Corresponding ipfw rules in MacOS for this Iptables rules I need to give Internet access to a VM under Vmware fusion 7 in Host-Only mode. I know how to do it in Linux, with the following IPtables rules:

sysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_forward=1

iptables -A FORWARD -o eth0 -i vboxnet0 -s 192.168.56.0/24 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW -j ACCEPT
iptables -A FORWARD -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A POSTROUTING -t nat -j MASQUERADE

But I can not find out how to do it in MacOS Sierra. Any help?

Thanks in advance!

To enable NAT for a host-only network in VMware Fusion do the following:

Enable forwarding by adding a file /etc/sysctl.conf with the content:

net.inet.ip.forwarding=1

and reboot
Connect the Mac to the host-only network and make a note of the network/netmask of the host.only network:

Enter ifconfig to get the vmnet IP of the Mac

...
vmnet3: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
        ether 00:50:56:c0:00:03
        inet 192.168.9.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.9.255

In the IP setting of the guest VM enter an IP/netmask according to the host-only network settings (with the example above that's in the range 192.168.9.2-254/255.255.255.0), a gateway (the vmnet3 IP of the hosting Mac from step 3 - here: 192.168.9.1) and a DNS server.
Open the pf.conf file with:

sudo nano /etc/pf.conf

and add the lines:

nat on {en0, en1} proto {tcp, udp, icmp} from 192.168.9.0/24 to any -> {en0, en1}
pass from {lo0, 192.168.9.0/24} to any keep state

after the line rdr-anchor "com.apple/*".

Depending on your Mac and your network configuration only one interface is sufficient (either en0 or en1). Also use the proper network/netmask (your vmnet config instead of 192.168.9.0/24)!.

Save the file and exit nano.
Check your pf.conf with:

sudo pfctl -vnf /etc/pf.conf

If no error occurs enable pf with:

sudo pfctl -ef /etc/pf.conf

After a reboot you have to relaunch pf because it's not started automatically while booting. To launch pf while booting check step 4 in this answer: What is the modern way to do port-forwarding on El Capitan? (forward port 80 to 8080)


Is there a shortcut for activating Low Power Mode in iOS 9? I don't use my iPhone with a mobile data plan and I don't care if the polling frequency for background apps gets lowered a bit.

Is there an easier/faster way to activate the Low Power Mode than using Settings -> Battery -> Low Power Mode?

Is the Do Not Disturb mode that I can set using the quick settings, pulled up from the bottom of the screen, equivalent or is this a different thing? I saw some comparisons of Low Power Mode with Do Not Disturb mode in descriptions of the new feature.

Note: Using Siri is not an option for me due to privacy concerns.

Two Options:

Option 1:
Ask Siri to "enable low-power mode". This requires an Internet connection of some type because of Siri so if you are, in fact, using an iPhone without a data plan then you will need to be on wifi.

Option 2:
On iPhones featuring force-touch, you can force-touch the settings icon on the homescreen, navigate directly to battery and toggle low power mode there. Not much of a shortcut but it is something.


How do I restore a jailbroken iPhone 3G? How do I restore to the normal non jailbroken state my jailbroken iphone 3G? Is there any permanent change when you jailbreak it?

All you need to do is plug your iPhone into iTunes, click on it under Devices:

And click "Restore":

iTunes will make sure that you do actually want to restore:

Jailbreaking does not make any permanent changes; a restore will put your iPhone back exactly the way it was before you jailbroke it.


iPhone Whatsapp Lockscreen Notification Problem Since upgrading Whatsapp to version 2.18.52 contact names do not appear on whatsapp lock screen notifications. For example, if I get a message from Mom, whatsapp only displays the whatsapp logo and “message”, without displaying the sender. I used to be able to see just the contact name (“Mom has sent you a message”), but now, no Names are displayed. This just happened as I updated to ios 11.3.1. Anyone having a similar problem? Please advise how I can fix this issue.

Thank you

Had this same problem and got the below reply from whatsapp support

To turn on previews that display the contact name but not message:

Go to WhatsApp > Settings > Notifications > turn Show Preview on. Go to iPhone Settings > Notifications > WhatsApp > Show Previews > Never.


Software (not app) To Read Underlying iPhone Data About a year ago I came across a piece of software that was around $30 that said it could read the underlying data in an iPhone.  I bookmarked it and still I cant find it.  It said it could read and export any of the Notes, SMS Text Messages, Call History, etc.  Essentially, if it was on the iPhone it could get to it.

Does anyone recall seeing such software?  Its not an App.  This is installable software and it ran on the PC and Mac.  I've got both so if anyone knows of anything else then I'm open to investigating that too. Its for the iPhone 3G.

I don't think there's any software that can do it without jailbreaking the device.

iPhone Explorer is free software for Mac and PC that allows you to browse many files and folders without jailbreaking. If you do jailbreak it is also supposed to let you get at MS messages, call history, etc.

I've not used with with a jailbroken device, but can attest that it works reasonably well in its normal mode (it seems to not work as well with iOS 4.2, though you can still browse and such).


How to fix internet sharing that doesn't route packets except DNS? I have a Mac mini running 10.8.2. It connects to the internet over Wi-Fi and everything seems to work. I want to make this Wi-Fi available to another computer connecting to the mini's Ethernet.

My Wi-Fi router is at 10.0.0.1.

I have experimented with a bunch of static and dynamic settings.  This is what I have currently:

mini
Static IP: 192.168.2.1
Netmask:   255.255.255.0
Router:    10.0.0.1

Internet Sharing is set to go from Wi-Fi to Ethernet. In this configuration:

The mini will serve DHCP address over Ethernet.
The mini will provide DNS resolution over Ethernet.
The mini will NOT route packets for external hosts.
The connected computer can ping or ssh to the mini.
The connected computer can resolve DNS.
The connected computer cannot ping the router, Google, or any other external computers.

Here is a small dump of hopefully useful things from the command line:

boots@eiji:~$ ps ax | egrep '(bootp|natp)'
52502   ??  S      0:00.01 bootpd -d -P
52503   ??  S      0:29.94 natpmpd -d -y bridge0 en1
53729 s001  S+     0:00.00 egrep (bootp|natp)
boots@eiji:~$ ifconfig
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 16384
    options=3<RXCSUM,TXCSUM>
    inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
    inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
    inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
gif0: flags=8010<POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST> mtu 1280
stf0: flags=0<> mtu 1280
en0: flags=8963<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=2b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_HWTAGGING,TSO4>
    ether 3c:07:54:58:2f:9c
    media: autoselect (none)
    status: inactive
en1: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    ether 68:a8:6d:58:06:e7
    inet6 fe80::6aa8:6dff:fe58:6e7%en1 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x5
    inet 10.0.0.145 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 10.0.0.255
    media: autoselect
    status: active
p2p0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 2304
    ether 0a:a8:6d:58:06:e7
    media: autoselect
    status: inactive
fw0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    lladdr a4:b1:97:ff:fe:d9:44:ca
    media: autoselect <full-duplex>
    status: inactive
bridge0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    ether ac:de:48:65:39:32
    inet 192.168.2.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.2.255
    Configuration:
        priority 0 hellotime 0 fwddelay 0 maxage 0
        ipfilter disabled flags 0x2
    member: en0 flags=3<LEARNING,DISCOVER>
             port 4 priority 0 path cost 0

Matt's answer is actually not a solution but just a workaround.
NAT in 10.8.2 is not working because of a bug in pf configuration files. You can find the solution here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4418?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US


A book in iBooks won't finish deleting. When tidying my downloaded iBooks (not all from the Apple Store)my iPad got stuck trying to remove a download. I now cannot purchase any more books because my iPad won't complete the deleting process. I've tried signing out of my iTunes account and signing in again. Holding down the power and home buttons until the Apple logo appears. Nothing seems to work. I have, however, yet to update to iOS 11.0.3 will this resolve the issue I'm having with iBooks, once I complete the update?

Open the Settings app > iTunes&App Stores. Check to see if automatic downloads are turned on for iBooks. If so, turn it off.


How to install Mac OS X in Parallels VM without extra `OS X image file.hdd` file on host Mac? How to install recent versions of Mac OS X such as Sierra or El Capitan in Parallels without creating an extra file on the host Mac?

Installing Mac OS X as a guest OS in Parallels is easy. Just choose File > New, and point to a copy of the Mac OS X installer such as Install macOS Sierra.app.

The problem is that in Parallels versions 9 & 10 & 11 & 12 we are prompted to create an extra file besides the main file that stores the virtual Mac’s boot drive. The extra file has a suggest name such as OS X image file.hdd. I assume that file is for the “recovery partition” (that I have never really understood).

Is there some way to install Mac OS X as a guest OS without that second .hdd file? I want to be able to backup and move around my main Parallels file (the boot drive) without having to pull that second file around. Deleting that second file breaks the main VM file, making the VM unusable.

Despite claiming the file will be named OS X image file.dmg, it is actually saved as OS X image file.hdd (.hdd, not .dmg). This is the linked file that I want to unlink and dispose of.

This OS X image file.hdd file is in addition to the the file containing the actual virtual macOS, the .pvm file such as macOS.pvm by default or macOS Sierra.pvm in this screenshot. The .pvm file is the important one, the one to keep.

For Parallels 11.2.2 and macOS 10.12 Sierra as guest OS, I had the same problem. Once the VM is installed make sure you configure the VM, go to the Hardware tab, select the Hard Disk item in the lefthand column that represents the unnecessary "OS X image file.hdd" file and click the minus sign button to remove it. You can delete the actual "OS X image file.hdd" file and your VM won't complain about it being missing when booting.


iPad and iPod touch suddenly require activation I was using my iPad 2 today and everything was behaving normally. It had 90% battery and is running iOS 6.0. Then, suddenly, it displayed the Apple logo boot screen for a couple seconds and brought me to the device activation screen.

Upon my attempting to activate it, it tells me that "the activation server is temporarily unavailable" and suggests activating it with iTunes and a USB cable. When I proceed in this manner, iTunes shows it as a normal, activated device but refuses to sync with it.

A few minutes later, the exact same problem (and associated symptoms) occurred on my iPod touch (4th generation), also running iOS 6.

