When trying to update existing free apps or install new ones, I get into a payment "Verification Required" loop On my iPad (iOS 12.2), I'm trying to update my existing apps. The app store requests that I authenticate with my Apple ID password. It then brings me to my payment information screen, where it asks me to configure my payment method.

I select "None" on the payment method screen, since I'm only planning on updating apps and installing free ones on this iPad for now. After clicking "Done", it pops up the Apple ID authentication box again, which brings me back to the payment method screen, and this loop continues forever. I can't update my apps or install any new apps, even free ones.

In my App Store settings, I have disabled the "Require Password for Free Downloads" setting, but it doesn't make a difference. I can't install or update free apps.

In the past, I had set my payment method to be a pre-paid Visa gift card, which I used to download several paid apps. That card no longer has a balance at this point. This seems to be what was causing my problem.

I was able to fix this in the Payment Method screen by adding a new credit card (I used my real one) and hitting "Done". At this point my apps started updating and I wasn't prompted to enter my Apple ID password again.

After I entered the valid credit card information, I went back in to the Payment Method screen and set it back to "None", which worked. I can now install and update free apps.


Apple TV won't connect to Airport Express I just bought an Apple TV last night. I have it sitting directly underneath my Airport Express. I have 2 wifi connections on my Airport, one for my stuff and one for guests.

When I list the wifi connections in my Apple TV it sees both, however when I try to connect to either I get this message:

  There was a problem connecting to the network.

  Check your settings and try again. (-3906)

I tried with a bad password just to compare the difference and I get this message:

  There was a problem connecting to the network.

  The Wi-Fi password you entered is not correct. Try again. (-100)

So it can see it, and tell it is the correct password; but it will not connect.

My MBP, MPA, Android phone, Xbox, and guests' windows laptops have all connected to this airport without any problems.

It does work if I connect the Apple TV to the Airport via ethernet.

I have 2 apple tv’s.    One wouldn’t work anymore.     I went to Utilities, Airport Utilities and noticed there was a newer version available.   Once I installed the newer version my apple TV finally worked.   I don’t know if this will help anyone else, but it did the trick for me.


Is there a notification if someone is using Remote Management to observe my screen? I noticed in my sharing settings that my boss has Remote Management access over my computer, with all options checked (Observe, Control, Show when being observed, Generate reports, ...).

Will I receive any notification when my screen is being observed?

Yes & No.

If your looking for something like a Notification Center notification, then no. However there is a menu bar item you can add and settings attributed to it that are visual aides that you can see if someone is remotely managing your computer.

System Preferences > Sharing > Check 'Remote Management' > Computer Settings... > Click on Show Remote Management status in menu bar

Now the Remote Management icon will display in your menu bar. They icon image will alter based on it's current state (i.e., if someone is connected or sharing screen etc)

In terms of a Notification Center notification, as far as I know, it's not possible with the shipped OS. 3rd Party Apps might be available for your desired feature.


How to resolve: files which are visible in Terminal, but invisible in the Finder? In Yosemite v10.10.3, I am trying to reinstall Skype, as it does not sign-in at all, following this link. In order to do so, I need to move some files and folders to trash as to totally uninstall Skype first. However, I cannot see these files and folders in the Finder, although they are visible in the Terminal !!

I've also tried the following two commands:

:...& defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES
:...& killall Finder

The result is that I see many hidden files among which I cannot find the files and folders I am looking for.

Please help me with any of them: Skype sign-in problem or Finder Invisibility !!

Be sure you aren't looking in the root library, but your user library. Skype in Application Support and com.skype.plist are not invisible by default. Try changing the ~/Library/Application Support with /Users/<username>/Library/ Application Support, with  being your Username without the <>.

I find it easy to "Go to" with Shift+Command+G while there is Finder selected, and in the path type /Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/ and click Go. Then look for Skype. To find the plist, do the same, but with Preferences.

Also note that in terminal, the path to Application support would have a backslash (/Application\ Support), instead of only a Space


Hide an application's dock icon Is there an easy way to hide an application's dock icon?  For example, I can't hide Iconfactory xScope dock icon. Most similar apps have an option to hide the dock icon, but I can't seem to find one in this app's preferences.

Try editing the app's plist (inside the .app package i.e xScope.app/Contents/Info.plist)

and add or edit the following entry:

<key>NSUIElement</key>
<string>1</string>

Because this hides the menu bars, it should be possible to create a keyboard shortcut in System Preferences>Keyboard>Keyboard Shortcuts for any functionality that you need the menus for.


iMovie advanced tools option not present in preferences I'd like to enable Advanced Tools in iMovie preferences.

When I open preferences, I only see:

Using iMovie 10.0.9

I don't recall from which version, but at some point iMovie changed its interface so that all of the advanced tools were already built into the interface, so there's no need to enable it in iMovie's preferences.

To see the various tools, just click on your clip and select the Adjust option to reveal the Advanced tools.


USB Audio Adapter for Bluetooth Headset I have a bluetooth headset that works on phones and ipad with excellent audio quality.
It works with the Mac mini too but the audio quality is awful for both headphones and the microphone (I've tried to change the bitrate from the command line, but it doesn't work).

It seems it's possible (from Googling) to plug a special Bluetooth Audio Adapter USB Dongle into the Mac mini and connect the headset to that adapter thus totally bypassing Mac OS bluetooth pipeline.

But I'm not sure what are those adapters - there are Bluetooth USB Dongles - but those are not what I need. The USB device should be recognized by the Mac OS not as another Bluetooth device, but as an Audio Device.
Also it seems that some devices are only transmitting output stereo sound, I need both - high quality mono-or-stereo and high quality microphone.

Can you please tell if such adapter exists?

Technically, those adapters don't exist.

The USB device should be recognized by the Mac OS not as another Bluetooth device, but as an Audio Device.

I agree with you on this one.  You definitely don't want to have a secondary Bluetooth adapter appearing in macOS.  So to clearly define what you're looking for is a USB audio interface with Bluetooth capability.
We have to make one.  Here's what you need:

USB DAC Audio Interface.  I personally like and use the Behringer UCA202. I have mine attached to my iMac and plugged into a Bose Wave Radio.
Bluetooth Transmitter/Receiver.  I also like and use the TaoTronics Bluetooth Transmitter & Receiver.  I have mine hooked up as a transmitter to an LG TV in the bedroom so I can watch TV using my regular Bluetooth headset (I didn't want one of those proprietary things where I couldn't use the headset of my choice).

Now, all you have to do is connect the USB DAC to the Bluetooth transmitter and then pair your headphones to it and not the Mac's Bluetooth.  (Here's the awesome part) Since it's attached to the Mac as a USB audio device, all you have to do is turn the volume up to the max on the BT transmitter and use the Mac to control the volume on the DAC.  You will maintain full volume control through the Mac.  However, the volume control on the headset will manipulate the volume on the transmitter, not the DAC, so you'll have to keep that in mind.
As far as stereo/mono, this setup will transmit whatever you send over.  For instance, the TV I have mine attached to does stereo and mono output and the BT transmitter handles each with no problem


How to add file(s) to an iPad in offline mode and read it in an app I would like to know if it is possible to add files to iPad (or iPhone), while offline, and be able to read those files in an iPad app.

Maybe this is possible by connecting the device to a computer? Or any other means?

PS: Need this functionality without jailbreak.

Do you mean something like this?
If you are talking about iBook and reading pdf files, this new OS X version use iCloud to sync your files on all devices and after syncing you can read them offline.


macos x terminal cursor is 1 posisiton righter then it should be When I start terminal the cursor position is 1 position righter then it should be and there is a gap between last symbol and the cursor.

How can I fix it?

"1 position righter then it should be" is a matter of opinion :-) I believe the cursor is right where it should be. But either way, this is determined by the PS1 environment variable (assuming you're using the default bash shell)

You'll want to set PS1 to not have a training space on the end of it. The exact command will depend on what your PS1 is currently. The following should get you there:

echo $PS1

Will show you what PS1 currently is. Copy that value, then execute:

export PS1="<paste value>"

Pasting the value you copied in place of <paste value>. Be sure to not have a training space. So in my case, I did:

export PS1="\h:\W \u\$"

To make this stick, add the export PS1 line to your .bashrc file with a text editor.


Keeping music only on iDevice and not in the iTunes Library it syncs with Is it possible to sync music onto the iPhone and then delete it from the iTunes Library to save hard drive space, without having it be automatically removed in a later sync?

Yes. When you have the device plugged in, click on its icon in the navigation bar on the right, then in the main part of the window turn on manual management for the various types of content as shown across the top of the window.

It is, however, a very good idea to have some kind of a back up of your iDevice's content somewhere in case something bad happens with the device. External Firewire and USB hard drives can be had very extremely cheap.


Is there any way to control Mac volume from Apple Watch? Is there a way to control a Mac's audio volume from Apple Watch? Apple didn't provide Watch functionality for system-wide Mac volume adjusting as far as I know.
NB: The only so-so way I've found is if audio is playing from Mac iTunes, and the iPhone/Watch is paired with that library via Home Sharing. The volume can then be changed with the Watch Remote app – but that doesn't trigger system-wide volume. It only changes iTunes' in-app volume.
Is there some third-party software for iOS/WatchOS that can accomplish this?
Note about iPhones: I know that the iOS app BTT Remote can control a Mac's volume, but unfortunately there is no Watch app for it.

I've used MacID with great success on my Pebble smartwatch but they also have support for Apple Watch. It's $4 but TOTALLY worth it!

https://macid.co/

The watch app requires the companion iPhone app to sync with the desktop app and control the volume and track selection.

And that's not all, the iPhone to Mac has a proximity sensor so you can set your computer to unlock AS YOU APPROACH IT and lock if you get up to walk away.

I hope this answer helps :)


External monitor has "sun spots" I have a Macbook Air 13″ (late 2010) and external monitor (Dell SX2210) connected by Mac Display Adapter to VGA adapter (pre-Thunderbolt). I frequently see regions of the Dell screen glitched by wavy-jittery noise for a few seconds at a time. The size and location on the screen seems random, and is more frequent and noticeable some times than others. No glitches on the Mac screen. This has persisted through OS upgrade from Mountain Lion to Mavericks.

