Notification centre in Lion and Facebook When notifications pop up from the notification centre for Facebook posts nothing happens when I click the show button.

If a tweet comes along the show button opens up a browser tab.

Any ideas why this isn't working for Facebook and is working for Twitter?

OK, go to your Facebook

open your settings and go to the the Notifications

Make sure the app request and activity for OSX is checked

In Notification on your Mac click on the facebook and a window should open where you can post directly to facebook from your mac.


Can I disable Dashboard in Mountain Lion? I'm wondering if there's a way to disable the dashboard in Mountain Lion.  I never use it and I think it's consuming processor and memory powers.

With macOS 10.10 Yosemite or later, you can go to
System Preferences → Mission Control and switch Dashboard to Off.

On any OS with Dashboard, you can disable it through Terminal with the following command:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES && killall Dock

It can be re-enabled with:

defaults delete com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled && killall Dock


How can I force the traffic of a shared internet connection through a proxy? I'm testing a system which requires my iPad to (appear to) come from another location. The iPad also has to use Cisco's AnyConnect VPN client. I configured a manual proxy on the iPad, but AnyConnect overrides it.

I configured all of the traffic on my Mac to use a proxy. I then enabled internet sharing and use that connection for my iPad. I am able to successfully access the internet on the iPad, however, it does not seem to go through the proxy. Any ideas as to how I might be able to force the traffic from the shared internet to go through the proxy?

Notes:

The proxy that I'm using is an ssh tunnel
I've tried editing the pf.conf file, but I've had no success.

I personally use OpenVPN because it comes pre-configured with everything. It even has its own VPN app which does a great job.

Or you can set up PPTP VPN on your server, which does the same thing only you can set VPN settings in the Actual Settings.app

My server is in Amsterdam, but while I am connected it doesn't actually change your location, only where your connection comes out. It also encrypts it in the process, so if you are on public wifi, nobody can snoop on your packets.

Edit

Try Creating a VPN tunnel on your mac and share the internet to your iPad.


Sharing a iPhoto Library between users on the same computer I tried to share my iPhoto library with putting it into my sharing folder. I changed the permissions, so the other users can use it. Now they can use it, but if they add new photos, i cannot edit them. They were displayed, but if I try to edit the, there is only a black screen instead of the picture.

Did you have a look at what Apple proposes in the corresponding support document?

It covers using an external hard drive to house one iPhoto Library as well as moving those files to the /Users/Shared folder on the Mac.


Unable to find the backed up photos in iCloud I had an iPad mini which had some valuable photos in the Photos app. I had backed up the device on iCloud using 4.2 GB of my available 5 GB of space. Now that device is dead and is beyond repair. I thought I had the backup in iCloud and didn't take care to backup anywhere else. Now when I open iCloud, I see that it is completely blank. Is there any policy Apple has to delete the backup after a certain amount of time? Is there any hope for recovering these photos?

Why your photos are not in iCloud Photos

  Now when I open iClould I see its completely blank.

Photos do not appear on iCloud.com unless iCloud Photo Library was turned on; from your description, it seems that it is not turned on: that is why the Photos section of iCloud is completely blank. You evidently did not have iCloud Photo Library turned on, so photos were tied to your device backup instead of being tied to your iCloud Drive. Thus, your photos are not visible from your iCloud account. But have no fear, that doesn't mean you can't access your photos.

How to get your photos back

You'll need a new/used iPad that runs iOS 7 or later (so iPad 2 or later, iPad Mini 1 or later). You can buy a relatively inexpensive used iPad Mini 1st gen here for ~$150, or upgrade to an iPad Mini 4th gen (the latest and greatest) here for ~$350. Make sure the iPad you purchase has at least as much storage space as your lost iPad before you buy it. (Note: Apple may offer to exchange your dead iPad if you contact their support team at getsupport.apple.com)

When first launching the iPad (if it's used, you must do a factory reset first if it still has data on it), follow these steps to set it up from a backup of your lost iPad Mini:

Turn on the new iPad.
From the Apps & Data screen, tap Restore from iCloud Backup, then sign-in to your iCloud account.
Proceed to “Choose backup,” then choose from a list of available backups in iCloud (probably just choose the latest backup).

After following these steps, your new iPad will boot up and have all of the data from your lost iPad Mini, including all of your photos.

What to do to prevent this next time

I recommend using the Google Photos app to seamlessly back up all of your photos/videos (free of charge, unlimited photos and videos). With Google Photos, you can access the backed-up photos/videos anytime on almost any device (including from the web at photos.google.com). Or, you can turn on Apple's iCloud Photo Library, in Settings -> iCloud -> Photos, which lets you access the photos anytime from icloud.com. (Note that iCloud Photo Library eats up your iCloud storage space and isn't free or unlimited like Google Photos is.)

Let me know if you need any further assistance, and please let me know whether this helped you or not!

Sources:

Apple's guide to restoring an iPad/iPhone from a backup
iCloud Photo Library info
iMore's guide to iCloud Photo Library


MacBook Pro won't wake up when stacked on another sleeping MacBook Pro I noticed a really weird behavior on my MacBook Pro today.

I have two of them at work, a 13" late 2011 (which I don't use often), and a 13" early 2011 where I put a SSD (which is my main computer).

So the late 2011 MBP usually stays asleep and the early 2011 (with SSD) sits on top of it. But I noticed that if I try to wake up the SSD MBP (by opening the lid) while the other one under it is sleeping, my MBP doesn't wake up. But as soon as I pick it up, it wakes.

This only happens when I open the lid when the MacBook sits on top of the other one. If I wake it up elsewhere, it works perfectly.

I don't know if it's clear, as it's a bit weird. It's not really a problem actually but it would be nice if someone could clear up this mystery (still, I actually spent some time the other day trying to understand why it wouldn't wake up, I even reset the SMC)

I thought about the magnet that holds the lid closed that could act like the iPad Smart Cover but the magnet doesn't seem to be that strong.

It's the magnets, they aren't super strong, but strong enough to keep the lid close firmly. The magnet sensor is probably a little bit too sensitive. To confirm this hypothesis, you could turn one of the laptops around. So the magnet sensor of the top one is over the hinge of the bottom one.


Weird colors on secondary monitor When I connect my macbook air (2012 early I think) to a DELL U24-something display through a DVI the colors on the display are really weired: it is like all the colors are really desaturated and low-contrast and some selected colors are very saturated and strong.

I tried changing color profile but then it only got worse.. when I have a Windows PC connected the colors look great.

Every time I have had a color problem with an external monitor the problem was caused by a loose/bad connection between the display's cable the and display adapter dongle on my Mac.  Make sure the cable is firmly and completely seated inside the port on the dongle.


How to differentiate original and fake Apple 5W USB EU power adapter A1400 / MD813ZM/A? I did receive a European 5 watt USB charger model A1400 that claims to be from Apple. The charger even claims to be designed by Apple in California and made in China. Possibly by "Salcomp".

The "made in China" part, is most likely a valid claim.

But how can I find out whether this USB charger is a counterfeit or a genuine Apple product?

I do own a genuine A1300 that came with an iPhone that was bought in an Apple store in Oberhausen. The 230V pins two USB chargers are shown in the photograph below:

Here is a photograph of the serial imprint inside the USB connector from both an "A1400" and an original A1300:

And here the imprint the "Certification Label" of a possible counterfeit A1400:

PS I am aware of the A1300 to A1400 Exchange program and don't use the A1300 any longer for charging purposes.

I got here by having the same problem as you and googling it. :)

I got my 5W EU charger (i'm sure now that it's fake) from a local seller, because my brand new SE was for UK market, so i had their three pin charger in the box. The one that i bought had a problem i noticed shortly. When i tried to charge my SE with it, touch sensitivity would go crazy. I compared it with my girls charger (she got it with her 6S in the box, for French market) and it was working flawlessly. There are couple differences between those two. Metal pins are different, fake one is lighter and you can bend the plastic housing a little when you press it harder.
They even made serial number readable, but pins and weight betrayed them.
I will post pics tomorrow when there is daylight so i can make better macros.


Count number of text occurrences in column using Numbers I am using Numbers to track data. I have a column that has comma separated values within each row (e.g. ‘I like cats, I hate rain, I like dogs’).

Is it possible to count the number of appearances for a specific phrase (e.g. ‘I like cats’) and report that count in a cell, for each phrase?

COUNTIF(range,"=*string*")

Replace ‘range’ with the range of cells to count.
Replace ‘string’ with the string to match in the range.

For example, to count the number of occurrences of ‘I like cats’ in the A column, use COUNTIF(A,"=*I like cats*").


Mac OS X Terminal - While True Do - Can you stop automatically under desired conditions? Currently I am using a following command: while true; do python [file]; sleep X; done

I was wondering if I can stop the loop if the result prints a word that I'm looking for.

Plus is it possible to make a sound when it stops?

You can stop the execution by entering the command break.

To make a sound, tput bel should work on most shells.

Something like the following example should work:

while true
do
     commands...

     if [[ "$YOUR_VARIABLE" == "value" ]]
     then
         tput bel
         break
     fi
done


Command Line (CLI) Command for disconnecting wifi from current network I'm looking for a way to disconnect from my current WIFI network via CLI. There is a way to do that, but it's a GUI way.

Any ideas how to accomplish that?

Thanks!

Note:  I don't want to disable Wi-Fi because I need Airdrop to be function so I just want to disconnect it from the existing network.

EDIT: Why do I want this?

At work we connect out MBPs to Displays w/ ethernet attached. Also we heavily use AirDrop functionality. The aim is to write a script, that automatically disconnects from WIFI networks, when ethernet cable is plugged in, so that we can still use other WIFI features like AirDrop & Apple Watch unlocking.

Use networksetup.
There are several ways to disconnect from a Wi-Fi network via Terminal:

Disable the Wi-Fi service.  This will require root privileges.  The radio will remain on, but it won't connect to anything.
$ sudo networksetup -setnetworkserviceenabled Wi-Fi off

Turn off the airport power (this is like clicking the (GUI) Wi-Fi icon and selecting "turn off Wi-Fi".  You don't need sudo and you should know which interface (en0, en1, etc.) is your Airport adapter.  If you don't try the service and macOS will attempt to guess which one it is.
$ networksetup -setairportpower Wi-Fi off

In the specific case where you don't want auto join, just set the network to not auto join and then toggle the network status using networksetup.
If you just want to disconnect from a WiFi network, disable the adapter:
$ sudo networksetup -setnetworkserviceenabled Wi-Fi off && sleep 15 && sudo networksetup -setnetworkserviceenabled Wi-Fi on
(You can issue the command without sudo but you will get a popup prompting you for a password for each networksetup invocation)


How can I disable the red Software Update notification bubble on the System Preferences app in MacOS Mojave (not App Store)? I keep the "System Preferences" app icon in my dock in Mojave. I recently checked for updates, and found one, but I'm not ready to install it just yet and the red notification dot over the settings app is really bothering my obsessive-compulsive self.