Additional info:

iTunes displays an alert, "The software on the [iPod/iPad] "[device name]" has expired and must be updated to a newer version." They are both completely up to date.
The contents of the devices are displayed perfectly fine in iTunes.
Both devices remember their lock screen backgrounds.
Syncing the device proceeds to step 5, until it says, "iTunes cannot sync apps to the [iPod/iPad] "[device name]" because the apps installed on the [iPod/iPad] could not be determined."

What in the world is happening, and how can I fix it?

This problem happened as the iOS 6 beta 4 expired today, so all devices that were running that version of iOS will need to be updated to the non-beta version. As iTunes and iOS don't see a difference between the two (as they're both called simply "6.0"), this update needs to be done manually, with the following steps:

Download the appropriate version of iOS 6.0 from the iOS Dev Center.
Connect the device to iTunes.
Option-click (Shift-click on Windows) the "Check for Updates" button on the Summary tab of the device in iTunes.
Select the .ipsw file in Finder and choose Open.

Your device will then install the update and everything should be fine.


How can I change the preferred application for opening "fmp7://" URLs from FileMaker Pro Advanced to FileMaker Pro? I have both FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Pro Advanced installed. Because the available licenses for the Advanced product are limited, I shouldn't use it unless necessary. But when neither application is running, my Mac will currently open any "fmp7://" URLs in FileMaker Pro Advanced. How do I change this so that FileMaker Pro is opened instead?

(There's no obvious configuration option for this in either application's Preferences window.)

Download and install the excellent RCDefaultApp Preference Pane, which — amongst other things —  lets you declare the default handler for fmp7:// URLs.


Unable to verify iOS 9.3.1 Update I can't install iOS 9.3.1 even though its downloaded. It fails at verification. My phone is connected to the Internet and it's working perfectly (yes I've tested). I've restarted my iPhone but no luck. I'm currently on iOS 9.3.

Usually such an error will occur when one or more Apple servers serving that area is down or perhaps it might have to do with either some proxy settings on your providers side if not on your phone side as I've often seen such responses with people having Global HTTP Proxy enabled on their iPhones.

I'd suggest you to try and connect to a WiFi network and try again.


How to transmit my PC onto my iMac? I use tiny 13'' Windows laptop for work and whenever working from home would like to use my 27'' iMac as a display to it.

Is this possible? Would HDMI->Thunderbolt cable do the trick? Is there anything more required?

You cannot transmit the output of your Windows screen through an iMac display, but there is one way to work that you may find quite appealing: Microsoft Remote Desktop.

MS has a remote desktop client application that is a free download from the App Store. On your Windows machine, you change System preferences in Control Panel to enable remote access. In the Remote Desktop app on your iMac, you create a machine profile that specifies the Windows computer name or IP address, your account username and your password. It supports fullscreen mode, so your Windows login will be plenty big on your 27" display.

I use the application daily to remotely administer Windows desktops and servers all over the country. From the comfort of my MacBook.


Reformat a Partitioned Mac OS Extended External Disk? One of my backup disks is full. How can I Erase & Reformat the drive? I use Yosemite OS.

The External Hard Drive was formatted as Partitioned Mac OS Extended (case sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted volume) Disk.

I tried under "Disk Utilities", but got this Error Message:

  Disk Encryption failed with the error:  Unable to delete the Core
  Storage logical volume group.

This is an example of a procedure to erase an external disk containing a single encrypted partition.

Open the Disk Utility application and highlight the "Logical Volume
Group" representing your external disk. An example is shown below.
(Hint: click on image for a better view.)

Next, click the Info icon to get the pop up window. Note, in the
example shown below, the "Physical Backing" is disk1s2. This means
the physical disk number is 1. The "s2" suffix can be ignored. Your
numbers may be different.

Next, highlight the "Encrypted Logical Partition" as shown in the
example below.

Again, click the Info icon to get a pop up window. Note the "Disk
Identifier". In the example shown below, the value is disk2. Your
value may be different.

Close the Disk Utility and open the Terminal application. Enter the
following commands. If your numbers differed from mine, make the
appropriate substitutions. If prompted, enter your login password.

diskutil  unmountDisk  /dev/disk2
sudo  gpt  destroy  /dev/disk1
sudo  gpt  create  -f  /dev/disk1

When I entered these commands, I saw the following in the Terminal
window.

Steelhead:~ davidanderson$ diskutil  unmountDisk  /dev/disk2
Unmount of all volumes on disk2 was successful
Steelhead:~ davidanderson$ sudo  gpt  destroy  /dev/disk1
Password:
Steelhead:~ davidanderson$ sudo  gpt  create  -f  /dev/disk1
Steelhead:~ davidanderson$

The distutil command  must successfully unmount the disk in order
for the gpt commands to work. If the disk will not unmount, then
some window needs to be closed. Do not proceed with the gpt
commands, if you can not unmount the disk.
If successful, you should see a result similar to what is shown
below. The result shown is a 4GB flash drive with no partitions. You
can either add a partition or repartition the entire drive.


BeamSync setting has ruined OSX Lion I am running OSX Lion on a Macbook Pro. Some website suggested I put in a command in the terminal to 'increase my graphics performance' by turning off BeamSync. The command was:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver Compositor -dict deferredUpdates 0

The performance of this Mac is now utterly pathetic. Animations do not run properly and some of them are missing completely. Its like the GFX card has been disabled.

I tried running the command again with a 1, but it did not help. Does the deferredUpdates setting get cached somewhere, or enable something else thats causing the issue?

When I attempt to read that value, I get told it doesn't exist:

  $ defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver Compositor -dict deferredUpdates
  2011-09-28 11:44:23.535 defaults[4532:707]
  The domain/default pair of (com.apple.windowserver, Compositor) does not exist

IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT

You are about to make a serious modification. You should have backed up the relevant plist file before making any changes. But now, you should absolutely do so just in case you make a change that causes serious system instability.

MAKE A BACKUP OF /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver RIGHT THIS MOMENT!!!!!!

Please don't do this until you have taken necessary safe-guards and understand what my command is actually doing. I suspect you may be able to restore the default by issuing:

defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver Compositor

I suggest this because I notice that in that plist file (/Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver), I have no reference to 'Compositor' whatsoever.


Can a Macbook Air host a network? I'm going to be away for a few days and will be taking both my Macbook Air and my iPad away with me.

Whilst we're stuck in a hotel room I may not have internet connection (I'm not willing to pay for hotel wifi) but would like to be able to share the iTunes library between my iPad / iPhone / Air

Without being connected to a router can I do this?  Can the Air host its own private network just for local devices?

There are a couple of ways of acheiving this:
Adhoc, peer to peer, computer to computer
You can create a peer to peer wireless network between devices that does not require an Access point or other routing device.  This is usually known as creating an ad-hoc wireless network, or a computer to computer one, rather than an infrastructure one.
I currently only have access to a machine with Mountain Lion on, and things appear different (this method is unavailable), but in Lion or earlier you should be able to:

Go to the menu bar, go to your network indicator and choose "Create
Network..."
Enter a network name, and security settings if required
On your iPad, go to Settings, go to WIFI and choose the network you
just created. Enter the password if you set one and you should get
connected.

Any devices connected this network should only be able to communicate with other devices on the network, no routing or other traffic is available.
Internet Sharing
Another option is to use Internet Sharing.  On the off chance that you have free or cheap hotel internet:

Open System Preferences and go to the Sharing pane under the
Internet & Network heading.
On the list of services to the left, select Internet Sharing. Don’t
check it quite yet — there’s a few options that need to be set
first.
Depending on what your current internet source is, select it from
the menu next to “Share your connection from.”. Built-in Ethernet is
a good choice, but if you have a mobile broadband dongle you could
select that also.
In the “To computers using” box, select and check AirPort/Wifi from
the list.
Click on the AirPort/wifi Options button to configure security
settings if you want any.
In the window that pops up, type a basic Network Name, Click OK.
Setting up Mac OS X Internet Sharing
The configuration portion is finished, so the only thing left to do
is check the box next to Internet Sharing and enable it. A
confirmation message will appear — click Start to complete the
process.
Now that your Mac’s internet is being transmitted from your AirPort
WiFi card to other devices, you should see an different icon in your
menu bar. If you do, you’re in business!
On your iPad, go to Settings, go to WIFI and choose the network you
just created. Enter the password if you set one and you should get
connected.

Now any machine connected to the same wifi network can route through the ethernet or dongle connection on the air.  If you have no connection available through those connection, then the same peer to peer communications should be available still.


How can I make sudo in 2 tabs ask for the password only once? I have a script to automate starting a few servers on the terminal. These are server processes of the software I am developing. They can be recompiled and changed multiple times a day. The binaries can live in different places (working copies).

My script uses

 set sudo to do shell script "sudo -v "

to ask for the root password once, then creates a new iterm2 terminal window (and some tabs) and tries to start the servers with sudo:

#!/usr/bin/osascript
on run args
    set sudo to do shell script "sudo -v " -- to ask for password once only
    tell application "iTerm"
        create window with default profile
        tell current window
            tell current session
                write text "sudo /some/server"
            end tell
            -- more tabs and more sudos go here
        end tell
    end tell
end run

Everything worked fine on El Capitan, but not on High Sierra.

If the sudo password is not cached, the sudo -v asks for my password and then proceeds --- as expected. If I ran sudo before and the password is cached, the sudo -v does not ask for a password, again, as expected.
But in both cases each of the subsequent sudos in the new window does ask for my password, making the whole thing inconvenient.

When I add with administrator privileges to the initial sudo it does ask for my password in a popup dialog but the following sudo calls with write text still ask for the password on the shell.
(I use write text and the terminal to keep an eye on these servers' outputs.)

I can run regular sudo commands just fine and it does cache the password.

How can I use sudo in Applescript in a new iTerm2 window and have it ask for the password only once?

EDIT: Looks like this is not related to Applescript but to iterm and High Sierra. When I open a terminal window with 2 tabs, I need to enter my password in both when I run e.g., sudo ls. After that both tabs have the sudo password cached, but running sudo in one tab does not make the other tab use the cached sudo password.

So the real question is probably: how do I get iTerm2 to cache the sudo password and share that between tabs and windows?

Try adding:

Defaults !tty_tickets

to /etc/sudoers. Tested on 10.13.6 (High Sierra).

