Can I create an iTunes account without a credit card? I am trying to create a iTunes account for my younger cousin, but he does not have a credit card (he's too young). Tried Google, seems outdated on this issue.

I seem to have found a method. First i open itunes, app store and click a free app, it will prompt me to sign in or create new acc. When i create new acc i can choose Nil as a payment option. Thanks for the other methods too.


How can one jump to a specific line in Numbers? In Numbers on a MacBook Pro Early 2013, how can one jump to a specific line, such as line 4223860.

The data is actually csv formatted, and I have no clue what is inside that line.

Any help is very much appreciated.

If you have trouble opening the file and you just want to see that line try the following in Terminal. If you have never used Terminal before, note that you must navigate to the directory where the file is first, the easiest is to copy that file to your Desktop and run the following command in Terminal to navigate to your desktop folder:

cd ~/Desktop

Then run this command:

head -4223860 mybigfile.csv|tail -1 > export.csv

where "mybigfile.csv" would be your filename and export.csv is the name of the exported file. You can also display the line in terminal without saving to any file with:

head -4223860 mybigfile.csv|tail -1


How Can I control my Office Mac with my Home Mac? How Can I control my Office Mac with my Home Mac?

Both Macs are in different networks. So with the default setting they don't see each other.

There are a number of alternatives, but they depend somewhat upon how your networks are configured. Generally I would assume that a work network would be fairly “locked down”.

The Ideal Case (which seldom works)

Assuming two “open” networks, you’d need to make sure that, on the Office Mac, you have gone to System Preferences » Sharing » and enable either Screen Sharing (at least) or Remote Management (at most).

Remote Management includes a number of options in addition to screen sharing.

If possible, I would also recommend enabling “Remote Login” on the work Mac. That will allow you to connect via SSH, which you can sometimes do while screen sharing for increased security.

But then you need to know how to connect to the Office Mac, which would require "port forwarding on the office network.

Which you are unlikely to have or be able to get in most places.

Which brings me to my other suggestions.

The Common Alternatives

Rather than deal with all of that, there are various programs out there which will try to make the process simpler by installing a "helper" application on the Office Mac, and then using a related app on your Home Mac.

I will mention two that I have used and can recommend:

Screens and Screens Connect
Jump Desktop and Jump Desktop Connect

Both of these apps are very good. Screens is more well-known, I believe, but I have started using Jump Desktop and found it to be every bit as good if not somewhat better. If you have a
Setapp subscription, both apps are included. If you don't, both apps have trial versions available.

The idea is the same with both: install the "Connect" app on your Office Mac. Run it, walk through the configuration process, etc. Then make sure that it is still running when you head home. If you run into errors here, it's probably because your work network is locked down to the point that won't allow it to work. That would not surprise me at all. In fact, I'd be more surprised if it works.

But, assuming that it does work, install the other app on your Home Mac, and use the same login/configuration information that you used when setting up your Office Mac.

If your Office Mac network is allowing the connection, you ought to be able to see, connect, and log in to your Office Mac from your home Mac.


Recommended malware/virus scanner for mac? I have been searching for a good virus/malware scanner for my mac. But I'm scared that I might download some trashy software because all the stuff I find on google just turn out to be ads.
Do you have any recommendations?

I would recommend MalwareBytes. However, macOS already includes XProtect, which is a regularly updated blacklist of malware. On top of that, there are lots of built-in security features that make it very difficult for malware to do damage: processes are limited in what they can read or write.
Of course, I'm not suggesting that 'Macs don't get malware'. But if you're already cautious about downloading 'trashy software', then that's as effective as anything.
What you didn’t ask is are there products more effective than one that just tries to catch up with known malware. There’s a class of products that scan for suspicious behavior so you can decide if a program is worth the risk or be alerted to an uncatalogued risk. Start with Objective See products in that case.

https://objective-see.com/products/blockblock.html

LuLu and KnockKnock are worth looking at as well as the linked BlockBlock app from above.


Trouble with SSD/HDD in Macbook Pro Mid 2009 When my original HDD crashed I wanted to change it and choose a Samsung HDD (I don't not the exact model anymore). The problem with this one was that the system often hanged for several seconds until it worked again for a short time. Often the colored spinning wheel appeared and I had to wait. The MacBook Pro was unusable with this.

Then I bought a Hitachi HDD from my colleague that was built in another MacBook an it worked perfectly. There were no problems.

A week ago I decided to put in the Crucial M4 SSD with 128 GB. The same problem as with the Samsung HDD. I've cloned my old HDD, reinstalled the system, but nothing helped. Even the re-installation took me several hours, not as usual. I've also upgraded the Crucial HDD to the newest firmware without any success.

Why does this happens or does somebody have any idea to get the SSD working?
Was it just coincidence that the Hitachi HDD worked and the other two didn't?

Is your MacBook Pro the MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.53GHz, Mid 2009) model?  That model of MBP had a known issue where it would constantly beach-ball with non Apple drives.  There was a firmware update available but that hasn't fixed all units.

From personal (and professional) experience I've found upgrading to Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 fixed about 50% of the time, all other units had to have an official Apple drive fitted to fix the issue.

Basically your only options are to upgrade to Snow Leopard (I'm unsure of whether Lion includes the relevant firmware updates) or complain to Apple so much that they give you a replacement unit.  Ugh.


iOS data usage specifics - iTunes Accounts I'm trying to find out what does "iTunes Accounts" traffic stands for on iOS, since it has gobbled 850MB on cellular data in 13 days.
I have iTunes Match on but have disabled the Music app to access data on cellular networks.
I'm on iOS 8.3 since today, data was consumed on 8.2.

Probably iTunes & App Store background downloads.

You can prevent these, so it only updates when you're connected to wifi, in
Settings > iTunes & App Store…  by disabling Cellular Data
[I also prevent all automatic downloads, so mine only updates from iTunes itself, on my Mac]


How to Enable QuickPath (Swipe) keyboard on iPad iOS 13 delivered a a new “swipe to type” keyboard called QuickPath.  New features available with iOS 13.  This is similar to the Word Flow on Windows Phones and the Swipe Keyboard for Android.

It’s enabled by default on the iPhone, but not on the iPad. How can I enable this useful feature?

This requires the floating keyboard.
To use the floating keyboard, simply use the “pinch” gesture on the keyboard as if you were “pinching to zoom out.” The floating keyboard will appear.  You can then use the QuickPath (swipe) keyboard functionality.
If you need to move the keyboard, simply drag it by holding the grey bar at the bottom and dragging it to your desired location.
To restore the keyboard back to full size, either drag it to the bottom of the screen or use the "pinch out" gesture.


Why do my new sunglasses make my iPhone and iPad look funny? Ok, I know... it's the polarization. And as the company just tweeted at me:

  "Sorry about that! The polarization will protect your eyes though!"

This effect does not affect all Apple products (I get no weird glossy sheen on my Macbook Retina while wearing these sunglasses).

So which products does this affect? And is there anything I can do to mitigate the effect, such as affix a glare filter?

It seems it's not EVERY phone or iPad - have you tried taking our device to the Apple Store and asking them?  (Yeah, I know, it's not always convenient and if you do, make sure you make a Genius Bar appointment ahead of time so you don't have to wait).

Take a look at this page:
http://www.phonearena.com/news/iPads-and-polarized-sunglasses-dont-mix_id28909

I can't seem to find why the problem occurs - it seems to be something about polarization needs to be at 45 degrees:
Why are LCD Panels Polarized at 45 degrees


How do I change the profile picture in iTunes 12? I'm not even sure if this is possible but there is a profile picture in iTunes 12 that just has a default user icon showing and it's really bugging me. See below:

Is there any way to change this to an actual profile picture?

Simply put: No, you can not change it.

This is because Apple has designed it that way, and the only way of doing it would be going into the iTunes files, and if you're lucky and find an uncompressed image and just changing that one.

Otherwise, sorry but it isn't possible.


How to securely erase an arbitrary SATA drive, utilizing the drive firmware to do so? The problem with using Disk Utility or dd if=/dev/zero to erase a disk is that:

It applies unnecessary wear to SSD drives.
It sends the drive's capacity worth of zeroes over the drive's interface. If you're on an older Mac that has a poorly performing USB 2 ports, it'll take much longer than necesary. It'll also tax your CPU and USB subsystem with sending all those zeroes around.
The firmware-based secure delete can be much faster than sending zeroes to the drive, even on spinning platter drives. For drives with encryption support, it'll be almost instantaneous, as all the drive needs to do is to overwrite the encryption keys and the data becomes useless. On those drives, and on SSDs, a secure erase should take 1-4 minutes (!).

All modern drives support ATA Secure Erase commands. These commands have the drive's firmware perform the erasure of the data.

On Linux, the hdparm utility exposes this functionality to the user - see hdparm --security-help for details.

Unforunately, there's no hdparm for OS X, since OS X doesn't provide any way for userland to send arbitrary SATA commands to the drive :(

Is there an easy workaround?

There are three ways of dealing with it:

OS X provides good userland access to any USB device, so if one wished to bundle hdparm with a USB storage driver, it'd be possible to use hdparm on USB-connected devices to perform secure erasure.
Alternatively, you could write a kernel driver to expose this functionality to the userland.
Finally, you can use a virtual machine running linux, since both VMware Fusion and VirtualBox expose USB devices to the guest. I'll detail this last solution here.

The steps are:

Buy a USB 2 or USB 3 hard drive enclosure. I've verified that the NexStar NST-D306S3 dock works great.
Plug it into a USB 2 port. I never got it working with USB 3 ports, due to bugs in Linux kernel.
Set up a new VM and attach systemrescuecd image to the virtual CD drive. The VM does not need a hard drive, and needs only 256 MB of RAM.
Boot up the VM. Attach the drive to the VM.
Ensure that only one USB device is attached to the VM. This storage device will be available as /dev/sda.
Issue the following commands on sysrescuecd's console:

hdparm --user-master u --security-set-pass NULL /dev/sda
hdparm --user-master u --security-erase NULL /dev/sda

That's it. Your drive will be completely wiped by its own firmware, without using any appreciable amount of USB bandwidth, CPU, nor drive's write endurance (for SSDs). This works perfectly even on the earliest Intel Mac, and won't slow the machine down any. You can use VMware Fusion or VirtualBox, both work equally well for this purpose.