Would using DVI instead of VGA fix this (worth the purchase of adapter)? Anything else?

It could be the monitor, the cable or VRAM/ something else in your Mac going bad.

Easiest way to test would be to use the monitor on another computer or with another source (like DVI) and see if the problem persists.  Preferably with a different cable to limit things to the monitor.

If you can borrow a DVI adaptor from a friend, that would be a cheap way to see if DVI would fix it (either by replacing VGA or perhaps the VGA port on the monitor is going bad - it happens).

Finally if the monitor behaves with everything but your Mac, then it could be a hardware problem with your Mac.  Since your Air uses integrated graphics there is no dedicated VRAM - and since there is no problem with the native screen, the more I think about it, the more it sounds like it's probably a problem with the monitor itself.

Unfortunately there isn't an easy way to tell without doing some testing as suggested by others already.  Good luck!


How can one start a process and monitor its syslog messages? I would like to start a process and monitor its LOG_DEBUG syslog messages.

I know that I can change the filter of an already running process with syslog -c process (and then monitor its messages with syslog -w -k Sender process), but that requires the process already to be running and furthermore fills up logfiles with messages that I only need temporarily.

Is my only option to change the running configuration with syslog -config, then later restore the configuration once I have read the messages I want?  Surely there is a "better" way.

Using the tail command in Terminal.app will follow a log file and print out in real time whats being written to just that log file.

tail -f /path/to/your/log/file.log

If your process has a common name that shows in every log file, like com.my.process you can tail the file and grep out for that keyword/process.

tail -f /var/log/system.log | grep "com.my.process"

tail command


How to make a KVR1333D3S9 work with a MacBook Pro 7.1? I recently bought a couple of memory modules from Kingston to be used on my MacBookPro 13" 7.1, they are KVR1333D3S9/4G which should work fine with the computer as the frequency and latency is supported, but when I installed them OSX will never boot, it stops on DSMOS as arrived.

The only way I fount to make it work is using one of the KVR and one os those that the computer originally had. But then the memory works at 1067 and worse,I don't have 8GB but only 6.

Googling I found that I should had to buy a certified memory, and I know, I should googled a bit more before buying this memory, but I don't want to give up, not now.

Does any of you have a "trick" for this kind of memory to work.

There really isn't any trick for running RAM that your Mac doesn't like. It appears that Mac OS X is more forgiving of RAM problems in Safe Mode (which makes sense, when you think about it).

But it sounds as though one or both of the Kingston memory modules is bad. I suggest that you install one of the modules, then boot normally and run Memtest, then swap that module for the other one, and run Memtest again.

You can get Memtest for free at this link:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=788590

If one module is bad, then exchange it. If both modules test OK, then you are still best off returning them to where you bought them for an exchange.


Can I disable wifi automatically if there is an ethernet connection? When I wake my machine in the morning, it often stays blank because there's some conflict between my 4k monitor and the 'Your computer name has changed for the 3950th time' dialogue that means both screens are off until I dismiss the dialogue I can't see.

I don't want to have to turn wifi on and off manually - we have computers to do things automatically for us - and I need a wired connection while I'm at my desk.

So can I tell the Mac only to enable to wifi if eth0 is inactive?

Or turn the 'Your computer name has changed' dialogue into a notification that doesn't need manual dismissal, because I really don't care what number Apple has decided to add to it today?

You have several solutions:

https://gist.github.com/albertbori/1798d88a93175b9da00b

  This is a bash script that will automatically turn your wifi off if
  you connect your computer to an ethernet connection and turn wifi back
  on when you unplug your ethernet cable/adapter. If you decide to turn
  wifi on for whatever reason, it will remember that choice. This was
  improvised from this mac hint to work with Yosemite, and without
  hard-coding the adapter names. It's supposed to support growl, but I
  didn't check that part. I did, however, add OSX notification center
  support. Feel free to fork and fix any issues you encounter.

https://macperformanceguide.com/blog/2014/20141118_0958-OSX_Yosemite-disable-WIFI.html
The associated google search :

https://www.google.fr/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=disable+wifi+if+ethernet+osx&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&gfe_rd=cr&ei=VL_cWMj1B-zUXt3CkLAM


Customise Touch Bar in Microsoft Office 2016 The February 2017 updates for Microsoft Office 2016 include Touch Bar support on the new MacBook Pros. But the defaults aren't very usable, and I can't find an option to customise the Touch Bar layout as is found on other apps with TouchBar support. Is there any way to customise the Touch Bar in Office 2016?

There is not an option at this point in time.
As an office insider, I recently sent a feature  request to them. If you'd like to send a feature request, just click the :) in the top right corner and go from there.


How to get rid of firewall "accept incoming connections" dialog? I've accepted this so many times that firewall should already remember it.

For example, I get it for Eclipse when starting my java programs in debugging mode ... sometimes this dialog is displayed only very shortly, like half second, and disappears. I also get it for iTunes (when I enable sharing my library), and other programs, even though I have them listed in Firewall preferences panel (adv. settings).

sudo codesign --force --deep --sign - /path/to/application.app

I've never had to create a certificate using this method.

If that doesn't help, try without --deep and without the trailing slash:

sudo codesign --force --sign - /path/to/application.app

Note, just to make it clearer: After having applied the signature, start the app, accept incoming connections one last time, then quit and start again to verify that the request is gone.


Can't update iPad 3 to iOS 9.3.5 I have an iPad 3, running iOS 8.3. I am unable to update it to iOS 9.3.

When checking for Software Update in Settings app, it says that I have the latest version installed.

How do I update it to iOS 9.3.5?

Have you checked in Settings>General>About to verify your current OS version?

Sometimes if you check and then restart the device and then check again, that clears things.


Turn iPhone into Dumb USB Drive I am looking to turn my iPhone into a standard USB drive that will work with any device that accepts USB (for instance plugging into a TV). I do not mind completely killing the iOS firmware on it (I would in fact prefer that) but I can not do anything on the device itself since the screen and power button are broken (my reason for wanting to do this in the first place).

Thanks :)

Hm, I don't Apple's tutorial about using the device as a storage drive will work in this case. This only used to work for older iPod Classic devices as far as I know. There exist apps in the App Store (both free and paid or with paid upgrade) that could bring the iPhone as close as possible to a regular USB drive. Check this resource: Turn your iPhone into a USB flash drive


MPlayerX frame skip keyboard shortcut While playing a video in MPlayerX the right and left arrows skip ahead and back 10s respectively. When paused, the right arrow goes ahead 1 frame but the left arrow still goes back 10s.

How do I skip only 1 frame back? Is there some way to assign the left-arrow-while-paused to do this?

Could the "Extra options" in the "advanced" section of the preferences be useful here? is there any documentation on how to use this?

Did some research, looks like you can change values using some commands, havent tried it myself though.

http://blog.mplayerx.org/blog/2013/02/01/hidden-settings/


Differentiating and comparing between MacBook Pro models across different generations What details (such as dates/year, identifying numbers, etc.) distinguish 3rd generation 13" MacBook Pro models from 4th generation?

These 3rd generation models featured the older more reliable keyboard, power adapter, memory card slot, USB-A slots. I am shopping for a used device and would like to know how to differentiate one of the most recent devices of this generation (prior to the more problematic keyboard design, Touch Bar, etc).

Here are the primary features/differentiating factors in MacBook Pro across various generations:

First generation: Metallic Polycarbonate body
Second generation: Unibody enclosure
Third generation: Retina display
Fourth generation: Touch Bar and Thunderbolt 3

Source: MacBook Pro - Wikipedia

A MacBook Pro model (or any Mac, generally speaking) is commonly recognized with an identifier of the form Early/Mid/Late Year based on the time of the year it was introduced. For e.g. Late 2013.

You can use Mactracker, which is an excellent reference app, available for free  both iOS and macOS. It lists details for all the MacBook Pro models (along with all other Apple products) ever released. It lists their features, hardware specifications, current production status and supported macOS software versions. Mactracker is available for download via the respective app stores:

macOS: Mactracker
iOS: Mactracker

2nd generation MacBook Pro models are much more ancient, with the last one released in 2012. Most of them no longer have the ability to run the latest macOS software.

3rd generation MacBook Pro, which were released between 2012 and 2015 feature external design similar to the 2nd generation along with similar design for the keyboard. Prominent feature of this generation include presence of retina display, thinner and lighter form factor, removal of LAN port and Super Drive etc.

4th generation featured major external design overhaul, along with a new keyboard design dubbed the butterfly keyboard. This generation has also seen removal of USB-A ports, card reader and Thunderbolt 2 ports which are all replaced by USB-C ports.

The specifications and features for all the various models of MacBook Pro released are listed thoroughly in the linked Wikipedia article. In conjugation with the Mactracker app, it is the recommended go to place to compare between various generations and models of MacBook Pro.

Note: No afiliation whatsoever to Mactracker, I find the app to be super helpful and use it often.


Getting IP address of hotspot connection I want to find out the IP address of my iPhone Hotspot connection.
I can enable it, and connect to it with a laptop, etc - but I want the IP address so I can telnet to the iPhone (I've set up the socket server software on the iPhone).

Any ideas?

Look at your 'router' or 'gateway' address.  Open up the network control panel, select the iPhone connection, and the address should be displayed there, no?

Alternately it can be found by issuing an 'ifconfig' command in the terminal.

Failing all that you could get the external IP by browsing to www.whatsmyip.com and use that instead.


What is the default effective resolution of the Macbook Air 2020 The Internet says that the Macbook Air's resolution is 2560x1600, and that its supported scaled resolutions are:

1680 by 1050
1440 by 900
1024 by 640

But which of those supported scaled resolutions is the effective resolution of the Macbook by default? Or maybe it's not even listed. If you use the non-default scaled resolutions, they don't look quite right to my eyes, and so I want to know how small or large everything is. Most software doesn't factor in hardware pixels when choosing what size to display.

For example, the Macbook Pro 16-inch has a native 3072x1920 resolution, and its supported scaled resolutions are:

2048 x 1280
1792 x 1120
1344 x 840
1152 x 720

#2 is the effective resolution when running in default retina mode, giving the Macbook Pro a PPI of 132.08

By default, Mac Retina displays are always at scaled to 2x the 'actual' resolution. So a 2560 x 1600 display will be a "Hi-res" version of 1280 x 800.

