Reload menu bar from terminal (not SystemUIServer) I am looking for a way to reload/refresh the "apple symbol" menu in the upper left corner from the terminal.

Searching for ways to refresh the menu has only led me to find the command

killall -KILL SystemUIServer

this only reload the "widgets" on the right side of the menu and not the content on the left.

I am looking for a way to do this since I have emptied the "recent files" menu programatically (by removing the info from the com.apple.recentitems.plist file with defaults delete com.apple.recentitems RecentDocuments) but it doesn't show up. (I know that it is possible to turn off the recent files menu completly but that is not what I want).

So I finally found a solution to this.

I compiled the following Objective-c code and call it through the terminal.

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

int main(int argc, const char * argv[])
{

  @autoreleasepool {
    LSSharedFileListRef recentDocsList = LSSharedFileListCreate(NULL, kLSSharedFileListRecentDocumentItems, NULL);
    LSSharedFileListRemoveAllItems(recentDocsList);
    NSLog(@"Cleared files!");
  }
   return 0;
}


Is there a way to bypass charge a 2019 MacBook Pro? Bypass charging powers the computer but it doesn't charge nor discharge the battery.
Can I bypass charge on a 2019 MacBook Pro?

No.  Unless you disconnect the battery from the logic board, the battery is going to be charged (managed, actually) by the SMC on the logic board.
Apple enables battery health management by default, so the need for bypass is lessened greatly.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211094

You can opt out of this chemical aging countermeasure if needed, and even then Apple won’t apply charge to a mostly full battery so bypass happens automatically when mostly full.


Spotlight shortcut not working within an app(s) anymore I love the spotlights cmd + space functionality to start apps. Half of the time now the spotlight isn't working for me. I'm on 10.9.2 if that matters.

Say I'm in Chrome and want to open Word, for example. I hit cmd+space and... Chrome scrolls one page down. This is not just Chrome issue, if I'm using Wunderlist for example (another app) cmd + space doesn't do anything. I have to hit it 3-4 times to get spotlight open.

How can I get cmd + space functionality back? Its super quick way to launch apps and I miss it.

EDIT: Is there a quicker way to open an app with keyboard shortcuts? I'm slowly giving up on the spotlight. :(

Have you tried changing your Spotlight shortcuts? You can set the spotlight shortcuts (or any others) to whatever feels good for you.

Apple menu > System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Spotlight

Click the shortcut you want to change, then tap the new shortcut keys on your keyboard.

A quicker way to launch commonly used applications would be to set a shortcut to launch a specific app. to do this, create an automator script to launch the application then set a shortcut to run the script. Here's a tutorial that explains how to do it.
https://computers.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-launch-any-app-with-a-keyboard-shortcut--mac-31463


Skip OSX Beta Update From reading some comments, it looks like OS X 10.11 "El Capitan" Beta 3 breaks some aspects of Java that work in Beta 2. Is there a way to skip Beta 3, but still be notified when Beta 4 comes out, i.e. not opt out of the beta program?

Yes. You get prompted to install each build, so don't click for beta 3. Once 4 arrives, you'll likely have to first jump to 3 and then jump to 4.

This is documented at http://openradar.appspot.com/22307567

Your comment about not opting out is also confusing - I'm not sure how that relates to your ability to choose whether to install a specific update.


Queries for Third Party Content in the iOS App Will this app https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/repost-for-instagram/id570315854?mt=8 come under the category of displaying & accessing third party content?

Yes, it uses the Instagram logo which is 'third party content'. When submitting an app like this, you will get another question asking if you have permission to use it. For uses like this, it generally means that you need to display the logo in a 'proper' way; what 'proper' means varies from company to company, but it usually includes things like not changing the color of the logo.

For the content, again this will vary per company, but usually you have to sign an agreement when using the SDK of said company. I don't know the specifics for Instagram, but this could include a section about giving you permission to show the content in your app, provided that you give attribution (to the company, the author of the photo, or both).

From the documentation:

  It’s your responsibility to determine and follow regulations that apply in each territory.

This is probably so that such third parties cannot sue Apple because there is an app available in their App Store violating the regulations; Apple will forward such complaints directly to the developer of the app.


After sleep, my iMac is very slow to respond for a 45seconds+ When my iMac enters sleep, and then I wake it up -- either shortly after, or the next day, while it responds to the wake request quickly, it's basically unresponsive for 45 seconds+ after.

Specifically:

Opening a new window for safari (which was still running on sleep) takes forever
scrolling in mail will show blank space
bringing up Alfred can take a while

Things to note:

Late 2010 i7 iMac w/ 1TB disk & 8gb
Mavericks w/ all updates applied
HD is audibly being hit aggressively

Is this a known issue, and if not, can I run some tools to tell me who is accessing the hard disk.

At this point, I'm considering a new computer, but it seems odd that a i7 w/ 8gb is becoming pretty useless for light email & browsing. :)

Leave the Activity Monitor open and visible so that when you wake, you'll be able to see the memory/cpu hogs.


Altering or touching a file does not always update the parent directory modification time? I've got two source code directories (different programming languages) and I've noticed that when I alter source files in language A the direct parent modification time also updates. However, in language B, altering sources does not seem to update the parent directory modification times whatsoever.

Honestly, this feels quite weird to me and I can't find a pattern or reason for this. Is this something related to MacOS only? I don't recall every seeing this behaviour in Linux systems.

Can the files have some kind of attribute which tells the OS how to update the parent directories?

I'm on High Sierra using a zsh shell.

Your observations seem to be off. In this respect macOS works the same as Linux - the modification time for the parent directory change when you add, remove or rename files/subdirectories in that directory.

The modification time is not changed when you alter the contents of files. Neither on macOS nor on Linux.


Finder preview: See file size and date in column view I use Finder mostly in the column view, which has a preview option. This shows a thumbnail of the selected file. Previously this showed file information like a date and file size. I prefer this much over the current view.

How do I get the file size and date info back without having to open the Info window?

You can control what is shown in the Preview pane with "Show Preview Options" under the View menu.
However, these settings seem to apply per-filetype.

You may want to remove the Quick Actions bar, which gets in the way of the file info. (You can still access the Quick Actions on a right-click Contextual menu.)


Does resetting network setting wipe your mvno? I want to reset my network setting because i am having a problom with visual voice-mail but i am afraid to do it becaue i do not want it to wipe my mvno.
Does it do anything like that?

No - resetting network settings just causes your baseband radio to reach out. Unless you have jail broken, this is a very safe and in fact, good thing to do as it forces a proper hand shake and registration with the cellular carriers to the extent you can do that.
Also, it lets you call your carrier and let them know that your issues are not resovled after a reset and reconnection. They can trace your communications from the date/time you reset and then get the issue to their engineering team to help you promptly (we hope).


Will Apple Charge my Card without asking me? I am getting notice while adding my debit card that your payment method was declined app store.
I used my Debit card because it has zero balance to add purpose only.
But app store is saying that payment is declined.
So it means Apple will charge without asking me?
How much will Apple charge and Will that amount be refunded or not, if refunded after what time?

Companies can reserve an amount of money on a credit or debit card without actually charging it, to ensure that you can charge the card later when they need to. This is called an Authorization request to your credit card.

I expect that Apple are reserving a small amount of money when you register a card, and then releasing the reservation immediately, to make sure that the card is valid.

That might reduce your available credit by a small amount for a few days, if your card provider has bad IT systems, but it won't actually charge your account.

This is a standard practice that many companies explain in either their FAQS or T&C's.

From the BBCshop faq.

  I have been charged for my order but it hasn't been despatched

  Please be assured that here at the BBC Online Shop we do not charge
  your credit or debit card until your order has been despatched from
  our warehouse.

  We send what is called an authorization request to your credit card
  company. Your credit card company verifies that the card is valid and
  that the amount of your transaction is available. If the card number
  is valid and the funds are available, they put an authorization hold
  on the funds. An authorization is only a hold on the funds for a
  possible future transfer. This hold is temporary, and if the
  transaction isn't settled it will expire without any action. It is not
  a completed transaction and no funds are transferred at that time.

  Your credit card company may still show a temporary authorization hold
  on the funds after your transaction is completed. It can take several
  working days for them to process the void on the authorization. The
  time will vary from one company to the next. Unfortunately, many
  customer service people at the card companies don't understand the
  difference between a settled transaction and an authorization hold.
  They will tell you that it was a valid transaction.

Barns & Noble FAQ.

  Are there any differences in paying with a credit card versus a debit card?

  The main difference is that most credit card companies first authorize
  a customer's card when an order is placed, then actually charge the
  account when the item is provided -- in our case, at the time we ship
  your order. The only exception to this is digital purchases such as
  NOOK Books, NOOK Newspapers, NOOK Magazines, and NOOK Apps—for these
  items, the credit card account is charged immediately.

  Most debit cards reserve funds from a customer's bank account at the
  time of the original transaction. That amount, therefore, is
  unavailable to you. When the order ships, the bank pays that debited
  amount to BN.com. For digital purchases such as NOOK Books, the order
  amount is immediately debited from the customer's bank account.


Which programing languages can be used for publishing to the Mac App Store? What are the programing language requirements for publishing to the mac app store? Obviously Obj-C is the main one, but can someone publish using something like C++? Or Java?

The rules for the Mac App store are converging towards that of the iOS App store.  The iOS App store currently allows the use of almost any programming language (even Basic or Assembly), as long as everything required for that language (code, interpreter, runtime, libraries, etc.) is bundled with the app.  For instance, many iPhone games have a built-in Lua interpreter or a C# runtime.

If a language used by an app requires any separately installed support other than that built into the Lion Mac OS distribution, the review guidelines say that app will be rejected.  Cocoa and webkit (for Javascript) are currently built into the Mac OS X distribution.

So, if you want to use Java, you might be able to get away with including your own complete JVM and all needed runtime support libraries for Java in the app bundle.

BTW, XCode supports using C++ and Objective C++ code, as well as Objective C and its plain C subset.  But you may have to use some Objective C APIs to make an application compliant with all the UI guidelines, even in a mostly C++ app.


Apple Remote still works on Mac Mini even after pairing another remote, then disabling Just added an Apple TV, right next to my Mac Mini, taking over its TV functions.

Of course, at first, "Play" on the Apple TV remote would cause the Mini to start playing random iTunes selections.  So I paired the remote with the Apple TV, and paired the old remote with the Mini.

