less textures? Using other rendering algorithms? Something has to be.

I can't comment specifically on the Contrast setting, however there are various defaults you can enable from the terminal that will speed things up - specifically window "show" delays.

Browse some of these scripts:

https://gist.github.com/brandonb927/3195465
https://gist.github.com/maxfenton/c5a316f4254d27b18cf3

You will find various commands to reduce the delay between showing windows,

Example:

To speed up mission control you could do:

defaults write com.apple.dock expose-animation-duration -float 0.1
killall Dock

This will reduce the animation delay to .1 second before showing mission control

Its possible some of these settings get tweaked when you go into enhanced contrast mode.


After upgrade of retail iWork 09 DVD it appeard on my Apple Store account I found my iWork 09 retail DVD, which I bought 4.5 years ago. After I installed it, Apple Store showed me that I've got an upgrade to version 13. Next, it appeared on my Apple Store account in purchases, after upgrade. Is it normal behaviour or it is a bug?

It's a normal behaviour so you can directly download the new Pages, Keynote & Numbers on your new Macs (or new OSX installations).


MacBook Pro Audio Jack Delay I have the MacBook Pro & Retina(2012s) running on Mavericks, both seem to be exhibiting a delay when headphone/speaker is connected to the Audio Jack. I've read the thread on the apple forums and it seems this is a normal event, but I find it very intruding especially when I switch sources from headphones to speakers at outdoors.

But, while using bootcamp this delay doesn't seem to occur and I guess all these are managed at kernel/OS level.

The reason stated at the forums was quite inadequate, because the smartphones today have similar jacks (Audio In/Out) and the switching happens quite fast.

Would like to know if it was possible to tweak this event.

I have a very similar issue on my 2012 retina display MacBook Pro.  Since the latest update 10.9.4 there has been a delay in the volume adjustments for both the speakers and headphone jack when using the volume buttons on the keyboard. The delay is of 3 or 4 seconds. I can bypass this delay using the volume adjustment on my menu bar at the top right of my screen.


Max OS X: White saturation is terrible i have a Problem. Here's my story: I bought a new LCD-Monitor: Acer S235HLBbmii.
I had Windows 8 till today. The colors with windows (and this monitor) were very good. All tests on this website are very good:
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

Now i connected my new Apple Mac Mini (2012, quadcore 2.3 GHz) to this display. And what can i say? The colors are very terrible.

I tried Mac OS X color calibration, different modes/settings in the OSD menu and the Windows 7 Color Profile (ICM) from the Acer website.

This test especially is just worst: http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/white.php
It shows me the first block (200). I can't see any other. So you can imagine that bright pictures with a lot of white amount looks very shitty.

Switching back to Windows 8 isn't considerable so i need to get this fixed.

Here is a link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/pf667jgx2idz4sl/Foto%2005.02.13%2020%2012%2043.jpg

P.S.: I downloaded and installed all updates. Monitor is connected via HDMI 1.4 Cable (good quality) and also i tried the old DVI to HDMI-Cable (which powered the display under windows) with the adapter that was shipped. Not a single improvment.

P.S.S.: Tested video out on my 27 inch Yamakasi, the white saturation is near the same. It's crap. It's oviously a software fault. What can i do to fix this? :-(

You are my last ressort and any help is very appreciated!

I FIXED IT!
The HDMI out of the mac mini is very poor. I connected the via mini displayport and all went fine.

(mini displayport -> dvi -> hdmi, crazy but works better then HDMI <> HDMI).


Add exif creation time with correct timezone (TZD) to filename Hi i have a problem renaming a lot of photo and images files. I use a shellscript in automator to rename them by EXIF date and time. But the time is given by UTC and im living in europe with +0100 in vinter and +0200 in the summer.
Example: a picture from 2020-06-30 taken at 22:22:30
is named    "2020-06-30 20/22/30 IMG_0001.jpg"
instead of. "2020-06-30 22/22/30 IMG_0001.jpg"
im using the script:
#/bin/zsh
for f in "$@"
do
    filedate=$(mdls $f | grep kMDItemContentCreationDate -m 1 | awk '{print $3, $4}');
    filename=$f:t
    filepath=$f:h
    mv $filepath/{"$filename","$filedate $filename"}
done

Can i somehow just add +0200 or +0100 to the "filedate...$4" and how?(and then manually order when the number of houser in the name is over 24) or is there a smarter way to ad time zone designator(TZD) to the script? I have not used script before so im completely new to all this. Hopw someone can help me.