I suspect that Apple's list of "supported scaled resolutions" does not include the default 2x Retina setting.
This is backed up by the wording used on my 15" MBP:

  2880 by 1800 pixels (Retina); scaled resolutions: 1920 by 1200, 1680
  by 1050, 1280 by 800, and 1024 by 640 pixels

The Scaling options in System Preferences offer 5 options: four of them being the scaled sizes and the middle button being the default. (I'm hovering the mouse over the 2nd from left in the the image.)

The 16" MBP's default resolution is 1536 x 960 "Hi-res".

You are right that "most software doesn't factor in hardware pixels when choosing what size to display" - that's the job of the OS. MacOS's use of 2x scaling is designed to be the clearest.

If the non-default scaled resolutions don't look right to your eyes (understandably so), then just use the default.


Create encrypted partition for Time Machine from command line using diskutil or gpt, instead of Disk Utility? I can use Disk Utility to create an encrypted partition, intended for Time Machine backups. I would choose the Mac OS X Extended (Journaled, Encrypted) format.

However is there also away to achieve the same from the command line, using the diskutil or gpt command, or something else perhaps?

I know how to manually create partitions with either, I just don't know how to get the exact combination of Mac OS X Extended (Journaled, Encrypted) as the Disk Utility App does.

Below (in the steps 1-5) I assume you already formatted some device as JHFS+ volume with an arbitrary name (in my example I use TMBackup). If you have an unformatted/unpartitioned disk, you have to partition & format it to JHFS+ first:

$: diskutil list
$: diskutil partitionDisk diskX GPT jhfs+ Name 0

or (if the disk is already GPT-partitioned with one volume):

$: diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ Name /dev/diskXsY

The content of diskX(sY) will be deleted.

Get the devices list:

$: diskutil list

Example:

...
/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.1 TB     disk1
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS TMBackup                1.1 TB     disk1s2

Choose the future backup drive partition and convert it to CoreStorage:

$: diskutil cs convert diskXsY

Example result:

$: diskutil cs convert disk1s2
Started CoreStorage operation on disk1s2 TMBackup
Resizing disk to fit Core Storage headers
Creating Core Storage Logical Volume Group
Reviewing boot support loaders
Attempting to unmount disk1s2
Switching disk1s2 to Core Storage
Waiting for Logical Volume to appear
Mounting Logical Volume
Core Storage LVG UUID: 586B5316-C702-4704-B8B9-D5F063AB1F84
Core Storage PV UUID: 17373D1A-FCBD-4915-8699-3DA174B59BB7
Core Storage LV UUID: AE765219-2012-4876-91DD-FE128DC8CA6C
Core Storage disk: disk3
Finished CoreStorage operation on disk1s2 TMBackup

Encrypt the logical volume (LV)

$: diskutil cs encryptVolume $UUID(LV)

Example:

$: diskutil cs encryptVolume AE765219-2012-4876-91DD-FE128DC8CA6C
New passphrase for existing volume:
Confirm new passphrase:
The Core Storage Logical Volume UUID is AE765219-2012-4876-91DD-FE128DC8CA6C
Started CoreStorage operation on disk3 TMBackup
Reviewing boot support loaders
Scheduling encryption of Core Storage Logical Volume
Core Storage LV UUID: AE765219-2012-4876-91DD-FE128DC8CA6C
Finished CoreStorage operation on disk3 TMBackup

Set destination device for Time Machine backups:

$: sudo tmutil setdestination mountpoint

Example:

$: sudo tmutil setdestination /Volumes/TMBackup

Enable Time Machine

$: sudo tmutil enable


How to open macOS news article in browser? I like the Apple News app, but can't figure out how to open the articles in browsers (For sharing purposes).

The Share button doesn't have "open in browser" as an option.
I've tried sharing a note, but then it hides away the URL behind the apple news rich image.
I tried it in mail, but then it gives me the news URL: https://apple.news/AfSvL4zUURbOnHGot9Tx7bA
Which can be shared, but isn't the same, and especially cross-platform is just kinda... inconsiderate?

I can do this in iOS which is nice... But I can't figure out how to do this in macOS. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

The option is available on macOS, but is unintuitive. In the News App, open the File menu, and select Open in Safari.

  NOTE: This will in fact open the link in whatever your default browser is (eg. Chrome) although the menu title will continue to say "Open in Safari" regardless.

In order to add a keyboard shortcut for this, open System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts

select App Shortcuts in the sidebar
tap the + button to add a shortcut
from the Application dropdown, select News.app
in Menu Title, enter: "Open in Safari" (no quotes)
in Keyboard Shortcut, enter the shortcut you desire (eg. cmd-O)


How to configure Mail v8.2 to supply a different default reply-to address in emails being sent? I'm using Mail v8.2 on Macintosh OS X Yosemite and would like to transition to a new email address.  Therefore, I'd like to keep using my old email address for the time being and I have configured my new address to forward all email to my old address.

Now, I just need to set up my reply-to in every email I send, to default to specifying my new email address, so that recipients will eventually start using my new email address over time and eventually I can pull the trigger and drop the old one and switch to the new one.

How can I configure Mail v8.2 to use a different default reply-to email address for each email I send?  I don't see anything in the Preferences, nor in the account settings.  I have a pacbell.net account for my old email address that is hosted by Yahoo.com.

In Mail, under the View menu, you can choose which fields to show or hide, including Reply To.


Homebrew - How do I list all unlinked formulas? How do I list all installed but unlinked formulas of Homebrew?

You could run brew doctor, which among other things, will show you all unlinked formulas.


Safari 5.1.8 in Snow Leopard 10.6.8 will not display HTML pages correctly Some sort of user-profile level corruption is causing Safari 5.1.8 in Snow Leopard to display any web pages as just plain text, formatted mostly in a single column, with only small thumbnails of graphics or no graphics at all, while the same web pages on the same computer look perfectly fine in FireFox and Chrome.

The corruption is only in my friend's main administrator user profile. When I create a new user profile for testing purposes, Safari works fine and displays pages correctly.

I have tried resetting Safari, in all categories, flushing all the caches and rebuilding permissions.

I have also "blown out" and deleted the user account, saving the home folder, and created a new user account with the same name, migrating the old home folder back to the new user account. Nothing helps.

Any suggestions as to how I might find and repair the corruption in the user profile that seems to be causing this?

I have solved my own problem.

Enough snooping around for .plist files got the job done. I identified all the .plist files with "Safari" and "com.apple.Safari" in the name in ~/Library/ and /Library/, and moved them to the Trash. Then I found a couple of invisible files in /Library/ with "Safari" in them and likewise moved them to the Trash. Then I rebooted. Safari now works correctly.

I wish I had thought of that first. I have wasted hours on this problem.


New iPhone asks for an Apple ID login that is not mine I have just changed my phone from an iPhone 4S to an iPhone 5S. I backed up my old phone to iCloud, then downloaded the backup to my new device.

Whilst entering the settings app in my new phone, it asked me for the password to an Apple ID that was not mine. It transpired there was an app on my old phone that had been downloaded using this other ID. The app did not appear in "my purchases" in the App Store and the phone has never belonged to anyone else. It has only ever been backed up to iCloud or a secure iTunes account on my laptop.

How is this possible? I spoke with Apple and they couldn't help.

It was a music file that was bought on iTunes by a friend of someone & passed to me on a memory stick by someone else. For some reason (apparently not a random occurence) when you re-install a back up from iCloud it recognises the original purchaser & asks for their id & password. The app was something random & not connected.


Letters getting inserted randomly as I type. Has this ever happened to anyone? I have a 2014 Retina MacBook Pro with Mac OS 10.12.4 and 16GB of RAM. Everything was fine until a few weeks ago when I started to notice strange behaviors:

The "e" and "t" characters in my keyboard randomly stop working and start working again in a few seconds. In the time that it doesn't work, if I hit "e" a few times to get it to work, it collectively adds all the "e's" in some other part of the text as I type. As far as I can tell, my SHIFT or other keys don't appear to be stuck, I didn't drop any liquids on the laptop or change any settings.
Spotlight used to work great. Now, when I type an application's name, it works sometimes and not other times. I checked Spotlight settings and it looks like Apps are enabled. I can barely find what I want with Spotlight anymore.
I usually sort my files by "Kind" in Finder. In the past, it would organize PDFs separately, images separately etc. It doesn't anymore even if I set it to "Kind".

I'm not sure why it's starting to be buggy. My laptop hasn't fallen or anything. It's on my desk all the time. I've never really had to reset it. Could it be that it has a lot of junk files accumulated from usage? Anyone else experiencing these? What can I do?

Yes this happens due to several causes. USB hub issues (there are several internal “hubs” that can fail - liquid damage is a likely cause, but not the only one). Connecting faulty or failing usb and Bluetooth input peripherals is also a likely cause until you rule that out.

Lastly, software automation could be a far less likely cause. Booting a brand new OS on an external drive might be a good way to check for that rather than erasing and reinstalling your Mac.


Bluetooth audio delay / lag, reason completely unclear to me I have a bit of an odd situation, and wanted to ask for ideas.

Recently started connecting a JBL Charge 2+ to my MBA 11 inch, mid-2013, via Bluetooth. I noticed that there's clear delay between sound event and sound being audible via the JBL.

The problems persists across applications (so for example, playing video via VLC means the sound isn't synced, same for youtube videos in different browsers, same for mp3s that start playing with a small delay, etc.)

The delay is minor, but noticeable, in the range of 0.5s I'd say.

At first I thought it might be a Bluetooth driver issues, but now I found out the following: just connected another JBL device, a Flip 3 to the same MBA, and the sound plays without noticeable delay. I'm not sure if they use the exact same drivers, but now I'm wondering:

Is there a chance that it's a hardware problem? Didn't really consider this a possibility, but now I'm not sure anymore.
How to test, and, ideally, fix this issue? How can I isolate the reason for the audio lag with the Charge 2+?

Any help would be appreciated!