Nope, Mini still responds to "Play" from the Apple TV remote.

Then, went to the Security & Privacy menu and selected "Disable Remote Control infrared receiver" on the Mini.

Play (from either remote) still kicks off iTunes.  Yes, even after a reboot.

It's a mid-2010 Mac Mini running Lion, everything's up-to-date, nothing wacky running at login.

Try navigating to the system library folder and deleting /library/preferences/com.apple.driver.AppleIRController.plist then reboot and disable the remote once more in Preferences, Advanced, Disable remote control infrared receiver.


OS X: Can the App Switcher be modified to be more intuitive? In OS X Mavericks, when you press ⌘ + Tab, the App switcher shows up. I use this all the time. However, I also use 3 displays, and the App Switcher seems to be less than intuitive.

Apparently the App Switcher is closely tied to the Dock. Whichever display the Dock appears on is where the App Switcher will appear on.

I am aware you can either lock the dock to your "Main" screen, or move it around by hovering at the bottom of the screen. But why would I want to hover at the bottom to see the dock, THEN ⌘ + Tab...

What would seem intuitive to me is one of 2 things:

App Switcher appears on ALL displays at once.
App Switcher appears where your focus is. A few options here: where
your mouse is, where the "in focus" window is, or where you last
typed...

Is there a plugin or something to change this behavior?

Context

OS X has two modes, depending on whether you adjusted the 'Displays have separate Spaces' in System Preferences > Mission Control.

In the default (enabled) mode you'll find that which ever screen has focus (i.e the front window is on that screen and you can type into it) will have the app switcher. This is indicated by the fact the Menu Bar at the top is sold rather than translucent.

In the disabled mode you'll find which ever screen is allocated as the primary display in System Preferences > Displays > Arrangement will have all of the OS related GUI on it, i.e. the Menu Bar, Dock, and other system level interactions will only show on that screen.

Answer

You can change your application switcher with Witch to allow more Windows like window switching rather than application switching. Maybe this would be more intuitive to  you, alternatively try using mission control F3 which shows you all the applications on each screen on the screen they are on.


How to connect an extra monitor and a thunderbolt (LaCie) harddrive on a MacBook Pro (13" mid 2012)? I have a 13 inch Mid 2012 MacBook Pro and I want to connect my LaCie Thunderbolt hard drive and my extra 21" Monitor but the MacBook Pro has only one thunderbolt port...

How it will be possible?

If either your LaCie Thunderbolt Drive offers more than one Thunderbolt port ([https://www.lacie.com/se/products/product.htm?id=10621](like this one)), or you have a native Thunderbolt display, you can "daisy-chain" them:

connect one device to your macbook (the one with two Thunderbolt ports, e.g. the drive)
connect the other device (e.g. your display) to the second Thunderbolt port of the first device (e.g. your drive)

If none of your Thunderbolt devices support daisy-chaining (i.e. don't offer a second TB port), then you would need a Thunderbolt Hub.

Another possibility would be to connect the hard drive via USB, if it can, [https://www.lacie.com/se/products/product.htm?id=10599](like this one).

One caveat though: this should work for any thunderbolt display. If you want to use the DisplayPort adapter, you should check whether it works when it is not connected directly to your Mac.


What are the current restrictions on iOS emoji usage? I am making an app which contains emojis as follows:

Categories such as "Business", "Technology" etc. exist and near them I plan to show a suggestive emoji retrieved from the server.
In the navigation bar, when chatting with somebody, there is one of three emojis shown next to his/her name depending on the text messages received.
I have a view which I display when there is no content to show in table views. It contains a suggestive emoji.

As far as I know, there were a lot of apps rejected in February because of emoji usage and I can't really find any strict guidelines about how to use them in my app. Do my use cases break the rules?

Thanks.

Whenever in such doubt when publishing an iOS app, your first step should be to thoroughly go through the App Store Review Guidelines.

Searching for emoji, these are the relevant matches in the document:

  4.5.6 Apps may use Unicode characters that render as Apple emojis in their app and app metadata. Apple emojis may not be used on other platforms or embedded directly in your app binary.

  5.2.5 Apple Products: ... Apps and extensions, including third party keyboards and Sticker packs, may not include Apple emoji. ...

It is clear that using unicode characters which render as Apple Emojis is permitted, but using Apple Emojis is not allowed.


Time in GMT or Missing Time Zones in systemsetup The problem
MacBook Pro (Catalina 10.15.7) decided to start showing GMT in the status bar and system preferences last week. It is physically in Pacific time (PST) and I'd like it to show that time instead.
Troubleshooting thus far
Following Apple instructions

System Preferences > Date & Time:

"Set date and time automatically" is turned on using Apple Americas/U.S. (time.apple.com.) (problem persists with all servers)
"Set time zone automatically using current location` is turned on
Time Zone correctly locates me in PST
Time Zone listing is empty
Privacy settings are turned on to allow location services for Time Zone & System Customizations

Computer has been restarted several times
PRAM has been reset several times
Computer is connected to wifi

Following this post:

localtime is correct as are link to database and permissions
Accessibility has been reset
ntpdate has been run

Current situation
(Really, more of "The Problem" but with a lot of the basic troubleshooting out of the way. Maybe this is "where it gets good".)

date returns the correct (local) time
systemsetup gettimezone returns GMT
systemsetup listtimezones returns Time Zones: and nothing else
systemsetup settimezone America/Los_Angeles returns America/Los_Angeles is not a valid timezone

Did the timezone list somehow go missing? Can I add it manually? Is there an update I can run to re-link this somehow?
I'd like to resolve this without an OS re-install if I can. Help me Ask Different, you're my only hope.

I didn’t have to “fix anything” so this isn’t super satisfying as an answer, but the problem has resolved itself. I see no updates that would have affected this and took no further action.


AppleScript to copy images that names are multiple of 30 to another folder I have a folder with hundreds of pictures like this:
Montana_1.jpg, Montana_2.jpg, …, Montana_4500.jpg

I only want to use the pictures where the name is multiple of 30. I was wondering if an AppleScript would

Open the folder containing the pictures.
Copy only the pictures that are multiple of 30 like
Montana_30.jpg, Montana_60.jpg, …, Montana_120.jpg.
Move to another folder.

Another way could be to delete any picture that is not multiple of 30.

You can do this from the command line. The following will match all images which are a multiple of 30 and copy them to the destination folder.

/bin/zsh -c "cp /path/to/source/Montana_{30..4500..30}.jpg /path/to/destination/"

Replace /path/to/source with the path to the containing folder for the images.
Replace 4500 with the number of the last image in the folder.
Replace /path/to/destination with the path to the containing folder where the images which are a multiple of 30 will be copied to.

To move instead of copy, replace cp with mv.
To use this in an AppleScript, you can ‘do shell script’.


disk space not being reclaimed When I first log in to my mac, the bottom of the finder window shows 28.7 GB available
As soon as I interact with the finder, that changes to 417.35 GB available
About this mac > Storage shows 417.35GB out of 751.07GB
However, in the terminal df shows:
Filesystem    512-blocks       Used Available Capacity iused               ifree %iused  Mounted on
/dev/disk1s1  1466930136 1408631896  54750856    97% 2915208 9223372036851860599    0%
devfs                368        368         0   100%     638                   0  100%   /dev
/dev/disk1s4  1466930136    2097200  54750856     4%       1 9223372036854775806    0%
/private/var/vm
map -hosts             0          0         0   100%       0                   0  100%   /net
map auto_home          0          0         0   100%       0                   0  100%   /home
/dev/disk0s1      403218      25912    377306     7%       0                   0  100%
/Volumes/firmwaresyncd.UxqR5T

Omnisweeper shows 28.7 GB free, 720.6 GB used, 751.1 GB total
When I am working with certain applications in the terminal, I get errors/warnings about disk space being too low...
I tried booting into safe mode, and the progress bar got to 95% and sat there for... 20 minutes..  I eventually gave up trying to boot into safe mode.
Is there anything I can do to solve this other than formatting my drive and starting over?
I am running Mojave 10.14.3 (18D109) on a mac pro Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012.

My solution was to create a 415GB file and then delete it.  Now everything is working fine.


How to change language of a single Mac app on Sierra? On previously Mac OS X version is was possible to change a single application to a different language via Terminal using a freeware application (Language Switcher and App Language Chooser), but I can't seem to get it to work on Sierra anymore.

One way to do this is to go into the app (control click, show package contents, contents, resources) and switch the names of the .lproj files, so that the one corresponding to your OS language actually contains the data for the language you want the app to display in.

This will only work if the application in question is properly localized for the locale you choose. Also, be sure you have a backup copy or plan to reinstall the app in case modifying it breaks anything.


Trying to recover from very old macOS backups, but not sure I can recall the login/passwords I was using then I realised recently that I'd lost some important very old photos from my laptop. Because I didn't notice, they've been lost from the online backup as well.
I think I have them on on some old physical backup disks, but I see the photos folder are locked, and I can't remember the login/passwords I was using for my machine back in those days.
Is there a way to unlock the files/folders?
Thanks

My old beagle (old but smart !) has a answer : Use a second Apple computer . Start the locked computer in target mode and use it as a external HD. Connect a Apple computer with the locked one (with a FW/USB/TB cable https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/mac-help/mchlp1443/mac) . The locked Apple will show-up on the desktop as external HD . Enjoy ! (Could not work if the MacOS are from different OS generations)


How to eject all drives from the command-line I want to eject all hard drives with a command on the Terminal instead of going to the Finder and pressing eject on each drive. How can I do it?

You can use the in-built AppleScript solution, as mentioned in this thread and this page, by adding this to ~/.bash_profile:

alias ejectall='osascript -e "tell application \"Finder\" to eject (every disk whose ejectable is true)"'

This will require you giving permission to Terminal to control Finder, or you will get this error:

execution error: Not authorised to send Apple events to Finder. (-1743)

If you want a pure bash solution, here is a function that you can call with ejectall. If you renamed your startup disk or have different Time Machine backups, you may need to edit the condition that filters out the drives.

ejectall() {
    total=0
    ejected=0

    for v in /Volumes/*; do
    if [[ $v != *"Macintosh HD" && $v != *"com.apple.TimeMachine"* ]]; then
        echo "Ejecting $v..."
        diskutil eject "$v"

        if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
        ejected=$(($ejected + 1))
        fi
        total=$(($total + 1))
    fi
    done

    if [ $total -eq 0 ]; then
    echo "No drives to eject"
    else
    msg="$ejected drive(s) ejected"
    failed=$(($total - $ejected))
    if [ $failed -gt 0 ]; then
        msg="$msg, $failed drive(s) failed to eject"
    fi
    echo $msg
    fi
}

Both methods will also work for CDs.


