How to see Contact Duplicates in Mac OS El Captian I am using the Mac OS Contacts app version 9.0 (latest).
I only have the option to "Look for duplicates..." which will then allow an auto-merge option if it finds duplicate. What it doesn't do is show me which entries will be merged.

Other Apple apps and the old contacts app allowed showing duplicates. This feature seems to have been removed in the last 3 (?) major Mac OS releases. Mac OS 10.6 had it.

How can I find out what will be merged before using the auto-merge option?

I don't think there's a window to approve changes anymore (Contacts v9 on OS X 10.11), so you would need to parse a contact export or track the changes with a different tool than the contacts app. I just export the contacts database to a file on the desktop. Do the merge and see if it's what I wanted.

If not, restore from the backup or undo the merge.

The only thing to be aware of is checking whether you have zero, one or more than one cloud backed contact syncs - when the same contact is in two containers - the merging combines the data but preserves the each entry in each sync class.

Also, I make sure I'm connected to the internet when I make (potentially) large changes so that the contacts app can accurately feed my changes to the cloud sync.


Move Calendar event to Reminders? I have some events on my Calendar that I would prefer to have listed in Reminders.  (They were added to the Calendar by TurboTax.)  Is there a simple way to move them from one app to another?  (I'm using Mac OS 10.11.6.)

This seems to work:

Open your calendar.
Click on the event you want to move to Reminders.
Copy the event (⌘ command+C).
In the Reminders app, click in a new event line.
Paste the event (⌘ command+V).

There are a couple things I noticed when testing this (on Mac OS Sierra, 10.12.6):

The title of the reminder matches the name of the calendar event, but it's followed by "Scheduled:".
If the calendar event contains any alerts prior to the time of the event, these alerts are not added to the reminder.  The reminder is only for the actual time of the event.


How to prevent apps from showing previews on lock screen in iOS? When I receive a message I don't want the sender or a preview of the content be shown on my lock screen. Some apps (like iMessage and Mail) allow you to set this in iOS' Settings -> Notifications. Other apps (like Viber) allow you to set this internally from their settings. But there are apps (like Skype), for which I don't see a way to set this. Is it possible to set this globally for all apps?

It looks like every app determines what to show on its notifications; I don't see a global switch.

You can, however, turn the lock screen notification off.

Find it on Settings > Notifications > [App], look for "Show on lock screen" and turn it off to disallow the app to show its notifications when the phone is locked.

Skype does not have the "Show Previews" switch available at the Notifications settings for Messages –and I can't find anything about that subject on the support site, but plenty of people asking the same with no response– so it appears that each app controls what it's shown on the notification.


Third monitor on a 2008 iMac I currently have a 20-inch Early 2008 iMac (iMac8,1), with the iMac display and an external LG display. The graphics chip is an ATI Radeon HD 2400, which, as far as I can tell from the specs, only supports two monitors. Short of getting a new computer (which appears as if it would support three monitors), what are my options for getting a third display to work?

You can purchase a USB to DVI adaptor.  There are heaps of them on the market

eg http://www.gefen.com/kvm/dproduct.jsp?prod_id=8863

This will allow you to keep your existing setup and power another monitor from the USB port.

Just make sure that you purchase one that is Mac compatible as a lot of them on th market are not.


Bash: Return the most recently edited file in a specified directory For a bash script I am currently developing I want to access the name of the most recently edited file (including folders but not subdirectories) in a specified directory. How do I do this?

As @fedorqui suggested You can do:

ls -1t | awk '{ print $9; exit}'

Old post:

You can get it using awk and tail

ls -lrt /path/to/folder/ | tail -1 | awk '{ print $9 }'


Can I tell Finder to show a Folder path when accessing the Folder from Favorites? I guess the title says pretty much it all. I've added a folder I do most of my work in to Favorites in Finder. Sometimes however I need to back up in the folder structure to access a folder higher in the tree structure. However, when I've  accessed the folder from Favorites that isn't possible. Finder handles a Favorite folder as the root of the structure.

Is there a setting to this or some other quick nifty way of backing even further up in the tree from a favorite folder?

You can right-click (control-click) on the folder name in the Titlebar of the Finder window and select a parent folder and or you can expose the Path Bar in Finder (View > Show Path Bar) and select a parent folder from there.

Also from the Sidebar you can right-click (control-click) on the Favorites name and select Open Enclosing Folder, although this opens another Finder window whereas the previous suggestions stay within the same Finder window.

Additionally one should become familiar with the keyboard shortcuts of Finder which one can see shown on each menu in Finder, particularly the Go menu.  Like, Command–Up Arrow as mentioned by Ivan Chau in the OP comments.

Note: See Finder shortcuts in: Mac keyboard shortcuts


Spanish to German dictionary on English OS is it somehow possible to add a dictionary for two different foreign languages to the Dictionary app?
I am using macOS 10.15 "Catalina" in English and I would like to add a Spanish to German dictionary.
Adding a Spanish and a German dictionary is possible. Also also the Dictionary app allows us to add english to german and English to Spanish, but I do not see the the option to add German-Spanish.
Can someone help if this is even feasible? When yes, how can I add this dictionary?
Here is the list of options I have.

I have added other dictionaries to the list, but they have to be in the right format.  At the moment, I am not able to look up documentation for the format.


How can I force the Photos app on my iPhone to recognize faces I have a several photos in my camera roll, received mostly through WhatsApp in my iPhone XS.

In the photos, the person is in front of the camera and the face is completely visible and straight, not tilted, and when I swipe up to tag the person in the photo, I see a "No related found" message, it's not like it's mis-tagging, it doesn't find a face at all.

Selfies taken with the camera and photos taken from other places (downloaded from Facebook, for example) seem to be fine, the face is recognized, but Photos doesn't seem able to recognize the face in these photos from WhatsApp.

I have some photos of this person tagged and going to Photos > People to confirm additional photos doesn't find any additional photos.

Is there a way to force Photos to perform face recognition across the whole camera roll?

The only way I know to force it perform face recognition is to open Photos, Lock the iPhone, plug it to the charger, and let it locked and plugged for some hours.


How can I search 360,000 files, about 280 GB? I have a folder (technically in this case, a read-only mounted disk image) containing a ton of data I got by running Data Rescue (a data recovery app) on one of my large server drives. I did several different scan types and dumped all the files into one place. Data Rescue 'reconstructs' deleted files and often doesn't get it quite right. It can miscategorize the type of file it is, and it can mash separate files together.

I am seeking two specific PHP files (and maybe about 5 others if I get lucky). Most of these recovered files don't have names (0002, 0003 etc), so I have to search by content.

I've come up with 6 different strings that should be able to identify these specific files. So I need a way to search the contents of files, not in an Apple "magic search" kinda way, but in an old school "manually read through every file looking for a string-match" kinda way.

grep sounds like the obvious choice, but it's been nothing but problems. grep can search recursively, and it can decompress gzip, zip and bzip archives, which is all good. But after a few minutes of running, it starts streaming "too many open files" errors. I'm not sure why, it's as if grep doesn't close a file after it opens it to search in it. I've also had issues with grep just stopping... not quitting, not crashing, not going unresponsive, but not using any more CPU, not reading anything from the disk, just sitting idle when it should be searching. I ALSO had trouble running multiple grep searches at once. grep seems to load files line by line, so something like a disk image gets the entire thing loaded into memory before searching. But there is only one file in this whole bundle that is larger than the amount of RAM I have. So as long as I do one grep at a time, I should be fine.

This is the command I'm using (wrapped in a script that does several commands to different output files, with some status outputting):
zfgrep -l -r -a -J -i -s -U -n "#32cd32" /Volumes/\'Storage\'\ Original\ Recovery > 32cd32.txt

This will run for a while, then it will hang. I'll get some results but not a full search. If I remove the -s, I get the flood of too many open files errors. Then, at someone else's suggestion, I use find to feed files to grep one at a time, like so:

find /Volumes/\'Storage\'\ Original\ Recovery -exec zfgrep -l -r -a -J -i -s -U -n "#32cd32" {} \; -print > 32cd32.txt

But that command has the exact same problems.

So this leaves me stuck. How can I search every single file on this disk image, including the archives, for some plain text strings. Including binary data files that may have been incorrectly merged with plain text files? This doesn't seem like that tough of a task for a modern multicore computer with a current OS, lots of RAM and a SSD.

I actually would prefer a GUI option, but at this point I'll take any solution that works.

Also I originally started trying to do this using BBEdit, but it was skipping a LOT of filetypes even when you tell it to search all files. Even files that are XML based. I was very surprised by this.

Using find ... -exec grep -r effectively traverses the whole directory several times (once as part of the find, once as part of each grep -r) which may lead to the errors you see. So you should either get rid of the find or the -r. As you use the grep part to identify the files to be collected, it's probably the -r in your case.


Return Mac permissions to factory defaults? I messed up -- and followed some internet advice a few days ago without totally understanding the ramifications.  Specifically, in trying to stop the Finder from asking me to verify every time I wanted it to move or delete a file, I went to my home directory, looked at its permissions in Info (Read/Write for me, Read Only for Staff and Everyone), thought that looked like what I wanted everywhere, so I then selected "Apply to Enclosed Items".

I've recently realized that I probably shouldn't have done this, as various things have begun failing at an accelerating clip.  Yesterday, iTunes refused to back up my iPhone and iPads; and ClipMenu started reporting that it can no longer save my clipboard history (not a huge problem, but a good example). Today many of my preferences no longer work, and I can't set/save them (e.g., Mail "forgot" my password and can't seem to remember it when I set it, Finder preferences don't stick, etc.).

So ... is there a way to reset the various file and group permissions back to their original settings?  I've tried Disk Utility -> Verify (and Repair) Disk Permissions, followed by restarts, to no avail.  Note that I'm obviously not a guru and not nearly as smart as I'd hoped, so any help you can give probably needs to be "dumbed down" a little.

Thanks,
  Ed

P.S. BTW, in regards to preference problems, one message I get is 'Group differs on “Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf.plist”; should be 80; group is 0.', which goes away after the repair, but comes back again after I've tried (and failed) to change a preference.

--- EDIT ---

The "problem"may not be permission-related at all, but a corrupted keychain!

I used the Keychain Access utility to verify and then repair (eventually, after several attempts) the keychain, and all of the symptoms seem to have disappeared, for now.  I don't pretend to understand any of this, but I'm glad it seems OK now.