Bluetooth lag is a known problem with some, but not all, remote speakers, headsets, etc. We have several Vizio sound bars that have a definite lag, but a Harmon-Kardon speaker set that doesn't. In some cases, adjusting a specific Bluetooth system parameter in Terminal can help with the lag. This works on some of our Vizio sound bars, but we had to hard-wire others to guarantee no video syncing issues.

sudo defaults write com.apple.BluetoothAudioAgent "Apple Bitpool Min (editable)" -int 40

The -int value can be experimented with to troubleshoot, but I'd be cautious and not be too extreme in the values you try.

I found this information at this link and this one.


Time Machine backup to an SMB share Mavericks I'm following the instructions and scripts detailed in this article, but it's failing on mavericks - the mounted windows drive isn't showing up in the time machine disk selection pane.

Any ideas how to get this working?

http://lifehacker.com/5691649/an-easier-way-to-set-up-time-machine-to-back-up-to-a-networked-windows-computer

(Using Window 7 and the SMB server)

Pulled this from MacRumors:

After you get the sparse bundle created in your desired location, mount the sparse bundle by double clicking it.  It should mount just as any other drive or image file will.
Once that is done open up terminal and run this command (leave the quotes in place):

sudo tmutil setdestination "/Volumes/Time Machine Backups/"

Now open up Time Machine and turn it on.  You don't have to select your disk, the command in terminal did that for you.


iMac Mid 2010 USB recovery I replaced tha hard drive on my Mid-2010 iMac because it failed and was unrecoverable.

Now I need to install Mac Os High Sierra (the latest for Mid 2010), using a USB drive I have to create on Windows, because I have no other Macs.

Now, I know I can use TransMac, but the problem is that I can't find any install DMG online. I also tried to search for Sierra instead of High Sierra, but I couldn't find nothing.

I can't download Sierra from Mac App Store, because I'd need a Mac I don't have right now.

So the main question is: where can I find the DMG file I can use to create the USB recovery drive with TransMac?

Thank you and sorry for bad english!

If you kept the firmware on your Mac up-to-date, you can use Internet MacOS Recovery. The mid 2010 iMac didn’t ship with that capability, but it was added in a later EFI update. If so, then just make sure it has a decent Internet connection and hold down Option-Command-R at startup.


"Verification Required" when installing free apps? When I tried to install a free app, AppStore says:

  Verification Required

  Before you can make purchases, you must tap Continue to sign in, then
  verify your payment info.

I never had this problem before. How do I install free apps without providing Apple with my credit card information?

It is indeed possible to create an Apple ID without a credit card, see "Creating an iTunes Store, App Store, iBookstore, and Mac App Store account without a credit card" at http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2534.

If you entered credit card information in the past you can dissociate it from your Apple ID as follows.

On an iOS device

Open Settings.
Tap iTunes & App Stores:

Tap your account and select "View Apple ID".
Select Payment information:

Select None:

Confirm with Done.

On a Mac

Open App Store.app:

Select menu Store>View My Account.
In the Apple ID Summary section locate the Payment Information line and click Edit >:

Select None as payment method:

Click Done to confirm.

If you don't see a "none" option, you may need to disable family sharing and then try the above steps again.


Transferring apps from computer to iPhone 4S I purchased a couple of apps on my Mac app store and wondered how I then transfer these over to my iPhone 4S to save having to pay for them again? I have synced my phone and Mac iTunes but nothing has changed.
Thanks! =)

If you got them on the Mac app store, they're computer apps, and they won't work with your iPhone. If you're referring to iPhone apps purchased through iTunes, as long as you're signed in on the same Apple ID on your Mac and your iPhone, you can go to the "Purchased" tab on the iPhone app store and download you apps for free there. Sorry if I'm misunderstanding your question.


Should you format your Mac? Back in my Windows days, I used to fully format my PC once a year or so, to start fresh and get rid of some of the slowdowns. It helped.

Would you recommend the same for Macs? What's the recommended way of keeping the computer running smoothly?

I'd say a full format is almost never necessary, though the only thing you'll lose is time.

I've got an OS X install that I've migrated from computer A to computer B to computer C and back to B and upgraded from Tiger to Leopard to Snow Leopard (all upgrade-installs, no reformatting or anything) over the past 6 years and it works great.


Transparent Background in Terminal? On Ubuntu, I can change the terminal background to be semi-transparent.  I've seen other people do this in OSX, but I don't see the setting anywhere.  Is there some way to make this happen?

When you select the color picker for the Window - there's an opacity slider there:


How can I create a AES-256 bit image using Automator? By default Automator uses the 128 bit encryption for image creation. I do not want to open disk utility all the time to create encrypted images. Thus, I though about using hdiutil within Automator.

How do I define the source folder path in my workflow? How can I create image with the highest encryption using Automator?

You don't need Automator to do this. Just use Automators cousin, AppleScript.

Open Script Editor in /Applications/Utilities
Copy and Paste the code below
Go to File>Export
File Format: Application
Drag files and folders onto the icon (you can even add the icon to the doc for easy access
Enter your password
Files will be created in the same directory with an added _EncryptedDMG.dmg

Code:

on open myFiles
    set theCount to 1
    display dialog "Enter the password to encrypt" default answer "" with hidden answer
    set myPassword to the text returned of the result as text
    set d to "•"
    set td to ""
    repeat length of myPassword times
        set td to td & d
    end repeat
    display dialog "Verify the password: " & td default answer "" with hidden answer
    set theVerify to the text returned of the result
    if myPassword is theVerify then
        tell application "System Events"
            repeat with myFile in myFiles
                set myPath to the POSIX path of myFile
                set myName to the characters 1 thru ((offset of "." in (name of myFile as text)) - 1) of (name of myFile as text)
                set myContainer to (the POSIX path of (container of myFile))
                do shell script "printf  \"" & myPassword & "\" |  hdiutil create -encryption AES-256 -stdinpass -srcfolder '" & myPath & "' '" & myContainer & "/" & myName & "'"
                do shell script "mv '" & myPath & "' ~/.Trash"
                display notification "File created at " & myContainer & "/" & myName & ".dmg. Original file deleted." with title "Encryption Complete" subtitle "File " & theCount & " of " & (length of myFiles) sound name "glass"
            end repeat
        end tell
    else
        display dialog "Error: Passwords did not match"
    end if
end open

If you would like to add to context menu copy and paste the following code in to a "Run Apple Script" Action.

on run {myFiles, parameters}
    set theCount to 1
    display dialog "Enter the password to encrypt" default answer "" with hidden answer
    set myPassword to the text returned of the result as text
    set d to "•"
    set td to ""
    repeat length of myPassword times
        set td to td & d
    end repeat
    display dialog "Verify the password: " & td default answer "" with hidden answer
    set theVerify to the text returned of the result
    if myPassword is theVerify then
        tell application "System Events"
            repeat with myFile in myFiles
                set myPath to the POSIX path of myFile
                set myName to the characters 1 thru ((offset of "." in (name of myFile as text)) - 1) of (name of myFile as text)
                set myContainer to (the POSIX path of (container of myFile))
                do shell script "printf  \"" & myPassword & "\" |  hdiutil create -encryption AES-256 -stdinpass -srcfolder '" & myPath & "' '" & myContainer & "/" & myName & "'"
                do shell script "mv '" & myPath & "' ~/.Trash"
                display notification "File created at " & myContainer & "/" & myName & ".dmg. Original file deleted." with title "Encryption Complete" subtitle "File " & theCount & " of " & (length of myFiles) sound name "glass"
            end repeat
        end tell
    else
        display dialog "Error: Passwords did not match"
    end if
end run

When opening Automator select Context Menu and then select these settings

Note: You  will be happy to hear, macOS Mojave will bring similar functionality natively. There is a add password in context menu that zips and encrypts the file similar to how this application does it, but still there is not progress bar.

Note[2]: This script will not worked if the folder contains locked files (File>Info>Locked).


Macbook Pro (Mid 2012) screen is just white no picture I swapped out my broken unibody display assembly with another and now the new screen is just white (backlight is working) but nothing else. External monitor is working just great though, so I am forced to use it this way. Any ideas about why it's just backlight working?
I put the old assembly back in and it's totally black, but the external monitor still works just fine.

Thank you, in advance. I appreciate any ideas or solution.

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)
Model Identifier:   MacBookPro9,2
Processor Name: Intel Core i5
Processor Speed:    2.5 GHz
Number of Processors:   1
Total Number of Cores:  2
L2 Cache (per Core):    256 KB
L3 Cache:   3 MB
Memory: 8 GB
Boot ROM Version:   MBP91.00D3.B0B
SMC Version (system):   2.2f44

Chipset Model:  Intel HD Graphics 4000
Type:   GPU
Bus:    Built-In
VRAM (Dynamic, Max):    1024 MB
Vendor: Intel (0x8086)
Device ID:  0x0166
Revision ID:    0x0009
Displays:
 Display:
  Resolution:   1152 x 870 @ 75 Hz
  Pixel Depth:  32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
  Mirror:   Off
  Online:   Yes
  Built-In: Yes

 Acer AL2216W:
  Resolution:   1680 x 1050 @ 60 Hz
  Pixel Depth:  32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
  Display Serial Number:    ETL7409038
  Main Display: Yes
  Mirror:   Off
  Online:   Yes
  Rotation: Supported

That is a tough one. the Mac sees that there is a display there and even has it's resolution and other specs. So the OS sees and enumerates it, yet only the back light is on.

That may indicate that there is an issue with the replacement display, or that something was damaged or not installed correctly (crossed, damaged wire/conductor/connector).

You are troubleshooting hardware and there is not much else to do than go through the install procedure and verify that everything is connected properly. In other words, remove and reinstall.

Also do you know for a fact that the replacement display is both the exactly correct one and that it is, itself, working properly? It is also entirely possible that you got a defective replacement display.

I would imagine that doing it yourself means that you would either rather not send it off for repair or can't afford that option. If so it may be time to look into that latter option...