To make things worse, there's no way to disable the notification for the settings app, from the settings app.

How can I banish the notification icon until I'm ready to deal with doing updates?

(Note: this a the red notification badge/dot over the System Preferences app, not the App Store one. It is also not the big textual one that will appear in the upper right corner of the screen. And, unlike all the other questions I found while searching for this, I am in Mac OS rather than iOS.)

The closest thing I found was Why is the System Preferences Dock icon showing a Badge?, which was about iCloud security problems rather than software updates. My question isn't why, but how to ignore a software update for a while.

After some unsuccessful googling, followed by loads and loads of digging and grepping through binary files, I stumbled upon a key in a .plist which, when written, appeared to make the system temporarily forget it had any updates to bother me with. Running:
defaults write com.apple.systempreferences AttentionPrefBundleIDs 0

fixed my issue for now on 10.14.1. (Apparently, you may also have to restart the dock with killall Dock, but I don't remember having to do so).
If you have automatic checking for updates turned on, this might not work for you. Not for long, anyway. In my case, on a fresh install, I went to the settings page to turn off checking for updates, at which time it checked for an update before I could close the page. After running that command it went away again, though. Basically, turn off automatic update checks, or it'll come right back and you'll have to run the command again.
Re-running the update checker should undo this. One might be able to find that .plist (I believe it was in /Users/[username]/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist) and set the immutable bit on it/give it read only permissions to prevent it getting modified, but I have no idea what the fallout from that could be. You'd probably not be able to change any other per-user settings anymore.


Changing the background image in all spaces I'm running Max OSX Mountain Lion, 10.8.4. I have tried several solutions to change the background image in every space/desktop, but can only get one. I have tried this shell script, have tried using Python's appscript and have tried another shell script. It currently only changes the background in the current space.

This operation, changing the desktop background, can be done with a drag and drop method. However, I want to setup a cron job (or any other method) to have the wallpaper change randomly from images in a folder.

As of now, it looks like I just need to figure out how to access all desktops in argparse, as it currently works with one desktop/space. Unfortunately, the documentation is rather poor.

desktop 1 seems to be the currently selected space, so you might use a hack like this:

set f to POSIX file "/Library/Desktop Pictures/Beach.jpg"
tell application "System Events"
    repeat 4 times
        key code 123 using control down -- 123 is left arrow
    end repeat
    repeat 4 times
        set picture of desktop 1 to f
        key code 124 using control down -- 124 is right arrow
    end repeat
end tell

The entries in ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist look like this:

default =                 {
    BackgroundColor =                     (
        0,
        0,
        0
    );
    Change = Never;
    ChangePath = "/Library/Desktop Pictures";
    ChangeTime = 1800;
    DrawBackgroundColor = 1;
    ImageFileAlias = <00000000 00980003 00000000 cca6c692 0000482b 00000000 0049cf53 0049cf7a 0000cc06 bed80000 00000920 fffe0000 00000000 0000ffff ffff0001 00080049 cf530044 e295000e 00140009 00420065 00610063 0068002e 006a0070 0067000f 00060002 00480044 00120022 4c696272 6172792f 4465736b 746f7020 50696374 75726573 2f426561 63682e6a 70670013 00012f00 ffff0000>;
    ImageFilePath = "/Library/Desktop Pictures/Beach.jpg";
    NewChangePath = "/Library/Desktop Pictures";
    NewImageFilePath = "/Library/Desktop Pictures/Beach.jpg";
    NoImage = 0;
    Placement = Crop;
    Random = 0;
};

I don't know how to get an alias as data for the ImageFileAlias key.


why Chrome pop up from gocomputerhelp247.com/system-alert Why did I suddenly get a message with a Chrome icon to call a phone number immediately because I was under attack? The address was gocomputerhelp247.com/system-alert. It told me under no circumstances to restart my computer.

It is a form of scripted scareware. Someone programmed that pop up message to scare you into wanting to buy a "fix" or perhaps to cause you to stay on a page long enough for them to install malware.

It should be safe to shut down your mac normally (perhaps after taking a picture of what’s on the screen) and then sharing that image with someone you trust on computers and leave the mac off until you’re comfortable about your backups or what plan you have to get any malware removed.

Why not do some research on malware and ask a follow on question if the article you found doesn't do a good job of educating you about Internet security and malware.


Technical reason why Safari 9 doesn't support modern sites I am still using Mac OS X 10.9.5 (Mavericks) on one of my machines so as to be able to run older versions of Adobe software etc. I prefer to use Safari as a web browser because it is designed for the Mac, but the final version of Safari for Mavericks (v. 9.1.3) no longer supports certain sites.

These are often ones where an incomplete circular device keeps going round and round without loading whatever it is trying to load. This doesn’t look like a Mac ‘busy’ cursor and it is not browser-specific. An example (trying to load a series of references in response to my query) is shown below (from www.flybase.org) within a red outline I added:

The problem seems to be with some JavaScript files because the error page in the Develop menu shows the following:

I can work round this using Firefox, but, as an amateur web designer, I am curious to know what the — presumably more recent — web technology is that Safari 9 does not support.

Safari 9.1 was released in 2016, over 3 years ago, and doesn’t support a lot of popular web technologies that have since been developed.

Polyfills exist for some technologies, with Safari 9 barely making the list for some polyfills, but many developers don’t expect to support a browser lacking ES20151 support (you can’t even declare a variable with let in Safari 9).

caniuse.com provides a detailed feature-based comparison of web browsers, including Safari 9 vs Safari 12.1. Given the added screenshot with your error message, the JavaScript being executed cannot find ‘fetch’ which is likely a reference to the Fetch API, a crucial API for obtaining resources from elsewhere. The Fetch API is first supported in Safari 10.1.

If the web developer hasn’t included a polyfill for Safari 9, it may be possible to inject the polyfill yourself for individual web technology features, but this situation will only get worse. I understand the potential need to run older software, but such use should be limited to a virtual machine, ensuring the host OS is secure as well as running a secure web browser capable of understanding the technologies present on your favourite sites.

1 ES2015 (or ECMAScript 2015) is a scripting-language specification created to standardise JavaScript for use by multiple browsers, applications, and devices. This standard is updated each year in June and we're now up to the ECMAScript 2019 standard. For more information, refer to JavaScript Versions. This page provides a summary of ECMAScript editions and scrolling down you can see a breakdown of browser support.


What does the with-bindings option do in brew? I'm looking to brew a package (graphviz) and see it has one option—amid others—

--with-bindings
   Build Perl/Python/Ruby/etc. bindings

I might want that, if only I knew what it means...?

What might with-bindings mean and why, or why not, would I want that?

Bindings is a term used for the API to access a library or tool through a particular programming language. In this case, it's saying that the Graphviz package has bindings for Perl, Python, Ruby, etc. programs to be able to generate graphs.

If all you want to do is use Graphviz on its own, you don't need to install the bindings.


PostgreSQL not in path after installation I installed PostgreSQL using the interactive installer by EnterpriseDB following this link. It defaulted the installation directory to /Library/PostgreSQL/9.6. After successful install, psql is not in the $PATH. I have to navigate to the installation directory or enter the full path execute it:

cd /Library/PostgreSQL/9.6/bin
./psql -d template1

Must I add this path to .profile or .bash_profile, create a symlink to /usr/bin? What approach is more suitable for the Mac?

Because this is not working:

# ln -s /Library/PostgreSQL/9.6/bin/psql /usr/bin/psql
ln: /usr/bin/psql: Operation not permitted

Temporary solution:

sh-3.2# ln -s postgres /usr/local/bin/postgres
sh-3.2# ln -s createdb /usr/local/bin/createdb
sh-3.2# ln -s createuser /usr/local/bin/createuser
sh-3.2# ln -s dropdb /usr/local/bin/dropdb
sh-3.2# ln -s dropuser /usr/local/bin/dropuser
sh-3.2# ln -s initdb /usr/local/bin/initdb
sh-3.2# ln -s pg_ctl /usr/local/bin/pg_ctl
sh-3.2# ln -s pg_dump /usr/local/bin/pg_dump
sh-3.2# ln -s pg_dumpall /usr/local/bin/pg_dumpall

In contrary to other PostgreSQL installers (e.g. Homebrew), the EnterpriseDB installer doesn't install the PostgreSQL executables in a path covered by your default $PATH.

So either add it to your .bash_profile file

...
export PATH="/Library/PostgreSQL/9.6/bin:$PATH"
...

or

...
export PATH="$PATH:/Library/PostgreSQL/9.6/bin"
...

or symlink the executables to /usr/local/bin:

ln -s /Library/PostgreSQL/9.6/bin/* /usr/local/bin

You can't link them to /usr/bin/ because this path is protected by SIP and - after disabling SIP - a sudoer would have to prepend sudo  to link the files. /usr/local/bin is the default path for user installed executables anyway, so stay with this one.


Backing up Time Machine to an external disk also used by other machines - no sparsebundle? I moved to using an external disk (a Drobo) on 1 machine as a Time Machine backup for all of my machines. I've got 2 of the machines backing up perfectly, but the problem is with the machine that the drive is connected to.

When I start the backup of the directly connected machine, Time Machine creates the folder structure /Backups.backupdb/[computer name]/ instead of just creating another sparsebundle file.

Should I care? If yes, then how do I make Time Machine create a sparsebundle?

The sparsebundle is how Time Machine backs up using the network method. The Backups.backupdb method is how it backs up when the drive is hooked up locally therefore you can't make it create a sparse bundle if its connected locally because that's the way time machine works. If you want it to make a sparse bundle you have to backup through a network. It should not make a difference to you since you'll be accessing it through time machine without having to worry about files etc.