Thanks to all for their patient and thoughtful replies.

If I understand your question correctly, you're attempting to reset the permissions on a user's home directory. This is easily accomplished by resetting ACLs on the desired home directly by using the Reset Password Utility in the Recovery Partition:

Restart your computer from the recovery partition (if running Lion) or the gray disk (if not running Lion).
Open Disk Utility and run a permissions repair on your startup volume. After this is complete, close Disk Utility. We're doing this just for good measure.
Open Terminal from the Utilities menu. Type in resetpassword and select your user account (NOT System Administrator/root) from the drop down menu.
Click the Reset button at the bottom of the window in the Reset home folder permissions and ACLs section.
Quit the Password Utility and go back to the main recovery screen.
On your keyboard, hit ⌘ + Q and restart your computer. It's very important that you don't hold down the power button to exit the recovery session, or the ACL reset won't occur.

Good luck!


My iPhone 5s shuts down when it has remaining battery My iPhone 5s was shutting down automatically when it had 80% percent battery. Yesterday I restored it with iTunes and compatible firmware (6.1), now it shuts down at 73% battery.

What is the problem and how I can solve that?

You have essentially eliminated software as a cause by restoring the OS. If it happens consistently around the same percentage remaining, you likely have bad cells in the battery. Batteries cannot be repaired, so you must either have it replaced at an Apple Store or authorized repair center, or consider ordering parts and tools and doing it yourself if you have some technical proficiency (e.g., https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone+5s+Battery+Replacement/19239).


Mac Keeps Messages Deleted From iPhone When I delete messages from my iPhone, my Macbook Air keeps copies of the messages, is there a way to enable sync so that when I delete the messages from iPhone they delete on Mac and vice-versa?

No. Messages are not synced in this manner. The only sync is whether or not a particular message has been read. Once a message is delivered to a device/computer, it stays on that device/computer until it is deleted specifically from that machine.


What's the difference between MBP 2016 and 2017 Thunderbolt 3? I've been trying to buy some dongles for my new MBP 2017, but as I've been reading lots of reviews and product descriptions, it seems like some dongles that work with MBP 2016 does not with the 2017 version. What's going on?

Also any insight on why we can't daisy chain the dongles (e.g. Thunderbolt 3 -> Mini Displayport -> VGA/HDMI)? I have lots of Mini Displayport dongles I would still like to use.

For example look at the product description in these two links:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C316EIK

  THUNDERBOLT 3 PORT COMPATIBLE with the reversible USB-C connecter that connects to new computers and tablets > with Thunderbolt 3 such as the 2016 MacBook Pro (NOT 2017 iMac or MacBook)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N2ORP84

  NOTICE: the firmware of our products is updating now, please don’t connect this product to iMac 2017 and > MacBook 2017. USB TYPE C to Mini DisplayPort (Mini DP, MDP) adapter connects a computer host with a USB > Type-C port to a monitor or projector with Mini DisplayPort input, ★NOTICE★: DO NOT connect adapter(like mini > dp to DVI adapter) from other brand to USB-C to mini displayport adapter for a second signal convert, we > can't guarantee it works well.

EDIT:
Found a link with as a reference for the answer:
http://www.macworld.com/article/3200052/displays/apples-thunderbolt-display-doesnt-work-with-a-12-inch-macbooks-usb-c-port.html

You gotta love the heightened level of complexity that simplifying things down to one connector has made things.  Let's sort it out....

USB-C is the connector type.  It's the physical interface specification just as USB-A, USB-B, USB-Micro, USB-Mini are all physical connectors.  It's not a USB port, nor is it a Thunderbolt port.
USB 3.0/3.1 is the USB specification and port type.  It sets the standard for how USB will communicate on your machine.  It's backward compatible with USB 2.0, 1.1, and 1.0
Thunderbolt 3 is the Thunderbolt specification that supplies DisplayPort, PCIe, USB 3.0 and power.  It's backward compatible with Thunderbolt 2 and 1.  Thunderbolt 3 utilizes the USB-C interface and Thunderbolt 1/2 utilize a mini DisplayPort interface connector.
Daisy Chaining - Thunderbolt can be daisy chained, while DisplayPort cannot.  Usually, displays are last in the Thunderbolt chain.

As for the Macs...

MacBook Pros from 2016 onward have 2 or 4 Thunderbolt ports that utilize USB-C interfaces
MacBooks have USB 3.1 ports with DisplayPort support that utilize USB-C interfaces.

So, when you are picking your adapter, you have to determine what port you have on your machine first.  Then you pick the physical inteface type that works for you.

For example if you have a MacBook, you will have a USB port with DisplayPort support on a USB-C interface.  This means you can use a USB to DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort adapter or you can use a USB-C DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable.  What you can't use is a Thunderbolt cable/adapter

If you have a MacBook, you have a few more options because of the inclusion of Thunderbolt.

As for the iMac... Thunderbolt is Thunderbolt.  It doesn't change from MacBook to iMac to PC.  A Thunderbolt adapter for the MacBook Pro will work on an iMac because, after all, an iMac is a MacBook Pro in a different form factor.


How to access GPS data from command line on jailbroken iPhone Are there any binaries available via the command line to get information  from the GPS on a jail broken iPhone? I've searched through Cydia and haven't found anything, but I wouldn't imagine this would be something brand new that hasn't been developed.

Has anyone come across anything that can do this?

I've come along something very similar a while ago but there was no package needed. I'll try my best to explain how it worked. Firstly, an iTunes backup is required. Next, you will need to access that backup on your computer. There was a program for OS X (and probably for Windows too) that could read these backups. In the backup, there is GPS data that can be accessed but is useless without the other program. It is called iPhone Tracker. Also, another option that I have not tried is this. Other than these two methods, I am not sure of any other methods. Hope this helps!


Blocked Plug-in in Safari 10.1 I'm running El Captain 10.11.6 (15G1421) with all updates. I've recently updated to Safari 10.1 (11603.1.30.0.34) and now I get "Blocked Plug-in" whenever I click on Gmail links that lead to a PDF or even to a web page that links to a PDF.

Copying the link and opening it on a new window or tab works just fine! So does control-click,but not option-click or command-click.

Is there a fix or a better workaround? Can we tell Safari to always open PDFs in Preview?

Opening a console shows

  Refused to load http://URL/foo.pdf because it does not appear in the object-src directive of the Content Security Policy.

Here is my full Installed Plugins list:

Google Talk Plugin
Google Talk Plugin Video Renderer
Java Applet Plug-in
and a online banking plugin.

I do have Adobe Reader 10.1.16 installed but I don't think I've installed a browser plugin for that. The "Blocked Plug-in" message does not mention Adobe.

The problem also occurs in a different machine also running El Captain that does not have Adobe Reader.

Without clicking the back button (or Command-[ ) of the browser:

Although the plugin is blocked, you can still use Command-S (or File > Save As) as well as File > Export as PDF to save the file to a folder.

Alternatively, click the back button (or Command-[ ), and then:

Option-click on the original link to download the file
Command-click opens the PDF in a new tab (PDF will not be blocked)
Ctrl-click yields the option "Download linked file as"


How do I create a home screen button with a tel:// URI? I can create a home screen button with a tel:// uri using Apple Configurator, but this requires installing a profile on the phone and is not that straight forward.

What I would like to do is create a home screen button with and icon that is my picture and that when tapped invokes a tel URI instead of an HTTP URI without mucking about with custom profiles and the Apple Configurator.

It would be best, of course, if this was something I could walk someone (an older someone) through over the phone or with a Clarify document.

(I have elderly parents and inlaws that are now finding making calls on their iPhones confusing, and they can never seem to find the favorites tab in the phone application. A simple button would solve this, for now).

As it turns out it is possible to create a profile in Apple Configurator that creates the button(s) you want, save it, and then send it to the person to install, which will then add the buttons. Totally painless on their end, so I can certainly deal with creating the profiles. Hope this helps someone else.

Short summary:

Get Apple Configurator form the Mac App Store
Turn on supervision and create a new profile on the general screen

Go to Web Clips
Add a new clip with a url in the form tel:+12025551212
Add more clips for more phone numbers

Save and export the profile and mail it to the user


Can I set my Mac up to take a screenshot everytime I left click? I understand I am able to set my mac up to screenshot using timed intervals. But is it possible to set something up, in terminal perhaps, that would allow me to automate my screenshots so that every time I left-clicked a full display screenshot was taken?
I want to track my daily workflow for a university project.
Could I also direct the screenshots to a specific folder?
Thanks!

I have my doubts that mapping left click to screenshot is a great idea. It renders mouse as pointing device useless and you may end as some Vim users: "I've been using Screenshot for about 2 years now, mostly because I can't figure out how to exit it."
To set folder where screenshots are saved:

Press ⇧⌘5 or open Screenshot with Spotlight (⌘ Space; enter Screenshot in Spotlight search field).
Select 'Options', and set 'Save to' as one of defaults or 'Other locations.

To take screenshot (full screen):

⇧⌘3

This takes screenshot of full screen and saves it to folder set.
I think that pressing three keys is simple enough solution. It takes advantage of the workflow built into macOS, no need for Automator scripts nor remapping.
For more information have a look at Apple documentation: Take a screenshot on your Mac


Does higher-resolution display scaling improve movie quality? I just got a new Retina MacBook Pro, and I keep it at the default 1440x900 resolution setting due to not liking when everything is super-tiny. However, I was wondering, does the resolution setting make a difference when playing movies?

My thinking is that if the computer thinks it has more pixels, it should be able to display a higher-resolution video. Am I wrong, or should I make a habit of switching to the "More Space" resolution before playing movies?

It depends on the software you are using. As long as you haven't selected an upscaled resolution ("Larger Text" in the Displays preference pane), it should work just fine with any application designed for Mac within the last few years — including Quicktime, VLC, MPlayerX, etc. Simplifying a bit, these will all recognize that your screen's "pixels" are actually four pixels each, and make use of them.

However, if a program has not been optimized for use with retina screens, it may appear pixellated when the screen is set to a retina resolution.


Using Raspberry Pi as a home hub for Apple HomKit setup I'm trying to make my home a bit smarter using HomeKit without actually buying HomeKit accessories. Now I'm using python and the pyhap libary and it is working so far.

