How to use Apple TV without a working remote? My Apple remote's battery died. I can get to the start screen of Apple TV by unplugging the device, but I can't seem to get further than that without the remote. That means I can't activate the Apple TV Remote app for my iPhone - I can't navigate to the activation screen.

This previous answer suggests I may be able to control Apple TV with the 1Keyboard app, but that app costs $10 and I have no reason to believe it can do what I need it to do.

Any help?

Download the Remote app for iOS onto a device with BTLE
Connect the Apple TV to iTunes and restore it (you will lose everything that's currently on the Apple TV)
Use the iOS physical tap method to set up the AppleTV and pair it to your iOS device
Profit in not having to order a replacement battery or replacement Apple infrared remote or borrow one to get it set up again.

Note, once you have the iOS app paired, you can train AppleTV to respond to buttons on third-party infrared remotes so you don't need Apple's remote going forward.


Cloned disk from older MacBook not booting on new MacBook Pro I have an old MacBook (2-3 years old), it is running 10.9.

Last night I cloned the hard drive and tried to use it as a startup disk on my new MacBook Pro (June 2016, with 10.11 installed).

All I got was a no entry sign on startup. How can I make it boot?

No Mac will boot to an OS older than itself, with the exception of models released right on the cusp of a new major OS version.

The drivers for the newer model didn't yet exist.


Why does the natd process hog my CPU? When sharing internet in my Macbook, from a 3G USB pendrive to Wi-Fi, if the 3G connection falls, the natd process rises up in CPU usage.

Is this a real problem? Is it expected in some way?

There's a easy way to solve the hogging, using the menubar disconnect option, but sometimes it doesn't work and I have to unplug the USB modem.

My modem is a HUAWEI E226.

Hope you can help me.

natd should be runnng ... NAT means Network Address Translation, so it's basically translating (communicating) between the Modem and the Wifi Access Point to share your connection.

You can read more about it here, natd

So in short this needs to run to share your connection,

Hope this helps.

Karl


Can photos be added to a shared iCloud photo stream album even after it has reached 5000 photos? Apple says that a shared iCloud photo album can contain a maximum of 5000 photos. What will happen once that limit is reached? Will it not be possible to add any more photos? Or will the oldest photos just silently be deleted to make space for the newest?

First of all, to remove any confusion, iCloud's My Photo Stream, and iCloud Photo Sharing are two different things, and will behave differently.
iCloud Photo Sharing
From the FAQ:

How many photos and videos can be stored in a shared album?
A shared album can hold a maximum of 5000 photos and videos combined. When you reach your limit, you must delete some photos or videos before adding new ones.

My Photo Stream Limits

Uploads to My Photo Stream per month: 25,000 photos

Also note that photos are automatically deleted from your photostream after 30 days.


Do I need to be a member of iOS Developers program to develop and install an app on my iPad? Do I need to be a member of iOS Developers program to develop and install an app on my iPad ?

Or can I just run Xcode and specify the device on which to install it ?

UPDATE: With XCode 7 it is now possible to deploy an app on your own iOS9+ device for free. Only if you need to publish your app to the AppleStore will you need the paid membership. See qqbenq's answer for more details.

Without being a member, you can only run your app in the simulator. You must be a paid member to be able to install the app on a device.

Free:

  Start developing for iOS and Mac OS X with the Xcode IDE, Dashcode, Instruments, Interface Builder, iOS Simulator and a suite of additional developer tools.

Paid:

  Test and debug your code on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch to finalize your applications.


What does this icon in available wifi mean? I just stumbled across something I never saw before.
When clicking on the the Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar at the top right of my screen, every available network has this "Wi-Fi icon" except one which has another icon and a "[?]" displayed as name, can someone explain what this is ?
I'm running macOS Sierra on a MacBook (8,1).

That just means your Mac does not know how to display the network name. It could be an emoji that your computer doesn't know about.


Does Time Machine backup programs like Photoshop and iWork? I want to upgrade my OS X to Yosemite from Lion and also upgrade my HDD to a SSD but im worried about loosing my programs since I don't have the installers or serial keys. Specifically Adobe cs5 master collection and iWork.

Usually the apps like PhotoShop just come across with all the right licenses.  However, sometimes you must contact the vendor if they have a draconian DRM policy where they are tied to a specific machine / OS.

I'd be very concerned with Adobe if it was a new machine but I've done the upgrade "in place" for Creative Suite at least twice on my MBP 2010.

To upgrade "in place" I just allow the installer to do its thing, and only keep Time Machine in the loop for catastrophes.  If I'm super paranoid I'll take a disk image onto USB using some program like SuperDuper!


How does access control work on Mac OS X I would like to have user access rules on a central Music folder. In other words, I am the owner and editor and the kids can only copy downs music but certainly not change anything (like my tags). How do I do this?

This set up option will Share your music with others on your local network.

Settings for iTunes sharing

If we are talking about standard Folers (not iTunes) but just any folder in Finder.

Right click on the folder

Select

  Get info

In that window look all the way at the bottom, there is

  small lock

Open it (with your password)

Now you can modify "others" as they show up in your list the access to this folder to

  read only

.


How can I delete videos off iTunes Library on my computer but keep them on my iPhone? My computer is running low on space, so after I sync my films to my iPhone, I want to delete them from my computer.

How can I do this, without having iTunes sync this deletion back to my iPhone the next time I connect my iPhone?

Under your iPhone’s Summary page in iTunes, check Manually manage videos (if you don’t use iTunes Match or MUSIC this option will read Manually manage music and videos).

This will let you decide what gets synced and what doesn’t.


MacBook Air 13" 2014 Turned off randomly, won't turn back on I was using my 2014 MacBook Air 13" (A1466) and the screen suddenly went black and the fans spun up to full speed. I have not been able to turn it on ever since, even after resetting the SMC and PRAM. Nothing happens when the power button is pressed, the backlight/screen doesn't come on, the fans don't spin up either. When plugged in, the orange light on the charger comes on.  What can I do to try fix my MacBook?

I don't think there's much you can do except for contacting Apple Support. You can test if the issue is with your display by using Target Disk Mode and booting up off of your Mac. This allows your Mac to act as a hard disk. To boot in Target Disk Mode, press T on your Mac when it is turned off. Then, you will need another Mac. Use a ThunderBolt cable to connect the Macs, restart the second Mac (the working one), and press Option while it starts up. If you see your Mac that doesn't work in the Boot Menu of your Mac that does work, then your computer still partially works and you can recover your data. If it doesn't then again, your best option is to replace the Mac or contact Apple Support.


How to "resize" side-by-side windows SIMULTANEOUSLY on Mac? I recently switched from Windows to Mac M1 running Big Sur and can't find a feature that I had on my Windows Laptop.
On windows, I had AquaSnap installed, which has really nice features. One of those is that when windows were next to each other, I was able to resize the windows simultaneously when they were next to each other. E.g. when I want to make one app bigger and the other side smaller, I just pressed Ctrl while dragging one app to a side and both sides got resized.
I found a video on YouTube where somebody did this on the Mac, but in the video, both apps went into full-screen mode (and obviously shared the space). However, my Mac does not behave like this (i.e. does not go into full-screen mode and also does not resize both apps simultaneously when resizing) and I think this behaviour was part of an earlier software version.
Is there another (simple) possibility to activate this feature?
It is worth mentioning that on my Mac I have BetterSnapTools installed, but did not find such a feature there.

Option 1: Native Split View in Big Sur

Make sure you have at least two windows on your desktop

Start by hovering your mouse over the green maximise button of one of these windows

Click on "Tile Window to Left of Screen"

Then, choose the other window, which should become the right part of your tiled window arrangement, by clicking on that window.

When you adjust the width of the left window, the right window will resize accordingly.

To learn more about Split View in macOS, have a look at this support document: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204948.
Option 2: Tiling window manager
If you would like more configurations options, or you would like to extend this mechanism to more than two windows on one desktop, using a tiling window manager like yabai would be an option.
For example, if a couple of windows are on one desktop using yabai, resizing one of the windows makes the other windows adjust their sizes accordingly.

yabai is a window management utility that is designed to work as an extension to the built-in window manager of macOS. yabai allows you to control your windows, spaces and displays freely using an intuitive command line interface and optionally set user-defined keyboard shortcuts using skhd and other third-party software.

Install the homebrew package manager
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Install yabai
brew install yabai

Adjust the configuration in ~/.yabairc if needed to customise the tiling behaviour.
# ~/.yabairc
yabai -m config window_placement             second_child
yabai -m config window_topmost               off
yabai -m config window_shadow                on
yabai -m config window_opacity               on
yabai -m config window_opacity_duration      0.0
yabai -m config active_window_opacity        1.0
yabai -m config normal_window_opacity        0.90
yabai -m config window_border                on
yabai -m config window_border_width          6
yabai -m config active_window_border_color   0xff775759
yabai -m config normal_window_border_color   0xff555555
yabai -m config insert_feedback_color        0xffd75f5f
yabai -m config split_ratio                  0.38
yabai -m config auto_balance                 on
yabai -m config mouse_modifier               fn
yabai -m config mouse_action1                move
yabai -m config mouse_action2                resize
yabai -m config mouse_drop_action            swap

yabai -m config layout                       bsp
yabai -m config top_padding                  12
yabai -m config bottom_padding               12
yabai -m config left_padding                 12
yabai -m config right_padding                12
yabai -m config window_gap                   16

Have a look at this wiki to learn more about the tiling-configuration options.


Why is Siri iPhone 4S only? Seems odd to me that the Siri assistant feature would be available only for the iPhone 4S. I have the Siri app (from the company Apple bought and integrated into the OS) running on my 3GS and it works just fine. So what gives? It surely isn't hardware. Then what? Just to move more 4S units?

It's supposed to use the phone's processor to do the voice recognition instead of sending the recording to the cloud to recognize as the Siri app does. This (apparently) requires the A5 processor.

It probably doesn't hurt, though, that it'll push 4S units.


how do I reset or clear the list of Volumes? I am running into this problem when I accidentally remove a USB drive without properly ejecting it or similar and then plug it back in.