Is the a CLI way to download all photos from a Photos.app iCloud shared album? Is there a way from the CLI on MacOS or Linux to download all the photos from a shared photo album (an album shared with me from another iCloud user, that shows up the shared tab on iOS or under the shared heading on MacOS) in Photos.app? I would like to setup a cron job to sync the photos locally so I can add them to the rest of our backuped data.

Take a look at iCloud Photos Downloader it is a command line interface for iCloud Photos based on Python.

To install, you can type pip install icloudpd should the requirement of Python 2.7.x or 3.6.x be met. If you use Python 2.6.x will fail.

If you require Python, I reccomend using Homebrew Package Manager, which is known for being easy to install command line tools. If you’re going to install Python with this method, type brew install python

You can also install Python using the package found on their website.

If you’re looking for more info about the package and command usages / 2 Factor Authentication scenarios, take a look at the Repository’s Readme.


Launch terminal program from macOS app I use Fork and I'm trying to set up a custom command that will open a file in Vim. I'm not using MacVim, so the command needs to open a terminal, preferably iTerm2.

Executing /usr/local/bin/vim doesn't work because there's no terminal, so my command needs to launch a terminal and run Vim inside it. I think the open command should work:

/usr/bin/open /usr/local/bin/vim --args <absolute_file_path>

This opens a new iTerm2 tab and Vim launches inside it, but the file isn't opened. :ls shows that I'm editing a new buffer. If I pass the -h flag instead of a filename, Vim opens normally, so it's definitely not receiving the argument (or else it would display the help text instead of opening).

I get the same result even if I run the open command at the terminal, so I don't think this is Fork's issue.

Is there a command I can execute that will launch a terminal and run Vim inside it, passing an argument to Vim?

This only works with iTerm2, but I ended up using the following script I modified from one Stack Overflow that opens a new tab:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

osascript <<EOF
    tell application "iTerm"
        activate
        set win to create window with default profile
        tell current session of win
            select
            write text "vim '$1' && exit"
        end tell
    end tell
EOF

This opens a new iTerm window, runs vim inside it, then exits the shell when vim exits.


App Store download progress doesn't go away after successful download Even after I successfully download any apps from App Store, the progress of that download doesn't go away from dock.

How can I fix it?

The problem is on macOS High Sierra, 10.13.4.

Restart the Dock by executing: killall Dock.
Reset NVRAM.
Reset SMC.

Resetting NVRAM clears the cache which generally causes the issue.


How can I fix a macOS screenshot of an X11 window that’s bleached / white / too light? I'm facing a little problem while taking a screenshot of an X11 window
(using XQuartz - if there's something better out there, lemme know).
I tried everything:

Entire Screen
Window-Only
Selection

Even tried recording the screen, same results - the box I need to screenshot (the one on the right) is always white:

(Side note: In the pic above the window is not "focused" (selected), but even with the "focus" on it, nothing change - even tried using the XQuartz setting where it focus the window on mouseover.)
This is how it should be:

Any idea on what setting I might need to change, in order to get my screenshot to work properly?
Oh... Almost forgot, I'm running the last macOS Catalina update (10.15.6)
Thanks in advance.
I might've found a solution by setting the Output as low as "256 Colors"
This the result

Edit: Added a pic of how it should be.
Edit 2: Added a possible solution.

Go to Preferences under the XQuartz menu and then click on Output. You'll see a pulldown for colors.  Make sure its set to millions of colors. Then restart XQuartz.


Change OSX encryption filevault password to match login pass When I first setup my OSX laptop, my filevault and user login password were the same. At bootup, I only had to login once (with my username and password).

I recently changed my OSX password but my filevault / disk encryption password was not changed. Now I have to login twice when I boot up (first with my old pass, then with the new one).

Is there any way to change the disk encryption password so I can be in sync with my login password?

I tried Disk Util > File > Change Password, but it is greyed out.

Just bumped into this issue too, if you change password via

  Settings > Users & Groups > Change Password ...

you will be prompted twice, once for the File Vault original password and again for the new account password.  However if you change the password via

  Settings > Security & Privacy > Change Password ...

both will be updated, noting that you will be required to enter the account password not the File Vault original password, so you can reset the File Vault password by entering your new password three times.


Storage Apps more than 800 GB on 256 GB SSD My new Macbook pro 13 inch 256 GB (Early 2015)

Storage Apps more than 800 GB on 256 GB SSD

with scan by DaisyDisk Apps 30 GB

Although the issue I see normally is with "Backups" growing to ridiculous sizes, it's possible this issue is a variant of the same problem... Try typing sudo tmutil disablelocal into the Terminal and enter your password, then turn Time Machine off and on,. If this is the same issue, in a minute or two the numbers should return to normal.

What this does is it disables local time machine backups, which are occasionally useful if you don't backup often, or if you don't have access to your backup drive for an extended period of time, and would like to restore a recently modified document. It often bugs out in various ways.


Better Skype taskbar icon? One thing I miss from Windows is that I always had a Skype icon at the bottom of my screen that would tell me when I had new messages.  Right now, the Skype icon in the Mac taskbar only lets me click on it to change my online status.  Is there an app out there for a better Skype icon or would there be a way to customize it to do what I want?  On Windows, it turns gold and there's a number with how many new messages you have.

In the Skype Preferences, under the Notification tab, you can set the Skype icon to bounce, play a sound and display a built-in visual notification when you receive new messages. Click on the "Event" dropdown to select the events you require. Is this the sort of thing you were after?


Will the Genius Bar help me transfer my files between macs? I have a new macbook pro and would like to transfer the files from my old macbook pro. I need a firewire->thunderbolt cable to do this. I don't really want to pay $30 to buy a cable that I'm going to use once. Will the genius bar do this for me?

As a former Genius, I can say that we were always willing to lend cables to customers for in-store use, but we would not overtly assist with data exercises. Then primary reason is the legality: if Apple gets involved with your data, they become liable for your intellectual property...which can be a legal mess. It's the same reason Apple doesn't offer a guaranteed backup/restore service during a repair.

So, my advice would be book a Genius Bar appointment, explain your situation to a technician, and go from there. The worst they can say is no.

P.S. Unless Apple Retail Store policy has changed, you have a 14-day return policy. I had customers buy a cable, use it for a few days, then return it due to "buyers remorse." ;)


Free app for tracking data usage per app I have a user that I want to monitor as he has a specific app which downloads a lot of updates. However the user will not pay for apps and its difficult to procure it over official channels.

Ergo i'm looking for a free app that can do this. I was surprised by how difficult it was to find one in the App Store, especially when this level of granularity is native on Android and can be tracked over custom time periods.

I dont believe the Cellular Data setting

Does anyone have any recommendations?

iOS sandboxing prevents apps from getting access to data usage of other apps. That's why iOS has the Data Usage section in Settings to show exactly that.

There might be solutions for jailbroken phones, but given your constraints a jailbreak doesn't seem to be an option.

PS: If you don't trust the numbers in Data Usage, why would you trust those in a 3rd party app?


How can I see messages I send in Mail 5's Conversation View? I love Mail 5's new Conversation View. But, I don't like that it only shows messages sent to me, and doesn't show the messages I send.

Is there a way to show both messages I receive and messages I send in Conversation View?

Go to Mail-> Preferences-> Viewing and check Include related messages (under View conversations: at the bottom).

This will show "related messages", which (as far as I can tell) means messages that you send in the same conversation.


Debugging iPad Pro using MacBook We would like to test and debug problems with our website when it is viewed using the latest iPad Pro. Our development environment is entirely Windows.

We've got very close to being able to debug the iPad using this webkit adapter on a Windows 10 machine but it is far from ideal. As a result we are considering investing in a Mac purely for debugging purposes.

Before we splash out on an expensive piece of kit please can I check that a MacBook is suitable for debugging an iPad Pro and if so would a MacBook Air do the job or would it need to be a MacBook Pro?

There's no requirement that you must use a "Pro" model in order to use the debugging tools in Safari. The MacBook Air has the exact same functionality. In fact there's no specific hardware requirement for this - it might as well be macOS running in a virtual machine on a computer running Windows.

Ofcourse there are other differences between the Pro and Air machines regarding performance, screen size, weight, etc.

Depending on your needs, you might be able to get by with renting a remote Mac online. Several services exists (Such as MacStadium) that allows you to rent Mac for a month or even by the hour. The Mac is accessed with remote desktop software. You could use remote USB software such as VirtualHere to access your iPad over USB from the remote Mac.

In order to do remote debugging of the web site on the iPad, you'll need to first enable it on the iPad:

Open Settings => Safari => Advanced
Toggle "Web Inspector" to on

Then plugin the iPad with a USB cable to the computer, and then do the following in Safari:

Open the Safari menu => Preferences => Advanced
Make sure "Show Develop menu in menu bar" is checked

Now you have the web inspector (what you call debugger) setup.

After opening your web site on the iPad, then open Safari on the computer and access the Develop menu. You'll find your iPad in the list, where you can choose your web site - the web inspector with debugger will be shown on the computer.


MacBook Pro camera and microphone used by malware? Given the increasing number of reports about malware for Apple computers, I am concerned by the fact that there's no simple way to physically block the camera while I'm using my MacBook Pro.

Is it possible an OSX virus or maybe an exploit in Flash could be used to activate the camera, without turning on the green recording light at the top center? Or is this impossible due to the hardware of MBP?

A related question arises concerning the microphone, could it be used by malware to secretly record conversations around the computer? If so, what are the best ways of preventing this?

I'm fairly certain the green light is hard-wired to the camera, there's no way to activate the camera without activating the light, precisely for privacy reasons. If you're really concerned about it, you can always just use a piece of electrical tape to cover the camera (or fold a piece of cardboard over the top of the lid for a non-sticky solution).

Frankly I wouldn't worry too much about the risk of malware. That particular piece of malware (MacDefender) was contained fairly quickly by Apple, it's very unlikely that you could be infected by it now, unless you maintain an unpatched system. There have been a few OS X security issues lately (such as Flashback), and they get a lot of press, but the actual amount of harmful software out there for a Mac is extremely low.

My advice is to keep your system up to date and avoid downloading files from questionable sources. But other than that, don't worry too much, unless you have a highly sensitive job (in which case there should be other people whose job it is to worry about it).


iMessage not working on iPhone without sim My friend never had a sim for her iPhone 4. She uses the phone as a skype device and camera (and she loved it that way!). I recently persuaded her to update to iOS 5.1, created a new iCloud account (she never had one), enabled iMessage. However, she does not receive any iMessages. She can send out iMessages but they do not reach me (I have a working iPhone with iCloud, iMessages). I have restarted her machine several times and did a clean install of iOS 5.1. Can anyone tell me what might be incorrect here? (I see that a lot of people have an iPhone without sim working as an iMessage device.)