How can I get tracks from another iTunes library onto my iPhone without wiping it? I got  a bunch of audiobooks on a different Mac then my own (to which I don't have access at the present moment). I want to get them onto my iPhone without erasing stuff from my iPhone. How can I do that?

GoodReader for iPhone ($5) will let you load files directly to your iPhone over your LAN and play them from there. That should work fine if your audiobooks are a) all one file (if they are in multiple files there may not be 'playlist' support, which would be annoying, and b) not DRM'd. If they are DRM'd you'll need to sync them via iTunes or, in the case of Audible.com, you can download them from the Audible player.


How to remove dataloading.net malware from browsers I have recently installed one software from internet and it installed MacKeeper malware in my system. So every time when I open any link in any of the browser one page pops up in different window with dataloading.com and disappears.

It was frustrating as it was loading for every action (even for page refresh) you do on browser

I did the followings to remove the malware from the system

rm /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.mackeeper.MacKeeper.MacKeeperPrivilegedHelper.plist
rm -rf ~/Library/UpdateMac

Also you can install Komros app from Appstore to see the list of infected files. Komros app showed the above files which were infected and to remove them you have to upgrade it.

I tried with malwarebytes software too, though it showed all the infected files and removed them, but still it was there in the system.

Use find command to know the path of the infected files and remove them and no need to upgrade any malware softwares.


Can I use my mid-2010 imac as a display for my PC with HDMI input? Can I use my 27" 2010 imac with mini display as a monitor with my new PC that has an HDMI and USB-C inputs? I bought a mini display to HDMI cable off Amazon and it did not work.

Apple has just such a page in its knowledgebase on Target Display Mode.

But the one thing they do not mention is if it works with Windows (or other) PCs. It would make sense that it should/could work but I have no experience in doing so. Perhaps that article will help. perhaps others who have tried this will know for sure.


Cant update/install homebrew packages with Kaspersky Security Software (Self Signed Cert) At work we have Kaspersky installed. Kaspersky installs a self signed cert so it can decrypt/inspect web traffic. Chrome and everything works fine except for homebrew. When i try to install/update software this is what i see:
brew install yarn
==> Downloading https://yarnpkg.com/downloads/1.22.10/yarn-v1.22.10.tar.gz
######################################################################## 100.0%##O#- #
curl: (35) error:1400443E:SSL routines:CONNECT_CR_SRVR_HELLO:tlsv1 alert inappropriate fallback
Error: Failed to download resource "yarn"
Download failed: https://yarnpkg.com/downloads/1.22.10/yarn-v1.22.10.tar.gz

Since it appears its a curl issue i tried to create a .curlrc file with insecure but that doesn't help at all. I'm able to call one of our IT admins over and temporarily turn off web anti-virus but that is starting to be a major pain every time i install/update software. They aren't, of course, going to allow me to permantely turn it off. I have this issue on no matter what mac i use (one is a m1 based mac and the other is an intel based mac).

I presume your company is using Kaspersky Endpoint Security.
I would suggest asking your IT admins to add brew update sources to trusted web addresses.
Or perhaps you could ask them for privileges to edit Web Monitor exclusions in your KES client app and add brew to trusted websites yourself, here is an article from the online help: https://support.kaspersky.com/KESMac/11.1_adminguide/en-US/96925.htm
I would also recommend your IT admins to get in touch with Kaspersky Support to resolve this issue.


Will the MacBook Air (2011) perform as well as my MacBook Pro (2008)? I've got a 13" 2009 MBP (8GB, 2.53Ghz). A lot of the time it runs a Win 7 web dev environment (Visual Studio, SQL Server databases, various editors, Photoshop etc.) under Parallels Desktop. It performs at least as well as a high-end Wintel laptop would if not better.

On the Mac end of things, I also mess around with Garageband and Coda, edit video and photos with iMovie and am learning Objective-C using XCode. And also for general use (web, email, officey-stuff, iTunes, DVD viewing etc). The laptop handles all this extremely well and although its a couple of years old now, I see no reason to upgrade to a newer model.

However, I'm very taken with the new (Summer '11) Macbook Air - they're light as a feather and most appealing. On paper, the 1.8Ghz i5 looks like its a bit weedy, but it has SSD. Is it going to perform as well or better than my current machine for the sorts of things I do with it or should I just invest in an SSD for my MBP?

UPDATE: Following the advice from @Benjamin Dubois and @user9902 to install an SSD in my current machine I did just that. For anyone who is wavering between buying an Air (and the 2012 editions are considerably more appealing than the 2011 model that seduced me at the time of posting this question) I would strongly suggest trying this option before splashing out big money on shiny new toys. After the installation of a sub-£100 128GB SSD the MBP absolutely flies. I would recommend this option without reservation.

The CPU will be adequate, but the MacBook Air is limited to 4 GB of RAM. This effectively gives you somewhere between 1 and 1.5 GB for your Windows 7 VM, which is not much. While the SSD will make for much faster IO than the HDD in your MBP, I expect you'll be doing a lot of pageouts.


DELL WD15 DOCK with Macbook Pro 2018 - max resolution issue I am the owner of a DELL WD15 Dock and a Dell U3818DW monitor.
I bought the dock to quickly switch between both of my macbooks.... But seems happen to not work as I'd like to.

On my Macbook Pro 2017 13", on Mojave 10.14.6, on the display options, if I press "option + scaled" to get the full list of available resolutions, I can get 3840 x 1600. On that one, the dock works like a charm.

On my Macbook Pro 2018 15", on Catalina 10.15.5, the maximum resolution I can get is : 1920 x 1080. But it works if I use the HDMI apple adapter (but it is not handy to unplug the monitor from the dock every time).

Has anyone ever faced that situation? Please tell me you found a solution!
Thank you anyway, and have a great day,
PS : the monitor is connected with HDMI.

The limitation is the Dell WD15 Dock only supports HDMI 1.4a (see specifications), which only supports 3840 x 1600 at 24p, and the dock does not support HDCP (content protection). Your Mac wants to run at 60p unless it is playing a movie, in which case Netflix wants HDCP. Count yourself lucky that your 2017 Mojave Mac will let you use 3840 x 1600 at all.
The fix is to use DisplayPort. Get yourself a mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable (around $10) and use that to connect your dock to your display and you should be able to get the full 3840 x 1600 at 60 Hz support.


Lost admin privileges on iMac It happened after changing admin name following migration to new Mac Air. I've tried various suggested fixes calling for Single User Mode, then mount-uw/ and rm /var/db/. AppleSetUp, also going to Disk Utility and following suggestion to mount, etc. Nothing works. Every time I run a command I get no such file or directory, which I can only assume is why these fixes aren't working. Two questions:
1.Is there another step to the usual fixes that I need to be taking to avoid "no such file..."?
2. If all else fails, if I were to back up the system from Time Machine (pre-problem causing event), will my old admin privileges (name, password) be restored and things will be as they were, say, two weeks ago?
(High Sierra 10.13.6 if that matters)

It’s going to be hard to offer blanket advice since if your hardware has failed, your backup is suspect, no amount of correct process will help. This would be a data recovery project which is very different than trying to recover from a lost password, admin database corruption.

Reinstalling the current OS from recovery should fix the machine enough to follow this guide to reset the password. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211672
If you know your backup is good, erase the Mac and then migrate back. https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/erase-and-reinstall-macos-mh27903/mac

If you ask a follow on question making notes which parts of the password reset process you chose and what step was the last you could complete, we might be able to offer a process change in case you missed a step or there’s an undocumented fix, but there are a ton of steps in the reset process, hard to guess where your case diverged from the expected path...


Bug? macOS Sierra Preview/Quick Look issues with rendering colors of images when using any icc profile other than the macOS standard When I installed Sierra I also profiled my display (with a spectrometer) and have been using the created icc profiles since then.
Both Quick Look preview and the macOS preview app when displaying images will show weird colors though: cutout deep burned shadows!
The strangest thing is that on the quicklook preview, the colors will be fine until I zoom in the image: After that it will darken, and never recover (until I reopen the preview).

This behavior happens for images (tested jpg,png and raw) that have an embedded profile, a referenced profile or are not color managed at all. Even with the Screenshots that one can grab with Cmd+Shift+3.

Photoshop and Affinity Photo display colors properly (and rather consistently) on all the above scenarios.

I discovered that it won't happen when the original display profile (named imac) is used, but will happen with all the other profiles, created both by basICColor and ArgyllCMS.

Here's a sample:

From left to right, the rendering of the same file in Preview(quick look is the same), Apple Photos App, Photoshop and Affinity Photo

Anobody having a clue what is going on? It's been bothering me for months!

Edit (an interesting discovery): I discovered that unchecking "embed color profile" while viewing the Export As.. dialog on Photoshop, exhibits a similar darkening issue that is fixed if I revert my System Preferences to using the default display profile. The file saved is fine though. Probably Adobe is using macOS's previewing capabilities inside their Export As... dialog? I wouldn't know....
Apple Photos app is exhibiting a similar behavior, but the results is not so exaggerated as it is in the preview/quick look tool

Here (on the left) is how QuickLook shows an image when I first open it, and then (on the right) when I double tap (with my magic mouse) to cause it to zoom. When the image is already 1:1 scale like this one, it won't zoom further, but the color weirdness does kick in anyways. Zooming out, doesn't solve the problem. One has to close QuickLook to recover original colors.

(After reading all the literature I could find around the issue here's what I've learned)

A disclaimer first

There is a chance (as @Mr.Kennedy points out) that your system is suffering from issues with the quicklook generator. You may wish to read first his very thorough details on clearing the cache and debugging qlamanager's process of generating the thumbnails/previews. If you are certain the actual thumbnails/previews generated are fine, read on!

the Problem

Description of the problem

Apple programs and programs that depend on ColorSync CMM's capabilities, exhibit under some conditions crushed black colors and gamma issues.