When my drive is plugged back in it will apear normally, for example 'My Drive' but in the volumes folder in Terminal it will apear as 'My Drive 1' thus certain softwares will not be able to find it.

When I try to clear the list I get this kind of problem:

durp:Volumes user$ ls
128 3000
durp:Volumes user$ diskutil umount 3000
Unmount failed for 3000
durp:Volumes user$ sudo umount -f 3000
Password:
umount: 3000: not currently mounted
durp:Volumes user$ ls
128 3000
durp:Volumes user$

As you see the drive is not mounted or plugged in but still exists to the system.

Thus when I plug it in it will apear as '3000 1' and my backup software wont find it.

I can fix this by restarting easily but was wondering if there is any other way.

It should be enough to just delete the folder

sudo rmdir /Volumes/3000


Is it possible to increase price of an App? Is there any way to increase the price of an app being sold on the App Store? (Where one could increase the price as necessary).

Where I could read more about App selling strategies?

You can set and change your price at any time. You can set price changes immediately, or scheduled ahead of time.

You can choose which price from a range of tiers provided by Apple.
eg. 99c, 1.99, 4.99, etc.

You can't yourself choose 49c or $2.68, or any arbitrary value.

See:

Changing Product Pricing

Scheduling Price Tier Changes

Pricing Tier Matrix


Is it possible to install App in iPhone directly without iTunes or Appstore? Android apps can be directly installed from apk files from Android phones.

Is it possible to install iPhone App in iPhone directly without using iTunes or Appstore?

It's been possible to install (or 'sideload') apps onto iOS devices without a jailbreak or iTunes (though iTunes may need to be installed) for a year or two now. There's a few applications (e.g. Saurik's Impactor, CopyTrans, Appandora) around to do this, and one can also use Xcode (see here).

This is something that will be of inccreasing interest now since Apple has recently removed the app store from iTunes 12.7, although it seems that Apple says it will still be possible to use iTunes to transfer apps.


make dictionary result white text in spotlight in mojave dark theme I can't read the result. How do I make the text white?

I am on macOS Mojave 10.14.4

This bug exists in 10.14.4 and earlier and It is fixed in 10.14.5


Add outline to text in Preview Preview use to support adding an outline to text.

Using a black outline with white fill for lettering was really nice for making words visible on dynamic backgrounds. Has this feature been removed in Version 8? Or is there another way to do this?

Unfortunately, I was unable to find a way to exactly imitate the desired behavior. You may have to simply create the outlined text in a different application and import it into Preview.

However, while it might not be exactly what you're looking for, you can create text with a background color. To do so, bring up the markup toolbar and create a new text box. Then, using the dropdown menu indicated in the below screenshot, select a background color.

The font, along with its color and size, can be modified by selecting the "A" icon to the right of the aforementioned menu. If you want a literal outline around the entire text box, that can be accomplished by selecting the dropdown to the left of the previously mentioned background color menu.


Have Apple announced whether the "Shellshock" bash update will be applied automatically via the App Store patching mechanism? As described here, I'm technically vulnerable to the "Shellshock" bug in my shell. I'm running Mavericks.

Apple has released an update to bash that addresses this issue. As per the example test script in the linked question, I'm currently still vulnerable and have no available updates showing up in the App Store.

Has Apple made any announcement, or have any public policy on whether this update will eventually be made available for software update via the App Store?

Will this update (eventually) be applied automatically via the App
  Store, or do I have to apply it manually?

As I explain in my answer on the question you link to, Apple has released patches you can download & run yourself. You do not have too compile from source or be deeply technically capable to run them.  Just download the one appropriate for your machine, run the installer & that’s it:

OS X bash Update 1.0 – OS X Mavericks
OS X bash Update 1.0 – OS X Mountain Lion
OS X bash Update 1.0 - OS X Lion

And while not directly available via the software update system provided in the App Store, running this patch is one of the simplest Mac OS X patches I have ever run. It takes about a minute of your time, an admin password & there is no need to reboot.

UPDATE: Look, I just saw a pig fly!

  Note: Security Update 2014-005 includes the security content of OS X
  bash Update 1.0


How to search for a hidden file in Mac OS? I need to find a Wine .exe file (winefile.exe) I just installed, but I don`t know where it is, so, besides showing hidden files, I need to find the specific file.
Thanks for help.

For whatever reason, on my system, Spotlight does not find all .exe files. Using, separately, .exe or exe it only finds some files. Using filename.exe it does find it.

As an alternative, you can use the find command from Terminal to find any file you want, e.g.:

find . -type f -iname '*.exe'

In the find command above . is the PWD, which by default is your home directory.

You can read the manual page for find in Terminal by typing find and then right-click on it and select: Open man Page

If you prefer not to use Terminal, the is a freeware GUI app called EasyFind.

Note: I am not affiliated with the developer of EasyFind


How to find the "configure" shell script in MacOS Catalina? In order to compile Grace-5.1.25 I need to run configure first.
But configure does not seem to exist. In earlier versions of MacOS I used configure several times.
Does anyone know where I can obtain configure ?

Delete the question!  I found "configure" in another directory.
Apologies for asking


LibreOffice has frozen with loading symbol As the title says, LibreOffice has frozen and I can't do anything. Sadly I don't want to force exit because of the document. Are there any tricks or can you rely on restore?

If it's frozen, you will need to Force Quit it. If the app is enabled for Restore, the document should be fine when you relaunch the app.


"Volume contains an OS X installation which may be damaged" After I formatted my disk (instead of just erasing the volume), I struggled to reinstall Mac OS 10.11 (El Capitan) on my early-2009 Mac Mini (10.11 being the latest supported version.)

I tried physically removing the disk and installed a bootable installer on it, following the Apple guide "How to create a bootable installer for macOS". When I tried to install the OS this way, the OS 10.11 installer started fine, but just before the actual install procedures commenced, it gave the error: "Volume contains an OS X installation which may be damaged".

I subsequently tried installing the OS from a USB drive instead of from the disk itself. Unfortunately, I got the same error.

What would cause this error, and what would be a good way to resolve it?

In the mean time, I proceeded with a work-around: install Snow Leopard (10.6) on the disk, using a DVD and external DVD drive. From there on, I'll upgrade to 10.11. Keeps me busy, and it seems to work (so far). However, I consider this a work-around, not the solution to this question.


OS X 10.9.4 Apple preview - can you rotate in inserted rectangle? The updated version of Preview has so many features I can use it instead of the complicated photoshop. However I have found there is no way to rotate/angle an inserted rectangle or square. can it be done?

You can only rotate an inserted shape by going to Tools > Rotate Left/Right...


Disable Apache autostart I'm on a fresh 10.9 install and the default Apache server is org.apache.httpd: Already loaded after each startup. Is there a way to disable that autostart?

OS X provides launchctl to control which daemons are started at boot time.

To stop and disable Apache:

Open Terminal
Type the following command (type your login password when sudo requests it):

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.httpd.plist

A few words on launchctl's -w option

The -w option is the silver bullet for stopping/disabling Apache. It tells launchctl to do its job regardless of any configuration settings that would otherwise prevent it from unloading the service, as explained in man launchctl:

-w       Overrides the Disabled key and sets it to false or true for the load and
         unload subcommands respectively. In previous versions, this option would
         modify the configuration file. Now the state of the Disabled key is stored
         elsewhere on- disk in a location that may not be directly manipulated by any
         process other than launchd.

(It turns out that, in OS X Mavericks (10.9), "elsewhere on-disk" is /private/var/db/launchd.db/com.apple.launchd/overrides.plist.)

The -w option is indispensable if you started Apache with apachectl start: as explained in this Superuser answer. apachectl not only starts Apache but also modifies /private/var/db/launchd.db/com.apple.launchd/overrides.plist like this:

<key>org.apache.httpd</key>
<dict>
        <key>Disabled</key>
        <false/>
</dict>

In this particular case you can also use apachectl:

sudo apachectl stop

to stop Apache and to set Disabled to true.


How to put the Mac Mini to sleep (without logging in) when the screen is locked? The screen is locked after some time. That is ok. Then some minutes or hours later I come back. Sometimes I want to get in again, then I need to log in. But sometimes I just want to send the machine to sleep or to halt it right away. I want to do these without first logging in.

I disconnect the display in this case for sleep if I can't remember the shortcuts that I don't use often.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236

Option–Command–Power button* or Option–Command–Media Eject : Put your Mac to sleep.
Control–Shift–Power button* or Control–Shift–Media Eject : Put your displays to sleep.

For shut down, you can also log in - either via screen sharing, ssh, Apple a Remote Desktop or remote scripts if you need to sleep or power off the display and haven't memorized the commands above.


Should I create a Bootcamp partition (even if i plan on using parallels)? I just got a mac and i need to use windows sometimes.  I plan on buying parallels.  Someone mentioned that even though i plan on using parallels (so i don't need to reboot to run windows) that I should still do a bootcamp partition and then call up that partition from parallels.

Does this make sense?  I don't understand the benefit of why I would do this versus just using parallels by itself (without bootcamp partition)

I don't thinks so. I've been using VMWare (same way of working as Parallels) for years now without a partition and I've never suffered any issues.

When using virtualisation software without a partition, the software creates a dynamic partition which will grow depending on your needs. So basically, it's the same. Only the dynamic partition is a virtual one.

So, in my opinion, there is no need to waste a predefined partition on your Macintosh HD. Just let the software do it's job and go with the dynamic partition.


Is beta.apple.com running on Rails? The error page is standard Rails error page, and the web server uses Phusion Passenger on Apache.

I guess it's probably running on Ruby on Rails? Very unexpected from Apple.

Yes, according to builtwith it is running rails.


Can't invite others to iCloud shared photo albums... "Invite People" button missing Title says it. There is no "Invite People" link/button...

What setting do I need to change? Yes, I've got iCloud setup. Do I have to upgrade to the new iCloud storage?

Edit: more details: iPhone 5s. iOS 8. I think it's maybe because I have zero contacts in iCloud?