What screenshots are actually required for submission? I am confused. The apple guidelines say things like:

  If your app indicates that it is optimized for the iPhone 6, at least one 4.7-inch screenshot is required. Up to four additional screenshots can be uploaded. You can rearrange the screenshots when you create or edit the iTunes Connect record.

And

  If your app indicates that it is optimized for the iPhone 6 Plus, at
  least one 5.5-inch screenshot is required. Up to four additional
  screenshots can be uploaded. You can rearrange the screenshots when
  you create or edit the iTunes Connect record.

I am about to submit an iPhone game, in my .xcodeproj file I have Devices set to iPhone, so it is supposed to run on iPhone, and iPad in compatibility mode.

What does "optimized for" mean? Where do I set what my game is optimized for? Do I need to provide iPhone 6 and 6 Plus screenshots?

What about iPad screenshots? The compatibility mode screenshots don't look great.

When you optimized you app to iPhone 6 and 6 Plus you have to add new image and icon sizes in your assets. If you select Images.xcassets in your project and then select your AppIcon and hit ⌥+⌘+0 you must see something like that:

If you have selected iOS 8.0 and Later Sized you will have to provide screenshots for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, in other case, it won't be necessary.


Alias to ssh and cd into a specific directory I want an alias to SSH into another machine and then CD into a specific directory.

I try:

alias appl="ssh 9@lon.orb.com; cd /opt/tomcat/instances/"

It does not work.  Any ideas?

It doesn't work because the cd is executed on your local machine
when the ssh does terminate.

Here is the way to do it:

alias appl="ssh 9@lon.orb.com 'cd /opt/tomcat/instances ; exec ${SHELL} -i'"


Is it possible to have different font sizes for editing and message actually sent? Recently I switched from Thunderbird and so far really love native Mail.app which is quite lightweight to my surprise!

However the transition seems a bit hard as the size of the font while editing messages is too small for me... Can I have two different font sizes - one for editing and other for actual font size with which messages are sent?

EDIT: My os is 10.6.8, but if you know the solution for 10.7.x, please share it as well :)

The size you set in Mail > Preferences for viewing and composing does not actually have any effect on what is seen at the other end.  To do that you have to select the font for each outgoing individually in the New Message pane (and I think also have it different than the font in Preferences).

Mail's inability to set a default outgoing font annoys many users, who sometimes then switch to Thunderbird or Entourage/Outlook instead.  Also someone did an app here:

http://messagefont.com/


Replaced Screen "Searching..." - cannot find network provider EDIT 16/06/2015 - Replaced Cellular Antenna - no fix.

I own a small IT repair business and we've recently expanded into the iPhone/iPad repair sector. A customer came in with an iPhone 4s, and the customer had replaced the screen for themselves. The issue is that the iPhone now can't be used for phone calls, texts or internet access. Instead of stating their provider in the top left of the screen it simply says "Searching...".

I have confirmed that it is not a SIM based error.

Any ideas?

Chances are they ripped or damaged the antenna(s) for cellular service/WiFi.


Why first (and only first) iMacs were colored with red, blue, etc? And why Apple didn't continue to create iMacs of different color?

The original iMac was announced in May 1998 (shipping in August of the same year) and was positioned as a low-end, consumer-grade, internet-oriented model. The colour was Bondi Blue. Apple marketed the model as being the most original new computer since the original Mac of 1984.

The graphic in your question was from the so-called '5 Flavors' models announced in January 1999. These models featured a 333 MHz CPU speed, with all other specs being the same as the original iMac.

The colours changed, but the styling remained the same until the flat-panel models were introduced in January 2002. The flat-panel iMac was intended to be a more sophisticated product and that air of sophistication has stayed with the iMac image to this day.


shasum has no output, why? Here's the terminal command and output:

douglas@machine Desktop % shasum -a 256 /Users/douglas/Desktop/TinkerTool.app
shasum: /Users/douglas/Desktop/TinkerTool.app:

which shasum:
/usr/bin/shasum

Tinkertool.app is just a folder. You need to run it on the actual app. Your command should be shasum -a 256 /Users/douglas/Desktop/TinkerTool.app/Contents/MacOS/Tinkertool

You can get to the actual app by right-clicking on Tinkertool.app and selecting "Show package contents" and navigating to the actual app.


Is it possible to renew an Apple Enterprise License prior to deadline As we come to year end, I wanted to get handle on our licensing.  Although I have until April 2020, it got me thinking, is it possible to renew a license prior to the auto-renew date? See screenshot

You can renew at most 30 days before expiry.

  Alternatively, you can renew manually starting 30 days before the expiration date of your existing membership or any time after it expires.

https://developer.apple.com/support/renewal/

This does not lose any days of the membership though, since renewing ‘early’ does not take effect until the previous membership expires.


Recovering "Damaged" Files on External USB Drive: GUID, HFS (can not open files) I had some files on an old thumb-drive, and recently I was going through and discovered that all/most of the files were no longer readable by any of my macs. I seam to remember having similar problems like this while back, and finding an apparent link to my choice of format, so I ran diskutil list in terminal:

/dev/disk3 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *134.2 GB   disk3
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk3s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS my-old-files            133.9 GB   disk3s2

And I tried ls -l

total 3858320
-rw-r--r--@  1 kipbits  staff     3430100 Nov 21  2016 2015-12-24.pdf
drwxr-xr-x   8 kipbits  staff         272 Sep 26  2016 2016-sep-14-files
-rw-r--r--   1 kipbits  staff    25642888 May 18  2015 myold.mp4
-rw-r--r--@  1 kipbits  staff         884 Jul 31 20:20 someold.txt
-rw-r--r--@  1 kipbits  staff  1320157184 Sep 21  2016 someold.iso
drwxr-xr-x   4 kipbits  staff         136 Sep 27 16:23 anotherdir
-rw-r--r--@  1 kipbits  staff   626214959 Nov  5  2016 someold.mp4
drwxr-xr-x  14 kipbits  staff         476 Nov  2  2016 sept2016files

I think this looks normal?

The problem is, I'm not able to open any of my files. I get the following errors:

pdf:

**The file “some-old.pdf” could not be opened.**
It may be damaged or use a file format that Preview doesn’t recognize.

txt:
800 byte files are blank

rtf:

**The document “some-old.rtf” could not be opened.**

mp4:

**QuickTime Player can't open "some-old.mp4".**
To see if additional software is available that will enable QuickTime Player to open the movie, click Tell Me More.

dmg, iso:
will mount but did not test further

pkg:

**The operation couldn’t be completed. (com.apple.installer.pagecontroller error -1.)**
Couldn't open "some-old.pkg"

I found a thread on apple saying "The partition map type doesn't really make any difference for non bootable volumes", although  i don't get any of these problems when using Master Boot Record & ExFAT.

None of the files are more than a couple years old, so i don't think there should be any compatibility issues, and none of the files were corrupted when I copied them to the drive. I have had this same problem with other drives, and they were perfectly usable after reformatting, although this involved erasing files.

My question is: Is there a way to recover my files? The file-sizes still display that the files are there. Is there a way to save these files and make them readable?

...Also, if it makes any difference, I am using El Capitan(for dev purposes)

  Update------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(04/Oct/2017)

I did a hexdump for some of the files in question. my output was something like this:

 0000000 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
*
 0000370 00 00 00 00
 0000374

what does this mean? do you think a recovery app could even help me here?

here are some threads that are perhaps related:

...Also could this possibly be related to SIP? I first noticed this problem around when i first upgraded to El Capitan.

Or perhaps there is something else going on? I have recently been experimenting with windows and various forms of linux, and have been moving files around with thumb drives. Perhaps I plugged one in to the wrong computer and corrupted all the files?

Whatever the cause, I'm wondering if the files might still be recoverable? Is hexdump a good way to diagnose recoverability? Would buying a recover app just be a waste of $100?

I would first try Disk Utility. You will find it in the Utilities folder in your Applications folder. In the left pane, select your disk, and at the top, click on the SOS button.
Otherwise I have had some luck with DiskWarrior and with Data Rescue, but these software are not free.


How to list the Mail directory from the Terminal? Is there a way to change the file or directory permissions so that I can list the contents of the Mail directory from the Terminal command-line in macOS 10.15.4?

When trying to list the contents, I currently get this error.

$ cd ~/Library/Mail
$ ls -l
ls: .: Operation not permitted

The Mail app works without issues.  I can see the contents of the Mail folder in the Finder by using the Option key.  On earlier macOS versions, I could list the contents from the Terminal without issues.  But not any more after migrating to a new MacBook Pro running 10.15.4.  What changed?

You need to give Terminal Full Disk Access in System Preferences > Security.


Badges don't show for mail in sub folders I've just bought a new iMac with Yosemite and set up my mailboxes with rules for sorting incoming mail. The rules work fine but no badges are shown for any mail sorted into subfolders. Badges only appear for mail that goes directly into my inbox. In previous operating systems badges were shown for every new email whether it was sorted or not. Is there any way of forcing Yosemite to badge sorted, unread emails?

Found the answer!

Mail Preferences -> General -> New Message Notifications. The default is inbox only. Use the dropdown menu to change it to all mailboxes.


"Could Not Sign In" on Apple TV I am going nuts trying to figure out how to fix this.  When I use my Apple TV for Netflix, Youtube, NHL, etc it all works just fine.  When I try to rent a movie from Apple (iTunes) it has a black screen, the message "Could Not Sign In" and an okay button and that is it.

I have full connection to my WiFi according to the my network info in the General tab.  The only answers I have found is to use a micro-HDMI cable but this appleTV doesn't have that.  It only has an Ethernet, Optical, and HDMI ports. I have not tried to hard wire it as the TV is on the other side of the house from the router and that is how I want to use it.

Anyone have any ideas before I try to use this as a skipping stone across my pond?

Use your Computer and log in in to iTunes with it.

Then just leave it logged in.

Now try again with your Apple TV.


IPhone iPod app: how do you get out of the iTunes store? A question about the built-in iPod app on iPhone. Once you get into the iTunes mode (e.g. after clicking "get more episodes" on a podcast view) it seems you are stuck forever wandering the endless isles of the iTunes store.

When you first open the iPod app, going to "podcasts" shows the podcasts that are downloaded to your phone. But once you've gone into "iTunes mode", clicking "podcasts" now reveals all the podcasts available on iTunes.

How do you get back to the original mode? The only way I've found is exiting the iPod app and opening it again. Is that really the way it's designed (presumably "by Apple in California")?

Am I missing something here?