Programs affected

Preview
Quick Look (when zoomed in)
Certain versions of Lightroom
The Export As... preview at Photoshop (the Save for Web (legacy) dialog is not affected on the other hand)
Apple Photos App
Apple iPhotos App
Aperture
Quicktime
Finalcut Pro X

(the issues affecting QT, FCPX Lr and Aperture may be different, I'm not sure)

Programs (not) affected

Quick Look (before zooming in)
Finder previews/thumbnails
Adobe Bridge
all programs who manage their own colors

Specifics

This is an issue (or a family of issues) around ColorSync. Most probably an Apple's bug inside ColorSync or Preview/QuickLook/Photos, that affects some color profiles generated by a few profiling software, but does not affect other profiles at all (such as the factory profiles).

According to some, first ColorSync issues were introduced in Mountain Lion. Others had issues in Mavericks, while others discovered it first in El Capitan. I can verify that it is still present in Sierra though. It's unclear if all these issues were all one and the same, but in here I'll treat them as such.

Adobe is aware of these issues (it was affecting Lightroom up to some version) rectified it since(2), but consequent updates by apple have complicated things since it has reemerged in a different way. There is a lengthy discussion in the Adobe forums(3).

Cause

At the root, it is that certain ICC profiles, contain information that **Apple's ColorSync won't treat properly (and this affects all programs that rely on ColorSync).
There have been various ideas proposed as what it is that ColorSync doesn't like about them.
This issue has been linked (but inconclusively) to:

LUT based icc profiles
matrix based icc profiles
particular software used to generated the ICC profile (eg displayCal/basICColors).
compatibility issues with the ICC version number (ICCv2 or v4 profiles)
black point compensation accounted for in the profile curves.
EIZO displays
Secondary displays

There has been no consensus though. For instance I've seen both ICCv2 and ICCv4 profiles that work, and ICCv2 and ICCv4 profiles that do not.

Solution

No solution has been found yet afaik.

From reports, it seems that profiles created with certain programs seem to be "incompatible" while profiles created by other programs seem to be fine.If you are using

displayCal (using ArgyllCMS) (aka dispcalGUI)
basICColor
Eizo ColorNavigator (4)

this may be the related. testing some other software for profiling, may be the solution for some who have the option
Others have reported success with experimenting by changing parameters of the profiles generated (ICC version number, black point compensation, LUT, curves, 3x3 matrix) but nothing definitive.
Adobe is implementing its own workarounds(2),(5) (that seem to be falling apart when apple is changing something).
One could revert to using the factory profile (for those who don't care about color management) which work fine
Needless to say that avoiding ColorSync reliance and using programs that color manage their own output everywhere in your work environment is certainly the most complete solution (but rarely a viable option)

Raising Awareness

You may also wish to add your voice by submitting to Apple a bug report on the issue

Other places where this problem is discussed

I'm listing here some of the other places where these issues are being discussed

OSX Preview issues

Q: Preview+El Capitan = color management bug?
Q: wrong colors in preview.app
Dark Images in Mac "Photos" & "Preview" with DisplayCAL generated Profile

Adobe Lightroom

Lightroom 5 ICC profiles clipped shadows under OSX
Serious color management bug in Mac OS 10.9 "Mavericks"
Further quantification of the Mavericks color management problem

Finalcut Pro X

Q: Very very dark video in FCP X viewer.


any idea what the heck Microsoft is doing with this brew install? I found this install script for msodbcsql at odbc-driver-13-1-for-macos-released

The relevant contents are:

/usr/bin/ruby -e “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)“
brew tap microsoft/msodbcsql https://github.com/Microsoft/homebrew-mssql-release
brew update
brew install msodbcsql
#for silent install ACCEPT_EULA=y brew install msodbcsql

The part I am confused about is the first line.  When I run it gives this output:

$ /usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"
==> This script will install:
/usr/local/bin/brew
/usr/local/share/doc/homebrew
/usr/local/share/man/man1/brew.1
/usr/local/share/zsh/site-functions/_brew
/usr/local/etc/bash_completion.d/brew
/usr/local/Homebrew
==> The following existing directories will be made group writable:
/usr/local/bin
/usr/local/include

The way I read this is that their install instructions are not just for msodbcsql using homebrew, they are geared towards installing homebrew first, then msodbsql.

Is this common practice, or just some MS cluelessness?

Note:  I use macports usually, so I took care to install homebrew in my home directory, so perhaps a standard install of homebrew would not have resulted in their script wanting to trample all over my system.

That's the standard way of installing Homebrew. Microsoft seems to have written an installer which relies on Homebrew being installed, so it makes sense to install it first.


Can I make automatic log-out when Mac is asleep? I'd like to have my MacBook Pro to automatically log out when it hasn't been used for a certain period of time, e.g., 30 minutes. I defined my System Preferences to do so when it's "inactive" for that period of time. However, it doesn't seem to automatically log out if I close the lid when I'm done working. For example, if I close my lid and my Mac sleeps overnight, opening the lid in the morning shows me the account that was last logged in.

Does sleeping prevent a Mac from logging out automatically? From my point of view, sleeping is the ultimate form of inactivity.

If the above is true, is there a way to make my Mac to automatically log out despite its sleep state? Or could I even force it to log out immediately when it goes to sleep?

I see many questions on this site and other sites that talk about ways to prevent automatic sleep or log-out behavior, but not anything about my issue. FYI, I'm running macOS 10.11 (El Capitan).

Yes, a sleeping Mac will prevent your account being logged out.

From a running process or application's perspective, time stops while the computer is asleep. Developers of applications need to actively monitor sleep wake cycles and adjust their timers accordingly. Many applications do not.

Third Party Tools

You can use third party software to log out before sleep or after a period of inactivity.

Power Manager, which is a product I work on, is able to trigger a log out on sleep, after inactivity, or immediately upon wake. Given you are running macOS 10.11, be sure to try the appropriate legacy version.

Be aware that performing actions on sleep is generally not advisable.


Software-only way to disconnect and reconnect a USB device? I have a DisplayLink 3rd monitor on a Mac Mini.  Half the time I wake the computer up, the DisplayLink syncs but the graphics onscreen are garbled.  Reaching behind the computer and unplugging/plugging the DisplayLink USB cable fixes it every time.

But this stinks.

Is there a terminal command or AppleScript I could run to make the Mac pretend the USB device was replugged?  This would be a much nicer way to bring the DisplayLink back to life.

I found the unmounting USB drives answer which is similar but obviously won't work for a display.

Thanks for any hints.

As for the DisplayLink, it's pretty laggy and I'm stuck on Mountain Lion, but it was cheap and recycles my old monitor.  It works just well enough that I'd recommend it to someone with low expectations and wants to use it for mostly static tasks like reading documents and code.  Not for editing though -- too laggy.

if you felt bold, you could disable all of usb service and then reenable.  I believe that will do it.  will also kill keyboard etc.
kextunload IOUSBFamily.kext
kextload /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext

it will take some more discovery, but i think this might be a good path.  let us know if you experiment
all usb extensions in 10.8 at least:
/System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBAttachedSCSI.kext
/System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext
/System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBMassStorageClass.kext


I cannot open an iCloud account on my device because ‘the maximum number of free accounts have been activated’ I cannot open iCloud account on my device. When the Apple ID & password are input, I get this message:

  The maximum number of free accounts have been activated on this iPhone.

Is your iPhone second handed? Probably the previous user has used all accounts. All you have to do is setup iCloud on any iPhone or iPad that has not been setup to iCloud or has remaining setup for iCloud and then sign in on blocked device.
I've done this with all my devices and all work fine.


How can I remove/change the icloud.com alias on my apple id account There are two email addresses listed in my apple id settings (section "REACHABLE AT"):

me@mydomian.com
my.oldname@icloud.com

The first is my login address. I want to change or remove the second one. How can I do this?

Apple does not let you delete or change the primary iCloud email address. You can stop using it, but it'll always be associated with that account.

See also https://support.apple.com/ht202667, the section titled "If you can't change your Apple ID", which while is not the exact situation you're in, it explains how they look at it.


Sometimes Notifications don’t appear I have found out that sometimes I get text message notifications but sometimes I don’t. This is rather frustrating because I have been sent a text 30 mins before and I didn’t realise this until I physically checked the messages, only to see that I have actually gotten a text and not been notified. Sometimes I do get the notifications, everything is switched on and I am not in Do Not Disturb mode. Is this a hardware issue or could it be a buggy update?
IOS 14.2

It is a widely reported bug in iOS 14.2. It is not a hardware issue.
Right now there doesn't seem much that can be done about it than wait for Apple to release an update with a fix.


How can I convert a font from Font Book to .ttf? I am programming an application for IOS 5, but I need to use a different font. I found the perfect font for the job in Font Book, but it needs to be a TrueType Font file. Is there an easy way to do this?

By the way, if you can tell me how to make my own, I would appreciate it.

Font Book is an application, not a font format. Some fonts that appear in Font Book are True Type fonts. For those that are not, the question is about converting that specific format.

To find the file for a particular font, select it in Font Book, control-click it, and select "Show in Finder". You can then see what the format is on the file.


macOS High Sierra media installer I want to make a USB media installer for the new High Sierra release. I commonly use createinstallmedia or DiskMakerX but for this new release I just can't make it work (both). I downloaded the Install macOS High Sierra.app from the App Store but the installer is only 14.2mb so it doesn't contain the High Sierra image. I started the installer and that starts the download but all the downloaded files are stored in ./macOS Install Data and I want to make a USB media installer with those files.
Any idea of how to solve this?

Also in createinstallmedia i'm using this command:

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/macOS --applicationpath  /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app --nointeraction

and i'm getting:

/Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app does not appear to be a valid OS installer application.

Screenshots:

Massive bump to @IlyaB, I was stumped trying to get the full 5gb Install MacOS High Sierra.app but was stuck with the 19mb stub version.

My Process to get a working app that is currently making my bootable USB for High Sierra

1: Go to Mac App Store and download High Sierra (the 19mb stub)

2: Click Continue in the installer app once it downloads

3: Choose your boot disk (or any disk that has space)

4: Allow the installer to download (this is the contents of the missing "SharedSupport" folder within the installer stub)

5: The installer will prompt you to restart after finishing the 5gb download, at this point quit the installer and do not restart your system!