Edit: more details: When I create a new shared album, everything seems fine. I can add people to share with, or even delete the album. But the original album that prompted me to ask this question does not allow me to either add people to share with, nor does it allow me to delete the album. Something is special about it. Should all albums be equivalent, or is there a special use case for special albums that can't be shared nor deleted? The album name is "Family". I suppose the answer to my conundrum is that this album is specifically tied to people I add to my "Family". Not sure exactly how to do this but I suppose they also have to have iDevices.

I had this problem on an albums other than the Family album on a MacBook Air. It turned out to that the "To:" line was hidden whenever Photos.app was running on an external display. When I put Photos back on the laptop screen the control would re-appear.


How do i copy my System into Parallels? Is it even possible ?

I want to boot my actual Mac OS X Server in Parallels. ( With all the programs and setting )
The Reason is : I want to create a Test-System, where i can experiment without harming the running system.
PLEASE HELP ME. I need this JOB !!!

Yes you can.
Here is a post on the Parallels Forum that will show you how:
http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?113931-Convert-Physical-Lion-Drive-to-virtual

In a nutshell:

1) Clean up the system hard drive

2) Run Time Machine on a fresh drive

3) Created a new VM, using the Install Mountain Lion package.

4) The installer lets you use an existing Time Machine backup (actually, you pick the option that says "Existing Disk" or something like that, which also happens to work with Time Machine backups). This doesn't work, however, because it says the backup was from a different machine.

5) Let the ML Installer go through its paces. It asks again if I want to migrate existing data, and this time the Time Machine backup works just fine.

-OR-

Use Carbon Copy Cloner to make a .dmg of the original drive and do some juggling.


Can I remove or hide the VIP Folder in Mail on iOS 6? Is there anyway to remove or hide the new VIP folder in the native Mail app on iOS 6?  I use lots of filters on my Gmail backend and have no use for it.

There currently is no way to disable the VIP folder in Mail. The best you can do right now is to move within the Inboxes section of the Mailboxes screen on Mail.

All Inboxes appears pinned to the top position, but each Inbox and the VIP Folder can be arranged in whatever order you please (but not deleted)

To drag the folder

open Mail
go to the Mailbox view
tap on "Edit" and move the folder to where you want it to be among the other Inbox entries.

Perhaps if enough people give Apple feedback we will be able to suppress VIP entirely or at least move it to below the accounts section in the Mailbox view to bury it at the end of the line.


Prevent external monitors to be shut down when sleeping I (think I) remember that with previous OS X versions I could have the display turn off while connected to external monitors, but the latter wouldn't be turned off. So, when I would turn the display back on, all the windows would still be in their monitor.

Now, when the display goes off, all external monitors are shut down (?), so all windows are moved to the small mac screen and i have to drag them into position by hand.

Any hint on how to solve this?

I have an early 2015 retina mac book pro and El Capitan installed. My external monitors are Dells. The energy saving preferences already prevent the mac from sleeping when the display is off.

I don't have any experience with El Capitan, but I'm on a MBP (pre retina) right now with an external monitor and when the displays go to sleep and are woken, everything is as it should be.

If I unplug the external monitor, all windows revert to the internal screen. Plugging the screen back in reverts the windows back to their second monitor positions once again. The change from dual monitors to single and back to dual again is obvious with the internal monitor physically blinking during the transition.

This occurs whether I unplug it at the monitor end, MBP end, or in between (ie I'm using a display port to DVI adapter).

If I turn the monitor off (via the soft power button on the front), nothing changes.

Physically unplugging the external monitor's power cable, also changes nothing (I actually thought it might).

My initial thought with your scenario is that maybe when your model monitor turns off it could physically cut the video connection (electrically) internally at the monitor. Although I would think that's unlikely.

If there's anything you'd like me to test/compare at my end, feel free to ask.


brew: create install script for all installed packages/casks I am currently planning to reinstall my OS from scratch. Over the years, I installed a LOT OF packages via brew. Obviously, I'd like to reinstall those after setting up the system again, and I want to automate this as much as possible.
Hence my question: How do I list all packages installed via brew, including casks, and how do I create an "install script" from those that will add all added casks for me and then install all packages again?"
Apple Silicon: port all Homebrew packages under /usr/local/opt/ to /opt/homebrew asks a similar question, but doesn't address the creation of a automated install script, rather the port between two architectures.

As basically explained in Apple Silicon: port all Homebrew packages under /usr/local/opt/ to /opt/homebrew (and in https://docs.brew.sh/Manpage#bundle-subcommand):

Create a Brewfile with brew bundle dump
Store the file somewhere safe (flash drive for instance)
Once the computer is set up again, install Homebrew, copy the Brewfile back and run brew bundle install --file /path/to/Brewfile


What format does the apple notes sqlite db date use? I want to extract the note texts and modification dates from an sqlite notes database extracted from an iOS device backup. But I can't figure out how to convert the date format to a readable date string.

How I got the data

I found out which file had the note data from this page.

Relevant portion:

Step 1. Find the Backup File in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/fea….627
        something like : ca3b….39c
       If you have trouble seeing Library folder
       defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles Yes
Step 2. Copy file and rename as notes.sqlite

What I've tried so far

I've opened the file up and confirmed it has the expected note body text inside it. The body text is inside a table called ZNOTEBODY. Another table called ZNOTE has a a ZBODYcolumn which appears to contain indices into the ZNOTEBODY table, and a ZMODIFICATIONDATE column. Here is the crux of the matter: The ZMODIFICATIONDATE column has a listed type of TIMESTAMP and it contains floating point numbers.

I looked at the sqlite docs and found this:

  SQLite does not have a storage class set aside for storing dates and/or times. Instead, the built-in Date And Time Functions of SQLite are capable of storing dates and times as TEXT, REAL, or INTEGER values:

  TEXT as ISO8601 strings ("YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS.SSS").
  REAL as Julian day numbers, the number of days since noon in Greenwich on November 24, 4714 B.C. according to the proleptic Gregorian calendar.
  INTEGER as Unix Time, the number of seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC.

  Applications can chose to store dates and times in any of these formats and freely convert between formats using the built-in date and time functions.

So I tried using the built-in datetime function with a simple SELECT datetime(ZMODIFICATIONDATE) FROM ZNOTE; but that produced nonsense values like 1171380-13689427-18 21:08:40 for an entry I know corresponds to 2014-08-12. The stored value in question was 429559087.38102.

So, does anyone know what format is being used here? Or, more importantly how to convert it to a readable date?

The following stored dates all correspond to (different points on) 2014-08-11, in order of earliest to latest.

429435093.400244
429446655.298724
429447111.140259
429460783.273032
429464301.184442

(I wasn't sure where to post this, but since it seems like it might be Apple specific, this seemed like the best spot.)

According to this answer on Stack Overflow, it's a Unix timestamp adjusted by 31 years. This is typical of CoreData, Apple's ORM framework. The following would work:

select datetime(zmodificationdate,'unixepoch','31 years') from znote


Airport express with double NAT is super slow We have a satellite modem which will hand out a single IP address via DHCP. We're unable to make changes to this modem.  We want to share the network connection to a PC with ethernet and wirelessly to an iPad.

We've put a new Airport Express in, with the modem connected to the WAN port and the PC connected to the ethernet port. As the modem will only hand out a single IP, we've setup the Airport to share this address (NAT) and to hand out addresses (DHCP).

Naturally, we're getting the double-nat warning, which is expected.  The setup works in that, the PC and the iPad both get address via DHCP from the AirPort and can surf the web.

However, when the modem is connected directly to the PC, download / upload is 5Mbps / 1Mbps.  Via the Airport it's 50Kbps / 220Kbps.

We've tested both ethernet cables between the modem and the PC and they don't appear to be the cause.

Any ideas on why the AAE is so slow when setup in this configuration?

I've had better luck with configuring AAEs when using the older airport utility 5.6 via Macbook - if you're using the iPad to manage setup, it's likely that you're on a newer version of AirPort Utility.   The newer versions are simplified and probably best for the most.  However, it's actually more difficult when stepping outside the  default config settings.

tl;dr if there's anyway you can manage your AAE via Macbook, then try installing a previous version of the aiport setup utility  & things will make more sense.  (I know this sounds vague, but it's worked for me - more than once!)  [http://support.apple.com/downloads/DL1536/en_US/AirPortUtility5.6.1.dmg


One line weather output from terminal Anyone knows a way to get a one line weather output in the terminal window with specified location?

So far I'm using curl wttr.in/city but I would like a one output like City, Sunny 0'.

I've found something like this (first answer):
https://askubuntu.com/questions/390329/weather-from-terminal

Unfortunately it does not work. I've installed wget command with brew and tried running those three lines from .sh file.

Simplest solution is ansiweather which you can install with brew. The result looks like .

If you want to write you own command/function it's not that difficult. If the output from the online location is in json, or something similar. You can use jq to parse json, and only print what you need.

curl -s http://ip-api.com/json | jq -Cr .

Read the manual page of jq to learn how to use it.

I tried the API you're using above, that's not gonna help your case. Find some other one that replies in JSON. For example:

curl -s 'api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?q={CITY,COUNTRY_CODE}&APPID={GET_YOUR_API_KEY}' | jq -C '.name? .weather?.main?'

I haven't tested it personally, because you have to make an account to make a call, but you get the idea.

Comment if you get lost.


Why does find-certificates have some missing? I seem to have a certificate in the keychain that is only sometimes output correctly from security find-certificate on the command line:

security find-certificate -a -p | openssl x509 -text | grep -i comodo

The manual claims that this "Exports all certificates from all keychains". Specifying the system root keychain is no help:

security find-certificate -a -p /System/Library/Keychains/SystemRootCertificates.keychain | openssl x509 -text | grep -i comodo

Adding a query suddenly produces a result:

security find-certificate -a -p -c comodo /System/Library/Keychains/SystemRootCertificates.keychain | openssl x509 -text | grep -i comodo

The same query on "all keychains" has no result (this time an error from openssl because the input is now empty):

security find-certificate -a -p -c comodo | openssl x509 -text | grep -i comodo

What is going on?