From the man page:

  If set, users must authenticate on a per-tty basis.  With this flag
  enabled, sudo will use a separate record in the time stamp file for
  each tty.  If disabled, a single record is used for all login
  sessions.  This flag is on by default.


Police-panic mode for Apple Watch? On iPhone you can immediately lock all sensitive information by pressing the side button five times.
On Mac you can hold down the power button.
What is the equivalent for Apple Watch?
Also, since your Apple Watch can unlock your phone and/or Mac, what is the full panic sequence needed to secure all Apple digital devices from a "break down your door, hands up" threat actor?

On your iPhone in the Apple Watch app, scroll down to Passcode.  Create a Passcode then enable “Turn Passcode On”.  Scroll down and enable Wrist Detection. With that enabled, anytime your Apple Watch is not on your wrist, passcode needs to be entered to access any of the watch functions.
However, if they are hell-bent on accessing your watch information, while you are wearing the watch… nothing is stopping them from cutting your arm off and using your watch while it’s still on your wrist LOL


Can I submit dictionary file to Mac App Store? I have created a .dictionary file for the Dictionary.app in mac and I want to submit it to the Mac App Store. I'm curious, is it possible? If yes, how?

You can't upload 'plugins / extentions' to the Mac App Store. Only full 'apps' will be approved for the mac app store. To create a mac app, you need a developer license to be able to publish your app through the Mac App Store.


What happens if you uncheck iCloud for photos? I accidentally unchecked iCloud for photos on my Mac and quickly turned it on again. Does anything happen when you do that? I think I have read that if you turn off iCloud, your photos will get deleted within 30 days. Could this happen even though I only unchecked iCloud for a short while?
I have attached a picture of the place I unchecked iCloud for photos (even though it is turned on it this picture). It is marked by a read circle. The text above the box says: "Apps using iCloud".
Thanks in advance:-)

If you are using iCloud photos somewhere else all turning it off does is stops them from updating on your mac. Your photos won't get deleted immediately from iCloud if you turn it off and you only have it turned on o your mac, and they will stay on your mac.


Cloning a Windows machine and import into Boot Camp Consider a Windows 7 x64 installation on a physical machine.

How can you take a snapshot/image of a Windows installation, and end up running that system in Boot Camp?

Is there a  P2V for Windows to Boot Camp?

The goal here is to save time and effort, rather than going through the OS installation + updates + application installation process after creating a fresh install in Boot Camp.

This question on Super User may be of assistance.

It looks like you should be able to do a standard Bootcamp install of Windows, then use the system restore feature to clone your existing setup over to the Bootcamp install.

It's not as straightforward as directly cloning from your PC, but it should still save a fair bit of time vs. doing a full re-install with patches, etc., particularly if you use a USB drive for the install (which Bootcamp can help you with, given an Windows Installer ISO and a USB drive).


How to rename volumes from Terminal without name limitations? When a FAT volume is mounted I can click on it and rename it freely.

However via terminal it is very restrictive.

% /usr/sbin/diskutil rename "Nice Name" "Nicer Name"
Nicer Name does not appear to be a valid volume name for its file system

Is there an other way, or a list of limitations?

The FAT volume name mustn't contain:

* ? / \ | . , ; : + = [ ] < > "

You are limited to 11 characters. Using diskutil rename ... no umlauts etc. & all upper case.


Where in System Preferences do I find how to enable system extensions? A friend of mine has a Mid 2012 MacBook Air running Catalina, and he's trying to get the Android emulator BlueStacks running on it.  He gets an error saying

System extension blocked.
Enable the extension from Security & Privacy System Preferences pane by clicking 'Allow' button and BlueStacks will launch again.

I looked in that pane, and couldn't find anything like that.  I'm obviously missing something here but I don't know what!
A screenshot of the error is attached:

Open System Preferences
Open the Security & Privacy preference pane
Choose the General tab
Click the lock to make changes.  (In versions of macOS as applicable.)
Click Allow in the bottom-right.
This Allow button will only show if there is a system extension that is pending approval.


How to get Wi-Fi details from menubar in Big Sur like before? In previous versions of macOS it was possible to get details of the current Wi-Fi connection by command + option clicking the Wi-Fi icon in the menubar. This would show the ip address, WiFi strength, Wi-Fi frequency etc. None of the system icons react to this type of clicking anymore in Big Sur.
Here is a screenshot of how it used to look:

Is it possible to restore this behaviour or get something comparable?

Just to give this an answer for future searchers…
The key command was always Opt/click.
In the past, Cmd/Opt/click would also work - just by accident really.
In Big Sur, it no longer does work, so you have to use the prescribed command - Opt/click.


Mac won't install updates So the problem started around a month back when I was prompted if I'd like to restart my mac to install system updates. I proceeded with the restart and apple's logo along with a loader appeared. By mistake I pressed some key and the process was interrupted. Ever since, I see there's a pending update that has been downloaded but the updates don't just install no matter how much I restart.
Also I see there are some updates downloaded in /Library/Updates but I'm unable to delete them or install them. pasting a tree of /Library/Updates
➜  Updates tree --du -h
.
├── [ 4.4G]  001-12343
├── [ 4.5G]  001-22626
├── [ 4.4G]  061-94457
├── [ 2.8G]  061-96003
├── [1.1M]  ProductMetadata.plist
└── [ 819]  index.plist

My main concern for now is to get rid of these update files which are taking almost 15 gigs out of the 110 available to me.

Open your terminal and enter softwareupdate -l to see the available updates. Use softwareupdate -i -a to download and install all available updates.


How to migrate from Android 5.1 to iPhone 8? Is it possible and how to move all info, contacts, images, photos, mp4 files from android 5.1 to iPhone?

Generally speaking, yes.

I imagine there is a minimum OS version on both Android and iOS but there is an officially supported (by Apple) method which they detail here. There is also an app "Move to iOS", that goes on the Android phone available in Google Play.


How Can I Search A Specific Type of File in Mac? Is there any way to search a specific type of file using Spotlight? I remember there was a special command or something that I had to put in front of the search phrase but I cannot remember it now.

For example, if I want to search only PDFs for a particular phrase in Spotlight, what would I do?

Search by Kind One of the most useful ways to narrow down a search is by using the kind: keyword. This allows you to restrict your list of results to a certain file format. For instance, if you type time machine kind:pdf, Spotlight will pull up only PDF files containing the words "time" and "machine". You can also limit your search to e-mail messages, music files, System Preferences, applications, and more.

While the original Spotlight recognized only a limited number of file types, the Leopard version can look for files created by specific applications, as well as certain file formats. Searching for kind:mp3 or kind:tiff will find files in one of those formats, and searching for kind:pages or kind:powerpoint will show only documents created in one of those programs. For a list of useful keywords, see “My Kind of Keyword.” But remember, for the keywords to work, you must have the appropriate categories enabled in Spotlight’s preferences.

you can get more info here or here.


Trying to do an un-bootable image disk backup on a re-formatted 1TB WD Passport external hard drive I am running macOS sierra on a mid 2012 MacBook Pro, and just recently came across a problem where I can no longer bypass login and got stuck on a loading screen before it eventually goes to a black screen and can no longer get into my Mac.

So, I decided to try and back up my stuff and migrate them to a new Mac I'm buying. I pop the WD Passport drive into the USB, go to the recovery mode and attempted to create a disk image backup from my MacIntosh HD onto it. But half-away, I am met with:

The operation couldn't be completed. (com.apple.diskutility error 3)
Preparing imaging engine...
Reading whole disk (apple_HFS : 0)...
Operation failed with status 5

I haven't got Time Machine activated, and I cannot even get into my Mac to use it. So I am left at a loss, trying to figure out how to create a backup.

If it fails on creating a disk image, then there may be one (damaged) file causing the problem.

Why not open the user folder and copy each sub-folder in turn and when you find the folder that fails copy the contents inside individually until you find the errant file...

Of course, it may not be a personal file causing the issue...


What happens when the Mac OS menu bar fills up with too many icons? When the Mac OS menu bar fills up with too many icons on the upper right side, and begins to encroach on the space of the menu text, will the OS begin to make the menu bar taller and wrap the icons?  Or will the icons simply overflow / overlay the menu text?

This question assumes that Bartender is not installed.

You can test it by changing your display resolution ;)

low resolution -> overlay

normal resolution


How can I import mini-DV content onto a Mac? I have a number of old mini-DV tapes that I would like to import into my Macbook.

I want an app to read the contents of these tapes
It should be able to produce a single MP4 combining all of the clips on the tape
It should be able to produce multiple MP4 files of the separate clips on the tape.

I tried using iMovie one time and found it to be overkill for what I need.  It imported the contents of my tape as multiple .dv files and then I have to create a project.  I don't want to deal with that.  I want to not need to manage things and import the content of tapes and store it on the filesystem so that I can watch the content on Macs/Windows/Linux/multiple-platforms.
What software meets these requirements?

Connect your camcorder and use iMovie HD to import the tape, then export using Share>Quicktime. It will create one file out of the tape.

Edit: In response to Sajee's comment below.

Choose Share>Quicktime>Compress movie for: Full Quality. As implied, there won't be any loss of quality.


Large dropdown menus (off expected location) I have a problem with dropdown menus appearing in really large size, in a wrong location to where it should be on screen (namely below and to the right of the expected location). I have experienced this for over a month on various websites, producing the same result.

the shown website

I experience this in Chrome on my Macbook Pro 15" and have tested with all extensions deactivated with the same results.

Anybody have an idea of what is going on or what could solve it?

Chrome Version 57.0.2987.133 (Official Build) (64-bit),
macOS: Sierra 10.12.4 (16E195),
MacBook Pro: Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015

This is a bug in Google Chrome or a compatibility issue between Google Chrome and macOS Sierra 10.12.4.

Safari uses the WebKit engine and Firefox uses the Gecko engine to render web pages, and I've tested each and they load the hiking-biking page you reference just fine in macOS Sierra 10.12.4.

I also tested Chrome visiting the same page and it worked fine in El Capitan but not macOS Sierra 10.12.4.

I'd suggest you send feedback via the Help > Report an issue option.