What you refer to as "iTunes mode" is actually a separate application called iTunes. The only way to get back is to relaunch the iPod app. If you have a multitasking-capable device, you can double tap on the home button and the iPod app will be there as it was the most recently used app.


MacBook Air sleep with external monitor attached I would like my MacBook Air running Yosemite to sleep once I close the lid, even if an external monitor is attached.

Before Yosemite this could be achieved with sudo nvram boot-args=iog=0x0. This has stopped working after the upgrade.

Is there another or a new way to achieve the effect I want?

You have to disconnect it from power. Then it will sleep.
Seems like no other solution is found yet.

And your question seems to be a duplicate — How to disable Clamshell mode in Yosemite?


How can I check if iPhone has been manipulated or compromised firmware? I would like to buy a secondhand or refurbished iPhone 7 or newer. Since I am not watching anything regarding the hacker's scene, I am not up-to-date. Is any newer version of the iPhone hacked? Is it possible to manipulate iPhone firmware?

Typically these modifications are not sustained beyond reboot. The ones that were are called ‘untethered’ and the last one im aware of that was 9.3.4. If the iOS version is beyond that it would almost certainly have to be of the ‘tethered’ variety and simply rebooting the phone should disable any such modifications

Additionally if there is a newer iOS version available to update, doing so will break any access to the files required to remodify the phone in the future and new files will be required to redo the process at that point.


My MacBook Pro loses its connection to my WiFi router I've set up a brand-new internet connection with a Wireless Router.

The thing is that :

It works all the time for my iMac
It stops working at times on my MacBook Pro (either when connected
via wifi, or using an ethernet cable), so I have to "Turn Wifi Off",
then "Turn Wifi On" and reconnect, or simply re-plug in my ethernet
cable.

UPDATE

My iMac specs

Model : iMac11,2 - Intel Core i3 (3.06GHz)
OS    : 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard)

My MacBook Pro specs

Model : MacBookPro8,1 - Intel Core i5 (2.3GHz) [early 2011]
OS    : 10.7.3 (Lion)

My Router specs

Brand : ZTE
Model : ZXV10 W300 v5.2

I'm sure it may have something to do with my connection settings, but I'm not sure what it is...

Any ideas?

Mac Wireless & Airport Connection Problem Troubleshooting: The Basics
* Turn Airport on & off – You can do this via the Airport menu bar or from the Network Preferences. This is the first thing you should try when troubleshooting Mac wireless problems.

Reset your router – This is the second thing you should try doing. You can fix a surprising amount of wireless problems just by resetting the airport/router. All you need to do is turn the thing off for a few seconds and turn it back on.
Reset your Cable/DSL modem – You’ll usually want to reset this in combination with your wireless router. Reset this first so the DHCP information will be pulled to the wireless router properly.
Change Wireless Channels – sometimes your router’s wireless broadcast channel will interfere with a neighbors, be sure you have your router set to a unique channel. Even if it’s a weak signal there can still be interference.
Make sure Wireless/Airport card software & firmware is up to date – This is usually done just by going to the Software Update menu, if there are any updates available for your Mac or Airport, install them.

Mac Wireless Troubleshooting: Intermediate
* Change wireless security protocol – You shouldn’t be using WEP anyway for security reasons, but sometimes changing from WEP to WPA/WPA2 or WPA to WPA2 can resolve wireless connection difficulties.

Make sure router firmware is up to date – Check your router manufacturers website for firmware updates, if there are any available, install them.
Delete and recreate connection – Try deleting and recreating/reestablishing the wireless connection, sometimes a setting can be corrupted and this may fix it.
Create a new Network Location – Similar to the above suggestion, try creating a new and different wireless network location to see if it resolves the connection problems.
Change DHCP auto settings to manual – sometimes there is a problem with the DHCP server, and if you manually set an IP address on the network you can be fine. Remember to set the IP to a high number so it wouldn’t interfere with other DHCP machines. As long as you have the subnet mask, router, and DNS settings configured manually as well, this shouldn’t be a problem.
Disable “Wireless G/N/B only” mode – Sometimes a setting is selected that only broadcasts your wireless signal in Wireless B, G, or N mode (depending on the routers abilities). If this is set, try disabling it.
Flush the DNS cache – Launch the Terminal and enter the following command onto one full line within the Terminal:

dscacheutil -flushcache

Mac Wireless Connection Problem Troubleshooting: Advanced
* Zap the PRAM – Reboot your Mac and hold Command+Option+P+R during restart until you hear another chime, let the Mac boot as usual.

Delete Wireless Config files – Delete com.apple.internetconfigpriv.plist and com.apple.internetconfig.plist files from ~/Library/Preferences and reboot
Trash your home directories SystemConfiguration – Remove all files within ~/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/ and then reboot your Mac.
Reset your Mac’s System Management Controller (SMC) – For MacBook and MacBook Pro’s: Shutdown the MacBook/Pro, remove the battery, disconnect the power, hold the Power Key for 15 seconds. Replace the battery, reconnect power, and zap the PRAM and wait for 2 chimes before letting the keys go. Let boot as usual.

source: osxdaily.com
http://osxdaily.com/2009/12/22/mac-wireless-problems-guide-to-troubleshooting-airport-wireless-problems-on-your-mac/


Which iPad PDF viewers (annotators, readers, whatevers) give a faithful rendering? I got a bit of a surprise when viewing a PDF today.  I'd originally looked at it on my iPad in Safari.  Then I looked at it later on my Linux machine using xpdf.  It looked ... different.  Here are the screenshots:

Safari on iPad:

xpdf on Linux:

This is a document produced by Adobe, so I'd expect them to get the PDF stuff right.  I therefore attribute it to the renderer rather than malformed PDF.  Here's the specs for the PDF:

% pdfinfo /tmp/PDF_Transparency.pdf
Title:          Transparency in PDF   Technical Note #5407
Subject:        Transparency in PDF files
Keywords:       PDF Transparency
Author:         Adobe Developer Technologies
Creator:        FrameMaker 6.0
Producer:       Acrobat Distiller 4.05 for Macintosh
CreationDate:   Fri Dec  1 16:41:40 2000
ModDate:        Fri Dec 15 16:53:01 2000
Tagged:         no
Pages:          82
Encrypted:      no
Page size:      612 x 792 pts (letter)
File size:      420449 bytes
Optimized:      yes
PDF version:    1.3

I got the document from the wayback machine at  http://web.archive.org/web/20011109072226/http://partners.adobe.com/asn/developer/acrosdk/docs/PDF_Transparency.pdf.

As a mathematician, the appalling rendering of the formula is extremely worrisome.

I tested this in a couple of other PDF-capable apps and they had the same rendering as Safari with the - obvious! - exception of Adobe Reader which had the True Rendering.  The fact that disparate apps give the same incorrect rendering makes me wonder if PDF rendering is something that is inbuilt to iOS5 and which most PDF apps use, but Adobe Reader chooses to ignore.

So my question(s) are:

Is that assumption correct?  If so, that makes reporting the bug easier as it implies that I can report it to a central place and if it gets fixed there it will propagate out.  So if so, where do I report it?
Are there PDF apps that get this right?  I've listed Adobe Reader above as one that does, I can report that GoodReader, GoodNotes, iAnnotator, Explain Everything, iBooks do not.  I've provided the source above to make it easy for people to check.  The screenshots are from p7 (internal numbering, p13 absolute).
Last one: was I just unlucky with this document?  I've been happily using mathematically-heavy documents on the iPad without noticing anything like this.  Should I be worried?

It seems to me that maybe not enough Fonts have been embedded in this ("old") PDF. I downloaded it on my Mac, opened it in Preview and exported it under a different name (without changing anything else).

GoodReader on my iPhone now shows the alpha´s correctly. Inspecting it with Acrobat Professional now shows more imbedded Fonts than before (and of course a newer PDF standard being used).


divorce- who keeps the music? My ex and I were together for 10 years.  in all that time we had a joint iTunes account. I want to be separate from his account but still be able to keep the music we have jointly accumulated and paid for over the years.
is there any way this can be done? or will he gain custody of our library?

Yes, there is a way for you both to still share the music you have jointly accumulated and paid for over the years. However, this can only happen with his agreement.

Basically it involves the use of Family Sharing.

The way you would set this up is to create a separate Apple ID for yourself (which you want to do anyway) and then invite him to be part of your Family Group (or he could create one and invite you to his).

Now, despite the above Apple page stating that all members of the Family Group pay for family purchases with the same credit card, the way to get around this is to ensure you have credit on your account (via gift cards). Below is an example of how this works.

EXAMPLE

You create an Apple ID and then create a Family Group. You then invite your Ex to be a part of that Family Group and technically this means that you agree to pay for any purchases they make via iTunes, iBooks, and the App Store. However, if your Ex has credit on his Apple ID (via iTunes gift cards) then any purchases they make directly using their Apple ID will come off their account credit. In other words, it would never come off your credit card unless they no longer had enough credit to cover the purchase. Of course, the roles could be reversed (i.e. he creates the Family Group and technically covers your purchases). Another option would be to just set up a specific debit card (e.g. Visa Debit Card) that is used for nothing else but your Family Sharing and, because it's a debit card (i.e. not a credit card), it can only spend money that's already in the account. You could each agree to put x$ into it every month etc to maintain it.

Now, I should point out that besides the fact you would both have to agree to this, this approach also means when you purchase music, an iBook, app, etc that he will be able to also download and use it (unless the author/developer has opted not to allow family sharing for that particular product). This may not be a big deal, or it may be (especially if you're concerned about privacy) because they will be able to see what you've purchased (if they go looking at the Purchased tab within iTunes, iBooks, the App Store, etc) unless you've manually chosen to hide it. Also, going down this path means you may want to selectively choose what you do activate at your end (e.g. you may not want to share your location, photos, etc).

For more information refer to:

Family Sharing
10 Things to Know Before Enabling Apple's Family Sharing


Apple App Store (install and get) loop, how to fix it? Apple App Store is stuck in a loop, when you press "get" you get "install", and when you press "install" you get "get" again, and so on with infinity loop, trying to download a free or commercial app — how do I make it stop?

I figured out that the problem came from fingerprint (Touch ID), as when I turned their options off, it worked like charm.

Just turn off those settings under "Touch ID & Passcode" section:
1. iPhone Unlock.
2. iTunes & App Store.