This is due to a combination of two factors:

Specifying the SystemRootCertificates.keychain is necessary, otherwise a personal keychain is used.
openssl will not parse a stream of multiple keys into a stream of text.

The following runs openssl once per certificate and accomplishes what I was looking for:

security find-certificate -a -p /System/Library/Keychains/SystemRootCertificates.keychain \
| awk '/-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----/ { cert = "" } \
       { cert = cert $0 "\n" } \
       /-----END CERTIFICATE-----/ { \
           openssl = "openssl x509 -text"; \
           print cert | openssl; \
           close(openssl) \
       }'


Setting an MP3s as podcasts in iTunes I have an iPod Nano 3rd Generation that I use to listen both music and podcasts from iTunes.

Now the issue: I have a bunch of non-iTunes podcasts in MP3 format that I want to add to my iPod as podcasts.

So far, if I add them, they get added as music and they get mixed with the music and I don't like this solution because if I shuffle I get podcasts mixed with my music.

There is any way to keep those MP3 podcasts separated from my MP3 music? Is there a way to keep them with the iTunes podcasts?

This issue has little to do with an iPod Nano but has to do with MP3 settings for the MP3 file itself in iTunes. To change a plain MP3 to a podcast, open up iTunes, select the MP3 then select Get Info on the MP3, select Options & then look at the Media Kind list. One of the Media Kind options is Podcast so just select that and then copy the newly modified MP3 file to your iPod Nano or any iDevice. You should be good to go.


Updating iOS through public WiFi in hotel Is it secure to update iOS when using public WiFi? Is there a chance the update is manipulated?

iOS updates are cryptographically signed by Apple - one among a whole slew of integrity and security measures in iOS (PDF document, see section "System Software Authorization").  If something modifies the update over the air, the update will fail to validate, and iOS will not apply the update.


"unable to download application" when installing directly on iPhone While trying to download an app over a wifi connection, app store told me that it was "unable to download application, please connect to pc to download application".
After doing some research i found it was not a common problem and this morning over 3G the application has now downloaded.

My question being, is there an issue with the wifi network restricting me (maybe i have to many Wi-fi connections or something) or does it have something to do with the fact that i haven't downloaded iOS 5 yet?

There are a lot of variables that could be the cause here (iOS 5 would be the problem if the app required it, but Apple has a different dialog box for that.)

Network time out (My firewall at work didn't like Apple's CDN until I manually approved  it)
Small hiccup (Has it happened multiple times? )
Hiccup on Apple's end (timeout?)

Next time it happens, I'd recommend either turning Airplane mode on and then back off and trying again (basically resetting all the network connections).  I've seen that happen before (especially with larger downloads).  The large download situation wouldn't apply here since you mentioned it did download over 3G


How can I view or clear 'other' storage on iPhone 6s? I have an iPhone 6s with 64 GB of storage and currently over 28 GB are taken up by the 'other' category. I already tried clearing my safari cache, deleting email and message attachments, offloading and deleting apps, and deleting photos and videos. In fact, when I deleted several large message attachments, the messages storage category went down from a little over 2 GB to a little over 1, but the 'other' category increased by about the same amount.

Apple says 'other' is mostly cache files and doesn't need to be manually cleared, but I have no available storage on my phone and and unable to take photos, download more music, etc. 'Other' is taking up almost half of my storage.

Most of the time you can fix issues like this by backing up your iOS device to your computer.

So backup, then erase all settings and data (Settings > General > Reset) and then restore the backup you just made.

Annoying but easy enough and it usually works quite well.


iPhone calendar: How do you set up an event for next year? I want to set up a reminder for 1 Aug 2021, but there's no way to set the year. All I can do on the scrolling wheel of dates is set it up for this 1 Aug 2020 and add a "repeat annually" to the entry.

Surely Apple haven't missed this off?

Just run the spinner forwards.  Go past the end of this year and you'll be in next year.

Or, go to the date in the calendar first before adding the appointment.


Assign a computer name to each network interface Currently, my computer is connected both the LAN interface and WiFi:

but traffic is being routed via the LAN.

My router has assigned each an IP address:

Why is the computer's name (System Preferences > Sharing > Computer Name) being associated with the WiFi (10.111.222.112), rather than the LAN (192.168.1.201)?  Does it have something to do with the remaining lease time?

Is there a way to create/assign a computer name for each interface?

Names aren’t associated to adapters, it’s the hostname of the computer.

Why it’s the WiFi and not the LAN is basically which one got assigned first.

You only have one entry because, well, you can only have one.  Many routers have a mDNS service (usually attached to DHCP) that manages the resolution of host names to IP addresses.  This is a 1-to-1 relationship.  If you had one name pointing to two different IPs, your computer wouldn’t know where to go.


Configure mail client for Adobe Acrobat plugin 9.4.0 Adobe Acrobat plugin 9.4.0 has File | Attach to Email ..., but selecting it yields the following:

  The SendMail doesn't know how to talk
  to your default mail client.  Please
  select a different mail application to
  use.

How does the user select which mail application for SendMail to use, and which mail applications does SendMail know how to use?

I believe it looks to see which is your default mail app.  I also think that it will pretty much only work with Mail.app.  If you go into Mail.app, check which is the default email app (and re-set it, if required) on the Preferences -> General screen.  I bet setting it to Mail will fix your problem.


OS X Mavericks upgrade - disk/partition failure I'm on OS X Lion on my Mac, I have downloaded OS X Mavericks and executed the upgrade.

My Mac restarted and executed the upgrade process, but after a few minutes the update stopped because my OS disk partition "My Macintosh HD" is corrupted. So I tried to check and fix the disk using Disk Utility but with no luck.

Can I stop the upgrade process and execute my current OS X Lion again, then copy my files, and make a clean new setup? I can't find any way to do that.

I had this and I found that I had to have Disk Utility repair both the disk (top level in the tree) and the partition (second level).


iMac gets stuck on the "White Screen of Death" during startup I have a 27" iMac (from 2011) that's running Yosemite and each time I turn the power on, it shows me the Apple logo, it starts to load, and the screen goes white and simply hangs there.

To solve this problem, I've done all of the standard procedures: resetting the PRAM, trying to reinstall the OS from a USB stick, attempting to use the Internet recovery feature, etc. But no matter what, it ends up on the same white screen.

When attempting to launch into safe mode, this is the last thing I see before the computer cuts to the white screen:

Any help in getting the computer booting again would be appreciated.

If you're lucky, this is a common, and easily remedied iMac problem.  Just tell me this: does your system come up in a usable state if you hold down the shift button while powering up?  (That combination gets you into "safe mode".)


Turn Wifi Off via command line I'm sharing my internet in work and forgot to turn it off! Does anyone know how I can do it via the command line? I have SSH access but thats it. D'oh.

You could use this to turn it off:

sudo ifconfig en1 down

And if you want to get it back up, just type up, instead of down

Just make sure that en1 is the right interface or you can easily kill off your ssh access :)

P.S. As Lri noted in the comments below, you can quickly disable the correct network interface with just 1 line:

sudo ifconfig `networksetup -listallhardwareports | grep -E '(Wi-Fi|AirPort)' -A 1 | grep -o "en."` down

This will detect the correct Airport/wireless device and will turn it off


In Yosemite, suddenly the application Photos is not open anymore Photo.app does not open when clicked on in the dock or in the list of apps.
Message comes up "The application "Photos.app" is not open anymore". How can I re-open it?

I'd try clearing the saved state files.

From Finder:

 Cmd ⌘   N
 Cmd ⌘   Shift ⇧     G
Copy/paste ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Photos/Data/Library/Saved Application State

Find the folder com.apple.Photos.savedState and delete it.
That should give Photos a fresh start.


Change accessibility setting on Mac for command line program I have built a simple command line program with Xcode, and I would like to access the NSEvent.addGlobalMonitorForEvents method.
It seems like the program must be trusted for this to work.

self.monitor = NSEvent.addGlobalMonitorForEvents(matching: NSEventMask.mouseMoved, handler: { e in
    print(e)
})

How can I add a command line program to the list of trusted applications?

you have to export your app via Product > Archive > Export... > Export
  as a Mac Application, then move the app to wherever you want it (i.e.,
  your Applications folder). Then, you'll be able to find the app in
  Security & Privacy to give it accessibility permissions

Credit to: vincefior
In a comment on this stackoverflow question:


Re download app with redeemed code I have a set of redeem codes associated to a VPP purchase.
I went ot my phone itunes and entered the first code.
The app download started automatically.
Unfortunately, due to a network problem, the download failed.
Now returning to itunes I cannot find any way to re try downloading the app.
Also re-entering the code obviously does not work (the code has already been used).
So how can I re-try downloading the app on that phone without using a different code?

Go to
App Store > Updates > Purchased > Not on this Phone. Anything you 'bought' but didn't download or later discarded should be there, with a cloud symbol & down arrow.


Disconnect removable media from power I connected peripherals to my Mac via USB. When I put my Mac to sleep, the external microphone, for example, is still supplied with power.
Is there any way that once the Mac goes to sleep, that it will remove power from attached devices?
My idea was to use Hibernatemode 25 and that's what I did in the end.  The pmset manpage states that the RAM will be disconnected from the power.  This means that there is absolutely no possibility that the system will wake up in the idle state and start charging.  Why can't Hibernatemode 25 work and how can I turn off the power when the Mac is in sleep mode?

Not that I have seen. Apple designs the USB / Thunderbolt ports to support wake from sleep so the firmware has them always active by design. Same for providing charging of an accessory from the Mac battery or power supply.

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/share-your-mac-resources-when-its-in-sleep-mh27905/mac


Where does Safari store the open tabs? I'd like to know where does Safari store all the open tabs. My daughter did who-knows-what on my laptop and all tabs were closed (except hers of course...) and the "Reopen from last session" is greyed.

I know that when I update Safari, or even upgrade the OS, the open tabs are kept. I then suppose they are stored in a file somewhere on the HD. As I do have TimeMachine active, I hope that by restoring an older version of this file, I would be able to retrieve my open tabs. The problem being of course that I don't know where it stores them...