I can control my Raspberry Pi using Apple HomeKit and the Home app. But there's one thing I consider a big disadvantage of HomeKit: it cannot be controlled from outside the Network without an iPad, HomePod or Apple TV working as a home hub.

Question: Can I somehow turn my Raspberry Pi into a home hub so I can control my lights etc from outside my home?

No, that's unfortunately not possible.
The official hubs (such as an iPad or AppleTV) communicates with Apple's servers that then communicate with the Home app in order to provide push notifications and "proxy" functionality.
Creating a non-official hub would require you to be able to communicate with Apple's servers. This is not really possible without violating Apple's terms of services, and it is definitely not easily technically achieving anyways, as it would require reverse engineering the protocol, being able to provide valid certificates, etc.
You can however use your Raspberry Pi to control those non-HomeKit accessories when away from home - but it would require you to make your own client. I.e. it wouldn't be via the Home app, but you would need to create your own app, or host a web app on the Raspberry Pi that is available when away from home.
In addition to the above, there's a further option that might be doable depending on your exact setup. If you setup the Raspberry Pi to provide a network bridge via VPN, you could in theory use VPN software on your iPhone to access your home network as if you were directly connected it. Then HomeKit accessories would be directly accessible. This could be done by for example setting up OpenVPN in tap-mode on the Raspberry Pi and installing the client on the iPhone.


Typing inverted question / exclamation marks in Swiftkey on iPhone Is it possible to enter these characters? (For Spanish text)

I could not find them, and I'm sure I'm using the Spanish QWERTY keyboard in SwiftKey (with the ñ)

As @bassplayer7 suggested, I need to hold the ! in the symbols page. I was expecting to have this in the !@#,.? key, like in Android.


Is there a way to sort the apps by usage frequncy? I want to know if there's a quick way to find out the number of times one opens each app so that we can know which apps are really used by us frequently and we can sort them in that order.

I've tried to Google it but couldn't find any information that is really useful. Is it possible to do so?

I haven't seen any Spotlight metadata that counts the number an app is launched, you can, however, use the Date Last opened as a reference.

Open your /Applications folder and right click on the sort bar (where it says name, date modified, Size, etc.) and select Date Last Opened. Click on that to sort by that column and that's as close as you can get.

If you're feeling fancy, you can create a smart folder that only shows the apps that you've opened in the last  number of days, weeks, etc. :)


How to deal with whitespaces in OS X along filepaths when certain UNIX programs dislike it I am trying to include a command in a TeX file to a bibliography file that I am storing centrally.

However, when including the filepath, like

/Foldername with whitespace/ANOTHER folder name with whitespace/nowsinfldrname/bibo.bib

my Unix-based typesetting system complains. Is there a way to rectify that other than renaming my folders?

In bash, there are two main ways to have spaces in path names:

Backslash escape the spaces

/path/to/folder\ with\ spaces/

Wrap with quote marks

"/path/to/folder with spaces and $variable/"

'/path/to/folder with spaces and a literal $/'

Double quote marks expand shell variables. Single quote marks do not.


Always prompt for Boot Device on Startup? I have a MacBook where I have to dual boot Windows and OS X. When I hold the Option Key on startup, I get the nice "Select Boot Device" screen.

Is there a way to permanently enable this, so that I don't have to remember to hold option every time I restart?

One way to do this is to install a boot loader such as rEFIt.

This will present you with a menu similar to the following when you start up your computer:


To understand working of Cellular iPad+iPhone and number of sim cards required I am totally confused by iPad Cellular calling features.

If I put a sim card in iPad cellular, how do I make or receive calls in iPad since, there is no default dial app in iPad.

Case 1: 1 sim card: Doesn't work for me.

Suppose I have 1 sim card and I insert it in iPad Cellular. I can browse internet, but can't make phone call. And iPhone can't make calls either as it has no sim card.

I would have to download some Apps for iPad to make calls. Some apps don't work in some countries. So which app is good for this scenario?

Case 2:  2 sim cards: Works, but is this what iPad Cellular designed for?

1 sim card for iPhone and other sim card just for iPad for browsing internet. 1 phone number is wasted here. If I have to use Wi-Fi to browse internet by setting up iPhone hotspot, I would have bought a normal one instead of the Cellular version.

I need to understand the working of Cellular iPad and number of sim cards required.

No. iPads just use SIM for data, not voice.

You would need to keep your SIM in your iPhone and use the forward calls and text feature for iCloud to receive and make calls and messages from the iPad through the iPhone. Also, look into WiFi calling on the iPad by enabling it in the carrier / phone section of your settings app on iPhone.


Does Apple refund prorated cost to people who cancel their personal storage plan to join family plan before end of billing period? Thank you so much in advance, and sorry if I made any typos. English is not my first language.

My siblings and I (4 people) are using their storage plan individually and each is paying $2.99 per month for 200Gb. Meaning we are paying almost $12 a month. Now we want to include our mom in, and save some money, so we would like to upgrade to the family plan at $9.99 per month for 2Tb. I understand that one of us will have to upgrade their plan and then share the plan with the rest of the family, and Apple will charge that person the price of the higher tier plan, minus the prorated cost of their previous plan. My question is, will Apple refund the prorated cost to 3 other people who will cancel their personal plan to join the family plan - or they will be charged for the entirety of the billing period just like what usually happens with other Apple services such as Apple music?

According to Apple:

  If a family member is already paying for their own iCloud storage plan, they can choose to switch to your plan or keep their own and still remain part of the family. When they switch to the shared family plan, they get a refund for the remainder of their personal plan. They can't keep their current plan and use the shared family plan at the same time.


MacBook has problems with external monitor but iMac doesn't I have a small Sony TV which is colour balanced for video editing. Note: it does not have DVI or HDMI ports.

When I plug it into an iMac using VGA and the Mini Display Port adapter, it is fine (using the native resolution).

However, when I plug it into my MacBook using the same setup, it is unable to determine the correct resolution for it. (It thinks it is 4:3 and uses 1024x768, but in fact it is 16:9.)

Anyone know how I might fix this problem? There are no alternatives in the display settings.

Not all monitors are the same - I bought a monitor from a friend to use for extra screen space space with my 13"MBP (Mid 2009). It was a nice VGA widescreen LCD monitor but no matter what I tried my MacBook Pro could not send any kind of signal to it. All connectors were verified to work perfectly well and the monitor also worked perfectly well when attached to a nearby PC...


How can I disable Bluetooth A2DP profiles on the iPhone 4? Simple question: I'd like to disable the A2DP profile for either (a) specific devices paired with the iPhone or (b) the profile entirely from the phone. How can I disabled the A2DP profiles? There used to be a program called Bluetooth Profile Selector for jailbroken iPhones. However, it stopped working after 4.3.1.

Here's the detailed scenario on why:
I have a stereo in my car that accepts a USB connector. This is how my iPhone is connected and plays music through. This way the audio quality is pristine, I can see the track information and control my iPhone from the headunit, and it charges my iPhone.

The headunit also pairs via Bluetooth for hands-free calling. However, because the iPhone supports A2DP, this is how it pairs to the headunit. I can do hands-free calling just fine, however it screws up the audio coming from the dock connector. Basically, the iPhone will begin playing music via the dock connector until it auto-pairs with the headunit. At this point, the iPhone automatically changes the output method to the Bluetooth connection. Manually changing this back over to the dock connector every single time is not something I wish to deal with.

The app you are referring to has a manual process you can try, but it is not for the faint of heart: http://blog.ramondeklein.nl/?p=257

  Howto disable A2DP on the iPhone

  The interesting directory is
  /var/mobile/Library/Preferences, where
  the iPhone stores the BlueTooth
  settings. These settings are stored in
  the PLIST format, so you need a PLIST
  editor (Mac or PC) or you need to
  convert them by hand. Transfer the
  com.apple.MobileBluetooth.services.plist
  to your computer or you can use iFile
  to edit the file on your iPhone
  directly.

  Open the
  com.apple.MobileBluetooth.services.plist
  in your PLIST editor and make sure you
  edit the A2DPService section and store
  the devices you don’t want to use A2DP
  in the UnauthorizeList (without the
  letter “d”). This dictionary will
  probably not exist yet, so you need to
  add it by hand. You need to know the
  MAC address, but it is probably listed
  already in this file.

<key>A2DPService</key>
<dict>
  <key>State</key>
  <true/>
  <key>UnauthorizeList</key>
  <dict>
    <key>00:10:60:D0:91:D0</key>        <!-- This is the MAC address -->
    <date>2009-08-08T01:00:00Z</date>   <!-- Timestamp -->
  </dict>
</dict>

  Transfer the PLIST file back to your iPhone and reboot the device. Once it gets back on,  then the A2DP service should be disabled.


Is there an extension for safari like RightToClick or RightToCopy or some workaround with the same effect? Looking for an extension that will block websites from disabling right click or text selection.

I found this Safari Extension called Right Click.

This extension re-enables the right-click, selection and copy function on website which block those


Two Apple Developer Accounts I need two Apple Developer accounts, one for one type of games and one for another. But I need both to be in my name, and I'd like to use same card for payment. Is it possible and allowed? I cannot find any info on this.

As long as you have two different Apple IDs, I don't think there should be anything against registering for example two personally owned businesses (or sole proprietorships) with seperate developer accounts - even though both are owned by the same person. It might depend on the legal situation in your country/state.

The best way to find out is to contact Apple and ask them if they see any problems with having two accounts.

However I must note that there is no problem in releasing multiple apps on the same developer account. You can mix games and business apps in the same account without any problems.


Slow Finder - Caused by external disks? I've been finding Finder slow on my brand new Retina MacBook Pro.

I've got two external disks connected to my Mac most of the time. One is a Time Machine backup, the other is a Clone, also for backup. They spin down when not in use which is great. However, I've noticed that Finder is slow to respond. When I access Finder, I hear them spin up and then it is responsive.

Is there anything I can do about this?

You can try unchecking "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" on System Preferences > Energy Saver (source).

There's also an app that says it will give more detailed control called (appropriately) "Keep Drive Spinning".
Here is a link to the developer site, the app sends you to macupdate for the download –be careful with bundled software on the "install now" link. I have not tried it myself.


Should I turn off external monitor when MacBook sleeps? I have a MacBook Pro. When I'm not using it - at lunch time and overnight - I put the MBP to sleep. This in turns sends the external monitor to sleep. However, should I be turning the external monitor off?

Will this save energy, money and the life span of the monitor - or the opposite?