Deleting files doesn't free storage on SSD Recently my MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015) with 251 GB Flash Storage and Mac OS Catalina 10.15.7 started complaining about not enough space left on the hard disk. So I started deleting stuff. But to my surprise that didn't free up memory on the hard disk. Using the Storage Management App I saw, that for example deleting an Application reduced the storage used by Applications, but increased the storage in the category Others.
As an example see the first screenshot before deleting Microsoft Word

and the next screenshot after deleting Microsoft Word

I also looked at the issue using the terminal. Before deleting Word I saw this
❯ sudo du -m -d 1 -c
6632    ./usr
3   ./bin
1   ./sbin
4229    ./Library
0   ./com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots
135562  ./System
1   ./.fseventsd
4657    ./private
0   ./.vol
89408   ./Users
11305   ./Applications
0   ./opt
1   ./dev
1713    ./Volumes
0   ./cores
253506  .
253506  total

After deleting Word I got
6632    ./usr
3   ./bin
1   ./sbin
4229    ./Library
0   ./com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots
134207  ./System
1   ./.fseventsd
4663    ./private
0   ./.vol
89409   ./Users
9942    ./Applications
0   ./opt
1   ./dev
1713    ./Volumes
0   ./cores
250796  .
250796  total

It seems to me that the total of du is reduced by twice the amount, because the \Application folder got smaller, but also the \System folder got smaller, because we also have \System\Volumes\Data\Application pointing to the same directory.
I tried to follow tips on the internet like deleting localsnapshots from time machine, but I simply have none. I also tried to rebuild the spotlight index, but it also didn't help. I started in recovery mode and checked with disk util and saw the following: Snapshot is invalid

But diskutil still thinks everything is ok and didn't repair anything.
What could be causing this strange situation? And what could I do to get more free space finally? Or is my only option left deleting the whole disk and reinstalling everything again?

This situation is normal for Catalina on up, due to the way that the file system is managed by the OS. See here: What's /System/Volumes/Data?
You can check out OmniDiskSweeper to find files/folders that are taking up space.


Where can I get this iPad stand? I am not sure if my question is okay to post or not.

I found a cheap, but simple and beautiful iPad stand on a korean website.

http://www.funshop.co.kr/vs/detail.aspx?categoryno=1359&itemno=10516

description says that it is from USA.

I googled with its name 'easy ipad stand', but I could not find anything.

anyone knows where to buy this product?

That's not an iPad stand—it's just a cheap three wire display stand. It's the kind of stand that can display anything at all, which could include an iPad, I guess (although I'd want something a little more secure, personally). You should be able to get one at your local office supply store for $2-5.

Here they are on Amazon at two for $5.65.


MacBook Pro Display Adapter Did Apple change the display adapter from MacBook 2006 to MacBook Pro 2010?

I thought they were the same, (similar size) but they actually differ.

Do I have to buy a new adapter?

The Output port from early MacBook (and MacBook Pros) was a mini-VGA, later a mini-DVI port and various accessories were available to connect regular size VGA displays. 15" and 17" PowerBooks had full-size DVI outputs as far as I can remember.

Recent MacBook models use a smaller mini DisplayPort. Apple itself offers different adapters to transform the mini DisplayPort into VGA, DVI, or HDMI. If you need a VGA adapter (like you say in your question tag), you are looking for this. If, on the other hand, you need to connect a DVI display, then this is what you want.


Why is typing so strange in terminals? When typing in a terminal, why is it that text does not behave the way it would in any other text environment, like in any text editor or browser? Things like highlighting text while moving the cursor using typical key bindings (Meta+Shift+Arrow Key) and simply just deleting the current highlighted text by pressing backspace are not possible.

Is this behavior necessary for a terminal to stay compatible or caused by some restriction that I am not thinking of? Sorry if this is a dumb question. Thank you.

The terminal does not behave the way that you expect because it is made to emulate the behavior of a DEC VT100 terminal. Computer terminals — such as the VT100 — did not have a mouse, so any actions that is triggered by the mouse is bolted on as an afterthought. Most terminal emulators default to a set of keybindings that are similar to those of Emacs (a text editor), but this layer (provided by GNU Readline) does not provide mechanisms for selecting text and whatever else you are describing.

It is up to the terminal emulator (for example, Terminal.app or iTerm2) to define what events are triggered upon mouse clicks and text selection. For example, hitting Option ⌥, followed by a mouse click somewhere in your current prompt will place your cursor at that position. If you select a piece of text and hit backspace Delete ⌦, only a single character at your current cursor position will be deleted because the terminal that is being emulated does not have the notion of text selection by itself.


Issues using a non-Mac mouse with MacBook Pro The mouse I'm currently using is the Logitech Anywhere 2s mouse recommended by this youtuber.
When I use it for prolong amounts of time, I find VERY significant connection lag issues no matter whether using the USB Unifying receiver / Bluetooth option.
Wondering if anyone have faced the same issue and their steps to resolve it.
Hardware/Software I'm using :

MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports) [1.4 GHz
Quad-Core Intel Core i5]
macOS Big Sur Version 11.2
Logitech Anywhere 2s mouse
Vention USB HUB USB C to HDMI

*Note that I have tested it with old Macbook Air (that comes with the old USB port) and it works perfectly

Have you tried utilizing the Logitech drivers?
https://support.logi.com/hc/en-us/articles/360024690714--Downloads-MX-Anywhere-2S-Wireless-Mouse


Why does my MacBook Pro die without warning? I have a MacBook Pro (about 18mts old) which has recently started to inexplicably die without warning. I'm running it on battery and, yes, it's getting close to the bottom end (between 10 and 25%). In the past I would get to about 10 minutes of life left and the "Reserve Battery" warning dialog would pop up and let me know that I'd better get on the adapter.

Not any more.

Now it gets to about 25% and then plik! it's black screen and dead. Instantly. No warning, nothing.

Some details about the Mac

Hardware: 2.5Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo 4Gb, 667Mhz DDR2 SDRAM
Software: 10.5.8
Model: 4.1
Boot ROM: MBP4.1.00C1.B03

Following advice from @Alex, I've checked the system logs (Console) and disk verification tool (Disk Utility) but they both come up clean. Apart from the instant death at low battery, there are no other dubious intermittent faults.

Edit to cover suggestions so far

Many thanks to all who have taken the time to address this issue. I've summarised the answers so far:

Look at the battery cycle count (About this Mac | More Info | Hardware - Power - Battery Information) - @glenstorey
Recalibrate the battery - @Lawrence Velázquez
Check hardware (RAM seating, hard disk etc) - @Alex

Final result

The whole thing about battery cycles being guaranteed by Apple appears to be a myth (at least the bods at my Apple Store were unaware of it). So I changed the battery and all was fixed. Back to normal.

Check to see how many cycles your battery has done (System Profiler - Power - Cycle Count); from what I understand your battery will still be under warranty if it has less than 300 - more than 300 and it's on its way out. We have a whole bunch of MacBooks (Pros) here, and once in a while one of them does this exact thing when the battery gets old and tired, just like yours.

I've had batteries that have lasted 40 months, and some that have only lasted 18, the newer MacBooks with the non-removable batteries last a lot longer.


Mail.app connection errors (offline) after sleep My 10.8.2 MacBook Air is having constant connection errors in Mail.app when the computer has been sent to sleep or hibernate.

A small alert triangle appears next to all account names (I have several) in the sidebar. Mail reception only resumes after quitting and relaunching Mail.app.

I have verified that the net connection is up, and that connections settings and credentials are okay. Similar problems described here.

This might seem weird and unlikely, but these steps (originally written to restore broken Dictation) fixed it for me:

Go to ~/Library/Preferences
( ⇧+⌘+G )
Locate com.apple.assistant.plist and move it to the Trash
Open Dictation & Speech preference panel, disable dictation
Reboot
Re-enable Dictation & Speech.

Any hints on why this is working are very welcome!


Script to activate "Enter Time Machine" I'm trying to get rid of the Time Machine icon in the menubar. Is there a way activate "Enter Time Machine" using a script or something along those lines? I know that we have tmutil, but it can not activate the main Time Machine view to restore files from.

Thanks.

Just open /Applications/Time Machine.app


OS X failed system update I'm on OS X 10.10.4, MacBook Pro retina and it alerts me that my 10.10.5 update is ready to install. However, I'm on a very slow internet up to now and according to my router log I did not download more than 100MB data. And sure enough, the /Library/updates/ folder contains OSXUpd10.10.5Patch.pkg and FirmwareUpdate.pkg, which when opened with an unarchiver(betterzip and 7 zip) told me the files are corrupted. Can I just delete the files for a re-download or shall I do something else? Thanks!

Go to Apple's Downloads Page and re-download it manually.


How to open a port in macOS Sierra 10.12.4 I'm running macOS Sierra 10.12.4 and am trying to open a port (12345). I can't use the GUI firewall tool as it's app specific, not port specific.

I have tried the following this article, but it did not work. When I run sudo pfctl -f /etc/pf.conf I get:

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

No ALTQ support in kernel
ALTQ related functions disabled

It may also help to note that in my firewall (GUI) options I have blocked pretty much all options as shown below.

The linked How-to is wrong!

You simply can't open a port in a firewall. You can block a port or not. By default pf is disabled and doesn't block anything. If you enable stealth mode in the Application Firewall, pf will be enabled via the com.apple/250.ApplicationFirewall anchor with a very limited set of rules:

scrub in all fragment reassemble
block drop in inet proto icmp all icmp-type echoreq
block drop in inet proto icmp all icmp-type echoreq
block drop in inet6 proto ipv6-icmp all icmp6-type echoreq

Except incoming IPv4/6 ICMP echo request, pf won't block anything. The default pf.conf doesn't contain any block all ... or allow all ... rules.

To open a port on your host, you have to launch an app which opens a listening port. Example nc:

nc -l 12345

After entering the command you will be asked to accept incoming network connections for nc by the Application Firewall.

To connect to nc listening at port 12345 from remote simply enter nc hostname 12345 on a second host (replace hostname with the host name of the Mac running nc).

You can check open ports from remote by entering nmap hostname -Pn (if stealth mode is enabled).


Why are some family members missing in Screen Time setup? I have had Family Sharing set up since it was introduced. Now that iOS 12 offers Screen Time I want to configure it for my family members, but only one of the three people in my family, not including me, appears under the Family section when I go to Settings -> Screen Time. Same if I go to my Apple ID - > Family Sharing -> Screen Time (under Shared Features).