Mac Pro 5,1 PCI GPU power 6/8 pin confusion I have a Sapphire HD 7950 from eBay I got to go in a Mac Pro 5,1. It has dual 8-pin sockets. Being second hand it has no instructions/data sheet.
The one I already own [different Mac Pro] has dual 6-pin sockets, which was the perfect fit for the motherboard's 6-pin PCI power. Plug & go.
Google gives far too many opinions over far too many models for me to know what the solution is. There seems to be cable adapters for dual 6-pin to single 8-pin, which really doesn't seem optimal; single 6-pin to dual 6 & 6+2, which sounds a bit optimistic.
Simplest start point… can I use my two existing 6-pin cables in the 8-pin sockets, or will something go boom?
I can't seem to find a single 6 to 8-pin cable, of which I could buy two.
In terms of power requirements/stress, this Mac is never going to be used for anything more than video playback. I just want to get the Mac to run Mojave, rather than be stuck on High Sierra [Metal2 requirement].

The 2 pins more in the in the 8 pin plug are 1x ground and Sense1. Sense1 is only to inform the card whether a 6 or 8 pin plug is plugged in.
I think the big difference in your usage is that 8-pin plugs are able to pull 150 W, where 6-pin plugs only provide 75 W at max.
As far as I see the Sapphire HD 7950 needs 80 W at idle.
So I see 3 Possibilities:

Buy a 6 to 8 Pin Cable and risk your power supply (amazon link) (worst idea)
Use the card with only 150 W max (75W from PCI Power Supply + 75 W directly of the mainboard)
Get another Power Supply


Best way to check in bash if Command Line Tools are installed? Using bash, I want to check if Command Line Tools are installed.

Currently they are and when I type xcode-select --install I get:

  xcode-select: error: command line tools are already installed, use
  "Software Update" to install updates It appears Homebrew is already
  installed. If your intent is to reinstall you should do... blah blah
  blah

Basically my problem is that I have several methods to check in bash (using if / fi) but I don't know which solution is the best one.

1) I can do xcode-select -p and that returns the path /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools but then how I should build the if statement? I don't know what will be presented when CLT are not installed.

2) I can do xcode-select --version. Should I then grep for a phrase version since I get

  xcode-select version 2343.

3) I can do which xcode-select but again, in all cases I'm not sure how the if should look like. I also think that grep is not the best way, since in the future the output may be different in future version of OSX.

To sum up I would like something like

#!/bin/bash
if [ no idea ]; then
    #installed, nothing to do...
else
    xcode-select --install
fi

Thanks for any suggestions.

if type xcode-select >&- && xpath=$( xcode-select --print-path ) &&
   test -d "${xpath}" && test -x "${xpath}" ; then
   #... is correctly installed
else
   #... isn't correctly installed
fi

Strangely, the --print-path isn't documented in old Xcode versions but is working as -print-path. On the other hand, the -p option doesn't
have this compatibility.


Review Won't Show Up So, I wrote a review for an app. Both positive and negative thoughts in it, then I refreshed it and its not there. Help? Do I need a review account because all the people who review have some kind of username.

Reviews on the Mac App Store and iOS App Store will never show up right away. Reviews are first reviewed, to avoid spam comments and reviews with offensive material.

Your review will show up once it is reviewed and approved (assuming your review is free of offensive language and is not spam or some other nonsense).

Bear in mind, too, that reviewing an App which you downloaded by redeeming a promo code is not possible. The systems lets you proceed with the review process althought the review will never appear nor the rating taken into account.


Can WhatsApp be independent of Apple ID? My wife and I will be sharing some Apple devices with the same Apple ID.  Two of them will (we hope) have WhatsApp activated with different phone numbers.  Will the Apple ID interfere in any way?

I already know how to make FaceTime independent, and I understand about "Family Sharing" for purchases, but we want the same contact list (AddressBook) and Apple doesn't support that.

The messages won’t be interfered with as that is stored by phone number. Backups will clash though as 2 different backups will be created of separate chats. One could be deleted at any time and the other device could be backed up.

If you want backup enabled I recommend using another Apple ID as it is backed up using iCloud.

From this WhatsApp article:

  To make a manual backup of your chats at any time, go to WhatsApp > Settings > Chats > Chat Backup > Back Up Now. You can also enable automatic, scheduled backups by tapping Auto Backup and then choosing your backup frequency. This will back up your chats and media to your iCloud account and you can choose to include or exclude videos from the backup. The iCloud backup process can take a while to complete, depending on your Internet connection and backup size.

The WhatsApp messages will be different but FaceTime conversations will be linked as it is Apple ID linked. Bear in mind without backup chat history can be lost.

You won’t be able to FaceTime to the same Apple ID devices but you can call each other on WhatsApp.

In FaceTime settings though you can select what you can be reached by and use different emails:

Go to Settings -> FaceTime and choose how you can be reached:


I cloud - AppStore issue My son in US gave his used iPhone to me in India. Even though I set to my id , whenever any AppStore updates prompt come, I am unable to update as it asks for my son's iCloud password, how to resolve

Remove all the apps that your son installed from the App Store (in other words, every app on the phone that’s not a part of iOS) , and then install the apps that you want using your own App Store account.


By what mechanism does finder insert a space in an app's name? I was researching a problem with the Notification Center and noticed that Finder shows the program as Notification Center, yet on disk and in the package receipts and installation media, the file is actually NotificationCenter.app (And the full path to is is /System/Library/CoreServices/NotificationCenter.app)

I understand how Finder drops the .app extension by default, but where does the system know to add the space in this app's name?

That's handled by localization.

If you check the Info.plist, there's a key LSHasLocalizedDisplayName with a value of true.  That means that there are localized names for the application.  Localizations are stored in the app bundle in Contents/Resources.  Since I'm using English, I can look in /System/Library/CoreServices/NotificationCenter.app/Contents/Resources/en.lproj/InfoPlist.strings, and see the name of the app with the space in it.

Strings files are actually binary plists.  You can view them in a human-readable fashion with

$ plutil -p /System/Library/CoreServices/NotificationCenter.app/Contents/Resources/en.lproj/InfoPlist.strings
{
  "CFBundleDisplayName" => "Notification Center"
  "CFBundleName" => "Notification Center"
}


Is there a way to easily access the emoticons I use most in iMessage? I often use the same emoticons in Messages and would like to quickly access the same set both in my iPhone, iPad, MacBook and iMac. Is there a way to achieve this?

When you add the Emoji-keyboard on iOS (Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards > Add New Keyboard > Emoji), it automatically collects the recently used emoticons on the first tab at the bottom (the clock icon).

The same goes for Messages.app on OS X; when you open the Emoji-selection from the smiley-face in the input box, it shows the recent ones first.

However, on OS X you can select which emoticons are shown in the favourites, a feature currently missing on iOS. You can do this by opening the Characters viewer from the top right corner of the Emoji-popup and selecting Add to Favorites for the emoticons you like.

Also, there is no way to sync these usages and selections between devices, at least currently and using stock OS's.


Am I supposed to have both a Library/Privileged Helper Tools & a Library/PrivilegedHelperTools folder? Library/Privileged Helper Tools is empty. Library/PrivilegedHelperTools has 3 items belonging to known installed applications within it.

No, you should only have “PrivilegedHelperTools” without the spaces. Make sure the folder with spaces really is empty including hidden files, then it should be safe to delete.


Change default duration for Calendar events on macOS Mojave In the Calendar app on macOS Mojave, is it possible to change the default duration for an event from one hour to twenty minutes?

It doesn't seem to be possible. The closest you can get is to open the Day or the Week view, and add a new event by dragging from the begin time to the end time. However, you'll be limited to a duration which is a multiple of 15 minutes:

(of course, you can freely edit the begin and end time afterwards, but that would work for the one-hour events too)


Any Pitfalls in Replacing gcc and g++ With GNU Versions? I understand that Clang is the default and recommended compiler for MacOS. By default macOS has binaries for gcc and g++ in /usr/bin/ which are same as clang and clang++.

What are the possible issues (if any), if I replace the default macOS binaries for gcc and g++ binaries with the GNU versions?

There are some possible issues with replacing the binaries:

1) They might be re-replaced when you update macOS

2) The binary built by gcc might work differently than one built with clang

3) The interface for the compiler (i.e. command line options as well as other input/output files) might be different, having slightly different syntax, etc.

In general, if you replace the binaries and start building your own software running gcc on the command line - that will work without problem.

The problem is that other programs on your computer might assume that you have clang there. So installers, Xcode, etc. might suffer odd issues. Most probably this is not the case, as Xcode won't run the gcc binary, but for third party projects or older projects - it's hard to know.

Basically: Normally it is not worth the risk to replace the system provided compiler binaries. Just add new binaries for your own compilers at the side (i.e. install them with homebrew or whatever). Then you choose to use those compilers, and everything else will behave like it did before.

Regarding the question you had in an earlier edit of your question questing why Apple "did this": It is infact a common occurence on Unixoid systems to have old names for compilers actually be a front for new compilers. This is usually done to achieve compatibility with old programs. I.e. you had a project that hardcoded "gcc" instead of "cc" as the compiler name, and instead of breaking everyone's build scripts when you replace gcc with clang, you simply add a gcc binary that really runs clang. In most cases that will work producing the outputs that people expected, in some rare cases - it doesn't work, and you would have to install the older (or different) compiler yourself.


What's the purpose of directory /private/var/db/receipts? I searched and found several steps to remove the redundant files.
Then I found in /private/var/db/receipts there are many config like files, Anyone know the purpose if this directory?

Files in /private/var/db/receipts are...well...receipts for packages/apps you have installed on your Mac. They list what was installed and when. The Plists also include version information. For example heres an example of my plist for Xcode (com.apple.pkg.Xcode.plist):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>InstallDate</key>
    <date>2018-06-05T18:36:40Z</date>
    <key>InstallPrefixPath</key>
    <string>/</string>
    <key>InstallProcessName</key>
    <string>storedownloadd</string>
    <key>PackageFileName</key>
    <string>Xcode.pkg</string>
    <key>PackageIdentifier</key>
    <string>com.apple.pkg.Xcode</string>
    <key>PackageVersion</key>
    <string>9.4.0.0.1.1526532315</string>
</dict>
</plist>

I don't think it has anything to do with MySQL.


How to create AppleID of another country without having a credit card or bank account of that country, but with a country Internet connection? What is up-to-date and tried method to create AppleID of another country without having a credit card or bank account of that country?