EDIT

Further info. One of the reasons why I'm hesitate about turning the monitor off while the MacBook is asleep, is in the monitor installation instructions it states:

"Turn on the monitor first, then the computer. This sequence is very important."

It's not clear if this is just refering to the first time set up or if this sequence should be observed for ever.

I guess if I turn off the monitor while the MacBook sleeps, I could then follow the following sequence: turn monitor on, then wake MacBook.

Any thoughts?

SECOND EDIT

I've just checked the monitor Specifications. Bizarrely it says sleep mode used 0.5W and Off mode also uses 0.5W !!

With modern monitors that have a "soft touch" power button they don't completely remove power from the monitor and draw zero current like say a traditional light switch. Part of the power supply keeps running to run some digital circuitry (normally a small microcontroller) that determines when the monitor should be taken out of sleep / off mode because either the button was pressed or a video signal is detected.

That would be why the specifications list 0.5 W for both modes. In reality there might be a very small difference to keep a LED blinking but that would be something in the order of 0.01 W. To put it in perspective 0.5 W x 365 days x 24 hours = 4380 watt hours  or 4.4 kWh so in either mode you're looking at under $1 a year and it won't affect the lifespan either way because the modes are so similar.

As for turning on the monitor first I'm not sure but would guess that's just to give time for the monitor to start up so that the attached computer can detect it's present. It could just be leftover in the instructions from an older PC and/or operating system combination that required it.


Classic ipod 120gb hardrive crash When I turn my ipod on I get the red circle with an X in it that tells me to contact apple support. I accessed the diagnostics and when I try to run either of the hard drive test the display says (can't open device) ERROR! Diag halt. I'm pretty sure my hard drive is toast and I know how to replace the hard drive but,how do I download software? when I connect it to Itunes on my computer will the software download while it synchronizes? or do I have to download software from apple?

If you can replace the hard drive from your iPod classic with another hard drive from another iPod classic 120GB, then you should be fine. The OS will automatically be on there. If not, it'll download automatically through iTunes. The same case happens if the replacement hard drive has an older version of the firmware.


Can't make rEFInd show boot menu again! I'd install rEFInd in my Mac Mini 2,1. It has a OS X Lion bootable partition and a Windows 10 install ntfs partition. I tried to boot from the ntfs partition but the Windows Installer won't run, only a black screen with a DOS cursor blinking. Now I can't make the rEFInd boot menu show up again. I turn on with "alt" key or "c" key pressed but Mac Mini ignores and (appears to) try to boot from ntfs partition again...

Any idea before I have to open the Mac Mini physically?

To get started, try to reset NVRAM:

Shut down your Mac.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R.
Turn on your Mac.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys immediately after you hear the startup sound.
Hold these keys until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for a second time.
Release the keys.

Resetting NVRAM

(If the rEFInd installation was performed  something like sudo bless --mount / Volumes / ESP --setBoot --file /Volumes/ESP/efi/refind/refind_x64.efi --shortform, and the boot volume information was recorded in NVRAM).


iMac freezes complete, except mouse pointer. What can I do? Recently, I've noticed a strange behavior on my iMac (Yosemite 10.10.4, Late 2009).

Everything freezes completely - it's totally unresponsive. HOWEVER,  I can continue to control the mouse pointer perfectly.

In other words - even though I can move the pointer - I can't click any buttons, menu items, change the focus on any windows, or interact with the desktop, dock, menu, or any running app. Launchpad and Mission Control don't work. The iMac also doesn't seem to respond to the keyboard at all.

I should note that this happens very infrequently - perhaps once or twice a month. I haven't noticed a pattern of when it happens (e.g., it doesn't typically happen soon after restarting).

So...

Any idea what might cause this? I'm up to date on all my updates (OS
X and apps), and I'm not doing anything out of the ordinary with my
Mac (No envelope-pushing applications or modifications).
So far - the only thing I can think of to fix this is hold down the
power button until it restarts. Is there a better option? (E.g., on
Windows, you have CTRL+ALT+DELETE, which seems to recover from any
crash short of a full blue-screen). Is there an equivalent way to
launch the activity monitor, for example?

I had this problem as well, it turns out that migrating from a prior version was the problem, specifically kernel extensions that used to worked now "sorta" worked until they didn't.

Using Lingon (see the Apple Store), it was possible turn on and off various services to locate the problematic one(s).  Using Onyx it was possible to clear out the kernel caches.

For me it was some historic SnapZPro extensions that needed updating.


Show Active Connections to "Internet Sharing" How can I view a list of devices that are connected to my Apple laptop via Internet Sharing (when it's enabled)? If a list doesn't exist, does Internet Sharing log DHCP requests and if so, where? Thanks.

You can try arp on the command-line:

NAME
arp -- address resolution display and control
DESCRIPTION
The arp utility displays and modifies the Internet-to-Ethernet address translation tables used by the address resolution protocol (arp(4)).  With no flags, the program displays the current ARP entry for hostname.  The host may be specified by name or by number, using Internet dot notation.

E.g. for internet-sharing from Ethernet to Airport I use:
arp -i en1 -a
This will list all clients connected via WLAN.


How can I find the “friendly name” of the operating system from the shell / Terminal / bash? I know that I can use sw_ver to find this information:

ProductName:    Mac OS X
ProductVersion: 10.14
BuildVersion:   18A353d

…and I know I can find other things like uname can give me some types of information about the OS, and system_profiler SPSoftwareDataType can give me additional information, but I want to find the “friendly” name, such as “Mojave” in the image shown above.

How can I find the “friendly” name, using the shell / Terminal / bash / etc ?

So far my Google fu has failed to turn up any solutions. All the results seem to come back to those commands I mentioned above, but none of those give me the right information.

It has to be in there somewhere… how can I find it?

Offline Method
This command should find what you're looking for:
awk '/SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR macOS/' '/System/Library/CoreServices/Setup Assistant.app/Contents/Resources/en.lproj/OSXSoftwareLicense.rtf' | awk -F 'macOS ' '{print $NF}' | awk '{print substr($0, 0, length($0)-1)}'

It's based off the answer found here.  It's tested to work in High Sierra and should work in Mojave.
Online Method
You can also do this online (which is actually what populates "About this Mac" dialog shown in the question):
curl -s https://support-sp.apple.com/sp/product?edid=$( sw_vers -productVersion ) | xmllint --format -xpath "//root/configCode/text()" -

This command will query Apple's server with your poduct version and will extract the OS name from the XML response.  To see the full XML response, simply omit the --xpath "//root/configCode/text()" option:
curl -s https://support-sp.apple.com/sp/product?edid=$( sw_vers -productVersion ) | xmllint --format  -

Response:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<root>
   <name>CPU Name</name>
   <configCode>macOS High Sierra</configCode>
   <locale>en_US</locale>
</root>


Access iOS command line on computer without network I have jailbroken my iOS 10.2 iPhone and I would like to accsess the command line on my computer without using SSH.

The reason why I would like to do this is becasue I want to keey my security while still being jailbroken. I would also like to accsess the command line on my iOS device on a bigger screen.

Answer:

If you put your phone in tethering mode, you can hook it up to the computer via USB and SSH to the IP address of your phone's tether or hotspot interface. You could also do it over WiFi or BlueTooth.  The IP address of the phone shows up as your laptop's tethered connection's gateway.

Commentary:

"Keep my security while still being jailbroken."

Yeah.. um, no.  You defeated security mechanisms on it to add customization.  It's a trade-off. If you're that concerned about potential security risks, you shouldn't have jailbroken the phone.

There is no way to get to the phone's console except from the phone itself without using SSH.

SSH  ("Secure SHell") is plenty secure between your laptop and iPhone, especially with WPA on WiFi, if you're not going through any untrusted network devices.

SSH over USB tethering is your most secure option.  You'll want to turn the phone and laptop radios off if you really don't want the SSH server on the phone exposed to the world when it's enabled.


How to transparently mark a picture in preview? I've successfully marked a picture with preview. The only part left is to make that mark transparent so it doesn't block the whole picture. How do I do that?

Here's an example of what I'm trying to accomplish:

The "highlight" I am getting is this:

As you can see, the red marking I am trying to put over the picture is blocking everything, and I am not able to "see through" the marking. I hope it's more clear now. :)

In Yosemite Preview:

Select Tools > Annotate > Rectangle. This will create a rectangle with the default attributes. You can resize the rectangle with the handles.
The Markup toolbar should appear automatically, but if it doesn't, choose View > Show Markup Toolbar.
The second icon from the right is the fill color. Select that and click Show Colors...
A color picker comes up that lets you set the opacity.

Here are a couple of screenshots of the Preview window showing what I did:

That's after steps 1 and 2, and I dragged the new rectangle to the right so you can see initially it's completely opaque. The Markup toolbar is the toolbar directly above the image itself.

This is after step 4, where I used the color picker to change the color to green with a 50% opacity. I also removed the outline stroke using the 3rd icon form the right in the Markup toolbar. In the Markup toolbar, you can see the second and third icons from the right changed to reflect the new settings.

That's the color picker you get after you choose Show Colors... from the fill icon in the Markup toolbar. Note that the picker itself might be different depending on which one you last used, but all I've seen have Opacity at the bottom. You can change the picker itself using the icons at the top.


How do you find your facetime call history on iphone/ipad? This question is mostly tailored for the iPad. When I got to the facetime app on the ipad, I see a list of people I've called and the last time I called them, but I can't find anywhere that shows all the calls to a certain person. Does anyone know how I can find this information on the ipad?
On the iPhone, there is a similar issue if you go to the facetime app. However, if you go to the phone app, it shows the call history, but there is no phone app on the iPad.

FaceTime history are stored into each device you make FaceTime calls with.
It looks like Apple don't let us see our detailed history, only a global one with recent calls. But there is something we can be 100% sure about : is that the complete logs are stored somewhere on your device.
In my case, even with Handoff and Continuity enabled, FaceTime calls made with one device won't show up on others after hang-up, expect when I make a classic phone call from my Mac using my iPhone.
The only way to find it, would be to extract your device's save file and browse it through a third-party-app.


Percent character breaks Terminal If I type the % character in the Terminal, it breaks that shell and every new shell I open until reboot:

$ seq 10 | parallel -j50% "echo Hi {}"
-bash: printf: `"': invalid format character

Does anybody know why this is?