Here is the support article on the topic: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208982

The part that stands out to me is this:

"To use Screen Time with Family Sharing, you need to be the family organizer or parent/guardian in your family group, on iOS 12. Your child must be under age 18, in your family group with their own Apple ID, and on iOS 12."

They likely don't meet one of these criteria.


How do I add a buddy to more than one group in OS X Messages.app? When sorting buddies for XMPP services (not iMessage) into different groups in the contacts window in Messages.app for OS X I can click and drag one buddy from one group to another. However this removes the 'buddy' or contact from the previous group. How do I add a buddy to two groups?

The Messages (Mavericks): Use buddy lists Apple support article explains how to add a contact to more than one group:

  Add a buddy to more than one group:   Press Option and drag the buddy
  to each additional group.

Hat tip to @DaveDelong.


2014 MacBook Pro Retina Failed Boot Camp Install, Loading Screens During Boot My girlfriend has a 2014 MacBook Pro Retina that we tried to install Windows 7 on through BootCamp. The install failed (I don't remember how... It actually got partway through the install), and since then it looks like there are loading screens (Similar to the "Windows is loading..." screen on the windows 7 install media, before you see the blue background with the installer) during boot.

We have disabled bootcamp and removed the space set aside for windows with the OS X disk manager. Does anyone know what this is, and how we can stop it happening?

Based on the information you gave I can't really guess why, but your Windows install failed.
I would suggest you try again, making sure you carefully follow the instructions in Apple's Boot Camp manual step by step.

Be sure to back up your data before doing so.


Mac connects to wifi while sleeping in backpack? At university I added a few documents to my print queue. A few minutes after I got home with my laptop still in my backpack, my printer mysteriously printed exactly two pages of the document I added to the print queue.

I have power nap disabled.

Why would my sleeping laptop connect to my home wifi? Does this mean my laptop is advertising my MAC address and connecting to familiar wifi networks as I walk around the city?
Why would my sleeping laptop print with power nap disabled?
Do I have any way of disabling wifi activity while my mac is sleeping?

I'm using Sierra OSX on a 2015 MacBook Pro with retina. Thanks for looking!

Sleep doesnt mean off. Its still connecting to familiar networks. I'd either turn off wifi while sleeping or power it off.


Safari does not remember my settings I am using Safari 6.0.1 on OS X 10.8.2 and Safari does not remember my toolbar arrangement or other setting like the default search engine, homepage, etc.

It seems like there is something wrong with your Safari preferences file, try trashing it. (It is located in your ~/Library/Preferences, press Command ⌘+Shift ⇧+G in Finder and paste ~/Library/Preferences in the text box to open that folder, search for 'safari' and trash the .plist file)


How do I sign out of Google on my iPhone 7 How do I sign out of Google on my iPhone 7?  Everything I read tells you how to delete it or remove it, but I want to be able to use it later.  It appears that if you do not log out, Google merges your different Google drive accounts (personal/work).

Go to "Settings -> Passwords & Accounts"
Select the account you want to remove from your iPhone
Tap on "Delete account"

This will just delete the account from your iPhone. It will not delete the account itself.


Time Machine backup from external hard drive stuck in trash I got a new iMac after my old one died. As my old one was dying I made several Time Machine backups to a 1T G-Drive external. Unfortunately, I must have done it incorrectly because the backups have used up so much of the space on the external that there's not enough room to back up my new iMac to the external. The Time Machine backup for the old iMac could not have been more than 350 GB, so, I am a bit perplexed. Last night I attempted to remove some of the older multiple backups of the same files from the old machine by dragging them to the trash. It seemed to work until I got to the next most recent backup and when the files finally copied over to the trash the window said there were more than 1,500,000 files! After waiting for hours for the trash to empty, I finally gave up when their were something like 1,200,000 files remaining. Am I going to be able to delete these files from this backup and free up space on my external drive so I can backup my new computer, or do I just need to give up and buy a new external?

Time Machine performs versioning backups at specific time intervals and keeps making backups until it runs out of space on the drive, then it starts to prune away older backups to make room for the new ones.

The only way that I know of to control the amount of space that any one Time Machine Backup uses is to set up a partition on the drive in Disk Utility and then have Time Machine back up to that partition.

You will not be able to delete some of the time machine backup as it is stored like a database, and it is an all or nothing delete.

  Response to Trash Question

If you have 1.2MM files, Secure delete will take a very long time to do this.

If you do not mind that the data will not be overwritten and only the file associations will be removed you can do this to clear out the Trash.

First of all BE INCREDIBLY CAREFUL WHEN USING RECURSIVE DELETE FROM TERMINAL

With that warning out of the way, here is how you can do it.

First open Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities).

EDIT step two is for the trash bin in your user directory. Yours is likely on the root of the drive itself. As I don't know what that path will be I can't give you that step. Just replace that path for the one after cd. The file is likely hidden, so if you do not know how to show hidden files I will add the Terminal commands at the bottom of the post.

FROM user3439894  use sudo rm -fR /Volumes/<volume_name>/.Trashes/$UID/*

This will be what the path to your external drive's trash looks like. You will have to figure out the exact path on your drive. You can also skip the drag and drop steps doing it the way user3439894 suggests.

Type cd ~/.Trash and press Return.
Then type sudo rm -Rf followed by a Space (don’t leave out the space). You will need the recursive for to handle subdirectories, etc.
Don’t press Return yet.
Next, click the Trash icon in your Dock to open a window displaying the contents of the Trash.
Select everything in that window and drag it into the Terminal window; this action adds the paths of all those files and folders to the rm(remove) command.
Now, press Return
Enter your administrator password when prompted

In a moment or two (depending on how much was in your Trash), the Trash icon should return to its empty state.

-- The answer I provided is based on the technique that I obtained from Joe Kissell's article on MacWorld and have used during the times I have not been able to empty my trash bin.

How To Display Hidden Files In Mac OSX

terminal

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles true return

killall Finder return

How To Hide Hidden Files in Mac OSX

terminal

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles false return

killall Finder return


Set "Load remote content in messages" per sender? In the Mail setting (under Viewing) tab, there is a option Load remote content in messages which I unchecked, so for each email that contains remote content, I need to click the Load remote content button.

Is there anyway of a setting (probably not) or plugin that does this automatically for senders you would approve?

The only (ugly) solution to date seems to be:
tell application "System Events"
    click at {x, y}
end tell

— where x and y are coordinates of the mouse over the button to simulate a click (You can easily find these coordinates by doing a screenshot, i.e. cmd+shift+4)
Note: This will only work for the first message in a conversation since the button will be at the right place.
Tip: Although a dirty workaround, I accept this compromise as I make it more user-friendly by launching the script via a three-finger click through BTT.


How to find & delete an obscure file of which I only know the name? Sophos detected a trojan which it cannot remove on Mac OS 10.4 and it says to remove it manually. Problem is, it gives the file name as xxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxx where the x's are hex digits. No directory path, no nothin—just the digits.

How do I find and delete this file?

There are a variety of ways of searching for a file by name.  I'd just open the Terminal and run locate xxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxx, although the locate index is only updated once a week, so if it's a new file it might not be listed.  If you want, you can manually force an update with sudo /usr/libexec/locate.updatedb (you'll need to enter your admin password for the sudo).

You can use Spotlight in the Finder, but it leaves out system files by default -- there's a way to change this, but it's a little complicated and may not be the same in 10.4. (EDIT: instructions for doing this in 10.6 are in Apple's KB #HT4355.)

Finally, you could use the find command: sudo find / -name xxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxx -- this will require your admin password for the sudo, and will be slow (it actually looks at all your files to find a match), but should find things the other options might miss.


Safari used 70 GB of RAM Safari uses too much memory on my system (rMBP 2013). By 'too much' I mean tens of gigabytes of memory. I experience constant memory pressure which leads to Safari freezes (it's freezing constantly even now while I'm typing this, and I have a single tab opened). It doesn't stop using memory until the entire SSD is full.

The are no extensions installed (they are disabled in fact).
I can't tell whether the issue is caused by any particular website; sometimes it happens when I don't have any seemingly "heavy" websites open.

How do I resolve this issue?

There are a number of things you can try...

Sometimes applications have memory leaks where the memory bloats over time, if you've been using Safari heavily, or using it for a long time without exiting and rebooting this could be an issue. Quitting Safari and reopening should fix this.
Check for extensions, and plugins that Safari uses to see if there are any malicious or unexpected plugins/try removing them temporarily to see if this fixes the issue.

Details of the Plug-Ins folders: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH19241?locale=en_GB&viewlocale=en_US

Best to do a backup before tinkering in the Library folders!

Try creating a new user account and see if Safari has the same issue in this account.


Automatically connect Bluetooth device to Mac I have a MacBook Pro (running Mavericks) and a Bluetooth Speaker (JBL Flip). I want the two to connect automatically whenever they are nearby and powered on. Is that possible?

Currently I have to click the Bluetooth icon in the menubar of the Mac, select the device, and click connect each time.

OK, it has been a while ago I did that, but the ON comes from your speakers, not from Mac.

Mac see is as it sees many other BT around.

By pressing the power button on your speaker (I think for 3 seconds or longer) should tell your Mac to engage that device.


iphone - is the hotspot isolated (can you see other devices)? When I turn on the Apple hotspot feature, is it an isolated network, or can I see other devices on it?

Can I use it to connect a third device to a Chromecast?

As in tablet -> iPhone with hotspot (and cellular data off) -> Chromecast?

I want to use a Chromecast while on holiday!

Personal Hotspot is designed for sharing a cellular data connection, not for acting as a wireless access point or router. This means that multiple devices connected to the same iOS device cannot connect to one another - they can only access the Internet (assuming the cellular data connection is active). Unfortunately I can't find any Apple documentation to confirm this, but have seent his from personal experience.

Your best solution is to purchase a portable wireless access point and connect all of your devices to that.

Hootoo makes a dependable and well supported line of travel routers starting at $20. Models get better features and even built in batteries for another $10 and $20 respectively.

https://www.amazon.com/HooToo-Wireless-Performance-TripMate-Hotspot/dp/B00HZWOQZ6


Macbook Air El Capitan constant message about iCloud My Macbook Air OS X El Capitan Version 10.11.6 gives me a notification about every 5 minutes that says Finish changing your password. I get directed to the iCloud settings when I press the detailsbutton on the notification. When System Preferences pops up a prompt also comes with it that says iCloud Preferences wants to make changes to your account. Type your password to allow this.. Nothing happens after I enter my password besides the prompt disappearing. What's going on here?