I am on a short visit in another country (Estonia in my case), so having a genuine-local internet connection is a completed step :-)

Disconnect if you are logged in with an Apple ID, go to AppStore, try to get an app, select the “create a new account” option and you will be able to create an Apple ID without a card. You can add the card (I think but it is almost sure) after you come back in your country.


I backed up my iphone to move it to a new phone all my contacts, notes and calendars are gone. when the iphone backs up does it copy everything? is there a way to get my important stuff back?

note: I didn't check 'sync contacts, notes, calendars' because I was travelling and had to use a different computer to sync our stuff. I assumed 'backup' and 'restore' meant something in this topsy turvy apple worldy. was I wrong?

The backup function backs up all application data, system settings and user preferences. Data such as contacts, notes and calendars are only synced on request unless you are using something like MobileMe which syncs this data in the background.

If you didn't sync your contact, note and calendar data whilst you were travelling then your only backup remains on your primary machine. Restore from there and your contact, note and calendar information will be synced back from whatever applications you have designated as managers of that data.

From my own personal experience I have used and restored from MobileMe independently of iTunes successfully many times and continue to use that service for that reason should an iTunes or system backup ever fail for me. In future this functionality will be available for all via the iCloud service.


Why does Dashlane use so many ports? I use Dashlane to store passwords, and I like it, but there's one problem I've had with it. I use Activity Monitor to see what's going on, and something strange has been happening with Dashlane lately.

Both DashlaneAgent and DashlanePluginService are using almost 50,000 ports. This wouldn't bother me as much as the fact that both port counts continue to rise as my computer runs, up to 90,000 in one case.

I have 3 questions pertaining to this mystery:

Is using this amount of ports intentional for Dashlane? (i.e. why would they need so many?)
Do other people experience this phenomenon?
Does high port usage cause computer problems?

For those who are unaware, these "ports" in question are not network ports, they are Mach kernel ports and are used by the kernel for interprocess communication.  There is a fixed number of Mach ports that your system can have open, so to answer your third question; yes, this could cause problems for you as you approach that limit.  Given that the port count is so high, increases to as high at 90K or more, and that nothing else on the system is using anything close to that number of ports, I think it is safe to say that Dashlane is leaking Mach ports.
To answer your first question, I would say that this is unintentional behavior on the part of Dashlane.
And to answer your second question, I am not experiencing this issue; so some other people do not experience it.
Check out this great post on leaking Mach ports in Chrome for more geeky information:
https://robert.sesek.com/2012/1/debugging_mach_ports.html
What I would do in your case:

Uninstall Dashlane.  Also delete files from ~/Library/Applicaiton Support/Dashlane
Reinstall Dashlane using the installer on their website
Watch to see if the problem returns, and if it does, contact Dashlane support with the version numbers of the software you are running.


Macbook trackbar gives me electric shocks I have perused the entire web to see if anyone has had a similar problem with his/her MB but it seems this is an extremely isolated case that myself alone is experiencing. I bought a refurbished 2015 MacBook pro (straight from an online Apple store) in July 2016. On the day it was delivered, it got a kernel panic. I immediately thought it would be a good idea to return the computer but I was too busy and needed a computer so bad and most importantly, I bought the computer in Japan and the language barriers helped a little in making the regrettable decision of not returning the computer. Over the past two years of using the computer, I have noticed a few minor glitches that I mostly decided to ignore. This include for example:

Occasional kernel panic when I am compiling large projects
Kernel attacks when I open many chrome tabs
Sound distortion when I listen to music on my Windows 10 Bootcamp partition. If this happens, and if I do not turn off the computer, I eventually get a blue screen of death on windows
Many other glitches (Persistent beachball, slowness, unresponsive app, etc..) that I, unfortunately, ignored until my AppleCare plan expires.

The above glitches are nothing compared to what I have been experiencing recently, however. My MacBook's trackbar is giving me electric shocks! Yeah! At first, I thought that maybe my fingers were tired and that I needed to take a break. But this has continued ever since. The electric shocks themselves are not too serious (and sporadic). However, after some time of usage, I feel the burn it gives me and it quickly accumulates over time. It's so strange and hard to explain. I tried to explain this to an apple shop employee but they, unfortunately, could not help because I either could not explain the problem well enough (language barrier) or, as I suspect, because they have never heard of the problem and that the electric shock burns are only felt after a period of use (something like 30 minutes to an hour), thus, did not have enough time to actually test it themselves. Facing this challenge, I turn to the community to ask what are my options to have this problem solved:

Has anyone ever experienced a similar problem?
Is my MB turning slowly into an explosive Galaxy Note 7?
Is there any way I can contact Apple (English support and without requiring AppleCare plan) to help me solve this problem? Or, should I conclude that I am just screwed and, as my friends often joke, switch to a Dell XPS 13?
And most importantly, what is the likelihood that this thing will one day decide to go ballistic and blast like a Galaxy Note 7?

I just got my MacBook Pro 2 months ago. When I charge my Macbook, the top surface next to the mouse pad feels like it is vibrating and the edges give me a sudden shock.

This is what I did next: I attached a wire that is connected to the Earth terminal in the electrical wall socket and the other end to the Macbook Pro corner and viola, the vibration and shock disappeared.

The electric adaptor that converts AC 220V to 20/9 V DC into the USB Type C connector does not appear to be connected to the Earth terminal as you see below.


Why doesn't my Mac Pro see my new 4TB SATA drive? I purchased a Seagate ST4000DX001 4TB SATA Hybrid Drive (SSHD) and installed it into my Mac Pro (six core 3.33 GHZ MacPro5,1) in one of the internal SATA drive bays. However, the system didn't see it at all. Disk Utility didn't show the drive for me to format and the SATA Devices section under Apple System Profiler didn't show the drive listed at all.

The drive works because if I put it into a USB3 enclosure then it works, but since the Mac pro only has USB2 it's pointless for me to use it in a USB3 enclosure.

Why doesn't my Mac Pro see my Seagate 4TB SATA SSHD drive?

You've done all that I usually do to troubleshoot this in that you already know to use System Profiler to check the SATA bus for devices.

I would reboot the system and reset the NVRAM twice (keep holding the keys down and you'll hear the chime twice) and then re-check the profiler.

Sadly, if the controller doesn't make that device available - you'll need to use it connected to a non-optimal bus while you work with Seagate and/or Apple tech support to determine at a device driver level what settings need to be tweaked or updated to expose that particular drive to your Mac. Let's hope someone has the same drive and can either confirm or deny for their OS X level that the drive works for them.


How do I clean behind the trackpad on a late 2010 MacBook Pro? Lately I've noticed the trackpad on my MacBook Pro has been getting stuck from time to time and generally isn't as clicky as it used to be. It feels to me like there's something stuck behind the trackpad there that's stopping it from moving freely, but I have no idea how to get behind there and clean it, let alone how anything could have gotten in there in the first place. The trackpad will press all the way down on the bottom left and right corners, but towards the bottom centre it does not press down nearly as easily.

Has anyone had any luck cleaning behind the MacBook trackpad? If so how did you do it?

The tolerances in the unibody macs are very, very tight and the area is located behind the battery, so Apple does not recommend users without training on servicing the delicate back sides of the battery clean it other than spraying air lightly from the outside. I've found setting it up vertically and open helps with gravity bringing the grit towards the most open side of the trackpad. (The part closest to you that swings free and presses on the physical spring.)

It's not hard to find the tools or the steps - iFixit.com has both, but I prefer to take it in to the genius bar for cleaning as long as it's a convenient trip. If you're careful, you should be able to get inside the mac and see how much debris is inside and whether it's worth a trip to the shop or to learn how to clean it better yourself. Getting the back off is all you need following the memory replacement instructions to have a peek.


Reset volume control to 80% before shutdown I sometimes reduce the volume on my El Capitan while working. I would like to ensure that it returns to, say, 80% before shutdown, in case I forget to do it myself.
Any solutions would be most welcome BUT remember I'm a beginner with this stuff!

I have generated a script to run this for you. I have just tested it out on a computer running sierra, but it should be fine with your system. It consists of three files. All of these can be compiled using the setup script available for direct download from Github. When you download, just open it, and press the play button ► located at the top corner of the program.

Edit: I realized it is not downloading the files. Be sure to right click the Setup Download and save link as...

Setup Download

do shell script "sudo curl -O -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/brettpetch/setvol-onshutdown/master/setvol.sh" with administrator privileges

do shell script "mv setvol.sh ~/Downloads/setvol.sh" with administrator privileges

do shell script "curl -O -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/brettpetch/setvol-onshutdown/master/com.brettpetch.setvol.plist" with administrator privileges

do shell script "sudo mv com.brettpetch.setvol.plist /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.brettpetch.setvol.plist" with administrator privileges

do shell script "sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.brettpetch.setvol.plist" with administrator privileges

setvol.sh Download

#!/bin/bash

#  setvol.sh
#
#
#  Created by Brett Petch on 2017-07-31.
#
function shutdown()
{
    #add additional commands to run at shutdown
    sudo osascript -e "set Volume 8"
}
function startup()
{
    tail -f /dev/null &
    wait $!
}

trap shutdown SIGTERM
trap shutdown SIGKILL

startup;

Next, I created a PLIST for the LaunchDaemons.

com.brettpetch.setvol.plist Download

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
"http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
    <dict>
        <key>Label</key><string>boot.shutdown.script.setvol</string>
        <key>ProgramArguements</key>
        <array>
            <string>~/Downloads/setvol.sh</string>
        </array>
        <key>RunAtLoad</key>
        <true/>

        <key>StandardOutPath</key>
        <string>~/Library/Logs/setvol.log</string>

        <key>StamdardErrorPath</key>
        <string>~/Library/Logs/setvol.err</string>
    </dict>
</plist>

Then create something so people can get it easily; I used script editor and wrote a bit of AppleScript.


Macs on wireless network can't see eachother I've got an iMac and Macbook Pro, both running Snow Leopard and both on my home wireless network (running off a Linksys E2000). They both can get online fine, both have file sharing enabled, neither have a firewall enabled, and they both have IPs on the same subnet (192.168.1.144 & 146). Yet neither one can seem to see the other. If I open the network browser in Finder it's empty, attempts to go to the other machines IP directly fail after a long timeout, and even trying to ping the other machine fails. Yet, strangely, I've been able to get services like Synergy working just fine between them. Any ideas as to why these two machines are so inconsistent about talking to eachother?