To expand a bit more, if I open a Terminal, and echo "100%", this happens:

Last login: Fri Nov 21 08:28:47 on ttys033
~$ echo "100%"
-bash: printf: `"': invalid format character

0; echo "100~$
-bash: printf: `"': invalid format character
7;file://mac-122667.dhcp.fnal.gov/Users/perdue~$
-bash: printf: `"': invalid format character
7;file://mac-122667.dhcp.fnal.gov/Users/perdue~$
-bash: printf: `"': invalid format character

Every time I press RET after putting a percent character in, the Terminal flashes and prints an error statement about printf. I was actually working on this more after I posted the question and one thing I did was upgrade bash:

~$ echo $BASH_VERSION
4.3.30(1)-release

This helps. Previously it was Bash 2.something (if I recall - whatever Mountain Lion's default is). In that version of Bash, every open Terminal window aside from the one where I put the % was okay, but every new one I opened was also corrupted and nothing could get the Terminal back but rebooting.

Now, with Bash 4.3, I can type a command to get the prompt back to normal. And new Terminal windows are also okay.

But - I still can't use % in commands I put into the Terminal. Fortunately, I don't need to often, but things like awk just don't work for me on my Mac.

So, my $PS1 is:

~$ echo $PS1
\[\e[0;34m\]\W\[\e[0;31m\]$ \[\e[0m\]

If that looks confusing at first, these are colors I am setting in my bash_profile:

# colours for use in prompts
RED="\[\e[0;31m\]"
GREEN="\[\e[0;32m\]"
YELLOW="\[\e[0;33m\]"
BLUE="\[\e[0;34m\]"
PURPLE="\[\e[0;35m\]"
CYAN="\[\e[0;36m\]"
export PS1="${BLUE}\W${RED}\$ ${NOCOLOR}"

If I echo "100%" with another user account, it is okay! So clearly, I am shooting myself in the foot somewhere in my .bash_profile. Which is too bad, because I basically like my setup, or so I think, ha!

If anybody wants to look at my dot files they're now on GitHub. (I am a bit embarrassed to show them - there is some cruft there, haha.)

Looking at your .bash_profile, this seems to be the most suspicious line:

trap 'printf "${OPENTITLEBAR} `history 1 | cut -b8-` - `pwd` ${CLOSETITLEBAR}"' DEBUG

It is doing a printf on the history (which will contain your % character).

I have no idea what that is intended to do (update window title with last command?), but I would guess if you comment it out, the error will stop.


What happens to messages when they're deleted I would like to know what happens when you set Settings > Messages > Keep Messages to something other than forever? (I.e. 30 days)
I was under the assumption that messages are stored both in the cloud and locally on the phone. Will it remove both versions or just the version on your phone allowing you to redownload those messages at a later time?

tl;dr: There is no online version, so it will only remove the messages on that specific device.

From what I've seen, iMessages are stored locally, not on iCloud, with the exception of iCloud backups which do include iMessages from whatever you had stored on your device. In fact, the option for how long to save messages applies both to SMS and to iMessage texts, even though your cellular provider does not save your SMS messages. (If iMessages were stored online, you would probably also expect a Messages app on iCloud.com, which there isn't.)

Possibly you are under the impression that it saves messages online because when you restored from an iCloud backup it included your messages, and when you scroll up to old parts of conversations it loads messages that hadn't displayed prior, but it's loading the extra messages that were already saved on your device. You can test this by opening a conversation thread while in Airplane Mode and scrolling to load old messages.

Further, if you set up a new device, and you do not restore anything from a backup (so it doesn't load your settings) but you still sign in to your Apple account, Messages would not automatically download your old messages.

If you change how long your device saves iMessages for, that will only affect that one device. Maybe you can have one device save messages for only 30 days to save room, and on another device you can have it save messages permanently.


Why would I want to turn on iTunes Match on an iOS device? I'm a bit confused about iTunes in the Cloud vs. iTunes Match.
My understanding is that iTunes in the Cloud allows me to have my songs in the cloud. I can see all my songs by turning on "Show all music" on my iOS device.
iTunes Match allows me to add music to the Apple cloud that was not bought in iTunes. I have enabled that on my Mac to add music I buy from Amazon.

But why is there an iTunes Match switch on the iOS device? I cannot buy music on iOS and add it to iTunes and turning on "Show all music" already gives me all songs.

I agree that they make it confusing in their advertising. I think part of the problem is that they have blurred the lines quite a bit recently, leaving one key difference: music purchased with iTunes vs. that purchased elsewhere. iTunes Match uploads your music and puts it on all of your devices regardless of where you purchased it, while iTunes on iCloud just does that with music you purchased from iTunes.

For example, I have a number of songs that I purchased from Amazon, and they consequently don't sync to my iPhone even though they are on my computer. This would apply to music ripped from CDs as well.


iMovie 10.0.1 Upgrade/Install Fails With "an error has occurred" Message The download in the App Store can't be installed, restarted, or deleted.
This is for iMovie 10.0.1 as of December 23, 2013. I followed a discussion forum and tried a suggestion that said remove the application from finder. Unfortunately, this left me without the iMovie application and did nothing to change the status of iMovie from "downloaded". So, I can't even start over or resume. Is there a clean way to get out of this mess? The forums go on and on with various solutions and responses that say that one "...worked for me!".

My system software is OS X 10.9.1 running on a MacBook Pro Retina 15-inch, Early 2013.

To investigate the problem, please run Console to check the recent logs for more details (look for com.apple.installd).

In example, I had something like:

com.apple.launchd[1]: (com.apple.installd[69518]) Job appears to have crashed: Abort trap: 6
ReportCrash[69520]: Saved crash report for installd[69518] version 332 to /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/installd_2014*.crash

If you see the crash in your logs, then check the backtrace under System Diagnostic Reports, so there is something like:

Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '*** -[NSKeyedUnarchiver initForReadingWithData:]: incomprehensible archive

The reason for that could be that some of the downloaded files are corrupted.

So to solve that, you have to remove these files and try again.

Simple solution

Quit your App Store
Run Finder and go to (CMD+Shift+G): /private/var/folders.
Trash all the folders from that folder (e.g. vp, zz).
Run App Store and re-try.

In case something bad happens, restore these removed files from your Trash.

Advanced solution

From Terminal check if you've temporary files here:

ls -la /private/var/folders/*/*/*/com.apple.appstore

And then try to remove them (you may backup them first just in case):

rm -frv /private/var/folders/*/*/*/com.apple.appstore

Warning: Make sure you won't do any typos (like adding space between the folders), as you could remove the wrong files!

And re-try to run installer again.

Related:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4483444
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4234582


What sorts of apps should I grant Keychain access to? Some apps ask me for Keychain access when installing them, configuring them, and/or using them. As with anything related to computer access, permissions and security, giving the app access could be a great convenience to me or a security hole. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about the process to give informed consent. I don't want to grant an application more permission/access than it absolutely needs.

Assuming that I'm installing software that is not overtly suspicious, how can I evaluate whether or not I should grant an application's request to access Keychain?

First off - I strongly prefer apps that securely store secrets, therefore it's almost always a sign of quality that an App even knows what the keychain is. Rarely is it a sign they are there to loot your passwords, but if you grant unlimited access, that can happen. It's commendable to use proper coding practices, so spending time to learn specifics of Keychain Access is your next challenge:

What sort of app requests keychain access?
Have you audited that they only store their secrets there and don't access other items?

Worst case, just say no. Then see what breaks in the app or work out the specifics of how it stores items and ensure you can use Keychain Access to see that the app is only accessing items it should in the granular permissions settings.

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/MCHLF375F392/10.15/mac/10.15.4

The help guides on macOS are very good for learning how to get to the basics.


Merging old backups with new one fails on Time Capsule Backstory

I have my MacBook Pro (running macOS Sierra 10.12.3) connected to an external hard drive and a Time Capsule for Time Machine backups. I recently had to wipe the MacBook Pro and reinstall macOS, apparently because of some SSD-related problems, and I loaded my data back onto it from the external hard drive's backup.

After loading all of the data back onto the MacBook Pro, Time Machine backups were a bit messed up. My now-wiped/restored MacBook Pro was being recognized as a different machine than before it was wiped, so backups weren't merged with my history (it tried to back up my whole Mac from scratch instead of just the few gigabytes of new files). To remedy this, I merged the old backups with my new computer (had my new computer inherit the old backups), as described in this answer with:

sudo tmutil inheritbackup /Volumes/AdataHDD/Backups.backupdb/Owlswipe’s\ MacBook\ Pro

This remedied the issue on the hard drive and it proceeded to backup just the 11 GB of new data and associated the new backup with the old ones on the external hard drive, keeping all my history dating back to November.

I did the same inheriting backups thing with the Time Capsule (after mounting its backups of my MacBook Pro onto my laptop) with:

sudo tmutil inheritbackup /Volumes/Time\ Machine\ Backups/Backups.backupdb/Owlswipe's\ MacBook\ Pro

However, unlike on the hard drive, this did not solve the problem and did not merge the old backups with the new.

Problem

After inheriting the old backups onto my MacBook Pro, Time Machine begins to backup my Mac onto the Time Capsule and later, when I return to my Mac, shows this popup:

Unfortunately, there's not enough room on the Time Capsule to do another complete backup of my computer without deleting my old backup history (which I need to retain) and so if I click "Start New Backup" the backup fails (runs out of space) or if I click "Back Up Later" my MacBook Pro doesn't backup at all.

How can I circumvent this odd protection to "improve reliability" and just backup my MacBook Pro to the Time Capsule, merging the backup with my new computer and only backing up the same 11 GB of new files that I had to back up to my external hard drive?

tl;dr: How can I perform a Time Machine backup of my post-reinstall Mac to the Time Capsule without making a completely new backup, just like how I did with my wired external hard drive?

Unfortunately, it's impossible to merge two sets of Time Capsule backups, as the Time Capsule itself runs checks to ensure that your backups are in "good condition".

You'll have to press Start New Backup, which deletes all of your old backups but will succeed in making a new one.


NTFS partition on external HD not recognized or mounted on El Capitan or Sierra, even with latest Paragon or Tuxera I have a mid-2013 Air 11" with El Capitan just upgraded to Sierra.

I have an external Seagate USB 3 HD with GUID partitioning scheme, an HFS+ partition I boot off, and an NTFS data partition.

