Can't restore iPhone 6S to latest iPhone 5 backup My iPhone 6S came today. I dutifully backed up my iPhone 5 to iTunes, as you can see here in the list of backups:

("Mattress" is the name of my iPhone.)

Great. So I set up my iPhone 6S as a new phone, so I could update the software to match what is installed on the 5. And then I went to restore the backup from today, and:

Where's my backup from today? Why can't I restore it to my new phone?

A clue: July 10th, the date of the backup I can see, is the day I installed the iOS 9 beta on the old phone. Registering the 6S for the beta program hasn't solved it, and neither has deregistering the 5 and creating a new backup.

I'm going to assume your iPhone 5 is running the latest beta, which is iOS 9.1. This is newer version than iOS 9.0.1--the latest non-beta release, and the version your iPhone 6s is running, according to your screenshot.

A backup can only be restored onto a phone running the same, or a newer, version of iOS.

So, if my initial assumption is correct, you'd need to pick one of these options:

Restore from your July 10th backup--it's clear you'd prefer
not to do this.
Downgrade your iPhone 5 to iOS 9.0.1, and then create a new backup which
should then be restorable. (Is this even possible? Perhaps by restoring
your iPhone 5 from it's July 10th backup... which is no better than
above.)
Wait until iOS 9.1 is officially released, and then restore from this
backup after you have upgraded your iPhone 6s to that new version (who
wants to wait that long?).
Upgrade your shiny new iPhone 6s to the current 9.1 beta release and
then restore from the current, missing, backup, which will hopefully
become available as the iOS version numbers will now be compatible.


How to downgrade to mac OS X Lion I'm pretty new to the Mac environment. Recently my Mac Mini was updated to OS X El Capitan from OS X Lion, due to some of my software being incompatible.

Hence, I'd like to downgrade to OS X Lion (10.7), but when trying to download OS X Lion from the Apple website I'm asked to pay for it.
Do I really need to pay for it as I had the same OS running previously?

The Internet Recovery (Option-Command-R at boot) installer will let you install the earliest supported Mac OS X version for your hardware (only as far back as Lion if your device supports an earlier version).


Apple maps view route duration without traffic I am going to the airport tomorrow morning for a flight, the current time on maps shows as:

The average time to drive 25 miles considering this is a motorway route is around 30 minutes.

I want to view this route without traffic, as at 3/4 am I doubt there’ll be even any traffic.

How can I view this route without traffic?

I have tried:

1) Searching for traffic settings in the settings app (no results found)

2) Going to maps -> info and turning traffic off:

The route still shows as red and the same duration. After turning traffic off I have tried to restart the maps app etc.

I am on iOS 13.3.1. How can I fix this?

There's no way to schedule a drive or to view routes without traffic at the moment in Apple Maps.
The Traffic button just displays the traffic on the map, it doesn't affect the routes.

The only thing you can do is use another app (like GMaps or Waze) and send feedback to Apple (Report an issue > Other Issue).


El Capitan - Weather search in Spotlight not working I've just upgraded my Mac to OS X El Capitan and typed:

weather in Sao Paulo, BR

I got nothing.

I'm actually in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Any ideas?

From testing on my Mac, I can confirm that weather in Sao Paulo, BR doesn't actually show the weather, whereas weather in Sao Paulo, or weather in Sao Paulo, Brazil does. Whether or not the ã is used doesn't affect the result:

If these inputs don't return the natural language search results, then check on the OS X Feature Availability page. You may need to reconfigure your Language & Region settings in System Preferences in order to use the feature, until it's supported for your current Language and Region settings.

If neither of these methods provide solutions, you may want to try disabling and reenabling Spotlight Suggestions.

Open System Preferences & navigate to Spotlight

Ensure that Spotlight Suggestions is checked; if it's already checked, uncheck spotlight suggestions, then recheck it. Now, try bringing up Spotlight and you should be able to get the weather from typing weather in sao paulo


Using the same partition for both Time Machine and other files Is it harmful or dangerous to the other files in the same partition as the Time Machine?

Because a lack of storage, every time the Time Machine backs up my Mac, it deletes the oldest backup. Is there a danger that the Time Machine is about to delete my other files in this partition?

These are my folders in the hard drive. You can see that there are some folders of the Time Machine, besides a folder of my files - Archive:

According to this HowToGeek article, as long as you don't put anything in the Backups.backupdb, you will be fine.
The Time Machine only deletes files inside the Backups.backupdb folder.
So your Archive folder and the files in it should be fine.
Relevant paragraphs from the HowToGeek article.