PIA vpn blocked the connection to the Apple servers. I disconnected from the VPN and it worked


Using Launchbar to make Popclip appear PopClip is a Mac app that adds the iOS functionality of a bunch of options showing up above selected text. PopClip automatically appears every time I select text, and that's annoying, so I want to trigger it from the keyboard instead. I'm trying to set up Launchbar to launch an Applescript to cause PopClip to appear next to selected text.

The Applescript I'm using is tell application "PopClip" to appear. However, when I press ↩ with the text selected in Mail and "Show Pop Clip.scpt" selected in Launchbar, nothing happens. And when I press ⇥ as Obdev (the Launchbar developer) recommends here, I don't see an option to "Run" as they suggest.

How can I use Launchbar to make Popclip appear?

With Launchbar you can run scripts in the background by pressing Option+Return, rather than just Return. This works for me, whereas Return by itself did not.


Why won't my iPhone switch to 3G when I'm out of WiFi range? My iPhone refuses to switch over from WiFi to 3G when the WiFi signal gets too weak to be usable. It will sit there indefinitely, unable to load a web page because I'm too far from the router, and not switch to the strong 3G signal that is available. Has anyone else had this problem? Is there anything I can do about it? Would it be better if I bought an Apple router? Do Android phones do this? I already submitted a bug report to Apple. It seems like such a simple thing to switch to 3G when WiFi stops working.

I know how to switch manually, but that's not a good solution. I think it's an iOS bug. I don't think it's the router's fault either, because the phone should be the one to determine when to switch to 3G. It should happen when WiFi fails to respond for a certain amount of time. I have a high-end Linksys router and an iPhone 4S. Router works great with all other devices and iPhone works well besides this one problem. This only happens when I'm outside my house and the router signal is no longer strong enough for data to get through. Once I go far enough down the street the signal switches to 3G, but there's about 30 yards where it hangs onto WiFi even though it can't get anything through.

The expected behavior is probably for the phone to stay on WiFi as long as it can connect, and then switch to 3G; as of iOS 5, I don't think the capability is there to automatically notice a dead WiFi connection and switch to 3G.  So what you're seeing is perhaps a lack of functionality, but it's not strictly speaking a bug.

I can't really see Apple making that the default functionality, though.  They'd get a lot of flak for making the iPhone too smart; nerds would complain that they don't have control.  If it was done, it would probably be an option.

It also would be very difficult to do well automatically.  How does iOS know a connection is bad?  What exactly does "when WiFi stops working" mean?

Lack of public internet access?  Windows 7 (and maybe Vista) does this by requesting a text file from Microsoft's website with predetermined content; that's how it knows if your connection has internet access or not.  But what if you're on a network at work that only offers access to intranet sites, and not the public internet?
Lack of data transfer despite network requests going out?  What if you're repeatedly trying a site that's experiencing a lot of traffic?  How many repeated failed requests mean a bad connection?
Long response times for outgoing requests? How long is too long? It could be averaged over time, but where's the threshold?

It could probably be done, but it would be difficult to do well, and the gain in widespread user satisfaction probably isn't that huge in comparison to other things.


Manage Google Chrome New Tabs I use Google Chrome, and utilise the "New Tab page".

This claims to show "Thumbnails of the websites that you visit frequently" (although it does not explain how this is determined) and has options "to remove a most visited site", but does not seem to have any option to add sites.

I have recently returned from a long trip, and the list contained lots of sites I no longer need, which I deleted, but many of my sites have fallen off.

At one stage I saw a Restore All but can't seem to reproduce this.
Is there any way to manage which sites show.

The most frequent pages are chosen from your recent browser history. Visiting sites frequently will cause them to repopulate on the new tab page. There is no manual way to add sites.

Instead you could install an extension which allows you to choose a different new tab page, perhaps set it to chrome://bookmarks for example.


How do I stop my iPad from wrongly auto correcting my name? When I set up my iPad last year I entered my name correctly. The iPad wrongly autocorrected it to Alien. Now anyone who gets an email from me is informed its from Alien. Irritating. I don't want to turn off autocorrect though as its useful.

I'm not sure where you entered your name incorrectly.

If your name is entered incorrectly as a contact then:

Click on Contacts
Scroll down until you see 'Alien'
Click on the contact
Click Edit
Change the name

If you entered your name incorrectly only in your email account settings:

Go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars
In the ACCOUNTS section, click on the account that has the incorrect information (e.g. Gmail)
Click on Account
Change the Name associated with that email account.


How to Pin Most Used Files and Folders on Dock I have some files on my drive. I want to access to my .md files and some specific folder one click. I wanna pin them to my Dock. What is the best way to access that files?

Thanks in advance!

In the Finder, you should be able to click and drag folders into the Dock. Another option is, within Finder, any folders in the sidebar under "Favorites" (where you usually see Documents, Pictures, etc.), you can right-click and select "Add to Dock." This will add it to your Dock in the lower right portion near Downloads and Applications.

Additionally, if you want to create a "general use" folder comprised of documents/files from several folders, you can do the following:

Create an empty folder.
In the Finder, locate the document you want access to.
Right click the document and select "Make Alias."
Drag and drop the Alias to the empty folder.
Add the folder to the dock.

The Alias should provide a dynamic link to the original file.


How to get ongoing notifications of unread texts? One of my family members texts me at night when they are having nightmares. I want to know when they text me at 4 am instead of sleeping through it.

Is there a way to make text notifications keep going off until read?

The closest you’re going to get is to set Messages alerts to repeat 10 times by going into Settings → Notifications → Messages. There, swipe to the bottom to reveal the Repeat Alerts menu:

This will cause Messages notifications to ring for 20 minutes after the initial one, or until you’ve read/dismissed them.

Next, make sure Do Not Disturb is disabled by going into Settings → Do Not Disturb and toggling both Manual and Scheduled to Off (there are no VIP notifications in Messages yet).

You could also assign a custom loud and obnoxious text tone to the family member in question that will make it more likely a message from them will wake you up, but that alert sound will trigger for all text messages they send you, even during the daytime.

Coworkers who were on-call 24/7 also found it useful to turn on LED Flash for Alerts under the HEARING section of Settings → General → Accessibility.

If you lay your iPhone face down at night it will flash brightly when you receive a notification, although this will be active at all times for all notifications, so you might need to disable this every morning and re-enable it at night.

A note on Do Not Disturb: if you have a habit of using Do Not Disturb and occasionally forget to turn it back off, you can make sure it gets disabled at night by enabling Scheduled for a 1-minute duration every evening, say, from 10:30 to 10:31 p.m., or sometime before you go to bed.


How do I permanently allow a website to access my location? In iOS, I only need to be asked once whether I want to allow a website to share my location data. Is it possible to permanently do this in OS X version of Safari as well?

In your Safari preferences  > Privacy :

Select Prompt for each website one time only


Using applescript, how to move a window to my second display? I have experimented with absolutely every possible scripting option I can find on the web, and no matter what I do I cannot move a FaceTime window to my secondary display.

This works...

tell application "System Events" to tell process "FaceTime"
  tell application "FaceTime" to activate
  tell front window to set position to {3600, 500}
end tell

but with one fatal flaw that it always stops dead in its tracks, at the right edge of display #1 (the left display).

If I set the X coordinate to anything less than 2560 (my width on both screens) then it works perfectly, but any attempt to move it further to the right, and thus onto display #2, will not work.

I don't know if it's related, but my primary display is an external Dell, and my secondary display is the built-in display of the 27" iMac.  Dell on the left, iMac on the right.

Interestingly however, if I manually drag the window onto display #2 and run the same script above, then it positions correctly onto display #2.  It seems that the numbers are relative to whatever display the window is CURRENTLY on.  How can I get it to absolutely position the window onto display #2?

It looks like Apple have set the window to be aware of what Display it should be on and not extend outside of thats Displays bounds when launching.

A side effect of this is the App will do the same thing with the calls from the applescript.

You can see this if you straddle the window across both Displays. Then quit and relaunch the app.

The window will open on only one of the displays and not be straddled.

If you did the same for say Safari. The window you had straddling would still be straddling.

I think you are out of luck doing it in any way useful.

The only way I got it to do it was to get the window  and display details from the plist file '~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.FaceTime' while the window was on the second display.

 (* read plist file *)
    do shell script "/usr/bin/defaults read ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.FaceTime NSWindow\\ Frame\\ FaceTimeWindowFrame"

Then when the app was on the first display.

Run a script which quit the app, rewrites the 'NSWindow Frame FaceTimeWindowFrame' entry in the plist with the info for the position and display I had from earlier.

Activate the app again, which would open on the second display. And then move it with the normal applescript code.

tell application "FaceTime" to quit
(do shell script "/usr/bin/defaults write ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.FaceTime NSWindow\\ Frame\\ FaceTimeWindowFrame" & (" '2562 853 638 585 2560 240 1920 1200'") as string) --set to somewhere on my second screen

delay 1
tell application "System Events"

    tell application "FaceTime" to activate

    delay 4
    set position of window "FaceTime" of application process "FaceTime" to {3269, 315}

    end tell

But like I said not very useful. :-(


What are the differences between SDRAM and SO-DIMM RAM, and which should I use for my iMac? I've started virtualizing Windows 7 on my Mac and I've realized 4GB of ram simply isn't enough for listening to music, surfing the web, virtualizing Windows, and running a compiler all at once.

The first thing I did was look on Apple's site and see what specs I needed to look for..I bought my iMac in the spring of last year so the specs for new ram are as follows:
1333MHz DDR3 (PC3-10600)

So I read that and thought, okay, and then I read their price, $ 200.00 for just 4 GB. Wait a second, maybe a little out of my price range. Then I hit up sites such as NewEgg, and found some pretty good deals; however, I found that some of them were labeled SDRAM and some SO-DIMM, and I guess my question to you folks is: What are the differences between SDRAM and SO-DIMM RAM, and which should I use for my iMac?

You're getting your terminologies mixed up.

SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory) is just the type of RAM on a DIMM. In your case as you've stated it's DDR3 (3rd generation of Double Data Rate)

A DIMM is a standard format Dual In-line Memory Module. These have different pins for the different types of memory specification, so a DDR3 module will have a different edge connector to a DDR2 module and so on.
A SO-DIMM is a Small Outline version of a DIMM, hence the "SO". These were designed for laptops where full size DIMMs wouldn't fit.

Apple use SO-DIMMs in their iMacs now, so DDR3 PC3-10600 (10600 is the peak transfer rate, so going lower than this will be a bad thing for performance) SO-DIMMs are what you want to get.


Do I have to authorize purchased iOS apps to run on iOS devices? I can't seem to find a straight answer to this.

Do I have to authorize iOS apps I have purchased on my iOS devices to run on other iOS Devices? For example I have an app that I bought on my iPhone - can I sign into my friends iPad, re-download it, and then sign out (of the iTunes store) and use and update the perfectly? Or do I have to authorize it in some way?

Apple has worked hard to try to avoid the situation you mentioned. It is a major pain to have apps downloaded from different Apple IDs on one iOS device. For example, someone bought an app for me, but used (obviously) their Apple ID. Anytime I wanted to update that app, they had to enter their Apple ID in. That also meant that clicking "Update all" in the app store didn't really work. I finally got frustrated and bought the app myself.

So the short answer to both of your questions is basically yes. You can download it for a friend, but, anytime they update, you must autenticate for that app. Everything else should work normally.

You mentioned iPhone vs. iPad - as I'm sure you're already aware of, note that the app must be compatible for iPhone and iPad for what you mentioned to work.


Cracked iPad display - What are my options? I've had my 3rd generation iPad for only five months, and I've tried hard to keep it in pristine condition. I always had it in its case, and was very mindful of what I did with it.

Unfortunately one momentary lapse of concentration is all it took for this to happen:

It only fell three feet, and it was still in its case, but none of that made any difference :(

What are my options now? How much will Apple charge me for repairing it? Will a third party do it cheaper? If I'd bought Apple Care, would this type of accident have been covered?

Thanks for any advice!

The normal AppleCare plan does not cover accidental damage as it follows the general warranty conditions that cover normal use generally wear is only covered if it's both impeding a normal function and not something that would be expected to be consumed.

AppleCare+ does cover this - you would have had to buy the AppleCare plus insurance and there would be a fee ($49) in the US to pay for the accidental part of the repair. Also, the insturance plus AppleCare is not available worldwide (or nearly as widely) as the normal AppleCare plans.

Apple fixes all iPads at the factory so you would see aflat priced exchange part, so call or visit Apple or an authorized repair agent for pricing on that exchange where you live. Basically, they are getting a new iPad into your hands that might be new or might be refurbished - but it will have a new battery and a new serial number and come directly from the factory to you.

I had this exact same thing happen - my iPad slipped out of my bag and landed after a two foot fall onto a corner. I had the + coverage and was very glad to see the several hundred dollar cost end up hitting my wallet for $49 on top of the $99 I spent originally.


What's the easiest way to remotely access my own computer? Without Back to My Mac, what's the best way to access my own computer remotely?

Apple's Screen Sharing app requires confirmation from the host.

Chrome Remote Desktop also requires a token to be generated from the host.

In other words, I'd like to remotely control my own computer from another Mac, when I'm not home.

I was trying for a few days to get ARD to work on a remote computer running macOS Mojave, any other OS was fine just not Mojave. I found a link on the web suggesting it doesn't work as it used to and might require user(s) to open up screen sharing for you. That of course doesn't work when you are supporting many computers remotely.

What I was able to do to fix my problem was to VPN into the remote network, SSH into the computer and modify these 2 plists:

/Library/Preferences/com.apple.remotemanagement.plist

and

/Library/Preferences/com.apple.remotedesktop.plist

using my computers plists as a reference. Once they were modified I moved them back to the remote computer and then ran a repair on disk permissions. Rebooted the computer remotely and it worked for me. I certainly hope this is a fix (a very unnecessary fix I must say). Give it a go.


"Maybe:" in front of Contacts on Message screen I get a "Maybe:" in front of most iMessage contacts and only the phone number for SMS'es - even for persons from my contact list. What can be the cause and how can I solve it?

This is a Siri Suggestion feature that can be toggled off at Settings > Contacts > Siri & Search > toggle off "Find Contacts in Other Apps".

What is happening is that your device received a message or email from a number or address with a name that could be linked to it, e.g. an email from "John Smith " or a message from a new number that says something like "Hi, this is John Smith."


How to arrange two windows easily to left and right side? In Windows 7, we can easily arrange two windows with these shortcuts: Option (Alt) ⌥ + ← maximizes the window to the left side of the screen, and Option (Alt) ⌥ + → maximizes the window to the right side of the screen.

I'm using a 27" iMac now, and I'd really like to do this. Does Mac OS X have this functionality?

Original Answer (Update below):
Apple has provided this functionality as part of its OS X El Capitan. Here are the steps:

Click and hold on the green maximize button of an active window (for example, a Safari window);
When the window shrinks slightly and the background becomes highlighted, you’re about to enter Split View, while continuing to hold the green button drag the active window into either the left or right panel to place it full screen there;
As soon as you place the first window into the Split View panel, the other side of the screen turns into a mini-Expose much like Mission Control, simply click the window tile you want to open into Split View for the other side here to immediately send it side by side into Split Full Screen Mode.

The answer has been taken from osxdaily.com website's page.

Update:
Many people commented that they wish there was a shortcut for it. I figured a way to create a shortcut for that from another answer on AskDifferent which I cannot find the link to. This is how:

Open System Preferences;
Go to 'Keyboard' settings;
Go to 'Shortcuts' tab;
In the left pane, select 'App Shortcuts';

In this section you can add app specific shortcuts, as well as shortcuts that you want available for all apps.

Click on the '+' sign below right pane to add a new shortcut;
A new drop down will open. In this drop-down:

In the 'Application:' keep it for 'All Applications';
In the 'Menu Title:' type 'Tile Window to Right of Screen'. Better that you copy-paste it because it has to match letter by letter;
In the 'Keyboard Shortcut:' press the keys you want to use as shortcut for tiling an application window to the right. On my machine, I've set† it to ⎇⌘→.
Repeat the same for tiling to left by putting 'Tile Window to Left of Screen' in the 'Menu Title:' and adding your desired keys for left-tiling shortcut.

You should now have the shortcuts available for any application window that supports tiling. Now, you can press your shortcut keys to tile the first window to left or right. Then the other side will turn into a mini-Expose from which you can select the second window using your mouse.

†I have a dual monitor setup. So other than the one listed above, I have also set the shortcut to move a window to another monitor. The 'Menu Title's are:
1. "Move to Built-in Retina Display", with shortcut ⌃⎇⌘→;
2. "Move to LG UltraFine", with shortcut ⌃⎇⌘←;
To remember the shortcuts, notice that all they keys, are next to each other. All you do is use arrow keys differently. Further, moving to another monitor has an extra key in the shortcut, while putting the windows in split view is on the same monitor, therefore it has one less key.


Easy way to disable processor cores on the fly Hey i'm looking for a fast way to disable processor cores of my macbook to save power when i'm stranded away from a charger. I'm away that instruments can do this from it's preferences, but that's a bit inconvenient. There also used to be a "Processor" system pref, but doesn't work on lion since it's 32-bit.

Is there any other way? perhaps a menubar app or terminal command that can be scripted?

Disabling cores does not save power.  In fact, it is likely to use more power.

OS X supports SpeedStep, which automatically scales frequency and voltage to support the operation being performed.  So if a core is not being used, it will not use (much) power.

But there is more:

Suppose you have a task which can be run in parallel, such as encoding video.  If you have two cores, you can run it at least twice as fast with one.  This means that the computer can stop using energy for other tasks needed for the process - processor overhead, RAM allocation, hard drive I/O, etc much sooner.

Also, while that long process is running, it has to keep switching all the other tasks the computer normally does.  This wastefull switching itself is going to use power and resources.

See this StackOverflow thread for a longer explanation.

(Here is the Apple page on the Processor preference pane and how to disable cores from the command line.)


In iOS or macOS Contacts App, I would like to duplicate a contact. What is the easyest way to do this? I am planning to keep some of the info in the original contact and all of it in the copy, where I would later add more. What is the best way to accomplish this.

VCF files are just text files, so you can edit them in every text editor.

Right-click on VCF file
Select "Open with" and then "Textedit.app"
Change whatever field you want to change (N and FN are typical fields to change if you want to change the name)
Use "Save as" to save with a new file name

PS: See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VCard#Properties for details about the different fields. Not all of them may be supported by Contacts though.


Play startup animation from video automatically at login I want to add a function to my new install of Mountain Lion... What I want to do is add an autostart process that plays a video (in the .mp4 format) full screen, with audio, and without any controls automatically before the desktop appears. Is there any way to accomplish this? For example, AppleScript?

This is a bit hacky and there may be better ways to do this, but...
Grab yourself a copy of Quicktime 7. You'll need to source a license to upgrade it to the Pro version.

Open the movie you want to auto play and select Window > Show Movie Properties ⌘-J Select the main container and them the Presentation tab check the boxes:

Auto play movie
Enter Fullscreen
Auto close (optionally, depending on what you want)
Auto Quit (optionally, depending on what you want)

Save the movie.
In the finder get info on the movie and change it's default application (open with...) to Quicktime 7. Don't click change all... The default is Quicktime 10 which doesn't support the extra movie properties. You will also need to override the Un-identified developer warning as the movie file is now considered an app. Simply right click on the file and select open, you'll get a dialogue to allow the file to be opened.

Now add it to the Users login items: System Preference > Users and Groups. Select the Login Items tab, Click the + bottom at the bottom and select the movie.

The desktop Will load for this method, so it's not exactly what your after, but it might be an acceptable fallback.


Simple way to disable Cellphone (data & call) without disabling WiFi & Bluetooth on iPhone Airplane mode is fine sometimes - but sometimes I want a quick way to turn off my cell circuits (calls / sms / cell data) - without turning off WiFi & Bluetooth.

And no, I don't want to turn on Flight mode then re-enable Cell & Bluetooth (this is specifically not a duplicate of that question).

I may be playing music on a Bluetooth device, and connected to Wifi - turning those off and on can be extremely disruptive.

Are there any widgets that can do this say? You should be able to customise control centre to do it

Thanks.