I'm on Safari 13.0.2 on macOS 10.13.6 (High Sierra - can't upgrade my early 2011 MBP, but I don't think it would have changed something)

OK, just found it!
I closed Safari, restored the file ~/Library/Safari/LastSession.plist from my TimeMachine backup. I then restarted Safari and hit the "Restore from Last Session"

What a bliss to see my 71 tabs back to life!


Can a Verizon iPhone 5s use T-Mobile LTE? I'm planning to purchase a new iPhone 5s outright (ie, not on contract) for use with one of T-Mobile's prepaid plans.

I'm wondering if it makes more sense to buy a Verizon iPhone 5s, just in case T-Mobile's service is unacceptable.  I know that Verizon phones come unlocked, due to the terms of a recent spectrum purchase, but I don't know whether that applies only to the 3G bands.  I also know that if I buy an unlocked T-Mobile iPhone, Verzion will not allow it to be used on their service.

Does anyone have experience with this?  I'm certain the Verizon 5s will work on T-Mobile 3G/HSPA+, but I'd really like to have LTE.

Short answer, yes (assuming you have LTE coverage in your area by T-Mobile). But you should get the iPhone 5s from Verizon instead of getting it from T-Mobile. Also, carrier unlocking has nothing to do with 3G or LTE.

Long answer follows below.

The iPhone 5s models A1533 (GSM) and A1533 (CDMA) support the LTE bands that both Verizon and T-Mobile use.

If you look at the technical specifications for these two iPhone 5s models (A1533 GSM and A1533 CDMA), you'd notice that:

The LTE band coverage is the same across these two models
The GSM model supports only GSM (so you cannot switch to Verizon even if you want to, since Verizon is a CDMA carrier)
[Model A1533 (GSM): UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 13, 17, 19, 20, 25)]
The CDMA model supports both CDMA and GSM
[Model A1533 (CDMA): CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 13, 17, 19, 20, 25)]

So you would be better off going for the iPhone 5s CDMA [Model A1533 (CDMA)] on Verizon and then move to T-Mobile.

Also see:
The Verizon iPhone 5s comes unlocked just like the Verizon iPhone 5


Does “Prevent computer from sleeping…” remain in effect even if I close the lid? These are the default settings for when a Mac laptop is plugged in:

Notice how

the display will be turned off automatically after 10 minutes of inactivity, and
the ”Prevent computer from sleeping…” option is not checked, which suggests that the laptop will go to sleep when the display is turned off (after 10 minutes of inactivity).

If I check the “Prevent computer…” option, I can expect that the laptop will not go to sleep after the display is turned off automatically.

But what if I then close the lid? Does this setting also prevent the laptop from going to sleep even then?

Closing the lid will put the system to sleep, no matter what settings you employ.  This is considered the equivalent of selecting “Sleep” from the Apple menu.  The only way the laptop will stay awake after closing the lid, is if you have an external monitor attached to it and the laptop is being powered by its wall plug (i.e. it is not running off its battery). In which case, it is considered to be in “clamshell” mode and the computer will stay awake and output its video to the external monitor.  In all other cases, closing the lid will put the system to sleep, and no software can override that.


Mac App Store updates keep repeating; won't clear My Mac App Store updates keep repeating. They won't clear. The update is clearly installed. I know this because the new features in the changelogs are visible in my apps when I open them. The update process itself also works smoothly; meaning the progress bar gradually fills for each item in the update list and displays no errors. The badges will clear, but whenever I go and click on Updates again the badges and all previous updates return. It's very annoying. How do I fix this?

LMAO, I finally figured out the problem! I had completely reinstalled Snow Leopard from scratch and used SuperDuper to make a backup clone of my hard drive beforehand (which I had always been doing for backup). Then before putting anything else on, I had visited the Mac App Store to reinstall some software when I noticed it said I had all my apps already installed. It didn't take long to figure out that the Mac App Store reads any cloned hard drives you have attached and interprets them as installed apps as well. This would certainly explain why it thought I still had the older versions still installed. Huge bug.


On iPad, is there a way to go to "end of list" or "end of page" -- besides going to "top of page"? There is a way on iPad to go to top of the page or list, in email's list of emails, or in iBooks's highlighting and notes, for example, by tapping on the top status bar of the iPad screen.

But is there a way to go to the end of page or list?  For example, on iBooks, when the highlightings and notes are shown, sometimes a user may want to see the last highlighting or notes, but in some cases, the list is 12 pages long.  In this case, is there a quick way to go to the end, or will a user just need to scroll the 12 pages to reach the end?

Unfortunately, there is no easy way to scroll to the end of a document other than by swiping repeatedly. It would be nice if Apple could add a specific gesture for this common action. If enough people request this feature at http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipad.html maybe they will add it into a future version of iOS.


Songs in playlist - Apple Music I have an apple music subscription and then decided to make some cool playlists.

But now, my library is FULL of albums that I never play outside of my playlists, an ugly ugly nightmare. I guess my question is:
How can I have songs in playlist but not in the library?

I don't want to see them outside of the playlist!

Short answer is - you can't.

The Library is your total structure, containing everything.
Playlists are made from the overall structure.

You can delete a song from a Playlist without removing it from the Library - but if you delete a song from the Library, it will also delete it from all Playlists.


How to open Emacs like in Linux Terminal I just got a Macbook (my first one!) and want to know how to configure Emacs to run in the same way it runs in Linux. That is, if I type "emacs foo.c &" in the Terminal, I want to either open either a new or existing file called foo.c in a separate Emacs window, NOT in the terminal.

If the emacs you are running in Linux creates a new window then you are running it as an X11 application (a GUI application).  Normally emacs on Linux and other systems just runs in the terminal you have open (as a console application).

The version of emacs that ships with OS X is compiled just to run in a terminal. To replicate running in a new window you need another version of emacs. I would use Aquamacs which is an emacs modified to act like a normal OSX Cocoa app. The standard GNU emacs has a Cocoa app version which defaults to be more similar to behaviour on other platforms and is available in a binary version here.

You can also get X11 versions as well.  Here is an exhaustive list of the available types of emacs for OS X.


Where are Time Machine local snapshots stored in High Sierra Apple says that this space is hidden and not accessible to users, but I don't think it's like that. It must be stored some where, so where could this be stored?

Local snapshots are stored in /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots


What is the yellow warning sign in the "Login Items" Tab under the "Users & Group" System Preferences? I was deleting Skype from my login items and noticed that iTunesHelper showed a warning under a unmarked column. What does it mean and how do I fix it?

The yellow warning sign means that the login item can no longer be found, most likely because the application was deleted or moved after it was added to the login items. If you hover your cursor over the triangle, it will tell you:

To re-add iTunesHelper:

Find iTunes in /Applications
Right-click on it, and select "Show Package Contents".
Navigate into Contents, and then MacOS
Drag iTunesHelper into your Login Items in System Preferences
Check "Hide" to hide it on launch (this may not be necessary, but it's how iTunes sets it up)


How to Use Terminal for "Little Snitch" Functionality without Little Snitch I'm a Terminal newb, and trying to wrap my head around manual "Little Snitch" functionality without using Little Snitch.

From the research I've been doing, I've landed on the fact that I need to utilize pf.conf, however I have no idea how to format my request for Terminal.

I need to block a connection to www.domain.com on port 443. How do I do this?

To permanently block outgoing traffic to specific domains you should create a new anchor file and add it to pf.conf.

Create an anchor file org.user.block.out in /private/etc/pf.anchors

sudo touch /private/etc/pf.anchors/org.user.block.out

with the following content and a trailing empty line

mybadhosts = "{ www.domain.com, domain.com, www.domain2.com, domain2.com }"
mybadports = "{ 443, 80 }"

block drop out proto tcp from any to $mybadhosts port $mybadports

The additional domain names in mybadhosts are just an example how to add additional domains. The same goes for port 80 in mybadports.

A simple but less flexible solution is:

block drop out proto tcp from any to domain.com port 443

Modify the file /private/etc/pf.conf but keep a trailing empty line

original file:

scrub-anchor "com.apple/*"
nat-anchor "com.apple/*"
rdr-anchor "com.apple/*"
dummynet-anchor "com.apple/*"
anchor "com.apple/*"
load anchor "com.apple" from "/etc/pf.anchors/com.apple"

to

scrub-anchor "com.apple/*"
nat-anchor "com.apple/*"
rdr-anchor "com.apple/*"
dummynet-anchor "com.apple/*"
anchor "com.apple/*"
anchor "org.user.block.out"
load anchor "com.apple" from "/etc/pf.anchors/com.apple"
load anchor "org.user.block.out" from "/etc/pf.anchors/org.user.block.out"

Parse and test your anchor file to make sure there are no errors:

sudo pfctl -vnf /etc/pf.anchors/org.user.block.out

Now modify /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.pfctl.plist from

<array>
    <string>pfctl</string>
    <string>-f</string>
    <string>/etc/pf.conf</string>
</array>

to

<array>
    <string>pfctl</string>
    <string>-e</string>
    <string>-f</string>
    <string>/etc/pf.conf</string>
</array>

You have to disable System Integrity Protection to accomplish this. After editing the file reenable SIP. After rebooting your Mac pf will be enabled (that's the -e option).

Alternatively you may create your own launch daemon similar to the answer here: Using Server 5.0.15 to share internet WITHOUT internet sharing.

After a system update or upgrade some of the original files above may have been replaced and you have to reapply all changes.


To discontinue line in many lines in Xcode I have the following code, but I do not want it to continue to many lines. I want everything in one line.

How can you prevent this from happening?

Choose a file.
View -> Utilities -> Show File inspector then deselect Wrap lines in "Text Settings".


What's the best way to replace MacOS with Windows & Linux Dual boot? I have had it with macOS.
I use a 2014 MacBook Air.
To use some apps I need, I had to upgrade to the newest macOS, but this slowed the computer down like crazy.
Otherwise, I stay with an older version of OS X (Yosemite) which doesn't lag, but is not supported by many apps.
Right now I just have macOS. I want to get rid of it and use Windows & Ubuntu.
So how do I remove mac OS and dual boot Windows and Ubuntu on this thing?