The easiest way to store files on your Time Machine drive is just placing the files on there directly. Plug in your Time Machine drive and open it in the Finder. You’ll see a folder named “Backups.backupdb”. Time Machine stores all its backup files under this folder. Just leave this folder alone and let Time Machine use it normally.
Place personal files and folders outside the Backups.backupdb folder. Don’t place anything inside the Backups.backupdb folder — Time Machine automatically deletes files and folders inside there to free up space, so you may find your personal files deleted if put them there.


How to upgrade macOS minor update without updating Safari? I want to upgrade to  macOS 10.14.6 from 10.14.5 but keep Safari 12.1.1 intact instead of Safari 13, which I guess comes with it.

Is there a way to upgrade macOS, but not Safari?

macOS Mojave (obviously), MacBook Air 2017.

Clicking the top "More Info..." takes me to macOS Catalina webpage.

Clicking the second "More Info" opens the tray below.

I am already on 10.14.6 so can't confirm this but have downloaded 10.14.6 Update (I didn't check the Combo Update) and looking the .pkg with Suspicious Package shows it includes Safari version 12 not version 13.  Note it is 12.1.2 not 12.1.1 as you now have.

Mojave 10.14.6 Supplemental Update also contains Safari 12.1.2.

It isn't clear why you aren't offered Safari 13 through Software Update.  The Safari 13 Release Notes say 10.14.5:

  Safari 13 ships with iOS 13 and macOS 10.15. It’s also available for macOS 10.14.5 and 10.13.6.

I seem to remember being offered the Safari update at the same time as 10.14.6 but it may have been a supplemental update or perhaps it changed.

In any case it appears Safari 13 isn't in the updater packages so you should be safe updating that way.

The Safari Package appears later.


Edit text with indentations When editing text in selection using Applescript in an Automator service, is it possible to keep the original indentation whilst adding tabbed spaces in front of it?

Automator Workflow and Script

on run {input, parameters}
   if "/*" is in item 1 of input then
      set input to replace("/*", "", input as string)
      set input to replace("*/", "", input as string)
      set input to extract(2, 2, input)
      set input to indent(input, false)
      return input
   else
      set input to indent(input, true)
      set input to "/*" & return & (input as string) & return & "*/"
      return input as text
   end if
end run

on replace(searchString, editString, inputString)
   set previousDelimiters to AppleScript's text item delimiters
   set AppleScript's text item delimiters to searchString
   set stringItems to text items of inputString
   set AppleScript's text item delimiters to editString
   set outputString to stringItems as string
   set AppleScript's text item delimiters to previousDelimiters
   return outputString
end replace

on indent(input, incrementing)
   set spacing to tab
   set input to input's text items
   if not incrementing then
      set previousDelimiters to AppleScript's text item delimiters
      set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
      set output to replace(spacing, "", input as string)
      set AppleScript's text item delimiters to previousDelimiters
      return output
   else
      set previousDelimiters to AppleScript's text item delimiters
      set output to item 1 of input as text
      set AppleScript's text item delimiters to linefeed & spacing
      set output to spacing & (every paragraph of output) as string
      set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
      return output
   end if
end indent

on extract(startOffset, endOffset, input)
   set firstParagraph to (first paragraph of input)
   set lastParagraph to (last paragraph of input)
   set firstLine to length of firstParagraph
   set lastLine to length of lastParagraph
   set input to text (firstLine + startOffset) thru -(lastLine + endOffset) of input
   return input
end extract

The following snippet demonstrates expected results and current output using the aforementioned workflow and script:

Sample Input

let c1 = CLLocation(latitude: self.latitude, longitude: self.longitude)
let c2 = CLLocation(latitude: coordinate.latitude, longitude: coordinate.longitude)

Expected Result

/*
    let c1 = CLLocation(latitude: self.latitude, longitude: self.longitude)
    let c2 = CLLocation(latitude: coordinate.latitude, longitude: coordinate.longitude)
*/

Current Output

/*
 let c1 = CLLocation(latitude: self.latitude, longitude: self.longitude)
 let c2 = CLLocation(latitude: coordinate.latitude, longitude: coordinate.longitude)
 */

Updated to reflect updated question along with comments to achieve the goal of toggling comments in Xcode.

The following example AppleScript code, shown further below, used in an Automator Service was tested in macOS Sierra and Xcode 8.3.3 and works to comment the selected code or uncomment the selected code, within the manner of coding in the example AppleScript code.