To change UTC time to reflect your timezone, run the output of mdls thru the date command. You can also format the output of the date command.
utcfiledate=$( mdls -n kMDItemContentCreationDate -raw  FILE)

date -f '%F %T %z' -j "$utcfiledate" '+%F %T'

To remove the colons from the output
date -f '%F %T %z' -j "$utcfiledate" '+%F %H%M%S'


Modify Trackpad Right click via command line without logout Is it possible to toggle the the preference setting under Trackpad labeled Secondary Click without logging out and in, so that I can toggle two-finger right-click for the builtin trackpad?

I found the command

defaults -currentHost write NSGlobalDomain com.apple.trackpad.enableSecondaryClick -bool true

But that doesn't seem to work. Toggling the checkbox does also seem to change ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.trackpad.plist when system preferences is closed, but using defaults to change that doesn't help either.

I'd like to toggle it multiple times in one session without going through system preferences, so logging out and back in isn't preferable.

I think you would need to reload the kext for it

sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/AppleUSBTopCase.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleUSBTrackpad.kext to disable it.

Change kextunload to kextload to re-enable it.

Now create a script from above so you can run it with one click.

Sorry, that was for the external trackpad.

For the internal that would be to unload:

sudo kextunload -b com.apple.driver.AppleUSBMultitouch; sudo touch /system/library/extensions ; exit


How do I refresh a "Lion" iMac to run "Mountain Lion" (factory install, wipe drive) What is the easiest way to upgrade a 2011 iMac to Mountain Lion, including a full drive reformat?

I also have a new MacBook which was purchased with Mountain Lion. Do I still need to buy Mountain Lion for the iMac?

Booting with Cmd-R will allow a
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

Here are some ideas:

Buy Mountain Lion in app store, then upgrade, then boot with Cmd-R to reset the drive.
Like #1, but first do the Cmd-R to reset the system, and then buy Mountain Lion in app store to upgrade.
Create install DVDs from Macbook Pro with Mountain Lion (how?) although I'd to use another machine to burn the DVDs. Or maybe use an external USB hard drive?

Update: I found this program http://liondiskmaker.com/
And this which suggests how to get the image on a new mac that has mountain lion http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20110831105634716

Thanks,

Justin

I always do option 3. You should be able to pretty much follow these directions, even though they reference Lion: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1189888

Long story short: When you buy an app from the app store it is stored on your drive in a format that can be burnt.

Of course, the USB drive option is also doable and it sounds like that would be easier for you.


Help diagnose errors on MacBook that will not boot I have a MacBook which won't boot beyond the grey screen / Apple logo. With some key combo (can't remember what I did!) I managed to get a black screen with text output - see image. Can anyone offer an interpretation? I'm imagining the logic board is fried.

Not necessarily a logic board issue (but it is possible!).

1) It may be a RAM Issue: easiest way to test is crack it open (if it's the old non-unibody one then that's not too bad) and try running it with either stick removed. If you get the same issue it's onto...

2) An issue with the installation: there's a chance it could be a weird problem at a very low level of the installation, if you've still got the install discs and don't have any data you can't afford to lose try reinstalling. If you're still stuck...

3) Try the hardware check tool: there's a pretty good guide on how to use it here: on the Mac OS X forums. That should show any issues in detail. However...

4) The processor/logic board is done: and either way if it's either then you're down to opening that puppy up and replacing it.


Unread marks not updating reliably in Mac Mail with Exchange server after upgrade to Yosemite Using Yosemite (OSX 10.10) and the included Mail application (which describes itself as "Version 8.0 (1990.1)" to read mail held on a company Exchange server, I am finding that the unread marks for messages are not being reliably updated.  Before the Yosemite upgrade, whenever I selected the message summary in the left hand pane, it was instantly marked as "read".  This no longer happens reliably: some messages are marked as read, others are not.  For example, in this screenshot, I have clicked on all of these messages, and some have updated and some have not:

I have also noticed that the unread count on the Inbox does not behave consistently: sometimes it is decremented even though the message still shows as Unread, sometimes the number does not change.