6: Go to your root (or whichever location you chose in step 3) and find the folder "macOS Install Data"

7: Copy the contents of that folder disregarding .DS_Store

(9 files, folders, dmgs, pkgs, and plists)

8: Go to your Applications folder where the Mac App Store downloaded the stub version of "Install macOS High Sierra"

9: Right Click on that file and "Show Package Contents"

10: Within the Contents folder, create a new folder called "SharedSupport"

11: Paste the files you copied earlier from the installer download

12: And you're done! You should have a fully functional Installer file for bootable USB drives or just copying to other systems whether they be offline, or you just don't want to download the installer over and over.

I am currently in the lengthy process of creating a bootable USB drive to make a Coffee Lake i7 8700k Hackintosh build. I'm following this guide with the recommended motherboard. I'll try to update here with my success/ failure.


How can I determine the compile-time options of PHP? I'm trying to customize my php install, but I'm not that familiar with compiling programs from scratch. How can I tell determine what compile-time options were used for php? Specifically, I'm trying to determine whether the --with-readline option was specified. Thanks!

php -i from the command line;

  $ php -i
  phpinfo()
  PHP Version => 5.3.3

  System => Darwin jsalaz-mac.local 10.6.0 Darwin Kernel Version 10.6.0: Wed Nov 10 18:13:17 PST 2010; root:xnu-1504.9.26~3/RELEASE_I386 i386
  Build Date => Aug 22 2010 19:27:08
  Configure Command =>  '/var/tmp/apache_mod_php/apache_mod_php-53.3.1~2/php/configure'  '--prefix=/usr' '--mandir=/usr/share/man' '--infodir=/usr/share/info' '--disable-dependency-tracking' '--sysconfdir=/private/etc' '--with-apxs2=/usr/sbin/apxs' '--enable-cli' '--with-config-file-path=/etc' '--with-libxml-dir=/usr' '--with-openssl=/usr' '--with-kerberos=/usr' '--with-zlib=/usr' '--enable-bcmath' '--with-bz2=/usr' '--enable-calendar' '--with-curl=/usr' '--enable-exif' '--enable-ftp' '--with-gd' '--with-jpeg-dir=/BinaryCache/apache_mod_php/apache_mod_php-53.3.1~2/Root/usr/local' '--with-png-dir=/BinaryCache/apache_mod_php/apache_mod_php-53.3.1~2/Root/usr/local' '--enable-gd-native-ttf' '--with-ldap=/usr' '--with-ldap-sasl=/usr' '--enable-mbstring' '--enable-mbregex' '--with-mysql=mysqlnd' '--with-mysqli=mysqlnd' '--with-pdo-mysql=mysqlnd' '--with-mysql-sock=/var/mysql/mysql.sock' '--with-iodbc=/usr' '--enable-shmop' '--with-snmp=/usr' '--enable-soap' '--enable-sockets' '--enable-sysvmsg' '--enable-sysvsem' '--enable-sysvshm' '--with-xmlrpc' '--with-iconv-dir=/usr' '--with-xsl=/usr' '--enable-zend-multibyte' '--enable-zip' '--with-pcre-regex=/usr'

or;

This information should be in the phpinfo function output you can put into a webpage and visit.

Per PHP's PHPInfo Reference Page, all you have to do is create a file with the contents: <?php phpinfo(); ?>, put it in a web viewable location with PHP, then browse to it in a browser.


Does an ipad (iOS) need to be restarted occasionally? Most of our webapp users never restart their ipads. (They think they are but they are just putting them to sleep).

Does the iPad reclaim memory, storage, etc. from apps that were never closed? Would restarting it fix this?

Symptoms this might fix:

Audio is distorted
Video is partially black

I tend to try and restart my iPhone/iPad every few weeks or once a month. I've found it to be a good best practice. If nothing else it just gives you a clean slate to begin on again! I hope this helps you out!


What does boot.efi actually do? I understand that when a Mac's EFI system runs, it locates the file boot.efi in the /System/Library/CoreServices/ (blessed) directory and runs this as an EFI application (subverting a large part of the UEFI specification if my understanding is correct).

My question is: what does this EFI application actually do on 10.8.4? I figure it must locate the kernel, pass through boot arguments, locate KEXTs, etc, but that is just my speculation. Is there anywhere I can find out what it does (ideally step-by-step) from a concrete source?

EFI is a contract that specifies how the hardware can find and start the software and vice versa.

Rather than have to build custom code into each new hardware device and each new software release - a standard was agreed upon and the specification was initially written by Intel.

Then a company like Apple decides to adopt a certain version of the EFI specification (perhaps even using specific implementations of the spec in hardware - either making it's own chips or adopting another company's implementation) and possibly extends/modifies the base implementation to meet Apple's needs.

From a high level, boot.efi is part of the software end of things that help shepard the hardware boot and handoff to the OS to let it run (in this case OS X 10.8.4):

The wikipedia article below is the source of the above image, as well as contains some good introductory details on EFI and Apple's use of it since 2006. Apple covers more details about their implementation of EFI and the boot process in the kernel programming guide:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Firmware_Interface
https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Darwin/Conceptual/KernelProgramming/booting/booting.html


Can data be recovered after iOS system restore Is it possible to recover data from a restored iPhone. iPhone encrypts data by default so is there any chance of recovery after the key has been deleted during restore like brute force or jailbreaking etc?

No. Once the key is deleted there is no way to recover the data. You could theoretically bruteforce the key, but this would take a very long time.


In Which Cases Is Linux Bootcamp justified? To be on the safe side, I know I will be doing a Windows Bootcamp because there are some programs in my field that don't have a Mac-specific version out yet.

But for, say developers, are there any reasons behind having Linux Bootcamp on your Mac?

Or are the Terminal apps identical in all respects? For command-line users. In that case it might be completely superfluous. Right?

"Terminal"-apps on macOS (I put that in quotes because technically they haven't got anything to do with Terminal.app, but merely being command line programs) are not in general identical to macOS apps. However most are very similar.

This stems from the fact that macOS can trace many of its standard command line tools to FreeBSD whereas Linux inherits them from GNU. In practical terms, you'll quickly learn the minor differences between the two. It is also possible to install the actual GNU command line tools on macOS using HomeBrew, and then they are identical.

Does this mean that there are no reasons at all for running Linux in BootCamp? - No, not really. There's still advantages to BootCamp when you for example want to run some performance demanding games, when you want to use Linux specific device drivers for built-in hardware, and other things. BootCamp essentially takes over the whole computer - leaving none of macOS running.

However just the fact that you want to run a program that doesn't have a Mac-specific version doesn't mean that you have to run BootCamp - no matter if it is Windows or Linux. In those cases, many use virtualization to keep running the macOS desktop while running some apps in Windows or Linux at the same time in seperate windows. For example you can use VMware Fusion, Parallels Desktop or the free VirtualBox to run Windows/Linux on top of macOS.


Dead bugs/insects in laptop I cracked the LCD screen of my Macbook Air a few days ago and dropped it off at the Apple store to get it replaced. The 'Genius' there said it would cost around $500 and that having another repair shop fix it would void its warranty (I have the Apple Care package), so I authorized the repair.
Today I received a call from the Apple store that the technician who opened up the laptop found 'a few dead bugs' in the laptop and since this is a 'biohazard', they won't be able to do the fix themselves. They weren't specific about the kind of bugs they found.

Bugs are definitely a pest but not a biohazard unless they're known vectors of transmittable diseases but I'm pretty sure the Apple store doesn't have trained entomologists on payroll masquerading as technicians to make that distinction. By this logic, the moment anyone sees a bug in an Apple Store, anyone can scream 'OMG, biohazard!', have the store shut down and wait for the friendly folks in hazmat suits to arrive. In fact, I have half a mind to do precisely that this weekend.

AFAIK I have no bedbugs whatsoever but anyway, can I try taking it to another store? Also, will this void the warranty?

Just doing a quick bit of research, I ran across this post on Apple's support forums that sounded eerily similar to your situation.

What I gathered from the article is that

You should immediately ask for photographic evidence
You should document with Apple customer relations (1-800-676-2775 in the US)
The bugs themselves won't void the warranty, but the Apple tech can void the warranty on his own accord (if he believes they are a biohazard)

There are a couple of things you can try:

Take the MBA back, remove the back cover and using a can of compressed air, blow out any remnants of the bugs.  There are no tamper resistant stickers or tags that will indicate that you did this.  Bring it back to another Apple store, tell them what the first one told you and claim it's BS.  Depending on the year of the MBA (2012 and later) you might need a Pentalobe screwdriver.  Older than that, and a regular jeweler's Phillips will do just fine.
If that option isn't feasible, avoid the "Geniuses" at all costs.  I have never found them competent in solving problems.  There are some good Apple repair shops.  One that I have found is based in NYC and have done better work that the authorized guys (https://www.rossmanngroup.com/)  Disclaimer:  I am not affiliated with him, I just had really good results on may occasions.


Slow download speed via Web browser on macOS Mojave I am trying to download a big file from the internet (~4GB), but for some reason the download is extremely slow. An Internet speed test says I have a 4Mbps download speed, but the browser download never exceeds 500Kbps and sometimes gets as low as 25Kbps.

I read on here about people switching away from Apple applications, but switching to Google Chrome hasn't altered the download speed. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I am using a baseline 2019 15" MacBook Pro. I understand that many variables can affect download speed, but I was posting here in case this was a problem that people had faced before.

Your Internet connection speed alone doesn't determine the download speed that you will get when fetching a file from a remote site. You Internet bandwidth determines the maximum speed that you get when transferring content from a remote computer.

The remote computer (download host) may also have upload bandwidth restrictions due to variety of reasons. The upload speed of the remote computer in-effect considered in addition with your download speed determines the transfer speed you get.

It appears that the site you are trying to download data from have such restriction in place. To alleviate, try using an alternate download mechanism available on the site, via a different protocol or a download mirror.

To verify if you are receiving speed advertised by your ISP in the installed Web Browsers, you can simply check with one of the Internet speed testing websites.


Why does my iPhone sometimes start rendering from a third of the way down the screen? I don't really know the right words to describe this problem, but every once in a while (sporadically, maybe about twice a day), whatever view is displayed on my iPhone (iPhone 6, iOS 8.3) screen will slide down to about a third of the way down the screen, as shown in these three screenshots:

(I've whited out personal data.)