Equations in Word always mangled I have a document with thousands of equations in Word 16.17.

From times to times these equations display like this

I scroll up and down and sometimes the equations get fixed.

Is there a way to force the equation redraw on a page?

Thanks

You can use Tools-Marco to creat a marco for refresh display.
Sub RefreshDisplay()
Application.ScreenRefresh
End Sub
Then use Tools-Customize Keyboard to specify a keyboard shortcut.


Remove all partitions and reinstall MacOS I want to reinstall macOS but when I tried to repartition everything it only gave me 125 GB to install the OS on even though it's a 3TB drive. I think there may have been some kind of partition corruption because the computer was acting weird before all of this.

Basically trying to get back to square one and remove all partitions so I can do a fresh install but not sure where to go from here and why there is so much in this list (see image below):

Any advice would be great.

You have shown no evidence the internal drive is 3 TB in size. Assuming you are correct, then proceed as follows.

Boot to the USB Sierra installer.
From the menu bar select to open a Terminal Window.
Enter the command given below.

diskutil partitiondisk disk0 1 gpt jhfs+ "Macintosh HD" R

Quit the Terminal application.
Install Sierra.

  Note: The drives shown as disk images are just temporary drives created when you booted from the USB installer. This also occurs when you boot to a recovery volume or from internet recovery. The disk images are not stored on your internal drive.


macbook aluminum started backing up to time capsule without asking I normally back up my mb to an external drive at home with time machine (it's been about 3 weeks since my last full backup).  Recently a co worker sent me a file by placing it on a time capsule we have at the office.  I grabbed the file and thought nothing of it.

Today I noticed that the time machine icon was spinning like it does when preparing for a back up and after investigating I found that my mb was trying to back up to that time capsule.

I removed the drive from my list of backup locations, is there any way I can ensure this doesn't happen again?  Note that osx never asked me if I wanted to back up to the tc.

I don't have a Time Capsule so I'm not 100% sure this will solve your problem, but I use TimeMachineScheduler to ensure that Time Machine only runs when I want it to (generally on my not-at-work hours).


Keyboard option keys work as command keys I have a interesting Option Key problem  but I couldn't find any solution.

I am using iMac 21,5" and running Mac OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard.

My keyboard is apple  wired aluminum extended keyboard  and my layout is "Turkish QWERTY PC". My problem is both Options key work as Command key and , I cant type special characters.

I  opened Key Viewer and when i press option key  it shows as Command Key.

Note : I have a logitech g500  mouse

Note2 : I tried 3 diffrent keyboard ( Microsoft, logitech and apple ) result is same.

Note3 :   system prefs/keyboard/keyboard/modifier  buttons are default , and when i changed control button  to option button and press the control button its type command button again.

Is there any solution to fix this?

Thanks a lot.

Do you have the Logitech Control Center (LCC) software installed?

if so uninstall it and see what happens.

(I had a few issues when I had it installed with crashing and strange things happening to my keyboard (I only had a Logitech Mouse) which at the time all the knowledge on the interwebs told me was down to LCC being a pile of horse puckey.)


How can I tell if I have the bootcamp windows drivers installed What things should I look for in Windows to determine whether I have the bootcamp drivers installed? Are there some files or registry settings I can check for?

The ‘Boot Camp drivers’ are two main things: Boot Camp Control Panel (for adjusting Mac-relevant Boot Camp settings) and drivers for hardware components. This is why Boot Camp refers to the ‘drivers’ as ‘support files’ because there's a little more than just drivers for Windows.

Windows 10 can automatically install a few of these hardware drivers, such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi without the need to run their installers provided by Boot Camp (occasionally even newer versions are available outside of the Boot Camp drivers). Whilst these drivers are installed as part of the Boot Camp support files, identifying whether they are part of the Boot Camp drivers is an effort in futility.

The Boot Camp control panel can be found in the notification area if running, or in the Start Menu or Program Files folder. You can see if the software is installed in Programs and Features in Windows.

Without knowing why it's useful for you to know whether Boot Camp is installed, it's not really possible to say where to look, as there are too many independent components which make up the Boot Camp Windows support software.


Can I use my Mac to re-create an inverted audio noise cancellation effect? I would like to use my Mac as an audio cancelling device, like headphones that reproduce the outside noise in inverted form, so it cancels out (typically found in airports). With a normal pair of headphones, my Mac could record the ambient noise and send it to my headphones to achieve noise reduction.

Is there a program able to do this?

Audacity can do this as far as I know. There is a White Noise generator, and under the Effects menu there is a "Noise Removal" option.

I don't know if you can do it in realtime, but you could make a short recording of the ambient noise, run the Noise Removal, figure out what got removed (subtract before and after), and then play that part but inverted. Maybe....


Mountain Lion email share option opens a secondary Mail application I am having a weird issue when I use the share functionality baked into Mountain Lion. Whenever I have a file highlighted in finder and choose the email option to share a file with someone, it decides to "re-open" Mail. Now this is a problem for two reasons. One, having to start Mail up is an unnecessary waste of time if its already open (I always leave Mail running in a side space), and two, some of my accounts wont refresh because there are two simultaneous connections.

Here is a screenshot to better illustrate what is happening:

I select the file, hit share and chose email.

A second Mail app opens and begins to launch displaying the compose box (with the file attached)

It is also visible twice in mission control:

As you can see, Mail is open and running twice. Does anyone know why this is happening? It would be nice to find a way to prevent it.

The most likely explanation for this is that you have at least two versions of Mail installed (for whatever reason). Your system default mail application happens to be the old version.

When an application uses the sharing API on ML to write an email, it is opened in the default system mail application. This setting, strangely enough, is inside Mail's preferences (not System Preferences).

Under the General tab is an item called Default mail reader, which is your system default.

In your preferred version of Mail, Open Mail -> About Mail, and note the version. Now select that version of Mail in Mail's preferences for Default email reader.


How make Mac OS mail Connection Doctor forget older accounts I have created a number of "internet" accounts for mail in Mac OS, but for various reasons they didn't work, and I deleted them from the listings in the preferences, and of course they therefore don't appear in the Mac OS Mail app either. In fact, there are now zero accounts registered with mail abilities and zero appearing in my Mail app.

BUT, if I go to Mail, and choose Connection Doctor, it still scans those old email accounts to see if they can connect or not!

So it is clearly "retaining" those old accounts... and their credentials!! (because they are actually giving green lights for successful connection!)  ...

How do I get it to forget those old accounts? Cleanse that oddly cached account info?

Thanks!

Apple's Mail app stores the settings for SMTP servers apart from the settings for IMAP/POP3 servers. In my experience, this often leads to the fact that after deleting mail accounts, the SMTP servers are still visible in the connection doctor although all other data regarding a certain internet/email account have been removed.

In case the connection doctor shows you only the SMTP accounts of the already deleted mail accounts, please proceed as follows:

Open Mail > Settings > Accounts > SMTP-Server > Edit SMTP-Server list
In the dialog which opens: Select entries in the server list
Remove items by clicking on the minus-symbol below the list

In case the connection doctor also shows you the IMAP or POP3 account information of the  already deleted mail accounts, proceed as follows:

Quit Mail
Re-add the accounts using System Preferences > Internet Accounts
Open Mail
Quit Mail
Remove the accounts using System Preferences > Internet Accounts


Does the MacBook Air Support 5.1 Surround Sound The title pretty much says it all.  I have a 13" version of the newest-generation MBA.  Can I get 5.1 surround sound?  If so, do I have to do anything special to enable it?

Not natively, no. The headphone jack is a standard TRS with no optical component.

You can buy a USB sound "card" with 5.1 audio output such as this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Zalman-ZM-RSSC-External-Sound-Card/dp/B0001OZ2K8

That's just the first one I found, so a little more market research might be in order. Something similar to it should get the job done though.


Drawings on books purchased with iBooks Say I buy a book using iBooks (OS X Yosemite on a MacBook Pro). Using iBooks, I can highlight text and add notes. What about drawing shapes? e.g. circles, squares, arrows, etc.

If this is not possible with iBooks itself, is there any way to open a book bought with iBook on a different app with more editing support?

If your books are really PDFs, and there are no security restrictions, you could use Adobe/Acrobat Reader with its commenting tools.


Does replacing an iPhone/iPad battery reset the battery stats? I have purchased a refurbished iPad. It is from a Apple-certified repair shop, but I understand this is not the same as Apple refurbished.

On a MacBook with an internal battery, I can see in System Information that the battery still has its own firmware and serial number. Is it similar for iOS devices? Does the device know if the battery has been replaced and will this reset battery stats such as loadcycles?

The battery appears to have ~200 loadcycles and only 80% capacity, indicating it is not in good condition.

However, I have noticed that the charge level regularly goes above 100% when finishing the charge, which might make sense if the charging firmware was "surprised" by a new battery.

My Google-fu was unable to find any battery benchmarks for the iPad 4. (Retina iPad 2012), which I might use to compare the battery's actual performance. I get about 15 hours of screen on time, which seems good.

The battery contains the "battery info", not the logic board. So if you put a new battery, what the logic board reads is based on the current battery only.

Capacity and Charge are two different things. You're battery can be at 80% of it's design capacity but will still charge to 100% (of said capacity). It's just that a fully charged battery that is at 80% of Design Capacity will not last as long as a new battery that is at 100% Design Capacity.

As far as your battery, it is at the lower limit. 80% of Design Capacity is okay but as you use the battery and as it ages, it will continue to degrade. The difference between an iPad and an iPhone is that we typically don't use the iPad all day so even if the charge is low a few days later, we just charge it when were not using it. On an iPhone, it is constantly in use (various radios) so we quickly notice reduce battery lifespan.

Test your battery over time and when it gets below 70%, you may consider having it replaced but it will really depend on how you use your iPad on a daily basis more than anything else.


Are there add-ons for Mail? Does Mail on Mac OS have any add-ons applicable ? Such as the ones possible in website-based Gmail application ?

I would like a feature that allows me to UNDO a sent message. Gmail has an addon which accomplishes this.

Is it possible in the Mail app ?

There are plug-ins available for Apple Mail.  Some are plug-ins, some are AppleScripts.

You could easily accomplish this via AppleScript.  For example, here's a set of AppleScripts for Apple Mail that includes a delay send one, although the author of those scripts notes that they haven't been updated recently and might not work with more current versions of OS X.  You'll have to try it and see.  Since it's an AppleScript, if you're willing to get your hands dirty, you can edit it to better meet your needs.