In case it matters, I'm running on an Early 2011 MBP with 8Gb RAM.

This seems to be only an issue with the Exchange account.  I have two other mail accounts in Mail, and have no issues with either of them.  I've looked at the settings for my Exchange account, and can't see anything that seems unusual.

Has anyone else experienced this and resolved the problem?

Same issue, and on two different machines. One is a MBP (mid 2010) the other is an iMac (early 2013). I am getting mail from an Exchange server. I find that closing and reopening mail will temporarily solve the problem. I also find that switching mailboxes and switching back works.


How do I burn a bootable CD from a .toast file? I bought a used G3 couple of days ago and I want to reinstall Mac OS 9. I got the OS in .toast format. Any knows how I make that into bootable CD? Just burning with Disk Utility didn't work, although there might be a way to use that which I don't know.

Yup, just use Toast Titanium and burn the .toast file to a CD. That will create a bootable CD that will be usable on your G3.

Burn is a free application for burning CDs/DVDs. I don't know if it supports .toast files, but give it a try if you don't have Toast, since it may save you from buying it. I couldn't find online documentation for it, so let me know how it works.


AppleScript - how to count integer length? So I was making this program that would write every number between 0 and 9999, but I need it to be 4 characters long no matter what the digit count is - the only way to do that, I think, is to have the program count the digits and then put it into a variable, subtracting that variable from 4 and adding that number of zeros before the number itself.

How can AppleScript count the digits? Is there even a way to do it at all?

Apple Developer > Mac Automation Scripting Guide contains an example how to add leading zeros to a number as AppleScript as well as JavaScript code:

  Adding Leading Zeros to a Number

  The handlers in Listing 20-11 and Listing 20-12 convert a number to a string and prepends it with leading zeros until it reaches a certain length. They accept two parameters—the number to add leading zeros to and the maximum number of leading zeros to add. For example, if the maximum number of leading zeros is set to 2, the results range from 001 to 999. If the maximum number of leading zeros is 3, the results range from 0001 to 9999, and so on.

AppleScript listing:

on addLeadingZerosToNumber(theNumber, theMaxLeadingZeroCount)
    -- Determine if the number is negative
    set isNegative to theNumber is less than 0

    -- Determine when the maximum number of digits will be reached
    set theThreshold to (10 ^ theMaxLeadingZeroCount) as integer

    -- If the number is shorter than the maximum number of digits
    if theNumber is less than theThreshold then
        -- If the number is negative, convert it to positive
        if isNegative = true then set theNumber to -theNumber

        -- Add the zeros to the number
        set theLeadingZeros to ""
        set theDigitCount to length of ((theNumber div 1) as string)
        set theCharacterCount to (theMaxLeadingZeroCount + 1) - theDigitCount
        repeat theCharacterCount times
            set theLeadingZeros to (theLeadingZeros & "0") as string
        end repeat

        -- Make the number negative, if it was previously negative
        if isNegative = true then set theLeadingZeros to "-" & theLeadingZeros

        -- Return the prefixed number
        return (theLeadingZeros & (theNumber as text)) as string

      -- If the number is greater than or equal to the maximum number of digits
    else
        -- Return the original number
        return theNumber as text
    end if
end addLeadingZerosToNumber

If you prefer JavaScript check the link.


How to transfer file (PDF) from imac to iphone when no internet Does anyone know of any software that will allow me to send a pdf from my iMac to iPhone 5 when I have no internet please?

You could always set up a local network on your mac. Then you can use Dysoft's Download Manager, it has a buit-in ftp/http server you can locally connect to.

It also supports transferring files through iTunes, using the Apps tab (Device > Apps > Bottom of the page: "file transfer").

There are probably a lot of other apps that can do this, but I use this one and never had any trouble.


Can I install / downgrade to Mojave on a new MacBook Pro 2020 that comes with Catalina? I'm planning on buying a new 16-inch MacBook Pro. However, it will come with Catalina, and I still rely on several 32-bit apps. I was wondering if it's possible to downgrade to Mojave?

I was thinking maybe through a Time Machine backup... I've restored from Time Machine before to downgrade from High Sierra to Sierra. Would it be possible to set up the new computer from a Time Machine backup with Mojave?

I'm worried the new hardware would not accept an older OS...