The HD was bought Mac-formatted and came with a free version of Paragon, which I have updated to the latest version. It's used as a data disk on my PC but as the only disk on my Mac which is missing the SSD.

I had been using it successfully on both my Windows and Mac laptop as best as I can recall but then didn't use the Mac for three months or so until the other day.

The Mac boots off the HFS partition but does not see a valid second partition.

I've tried shutting down and switching the drive back to the PC and both partitions work fine there.

I've tried both the free-for-Seagate and the trial versions of the Paragon NTFS driver 14. I've also tried without Paragon and the OS does not even let me use it read-only. I've now also tried the latest trial version of Tuxera.

First Aidis the only one which includes anything like an error code:

Unknown filesystem version: e.89

Could there be something in the partition table that needs to be changed with a low-level tool?

I have noticed that the Mac somehow seems to know the previous name of the second partition from when it was an HFS installation partition!

Here is how the various tools on my Mac and PC see the drive ...

Mac, Disk Utility:

Mac, diskutil list:

Mac, Tuxera:

Mac, First Aid:

Windows, Disk Management:

Mac, gpt:

$ sudo gpt -r show disk0
Password:
      start       size  index  contents
          0          1         PMBR
          1          1         Pri GPT header
          2         32         Pri GPT table
         34          6
         40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
     409640  487043280      2  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  487452920    1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  488722456  121948144      4  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  610670600       2040
  610672640  121944064      5  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7
  732616704       2048
  732618752  244154368      6  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7
  976773120         14
  976773134         32         Sec GPT table
  976773166          1         Sec GPT header

Mac, fdisk:

$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

Disk: /dev/disk0    geometry: 60801/255/63 [976773167 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
 #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -  976773166] <Unknown ID>
 2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
 3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
 4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused

Hex dumps of raw disk as requested in comments by klanomath:

$ sudo hexdump /dev/rdisk0s4 | grep "eb 52 90 4e 54 46 53 20"
0000000 eb 52 90 4e 54 46 53 20 20 20 20 00 02 08 00 00
^C
$ sudo hexdump -s 57g /dev/rdisk0s4 | grep "eb 52 90 4e 54 46 53 20"
e898fde00 eb 52 90 4e 54 46 53 20 20 20 20 00 02 08 00 00

disk0s4 has the wrong GUID partition type - as visible in the Tuxera screenshot. The partition type is 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC which is HFS+ (the standard OS X partition type). You can check this by entering sudo gpt -r show disk0.

It should be EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7 though, which is the GUID for Microsoft basic data partitions (BDP).

To change the partition type boot to Internet Recovery Mode or a second boot device (e.g. a thumb drive), remove disk0s4 with gpt and re-add it with the same boundaries (index number, beginning block & size) but a different type.

Under certain circumstances - I need the output of sudo fdisk /dev/disk0 and some hexdump results additionally - unallocated disk space between disk0s3 and disk0s4 is required and the beginning block & size have to be modified compared to your current gpt partition table.

Boot to Internet Recovery Mode or a thumb drive with either a full OS X install or an OS X Installer thumb drive. Editing the GUID partition table with gpt requires you to unmount the disk. You can't unmount the disk you are booted to.

Open Terminal (menubar Utilities > Terminal) and enter diskutil list to get an overview. Get the disk identifier of the 500 GB drive - this may be disk0 or disk1. Below I assume it's disk0. Use the disk identifier you have found in your environment though.

If you log-in as admin some commands require you to prepend sudo ... executing some commands (e.g. gpt). Booted to an installer thumb drive or to Internet Recovery Mode you are always root user and prepending sudo is not necessary.
Get the partition table:

gpt show -r disk0

Unmount the disk

diskutil umountDisk disk0

Remove the 4th (falsely typified) partition:

gpt remove -i 4 disk0
diskutil umountDisk disk0

Your hexdump results ("eb 52 90 4e 54 46 53 20" is the "string" ∂RENTFS(x20)) show that disk0s4 has special NTFS Boot Sectors (which typically occur in the first and the last block of an NTFS volume) in block0 and block 121948143. (x0000000 is byte/block 0 of disk0s4 and xe898fde00 converted with a hex2dec service is byte 62437449216 or 62437449216/512: block 121948143). This shows that there is no gap between disk0s3 and disk0s4 and the size is (121948143 blocks + block0) 121948144 blocks.
re-add the 4th partition with a proper type but the old other values:

gpt add -i 4 -b 488722456 -s 121948144 -t EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7 disk0

reboot


Bash script to back up files I am new to bash, so I'm a bit lost with this script I made to backup some directories from the local machine into a NAS. The NAS will contain only a certain number of backed up files, so before copying a new one I delete the oldest of the existing.

First of all the script defines all the paths, directory and file names into variables

# Defines directories
ORIGEN='/Library/path-to-directories/'
DESTINAS='/Volumes/path-to-backup/'
DESTITAR='/Library/path-to-temp/'

# Defines names of the files and folders to delete (OLDDIR) and copy (NEWDIR)
OLDTAR=`/bin/ls /Volumes/path-to-backup/ | head -n 1`
NEWDIR=`/bin/ls /Library/path-to-directories/ | tail -n 1`

Then using the variable names it:
Creates a tar compressed file from the original directory. The tar file is kept in a separate, temporary directory.

/usr/bin/sudo /usr/bin/tar -czf "$DESTITAR$NEWDIR.tgz" "$ORIGEN$NEWDIR"

Deletes the older of the tar files from the NAS:

/usr/bin/sudo /bin/rm $DESTINAS$OLDTAR

Copies the tar file into the NAS:

/usr/bin/sudo /bin/cp -Rp "$DESTITAR$NEWDIR.tgz" $DESTINAS

Deletes the tar file from the temp directory:

/usr/bin/sudo /bin/rm -f "$DESTITAR$NEWDIR.tgz"

The script is run unattended by a user that has been duly authorized through changes in the sudoers file. Everything runs smoothly except in this step:

/usr/bin/sudo /bin/rm $DESTINAS$OLDTAR

The log file shows no errors but there's nothing in the place of the $OLDTAR variable, like it is not resolved, so it actually executes:

/usr/bin/sudo /bin/rm /Volumes/path-to-backup/

However if I run the commands in the terminal one by one I get it to work well. It may be a problem of user permissions?

This is not a real answer, but I would pick apart your question into 4 smaller tasks.

Set up permissions / ACL so you don't need sudo if at all possible
Just set up a script to tar the files locally - and date stamp the backup
Set up a script to rsync the backup directory from the local server to the NAS. You can use the --delete option or --delete-after if you want to expire old backups over time.
Set up a script to purge dated backups in the local backup folder

Also - if you can't avoid using root /sudo - add this line tmutil snapshot before any delete and check one time to allow for local backups tmutil enablelocal in general so you have a backup if a script deletes too much. Time Machine will allow you recover rapidly from any errors in the logic of the scripts.

Lastly - for debugging bash - run bash -x script or set debugging set -x to see the values of the variables and see if you have a path error / encoding error or something else amiss.


Is iTunes for Windows affected by the code responsible for the goto fail vulnerability? I've been reading about the infamous "goto fail" security bug in iOS 6 and OS X 10.9, but I haven't read anything about whether other Apple software, like for example iTunes for Windows, is affected. This is relevant since, after all, iTunes is the software you use to access your Apple account and update your credit card information.

Since I haven't read anything about it, I assume that it isn't affected... but am I wrong? Has anyone tried verifying whether iTunes is safe?

The "goto fail" bug was part of a OS X library that checked that a valid SSL certificate also matched the host records it was exchanging traffic with.

Since many applications use SSL first identify a web site securely and then encrypt the traffic, having the library in the core OS lets each program not have to do the work to validate a cert. By patching/fixing this library the problem is solved for all applications that relied on that fucntion.

On OS X, iTuned relied on the system to validate SSL certs and thus didn't need a patch. There isn't a published vulnerability listed (yet) for iTunes for Windows, so you should be in the clear for that one issue.

Of course iTunes could have other security issues that aren't published or patched yet, but there's not any evidence that Windows iTunes is vulnerable today to the same code problem.


How do I block a specific JS file on Safari? I have tried adding the full URL to the JS file on Adblock Filter, but it still loads. Is there anyway that I can block specific JS files? (Or any files, really). I know how to block hosts, but not specific urls/files.

Did you already try JavaScript-Blocker?

They claim to block frames, XHRs, embeds, objects, and videos from loading and even images. Probably similar to NoScript in the Mozilla-universe.


In Safari, how can I allow a site to locate me, after I have refused? In Safari on iOS 8 on my iPad, I went to a page on the site www.castorama.fr.
The page wanted to locate me. So Safari asked me, and I refused (too quickly).

Now, I want to accept.

1) How can I accept to be located?

I have a few more questions about location in Safari.

2) When I refuse, will Safari ask me again if I visit the page again after some time? If so, how much time?

3) When I refuse, does this apply to the page or to the whole site?

Thank you.

I will try to answer in the following order

3 - Settings are remembered for the whole site. Not for the page.

2 - There is a settings under Preferences -> Privacy, for this. You can select either to be prompted once a day, only once or deny all the time.

1 - I don't think there is no way to do this directly. But I think you can work around it by changing the settings in answer 2 to prompt daily, visit your website, allow locations when prompted and disable the settings back to prompt once if you want to

More on location services https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204690


Where is my 'Wallet' app (ios8.4) This may be a UK problem, Apple pay was launched in the UK today and it coincided with an update to ios8.4.

But I still have Passbook.. Is there a way of turning on wallet or has it simply not been launched in the UK yet?

The Wallet app is coming with iOS 9, and is not yet supported in iOS 8.4.

I've tested iOS 9 in Germany, and it will be supported in every country. They 'just' changed the name (and introduce a collective place for Apple Pay in the future).

Source


Logic X's synths look distorted I'm not sure if this is a legacy thing, or if I'm being stupid, but when I open the ES1/ES2 whatever in Apple Logic X, it shows me something tiny and illegible

I'm guessing this is just cause Apple decided not to update these, but can someone confirm?

That's what it has always looked like. It hasn't been updated for LPX.


Why would an app constantly monitor /etc/passwd? I noticed today that Adobe Desktop Services is constantly monitoring /etc/passwd.

Would would be the point? Passwords are not stored in /etc/passwd so why would an app monitor /etc/passwd? What info might they be trying to monitor?