I can iMessage from my Wifi only iPad, so it can be done. I have a feeling it has something to do with the sending or receiving address. I would check the Messages setting to make sure it is set to her Apple ID/email address. I would also try, instead of her sending it to your phone number, having her send it to your Apple ID/email address, as that is more universally recognized. It would be interesting to know if she can iMessage other iPhones as well.


How to access files on a networked smb server with Python on macOS I have a bunch of files that sit on a networked drive to which I can connect by using Finder > Go > Connect to Server and entering the address smb://smb-name.institute.name.org/DRIVENAME and then entering my credentials.

But I need to connect to this from Python so I can run Python code that analyzes those files. How can I do so?

So far I tried the answer here but nothing seems to happen when I do this. (I do not need to copy or clone the files over to my computer, I just need to access them from Python so perhaps this is not the right thing to do anyway.)

I also found this by Googling but am getting a ConnectionRefused error when I execute the line assert conn.connect(server_ip, 139) where I set server_ip to be the URL I used to connect my Mac or a "gaierror: [Errno 8] nodename nor servname provided, or not known" depending on if I enter just the beginning part or the whole URL.

I would appreciate any help as I am new to smb, networking and all of this and connecting to a networked drive with Python on a Mac.

After discussing in chat the OP was able to solve the issue by creating a mount point.

sudo mkdir /Volumes/test
sudo mount_smbfs //user:pass@url.com/folder /Volumes/Test

This can be done with python by eliminating the sudo but running the script/application as admin.


is it possible to cast from iPhone to apple TV and HomePod? I want to to be able to watch my Apple TV movie on my TV. I currently have Apple TV connected by HDMI to my Samsung TV and I also have a HomePod. I want to be able to stream the picture to the TV (possibly using the Apple TV device) and stream the audio to the HomePod. Is this possible?

Yes.

iPhone will airplay to the AppleTV which can select the HomePod(s) as the audio from AppleTV.


Macbook 10.9.5 Firefox freeze After updating OS X on my Macbook 2011 to 10.9.5 I've started facing Firefox (32.0.3) freezing for a minute when macbook is resumed from suspend. Does anyone have thoughts, where to look for a cause of that? As far as I know, no other software is affected.

As you probably well know FF had a rough road recently.

Starting with FF 32.0.0 they got up to 32.0.1, 32.0.2 and 32.0.3 in one week while trying to solve a problem that  shows up as heavy CPU loading and sluggish behavior.

They are still working on resolving the issues with last release.

Best you can do is disable all add-on and extensions to test if it gets better.

FYI:

Here is my Console log with FF 32.0.3 Start UP.

kernel[0]: firefox (map: 0xffffff80384f42d0) triggered DYLD shared region unnest for map: 0xffffff80384f42d0, region 0x7fff8cc00000->0x7fff8ce00000. While not abnormal for debuggers, this increases system memory footprint until the target exits.

kernel[0]: firefox (map: 0xffffff8038d30d20) triggered DYLD shared region unnest for map: 0xffffff8038d30d20, region 0x7fff8cc00000->0x7fff8ce00000. While not abnormal for debuggers, this increases system memory footprint until the target exits.

firefox[602]: stat on /Users/Buscar/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/2l6bevrl.default/sessionstore.js: No such file or directory

And the associated Start UP times (from FF Health Report).


Help me transfer contacts to new phone So my mom just bought a new Iphone 7 and she wants me to transfer ONLY her contacts to her new phone but cant i just login in with the apple ID on the New phone and everything would restore on it? If not please show a easy way to do this

Yes, contacts are linked to your Apple ID. To import them, just to go Settings > iCloud on both the old and new phone and enable contacts.

After that, go into the contacts app on the new phone and hit the refresh button. Her contacts should appear shortly.


Copy Books from Mac to iBooks for iPhone without using iCloud or iCloud Drive I would like to read all of my books on my iPhone in iBooks, but there seems to be no way to copy the books into iBooks. I can't use iCloud/iCloud Drive because there is not enough space available in iCloud to store all of my books.

It seems that iTunes is only able to sync audio books to my iPhone and not (ePub) books (like it used to).

The new iBooks for Mac can display my collection quite nicely but only allows me to sync via iCloud.

How can I copy Books from my Mac to iBooks for iPhone without using iCloud or iCloud Drive?

Any file transfer option that simply copies the file directly will suffice, or you can use a third-party ebook manager such as Calibre.

To transfer the files directly, you can use AirDrop or file syncing options such as Dropbox and Google Drive. Of these, I would personally recommend using AirDrop, as since it is transferred with a local ad-hoc Wi-Fi connection, it never needs to leave your local network and allows for fast transfer speeds of even very large files. Note that this will only work if your iOS and Mac devices meet these requirements.

The Apple support website offers these instructions for using AirDrop to send files to an iOS device:

  Choose Go > AirDrop from the menu bar in the Finder. Or select
  AirDrop in the sidebar of a Finder window.
  The AirDrop window shows
  nearby AirDrop users. Drag one or more items to the recipient's
  image in the window, then click Send.

  Or use the Share feature:

  Click the Share button, if available in your app. Or Control-click an item in the Finder, then choose Share from the shortcut menu.
  The Share menu lists several sharing options. Choose AirDrop.
  Select a recipient from the AirDrop sheet, then click Done.

If you'd rather have a library of all your books on your computer, and then sync them semi-automatically, this answer gives some information as to how to use Calibre with an iOS device.


Order of operations on clean High Sierra install: APFS Encryption or Filevault? Both? When doing a clean install with High Sierra, I have the option to do APFS or APFS Encrypted.

If I choose APFS Encrypted, do I also need to do Filevault as well? Is it the same thing?

Here is what I found useful for me. To avoid a double login situation, or where you see both the User login and Disk Password on the login screen after boot, do NOT select APFS Encrypted in Disk Utility when formatting the hard drive. Select the regular APFS file format, and THEN apply Filevault once you complete setup.

This applies to when you are installing from a bootable usb stick, as it was in my case.

I hope this is helpful for you!


Disable Mac notifications when running Parallels in full screen? I am on a Mac running Parallels 12. When I run my Windows 10 VM in full screen mode, I don't want to see email or Slack notifications from Mac OS, just Windows 10.

How do I disable Mac OS notifications from coming through when I am running my Windows 10 VM in full screen? Otherwise, I end up seeing double notifications, one for Mac, and one for Windows.

You can turn on Do Not Disturb mode from the notification centre quickly before entering fullscreen on parallels.

Open Notification Center -> Pull Down to reveal Do Not Disturb toggle.

Alternatively, You can go to "System Preferences" -> Notifications to set custom Do Not Disturb settings.


Mac Mail - Account already exists error when adding gmail I added a new gmail account to Mac Mail via the File> Add Account, but the mailbox does not show up in mail.

If I try to add it again, it says the account already exists. It does exist in System Preferences > Internet Accounts, but does not exist in Mail.

I am updated to 10.10.3 and Mail.app is Version 8.2 (2098)

Anyone have a fix?

Yes - this can be caused by three things. iCloud being messed up (and trying to sync your internet accounts) and corruption on the Mail settings and corruption in general in your user settings.

To troubleshoot this:

A. Write down your add/remove procedure and don't deviate from it. My guess is it should be:

Quit Mail and make sure it doesn't launch when you log in
Remove the account from system prefs
Reboot
Add the account in - optionally test something other than mail first like a bogus calendar entry to check the account and google servers.
Test Mail by enabling the account and then finally launching Mail

B. Set up a brand new user account - with no iCloud and no Apple ID. Try adding the mail account there from System Preferences - Internet Accounts Preference Pane

If that doesn't work - your gmail is messed up or you need to reinstall the Mac from scratch (i.e. something is really wrong with the OS - this would be my last resort - make sure Gmail settings are clear at that point before backing up and wiping the Mac)

C. Sign out of iCloud on your Mac with your normal account.

Get a good backup before you delete content on the Mac. You will want to delete anything that's synced to iCloud to let the system clear out data that depends on iCloud. If you're paranoid, export data like Contacts and Calendar to a stand alone export/backup before you take this step. Then repeat the remove/add procedure.

D. Go to the logs. You'll need to run sysdiagnose Mail and then get into Console app and perhaps Log Connection Activity by opening the Mail Connection Doctor and checking that option.


2015 13" MacBook Pro Trackpad and Keyboard stop working Recently the keyboard and trackpad on my 2015 13" MacBook Pro have stopped working. This is the second laptop to do this, the same issue happened about 6 months ago and Apple gave me a new one when they could not figure it out.

The issue usually starts with force touch not working then progresses to the keyboard and trackpad not being recognized at all. Currently the power button works and force touch works but all other keys and the trackpad don't work.

When this happens there are a lot of errors in the console regarding the AppleHSSPIController.

4/21/16 6:56:47.000 AM  kernel[0]   Error: AppleHSSPIDevice::start failed to get device descriptor
4/21/16 6:56:47.000 AM  kernel[0]   Error: AppleHSSPIController::_enumerateDevice Start failed
4/21/16 6:56:47.000 AM  kernel[0]   Error: AppleHSSPIController::_handleEnumerationFailureGated Giving up on device

You can see the full log here: http://pastebin.com/r8x9S46K

Since I ran into the same problem and this comes up on Google, I will provide an answer, even if there is no question.

When my keyboard and touchpad stopped working, the power button was still ok.
Resetting NVRAM did not help.
Using an external keyboard and mouse was fine.

Typing sudo dmesg | tail on the command line was showing similar messages:

AppleHSSPIController::_enqueueSPICommandGated SPICommand timed out. Interface 208, transactionType 64, frameNumber 0
Error: AppleHSSPIDevice::_DoDescriptorRequestGated Failed issue request error: 0xe00002ed
Error: AppleHSSPIDevice::getDeviceDescriptor Failed to get descriptor with error 0xe00002ed
Error: AppleHSSPIDevice::start failed to get device descriptor
Error: AppleHSSPIController::_enumerateDevice Start failed
Error: AppleHSSPIController::_handleEnumerationFailureGated Failed to enumerate the device. Resetting the device and trying to enumerate again. Attempt:1
IO80211AWDLPeerManager::setAwdlOperatingMode Setting the AWDL operation mode from AUTO to SUSPENDED
IO80211AWDLPeerManager::setAwdlSuspendedMode() Suspending AWDL, enterQuietMode(true)
AppleIntelLpssGspi1::calcSpiClockParams: fSysClockPeriodPsec 10000, spiClockPeriodNsec 125
Error: AppleHSSPIController::doSPITransfer ERR received from device

I brought it to the local Apple support partner. They first tried it by updating the touchpad controller software. Since that did not work either, they changed the HSSPI cable.