I have almost the same setup except that I have an E3000 but I'm not running Synergy.  My Macs can ping each other and share files.  I have IPV6 turned off.  You may have tried some of my suggestions but let see if any of them will help the cause.

I have file sharing enabled on both Macs and I can see my other on-net mac in the Finder Sidebar under Shared.  My Sidebar Preference under Shared allows connected servers and Bonjour computers.  With these settings, can either Finder see the other Mac?  It's good to verify this on both machines as a control.  If you can see either machine, you should be able to double-click to log in.

If not, please turn off Synergy then reboot each mac and see what comes up in Finder.

Make sure your E2000 basic wireless is set to mixed.

I did not use Cisco Connect opting to configure my E3000 manually and I'm not running WPS (WiFi Protected Setup).  If you are running WPS, temporarily disable it to rule it out as a potential cause.  On my E3000, I have configured any MAC access lists and access point isolation is disabled.

Temporarily disable any security option under Wireless Security for both the 2.4G and the 5G settings.

Save router settings.

Reboot each mac and see what comes up in Finder.  This will help us see if this is a Mac, Synergy or Cisco issue.


Random folders are considered apps Recently I had switched over to a mac and pulled over my project from git that I was working on in linux environment. Now when trying to import the said project into various applications, Finder considers those folders as apps, even though in terminal they appear as normal directories (without their .app filename ends).

After further inspection I found that finder has special treatment for folders that end either in .service or .app. How come?

.app files have always been Applications for macOS. In reality, as you have seen, they are just a directory. If you right click and click "Show Package Contents" you will open the directory as a normal folder.

Most of the time the extension is hidden. This can be changed in File > Get Info >  Hide Extension.

I would suggest changing the extensions. If you prefer to keep the .app extensions you can change the a to a different Unicode character (that looks similar to an a). This will prevent it from being detected as an Application.


How to decide what to store in iCloud For Mac OS X, what criteria should I use to decide whether to store a document or file in iCloud or on my local machine? What are the tradeoffs and considerations to be most aware of?

iCloud document storage is best used for documents you're going to need to access for things that you're likely to need in a single application, but on multiple Macs. If you're likely to need to access a document from in multiple applications, or don't need it synced between multiple Macs, local storage makes more sense.

The documents you store in iCloud from a Mac are essentially tied to the application you save them with. For example, if you create an image in Photoshop and save it to iCloud, you won't be able to later view it in something like Preview without first opening it in Photoshop, then copying it to another location that Preview can access (either local storage or in Preview's iCloud storage).

The iCloud vs. Reality section of John Siracusa's Mountain Lion review on Ars Technica goes into good detail on this as well.


MacOS error code -8058 Got this error while trying to copy & paste a folder from my NAS to my Mac using Finder on MacOS 10.13.2:

  The operation can’t be completed because an unexpected error occurred
  (error code -8058).

Where are these mystery codes kept?  I tried google, tried the macerror utility in Terminal, tried osstatus.com, even tried searching opensource.apple.com - no luck.  Is there someplace to lookup Mac error codes?

Most of these codes are defined in the MacErrors.h header file. It might be that you need Xcode installed to have that header file on your system, so you can look it up online here:

https://opensource.apple.com/source/CarbonHeaders/CarbonHeaders-18.1/MacErrors.h

It lists a huge number of error codes with a short explanation.

Some error codes are not defined in this header file, but instead in other, similar header files for various subsystems. For example AppKitErrors.h, FoundationErrors.h, CoreDataErrors.h, etc.

Unfortunately your error code -8058 is not defined in MacErrors.h.


Problems with Photos App under El Capitan I have 2 problems.  First, I cannot find the trash icon anywhere (nor the "recent" flag.  Second, I cannot find the setting for adding titles to photographs in a slideshow.  It all worked in iPhoto but not any more

Your trash is stored in /.Trashes/. Not sure if it's related to the new trash options in El Capitan, including permanent delete.


Need to find my original user name My old imac with Snow Leopard 10.6.8 was super slow.
I decided to do a clean install after backing up on Time Machine.  When I reinstalled Snow Leopard, it asked for an account name so I just put in a logical one.  I then went to TM and found that none of the files I wanted were there.  Reading info about this, it seems I made a new account and that if I can rename the account to the original name, I may be able to get to those files.
Unfortunately, I cant recall my old account name.

Any ideas?

You should be able to list all user home folders on the backup by running

ls -l /Volumes/Time\ Machine/Backups.backupdb/*/Latest/*/Users/

in Terminal. This assumes your TM backup drive is called Time Machine, replace the name if it is called differently.


How to pass two variables from previous actions to "run applescript" in Automator What I'm trying to is:

Receive a string from "Ask for Text".
Get a file from Finder.
Do some codings these inputs in Applescript.

Seems like Applescript only receives file as input, I have no idea how to pass string from step 1 to it. Any suggestions are appreciated.

note: all "ignore action's input" are uncheck.

The workflow looks like this:

For my normal usage, typically when using a Set Value of Variable action, the subsequent action will have the [√] Ignore this action's input checkbox checked. This is because one does not typically set a variable and then pass it directly to the next action, unless of course the value of that variable will also be needed elsewhere in the workflow and the next action also makes use of the variable. Since a Ask for Finder Items action in your use case as shown in your question isn't going to use the variable, I've checked the [√] Ignore this action's input checkbox checked, in the Ask for Finder Items action. Of course adjust to your needs.

Now to pass both what's returned by the Ask for Finder Items action and the value of the Variable_1 variable, place a Get Value of Variable action between the Ask for Finder Items action and the Run AppleScript action.

Then in this case, input in on run {input, parameters} is a list of two items, the first being what was passed from the Ask for Finder Items action and the second being the value of the Variable_1 variable from the Get Value of Variable action, and here's an example AppleScript code addressing what is shown in your Run AppleScript action to handle it:

on run {input, parameters}

    set filePath to the POSIX path of item 1 of input
    set Answer to item 2 of input   -- This is the value of the Variable_1 variable.

    return filePath & Answer
end run

That said, the return line may not be practical as it's just concatenating two strings at that point, so I suspect this is just for testing to see that it actually can return the two pieces of information.


USB ports not working, no paired magic keyboard, "no bootable device, press any key" on an iMac 2009 Sad story. I thought it was the HDD, so I ended up asking someone to reinstall macOS on it using their Recovery, and that worked. The hard drive booted up using their 2012?ish Mac mini. However, putting it back into my iMac resulted in the ominous message I was previously getting (" no bootable device, press any key") .. but how do I press keys when my USB ports decided to stop working the moment this message started showing up (at the end of a massive wipe and reinstall, including wiping bootcamp as far as I recall)? Ports all seem to give power, beyond that I have no idea unfortunately. I tried 4 different USB keyboards to no avail.

I lost my original magic mouse and keyboard during a move, I bought a new keyboard to see if that can solve my problem but so far, nada. Any clue on how to pair these bad boys
right at boot?

What's my next move guys? I'm at a loss and I'm sitting on a very expensive brick in a country with no Apple Stores, tearing my hair out.

Since you've ruled the HDD out, the remaining options are pretty much the hard drive cable or the logic board. As none of the USB ports work, it sounds like a logic board issue. A way to test would be to reset the PRAM. To do this, plug in a USB keyboard, then before powering on the machine, hold then Cmd, Option, P, R keys all at the same time,hen reach back and power on the machine while holding the keys. Continue to hold the keys.

If the logic board is working, the machine will power on, you may see a white screen, then it should reboot and chime again. Keep holding to see if you can get it to chime multiple times before releasing the keys.

If that works, then the USB ports are working, and you'd be looking at an issue with the HD cable. Otherwise, unfortunately, it's most likely the logic board, but again, that would require a trip to an Apple Store or AASP (Apple Authorized Service Provider).


iCloud music library won't load on new phone I got a new phone today, have  enabled Apple Music and iCloud library, but every time it goes to "load library" it just stops and goes to a screen that says I have no music.  This happens whether I toggle iCloud music on and off several times, merge or replace.

I'm on wifi trying to do this btw.

Try logging out from iCloud and logging back in. Sometimes Apple Music has issues detecting the Music account.


Is it possible to boot into a Windows bootcamp partition in Target Disk Mode? I have a 2013 MacBook Pro Retina with both macOS and Windows 10 installed on the internal SSD. I regularly put my MacBook into Target Disk Mode and boot into the macOS partition via a 2015 iMac.

My question is, is it possible to boot into the Windows partition via the same method - by putting my MacBook into Target Disk Mode and booting into the Windows partition via the iMac?

Things I've tried:

When I hold alt on boot to access the Startup Manager on the iMac, I do not see the Windows partition as an available boot disk.

I have attempted to boot into the MacBook macOS partition via the iMac, and then change the startup disk via the Settings panel and restart. This seemed to work, and I was able to boot into Windows and see the Windows 10 loading wheel, but I was then presented with the Windows error 'INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE', which I can't seem to get past.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Let me try to explain what is happening.

The MacBook Pro is put in Target disk mode. At this point, the MacBook Pro is running software (firmware) stored on the logic board. This software is provided by Apple.

The iMac boots. At this point,  the iMac is also running software (firmware) stored on the logic board. This software is also provided by Apple.

The iMac recognizes the MacBook Pro as an external drive and determines the default operating system to boot is on this drive.

The iMac reads the necessary file from the hidden EFI partition on the MacBook Pro. This file is loaded into the memory on the iMac and executed. This file is provided by Microsoft.

The executing program from Microsoft now running on the iMac has no idea what Target disk mode is and no idea how to communicate with the MacBook Pro using the cable connecting the two computers together.

So you may see Windows start to boot but in the end Windows can not read additional files from the MacBook Pro.

There is no solution to this problem, but even if there was, Window still would fail to boot. Windows is licenced on a per computer basis. So at some point later in the boot sequence, Windows would have determined the computer was an iMac instead of the MacBook Pro. Windows would then have produced an error message and halted.


Difference between "allow notifications" toggle and dragging to "do not include" In iOS 8, the Settings > Notification Center has changed with the addition of an Allow Notifications toggle for each app.