In other words, if the selected code looks like:

void myDelay(float value) {
    NSDate *future = [NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow:value];
    [NSThread sleepUntilDate:future];
}

And the Automator Service is run on the selected code above, it will look like:

/*
    void myDelay(float value) {
        NSDate *future = [NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow:value];
        [NSThread sleepUntilDate:future];
    }
*/

Or if the selected code looks like:

/*
    void myDelay(float value) {
        NSDate *future = [NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow:value];
        [NSThread sleepUntilDate:future];
    }
*/

And the Automator Service is run on the selected code above, it will look like:

void myDelay(float value) {
    NSDate *future = [NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow:value];
    [NSThread sleepUntilDate:future];
}

Example AppleScript code for use in a Run AppleScript action in an Automator Service.

on run {input, parameters}
    set selectedText to item 1 of input as text
    set outputText to {}
    if selectedText contains "/*" then
        repeat with i from 2 to ((count paragraphs of selectedText) - 1)
            if (count characters of paragraph i of selectedText as text) is 1 then
                copy "" to end of outputText
            else
                copy (characters 2 thru -1 of paragraph i of selectedText as text) to end of outputText
            end if
        end repeat
    else
        copy "/*" to end of outputText
        repeat with i from 1 to (count paragraphs of selectedText)
            copy tab & paragraph i of selectedText to end of outputText
        end repeat
        copy "*/" to end of outputText
    end if
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {linefeed}
    set outputText to outputText as text
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {}
    return outputText
end run

Notes:

Xcode (8.8.3 anyway) does not support nested block commented code, meaning that if you comment some code with this script and then select additional code that includes code previously commented by this script, it will throw an error when running the service. You can work around this by changing:

if selectedText contains "/*" then

To:

if first paragraph of selectedText contains "/*" then

However Xcode will then show the nested commented code as having errors. So the real value of this script is to use it only on code that will not then be selected again as a larger block after the original commenting by this script.

When uncommenting code you should always be sure to select so the first and last lines of selection contain the block comment characters, /* and */, with no leading or trailing blank lines in the selection.

Also, Xcode has a built-in keyboard shortcut to comment selected lines with a leading // by selecting the code and pressing command/. Pressing the same keyboard shortcut removes the leading //. This is some ways negates the need to use this scripted solution.

There are third-party plugins for comments in Xcode and a Google search should be fruitful.

One example is: BlockComment for Xcode

See edit history for original answer before the OP was updated with actual details of the objective.

Note: The example AppleScript code is just that and does not employ any error handling and is meant only to show one of many ways accomplish a task. The onus is always upon the User to add/use appropriate error handling as needed/wanted.


Force sound's output on speakers A 3.5mm jack broke into my mac's jack input and I can't take it out (we tried for a day, it's absolutely impossible) and because of that my MacBook detects a plugged in audio output. I can't listen music or audio output on my Mac's speakers.

Is there a way to force the sound to come out from speakers, even while the system detects a plugged in jack?

This is a hardware problem, unfortunately.  The problem here is that inside the port there is a "switch" that detects whether a jack is plugged in or not and depending if one is, plays audio through the jack or the internal speakers.

The linked article talks about a malfunctining switch/port, but this isn't your case as you described; you have a stuck 3.5mm jack that won't come out so the switch is set to play audio through the port and unfortunately, there's no overriding it.

The only other options are to:

get a USB DAC (Digital Audio Converter) which is basically a USB soundcard to hook your audio/speakers up to
take the Mac in for service to have a new audio port soldered on.


Is it possible to have pixelated graphics on a MacBook Pro due to a defunct trackpad? had availed of the logic board replacement scheme for 2011 MacBook Pro's with faulty (AMD) graphics cards. The laptop came back from servicing with a new (refurbished as I understand) logic board. But while running a benchmarking test (Unigine Valley) the on screen graphics are extremely pixelated.

The service center suggested it was due to a faulty RAM. So I purchased new identical RAM. Same issue. After months of struggling with AppleCare and Apple Exec relations, they first asked me to get a clean install of the latest OS. Once that was done, the feedback from their engineering team is now that it "could be" due to the defunct trackpad (condition since before the repair, and I use a USB or bluetooth replacement, instead of replacing it out of warranty).

Is it at all possible that the screen graphics are pixelated because of a defunct trackpad?

I fear I am being scammed by Apple to pay for a pointless hardware repair...

The trackpad is actually not connected - the cable connecting it to the logic board is gone, so it is just out of service / disconnected. I am running stock OS and it works fine. The benchmarking tool works fine on other MacBook Pros. The trackpad has been out of service since before the repair, and this problem with the benchmarking test is after the repair. So I believe it is unrelated.