Thanks

As of this writing, all the models of MacBook Pro lineup available for purchase currently from Apple or any 3rd party resellers (13" or 15") can be downgraded to run macOS Mojave 10.14.5 or a later release, except the 16" MacBook Pro which cannot be downgraded to run macOS Mojave.

P.S.: No new MacBook Pro model has been released in the year 2020 so far (as of this writing). So there's no 2020 MacBook Pro yet. So essentially what you can get is either a Late 2019 16" MacBook Pro or a Mid 2019 13" or 15" model (assuming you are purchasing a brand new one, and if some resellers are still selling the discontinued but last released 15" ones)


How to prevent/reduce DVD-R burning errors I am burning a folder onto a DVD. The folder contains subfolders which have images and video files.

I am burning by dropping the folder onto a blank DVD on the desktop, opening it up and clicking "Burn", then using maximum speed to burn. At the end of the burn finder brings up a message saying that it couldn't verify the burn, and ejects the disc.

If I insert the disc back into the Mac, I get a message saying that it cannot be read.

I have done this 4 times only one disc has worked. All four times were done in the same method. The discs are Verbatim 4.7GB 16x DVD-R

How can I complete the burn successfully?

Update

The error codes is:

  This disc can’t be verified and might be unreliable. Try again using a new blank disc (error code 0x80020063).

I have researched the error and not a lot is written, just that I should try to close the finder window as soon as the disc starts to burn. This would seem like a very simple bug that Apple would have fixed by now.

I tried this and it didn't work. However I used a Verbatim DVD-RW 4x speed and the message poped up again, yet when I inserted the DVD it worked and all the data was on it.

Try burning the DVD at the lowest data rate possible - the higher the burn speed, the more likely you might get burn errors.

I normally burn at 4x and have never had a problem. Though if your drive is having a problem, a lower rate will help (eg 1x)


SIGSEGV Spotlight error My new MacBook Pro 2018 8 core on Mojave has some issues generating a proper Spotlight database. I tried the obvious methods of excluding the drive, re-including it, and the terminal commands for rebuilding Spotlight. Additionally I ran Disk Utility First Aid twice, which automatically restarted my machine each time during process (?!)

These are the constant errors coming up in system log, they are thrown around every second.

Dec  6 23:25:46 MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.single.0A000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.
Dec  6 23:25:49 MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.single.09000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[4085]): Service exited due to SIGSEGV | sent by exc handler[4085]

When searching with Spotlight, the "Indexing" bar is constantly showing up, never progressing significantly. Some days later, still there.

I double clicked one of the mdworker_shared Process Names in Activity Monitor and clicked the tab "Open Files and Ports" which revealed this:

cwd
/
txt
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/Versions/A/Support/mdworker_shared
txt
/Library/Preferences/Logging/.plist-cache.laC3ZYuM
txt
/usr/share/file/magic.mgc
txt
/usr/lib/dyld
txt
/private/var/folders/7l/6j3svjhs13l39y6f96hmw_j40000gq/0/com.apple.LaunchServices-231-v2.csstore
0
/dev/null
1
/dev/null
2
/dev/null
3
/Users/username/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks/Books/.DS_Store
4
/Users/username/Music/iTunes/.DS_Store
5
/Users/username/Library/Group Containers/QA2G25RMZ4.com.wunderkinder/Wunderlist/.DS_Store
6
/Users/username/Library/Application Support/AddressBook/.DS_Store
7
/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/.DS_Store
8
/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/.DS_Store

The open files remain the same even after double-clicking the mdworker_shared process again.

So apparently there is an issue indexing the .DS_Store files?

Whats the catch?

From your report it looks like the Wondershare is a problem maker and slowing down the Spotlight.

/Users/username/Library/Group Containers/QA2G25RMZ4.com.wunderkinder/Wunderlist/.DS_Store

Shut the Wunderlist down.

You might want to consider giving the Spotlight a break so it can start over.

Turn it off

sudo mdutil -a -i off

this turns off indexing of files,

To turn indexing back on, run

sudo mdutil -a -i on

After this you could run the complete re-indexing of your hard drive (be aware this could be an over night job), it will delete your Spotlight data base forcing it to start over.

sudo rm -rf /.Spotlight-V100/*