Turn on airplane mode, then re-enabling Wi-Fi and Bluetooth is currently the only option.

You can send feedback to Apple here about wanting the ability to turn of Cellular.


"Trust request error" 0xE8000003 when connecting iPhone to Mac When I connect my iPhone SE to my MacBook (Catalina 10.15.7) and open the Finder tab for the iPhone I am asked whether the Computer should trust this phone.
When I click the button "Trust" I get the error:
Trust request error 0xE8000003

No connection is made.
This used to work nicely. I did however restore this phone from a backup.
I can connect this phone to other Macs. Also I can connect other phones to this Mac. Just these two don't want to get along in the Finder.
Btw, I can use the "Image Capture" app just fine!
How can I fix this?

Update:
There is this uncommented solution in the Apple forums, but running the first command:
sudo rm -rf /private/var/db/lockdown

already gives me a Operation not permitted even though the terminal has "full disk access" permissions.
(When I temporarily disabled the system integrity protection via csrutil disable in the recovery console, I found that this folder is empty anyway.)
Update 2:
I see the following - maybe related - console errors when pressing the "Trust" button:
AMPDeviceDiscoveryAgent AMDeviceStartSession failed (0xE8000003) for device 0x7fcf0390820

nehelper    -[NWPrivilegedHelper startXPCListener]_block_invoke client pid 204 does not have any known entitlement
configd networkd_privileged_check_interface_settings_block_invoke received XPC_ERROR_CONNECTION_INVALID

AMPDeviceDiscoveryAgent AMDeviceCopyValueWithError failed (0xE8000016) for device 0x7fcf0390820
kernel  Sandbox: AMPDeviceDiscove(570) deny(1) mach-lookup com.apple.softwareupdated

Update 3:
When Xcode tries to connect with the iPhone, it fails and shows this in the details:
Failed to enable wireless functionality on the device.
Domain: com.apple.dtdevicekit
Code: 805
Recovery Suggestion: Please check the device connection and ensure that a passcode is set on the device.
User Info: {
    AssociatedMobileDeviceFunction = DTDKEnableWireless;
    DVTRadarComponentKey = 487927;
}
--
Could not allocate a resource.
Domain: com.apple.dt.MobileDeviceErrorDomain
Code: -402653181
User Info: {
    DVTRadarComponentKey = 261622;
    MobileDeviceErrorCode = "(0xE8000003)";
    "com.apple.dtdevicekit.stacktrace" = (
    0   DTDeviceKitBase                     0x0000000121dd093f DTDKCreateNSErrorFromAMDErrorCode + 220
    1   DTDeviceKitBase                     0x0000000121e09643 __39-[DTDKMobileDeviceToken enableWireless]_block_invoke_3 + 200
    2   DVTFoundation                       0x000000010510e29a __DVT_CALLING_CLIENT_BLOCK__ + 7
    3   DVTFoundation                       0x000000010510febc __DVTDispatchAsync_block_invoke + 1191
    4   libdispatch.dylib                   0x00007fff6fba56c4 _dispatch_call_block_and_release + 12
    5   libdispatch.dylib                   0x00007fff6fba6658 _dispatch_client_callout + 8
    6   libdispatch.dylib                   0x00007fff6fba8818 _dispatch_continuation_pop + 414
    7   libdispatch.dylib                   0x00007fff6fba7f16 _dispatch_async_redirect_invoke + 703
    8   libdispatch.dylib                   0x00007fff6fbb4957 _dispatch_root_queue_drain + 326
    9   libdispatch.dylib                   0x00007fff6fbb5097 _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 92
    10  libsystem_pthread.dylib             0x00007fff6fe009f7 _pthread_wqthread + 220
    11  libsystem_pthread.dylib             0x00007fff6fdffb77 start_wqthread + 15
);
}
--

System Information

macOS Version 10.15.7 (Build 19H2)
Xcode 12.1 (17222)

Firstly, you can try reseting Privacy and Location settings on your iOS device, as this removes the trust file on the iOS device with your Mac (as well as any other Macs/PCs you have trusted to connect to the iOS device). It will affect all your other privacy/location settings as well.
But, once this has been reset, you should be prompted to trust the iOS device when it reconnects to your Mac. Once the two devices have trusted each other, the plist file in the Mac's Lockdown folder should be overwritten with the new trusted plist.
If you really want to remove the lockdown plist manually, I am not too sure how Catalina works with the separate OS system partition, as I am on macOS Mojave. But on macOS Mojave, you need to have SIP disabled and remove the plist through rootless. Only do this if you are comfortable with using rootless. If you are not comfortable using rootless, reseting privacy and location settings on the iOS device should be more than enough.
However, if you decide to use rootless, you really shouldn't remove the entire lockdown folder, but rather the specific plist for the UDID associated with your iOS device.
You can find the UDID of the iOS device (when connected) in macOS's System Information>USB>Serial number. Alternatively, run the  command system_profiler SPUSBDataType and look for the serial number for the iPhone. The iPhone should still show up in System information when it's physically connected via USB, even if you can't access it in Finder.
Once you have found your UDID, note it down (because the serial number doesn't contain a hyphen, but there is one in the UDID's plist filename).
Now you will have to go into rootless, which you can do through terminal using sudo su - command, and navigate to the lockdown directory (on macOS Mojave it's /var/db/lockdown) and list all the files in the directory, and look for the plist with a filename that matches your UDID of your iOS device (again there should be a hyphen in the filename somewhere).
You should then be fine to remove the file (still in rootless) using the rm command, you don't need to use sudo rm in rootless. For me (on Mojave), the command to remove the plist in rootless is rm /var/db/lockdown/UDIDnumber.plist.
When you are finished in rootless, remember to logout by pressing Control+D in terminal. Once again, don't use rootless if you are not comfortable with it. So, be VERY CAREFUL using rootless.
Let me know if this solves your problems. I know there's a few trust issue bugs with iOS devices connecting to some Macs (but not all?) or only when hotspot is turned on. But hopefully this won't be your issue.


Remove Chrome Policy. Error: Domain (com.google.Chrome) not found My Chrome browser is managed by organisation. This was intentional since in my previous company we used one extension for work. Thus, this is not a malware issue.
I cannot remove this policy now. I tried with following from terminal:
defaults delete com.google.Chrome ExtensionInstallForcelist

The error I get is:
Domain (com.google.Chrome) not found.
Defaults have not been changed.

These are my Policies at the moment:

ExtensionInstallForcelist is the one I want to be removed.
I also tried the Chrome Policy remover for Mac as explained here:
https://support.google.com/chrome/thread/6453928?hl=en
However this is not doing anything. I tried few times, installed even signed Apple version of this tool, restarted laptop, tried from terminal, I reseted Chrome settings after it... nothing.
Any help is appreciated!

MDM management is tricky to remove since many times, the business will force several mechanisms to prevent easy removal.

Make a full backup, seriously - Time Machine to a local disk is my recommendation in addition to however you typically back up.
Look in system preferences for a Profiles pane. It will not be visible if you are not MDM managed.
Contact the old business - ask them to send clear written instructions on their removal process. Get it in writing. Prepare an invoice if they say it needs time or to be sent to them (many won’t divulge how to remove which isn’t fair if they’re not paying you to undo what they did to you)
Proceed and if all goes wrong, you can always erase the Mac and restore from backup.

You will need to explain in much more detail what Apple signed tool you are using, but first thing is to be sure MDM isn’t foiling your attempts to manage chrome.


Close an application window directly from Mission Control? For example, you can close "Dashboard" widgets while holding down the option key. I can’t find a way to close windows and/or exit an application directly from Mission Control. Though I'm looking for a keyboard shortcut or builtin solution ideally, Third Party solutions are acceptable so long as the application is simple and non-intrusive.

Here’s a screenshot if it’s still unclear what I’m asking.

Running macOS Sierra [originally asked Running El Capitan.]

Note: I see now that a similar question exists, but it’s five years old and still unanswered - hoping there’s a better solution out there…

You can use do this by using Better Touch Tool as suggested by Anthonin C's comment. However, if you have a trackpad or touchpad, you may find that using a gesture instead of a keyboard shortcut avoids the problems outlined in the question linked to by Anthonin C. If this is something that interests you, then you would:

Install BTT
Add a new global gesture
Set up a Touchpad Gesture (such as a 3 finger click)
Set the Predefined Action as Close window below cursor

This will then work from Mission control.
Closing apps
By the way, if you're wanting to close an App rather than just a window, you can also do this via the heads-up display. More specifically:

Press commandtab to open the heads-up display
Keep holding the command key once when you see the heads-up display
Cycle through the apps by pressing the tab key or the ~ key
Once the app you want to quit is selected, press the Q key to quit the app

NOTE: - You could also use the heads up display to quickly navigate to an App and, once there, use the command+W keyboard shortcut to close the window. However, if you have multiple windows open you could inadvertently close the wrong window.

UPDATE re Better Touch Tool
The developer of this app has set up a new site for its distribution.
Legacy versions of his apps (released before February 2018) can still be used for free.


Block web-page containing a specific word in Safari I would like to know if there is any Mac Safari plugin to block any web page containing a specific word in its url or in its content.

For example, suppose we take the word 'abc', the following link must be blocked : wwww.dfrrraabc.com

A web page containing 'abc' in its content must also be blocked.

I don't know if a plugin like this already exists for Safari.

There is an open source extension for Safari named PeyvandhaBlocker to prevent loading an automatic page redirection based on IP (in the URL) and element type. You can get it and modify allowContentToLoad function in global.html file to take decisions based on URL or context of loaded web pages, and then edit the content.js for the block action you need.


A C/C++ IDE for OS X that isn't Xcode? I want a stable IDE for coding in C/C++ on Mac OS X Mavericks.

Currently I am using Code::Blocks but it sometimes closes reporting some strange list of errors. Also the Code::Blocks "logs(F2)" does some impairment to the editor area by leaving partial prints. I'm looking for an alternative now; can you suggest one?

The CLion cross-platform IDE by JetBrains for C and C++ was recently announced. It is only available as an “early access program” build right now, but when it’s stable, I’m sure it will be good. (Warning: it will cost money.) You might choose CLion over Eclipse for the same reasons you might choose JetBrains’ IntelliJ IDEA over Eclipse when programming Java.