Can't automatically update iTunes apps from different country on Mac I purchased some apps in Argentina store, and then I moved to US store, and also got some apps.

Now I'm no able to automatically update the apps I got on Argentina store.

I tried to delete all my apps and re-download them at the US store, but that didn't work.
For example: I tried to download Skype for iPad in the US store, which is free, and it downloads it, but keeps showing as "Free" instead of "Downloaded", therefore I am not able to update it in iTunes with the other US apps.

I learned that unfortunately the best solution when moving to another country is to open a new account in the new country and go through the tedious task of logging with different accounts when you do the updates.

I didn't do that but my wife did. And now I have the exact same issues plaguing my account as you do. I moved from North America to Europe.

I partially solved the problem by restoring the iPhone and iPad. deleting and re-downloading the apps in iTunes and re-syncing the iPhone and iPad.

Now most applications simply appear in the Apps "Updates Available" section. Otherwise they can be updated directly from the iPad or the iPhone then synced back to iTunes.

But next to my Apps I still have 27 apps as showing for updates but I can't download them as the updates are available in the US store and the apps have different versions in the US than in my current store.


ipod touch 4g is unable to play music on docking station I am not sure how to word this or even if there is an answer.
I have a iPod Touch 4th generation that I upgraded to 5.1.1 last week. Since then I have not been able to play tunes through my docking station. It 'sees' the song and I can see the play count but there is no volume/song heard.

I can put my daughters 2nd generation iPod Touch on and it works fine so I know it isn't the docking station that is the problem.

Anyone know how to fix this?

We had the same problem but found it wouldn't work when the iPod had its cover on,  as soon as we removed the cover it worked fine. Hope this helps


Can I customize how file information is displayed in Finder There are 3 things I need from Finder for my work: I need finder to be in "Columns" view, I need the window to be relatively small, and I need to be able to see the "date modified" and "file size" in the preview pane.
Since upgrading to Catalina, the icon image in the preview pane has gotten so big that I can't see any of the file information without scrolling - I've cropped the image but you can see how the file information isn't visible. I found out how to get rid of the "more" section underneath, but I still can't see the file information without scrolling.

I've tried going to View > Show View Options > Unclicking "Show Icon Previews", but that doesn't do anything. Basically I'd like for the preview image to be much smaller, or for the file information to show up on top.
Here's an example of how it used to look where all the preview info was compact - this is how I'd like it to look in Catalina:

You can get control of how things are shown in the Finder by clicking on the Finder icon in the dock. This should bring the Finder to the front. From there go to the View menu and click on it. Near the bottom of this menu is an option "Show View Options". Click on this and it opens a new panel where you can set things in the Finder View.  The image below shows the panel for setting the Finder view.


How do I copy user home directories from one system to another while preserving all attributes? I am in the process of dismantling an old macOS High Sierra Server and rebuilding it as a macOS Mojave Server.

I've exported Users and Groups from OpenDirectory on the old one and imported them in the new one.

I could move the user's home folders by shutting the old system down, mounting it in Target Disk Mode on the other and using ditto.

But suppose I do not want that and I want both to keep running (e.g. because the old one is still providing services such as mail and DNS) as the new server is still in buildup and contents on it are experimental (final copy done before going live on the new one). The best way I can come up with that preserves everything is creating a DMG on one system, use ditto there and move that to the other and then do the reverse. Both source and target file system are APFS, a DMG will be HFS+.

Is there a better option that preserves 'everything' from the directories copied? It seems to me that tar and zip don't cover everything. I'm uncertain about rsync/rsync --daemon.

Try to ssh into one machine and use cp -avi -p.  -i = interactive, -p = preserve directory attributes , -v = verbose. I almost always use cp -avi which preservers structures and attributes of files being copied , with the exception of directory attributes.  From man cp

 -p: Cause cp to preserve the following attributes of each source
 file in the copy: modification time, access time, file flags,
 file mode, user ID, and group ID, as allowed by permissions.
 Access Control Lists (ACLs) and Extended Attributes (EAs),
 including resource forks, will also be preserved....

...continued


Location of java.security and deployment.properties files Where are java.security and deployment.properties files located on Mac OS Yosemite??

OSX Yosemite 10.10.5

  /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_67.jdk/Contents/Home/jre/lib/security/java.security


Is there any way to downgrade my Mac mini to Mojave 10.14.3? I updated my Mac mini to Catalina an this broke an important app I use. I think downgrading to 10.14.3 will make it work again (a colleague of mine has their Mac mini at this version and the app works) Is there a way I can downgrade it?

If you don't mind setting up the system afresh, you can wipe your disk clean and perform a fresh install of macOS Mojave by using a bootable USB installer or Internet recovery.


Taking battery out of my MacBook Pro Yesterday I bought my first Mac, the new Macbook Pro 13". Apple recommends not having the battery charged connected to the MacBook if the battery is 100%.

In other laptops I had, I could just remove the Battery and use it connected with the Battery Charger.

How do I do that with my MacBook Pro? Is there a way to take the battery out? Should I just unplug the Battery Charger and let the battery uncharge?

There is no way to remove the bettery without losing the warranty for your Macbook. Simply unplug the battery charger should do the trick.

If you want further information on how to maintain battery life, Apple is providing a useful page.


Login Start-Up Problems Whenever I log in to my Mac, the following programs automatically open up:  Firefox, Excel, Word, PPT, and VLC Media Player.  I went into System Preferences, Users & Groups, and Login Items, and the only thing in there was the iTunesHelper application.  Any idea on how I can or where I need to go on the Mac to stop these programs from automatically opening up after I log in?

thanks

-Paul

As @Hippo noted, you're probably talking about the OS X Lion feature where programs that are open at shutdown are automatically re-opened at startup unless you uncheck a checkbox when shutting down. Currently, there's no way to unselect that choice via the default UI.

However, a few posters in an Apple Discussion forum have provided some Terminal commands and created AppleScript scripts that can perform this task.

Terminal Solution

Scott Nash wrote:

  Open up your ~/Library/Preferencese/ByHost folder and delete
  the com.apple.loginwindow.<long alpha-numeric string>
  Copy and
  paste this command into Terminal:

  defaults write com.apple.loginwindow TALLogoutSavesState 0

  The file you deleted is the one that stores
  which apps and windows are open. The command directly writes the
  preference for saving the logout state.

  You can read the setting by
  using this command, although it should reflect the setting in the
  General System Prefs, now.
  defaults read com.apple.loginwindow
  Look
  for the line with TALLogoutSavesState. It should be 0, now.

  The
  checkbox in the shutdown dialog will remain checked, but you won't
  need to change it. It should ignore that since the main preference is
  set to not save state.

Script Solution

Vic07 wrote:

  By using a simple AppleScript application, you can achieve this in a
  consistent way.

  I've compiled an application that after clicking its
  icon, it will shut down your Mac with "save state" disabled. You can
  use this app on a daily basis instead of turning the Mac off in the
  traditional way.   A good idea could be putting it on your Dock so you
  always have it handy.

  You can download the app from here

Later in the discussion, he posts updated versions:

  CleanReboot and CleanShutDown have been updated to 2.0.

  This new
  version is /MUCH/ cleaner than the previous one, since instead of
  modifying the defaults it makes Finder act like if the user unchecked
  the save state checkbox and then clicked the Shut Down or Restart
  button.

  CleanShutDown 2.0
  CleanReboot 2.0

You may want to check out those scripts to see if they address your issue.

One of these two methods may address your issue - I'll have to test it on my Mac after I head home.


VM size in Activity Monitor: hundreds of GB? When I open the Activity Monitor, I get something looking like this: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1342.

But why the heck is "VM size" around 100-200 GB??

Here is the capture from the apple support:

See the "VM size: 172.23 GB".

Is that a bug, or can you explain to me where are those GB?

They are virtual and cost nothing to make.  The VM hands out space to each program that asks for any but leaves tons of room to grow between each real allocation. These virtual addresses get mapped into the real RAM space as needed and mapped out when they are freed or otherwise inactive. They can even get paged to your storage if needed.

You can reboot to convince yourself it starts back at zero. This is expected that it grows over time and not a bug. The real query is what apps are requesting all that data and if you don't mind looking at files in the terminal sudo sysdiagnose is a great tool to dive deeper into virtual and real memory allocation.


My Macbook Air 2010 (11 inch) goes black and needs to be restarted every 8 - 12 or so hours I have no idea why this is happening as nothing seems to trigger it. The computer just freezes and the screen goes off, and no amount of key pressing or brightness control jiggering will do anything. Only a restart will let me use the laptop again.

I'm usually not even touching the computer when this happens. One moment the screen or screensaver is on, and the next moment the black non-responsive screen of death happens.

This sounds like a problem with your logic board.

You can run a preliminary hardware test by plugging in your Mac OS X flash drive, and holding down the 'D' key when starting up. See this Apple support article for more info.

A bad logic board usually needs replacing, which can be expensive. Luckily, your computer is new enough that it should still be covered by your warranty.

I recommend that you take a trip to the Apple store so that they can fix/replace the computer for you.


Obtaining a particular effect called "Lazy Mouse Smoothing" in a graphics application I'm using Pixelmator and Autodesk Sketchbook for drawing and I'd really love to have "lazy mouse smoothing".  This is a feature found in an application called LazyNezumi, for Windows, that adds lag smoothing to the mouse.

Does anyone know of a solution for OS X?

I've had a look around and can't find any specific sites that show how to enable/use 'lazy mouse smoothing' on OSX.

EDIT: Unless this does the job (SmoothCursor): http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/41736/smooth-cursor/ - have not used and am not affiliated with the app/company

  SmoothCursor is a little utility that allows you to customize the acceleration settings of your mouse or trackpad separately. Totally recommended for drawing applications and FPS games*!

Developer's site: http://apps.leftbee.net/SmoothCursor

LazyNezumi itself states:

  I’m sorry but there is no Mac support, and I don’t plan on ever providing any (this was already tricky enough to program for Windows, and I’ve never owned a Mac or programmed with them).