Adobe Desktop Service wasn’t looking at your /etc/passwd. Apple’s system library was.

Apple’s system library wanted to know your username so it can find your home directory. It then decided the best way to figure out your username was to look it up in /etc/passwd. Adobe Desktop Service just wanted to know the path to your home directory, and (correctly) used the CoreFoundation framework for that. That’s why the call appears under Adobe’s process.

Details

In your screenshot, the Caller entry says something like _fsi_get_user. This is the symbol of a private subroutine in one of macOS’s system libraries, libsystem_info.dylib, located in /usr/lib/system.

The public source code of the _fsi_get_user function reveals the following logic:

if (geteuid() == 0)
{
  // […]
}
else
{
  f = fopen(_PATH_PASSWD, "r");
  _fsi_get_validation(si, VALIDATION_PASSWD, _PATH_PASSWD, f, &va, &vb);
  fmt = 1;
}

Looking at the decompiled code in libsystem_info.dylib (for example, using Hopper Disassembler) confirms that _PATH_PASSWD is indeed the file name /etc/passwd. (The source code further down in file_module.c also explains why there’s a call to fstat immediately after the fopen: the implementation of _fsi_get_validation does that to figure out the last modification time of your /etc/passwd.)

In other words: Adobe wasn’t looking at your passwd file; Apple’s system library was.

Connecting the dots

There are many possible call stacks that may connect Adobe Desktop Service’s code to the _fsi_get_user function. A bit of static analysis suggests the most plausible candidate would be NSHomeDirectory, a utility class in Foundation.framework.

Looking at Adobe Desktop Service’s binary reveals that it indeed calls [NSHomeDirectory UTF8String]:

*100032ac4   call   imp___stubs__NSHomeDirectory
*100032ac9   mov    rsi, qword [0x10008a178]  ; "UTF8String"
*100032ad0   mov    rdi, rax
*100032ad3   call   qword [_objc_msgSend_100088350]

Apple’s implementation of NSHomeDirectory will then lead us to /etc/passwd fairly quickly. My educated guess on the most likely chain of function calls would be:

Adobe Desktop Service → [NSHomeDirectory UTF8String] (in Foundation.framework) → NSHomeDirectoryForUser → CFCopyHomeDirectoryURLForUser (in CoreFoundation.framework) → _CFCopyHomeDirURLForUser → getpwuid (in libsystem_info.dylib, re-exported via libSystem.B.dylib) → si_user_byuid (this is where Apple decides at runtime which source it’s going to use. For example, if your user ID is between 1 and 499, your /etc/passwd will be consulted instead of Directory Services.) → file_user_byuid → _fsi_get_user.

To be extra sure, I further analyzed the binary Adobe Desktop Service and as expected, it contains no single reference to /etc/passwd. (I haven’t checked whether or not Adobe Desktop Service does other shady things, though.)

The whole analysis would have been a little easier if you had actually clicked on one of the entries before you created the screenshot. Your app would then have shown the relevant stack trace in the bottom right corner (it’s the lines where it says Stack Trace). But hey, I had a lot of fun figuring it out, and I’ve learned a lot that way!

Verification

To confirm that my analysis is correct, you may want to click on one of the /etc/passwd entries in your Instruments app and find the terms NSHomeDirectory and file_user_byuid somewhere in the stack trace.


Is it taxing on the mac computers' performance to have multiple user accounts and not log out of them? I have separated my digital life into 2 user accounts on my macbook into work and personal. In order to switch between these two accounts more easily I usually lock the screen and switch to the other account without logging out.
I was curious if this is costly on my machine's performance? One other way I'd like to ask this question is, do you think mac OS stores a "snapshot" of the user account in the storage to be reopened when you unlock the account? or is it taking up space in the memory this way?

macOS is a multi-user system so any application opened by any user stays open til it gets closed. You can have a look at Activity Monitory to see that even with just one user logged in there is a lot of additional stuff going on in the background. A lot of these processes usually sleep/wait for any input, the same is valid for user applications which often are sleeping (with their memory swapped to disk) if they aren't actively used.
If you have a set of applications (i.e. M, N, O, X, Y, Z) you regularly use it doesn't make a significant difference on memory or CPU needs whether you use all of them within the same account or use Fast User Switching to switch between account A (running applications X,Y, Z) and account B (running M, N, O).


Hosts file being reset after every reboot My /private/etc/hosts file is being reset after every reboot. I can make my changes, save the file, and it will work. Right up until I reboot my Mac. Has anyone found a work around for this or a way to prevent it from happening?

I'm running OSX Yosemite 10.10.4.

UPDATE: It was my VPN Client, Cisco AnyConnect. See comments for solution.

You have two choices.

One is stop using Cisco AnyConnect -not a solution just a choice.

The other is just use the Cisco AnyConnect host file and modify it with your modifications, since it will will overwrite your /private/etc/host.

Cisco host file:
    /private/etc/hosts.ac


How do I duplicate Apple Configurator profiles? I've been working with Apple Configurator in its various versions (now 1.2.1) since its introduction and it is a powerful tool to manage and supervise iPads & other iOS devices.

One glaring omission is the inability to duplicate an existing profile in order to make small changes and save as a new profile. Without this function, one must create a new profile and recreate all the settings. With complicated profiles this becomes a tedious and potentially error-prone exercise. One cannot simply export the profile, rename the file in the Finder and re-import: it merely replaces the original because the original profile's name is coded into the XML, and I can't figure out what to change in the XML code to get this working, if that is indeed what must be done.

The iPhone Configuration Utility (latest v3.5) has the function I need, but it cannot process new iOS 6 configuration details and strips them out when imported.

Has anybody figured out how to duplicate profiles?

Got it.

Open the XML file in TextEdit (or some other XML editor of your choice).

Scroll to the very bottom.

Look for:
        PayloadDisplayName
    Orig Profile
    PayloadIdentifier
    orig.profile

Change these two instances Orig to Dup or some other unique name.
Save file.
Go to configurator > import > point to file - it imports as 'dup profile' with all other settings in tact.

(I suppose you could also make XX copies of the XML file and edit each one, but it is easier just to leave the file open in TextEdit, make a change, save, import, make a change, save, import, lather, rinse, repeat.)


Jittery macOS mouse cursor when hovering over links I'm experiencing a jittery/buggy/flickering mouse cursor when moving my mouse over hyperlinks.

This occurs in both Safari and Chrome. It also occurs in other non-hyperlink instances of the mouse cursor changing, such as hovering over the drag handle when resizing Finder columns.
Every time the mouse transitions from the hyperlink pointer to the arrow pointer, the arrow pointer briefly visibly flashes in the wrong position before correcting itself.
This is in macOS 10.15 Catalina on my new 16" MacBook Pro with AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 8 GB GPU, provided by work and with a variety of software installed.
I now notice I'm also experiencing it on a Mid 2015 15" MacBook Pro running Catalina with the AMD Radeon R9 M370X 2 GB. I don't believe this computer used to have this problem, prior to upgrading to Catalina.
This occurs 100% of the time when the discrete GPU is active. Namely:

Any time an external display is connected.
If "Automatic graphics switching" is toggled off, it will reproduce on the MacBook's display.

The issue has been tested and occurs using the onboard laptop Trackpad, external Magic Trackpad, and an IBM TrackPoint. It is unrelated to input device or tracking speed.

Reproduction steps:

Hover mouse above a hyperlink. (Shows "Mickey Mouse glove" pointer.)
Move mouse pointer off the hyperlink so that cursor changes to the arrow pointer.
Arrow pointer initially flashes at the "top left" position of the mouse bounding box for 1 frame.
Arrow pointer then flashes back to its true position, pointing at the same pixels that the hyperlink glove was originally pointing.

When I create a screen recording via QuickTime, the mouse glitch is not visible in the recording.
Here is an iPhone video of my Mac's screen demonstrating the issue:

Relevant section in slo-mo:

This is driving me nuts. On link-heavy pages, moving the mouse across the screen results in a dizzying blur of pointer motion. Middle-clicking a link also produces a similar jitter.

I've reported this to Apple via their Feedback Reporter:

FB8452310 - GPU causes mouse cursor glitch on 16" MacBook Pro

This bug is also mentioned here:

Mouse cursor flickers when changing states using the Discrete GPU - YouTube
When the cursor transitions from link mode to normal, it moves to the left for an instant before being displayed in the correct location.
Cursor shaking when changing from default arrow to pointer
If your mouse flickers on rollover, it's an OS problem.
Mouse cursor flicker (over links)
Mouse cursor flickering between arrow and hand on web links

OS X mouse cursor flicker (video)
Cursor Rollover 'Jerking'

So happy to hear I'm not the only one with this issue. Bought a new MacBook Pro 16 inch earlier this year in May, having that issue since.

After I bought it, I noticed the issue. Contacted Apple, told me to send it in for repair or exchange it for a new one at the retailer. So I replaced it. Brand new MacBook, same issue (however only after logging in with my Apple ID).
We're now deep into August and I've been in contact with several people at Apple since May. To no avail. We're now trying to escalate the issue to other departments, but not sure how long this will all take. The general comment they've made is "that the resolution might come in the form of an update, so keep an eye out on that"..

Some things I've noticed that might be helpful for others to know:

At first I thought the issue was with external displays. But after further debugging it seems the issue has to do with my GPU (AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 8 GB). The reason it seems the  issue has to do with an external display is that the MacBook will switch from the embedded Intel UHD Graphics card to the better GPU when plugging in certain displays.
You can try the above by opening something like Final Cut Pro without an external display plugged in. The issue will then appear since the MacBook switches to the other GPU. You can also verify this by disabling "Automatic graphics switching" in the "Energy Saver" settings.
A clean install doesn't fix the issue. It also doesn't seem to be a hardware issue since the problem appeared on two separate MacBook Pro's.

I'll update the answer when I hear back from Apple. If anyone else has more info, glad to know.


Why extracted .app file appears in Finder 3.1 Mb and in bash only 102 bytes? I extracted atMonitor using Archive Utility and The Unarchiver and in both cases it appears in the Finder as 3.1Mb and in bash only 102 bytes. Strange is that I can execute it and I can look in the package content both in Terminal and in Finder and the files inside appears not to be a symlinks.

The Problem is that I can't copy the .app file through shared folder from another computer.

What is the problem with it?