After a matter of seconds, I think it slides back up on its own, though I've discovered that the most convenient way for me to cancel this phenomenon is by pulling the notification center into view from the top of the screen and then pushing it back up, which causes the main view to slide back up right away.

What is going on here? Has anyone else seen this?

Update:

Today I learned that I fidget with my thumbs "sporadically, maybe about twice a day".

It's the "so I can reach it with my thumbs" option, called Reachability

Double-tap the Home button to enable.
Tap the screen to disable.

The double-tap is not a double-press. You don't engage the switch in the button, just tap it lightly.


Assigning a key to light up CM Storm Devastator keyboard problem I followed the steps to make the CM Storm Devastator keyboard backlights turn on (using this tutorial). That is working. But, when I assigned a key to toggle the backlight, the backlight does not turn on. The key I have it assigned to is command+F14. I am on Yosemite.

First, check under: System Preferences > Keyboard and see if your "Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys" option is checked.

If the box is not checked, you will need to hold down Fn as well - this means that it your keyboard combination should be Fn+Cmd+F14.

If the box is checked (which means pressing F1/F2 doesn't affect brightness, F11/F12 doesn't affect volume etc) then you may want to check your configurations and go over the steps in the tutorial again.

I hope this helps.


Mac Mini won't start I got a 2007 Mac Mini off eBay a year ago. Now it won't start. It will show the Apple logo and then when it gets to the blue screen where it would normally show the desktop, the DVI cuts out.

I have taken it apart before, I upgraded the RAM. The back ribbon cable is unplugged which may be the sound. It does start occasionally and when it does I have no sound. The front black plug is also unplugged, which seems to be fan control as it's loud when it's unplugged. (The front black plug wire is broken.)

Any ideas on what to do?

Note: it gets to the blue screen and then the dvi connection drops.

This turned out to be the DVI-cable. For some reason, the DVI-cable works better with my PC than the Mac. I plugged it in via VGA and it works.


No bootable disk when booting Windows after installing Linux on Mac That must the weirdest title you've read in a long time.
I have a MacBook Pro Mid 2012, I installed Windows 7 with Bootcamp and all was working fine.
Last night I installed Kali Linux with a bootable USB, and during the installation I checked something like "master boot record" or something like that, not too sure. Now when I'm greeted with the boot menu in mac thanks to rEFInd and select Windows, this message comes on :

  No bootable device -- Insert boot disk and press any key

I've read online this has something to do with GRUB, but don't know how to proceed. Let me know if you need any more info, thanks.

MacBook Pros from 2012 will use the legacy MBR/BIOS boot method for Windows. (If you’re reading this and your Mac is from 2014 or newer, the following instructions may not be relevant.)
When I resized my Windows Bootcamp partition during a clone to a new drive, I found it would no longer show up in the standard Mac boot menu, and when attempting to boot from rEFInd it would display a similar error message to what you’ve described.
The steps I followed to fix this were:

Disable Apple SIP by restarting into recovery mode (hold Command+R), open Terminal, and type:
csrutil disable

Reboot into OSX, install the gdisk command line tool, and use it to regenerate the hybrid GPT+MBR boot records. The instructions can get a bit long, so I suggest you read them here. If you are also booting Linux, you may need to ensure you include your Linux partition in the list of bootable partitions during the MBR creation step. (I’m only booting OSX + Windows so I cannot test this step with Linux.)

If Windows will still not boot (at this point I was seeing a blue screen of death with an error about winload.exe), you need to repair the boot files by booting to an installation disc/USB of the Windows version you have, then choose repair Windows installation. If the automated “Start-up Repair” option doesn’t work, you can try running these commands:
Note: first check that C:\ is actually the correct drive that you intend to perform the repair on. Otherwise replace c: in the commands below with the relevant drive letter.
bootsect /nt60 c: /mbr
attrib  -r  -h  -s  c:\boot\bcd
del c:\boot\bcd
bcdboot c:\windows /s c: /f BIOS

Source: https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/333605/30551

It took me quite a few hours of trial and error to get this working, so hopefully this saves others some trouble.


iCal Calendar - Using AppleScript how do I get the calendar's server address I am using my iCloud account and want to make sure the the calendar I am creating an event in is an iCloud calendar and not on my Mac.  Can't find the property that either tells me the account name or the server address of the calendar.

When setting up the calendars enter information into the description field of the calendar that can be retrieved to differentiate servers.


How to monitor and log my internet connectivity on Mojave I need to run a program remotely and need to keep my iMac (Mojave) connected to internet for hours. It seems when I leave my iMac, my program will stop running. I suspect that is due to some internet connectivity issue. I have my iMac so that it never goes to sleep when my display does in the power saver.

[Edited: Added] I need to know about internet reachability with a timestamp and Not the time when my program exits!

Are there software or scripts I could run periodically to make a log of this?

Apple’s Wireless Diagnostics tool might work. It appears to be able to monitor your connectivity and provide a report based on the results. You can find it in spotlight search.


Using an email address as imessage contact name My friend is using her iphone only for imessages.  She is using her email address as her contact name.  So when I send her a message I type in her email address.  Whenever I send her a message using a device other than my iphone and I type in her email address will she still get it on her iphone or will it only go to her email account?

iMessage is a service from Apple which works from iOS devices and Macs with OS X 10.8 and later only and is using the device's data connection rather than the regular phone connection.

Using the e-mail address with another device's text messaging system will most-likely result into an error telling you that the e-mail address entered is an invalid phone number.

Sending a message with ANY device as regular e-mail will result into your friend receiving the message as e-mail instead of an iMessage.


Does the newer MacBook Pro need anti virus I am purchasing MacBook Pro 2017 with Touch Bar and I was told by one customer representative of the shop that you need anti virus because old one use to come with build in anti virus but not the new one.

Is it true? If so why?

Sounds like a salesman is trying to make money off you...

Macs have never been supplied with a built-in antivirus - they do have active prevention in such as Gatekeeper but no 'true' antivirus app.

They have traditionally not been the target of most viruses - Windows viruses won't run on Macs, of course - though there are some threats out there. Nothing is truly safe from predators.

Full 'protection' is available from antivirus companies, just the same as for Windows. Some free, some paid. None of them is a complete guarantee.
Some will slow the machine down more than others, just the same as on Windows.

There is no absolute authority on "which antivirus is best" for any platform, but the closest thing to an authority might be AV-TEST.org. Until recently they only had very generic reports on Mac AV, but they have now started taking the testing more seriously.

One app they don't test [lots of politics happened, not going to go into it] is Malwarebytes, which is a free 'on demand' scanner for Mac, i.e. it doesn't run constantly, only when you tell it to. It is possible to use it in conjunction with any other live-scan antivirus.
Otherwise, never have more than one AV installed on any machine - they fight each other.

Late edit: Malwarebytes v3 is now a full on-access scanner as well as on-demand.

Many many Mac users have no antivirus at all. Macs have long been believed to be, if not immune, then "not a target".
So, the final call is yours, but don't be sold something just because the salesman wants you to spend more money.
Think it over & do the research before you put your hand in your pocket.


where is modprobe in Mavericks? I am unable to find modprobe in Mavericks.  Has it been removed?  Is it part of a package I haven't installed?

Could you explain what exactly you mean by "modprobe"?

The program usually referred to as "modprobe" is a Linux-specific program. It is not available for OS X, as it doesn't make any sense there.

If you want comparable functionality on OS X, you want to look at a program such as kextload instead.


Mystery "Menu Extra" Can anyone identify this menulet please? I can't drag it off the menu like others and I can't see it in any of the locations that a google search has suggested like /System/Library/PreferencePanes/.

It doesn't appear for other users on this machine.

Thanks

opensnoop
You can also use opensnoop to get more info on the icon. opensnoop is a Terminal app, it is pre-installed on your mac. When run with no options, opensnoop just prints all the files that are accesed on your computer in real-time

open Terminal.
type sudo opensnoop, your console will fillup fast.
click the icon.
look at the console to see which PID or which program get triggerd when clicking on the icon.


OS X El Capitan: man, command not found Today I was trying to update openssl in my MacBook Pro with El Capitan 10.11.2.
I don't know where I made a mistake but it seems I have accidentally disabled man. In fact, if I launch man <something> or man man or simply man it says --> -bash: man: command not found. Is there a way to restore it?

Some commands:

which man --> nothing

file /usr/bin/man --> man is a directory

I am afraid there's not an executable anymore.
In fact, with ls -al /usr/bin/man I got

total 0
drwxr-xr-x     6 root  wheel    204 30 Dic 18:15 .
drwxr-xr-x  1063 root  wheel  36142 30 Dic 20:51 ..
drwxr-xr-x    46 root  wheel   1564 30 Dic 18:15 man1
drwxr-xr-x  1025 root  wheel  34850 30 Dic 18:15 man3
drwxr-xr-x     4 root  wheel    136 30 Dic 18:15 man5
drwxr-xr-x     3 root  wheel    102 30 Dic 18:15 man7

Apple publishes the source code for the open source parts of OSX. So the source for "man" is retrievable from https://opensource.apple.com/tarballs/man/ .  The latest version (as of this writing) is v1.6c. Provided you have at least the Command Line Tools installed (you can run xcode-select --install to get them if you don’t):

curl -LORf 'https://opensource.apple.com/tarballs/man/man-16.tar.gz'
tar -xzvf man-16.tar.gz
cd man-16/man

# Undo an Apple patch that adds a dependency on 'xcselect.h',
# which is something that Apple doesn't appear to distribute.
patch -R -p0 <../patches/PR11291804-xcode.diff

./configure --prefix=/usr/local
make
make install

That done, the man binary should be available at /usr/local/bin/man. Also note that you might need to run hash -r to clear the hash table of any instances of /usr/bin/man that may be lingering there from the last time you ran man before the addition to /usr/local/bin/ will be picked up.


How do I install beta command line tools using softwareupdate -l on 10.14.5? On a clean install of 10.14.5: Multiple reports of the beta version not working using a headless install: https://github.com/Homebrew/install/issues/206

This lead me to trying to manually do a headless install. I tried all of the various methods in How can I install the Command Line Tools completely from the command line? and none of them show anything but:

Mac-mini:~ anka$ /usr/sbin/softwareupdate -l | grep "\*"
 * MacBook Pro Supplemental Update-

Yet, I can xcode-select --install and it allows me to install it.