Another option is Mail Scheduler, which includes delayed send as well as several other related items.


How? Steps to Fix SpringBoard Layout: IconState.plist Open, Edit, Replace, Insert from Backups & Respring Steps to Fix SpringBoard Layout: IconState.plist Open, Edit, Replace, Insert from Backups & Respring

Follow on to: Organize iOS App Icons, Sort, Rearrange

I've got an older iPhone 5 iOS 9.3.3 - 32 bit HomeDepot Jailbreak,
slowly transferring to iPhone 6 iOS 10.2 -   Yalu Jailbreak.

History:

2015, around transition from iOS 7.1.1 to 9.0.2,the iTunes sync messed up and the JB window was gone, got left with 100s of disorganized apps & messsed up Springboard layout.
Luckily I'd backed up SpringBoard Layout; old backups of i5's IconSupportState.plist that was to be converted to and replace IconState.plist as per instruction from the tweak Developer since folder support had improved from iOS 7 to 9.

Jailbreak Functionality & Access Limitations and actions :

On i5 (not i6), despite HD JB & several tweak reinstalls, have been unable to root File System access via afc2add or Apple File Conduit 2 (App FC2) working on iFunbox or iMazing.
Even OpenSSH runs for a while, but then I have to reinstall it in Cydia.
Using WinSCP I've been able to access & backup /var/mobile/Library/SpringBoard and use Notepad++ which has a plugin to open & edit IconSupportState.plist & IconState.plist & DesiredIconState.plist.
Due to Notepad++ & XML background I understand the structure & once fixed to how I want, I'd like to replace it on my i5.

Additional Info: http://iky1e.tumblr.com/post/11704062690/springboard-icon-layouts-iconstateplist

I assumed that once copied from PC to i5, to get it "active" I need to re-spring.
For some reason, I've been unable to get that to "take". I'm wondering if I need the correct way to Respring under this iOS+JB combination.

Questions on the steps to get this fix in place:

Am I choosing, editing and replacing the correct .plist or making some mistake?
Is there a better path/location to where I can upload the .plist?
Is there another way for me to replace the SpringBoard .plist(s)?
What's the best steps &/ right tweak to Respring/ Reboot (on i5 iOS 9.3.3 32bit HomeDepot JB & i6 iOS 10.2.x Yalu JB) for this - after .plist is replaced/ inserted?

Add-on to help fix & maintain SpringBoard Layout:

What are the newer SB layout backup tweaks?
Any thoughts on how I can get Full Raw File System via USB & OpenSSH via WiFi working properly on i5 iOS 9.3.3 HomeDepot JB?

http://forums.imore.com/iphone-apps-games/308394-how-save-ios-icon-folder-layout-information-home-screen-ios-8-a.html

The rough answer from this link is what has helped me. I will post more detailed to the answer as I progress through it. Hopefully, this helps someone in the meantime.

You need to be jailbroken for this to work.

Transfer all your apps to iTunes so you can get them back.

Backup the following file using iFile in the following directory: private/var/mobile/Library/SpringBoard
IconState.plist

Backup this file to dropbox using iFile.

Restore iPhone as new. Sync apps back using iTunes. Re-jailbreak phone. Install iFile.

To restore springboard organization, rename the backed up file IconState.plist to DesiredIconState.plist and then copy to private/var/mobile/Library/SpringBoard.

Overwrite the existing file if necessary. Respring and springboard layout should be restored.

Additional Reverse Engineering Reference used for the answer but forgot to link:
https://zhangkn.github.io/2018/03/com.apple.Preferences/


What iPhone mail application is this? What iPhone application for mail is this please? I don't recognise it, but it seems to be popular in Sweden.

Obviously I have removed the email portion to respect the user's privacy.

It looks like a Boxer - Workspace ONE app from VMware.


Album art messed up on iPhone 4 From time to time the album art on my iPhone 4 becomes completely messed up. In iTunes they are correct, but on the phone they are suddenly mixed up. Album A gets the art from album K, and album C from album G, and by luck album E has the right one... very annoying. I can "fix" it by resyncing everything (don't sync, apply, sync, apply), but I'm getting really tired of that.

Does anyone else experience this? Why does it happen? Anything I can do to fix it more permanently? Does Apple know about this?

This is a problem that's caused many people head aches, and also seems to occur on iPhone 3gs models.

For more detail on what fixes have been attempted, you can read this Apple discussions thread on this issue.

There was a discussion thread I read a few months ago (which I can't seem to find) where multiple people reported a success at fixing the issue by doing the following:

Unsync all music and playlists on the iPhone
Click on the Apply / Sync button in iTunes
Shutdown / reboot the iPhone
Connect to iTunes and once again do a (blank playlist) second sync with iTunes clicking on the Apply / Sync button.
Add back playlists and re-sync with iTunes.


Permission needed to change icons of native Apple apps Okay so here's my problem. I want to change the icons of the Dashboard, Launcher, Quicktime, Notes, Mail etc. But when I paste my icon to the top left mini icon in the preview window (on the Get Info page) it won't let me.
Then I tried to change the permission settings to be able to edit the icon or change anything in the application folder but it tells me that i do not have the permission even tho I'm the sole user of the Mac.

I'm on El Capitan so I don't know if it's because of the new upgrade.

Turn off your Mac.
Boot it in Recovery Mode by holding down ⌘-R until the Apple logo with a progress bar pops up.
Click "Utilities" in the menu bar, and select Terminal.
Type the command "csrutil status" and press Enter.
If enabled, type "csrutil disable".
Press Enter.
Click the  in the menu bar and select Restart.
Now, the copy and paste method should work.

For more detailed instructions, check out http://hashbangstar.net/blog/changing-icons-in-el-capitan

You can also download a program called Liteicon from
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/24764/liteicon

You still have to do steps 1-8 but it makes changing icons super easy! You can also easily change the Finder icon and Trash Can by using the drag and drop method.


Copying applications and data manually/Wifi issues with El Capitan Is it possible to copy both data applications manually, downgrade the OS from El Capitan to Yosemite and then copy the apps and data back? Its almost 6 weeks since I upgraded, so don't want to downgrade to an old backup and the new backups are with El Capitan so will not help.

I installed El Capitan (10.11.3) and since then have had major wifi issues. Nothing that I have tried so far has worked (including Apple Support and a visit to the Genius bar). I am hoping that Yosemite will not give these issues. I was on an earlier OS and had no issues at all. All other devices are also working fine, so I am assuming that this is related to EL Capitan (also based on what I see being reported).

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Can you copy your data and applications?  Yes.

Should you?  I most definitely don't recommend it.  It's a extremely time consuming processes and there is no guarantee that what you copy over will work properly.

While I personally believe it is beyond unacceptable that users have been suffering through WiFi issues with each iteration of OS X, it's not feasible to keep upgrading/downgrading operating systems in the hopes of being able to connect.

What I would do (and have done for others) is get a USB WiFi adapter.  If you don't need 802.11ac but 802.11n is more than adequate, then have a look at this adapter

What you do, is disable the onboard WiFi and move this one up in the priority list under Network Preferences.

This will solve your WiFi issues without having to go through the trouble of backing up and downgrading your OS


How to open an app on login on secondary screen? Several apps I use are set to "Open at Login". However, they are always opened on the primary screen, instead of the last position, which is the secondary one.
I those apps exclusively on the secondary display and it's pretty annoying to always move them there and resize because of extra space (no dock there).

How can I configure where apps will open by default?
How can I force them to keep the same size as last time they were used?

Assign to Space

Go to the space you want the app to open in (in your case the second space)
Right click your application's dock icon
Move your cursor to "Options" Under "Assign to" select "This Desktop"

Window position and size control

I Googled and found a solution for the resizing issue. (Source)

Make your application launch via an Apple Script!

Make a script similar to this:

tell application "YOUR APPLICATION NAME"
    launch
end tell
tell application "YOUR APPLICATION NAME"
    set the bounds of the front window to {0, 22, 800, 1024}
end tell

Save it as "Application"
Put the saved application in your Launch Items instead of the program itself
Additionally you may undock it with Dock Dodger to make this script run silently.


AppleScript: How to get all window names of processes that share the same title? The process, RSScriptRunner, represents a currently running script that was triggered by FastScripts.app. (FastScripts does not assign unique process titles to scripts that it triggers.)

If one has multiple processes titled RSScriptRunner running simultaneously, then the following code:

tell application "System Events" to windows of process "RSScriptRunner"

will only return the window name of the process that began the earliest.

However, I would like to get every window name of every RSScriptRunner process.

Does anyone know how to accomplish this in AppleScript?

My ultimate intent here is to implement a check that ensures that only one instance of one script can run simultaneously. Multiple different scripts running is okay, but multiples of a script running at the same time is undesirable.

The code would look something like this:

tell application "System Events"
    set theWindowList to windows of process "RSScriptRunner"
    if theWindowList contains "The title of the initial dialog of this script goes here." then
        error number -128
    end if
end tell

This check would be located at the very top of the script.

Note:

This is very much a situation where minimal latency is crucial.

I had devised a long-winded method that successfully realized my desired outcome. The method entailed getting every current process title into one list, and getting every current process ID into another, corresponding list. I then retrieved the window name of each RSScriptRunner process via its respective process ID (which, unlike the process name, must be unique).

However, this method brought with it a couple seconds of latency. I need a solution that is nearly instant (such as, the line of code above).

Note: On my system, macOS Sierra, there is no window for this process.

You can use a whose clause, like this:

For a process that contains only one window, use this script:

tell application "System Events"
    set theWindowList to name of window 1 of (processes whose name is "RSScriptRunner")
    if theWindowList contains "The title of the initial dialog of this script goes here." then
        error number -128
    end if
end tell

For a process that can contain one or more windows, use this script:

tell application "System Events"
    set myList to name of windows of (processes whose name is "RSScriptRunner") -- get a list of lists, each sublist contains names
end tell
set theWindowList to my subListsToOneList(myList) --  Flattening a list of lists

if theWindowList contains "The title of the initial dialog of this script goes here." then
    error number -128
end if

on subListsToOneList(l)
    set newL to {}
    repeat with i in l
        set newL to newL & i
    end repeat
    return newL
end subListsToOneList

The solution for macOS Sierra, maybe it works for other OSes as well, to get the name of the launched scripts, is to use the ps and pgrep commands.

set theNameList to paragraphs of (do shell script "ps -p $(pgrep -x RSScriptRunner) | sed -n 's:.*RSScriptRunner.*/::p'") -- get the name of the scripts
if theNameList contains "the name of this script.scpt" then error number -128

Informations:

$(pgrep -x RSScriptRunner) : A sub shell to get the process ID of
each instance of the RSScriptRunner, the '-x' option: require
an exact match of the process name
ps -p: get the command of each PID (the result contains the path of
the launched script).
The sed command : delete characters from the beginning of the line
through the last slash character to get the name of the script (the
-noption is to print the line which contains the
'RSScriptRunner' word only, because the first line is the headers
--> PID TTY           TIME CMD).