How can I share my Macbook's Network to iPhone, surpassing the 802.1X protection? My school provides ethernet, which my Macbook can easily connect to. I want to share it with my iPhone, but it indicates that 802.1X protection has forbidden me to do so. Is there a way to surpass the protection?

Operating system: OS X 10.10 with iOS 8.4

Thank you!

Usually on school campus you'll have wifi too, and also 802.1X protection is there for a reason.

The only way to share internet from a 802.1X protected network , I think, is by creating a VPN connection on the mac (this will only work if your school's network allows it which i doubt).

To do this go to your nettwork settings, unlock it (padlock) and click the plus sign to add a VPN connection.

Next you choose VPN connection, in this example i'll be using vpnbook.com/freevpn since it provides a free reliable service. So change the type to PPTP.

Now the interface is created and you need to put the credentials provided in the free PPTP section of vpnbook.com/freevpn (vpn server / login / password)

hit connect and it should work

The last thing now is to share this VPN connection, you need to go back to share settings and choose the interface you just created

I can't post more than two links(images) since this is a new profile, if you need more help comment.


How do I change the Icon for a USB device? My phone uses a standard icon when mounted. I just want to replace that icon with a custom one.

I'm opening a PNG image in Preview and copying the image, then pasting onto the icon in the Get Info window, but I get the system PNG icon instead of the image itself:

How do you use a custom image? OSX gives you no feedback on this at all.

Update: After some further investigation, it appears that the image is being set correctly in .VolumeIcons.icns

So for whatever reason, Finder is refusing to display it correctly. Is there some kind of icon format requirement that Finder isn't telling me?

Update: Now the cut-n-paste method works fine. I have not changed anything, so I have no idea what was wrong before. I can only chalk this up to a Finder bug.

just drag and drop :)

sometimes it does not work so, you do a simple:

COPY: copy to clipboard the icon you want to use
SELECT: select the icon you want to remove
PASTE: paste it


How to make iOS stop asking about the same wifi I spend a lot of time in a location with a secured wifi.  I don't have access to it and never will.

IOS 8 badgers me constantly to join that WiFi network.   Anytime I wake the iPad I have to tell it 1-2 times.  No. No. No. No. No.  How do I get iOS to stop asking about that particular network, without turning off "ask to join networks" altogether?

As you know there are several ways a notification can occur.  Badges, banners and alerts.   The "WiFi helper" always uses an Alert, which is the most intrusive one.  You know what I mean.  Is there any way to convince iOS to alert you to WiFis with a banner?  (Like my Android does?)

I know I can turn off "Ask to join networks" altogether.   I don't want to do that.  I want the feature, I just want it to behave less lamely.   Did they fix it in iOS 9 or 10?  I am reluctant to upgrade because this iPad 3 is already sluggish and freezes a lot on iOS 8.

Short answer is no.

You can have Ask to join networks turned on to be notified (as you've already noticed) or off to not be notified at all. There's no intermediary position on a stock, non-jailbroken device.


internal SSD and HDD together speed Hi I was thinking about adding an SSD drive inside my iMac mid 2011. I found that you can have both two drives in the iMac as long as you remove the dvd drive.

I want to color correct a short film. The footage is Apple ProRes HQ (data rate around 300mb/s) and the total size 45GB (i found this using tha aja datacalc application).

Would this be a good idea? Or should I buy an external SSD thunderbolt instead? Which set up would be faster?

Also if I buy an external SSD, would a size of 256GB be suitable for the job?

Thank you all in advance,
Rafael.

The DVD drive is connected via SATA rev. 2.0 / 3Gbit/s. That means the SSD is gonna run at a max. of 300 MB/s approximately.

This link seems to indicate that there's at least a second drive bay (excluding the optical bay) inside the iMac, which runs at SATA rev. 3.0 / 6Gbit/s speed. It would be wiser to use either the second bay or upgrade your primary system SSD.

Since the above link mentions the need to upgrade the EFI firmware, one should be aware the latest firmware updates can be found at the Apple web site "About EFI and SMC firmware updates for Intel-based Mac computers".

If you want to add an internal SSD, you can take a look at the ifixit guides, they can be used as a very good indicator as to how difficult the procedure would be.

I would not recommend an external SSD. They are extremely expensive and don't really give you a plus. Thunderbolt SSDs are even more expensive because of their rarity. If I were you I'd consider the internal upgrade first.


Using “old” 5W iPhone 5 Power adapter to charge a new iPhone XR I would like to know if it is safe to use an “old” 5W Power Adapter (charging brick) from an iPhone 5 to charge my new iPhone XR. I am specifically referring to the original (and, of course, genuine) charging brick that my old iPhone 5 included in the box.

Yeah, I know that my new iPhone XR already includes a cable and a 5W Power Adapter. However, I would like to have two chargers (one at my work and the other one at home).

I would definitely need to purchase a new lightning cable, but, my question is, Is it necessary to purchase a new charging brick? Could the “old” charging brick damage my new phone (since it is too old)? It seems to work fine. It worked perfectly with my iPhone 5, but I am not sure if I should use it on my iPhone XR.

I would like to know if it is safe to use an “old” 5W Power Adapter (charging brick) from an iPhone 5 to charge my new iPhone XR.

Yes.

  Is it necessary to purchase a new charging brick?

No.

  Could the “old” charging brick damage my new phone (since it is too old)?

No. As it is working fine with an iPhone 5, it will be fine to use it with iPhone XR.

So, yes, it will be fine using the old power adapter from your iPhone 5 to charge your iPhone XR.


How do I run the guided tour for new users? I was suggested to start a guided tour for new users but I pressed "Don't remind me".

How can I activate this feature?

If you are in the Finder click on the Help menu item. One of the options is: "New to Mac? Tour the Basics". This will open a document and give you a tour of the Mac.


Give my router a hostname How can I give my router a hostname?

So that at the terminal I can type stuff like ping router and it instantly resolves 192.168.0.1.

I can't just edit /etc/hosts and hardcode router 192.168.0.1, because then when I take my laptop to another network it will no longer work.

I would like router to always reflect the System Preferences-found router IP,

It should automatically update whenever my router's IP address changes.

Thats not the way it works.

Your Mac is a client on the network(s) you attatch to  and it gets its settings from from the DHCP server.  In that DHCP response, theres a number of things including a DNS server assignment(s) which is where all the names on the network come from.  Those name to address relationships are ultimately managed by the network admin.

Your client can’t arbitrarily assign names to IP addresses as your Mac is not the DNS server.

The /etc/hosts file is for you and you alone and must be manually updated (if necessary) when you change networks because there is nothing that’s mapping the actual router address to the name you’ve arbitrarily given it.


Nervous Cursor on 2013 MacBook Pro 15" Retina While I try to get some writing done on my MacBook Pro 15" Retina (first under Mountain Lion and now Mavericks) the cursor will often jump randomly away from where I'm typing to another location in the text. Read somewhere that switching off BlueTooth would help prevent these annoying twitches, but that simply does not seem true: the cursor still jumps unexpectedly especially at higher touch-typing speeds. Is there a known cure for this flaw? It sure plays havoc with productivity. Grrr.

Does it jump around randomly everywhere, both desktop and applications, or is it only when you type? Mine jumped around everywhere several times, but every time it stopped after I cleaned the trackpad thoroughly. Also dust can get trapped at the border, so push down and clean as good as you can (beware of using too much water of course).


Transfer content from one Apple ID to another? My daughter was using my Apple ID with her Ipad mini. I want her to use her own Apple ID now that she is old enough. How can we transfer the content of her ipad mini, ( music, photos, apps) particularly game apps WITH THEIR DATA onto her new account? She doesn't want to start from scratch with all her games.

You cannot. It's not possible to share content from one Apple ID to another. Apple actually recommends everyone have their own Apple ID.

You can load the content on your daughter's device and she can access them all normally. You can then log her into her own Apple ID, where she can begin to make her purchases on her own account. The only downside is she will have to know your Apple ID's password as iOS will ask for it on rare occasions (when restoring the device for example). It's possible to store content from multiple Apple accounts on a single device, the user will just need to enter the password should the OS ever require it. That is the only feasible solution in your case (other than starting over). This will at least circumvent having to re-purchase any content.

This has always been a sore spot for Apple customers as they have historically been very firm in never being able to even close an Apple ID, let alone share content between them.

You can read more about Apple IDs here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5622?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US


activity monitor – "0 bytes" swap used always reported Whenever my system gets slow, I open Activity Monitor to check my RAM usage and close any apps that are consuming a lot of memory, but that I don't absolutely need to be running. RAM usage is always completely maxed out. I'm used to seeing this:

Now I would assume that when the system gets slow, it's from all of the overhead from VM paging, but Activity Monitor always reports my "Swap Used" as "0 bytes". This can't be the case, could it? The only reason I can imagine is if Mavericks introduced some kind of intermediary solution to RAM exhaustion before falling back to using a swapfile, but I haven't heard of anything like that.

What I want to know is:

Is this actually an error in Activity Monitor, or is it correct?
If it's not an error, what mechanism is being used to maintain the RAM in place of the swapfile?
Is this mechanism verifiably faster than using a swapfile, and is there a way to disable it and use the swapfile by default?

Is this actually an error in Activity Monitor, or is it correct?

That is how it suppose to work

If it's not an error, what mechanism is being used to maintain the
RAM in place of the swapfile?

Mavericks active memory management

Is this mechanism verifiable faster than using a swapfile, and is
there a way to disable it and use the swapfile by default?

it is faster then using actual swap to HDD, it also uses something called memory compression. It always tries to use all of the memory to handle its tasks, and will rearrange the memory according to your usage. Once that is no longer possible it will use the swap.


Is it possible to encrypt the boot disk in El Capitan? On my iMac running OS X 10.11.3 I'd like to encrypt as much as possible of the built-in disk -- like that I don't need to worry about replacing/sending in a broken disk.

From a casual few web searches it appears not to be possible to encrypt absolutely everything, so right now my strategy is to partition in the disk to have a large, encrypted data partition.

It's possible to encrypt the entire system volume with FileVault 2 -- open System Preferences -> Security & Privacy pane -> FileVault tab, and click Turn On FileVault. I'll walk you through some setup questions (most important: set up an emergency recovery option, either by linking to your iCloud account or by generating a random key you should write down and store someplace safe), then restart the system and begin encrypting the volume in the background.