Anyone know how to get it to show up in softwareupdate -l so we can headless install it?

Apple looks to have fixed it. I had submitted a bug report, but I'm not sure if that helped or not.


How can I tell if the fans are operating correctly on my MacBook Pro 17" (2010)? My Mid-2010 17" MBP seems to be running warmer than normal recently; I've read that fan failure is not unheard of on systems of this age, but I don't know how to verify whether one or both fans is operating correctly.

I have removed the cover and checked that there is no obvious buildup of lint, etc., in the fans and they spin freely.

You can use the freeware application Macs Fan Control to monitor both your current fan speed and your internal temperature. It also allows you to set a minimum speed for your fan(s), which you could use for stress testing your fans by temporarily jacking up the speed, or for permanently increasing the minimum fan speed somewhat if you feel like your Mac is running a little too hot.

It also has a diagnostics mode, which I haven't used yet, but which could be useful in your situation.


iPhone 5 shutting down automatically again and again My iPhone 5 (factory unlocked) of three years (almost) started shutting off by itself since yesterday. It is completely unusable. Most of the time now, as soon as I boot it up again and unlock it, it shuts off. Other times, it stays on for a while before I run any app (stock, third-party, settings) and it shuts off. On rare occasions if I keep it in airplane mode, it stays on. Until, it shuts down later. I suspected something related to network connectivity was triggering something that was causing the phone to turn itself off. I tested by removing the SIM card altogether, but I couldn't find any particular pattern.

I have tested with the battery at > 50% and > 80%. If it is a software issue, I am assuming an iTunes restore to 9.2 should do (it's in the process).

It's running iOS 9.2. No jail-breaks. No recent physical abuses inflicted on the phone to warrant a reaction like this.

Can anybody please share any ideas on what might be the issue here?

Update: If it is plugged directly to a power adapter, it does not shut off with or without network enabled.

Update: 9.2 restore didn't help. I also experimented by leaving the phone connected to the power adapter but with the adapter not connected to any power source. It didn't shut off all night. Since then, I have been using it without it being connected to anything. The battery has drained from 100% down to 70% so far, with network/wifi and everything enabled. It hasn't shut off. This is perplexing.

Since your phone is 3 years old and operates correctly when plugged in, it's time for battery replacement.  Doesn't matter that you think the battery is at 50 or 80 percent, the battery has aged and the indicator is no longer giving you accurate information a result.


Hide the brightness and volume bezels in Catalina? In macOS Mojave I followed the instructions here to hide the brightness and volume overlays:

Move the position of or hide the brightness/volume pop ups on high sierra

But this doesn't work anymore in Catalina:

$ csrutil status
System Integrity Protection status: disabled.
$ sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.OSDUIHelper Disabled -bool YES
2019-10-09 18:08:46.109 defaults[6792:141312] Could not write domain /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.OSDUIHelper; exiting
$ sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.BezelUI Disabled -bool YES
2019-10-09 18:09:06.500 defaults[6824:141922] Could not write domain /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.BezelUI; exiting

How can I hide the brightness and volume overlays in macOS Catalina?

I think the answer here is still valid for a single user. The multiple users answer doesn't work on Mojave anymore as far as I can tell.


Heiti TC in FontBook but not showing as available in dropdown menus in XCode or Word for Mac I haven't checked if other fonts are missing so I don't know if it is specific to this font. I'm trying to use it for an app.

In Word, you should be able to find and select the font in Format > Font, even if not in main drop down menu.


How to authorize a new computer to Play but not to Purchase in iTunes My need is to authorize one more computer in my family to play my content bought on iTunes. I understood this is possible up to 5 computers. The way to do this seems to be to authorize the computer by login to the iTunes store. But doing this, I am scared the 2nd computer will also be able to purchase  with my iTunes account, which I obviously don't want!

Does anyone know how to control this?

You can authorise a computer to play/access iTunes-purchased content without logging in to the store.

In the iTunes menubar: Store > Authorize This Computer…

You will be asked to enter your Apple ID and password. These are the same credentials you use for the iTunes Store. The iTunes Store will still ask for an Apple ID and password when anyone tries to make a purchase.


How can I change the iOS App Store Country on my iPhone 5? When I try to download any app on my iPhone 5, I receive the following message:

  Account not in this store. Your account is not valid for use in the Swiss store. You  must switch to the the US store before purchasing.

How do I switch from the Swiss store to the US store?

On your iPhone 5 follow these steps:

Tap on the App Store icon in your Home Screen.
Tap on Featured on the bottom left corner of screen.
Scroll all the way to the bottom where your Apple ID info is.  Tap on it.
Tap View Apple ID, you may have to enter your password.
Once the page loads Change your country/Region to United States.

Must not have any credits in your account
Must have a valid payment method for the desired country - there is no longer a none option.


How to disable default alt-left / alt-right keyboard shortcuts for Numbers.app I'm continually hitting Alt+Left Arrow to move navigate within a cell in Numbers, and inadvertently inserting new rows.. How can I disable all the Alt+Arrow shortcuts?

I've tried changing the Application specific keys in System Prefs > Keyboard, and my new keys work, but the old remain active.  Is there a tidy oneliner to paste into the terminal?!

Edit:

Hmm.. I can't replicate the problem that I'm asking about! ATM when I  Alt+Enter into a cell to edit, Alt+Left Arrow is not adding a column!  Maybe I'm mashing some other keys in there intermittently?

BTW, I've also tried setting Alt+Left Arrow to Bring All Windows to Front but that disabled using Alt whilst editing the cell.

You can edit the plist directly:

defaults write com.apple.iWork.Numbers NSUserKeyEquivalents '{"Add Column Before"="\0";"Add Column After"="\0";}'

It overwrites custom shortcuts set in System Preferences, but you could also edit the plist in a text editor after converting it to XML:

plutil -convert xml1 ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iWork.Numbers.plist


Change the default Icons OS X 10.4.11 Tiger So, I really would like to change my icon set on my iBook G4, but I really have no clue how to do it!

I have the icons (I believe all are in either .png or .ico), but I have little/no experience on Macs! I know I can go program by program and change icons by clicking on Get Info after right-clicking, but changing the entire icon set via that would take forever and I would be sure to miss some.

Basically, does anyone know of OS X Tiger compatible software that will swap icons out for me?

You should look at CandyBar software from the Icon Factory.

It supports 10.2!!! and later and does exactly what you ask. Free trial to be sure it does what you wish so you don't need to spend any money if it's not to your taste.

http://iconfactory.com/software/candybar


Faster than Time Machine for Backup I want to do a full backup of my Mac to an external disk AS FAST AS POSSIBLE.  Does that mean I should use something other than Time Machine or set some settings?

It depends on what your full usage scenario is. For a one-off full image Time Machine is not very well suited, you are better of with using

the disk imaging functionality in Disk Utility
SuperDuper
Carbon Copy Cloner

If you are looking for having a full image of your drive updated regularly, fast and hassle-free, Time Machine is a good way to do that. The initial backup will just take a while longer, the incremental ones will be rather fast.


How to Set my Mac's $PATH back the way it was before I'm just getting started with Terminal, the other day I might have messed something up with my urs/local/bin. When executing echo $PATH it returns me with /usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin the original path was /usr/local/bin How do I set it back to factory settings?

Thanks in Advance for your Help.

By default the paths are saved in the file /etc/paths. You can edit it e.g. with sudo vim /etc/paths. Each line should contain one directory used for $PATH.

Then there is the directory /etc/paths.d/ that can contain text files with paths in it.

Furthermore the path can be modified in the files ~/.bashrc and ~/.bash_profile.

However, the $PATH you are stating is the default one and usually desired. Restricting it to only /usr/local/bin would make a lot of default applications - like vim, ls, or even sudo that reside in /usr/bin/ or /bin/ - inaccessible without typing their whole paths every time.


iOS 10 play a Smart Playlist on iPhone Have a Smart Playlist "ALL" made of multiple simple playlists ; that was created with iTunes on a Mac. All the music comes from CDs and is locally on the Mac, and on iPhone (via sync).

After a Sync, on the iPhone (6+, latest iOS 10) the Smart Playlist "ALL" appears in Music that I'd like to play, but there's just a menu
(in "Downloaded Music")

Download
Remove
Add to Playlist (what is that?)

Download? What is it going to Download? All the Music being already locally on the iPhone in the Library.

Must be missing something obvious, I just want to play "ALL", how can i do that?

Edit May 2017

The question was not so clear.It was actually a bug (smart playlists not syncing in iOS 10), and this answer fixed it for me. Basically

go to Library in iTunes (Mac/PC side, not "My Device")
right-click and "Duplicate" all problematic playlists
delete the old ones, rename the duplicated ones to their old name (if you cannot stand the "1" added to the renamed playlist)
go to your "Device" and sync the "Entire Library"

It seems we are talking here about possibility of creating/transferring Smart Playlists from iTunes for Mac to iPhone.

There was such a possibility back in the days, it flawlessly worked with old iPod Nano in the old iTunes, according to the apple discussions. You could configure complicated filters based on given starts for the tracks, genres, years, etc. and to generate the Smart Playlists, which allowed to play the same music with the specific order on your devices.

I checked my settings (the latest iOS and OS Sierra) - and I still have the smart playlists, so Apple haven't removed the possibility of using them. Smart playlists are present in their documentation as well. So it means it should work out of the box.

You have to make sure, you turned on the music and playlists synchronization in your iTunes:

Select the Music tab in the left panel of iTunes.
Click Sync Music at the top of the iTunes screen in order to sync music to your iPhone.
Click the button next to Entire Music Library to sync all your iTunes music to your iPhone (Please, note, this only works if your phone's storage is bigger than your library. If it isn't, you'll get some of your music but not all of it.)
Click the button next to Selected playlists, artists, albums, and genres to specify which music is downloaded to your iPhone. Sync playlists by checking the boxes in the Playlist section or all music by specific artists by checking the boxes in the Artists section. Sync all music in a particular genre or from a given album by clicking the boxes in the Genres and Albums sections.


How to mark some columns as ignored for calculations Numbers? I'm creating a template on Numbers and I would like to know if there is a way for the formula to ignore, or skip over some cells or even entire columns. I need these columns for some calculations, but need them to be overlooked for others. The catch being, which column will have to be skipped over will be different every time.