You can leave Windows as is and replace macOS with Ubuntu. There will be a conflict between the files in the EFI partition for Windows and the files the Ubuntu installer will place in this partition. One way to avoid this conflict would be to create a second EFI partition when installing Ubuntu. After the installation completes, move the Ubuntu boot files to this new EFI partition.


How do I manually install an app in iTunes 12.7? I foolishly installed iTunes 12.7, and now find that I am unable to install a development/QA version of my company's app for testing.  After downloading the IPA, I am following the steps found on Apple's support page, under "Manually add items from your computer."

There, I'm told to drag the IPA file to the iTunes sidebar, like so:

But when I do exactly that, it tries to create a shortcut, and fails (the section of the sidebar blinks several times):

This is in iTunes 12.7, to an iPad mini 4, iOS 10.3.3.  Manual management is enabled:

Have you tried the Apple Configurator 2?

I just read about it here, but haven't actually tried it myself:
How do I download an iOS App (IPA) file to my Mac after iTunes 12.7 update?

Here's a description from the above link:
http://krypted.com/apple-configurator/upgrade-devices-and-apps-using-apple-configurator-2/


How to confirm if FileVault encryption has fully completed How to confirm FileVault encryption has fully completed? While it's in progress, diskutil apfs list | grep 'Encryption Progress' ; fdesetup status will shows percentage of conversion.

Later is there any way to know 100% encryption is completed?

APFS volumes
It seems that the only way to tell for APFS volumes is to use fdesetup status. This fantastic blog offers a script which basically uses that command to determine the status. In the article it reads:

If encrypted, the following message is displayed:
FileVault is On.
If not encrypted, the following message is displayed:
FileVault is Off.

These are basically the outputs of fdesetup status.
Non-APFS volumes
For non-APFS volumes there is more information. Try diskutil cs list or diskutil cs list | grep "Conversion Status", respectively and look for Conversion Status. See also the accepted answer here.
$ diskutil cs list

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group XXX-XXX-XXX-XXX
    =========================================================
    Name:         VolumeXY
    Status:       Online
    Size:         196521975808 B (196.5 GB)
    Free Space:   0 B (0 B)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume XXX-XXX-XXX-XXX
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:    0
    |   Disk:     disk2s2
    |   Status:   Online
    |   Size:     196521975808 B (196.5 GB)
    |
    +-> Logical Volume Family XXX-XXX-XXX-XXX
        ----------------------------------------------------------
        Encryption Type:         AES-XTS
        Encryption Status:       Locked
        Conversion Status:       Complete
        High Level Queries:      Fully Secure
        |                        Passphrase Required
        |                        Accepts New Users
        |                        Has Visible Users
        |                        Has Volume Key
        |
        +-> Logical Volume XXX-XXX-XXX-XXX
            ---------------------------------------------------
            Disk:                  -none-
            Status:                Locked
            Size (Total):          196169654272 B (196.2 GB)
            Revertible:            Yes (unlock and decryption required)
            LV Name:               SD
            Content Hint:          Apple_HFS


Using an External HD for Time Machine and iTunes My MacBook Air only has a 128Gb HD so I have a 500Gb external HD which I have my iTunes folder on (as I have over 200Gb of music and videos). But I would like to also use the external `hard drive for Time Machine. Will that work?

Will it use up all the remaining space, leaving me no room to add new media?

Should I (and can I) partition the external hard drive without losing my files?

Time machine will use "up to" all the partition. So at the beginning there is going to be free space remaining. This free space will lessen with the time. When the partition is full, TimeMachine will delete the oldest backups.

So yes I would suggest a partition and yes the Disk Utility will allow you to partition your hard drive with a low probability of data loss. (When formatting there is always a probability of dataloss but it's really low).


Configure Time Machine after reinstalling Mac OS to take previous backups into account I have reinstalled my Mac OS (10.9) and had to specify again my external hard drive for backups in Time Machine preferences.  Now i can enter Time Machine and see my previous backups.

However, Time Machine preferences show

Oldest backup: None
Latest backup: None

In particular, the estimated size for a new backup indicates that it will have to make a complete backup, without taking into account that most files in my home directory have not changed since the previous backup (before the Mac OS reinstallation).

Can i configure Time Machine to recognize the previous backups and to only backup modified files in my home directory?

Yes. The command line utility can assist

man tmutil

You'll want to use the verbs inheritbackup, setdestination and/or associatedisk to point out the pre-existing backup you wish to adopt by the new Mac/OS.

This is covered in very nice detail on the help / manual page - pay attention to the section after this sentence:

  A concrete example of when and how you would use associatedisk:


Photos album disappeared I am using iPhone 5 (32GB) updated to iOS 8.1.2.
Recently I opened the Photos app and saw that my all albums are gone but the photos are still visible in Moments.

I checked my iPhone Usage section but found out that my photos are on iPhone with space taken of 2.2GB.

I had all photos on my iPhone before sometime but after sometime all my photos were disappeared.

I have tried to force close the photos app, hard reset the device but non of them worked for me. I need some solution to this problem because it is really frustrating.

The only way to solve this problem is to completely backup all the data of phone from iTunes and 3rd party software's such as "Syncios" etc. You may use Cloud storage to save all your photos to them but not to iCloud. Now you would need to restore the phone from iTunes so that every file get refreshed. This will finish all the data now by turning on cloud services you can store your photos back to Camera Roll and they would work as it need to work. Contacts can also be brought back by iCloud or syncing from iTunes.

Do not restore backup from iTunes or iCloud as it has all problems

You can get Game scores from Game center but be carefull I was not able to get my Temple Run 2 gems and score back on phone but my record in on Gamecenter.
You would now do a fresh backup of iPhone using iTunes or iCloud but don't restore previous one

Now its up to you wether you continue using your phone as it is or solve the problem by this way. Try to avoid using icloud photos if you don't know much about it because it was the root cause of my problem

Any future queries I would be willing to answer them.


I want to install Windows 10 on External SSD and then be able to move it between 2 Macs, is that possible? I have two newish Macs: a 2018 Mac Mini and a 2017 MacBook Pro, both running Catalina. I have purchased a 500GB SanDisk Extremest Pro (supposed read/write of 10GBs/s) to install Windows 10 from Bootcamp on. I haven't done this part yet but we'll see, it doesn't seem as easy as it should be.

Anyway, I would like to be able to move the Windows-installed SSD between the two computers freely and then be able to boot into it on wither machine. IS that possible? I would think that I'd just have to have and install the drivers from Bootcamp Assistant on each machine into that one Windows OS but really I have no idea. Would windows know which drivers to use dependent on which machine it's connected too?

Any help or insight on either process (install Win10 on SSD and Use SSD on Two Macs) is GREATLY appreciated.

(FWIW I'm trying to set up virtual reality gaming via Oculus Link on either computer, along with a Razer Core eGPU running an AMD Radeon 580. Installing the driver for that GPU is a whole different issue I'll be tackling after this one.)

While technically possible, it would be exceedingly cumbersome because each time you booted, Windows would consider itself to be running on new hardware and require a new activation and new device driver installations. See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/20530/windows-10-reactivating-after-hardware-change.

A better option is virtualization. You can run vmware, parallels, or the free https://www.virtualbox.org, installed on each of your macs, and keep the virtualmachine file on the external drive.


Is there anyway or work around to enjoy the dark mode feature of macOS Mojave without updating to it? I have an old iMac running macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 now it has many default extensions and services disabled to boost up the OS experience.

Every time I upgrade to a major OS release macOS changes everything to default and installs unnecessary things. These unnecessary things slows down my mac. But I love the new dark mode in macOS Mojave. I want the new dark colored dock with white outline and everything dark included in the latest update.

But, I don't want to fully upgrade to macOS Mojave. So, is there anyway or work around to enjoy the dark mode feature of macOS Mojave without updating to it?

Briefly, no.

Why not install Mojave on a second drive (or just maintain a backup) so you can test things out with the new feature that shipped so you can revert as needed to your old system or data?

The framework and app updates to support this new feature are widely baked into the OS so you would need to have a poor excuse for dark mode by inverting the entire display using accessibility on High Sierra and lower.


MacBook Pro experiencing random restarts and buggy behavior while running programs My MacBook Pro (15inch Mid 2014) has been displaying odd behavior (slowdowns, problems running certain software packages including jGRASP, beach balls, delays in expected restarts, as well as unexpected restarts) for the last few weeks. The only thing that I can think of is I updated it to Big Sur. However, my issues started several days before I updated it. I reset the PRAM, SMC and ran Malwarebytes but the issues persist. Could someone please advise me on additional steps to take?

"Could someone please advise me on additional steps to take?"

Check Activity Monitor (in /Applications/Utilities) to see if any processes are using excessive CPU% or Memory.

Make sure that all the software you use is up-to-date, and compatible with Big Sur.  (Very often, the cause of problems after upgrading the OS is because of old, incompatible software that is crashing or hanging -- particularly 'invisible' background processes.)

Create a new user account and test the problem there. If the problem goes away, you know that something in your old user account was causing it. It might be a Login Item, Launch Agent or other process that's programmed to launch, or settings/preferences that are incorrect or corrupt. Go back to the old user account and investigate. If the problem continues, then you know it's a System-level issue, not a user-level one.

Check the logs for messages about crashes, unexpected restarts, and other errors. https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/console/cnsl1012/mac

It's also possible that problems like unexpected restarts are caused by hardware problems, such as battery, power supply or logic board issues.


Restoring from Backup error - cannot be saved to computer I have all permissions organized and a single backup in the correct folder.  I have 23 GB of space.  I have an Iphone 4.  I recently synced it and updated to the latest IOS.  My contacts were lost, and I knew that Restoring from a backup could fix that and return my old contacts.  However, I am receiving a seemingly common error message that the backup could not be saved.  My USB is fine, my "Lockdown" folder is fixed according to the specifications on the apple support site.  Please help.