Terminal: Switch between panes after vertical split I'm using Terminal.app version 2.9.1 which is built into macOS. I just learned that I can split the screen vertically using Command + D (and un-split it via Command + Shift + D).

However, I do not understand how to use the two views differently. In fact whenever I type a command in the lower screen, say ls, the same happens in the upper screen.

Also, I do not understand how to use the upper screen. I read somewhere that Command + Alt + ↑ should do the job, but that doesn't seem to work.

From this answer:

  You're misinterpreting the feature. It's not meant for two separate terminals. It's intended to allow a user to see two different view points in the same terminal. For instance, if you have 3000 files in a directory, and you perform an ls command, that output is going to be very long.

  If you use the split pane, you can scroll through that long output without having to flip back and forth, possibly losing your place along the way.

  If you want two terminals, use tabs, or separate windows.

Alternatively, you can also install and use a widely used 3rd party Terminal emulator called iTerm2. iTerm2 has various features including the ability to create Split Panes, with support for keyboard shortcuts.


Can I map a function key to a command key combo? Mission Control has freed up a couple of my function keys, I'd like to try using one of them to activate the application switcher. I've tried the Keyboard Shortcuts preference pane, and Spark.app, but no luck. Any other ideas?

Try the free KeyRemap4MacBook from the site below

http://pqrs.org/macosx/keyremap4macbook


2012 iMac stuck at grey screen after reinstall, plus the inability to restore from backup prior to this. Please help! Okay I'm just going to list out what has happened over the past 24 hours:

Lost a bunch of files.
Tried to restore from backup. After waiting for about an hour, it just randomly stopped at around 40/50% and went back to OS X Utilities.
Tried again, did the same thing.
Reluctantly tried again, and obviously it did the same thing.
I then tried to reinstall OS X Mavericks. After waiting about 6 hours (British countryside internet) to download, then another half an hour to install, it rebooted and then got stuck at grey Apple screen with loading icon. Left it overnight, woke up 7 hours later and it's still on the same screen.
Since then I have tried resetting PRAM, SMC, safe boot, unplugging all peripherals etc. a lot of things I have seen online, however none of them have worked.

Obviously I've backed up with Time Machine to an external hard drive, so wiping Macintosh HD shouldn't be a problem as a last resort.

Here are my Mac's specs:

Late 2012 27" iMac
Intel Core i7 3.4GHz
8GB RAM
1TB Fusion Drive
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX
Whatever the latest version of Mavericks is. (10.9.4 maybe?)

Thanks in advance for any help!

Use the recovery mode of OSX to run Disk Utility so that you can check whether your HDD is faulty. See:

https://www.apple.com/osx/recovery/


Graphics performance on MacBook Pro 15 / 2015 I am going to buy a 2015 Macbook Pro. I'd like to be able to run SolidWorks with Parallels or Bootcamp occasionally (for 3D printing model development). I believe it requires OpenGL.

I am confused about the model configuration and capabilities. Will the 2.2GHz/16GB/256GB model suffice or do I need to go for 2.5/16/512 one?

It all started with this page: http://community.foundry.com/discuss/topic/122224, where 2.2/16/256 model seems to lack OpenGL capability altogether.

According to https://everymac.com/systems/by_year/macs-released-in-2015.html, the 2.2/16/256 version doesn't have a dedicated graphics card, while the 2.5/16/512 does. First, can I trust this source? Any way to cross-check? Couldn't find this information on the Apple site. Second, is the dedicated graphics card required if I only need to run SolidWorks occasionally? I don't need so much SSD space, and wouldn't like paying for high-performance graphics unless I really need it.

The related Apple page doesn't mention this difference at all, and confused me into ordering 2.2/16/256 model at the moment. I am not sure I can return the computer once I create my user account or install the software, hence this question.

Thanks a ton for the answers/comments!

First, can I trust this source?  Any way to cross-check?

Everymac.com should be considered a trusted source.  This can be cross checked by looking at two sources:

Apple website; tech specs of 2015 MBP will tell you it uses an Intel Iris integrated graphics chipset
Info about Integrated video on Intel based Mac computers; also on Apple's website.

Basically, Intel Pro Graphics (integrated graphics) uses shared memory of up to 1.5GB of system RAM.  There's no dedicated GPU.

  Second, is the dedicated graphics card required if I only need to run
  SolidWorks occasionally?

Do you need it?  No, it's not required.  You may find that the performance (lack of) is something you can live with if you are only using it occasionally.

  I don't need so much SSD space, and wouldn't like paying for
  high-performance graphics unless I really need it.

One factor you need to be cognizant of is that these models are completely un-upgradeable.  The best advice that I can give (which I personally live by) is purchase for what you think you will need tomorrow not what you need today.  Further, if the performance for what you want to do today is marginal at best, it's not going to get any better in the future.

Keep in mind that the phrase, "Gee, my graphics is just too responsive" and "I wish I didn't have so much storage" was uttered by no one, ever.


Best approach to offsite backups with Time Machine and USB Disks What is the best approach to using multiple USB disks and Time Machine to achieve a backup methodology with one drive being used for current backups and one stored offsite and updated periodically?

I've considered swapping the disks periodically but that would mean that the drive that comes "in" from being offsite would be missing incremental backups for whatever period it was offsite.

Is it better to simply backup to one disk and periodically clone it to the disk that is going offsite?  That seems simple but creates a window during which both disks are onsite.

I have thought about that same problem for quite some time now. With online backups, large amounts of files are slow to upload and inconvenient to download; so I really like the two physical USB drives approach. Having both disks onsite while you clone the most recent disk is not as bad as long as you limit the time you use for this. Don't do it over a week, for instance. Get it cloned and offsite ASAP.

Having said all of that, my answer to your question is to use something like a Drobo. I haven't done it yet, but Drobo seems like it fits the bill: The Mac will see it as one big Time Machine volume, but in reality you are mirroring multiple disks at the same time. If price is not an issue, and you don't mind handling SATA drives around (You can get an enclosure for the one that will be traveling offsite) it may be something to look into.

Hope this helps.


Restoring old iPhone settings off iCloud with different iOS without iTunes? I backed up my iPhone 5 on iOS 7.1.3 last night, today I got a new iPhone 5 with iOS 6 on it. When I went to restore from iCloud upon turning on device, it won't let me because all my back ups are on iOS 7, not iOS 6 which new iPhone 5 has factory installed.

Set up your iPhone 5 as a new iPhone, skipping all the questions. It doesn't really matter what settings you give since they will be removed when you restore your backup.
Use iTunes to restore the device to iOS 7 by connecting to iTunes and clicking Restore.
Once this is complete, your device will be on iOS 7 and will go through the setup process. It is during this where you can select to restore from backup, and since your device is on iOS 7, it will allow the backup to be restored.


What is the minimum charging requirements to charge an Iphone 7. Current and Voltage I am building a solar charge and need to know what is the bare minimum voltage and current needed to charge an iphone 7. Even if it slow charges it's okay.

Thank you guys in advance

You need 5V.

The trick is going to be supplying the correct amount of current.  1.5A is probably the minimum, but you're not going to "quick charge" with that amount.  To quick charge you need at least 18W or 3.6A of current.


Volume of buttons when dialog a number I have an iPhone7. When I dial a number I find that the volume level of pressing the buttons is very low. Is there a way to increase it?

I have the same volume level question for send/receive text message. My ringtone volume is fine. It is just the aforementioned I can't work out.

It appears that the sound volumes are closely related, but you can change the tones you have selected (at least for text messages and alerts).

You can also make sure that you are adjusting the ringer/alert volume and not the media volume.

Navigate to Settings Then open Sounds & Haptics Then  under RINGER AND ALERTS enable "Change with Buttons"

Once you've done this, you can increase the ringer/alert volume from the side buttons. This alert/ringer volume is also the one that controls the the sound of the keypad. (I confirmed on an iPhone 11)

You can also confirm that your "Text Tone" is the alert you want.

An alternate troubleshooting option would be to switch the "Ringtone" and "Text Tone" pattern to see if it is an issue with the alert tone you have selected.


Safari Top Sites auto-refresh It seems that Safari 7.0 (for Mac) doesn't refresh the previews (anymore). Is there a way to turn this (back) on?

You can hit cmd+R while viewing Top Sites to manually refresh.

((I'm still trying to figure out how to restore automatic refresh.))


Application name not appearing below thumbnail in mission control unless cursor is on it In mission control, I couldn't see Application names below thumbnails if the cursor is somewhere else. See this image.

If I move the cursor onto any thumbnail, then I'm seeing the application name.

Is there any setting that enables even if the cursor isn't hovering on the app thumbnail. Like images in this answer. Desktop 1, Mail, Desktop 2, Desktop 3 are appearing all at once and cursor isn't on those thumbnails.

It turns out once we have over 12 or so spaces it starts to have this zoom-on-hover effect with the space descriptions hidden. We cannot change this behavior. Source.


Is it possible to an individual developer to invite another developer to manage apps on iTunes Connect? I developed an application for my friend who has an individual developer registration, I have got a simple developer registration without individual enrollment.

Is it possible to invite me at the Apple App Store to manage this application? or we need a company registration?

Only Company / Organization accounts can add additional developers to its team. As stated under the Enrollment Selection page, in the Individual account section:

Individual Development Only
You are the only one allowed access to program resources.


Can Mountain Lion OS X run on HP G62 series using VMWare virtualization? My laptop specifications are:

Intel Core i3 M350 2.27 GHZ
4G RAM DDR2
MS Windows 64 bit is installed

I am trying to install OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.