Maybe there is a way to "mark" a column to be ignored, with the help of a checkbox, perhaps?

Or is there an even easier, more obvious way that has eluded me?

In practice, you could sum each column and then sum just the the sum row.

That way, you can delete the sum of the column to be skipped when needed and it should be clear about which of the columns is ignored.

A more general solution will be tricky since it's programming in conditional values or conditional functions that are much harder to maintain, debug and be confident your math is correct as you use the tool over time.


Why does my gmail sometimes go to "Recovered Messages"? I'm using a mid-2011 iMac on Sierra (just updated a few weeks ago, from Mavericks).

Apple Mail is often, but not always, sending mail from one of my several GMail accounts, to "Recovered Mail" in the "On My Mac" section.  I have no idea why... there's nothing special about these emails, they're from a variety of sources, and those same sources sometimes come through normally, and sometimes not.

What is causing only some emails, some of the time, from only this specific GMail account, to go to Recovered Messages instead of my normal inbox like they should?

Actually I did just notice something they have in common.  Every one of them would have fallen into a rule I've set up, to move the messages into specific folders.  But I have lots of other messages that would also have triggered the same rules, and were unaffected.

An additional piece of information - these messages apparently will not move to their correct places even if I apply my rules to them.  They appear to - they disappear from Recovered Messages but they will eventually reappear there again.  They span almost 24 hours from yesterday to today (November 13).  I have tried a rebuild, but it did nothing.

Have you added and removed your GMail account recently? I see recovered messages mostly after removing an account and re-adding it.
Another solution would be to try clear Mail offline cache.


Behaviour of development certificate in apple developer portal and keychain This is a question regarding Apple Development Certificates. There are two parts:
Part 1: create and download certificates on apple developer portal.
Background:
I can download my teammates developments certificates as well as mine on the apple developer portal certificate management page. When I download others', there is no private key linked to the certificate, When I download mine, there is. This makes total sense: I should have only access to my own private keys.
Questions:
The question is: is this determined by the developer portal? I log into developer portal, so when I download the certs, developer portal will give me the private key if the certs belong to me?
The next question is: where does the private key come from? Does developer portal generate the private keys based on the CSR I uploaded when I create the certificate?
Part 2: certificates in keychain
Background:
In keychain, there is a "My Certificates" category. After I imported the certificates for myself and my teammates, all my certificates appear under the "My Certificates" category, and my teammates' certificates are excluded from this category. This makes total sense.
Question:
How does Keychain know that these certificates belong to me? What information in the certificates are used by Keychain to achieve that? I thought it's the apple id in the certificate, but when I log out from my Macbook, Keychain still knows my certificates.

First part of your question:
No, this does not have to do with the developer portal at all. The private key is on your local computer in advance, and "linked up" with the certificate when you download that. The private key is not stored in the developer portal, and it is not generated by the developer portal either.
You generate the private key on your local computer as part of generating the initial CSR.
Second part:
Keychain assigns certificates for which you have the private key to the "My Certificates" group. It has nothing to do with your Apple-ID.
If the private key is on your computer, the corresponding certificate is listed under "My Certificates".


iMac shuts down during startup I'm experiencing a shutdown of an iMac during startup, when the progression bar almost halfway.

I tried, with no success:
- starting up from the iMac recovery partition and checking the HD with Disk Utility (rebuilt permission, verified the HD)
- Safe Boot
- Fsck

Before attempting to reinstall Mac OS I think I need to backup the iMac first.

Any other check suggested before trying to re-install Mac OS?

Thanks for any insight!

To attempt to back it up you could try starting in Target Disk mode & connect it to another Mac.

It is potentially safe - as you've checked the disk already with no errors - to simply overlay a new OS on top of the existing one without disturbing any other data. Run 'Install macOS' from the Recovery partition.


Can I accept a call on iPhone without manual intervention? I would like to know if I can accept a call without me or any person hitting the accept button?
It can happen immediately after receiving the call or after any number of rings, but automatic it should be.

There is an app called AutoAnswer, but it only works on jailbroken phones.  If you're into that sort of thing, you can find an article on it here:

http://www.ijailbreak.com/cydia/autoanswer-automatically-answer-specific-numbers-and-facetime-calls-on-your-iphone/


brew: Failed to set filetime 1503098583 on outfile: errno 1 I see now often a new error when invoking brew. It works anyway, but I wonder how to fix Failed to set filetime on outfile: errno 1

brew install redis
Failed to set filetime 1503098583 on outfile: errno 1
Failed to set filetime 1500719840 on outfile: errno 1
Failed to set filetime 1503105755 on outfile: errno 1
Failed to set filetime 1503098357 on outfile: errno 1
Failed to set filetime 1503115442 on outfile: errno 1
Failed to set filetime 1499154411 on outfile: errno 1
Updating Homebrew...
==> Auto-updated Homebrew!
Updated 3 taps (caskroom/cask, cloudfoundry/tap, homebrew/core).
==> New Formulae

I had the same issue, and similar situation as others via Github Homebrew/brew #issue 2921.

It was the "remote-time" line from my ~/.curlrc file.

To fix it, just comment out the line with a # like:

#remote-time


what is the hotkey to move to a particular desktop out of all the desktops I know i can use 3 swipe left and right to move to the previous or next desktop, but I think it would be more helpful to have a hotkey to do it and not just moving previously or next, but rather to a particular one.

Open System Preferences
Select "Keyboard" under "the Hardware" section
Select the "Keyboard Shortcuts" tab
Select "Mission Control" from the left table
Expand the "Mission Control" section

Once there you can see, set, and enable shortcuts to individual Mission Control screens.


How to easily save all open Safari tabs on iOS? On macOS, I can choose Add Bookmarks for These 108 Tabs... which let's me save all open tabs to a bookmarks folder.

Is there an equivalent on iOS?

  My workaround is to use iCloud tabs to copy the tabs from iOS to macOS and then do the above.

edit: as of iOS 13 this function is built in. See answer below.

Previously:

  Not sure but maybe with "Workflow" app ? But I really don't think that
  that's a thing on iOS. Consider submitting a feedback for it so it
  might get included one day.

September 2019:

As of iOS 13 you can add all the open tabs in bookmark, here is a screenshot of safari I just did


Error installing windows 7 on virtual box I'm using Mavericks OS X (10.9.3), I installed virtual box v 4.3.12 and downloaded the windows7 enterprise edition image file for 64 bit (licensed version) it has the file name as English_Windows_7_Professional_SP1_W64_X17-59186.img

When I'm trying to install Windows 7 through virtual box, it shows some error after adding the .img file

Failed to open the optical disk file /Users/Downloads/English_Windows_7_Professional_SP1_W64_X17-59186/English_Windows_7_Professional_SP1_W64_X17-59186.img.

Could not get the storage format of the medium '/Users/Downloads/English_Windows_7_Professional_SP1_W64_X17-59186/English_Windows_7_Professional_SP1_W64_X17-59186.img' (VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED).

Result Code:    VBOX_E_IPRT_ERROR (0x80BB0005)
Component:  Medium
Interface:  IMedium {05f2bbb6-a3a6-4fb9-9b49-6d0dda7142ac}
Callee: IVirtualBox {fafa4e17-1ee2-4905-a10e-fe7c18bf5554}
Callee RC:  VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80BB0001)

While adding the virtual disk file, it doesn't show .img file as a supportive file type. Take a look at the screenshot. (in the above case, I selected all type of files)

Select a virtual machine by clicking its name in the VirtualBox window
Click the Machine menu at the top of the VirtualBox window, and click Settings
Click the Storage category in the Settings window
Right-click in the storage tree pane, and click Add Floppy Controller
Right-click the Floppy Controller device, and click Add Floppy Device
Click the Choose Disk button in the prompt window that appears
Navigate to the floppy disk image file (.IMG) on your computer and double-click it

If that doesn't work, try renaming the .IMG as .ISO and mount it.

If that too doesn't work, use VBoxManage's convertfromraw command as follows:

VBoxManage convertfromraw -format VDI [filename].img [filename].vdi

Mount the VDI as a disk.


Repeat a song in afplay I am using afplay to play a song and I want it to be repeat. Is it possible just using afplay?

Loop it in cycle:

In terminal:

while :; do afplay /path/to/song.mp3; done


Missed calls on lock screen iPhone 11 Pro I don't mind seeing the missed call notification, but the instant redial feature results in too many unwanted calls -- like returning spam and political calls I didn't want in the first place. I have "Return missed calls" turned off in Settings but some other factor is overriding it. Yes, I'd like to see what missed call the notification is referring to, but I'll forgo that luxury if it means I instantly return the call.
TIA

Notification bodies are protected on the lock screen by default. You don't need to tap the notification to see what the message in the notification is; in fact, that causes the redial.
When you get a notification that just says ‘Notification’, look at your device to unlock it. If your device isn't looking for your face, slightly slide up from the bottom of the device. When the device is unlocked, the notification text will be revealed.
No need to swipe all the way up to the home screen and don't tap the notification.


How to bulk rename in OS X with my requirements Is there a utility that can rename filters in multiple subfolders and then rename the files inside sequentially?

E.g. I select my-pictures and it'll do its magic and sequentially rename all the files in all the subfolders. For each new subfolder, the numbering resets to 1.

old structure

my-pictures (parent folder)
-- folder1
---- in-costa-rica.png
---- swimming-at-beach-costa-rica.png
-- panama-folder
---- panama-canal.png
---- with-witch-doctor.png

desired/new structure

my-pictures (parent folder)
-- folder1
---- 0001.png
---- 0002.png
-- panama-folder
---- 0001.png
---- 0002.png

The following lines in Terminal should do the trick

for dir in my-pictures/*; do
    if [[ -d "$dir" ]]; then
        cd "$dir"
        i=0
        for file in *; do
            echo mv "$file" $(printf "%04d" $i).png
            (( i=i+1 ))
        done
        cd -
    fi
done

I've put in an echo statement to suppress execution so you can test it first. If the output looks ok, just remove the echo and rerun.

This assumes that there are no more than 1000 files in each subfolder, none of the files is already renamed and that all of them are PNG pictures.

By default, files are sorted by name. If you want to sort by date, replace the second for statement with

for file in $(ls -t); do