This may also be a software issue, you can attempt getting your iPhone into DFU Mode in order to restore not only your contects...etc... but also reinstall iOS (as it may have installed incorrectly).

As it is stated at this webpage: "

  Entering DFU Mode (Official Instructions)

Plug your device into your computer.
Turn off the device.
Hold the Power button for 3 seconds
Hold the Home button without releasing the Power button for 10 seconds
Release the Power Button but keep holding the Home button
Keep holding the Home button until you are alerted by iTunes saying that it has detected a device in Recovery Mode

"

Then you should be able to click the restore button, and restore correctly.

Hope this helps.


How significant is the new iPad's heat issue? I've heard a fair bit about problems with the new iPad "overheating". However the details seem a bit shaky.

Is the increase in heat noticeable? Is it only when playing games and watching videos, or is it just from using it for extended time?

Also, does the problem only affect some iPads, or is it a general problem (I think some components are made by different manufacturers, eg the screen)? So if you buy a new iPad, is there a chance you'll get one that heats more than it should?

Not at all. I have noticed that it is warmer when sitting for long periods (i.e. reading in iBooks, playing Hero Academy) but it is not a big deal and not even unpleasant except when the day is hot. If you look at this on a relative scale that I've just made up:

10 - 2007 MacBook Pro 17" playing World of Warcraft
9 - Hell
8 - Dave's Insanity Sauce
7 - Chili con carne
6 - cup of coffee
5 - iPhone 4 in Personal Hotspot mode
4 - cup of coffee when you remember to drink the last bit
3 - New iPad
2 - Old iPad
1 - Fonzie

You get some more perspective.


Safari Cant Find Server Problem
I am currently working/developing a Drupal CMS Site and I am trying to work on doing development in my local environment. I used to be able to access the local environment but now I am unable to. I think what had happened was when I was installing Acquia's DevDesktop I remember it prompting me with a System Preference Dialog Box for something along the lines of SQL connections or MySQL? I can't 100% remember correctly. I was moving to fast and believe that is what accidentally set this whole thing off.
Error Message
Failed to open page. Safari can't open the page _blank_ because
Safari can't find the server _blank_

Observations/Attempts to Resolve

I have checked the System Preferences>Network>Proxies and unchecked everything and nothing worked.
I have added the DNS servers for 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4, still nothing changed
I have cleared the cache and all website data by going to Safari Preferences>Privacy>Manage Website Data and deleting it all.
I have also checked firewall settings and I have everything allowing incoming connections except for a certain app. I also have it checked to use built-in software to automatically handle the connections.

Important Side Note: Everything works fine in Mozilla, Chrome.
Configuration/Settings:
macOS Version: Catalina 10.15.4

The error message tells you what's wrong - Safari can't find the web page - so we need to focus there.

Changing your DNS to Google's DNS servers won't do anything as Google's (DNS) servers are completely unaware of your private network.
MySQL/SQL connections don't impact HTTP(S) connections - it's two completely different protocols used over two totally different ports.  If you did manage to "break" your database connection, Drupal would generate an error message and the site would break.  However, Safari would still be able to find it.
Because Mozilla and Chrome can both reach the website, it's not necessarily a firewall issue.  This tells you that the service is up and running and accepting connections.  You mentioned that you have it set for "allowing all incoming except for a certain app."  You could be blocking Safari.
Under the Firewall Options, it doesn't handle "all" the incoming connections, but only the connections for built-in software.  If you're using an AMP stack outside of what Apple provides, it's not handling it.  Disable the firewall completely to see if this is the case.

Now, the error message "can't find the server" is a naming issue not a connection issue.  If it were, say, the firewall blocking, you would get a "connection refused" message.

ensure you're using the correct address.  Use the command line to be certain - `open -a Safari "apple.stackexchange.com"
flush your DNS cache - sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder;
set your router as the primary DNS server (i.e 192.168.1.1 or whatever your router's IP is) as it will be be more familiar with your network
try http://localhost instead of the name - that will make sure it's going directly to your machine and not looking up anything.


using kinect to move cursor on macbook pro I need help. I have a kinect, and I would like to hook it to my laptop so that my right hand controls the mouse cursor. It's actually for a science fair project, and I don't want functionality for clicking or multitouch gestures, I just want cursor control. If anyone knows a good hack for this or a way to hack the kinect to do so (I have a good deal of free time, I wouldn't mind learning to hack kinect) please respond.

Kinect Jesture should let you do what you wanted:

  Control the mouse cursor and fire the key events (right or left).

Here is a Vimeo video demonstrating Kinect Jesture.


VMWare Fusion - Where does a shared folder appear if the Virtual OS is “Snow Leopard Server”? I have a Mac running VMWare Fusion with "Snow Leopard Server" running as the guest, virtual OS.

It says that I can specify a shared folder to shared between the main Mac OS and the virtual Snow Leopard Server OS.

I've specified a shared folder, however, this folder is not showing up anywhere on the virtual server. Maybe I just have no idea where it should show up, so perhaps I'm not looking in the right place.

Does anyone know where I would find the shared folder within Snow Leopard Server running virtually in VMWare Fusion?

I received a correct answer on VMWare community forum:

  Using VMware Shared Folders requires VMware Tools be installed in the Guest OS, have you installed VMware Tools?

  If yes make sure you have Shared Folders turned on in the Virtual Machine Settings and have added a shared folder.

  If that has been done there should be a VMware Shared Folders alias on the Guest OSes Desktop.

  Also look in /Volumes for a directory named VMware Shared Folders as that is the mount point in OS X for VMware Shared Folders.


Unable to play a complete track in iPod nano I have around 140 tracks in iPod nano and recently synched a new track on it.

The problem is that the track is not playing completely . It skips the track after first few seconds.

The song is not corrupt as i tried playing in the system and it plays completely without any glitch or error. What could be the problem for the iPod skipping the track after few seconds.

How can i avoid problems like this in the future.

These are few things, which may be helped (they helped for me sometimes, because this problem is too sudden).

Reset your iPod (keep your music safe before this operation, of course);
Try deleting all staff off the iPod and re-syncing them;
Try both variants which are above together;
Maybe try to convert your track or find another same variant.

Also see this useful Apple's info.

Good luck and happy holidays!


Why does Aperture keep forgetting my preference to enable Photo Stream? I enabled Photo Stream as soon as the feature was available in Aperture 3.2.2, yet sometimes I have to remind the app that I want Photo Stream enabled. I confirm that I want to enable Photo Stream every single time Aperture asks.

The Mystery of the Disappearing Photo Stream is further confounding because I can't nail down a pattern. There are days when I open Aperture several times during a day, or maybe with a few days in between, and Photo Stream is working just fine. Other times, Photo Stream disables itself in the same day.

A couple of notes

I do not use iPhoto. The last time I opened iPhoto was to ensure that Photo Stream was disabled there.
I know about holding ⌘-opt during launch and have repaired permissions and the database of my Aperture library.
Sometimes it remembers my preference between boots, sometimes it forgets.
As of January 22, 2012, I am running the latest version of OS X (10.7.2).

I have been searching for an answer periodically for several weeks now and found little more than other people complaining about the same problem in the Apple discussion forums with no answers.

Have you seen this issue? Please help me solve this frustrating mystery!

I think it's simply a bug; see, for instance: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3533813?start=15&tstart=0
for another frustrated user.

Roll on version 3.2.3!


Mojave doesn't remember window position/size for a specific application? Normally on Mojave all applications windows settings are stored automatically.
Still I have one program which does not do this, every time I re-open this app I have to maximize (not full screen) it's window all over again.

Is there any way I can achieve this automatically?
Making that the program will remember windows size and position after closing an reopening?
Maybe a plist file, terminal command, automator, or third party application which does this automatically?

Many THANKS for all your help.

Here is the list of solutions:

Open a Finder window, hold down the option key and resize the window as you wish. Close all Finder windows and next time you open a new one it will remember the size.

Meanwhile, you can use an app like Stay to remember and automatically reset the position of any window.

You might also look at window managers such as Magnet that allow easy manipulation of windows.


Can not delete individual messages from iMessage I do have the same issue like Wanda. I did restart the phone many times. Still the "trash" bin does not appear on the bottom page. And that's not only on my iPhone5, but also in the iPad. This problem started once I did update to IOS8.
Together with some slow reaction from my devices.
No idea how to fix it.

How to delete individual messages changed a little as of iOS 8.

Hold your thumb on the message, until you see the "copy | more" bubble and pick "more" then you will be able to select messages individually and trash them.


Can I give Automator apps a window? Can I create a window / UI for applications created using Automator?
Or is this just not possible with Automator apps?

Background:
I created an "application" through Automator, and dragged the app into the Dock and it works fine. However the app does not act like an normal app. e.g. I can't seem to "open" a window for it, or have it in the CMD + Tab menu.

Note: this is a follow up question to: “drag n drop” application to convert images to base64 string for web development

SOLUTION

As per answer below I used the free platypus. I simply created a new script through the UI and copy and pasted the code I'd used for my Automator app:

for f in "$@"
do
    openssl base64 -in "$f" | pbcopy
done

Note: this copies the base64 string to clipboard, and thus I assume its only good for simple imgs (which is all I want it for)

Create the application with Platypus instead:

The application window looks like this:


iPad turned itself off and won't turn back on I was just reading a webpage on my iPad and the screen went black and then the Apple logo came up and then the spinning loading wheel and it just went black...

Nothing after that.

The screen is blank/black/off - can't tell which. Resetting does nothing. Plugging it into the charge does nothing. Plugging it into iTunes does nothing.

That sounds like behavior consistent with a dead battery. How long did you leave it plugged in?

I'd plug it in and leave it charging for 15+ minutes, then hold the home button and power button simultaneously for 10 seconds to do a hard reset. If that doesn't work, it's off to the Apple Store to get a new one.