If you toggle this to "off", the app will automatically go down into the DO NOT INCLUDE area.

However, if you leave the toggle "on", you can also manually drag the app down into the DO NOT INCLUDE area.

In the latter case, there is still text under the app indicating what types of notifications it has ("banners, sounds, badges" etc).

So what is the difference between these two situations?

Putting an app Do Not Include will not include notifications from that app in the Notification Center. If you do not disable the other notifications then you will still receive the notifications on the lock screen and if you are using the device, but the notifications won't remain in Notification Center. Conversely, if you disable the notifications then the app is automatically moved to Do Not Include as the app will never appear in the Notification Center if there are no notifications.


iTunes Sync - Manually Control How do I control iTunes Sync to control exactly what I would like to upload to my iPhone or iPad?

Note: I am running iOS 5 on the phone, and iOS 6 on the iPad.

In iTunes go to the upper right hand corner:

select the device (iPad or iPhone), then this window opens:

Put a check mark in the box marked with red in the photo above (Sync only checked songs and videos).  You'll be able to select what Music/Videos are checked by selecting the Music or Movies tab at the top of this picture (notice Summary is currently selected).


AppleScript to Save Excel Chart as PNG Broken after Recent Update I've been using this code as part of a larger script for the last year. Yesterday I upgraded Excel to Version 16.10 (180210) and I keep getting an Parameter error -50, which I've previously associated with permissions to access a particular file or folder. As suggested in some other articles I've seen, I have Excel alias the path, but that no longer seems to be working. Any suggestions?

Here's the code:

tell application "Finder" to set pth to container of (path to me) as text
set {wb, ws, chartName} to {"testChart.xlsx", "charts", "spend"}
set fn to pth & chartName & ".png"

tell application "Microsoft Excel"
    alias pth
    alias fn
    tell workbook wb to tell worksheet ws
        try
            save as picture chart object chartName picture type save as PNG file file name fn
        on error errMsg number errNum
            log errMsg
            log errNum
        end try
    end tell
end tell

I'm posting the resolution here with the hope that it will help others not waste their time as I have over the last few days. It turns out that saving a chart as an image via automation (both AppleScript and VBA) is broken in Excel 16.10 and 16.11. I had to revert to Excel 15.41, and now the code is working again.


How to fix the App Store after upgrading to macOS Catalina? Cannot open the App Store, after upgrading to macOS Catalina 10.15.3.

Things I have tried:

Reinstalled macOS Catalina.
Clearing cache and removing all the related folders as given at : How to fix / Reset App Store app on Mac OSX - El Capitan

What I have done is delete the App Store key chain entry in Finder, Application, Utilities, Keychain Access and the search for appstore. Delete just that one. (MacOS Catalina)


What certificates and/or files are needed to bypass iOS's passcode lock? Some forensic tools like Lantern 2.0 allow the use of a passcode bypass file to get around the passcode lock on iOS 4.2 and later. This means that if someone has your device they can get around the normal restriction to not sync until the device is unlocked.

I'm wondering which file or files iTunes creates and stores to convince a locked iOS device to sync over USB. Even better would be an analysis of the specific keychain items are needed to bypass the passcode lock for iOS.

The complete description of the feature on the Lantern site is "Pass code bypass with certificate file from syncing computer" so I don't think "until the device is unlocked" is the accurate way to phrase it. It seems that Lantern re-uses the pre-existing credentials set up between the computer and the phone.

edit: And in re-reading your question it seems you may be aware of this. A quick perusal of the iOS developer documentation doesn't yield anything to me but you can likely determine this for yourself if you have a mac you sync your phone to.

from a terminal window run the command sudo fs_usage -wf filesys | grep -i itunes and you should be able to see what files iTunes consults when you connect your passcode-locked phone.


AppleScript: Failure to create new iTerm2 I have the following AppleScript code in a Run AppleScript action in Automator:

on run {input, parameters}
    set appName to "iTerm"
    if application appName is not running then
        tell application appName to activate
    end if
    tell application "iTerm"
        tell current session of current tab of current window
            write text "cd Desktop"
            split horizontally with default profile
            split vertically with default profile
        end tell
        tell second session of current tab of current window
            write text "whoami"
        end tell
        tell third session of current tab of current window
            write text "ls -al"
            split vertically with default profile
        end tell
        tell fourth session of current tab of current window
            write text "echo Hello World"
        end tell
    end tell
    return input
end run

However the application runs okay only if there is an iTerm instance already open. It will not open a new one for me.

How should I modify it so that it spins up a new iTerm window and executes the four session split and command execution?

Right after tell application "iTerm" add:

if (window count) is equal to 0 then reopen

This will open a new window if none are open but iTerm is running.

You can also use the following example AppleScript code to make sure window 1 exists before continuing, if one wasn't already open.

if (window count) is equal to 0 then
    reopen
    repeat until exists window 1
        delay 0.01
    end repeat
end if

By the way, if window 1 exists but is minimized, your code will still run in the minimized window. If that's an issue, then you'll need to code for that scenario or just always open a new window to run your code in, e.g:

set myWindow to (create window with default profile)
repeat until exists myWindow
    delay 0.01
end repeat


What are some useful ways to use Automator? I've been using OS X for 3 generations of the OS already (Tiger --> Leopard --> SL) but haven't really ventured in using Automator much.

What are the best ways to use Automator? (Best uses, time savers, etc.)

Automator helps you automate (pun intended) repetitive actions without requiring programming knowledge.

The basic building blocks of Automator are Actions. Each Action does a sigle task, that may take an input and produce an output. Automator lets you create a sequence of Actions, called Workflow. If you are familiar with UNIX it's like a UI for pipes.

Here is an Automator Workflow I use a lot, especially for downloading lecture notes in PDF from my professors' sites:

Creating Services is another feature I find useful.

Also, you can combine the power of AppleScript with the simplicity of Automator with the "Run AppleScript" Action.

As an example of both techniques, you can check out this service that opens the source of the current Safari page in TextMate.

If you need more information about Automator check this Mac 101 article.

If you are a developer and want to create new Actions or need more insight into Automator, check out this guide and the Apple's developer documentation.


What does it mean if the phone does half a ring before going straight to voicemail? So many times, I'll call someone (iPhone to iPhone) and the iPhone will ring once, but goes to voice mail immediately about halfway through the ring.

What are the possibilities? I'm assuming the phone is dead could be one, but I know that's not the case. Maybe they could also be on the phone?

Then I'll call 10 minutes later after they text me back saying "whats up," and it rings normally. I figure they must have been on the phone? But I thought it normally gives them a choice whether to drop the current call or not, so maybe that'd take more time than half a ring?

I called 3 times, and all 3 times it rang half a ring, and went to voicemail.

Half a ring means that the phone received the call, but instantly declined it. I've only seen this behaviour with the caller blacklist, or the do not disturb mode ☽...  In your case, as the person you called seen your call,  it means that it's the do not disturb mode that caused this


How do I resync itunes to my music library? I keep my music in an external hard drive which was disconnected while iTunes was on. I reconnected the drive and restarted iTunes but it still can't find the music. Would prefer not to fix manually, there are over 3,000 albums in that directory.

Open iTunes on your PC/Mac
Select File in the top left corner from the menu bar.
Choose Add to Library… and select the missing media.
You will be able to see your songs and playlists in the Music section.


Will iOS 6 be available OTA? With iOS 6 due the 19th of September, I was wondering if it will be available over-the-air (OTA) like iOS 5.1.

Is the Software Update in Settings only for minor updates, or can Apple push out major releases through it, too? Assuming an OTA update, will it require a restore/resync?

It will be available over-the-air, like all releases after iOS 5.0.

That version allowed iOS devices to be independent of any Mac or PC you may sync them to. More information is available from Apple's iOS page:

  iOS updates are free. And they’re available to download wirelessly on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch the moment they’re released. Your device even alerts you when it’s time to get the latest version. So you won’t miss out on all the amazing features in new updates.

A device should retain all your apps, content and settings after you update, but it's a good idea to ensure you have a recent backup, either on your computer or iCloud, just in case.


How can I set a consistent font for sent messages in Apple Mail Mojave? macOS Mojave Mail still ignores a body font for outgoing emails. Rich Text emails show up with Times New Roman font on Windows Outlook clients. Mail does not set a font type, Thus, Windows Outlook uses its default paragraph formatting which falls back to Times New Roman. It's so unprofessional and embarrassing

Using plain text seems to be the only solution. Big downside: No bolding, no highlighting. This has been an ongoing issue since years. There used to be a great plugin called Universal Mailer which is no longer developed.

Any workaround for Apple Mail Mojave and Catalina? I highly appreciate any solution.

People who send plain text mails are heroes to me. There’s no downside there since it respects everyone including screen readers, people who have a font and size preference, etc...

There is a real cost to rtf bloat and html and you are seeing some of that pain here.  My solution is to eschew bu to know some people look down on that as plain text can be rendered horribly as well by some Mail clients.

Sadly, you have to read the room for your intended audience and choose an authoring tool that is copacetic. A third party mail app might be needed if no one has a style tweak that lets you keep the styling features you know you need to communicate effectively. Outlook on Mac does a decent job of hiding that the mail came from Apple if you have the desire to try that.


Biggest external monitor support for 13" MacBook Pro I'm using a 13" MacBook Pro and want to connect it to an external monitor. What is the largest resolution supported for an external monitor?

From what I know this MacBook Pro is using VGA intel.

Workstation:
OS X Lion
MacBook Pro 13" early 2011

The tech specs for your model are on Apple's support site.

If you have a display that has a native Displayport input (many mid-range and up displays from the past 2-3 years), you can output up to 2560x1600. Typically these displays have a full-size Displayport connector, so you'll need an adapter or cable that goes from Mini Displayport to standard Displayport - they can be found pretty cheaply at Monoprice or Amazon.

You can also output up to 2560x1600 using a Mini Displayport to Dual-link DVI adapter, however these have been problematic in the past and run around $100+. Not a great option unless you already have a monitor with a resolution higher than 1920x1200 and it doesn't have a Displayport input.

Using adapters for single-link DVI, HDMI or VGA, you can support up to 1920x1200.