This isn't quite full disk encryption, because it leaves the (hidden) Recovery HD partition unencrypted. Recovery HD contains emergency repair/reinstall tools, as well as the booter that's used to unlock and start up from the main (encrypted) volume. But no user data gets stored in Recovery HD, so this isn't a significant weakness.


How hot can an iPhone get before displaying a temperature warning? My friend recently left his iPhone out in the sun while swimming at the pool. When he came back, his iPhone was locked with the message "iPhone needs to cool down before you can use it."

Neither of us had ever seen this warning before, despite leaving our phones out in the open before.

How hot does an iPhone need to be before displaying a high temperature warning?

TL:DR - Don't leave it in the sun. Especially face up with the black display (and pobssibly bezel) exposed to direct sunlight.

From Apple KB:

  Keeping iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch within acceptable operating temperatures

  Learn about the operating temperatures and temperature management of iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch (4th generation and later).

  Use iOS devices where the ambient temperature is between 0º and 35º C
  (32º to 95º F). Low- or high-temperature conditions might cause the
  device to change its behavior to regulate its temperature. Using an
  iOS device in very cold conditions outside of its operating range
  might temporarily shorten battery life and could cause the device to
  turn off. Battery life will return to normal when you bring the device
  back to higher ambient temperatures. Store the device where the
  temperature is between -20º and 45º C (-4º to 113º F). Don’t leave the
  device in your car, because temperatures in parked cars can exceed
  this range.

  Your device might get warm

  When you use the device or charge the battery, the device might get
  warm. You might notice that your device feels warmer in these
  situations:

  When you set up your device the first time
  When you restore from a backup
  When apps reindex or reanalyze data, like Photos tagging for faces, places, or keywords after a software update

  These conditions are normal, and your device will return to a regular
  temperature when complete.

  Here are some of the higher ambient-temperature conditions and
  activities that might cause the device to change performance and
  behaviour:

  Leaving the device in a car on a hot day.
  Leaving the device in direct sunlight for an extended period of time.
  Using certain features in hot conditions or direct sunlight for an extended period of time, such as GPS tracking or navigation in a car,
  or playing a graphics-intensive game.

  If your device gets too warm

  If the interior temperature of the device exceeds the normal operating
  range, the device will protect its internal components by attempting
  to regulate its temperature. If this happens, you might notice these
  changes:

  The device stops charging.
  The display dims or goes black.
  Cellular radios enter a low-power state. The signal might weaken during this time.
  The camera flash is temporarily disabled.

  Additionally, if you're navigating, the device might show this alert
  and turn off the display: "Temperature: iPhone needs to cool down."
  Navigation still provides audible turn-by-turn directions. When
  approaching a turn, the display will illuminate to guide you through
  the turn.

  If you see a temperature warning screen

  If the device exceeds a certain temperature threshold, it will present
  a temperature warning screen similar to this:

  An iPhone showing this message might still be able to make emergency
  calls.

  To resume use of your device as quickly as possible, turn it off, move
  it to a cooler environment, and allow it to cool down.


Is there a way to purchase an app from the Mac App Store as a gift? Is there a way, in the Mac App Store, to buy an app and to give the license to a friend who has no way to pay for that app?

No, Apple didn't implement the gift feature in the Mac App Store. I imagine it will happen eventually, but it isn't there right now.

Your only option would be to buy your friend an iTunes gift card, which can be used to buy apps.

Here's my source


MacBook Pro won't put external display to sleep when idle I have a Mid-2015 MacBook Pro running High Sierra. I mostly use it as a desktop, in clamshell mode with an external monitor and keyboard.

I just replaced the 24-inch LG monitor that was connected using a Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter with a 32-inch Acer EB321HQ-U connected using DisplayPort.

I have Energy Saver set to put the display to sleep after 5 minutes. But this is being ignored, and it's showing the screen saver instead, even though this time is set higher. I have the screen saver set to black, but the backlight is still on so there's a dim glow from the monitor.

This wasn't a problem with my previous monitor. Is there anything that can be done about it?

It is possible for the Mac to sleep the monitor. If I press Ctl-Shift-Power, the display clears, it cycles through the various inputs, then displays "No Signal" and goes black. It just doesn't do this automatically when idle.

UPDATE:

coreaudiod seems to be preventing display sleep.

imac:barmar $ pmset -g
System-wide power settings:
Currently in use:
 standbydelay         10800
 standby              1
 womp                 0
 halfdim              1
 hibernatefile        /var/vm/sleepimage
 powernap             0
 gpuswitch            2
 networkoversleep     0
 disksleep            0
 sleep                0 (sleep prevented by coreaudiod)
 autopoweroffdelay    28800
 hibernatemode        3
 autopoweroff         1
 ttyskeepawake        1
 displaysleep         5 (display sleep prevented by coreaudiod)
 tcpkeepalive         1
 acwake               0
 lidwake              1
imac:barmar $ pmset -g assertions
2019-04-04 19:54:56 -0400
Assertion status system-wide:
   BackgroundTask                 0
   ApplePushServiceTask           0
   UserIsActive                   1
   PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep    1
   PreventSystemSleep             0
   ExternalMedia                  1
   InternalPreventDisplaySleep    1
   PreventUserIdleSystemSleep     1
   NetworkClientActive            0
Listed by owning process:
   pid 159(coreaudiod): [0x0001387d00018bb1] 00:00:00 PreventUserIdleSystemSleep named: "com.apple.audio.AppleHDAEngineOutputDP:3,0,1,0:0:{7204-0507-01010101}.context.preventuseridlesleep"
    Created for PID: 298.
   pid 159(coreaudiod): [0x0001387d00058bb2] 00:00:00 PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep named: "com.apple.audio.AppleHDAEngineOutputDP:3,0,1,0:0:{7204-0507-01010101}.context.preventuseridledisplaysleep"
    Created for PID: 298.
   pid 75(powerd): [0x0000001000088000] 22:12:57 ExternalMedia named: "com.apple.powermanagement.externalmediamounted"
   pid 75(powerd): [0x0000bb3c00108108] 00:00:00 InternalPreventDisplaySleep named: "com.apple.powermanagement.delayDisplayOff"
    Timeout will fire in 300 secs Action=TimeoutActionTurnOff
   pid 119(hidd): [0x0001338b000991a6] 00:00:00 UserIsActive named: "com.apple.iohideventsystem.queue.tickle.4294968308.3"
    Timeout will fire in 300 secs Action=TimeoutActionRelease
Kernel Assertions: 0x2c=USB,BT-HID,THNDR
   id=500  level=255 0x20=THNDR mod=4/4/19, 12:53 AM description=NHI0 owner=AppleThunderboltHAL
   id=502  level=255 0x4=USB mod=12/31/69, 7:00 PM description=com.apple.usb.externaldevice.14100000 owner=IOUSBHostDevice
   id=504  level=255 0x4=USB mod=12/31/69, 7:00 PM description=com.apple.usb.externaldevice.14120000 owner=Back-UPS NS 700MC FW:907.W1 .D USB FW:W1
   id=505  level=255 0x4=USB mod=12/31/69, 7:00 PM description=com.apple.usb.externaldevice.14140000 owner=USB Receiver
   id=506  level=255 0x8=BT-HID mod=12/31/69, 7:00 PM description=com.apple.driver.IOBluetoothHIDDriver owner=BNBMouseDevice
Idle sleep preventers: IODisplayWrangler

Now I just need to figure out why it's doing this.

I suspect it's because the monitor is also used for audio now. Sleeping an external monitor display is apparently done by dropping the entire signal to the monitor, so display sleep also kills audio (I just confirmed this by pressing Ctl-Shift-Power while playing something on iTunes). Although changing the default output device to Internal Speakers doesn't change the displaysleep setting.

So I think the reason is that the new monitor supports audio, and putting the display to sleep would also kill audio output. Even if the monitor isn't selected as the default output device, coreaudiod prevents display sleep in case some application wants to use it.

I found a solution. I installed ScriptSaver, which will run an AppleScript when the screensaver starts. I have it run an AppleScript containing:

do shell script "pmset displaysleepnow"


What devices can receive an AirTunes signal? I'm trying to set up an in-home music system with built-in speakers. Right now I have my Apple TV plugged into the stereo outputting the AirTunes signal to the speakers. However, I'd like to get my Apple TV back at some point, so I've been looking into a replacement unit. The AirPort express and the Apple TV seem to be the only two devices that will seamlessly work with iTunes. New units cost $100, and even the used units command $50-$60 on eBay. It's also possible that I'd like to control several sets of speakers throughout the house, which would require several units for the different audio channels.

Are there any other pieces of hardware that will perform this task? What about software solutions? I'm aware of Rogue Amoeba's Airfoil, but this doesn't work well with the Remote app for the iPhone, and plus it requires that the software be installed and configured on the streaming computer. Are there any other solutions?

As far as I've been able to find, you've covered it:

Apple TV
AirPort Express
Airfoil

I'm not positive, but I thought that you can use AirTunes from one Mac to another if they were on the same Airport Express network. I don't have my Airport Express hooked up right now. I'll have to test it out later.


How to trigger iOS-Alarm to start another app in iOS Shortcuts-App? I am really looking for a Radio-Clock for my iPhone. This seems to be non-trivial looking at iPhone/iPad alarm clock app with custom radio stream support . All proposed solutions require the app to be running until the alarm goes off. Now that we have Shortcuts this should be a piece of cake: start Alarm -> when done -> play my favourite radio url. Or is it not? Is there a reason in case it is not (besides Apple did not implemented it)?

I don't know about iOS devices, but if you have a HomePod, you could use the Home.app.
Home.app > Bottom of screen > Automation > Create Automation
Select "A Time of Day Occurs" > Time Of Day > Next
Select your HomePod > Next
Select When > Then Turn Off > set timer
Select Media > Choose Audio
Radio
Select station.
This may help others.


Devs, can 3rd party apps access Safari's Reading List? Any chance iOS 5 lets devs access Reading List in Safari? A potential Read Later option for Twitter clients, etc.

I've been asking devs through Twitter for a while, but am yet to hear anything back.

Well, I don't think there is official support for third-party access to the reading list from Apple, but I know they are stored in this file on the Mac, and I would assume it is the same on iOS, or close to:

  ~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist

Just look for a key that has an entry named "Title" and a key value of "com.apple.ReadingList". It's the last one in my own file, but I don't expect it to be like this all the way.

And I suggest looking at it with a property list editor, like Xcode 4, it's a binary property list, doesn't look right when opened in TextEdit or other similar app.