The setups are:

VMware Workstation 8 is installed.
VMware Unlocker windows version is installed.
Open OS X Mountain Lion.vmx

I got this error message "EFI VMware Virstual SCSI hard drive ... unsuccessful." At this point the virtual machine restarts so I'm at a loss as how to continue to run 10.8 on my VMWare software.

A more or less official answer from a VMWare support forum moderator from what I can tell is at
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/428763?tstart=825

In short. Windows CANNOT run an OSX guest OS. The OP in the linked thread is even running a Mac under bootcamp, and hangs at Apple logo on boot. Proper hardware emulation is the cited cause. There might even be a bit (pun intended) (intentionally) missing from BootCamp drivers to hinder such activity.


How to stop WiFi "Looking for Networks..." There's been a recent question asking about disabling WiFi at boot time. This is not that same question, but is related.

I don't want to disable WiFi, but I would like to stop it from "Looking for Networks..." on my Macbook Pro while I am connected to a network.

"Looking for Networks..." strikes me as wasted effort much of the time. The exception being when you take a laptop into a new place. I certainly don't want to switch from my chosen network when I'm home. Yet, according the GUI, the system is "Looking for Networks..." every 2-3 seconds in a mostly pointless expenditure of resources.

I've searched for data to corroborate my feelings that this is a waste of resources. I was unable to find anything for MacOs specifically. In fact, I found nothing that appeared to be definitive explaining exactly what "Looking for Networks..." actually means.

Are any data available that document what and how many resources are being used in "Looking for Networks..."? Is there any way to stop the system from "Looking for Networks..." when WiFi is on and connected to a functional AP?

I don't think "Looking for Networks..." is a "channel scan" as discussed here and here, but I'm not certain.

First off, you are correct that Looking for Networks is not a channel scan.  The difference is, the first is looking for broadcast SSIDs where the latter is looking for a non-crowded channel within the 2.4GHz or 5GHz frequencies that it can use for maximum speed and reliability.  When you enable "Auto Channel Selection" (default on most routers) it will automatically look for the least congested channel - that's what the discussion is referring to when talking about a channel scan.
As for Looking for Networks you're right that it would be a pointless expenditure of resources, however, this is only activated when you open the GUI.  macOS will automatically start looking for networks when you click on the WiFi icon in the menu bar because, it's assuming (technically, the developers assumed) that you'd want to see all the available networks.  Thus it does a scan.   Once you close the GUI, it no longer scans.
How WiFi scanning works
It's important to note that your Mac (or any other computer/OS) isn't doing anything actively to look for your SSID.  It's not sending out any signal that asking for the AP to respond back.  It's actually the opposite.
Beacon Frame
Every AP (by default) sends out management frames that, for a lack of a better descriptor, help manage the functions of a WiFi network.  One of those frames is a Beacon frame and within it, there is key information about the WiFi network, but most importantly, the SSID.  This is being broadcast no matter what and has nothing to do with the client operating system (in this case macOS, but it could be Windows, BSD, or Linux) as it's being transmitted by the WAP (wireless access point).
When you scan for wireless networks, you tell the WiFi chip (Broadcom BCM43xx for example) to listen for these frames.  When you find an AP you'd like to communicate with, it sends a "probe request" to the WAP for it to begin the authentication process.
Is it always scanning?
Well, yes and no.  Those management packets including the beacon frame are in the air and the WiFi chip will receive it.  It obviously doesn't need beacon frames from SSIDs it's not attached to (if already attached) and will discard them.  However, it does need the other management frames and will process them accordingly.
So, is it actually scanning?  No.  It's listening.  It's just that when you open the GUI it's actively listening.  When the GUI isn't open it's passively listening.  In other words, it's a guy watching football as his significant other is trying to have a conversation.


Photos sync from iTunes mac osx to iOS/iPhone location unknown? I transferred some videos from my Mac OS X Photos using iTunes app to my iPhone/iOS. I pressed Sync and it worked on transferring it to my iPhone. On my Mac OS X iTunes, the free storage for my iPhone reduced after the sync so I have some clue that transfer did happen. However, I don't where exactly in my iPhone are those videos transferred and how to access them?

The places to check would be:

Photos app (Camera Roll)
Movies/Videos app (if you're on iOS 9 or earlier; this app is gone in iOS 10)
Cloud Photo Library


Books - PDF - Preview - Search : "No Results Found" I recently upgraded from High Sierra to Mojave, and consequently iBooks became Books. I now have an issue with Books which was not present in iBooks.

I have stored many PDFs iBooks. Clicking on one of them and Preview opens. I could search in the text by Search; just fine.

Now in Books the Search in Preview gives "No Results Found" : for many PDFs but not for all PDFs. It works sometimes. (Of course I have checked that the text is present in the PDF.)

Thanks for your time.

Books version 1.16.,
macOS Mojave 10.14.2,
MacBook Pro 13 inch Late 2013

The culprit is Preview. Also for a (text) PDF file which is not in Books the "No Results Found" message shows up.

I killed and restarted Preview a few times on the same PDF file. And then the Search worked again.

Annoying. But it seems a solution.


Loosing WiFi router connection when moving from one router to another I have an issue with my mac book pro (15")

I connect to the WiFi at home but when I take it to my work WiFi it cannot connect.

I get no errors or messages.

Does anybody have any idea what can resolve this issue?

Thanks in advance.

This could be caused by any number of things. Your work may have access restrictions in place which prevent unauthorised devices from connecting. The first place to ask would be your companies IT staff.


How can I prevent Keynote from storing files in iCloud? I am running Sierra, but I am sure the problem is as bad, or worse, in High Sierra.

I don't want to store files in iCloud, unless I decide to. But now, when I go to save a new file in Keynote, I don't even get a dialogue box: it is automatically put into iCloud, and I have to manually save it elsewhere.  I have thought about turning iCloud off, but I don't mind having system prefs saving stuff there - just not my voluminous workfiles that I share via DropBox instead.
How do I stop this happening?

Go to System Preferences > iCloud > iCloud Drive and click on the Options... button.

In the Documents section, uncheck the Keynote.app (and any other app you don't want) to stop it from saving in iCloud:


Activate an AT&T iPhone 3GS outside of USA after iOS upgrade I'd like to know if it's possible to activate an AT&T iPhone 3GS outside of USA.

I live in Brazil and I've bought this iPhone from eBay. As it came with iOS 4.x (I don't remember the exact version), the first time I connected it to my computer (Mac), iTunes offered to upgrade it to iOS 6.1.3.

This is the problem: it was jailbroken before the upgrade and it was working fine with my carrier (TIM). But after the upgrade, I'm not able to activate it.

Even if I try to "hacktivate" and install ultrasn0w, it still doesn't recognise my SIM card.

I've read somewhere that I should use an AT&T SIM card to activate it and then I should jailbreak and install ultrasn0w.

And this is my question: Will this process work if I do it in Brazil? I mean: I'm planning to ask a friend to bring me an AT&T SIM card from USA. Would this work as expected? Or does the iPhone must be in USA for the activation?

Yes - you just need any new or secondhand AT&T SIM to get the device activated. If you can keep that SIM to do the activation so much the better, so having a friend bring one would be easy if you can wait.

The process won't care where in the world you are, just that when the device connects to Apple's activation servers, the SIM number from the card is in an AT&T range. At that point, you'll need to do the jailbreak work appropriate for the device and the OS level but it will work as a WiFi based device with just the correct SIM and no AT&T contract required.


Why would Apple configure MacBook Pro to use inferior graphics card when a better one is installed? The symptom of this was freezing streaming that Apple Support took 1.5 hours to diagnose and another hour to attempt to fix.

Apparently, MacBook Pro 16" 2019 comes with two graphics card: the advertised ATI Radeon and an integrated one by Intel. ATI Radeon is supposed to be much better; thus MacBook Pro is advertising it; why do they have the integrated one I don't know.

Anyway, my brand new MacBook (Catalina) was setup to use the integrated graphics card, while the more powerful ATI Radeon was staying idle, doing absolutely nothing. As the result it's freezing for a fraction of a second every few minutes.

Did anybody else see this? If you have a MacBook Pro, and in About This Mac / System Report / Graphics/Displays see multiple graphics cards, which one is used by MacBook, according to About This Mac / Graphics?

More importantly, is it possible to reconfigure which one is being used? Apple Support tried things such reinstalling OS, which changed absolutely nothing.

MacBook Pro has come in models with both an integrated and a discrete graphics processing unit for many years now.

The integrated graphics uses less energy than the discrete GPU, so in order to maximize battery life, it is used whenever possible.

The integrated graphics should be plenty powerful to play ordinary YouTube videos or play a DVD, which are the tasks you describe in your linked question. Unless you have an external monitor connected to the MacBook Pro, the integrated graphics should handle this fine.

However, you can definitely configure your MacBook Pro to use the discrete graphics. This way you can test whether or not the problem goes away when using the discrete graphics.

You can the setting by opening System Preferences > Energy Saver, and removing the checkmark from the "Automatic graphics switching" checkbox. When this checkmark is removed, the computer will use the discrete graphics at all times.

Read more about it in Apple's documentation:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202043


Is there way to show disk i/o read/writes per process in real time? I am struggling to find out what process is eating away my Mac performance, and disk i/o is the culprit. Activity Monitor frequently shows megabytes of read/write, but unfortunately, it does not show the per process value (only total written by given process, which is useless).
  Is there a way to find out?
  iotop does not seem to work, because I am on Sierra, and SIP is enabled.

Thank You,
Zsolt

iStat Menus  shows, among many many other things, disk activity by process. It is not free, but you can do a 14 day trial.


Dual monitor on Macbook Pro Retina: difference between 13 and 15 inches? Can the HD 4000 of the Macbook Pro Retina 13 easily handle 2 monitor at 1920x1080 or would it be better to buy a Macbook Pro Retina 15 because it has a separate GPU ? At the Macbook Retina's release, I heard it had some scrolling issues because of the large resolution it had to deal with and I do not want to experience that on external displays.
I plan to plug the 2 monitors on the 2 thunderbolt ports.

HT5219 Thunderbolt ports and displays: Frequently asked questions (FAQ) says the 13" Retina Macbook Pro will happily run with two Thunderbolt displays.

Although I have not used it first hand, I would not expect you to have performance issues running the two extra displays. The main retina display is actually drawing 4 times as many pixels as the external displays, and then scaling the image down, so a Thunderbolt display is not going to make much of a difference.

As to the scrolling performance, I believe that was fixed in a software update