Automatically Delete Files From Downloads Folder Daily Unless Tagged With "Keep"? How can I automate the deletion of files from my downloads folder but keep files I've tagged with "Keep"? I've been able to use Automator to delete files daily, but I can't work with tags in Automater. Most likely this requires AppleScript (I'm fairly new to AppleScript). I've created an AppleScript to delete files from Downloads folder, but it's not working (I can't tell if it's a permissions issue), and I'm lost on how file tags/labels work in AppleScript.
try
    tell application "Finder"
        delete (every item of folder "/Users/wheel58m/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/Downloads")
    end tell

on error
    display dialog ("Error. Couldn't Move the File") buttons {"OK"}
end try

Any documentation or resources is appreciated.

Automatically Delete Files From Downloads Folder Daily Unless Tagged With “Keep”?

The following example AppleScript code can be used in a shell script with an /usr/bin/osascript shebang, or an AppleScript script/application, or a Run AppleScript action in an Automator workflow to delete any file in the targetFolder that does not have a custom "Keep" Tag set in Finder:
-- # targetFolder can be either an HFS path or a POSIX path,
-- # "path:to:target:folder:" or "/path/to/target/folder"
-- #
-- # Change the value of targetFolder from "/path/to/target/folder"
-- # to the appropriate fully qualified pathname in either form.

set targetFolder to "/path/to/target/folder"

-- # The remaining code should not need to be modified,
-- # unless the mdfind query needs to be changed.

set targetFolderPOSIXpath to ¬
    the quoted form of ¬
        the POSIX path of targetFolder

set shellCMD to {¬
    "mdfind -onlyin", space, targetFolderPOSIXpath, space, ¬
    "'! kMDItemKind == Folder && ! kMDItemUserTags == Keep'"} ¬
    as string

set posixFilesToDelete to ¬
    paragraphs of ¬
    (do shell script shellCMD)

set filesToDelete to {}
repeat with thisFile in posixFilesToDelete
    set thisFile to POSIX file thisFile as alias
    set the end of filesToDelete to thisFile
end repeat

if filesToDelete is not {} then ¬
    tell application "Finder" to ¬
        delete filesToDelete

Note: Scroll as necessary to see remaining code.

Notes:

As I do not have the target folder mentioned in the OP, I could not test for any permissions issues that may need addressing in: System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy
The example AppleScript code was tested and work for me without issue in macOS Catalina using a temporary folder created within my Home folder while adding files and folders to it and tagging only some files with a custom "Keep" Tag in Finder.
As to "Automatically Delete Files" there are a number of different ways to accomplish this depending on how the example AppleScript code is used. Used as an AppleScript shell script or application it can be scheduled to run at whatever time you'd like, using any of several different methods.

As an AppleScript application using: Calendar
As an AppleScript shell script using: launchd or cron

Note: The example AppleScript code is just that and sans any included error handling does not contain any additional error handling as may be appropriate. The onus is upon the user to add any error handling as may be appropriate, needed or wanted. Have a look at the try statement and error statement in the AppleScript Language Guide. See also, Working with Errors. Additionally, the use of the delay command may be necessary between events where appropriate, e.g. delay 0.5, with the value of the delay set appropriately.


Replacement for Isolator It seems that one of my all time favourite apps Isolator has been abandoned. While it still works, it hasn't been updated in forever, could use some customization features and it isn't ready for Yosemite.

Does anyone know of a great replacement for it, one that will have Yosemite support and be maintained onward?

Isolator Webpage — Still active.
http://willmore.eu/software/isolator/

I use this app every day, I've donated to the developer a few times and sent emails asking about it but to no avail, no responses or updates to the app. I wish they would just make it open source on github or something for someone else to pick it up if they don't want to continue with it.

Edit: Only just saw this comment by the OP. I will leave this answer up in case anyone finds it useful.

Try HazeOver. It does what Isolator did: Puts a dimmable layer over the screen except for the current window (or all windows of the current app).

It is a paid app, available on the Mac App Store. It has been updated for El Capitan and works for me without issues. The developer is responsive and has implemented a feature I personally requested.

You can activate HazeOver via the menu bar, a keyboard shortcut or AppleScript. I personally use a simple Alfred workflow to set the dim intensity.

Here is what it looks like (bottom left is HazeOver's preference window):


Why and when do Mac laptops start themselves when connected to power? I'm a technician and noticed that, if the battery is disconnected in a Macbook/MacBook Pro: the Mac boots itself when you connect the power adapter.  It sometimes even happens when the battery is connected (after I disconnected and connected it).  What rules this?

A Mac laptop will boot itself when power is connected if (a) the firmware power on time has passed since the machine was last running (i.e. if the machine was set to power on at 6 AM every morning and it has been 6 AM since it was last powered on) OR if the machine was on (not shutdown properly) before power was removed.

The concept is that if power is lost, a Mac should return to the state it was in.

If you want to ensure that the machine does NOT power itself on,

In System Preferences -> Energy Saver ->Schedule..., remove any rule that states the machine should power on at a given time.
Shutdown the machine correctly by selecting "Shut down..." from the Apple menu and waiting until it is completely shut down.


Enabling Java 7 on Mountain Lion The first time I tried to use Java on Mountain Lion, it installed automatically. Unfortunately, it installed Java 6, so I installed Java 7. If I navigate to Java in System Preferences, only Java 7 is listed. How do I switch to Java 7, or remove Java 6?

Apple's tools don't see Java 7, Oracle's tools don't see Java 6; it's all a bit ugly. Luckily there's an ugly fix to go with it!

Normal Mac Java 6 running on 10.8:

java -version
java version "1.6.0_33"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_33-b03-424-11M3720)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 20.8-b03-424, mixed mode)

Install the Java 7 JDK (not just the JRE) from Oracle.

Move the system java out of the way (so you can get it back if you want):

sudo mv /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdkx

Then symlink 7 in place of 6:

sudo ln -s /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_06.jdk /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk

and voila:

java -version
java version "1.7.0_06"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_06-b24)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 23.2-b09, mixed mode)

I've not had trouble with any java apps so far (apart from java preferences which checks which java it's running under).

There's probably a better way of doing this, but it works for me.


dtrace replacement for fseventer? I think many of us have been disappointed with the effective demise of fseventer.  What is a good dtrace shell based alternative to fseventer that will display all full paths of files being accessed for a defined application?

They're not quite a 100% fit, but if you'd like to monitor file access for an application I find a combination of opensnoop and fs_usage works well. Only opensnoop uses DTrace though.


What did I just do with the trackpad to make my window take up half the desktop? I was just clicking with the trackpad - I wasn't doing anything else, and my fingers moved a little and somehow my Google Chrome window took up the left half of the screen.

What did I do here?

Grab the maximize button of the window and drag it to one side of the screen.


Disable mini Calendar pull out in iOS 5 on iPad? I've noticed after upgrading to iOS 5 that a little pull-out sheet for the Calendar app appears on finger swipe near the top edge when inside other apps. I already disabled multi-gestures but this still occurs. Is there way to turn this off? It's annoying when using full screen drawing apps for example.

I think you might be talking about the Notification Center. Does it look like the pictures in this iOS: Understanding Notifications page?

If so, go to Settings -> Notifications -> Calendar, and turn off 'Notification Centre'.


Headset mic not working with windows installed via bootcamp on macbook pro retina 15" I bought a headset recently (HyperX Cloud) and i've installed windows via bootcamp, but my mic don't get detected by windows 8.1, but if i use it on my mac partition which has mac os yosemite installed it does. I've got bootcamp v5 drivers and even tried to reinstall them, didn't work

This may help if you have a red light coming from your audio port, and possibly if you only have partial sound:

support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2622620


Couldn't change the Country and Region on my iPhone I am unable to change the Country and Region on my iPhone. Upon attempting, the following message is displayed:

What could be the possible cause? How can I resolve it?

There could be numerous reasons for that error. So, a good starting point is to make sure you check all the below mentioned points-

Ensure that there is no Store credit remaining in your Apple ID.
Check whether any refund is in progress associated to your Apple ID.
Turn OFF all the subscriptions that you have for various services with your Apple ID.
Make sure you are not in a Family Sharing group.

Once you are assured with all the above points, you can try changing your Country or Region now. In addition, make sure to enter the correct details, especially Payment information, Address, and Phone.


Create audiobook from mp3 files? How do I transfer a folder containing mp3 files to my iPod/iTunes to be recognized as an audiobook?

I use iTunes 10 in Windows 7.

Select the tracks.
Right-click and select Get Info.
Open the Options tab.
Set:
Equilizer Preset = Spoken Word
Media Kind = Audiobook
Part of a compilation = No
Remember position = Yes
Skip when shuffling = Yes
Gapless album = No
Press OK.

Also, make sure the correct track numbers and disc numbers are set for each track.


Something changed my Time Machine drives to APFS (Case-sensitive) Setting up my dual docking station with two HDDs for Time Machine has me baffled.
I was told to format the TM HDDs, backing up my iMac running Big Sur, as Mac OS Extended (journaled) which I did.
I did this two hours ago using Disk Utility and got my dual dock system up and working just fine, or so I thought.
I was checking out one of the eclecticlightcompany.com’s neat little apps called Mints, chose to check Get Volume Info, and was surprised to see that both the HDDs I had set up two hours ago as Mac OS Extended (journaled) were now formatted as APFS (Case-sensitive).
Why is this happening?  Should I be concerned?  Should I reformat these HDD and if so, what format?

Thanks you two for replying.  I continued to research the subject and now realize that Apple automatically changes your external HDDs to an APFS format without a "by your leave".
That said, what I find odd is that instead of just changing them to APFS, Apple changed them to APFS (Case-sensitive).  Truly strange, that.


How to delete photos only from one device? As I have limited storage on my iPhone, can I delete photos from my iPhone and they will still remain on the iCloud? Or can they be accessed on my iPad which has more storage?

I think when I have deleted a picture on any device, they delete from the iPad as well (presumably through the iCloud).

As detailed in Apple's support article, you can disable iCloud Photo Library on your iOS device by tapping Settings > iCloud, and turning off "Photos".

Your photos will still remain in iCloud Photo Library but will be removed from your device.