MacBook Pro Retina & Dell U2711 with miniDP to DP still no res higher than 1080p I bought an external monitor, the Dell u2711 due to the res and wanting to get the most out of my laptop.

Initially I used a mini dp adapter with dvi, hdmi and dp on and it wouldn't work, kept staying in power saver mode so I bought a single cable with minidp on one end and dp on the other.  Plugged it in and voila, it works.  Then I checked the resolution and have two options.  720p or 1080p.  I had more options using HDMI but I want 2560x1440.  That's why I bought it.  Can anyone help please?

Added as requested: the solution was to hard rest the monitor by pulling the power and them power cycling the laptop. All is perfect now:)


Disabled mac os SIP but still can't delete default apps I'm using mac os 11.2.1 Big Sur. My question concerns using the Terminal utility to delete Apple default apps protected by SIP. I have disabled System Integrity Protection and confirmed that it is off by typing:
csrutil

Terminal duly returns "disabled" to confirm that SIP is definitely off. I then attempted to delete various Apple default apps, as follows:
sudo rm -rf FaceTime.app/

sudo rm -rf TV.app/

sudo rm -rf Mail.app/

But nothing seems to happen. The apps are still in my Applications folder and launch normally. If I try to delete them manually, I get a beep and the deletion is rejected just as if SIP were still enabled.
Can someone suggest a better way to remove Mail?

Big Sur seals the system and signs it cryptographically - deleting parts of the system is no longer as simple as politely asking SIP to stand down for a moment.
You might find it far easier to prevent these apps from launching using restrictions or screen time. The effort required to surgically remove apps  is far more than it was in the past.
Here's how to check if your volume is still sealed before / after trying to tamper with it.
csrutil authenticated-root status

Here is an article that goes very deep into which portions of the system you can expect to change and which have added security protection.

https://eclecticlight.co/2020/06/25/big-surs-signed-system-volume-added-security-protection/

In macOS Mojave 10.14, macOS boots from a single APFS volume, in which sensitive system folders and files are mixed with those which users can write to. The main protections provided to the system come from classical Unix permissions with the addition of System Integrity Protection (SIP)

Catalina 10.15 changes that by splitting the boot volume into two: the System and Data volumes, making up an APFS Volume Group. Immutable system files now reside on the System volume, which not only has complete protection by SIP, but is normally mounted read-only.

Although Big Sur uses the same protected System volume and APFS Volume Group as Catalina, it changes the way that volume is protected to make it an even greater challenge for those developing malicious software: welcome to the Signed System Volume (SSV).

There is support to make changes to the SSV:

Boot to recovery
csrutil authenticated-root disable
Manually mount the correct filesystem - make your changes
Make a new snapshot and tell the system trust this non-SSV authenticated system. sudo bless --folder /[mountpath]/System/Library/CoreServices --bootefi --create-snapshot

I don't know a good way to show you how to find your snapshot yet - so you'll need to do some digging and learning and report back if you find a "cookie cutter" process that handles things.


How to play music on iPhone via Apple Watch on watchOS 4? In watchOS 3 the 'Now Playing' complication played music on your phone when you pressed play, unless you changed audio source to the watch.

In watchOS 4 this defaults to the watch, and so far as I can tell there's no way to change it to the phone.

In practice this means that I will travel somewhere listening to music, arrive at my destination, do something else for a bit, then when leaving I press 'Play' on my watch and it starts a completely different album or playlist from the watch instead of continuing where the iPhone left off (the desired behaviour – and the default if I pressed 'Play' on the iPhone, or in watchOS 3).

Since it's not an LTE watch, and it has very little storage on it for music, this change seems completely bizarre as it means that there's only a small selection of tracks to play ever.

My question: is there a way to disable this, and make the Watch start music via the iPhone instead of the Watch?

Correct, with watchOS 3.x it was possible to use Apple Watch as a kind of remote for iPhone's Music.app:

Browse all available music by artist/album/genre
Start/stop playback on your iPhone with Apple Watch
Change the music source from iPhone's storage to Apple Watch's storage

Answer
Unfortunately, starting with watchOS 4, you can't browse music on your iPhone to start playing it using your Apple Watch.
See also Apple's Apple Watch User Guide on Music/Now Playing for using Music.app with watchOS 4.

Workaround
You may want to use this workaround:

While watchOS 4 will no longer allow a user to browse their iPhone's
music library, they can still use the Apple Watch to control it. In
fact, it's now easier than ever: A "Now Playing" screen shows up by
default when the user is playing music from their iPhone, giving quick
access to pause, skip a track, or adjust the volume with the Digital
Crown.
However, in order to take advantage of this, users must start the
playback of music on their iPhone, then continue controlling it via
the Apple Watch.


Can AppleScript be used to brute force a FileVault drive where the password is lost? I make a terrible mistake. I totally lost my paper with the secret password for my encrypted external GUID hard drive. This external drive contains many pictures but also some works documents very usefull. So it would be very interesting for me to get through this password.

I can remember maybe 50% of my password.I calculated that with the known part of my password I will have a maximum of 250 000 possible combination. A program like crunch could do the list of all the combination but I think it is not the most difficult part of this mission.

I have to build a small program to fill the dialog box and trying all the 250 000 combination. I already tried to do this with Apple Script but I didn’t found the command to fill in the combination in the dialog box “Enter a password to unlock the disk”. This dialog box appear when we plug the disk to the mac.

Does somebody know well applescript to helping me to interact with this unlocker disk dialog box? Or maybe somebody have an other solution to unlock it without applescript?

If somebody is interested to helping me I will be very grateful.

As a proof of concept, I formatted a USB Thumb-drive using a GUID Partition Map and formatted it Mac OS Extended (Journaled) naming it "Encrypted".

Then in Finder, I selected the disk named "Encrypted" and control-clicked selecting Encrypt "Encrypted"..., while setting its password to "password".

When it was done encrypting, using Terminal, I ascertained the UUID I'd need to use with the diskutil command in my script with the following command: diskutil cs list

I wanted the UUID of the Logical Volume where it showed Volume Name: Encrypted and in this case it showed it as:

Logical Volume 1BFD0C99-1A67-4DC2-A0F4-199B2AE635B0

Here's the output of diskutil cs list, so as to see from what I drew the UUID.

$ diskutil cs list
CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group 3D8D6165-909C-4C55-8C0B-811AC4856773
    =========================================================
    Name:         Encrypted
    Status:       Online
    Size:         15270830080 B (15.3 GB)
    Free Space:   16777216 B (16.8 MB)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume 1E6C582B-5822-4986-9F41-164DE662FCE1
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:    0
    |   Disk:     disk2s2
    |   Status:   Online
    |   Size:     15270830080 B (15.3 GB)
    |
    +-> Logical Volume Family 6D7E4DCE-D7C5-4383-BF88-9E2DB9A52E14
        ----------------------------------------------------------
        Encryption Status:       Unlocked
        Encryption Type:         AES-XTS
        Conversion Status:       Complete
        Conversion Direction:    -none-
        Has Encrypted Extents:   Yes
        Fully Secure:            Yes
        Passphrase Required:     Yes
        |
        +-> Logical Volume 1BFD0C99-1A67-4DC2-A0F4-199B2AE635B0
            ---------------------------------------------------
            Disk:               disk3
            Status:             Online
            Size (Total):       14935281664 B (14.9 GB)
            Size (Converted):   -none-
            Revertible:         Yes (unlock and decryption required)
            LV Name:            Encrypted
            Volume Name:        Encrypted
            Content Hint:       Apple_HFS
$

With now having the correct UUID, I created my bash script in Terminal:

touch unlock
open unlock

I then added the following code:

#!/bin/bash

if [[ ! -z $1 ]]; then
    while read -r line; do
        printf "   Testing: $line \n"
        diskutil coreStorage unlockVolume 1BFD0C99-1A67-4DC2-A0F4-199B2AE635B0 -passphrase "$line" 2>/dev/null
            if [[ $? -eq 0 ]]; then
                printf "\n   The correct password is: $line \n\n"
                exit 0
            fi
    done < "$1"
else
    printf "\n   Missing Dictionary File!...\n\n   Syntax: ./unlock dictionary.txt\n\n"
    exit 1
fi

Note: Replace the UUID above with the UUID of the Logical Volume of your encrypted drive.

I saved and closed the script named "unlock" and made it executable using:

chmod u+x unlock

I then created a dictionary file, touch dictionary.txt and populated the file.  Of course in your case, you'd use as you mentioned the program named crunch to create your dictionary file(s).

I then ejected and remove the USB Thumb-drive from my system.

I then plugged in the USB Thumb-drive and when the "Enter a password to unlock the disk "Encrypted"." dialog box appeared, I clicked the Cancel button.

Now I was ready to unlock it using the bash script and dictionary.txt file from Terminal.

To show what I put in the dictionary.txt file:

$ cat dictionary.txt
p
pa
pass
passw
password
passwo
passwor
$

Here's the output of: ./unlock dictionary.txt

$ ./unlock dictionary.txt
   Testing: p
Started CoreStorage operation
   Testing: pa
Started CoreStorage operation
   Testing: pass
Started CoreStorage operation
   Testing: passw
Started CoreStorage operation
   Testing: password
Started CoreStorage operation
Logical Volume successfully unlocked
Logical Volume successfully attached as disk3
Logical Volume successfully mounted as /Volumes/Encrypted
Core Storage disk: disk3
Finished CoreStorage operation

   The correct password is: password

$

As you can see it tried what was in the dictionary.txt file up until if found the correct password and when the correct password was tested it unlocked and mounted the disk, prints out what the correct password was and exits the script.

The reason for printing out all passwords, is so if you need to stop the script you can then remove the tried passwords from the dictionary.txt file before starting again.

Note:  It is important that before running the bash script you have first freshly plugged in the drive and clicked the Cancel button, then run the script.


Is the Lightning 8-pin connector magnetic in attachment? After listening to MacBreak Weekly #316: The iPhone 5 it was mentioned, but not confirmed, that the new Lighting 8-pin adapter may be magnetic in attachment similar to the MagSafe adapters for MacBooks.

I can't really find evidence either way to determine if this is true or false, so can anyone else provide any proof either way?

In the external buttons and connectors section of Apple's official spec sheet for the iPhone 5 no mention is made that the lightning connector is magnetic.

Given how proud, and rightly so, Apple is of the MagSafe connector, I'd bet dollars to doughnuts they would mention that the new connector is MagSafe if that was indeed the case.