Update:

in Finder:

in Terminal:

.app files are really just folders, but applications (like finder) see them differently and calculate the size of the contents of the folder.

Empty folders have the size of 68 bytes, non-empty folders are 102 bytes or bigger.
All my folders and .apps are 102 bytes since they contain only 1 sub-folder.


New hard drive isn't available 2013 air I purchased a new hard drive for my 2013 Macbook air from OWC. I've checked the hard drive seating, but the drive doesn't show up either in the Disk Utilities GUI or using diskutil list. Any other suggestions on how to get it to show up/mount?

If you power off and reset the NVRAM that would be the only software thing you could do to cause the system to rescan all the ports and rebuild the IO tree of connected devices.

Barring that working, you would need to go in and reseat all the cables and start replacing things one by one.

drive
cable between the board and the drive
connection / logic board

OWC has good support in my experience, so checking with them to confirm you’ve got the correct part - no firmware update needed on Mac or on the drive.

You could boot to an external USB drive in the mean time or boot to Recovery and reinstall High Sierra on an external drive so that you’re sure the Mac firmware is up to date 100%. Some imaging workflows might keep the EFI / firmware down level. A clean install from Apple’s installer while connected to the internet should solve any firmware update issues.


Skype texting on iPhone no longer makes any sounds at all No idea what's going on here, but sometime within the last week or so Skype on my iPhone SE has stopped making any text-related sounds.  Phone calls are fine including ringing and speaking/listening, but notifications will not make a sound.  iOS notifications for Skype are enabled, Notifications within Skype itself are enabled, and I am in "online" mode (not Do Not Disturb).  I have rebooted my phone, quit & relaunched Skype, etc.  Still no joy.

iPhone SE on iOS 10.3.1 (not willing to update to iOS11 so please don't even suggest it)
Skype 8.3.0.51670 (and no way am I updating Skype.  I made that mistake recently on another device and it was a disaster, plus it was working fine until very recently).

EDIT:  And just like that, 20 minutes later... Skype started making noise again.  I have absolutely NO idea why... I didn't do a thing.

EDIT 2:  For whatever it's worth, Skype stopped making sounds again a couple days later.  Then started again.  It seems to basically just be random... sometimes it will make sounds, sometimes it won't.  No rhyme or reason!

Please check if you are in do not disturb mode as it affects it. Look for the moon symbol in the notification area.


Edit / Amended a previously annotated image in preview. I really like the annotation tool in preview, but when i annotate a jpg or png image and save it all the annotations get flattened into the image and cant be amended.

Im aware that if you annotate a PDF it lets you save the PDF then come back to it and amend, but is it possible to annotate a jpg or png and then save it as a file format that will allow it to be amended ?

Currently if you take a jpeg on png and export as a pdf it will basically print as a pdf so it again flattens the image.

Exporting it as a pdf first then annotating it would work, but that requires users to remember to do that first as if they dont they have to start again from scratch.

Preview app and the jpg and png file formats do not have this capability. You'll need a layered image editor like the affordable Pixelmator, Acorn, or the expensive kitchen sink Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.


What does Control key do, other than its usage in terminal and right click? So far I have been using control key to:

Send control commands to terminal
Occasionally do right click

Does the key have any other function?

The Control key is used as a modifier for various purposes in different applications. In OS X, it is also used for Emacs bindings supported in many applications.

The Apple HIG (Human Interface Guidelines) that is recommended for application developers discourages the use of the Control key (the closest equivalent to the Control modifier key in Windows is the Command key on OS X):

  As much as possible, avoid using the Control key. Because the Control key is already used by some of the universal access features—as well as in Cocoa text fields where Emacs-style key bindings are often used—it should be used as a modifier key only when necessary.

Here are some examples of shortcuts from Apple's KB on OS X keyboard shortcuts:

  Sleep and shutdown shortcuts with Control

  Command-Control-power button    Force your Mac to restart
  Control-Media Eject  (⏏)    Show restart/sleep/shutdown dialog
  Command-Control-Media Eject  (⏏)    Quit all applications (after giving you a chance to save changes to open documents), then restart the computer
  Command-Option-Control-Media Eject  (⏏)    Quit all applications (after giving you a chance to save changes to open documents), then shut down the computer
  Shift-Control-Media Eject  (⏏)    Put all displays to sleep

  Finder shortcuts with Control

  Command-Control-I      Get Summary Info
  Command-Control-Up Arrow      Open the folder that contains the current folder in a new window

  Application and other OS X shortcuts with Control (may not work in some applications)

  Control-A      Move to beginning of line/paragraph
  Control-B      Move one character backward
  Control-D     Delete the character in front of the cursor
  Control-E     Move to end of line/paragraph
  Control-F     Move one character forward
  Control-H     Delete the character behind the cursor
  Control-K      Delete from the character in front of the cursor to the end of the line/paragraph
  Control-L      Center the cursor/selection in the visible area
  Control-N      Move down one line
  Control-O      Insert a new line after the cursor
  Control-P      Move up one line
  Control-T      Transpose the character behind the cursor and the character in front of the cursor
  Control-V      Move down one page
  Control-Tab      Move focus to the next grouping of controls in a dialog or the next table (when Tab moves to the next cell)
  Shift-Control-Tab      Move focus to the previous grouping of controls
  Control-F1      Toggle full keyboard access on or off
  Control-F2      Move focus to the menu bar
  Control-F3      Move focus to the Dock
  Control-F4      Move focus to the active (or next) window
  Shift-Control-F4      Move focus to the previously active window
  Control-F5      Move focus to the toolbar.
  Control-F6      Move focus to the first (or next) panel
  Shift-Control-F6      Move focus to the previous panel
  Control-F7      Temporarily override the current keyboard access mode in windows and dialogs
  Control-F8      Move to the status menus in the menu bar
  Command-Option-Control-Comma (,)      Decrease screen contrast
  Command-Option-Control-Period (.)      Increase screen contrast
  Command-Shift-Control-3       Capture the screen to the Clipboard
  Command-Shift-Control-4      Capture a selection to the Clipboard
  Command-Control-C     Copy the formatting settings of the selected item and store on the Clipboard
  Command-Control-D     Display the definition of the selected word in the Dictionary application
  Command-Control-V      Apply formatting settings to the selected object (Paste Ruler Command)
  Control-Right Arrow       Move focus to another value or cell within a view, such as a table
  Control-Left Arrow       Move focus to another value or cell within a view, such as a table
  Control-Down Arrow       Move focus to another value or cell within a view, such as a table
  Control-Up Arrow       Move focus to another value or cell within a view, such as a table
  Control-Space bar      Toggle between the current and previous input sources
  Option-Control-Space bar      Toggle through all enabled input sources

  Universal Access shortcuts with Control

  Option-Control-F8 or fn-Option-Control-F8      Open VoiceOver Utility (if VoiceOver is on)
  Option-Control-F7 or fn-Option-Control-F7      Display VoiceOver menu (if VoiceOver is on)
  Option-Control-Semicolon (;)      Enable/disable VoiceOver Control Option-lock
  Command-Option-Control-8      Invert/revert the screen colors (OS X Lion or earlier)
  Command-Option-Control-Comma (,)      Reduce contrast (OS X Lion or earlier)
  Command-Option-Control-Period (.)      Increase contrast (OS X Lion or earlier)


ReFS (NTFS successor) filesystem support Wikipedia says of ReFS:

  Resilient File System (ReFS), codenamed "Protogon", is a Microsoft proprietary file system introduced with Windows Server 2012 with the intent of becoming the "next generation" file system after NTFS.

Does MacOS support mounting and read/write access to ReFS?

If so, what are the limitations?

I would plan on zero support since Microsoft only supports their server os and many desirable features are still
absent for this filesystem like quotas, bootable filesystem, removable media, encryption, etc...

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/refs/refs-overview

It looks like Microsoft is adding a scrubbable and more resilient / thin provisioning layer similar to Apple’s successful transition APFS that completed on iOS several years ago and is basically complete on macOS now.

I would expose any ReFS data over a stable API like SMB or iSCSI rather than expect to read or interact directly with that flavor of storage from macOS.

All is not lost if Apple doesn't ship filesystem support as there are several user space filesystem extensions that have a long heritage of adding useful filesystems:

https://osxfuse.github.io
https://github.com/alperakcan/fuse-ext2

I don't see one for ReFS but I'm sure someone can write or show one once that happens and edit this portion of the answer to update it.


Send notification from command line On Mac OS X, some applications will display a notification that appears briefly in the upper-right corner (e.g., when I receive email).

Is there a way to generate a notification from the command-line?  In other words, is there a command-line program I can run to display a custom notification, with text of my choice?  Ideally, I'd love to be able to run something like

show-notification "Hello world!"

from a shell script and have a notification appear showing the text "Hello world!".

I discovered I can use this answer to display a dialog box in the center of the screen that the user has to click "OK" on, but I'm looking for a notification not a modal dialog box.

The following works:

osascript -e 'display notification "Hello world!" with title "Hi!"'


Apple Watch Update Error My Apple Watch Series 2 refuses to update to WatchOS 6.2. The error message on my phone (in Dutch) says "Unable to install update", "An error occurred installing the newest WatchOS version on your Apple Watch" (see image below).

I have tried everything from making extra space available to disconnecting the watch from the phone (which is a reset) and repairing and restoring.

Any ideas what I can do? I have a log file available also.

Update: Apparently the problem was with certain updates at Apple. A later update resolved this issue.


Safe to clean iPad screen with alcohol wipe? I ordered a glass screen protector for my iPad and have just received it. In instructions, it says I have to clean the screen with the given alcohol wipe. Is it safe to use an alcohol wipe on iPad screen? I read somewhere it damages the screen...

Alcohol can probably damage the coating on the display. I wouldn't use an alcohol-based cleaner.

I accidentally used an alcohol-based liquid to clean my 2011 MBA's screen and the coating is visibly damaged by it.

See this Apple Support page: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204172.


Outlook 2011 won't close in Macbook Air Outlook 2011 has frozen in the middle of moving an email and won't close. How can I close it?

There are multiple ways to Force Quit a application.

The following is probably easiest.

Bring Up the “Force Quit Applications” Window

Hit cmd+Option+Esc to bring up the “Force Quit Applications” window, then click to select the app name, followed by clicking the “Force Quit” button to end the app immediately.

Or, you could use the Activity Monitor to Force Quit application.

PS, it is also a quick way to see what apps are running :)