Secondly, looking at 2D representations of the new connector, it does not have any of the characteristics of the MagSafe connector at all. It uses the traditional male/female plug/socket concept humans find so comforting.

Once I get my new iPhone 5, I'll let you know.


Changed premissions in home folders and computer won't boot I thought would be a good idea to run chmod o-w,o-r,o-x in my home folder and /var/root.

After doing that, programs were unable to start properly, saying they couldn't write to /var/folders. I moved folders to folders 2, but no joy. I ran chmod -R 755 in both folders and things were kind of fixed, but programs couldn't access the keychain. I restored back the original /var/folders, but now all I get is the Apple loading bar stuck at boot and can't boot to safe mode. macOS Sierra, SIP disabled.

Boot to Recovery HD, choose Utilities → Terminal, run resetpassword and choose to reset permissions and ACLs for your user account.

If that doesn't work, you may have to reinstall macOS. SIP protects the permissions on OS files, so disabling that will allow you to run commands which break the OS.


New non-retina 13.3" mac, will I get OS registered in the app store? I'm thinking of buying a 13.3" MacBook Pro that a store has at low prices right now.

Will this come with the OS registered in the app store? I ask because I plan to switch out the disk for an SSD, and with my previous MacBook Pro I could simply input my App Store credentials during boot and it would download and install everything directly.

Can I do this with a new MacBook Pro, or will I have to buy a separate copy in the app store to get this function?

The first time you start up the system and log into the OS, you'll be prompted to create an Apple ID or connect to an existing one. That will register the OS as 'purchased' and enable you to do Internet Recovery or download the OS from the App Store.

If you're using a MacBook with the same OS as currently available on the new MBP you wish to buy, it may be possible to simply take the SSD out of your existing MacBook and plug it straight into the Pro. (This has worked with me in the past with taking an SSD out of a MacBook2,1 and putting it into a MacBook4,1.)

As for having to purchase the OS again, Mavericks is free. Any app that you've purchased/downloaded from the App Store can be installed on new systems free of charge.


Is it possible to duplicate images in LittleSnapper? The reason is that I have some screenshots of full websites. Though for inspiration and illustration reasons I need to crop them to show different parts of that website. I know that when you crop an image in LittleSnapper it does not damage the original but I really would like to be able to see the full image AND the cropped version

So that is why I need to know if there is a way to make copies of the image. Of course there is always a long way of doing it; such as drag it to the desktop and drag it back in, or go back to the web page. But does the application have a copy and paste (images) feature

Thanks

LittleSnapper keeps it's images in special library file, so the only way to copy images is to do the long way that you described.

I'd recommend you get on the LittleSnapper discussion board over at RealMac to add your voice to the group of users who'd also like to get at their images in a more flexible way.

http://support.realmacsoftware.com/discussions/littlesnapper/


Macbook sees Japanese keyboard instead of native US English Mavericks on Macbook Pro Retina A1398 (US keyboard with horizontal Enter) shows Japanese keyboard (JIS, with vertical Enter) on enabled keyboard viewer. How do I make Mavericks to recognize and to show its native US Keyboard layout?
I have tried to reset SMC and PRAM with no success.
p.s. I have tried changing input sources to U.S. as well - does not change the orientation of return on bluish keyboard on the right - mac OS still thinks I have JIS...

It sounds like your machine is not recognizing the "keyboard type" correctly, thinking you have a JIS (or ISO) type instead of ANSI.   See this article for some suggestions on fixing it:

http://m10lmac.blogspot.com/2009/12/fixing-keyboard-type-problems.html


Broadcast http on mDNS Bonjour in Catalina? As of Catalina I've quit Apache and switched to Tornado. Apache was easy to configure http Zeroconf broadcast port 80 on the LAN. What I am looking for is an Avahi type solution where I can configure services independent of the originating process.
How would I do it when using another server software like Tornado?

You’ve got several choices here of existing libraries of open source code with quite good documentation. In essence, your server needs to know an IP address and then drop the service advertisement.
Here’s JavaScript code to add http listener advertisement from one node.js based implementation:
var browser = mdns.createBrowser(mdns.tcp('http'), {resolverSequence: sequence});

Since you mentioned Tornado - you might be interested in a python zeroconf library that does the same and also lists Avahi compatibility in addition to Zeroconf.
The example code to advertise a fake HTTP server is a bit longer than the node call above, but the code is all open source. Making a real HTTPS server isn’t much more code, so you might be close to your solution here.

https://github.com/jstasiak/python-zeroconf/blob/master/examples/registration.py

The core is what you’d expect - list the details and then advertise...
info = ServiceInfo(
    "_http._tcp.local.",
    "Paul's Test Web Site._http._tcp.local.",
    addresses=[socket.inet_aton("127.0.0.1")],
    port=80,
    properties=desc,
    server="ash-2.local.",
)

zeroconf = Zeroconf(ip_version=ip_version)
print("Registration of a service, press Ctrl-C to exit...")
zeroconf.register_service(info)


editing /private/etc/hosts I just added my no-ip domain to /private/etc/hosts under a shorter alias:

alias           host.no-ip.biz

I tried the following on the shell:

dscacheutil -flushcache

but it still says:

ssh: Could not resolve hostname

What up with that?

/etc/hosts can't be used for that:

/etc/hosts cannot be used (by itself) to produce hostname "aliases".
The hosts file produces the internal equivalent of A and PTR records from the DNS, i.e. mapping of hostname to IP address and vice-versa.
It cannot be used to produce the same effect as a CNAME record.

You can make ssh alias equivalent to ssh host.no-ip.biz or ssh username@host.no-ip.biz by adding lines like this to ~/.ssh/config:
Host alias
HostName host.no-ip.biz
# User username


Show Extension Builder absent in Develop menu in Safari 13 I am trying to re-add several extensions to Safari 13 that "are no longer supported," by adding them back via "Show Extension Builder" in the Develop menu.  But that is no longer in the Develop menu!

Is there another way to return my older extensions like Amazon Assistant, Amazon Wish List, WOT etc., to Safari 13?

Removed support for Legacy Safari Extensions.

from Safari 13 Release Notes

which I interpret as no support for developing legacy ones either. How would you develop an extension which you can't even run/test on the browser?

You might need to build a new one  or convert the older one.


Imessage delivery status When an imessage doesn't display delivered or not delivered beneath the message, will it update if and when the recipient is able to recieve iMessages again?

If the message was delivered, whenever the recipient reads it, a Read [Date] will automatically be displayed beneath. Bear in mind, as Emil points out in the comments, that for this behaviour to happen, the receiver must have the Send Read Receipts option enabled.

If the message is marked as not delivered, it means that, for some reason, that message couldn't be sent. Although you solve the issue, it wont be automatically sent, therefore requiring you to tap on the exclamation mark and choosing Try Again.


Can the iPhone screen's digitizer be safely separated from the glass? I recently broke my iPhone 3G screen. I've had it replaced, and I still have the broken screen. Seems like the digitizer on that screen is fine and could be reused.

I would like to separate the digitizer from the glass and try to do some hacks with it.

Can I use a heat gun to take it apart from the glass, or will this damage the digitizer? Is there another way I can take it off?

The digitiser is built into the glass with epoxy, so no, there is no way to separate it.

  We tried. If you look at the lower left corner of the LCD you can see the scarring of our attempts to seperate the LCD from the digitizer.

Source: iFixit: Can I separate the glass from the LCD screen?


How to make second mac a trusted contact? I have two MBP 2016 and i used to have them set as trusted, meaning on airdrop If i would set contacts only it could see the other, now I have to select everyone instead. How can I make it a contact of each other?

This is the core feature of handoff which also goes by the name continuity. To enable this, just sign into iCloud on both Mac with the exact same Apple ID.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204681

At this point Safari browser tab handoff and other supporting application handoff, clipboards synchronization, as well as unprompted automatic AirDrop permissions is enabled.

sometimes the authentication can be stuck so log out and log in or restart both machines If you need to troubleshoot things once you’re signed in.
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi need to be turned on for this to work but it shouldn’t matter whether you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network or even the same Wi-Fi network.


In general, a kernel panic is defined by Apple as "In UNIX, a panic is an unrecoverable system error detected by the kernel."

That quote comes from Apple's Technical Note TN2063: Understanding and Debugging Kernel Panics

In your specific case, the main program that starts and stops everything else on the system has an unrecoverable error in one specific instance at one specific point in time.

launchd is the failing component that needs to run always.
The rest of the information would need to be looked at by an engineer, Typically one employed by Apple, that has a deep understanding of the lowest level of code that runs on the processor.

The next steps for you will depend on how often the error happens and if the machine can start itself up after you power it off.

You could also review these two questions for more details on how to troubleshoot your computer going forward if you wish.

Understanding kernel panic error log
How can I troubleshoot Kernel Panics on my iMac


Importing songs from folder, ignoring existing ones I recently rebuilt my iTunes library by creating a new one, and simply dragging & dropping my "Music" folder (with about 1,000 MP3s etc.) into it.

The folder that contains the music files is organized in sub-folders by artist, and then sub-folders by album.

However, the import process seems to have been incomplete: many songs and even directories are missing, i.e. they are present in the physical folder, but not in the iTunes library.

Is there a way add the missing files from the folder, while ignoring the items that are already in the library?

I have done extensive re-tagging and renaming in the iTunes library since the import, so just starting from scratch (deleting the library and fetching everything into iTunes again) would be a very painful option.

If you have to start over, and you might, http://www.tuneupmedia.com/ might be worthwhile to avoid retagging your whole collection.  Good luck.


How can I forward email as a readable attachment? I'm writing a new email, and in that email I'm referring to a couple of other emails and I want to include them as attachments. When I drag and drop a mail to the mail I'm writing, some icon appears but when I double click on it, it shows plain text with headers, and not a nice formatted mail.

How can I attach it properly?

ATTENTION!! I know about "Mail -> Message -> Forward as Attachment" but it is not working properly: when I double-click on attached icon, it opens as text (with headers) and not as nice formatted mail. I also know about "Save as RTF" - but this is also not a proper solution as headers are lost.

For example, when I attach email in Thunderbird or Outlook, it attaches EML file - and when I open it, it is displayed properly (with formatting), and it is also has all headers (but not visible by default).

OS X 10.9, Mail 7.0 (1816)

If you find the message in Library->Mail copy the .emlx file into the email then you will be able to see it nicely in mail (worked for me).

Unfortunately, the challenge here would be to find the message that you want to send (since the file categories seem arbitrary, at least to me).