It's very common for one component it's connected electrically to another component to cause noise and other issues. Whether it's the most likely cause is debatable, but Apple's service centers have direct access to engineering and a huge wealth of repair data so they would be my first authority to go to determine what is likely and what is not.

Without the detailed diagnostics from your specific repairs as well as the actual service manuals it's hard to second-guess Apple.

Apple provides a nice (IMO) warranty of 90 days and any repair, so it's hard to see how they would be scamming you.  If you set down and catalog each interaction with AppleCare, have you spoken with them 10 or 20 times?

Also you need to collect all of the written estimates and repair details to know what components have and have not been examined by a technician.

The only time I've known Apple executive relations to be unable to resolve A customer issue is when Apple has already bent over backwards to accommodate their responsibilities and person requesting the repair is the one being unreasonable.  I certainly wouldn't accuse you of that with the little data presented, but if you really still unsure collect the facts and data you have and give it to someone who is somewhat impartial and have them give you their opinion.

Also, a final note - unless you are running stock OS or an apple benchmark, I've seen all sorts of gfx card mods and graphics tools cause exactly what you see. My guess is Apple knows other parts to be good and is guessing the trackpad is the most likely of the ones that remain in tested.

I would ask them the cost of a depot repair, and you'll have to be Ok with paying for it if they replace parts - even if the benchmark fails to run. If your Mac boots the normal OS fine, I would not pursue further repairs till the situation deteriorates.


App store asks me for password but won't let me enter my ID I need to update fcp on my macbook pro (yosemite) but every time I try the app store asks me to enter my ID and password but it won't let me click on the ID box to put in my email and just gives me a generic example email in the box. I've tried just entering the password but then it tells me my account has been disabled due to security. I have tried changing the password but it does nothing. My details are working elsewhere, iCloud etc. It's just for fcp that it won't let me enter my email. None of my other updates required a password so they worked fine.

"macotavio@mac.com" does not appear to be a "generic example email", but rather the Apple ID used to purchase the copy of Final Cut Pro that is installed on your Mac. The purchase is tied to this Apple ID (which explains why you cannot change it) and in order to update the installation, you will have to provide the correct password for this Apple ID.


How to select photos from an album using smart ablum like rules I imported all images in my iPhone to Photos app in my macOS. While I imported them, I specified an album titled "old iPhone". The images contain both camera pictures and screenshots. Now I want to move the screenshots in "old iPhone" album to another album, say, "screenshots". Since there are thousands of images in the "old iPhone" album, I wonder if there is a simple way for me to select all screenshots (like the rules used when creating smart album)? Thanks in advance.

I think out a way to do it:

Create a smart album by using two rules: album is 'old iPhone' and photo isn't screenshot.
Then create a regular album and move all images in the above album to it. In this way I created a regular album containing only camera pictures from 'old iPhone'.
Use similar steps to create a regular album containing only screenshots from 'old iPhone'.
Remove 'old iPhone' album.

The smart album created in step 1 is a temporary album. I need to introduce it because, as far as I can tell, that's the only way to select files using rules rather than manually. On the other hand, I can't just use it for final result, because if I understand it correctly, after the 'old iPhone' album is deleted, it will contain nothing.
I haven't actually tried the above approach because this is my first day using the Photo app on macOS and I'd like to see if there is any better approach. The above approach involves multiple steps and it would be good if there is some way to combine these steps.


Can't set IPv6 mode on Airport Extreme I have a AirPort Extreme 802.11n (5th Generation) connected to a Zyxel VMG1312-B30A modem. My ISP is Deutsche Telekom with VDSL.

For quite some time I was able to use native IPv6. But this stopped working for me and I don't know why. I am unable to set IPv6 mode on the Airport to Automatic or even Manually! I tried both Airport Utility on the Mac and iOS.

I'm getting a IPv6 Relay Error. Strange thing, with other hardware it works just fine.

Did this change with a firmware update? What can I do to get this working again?

If it was working before without a tunnel, the issue is almost certainly the ISP. The AirPort extreme has fairly well-developed IPv6 support, and should work fine.


How to use osascript to open the Terminal App in a new window and make sure it's on the top of all other windows? I found a way to open Terminal.app very usefully as:

osascript -e \'tell application "Terminal" to do script "cd myfolder && ./something.sh param1"\'

If it were executed from a terminal window then everything is fine - at least for every case that I test. Howeer I run this command from a Node.js server because only that I can trigger a script in a terminal window. But here is the trouble: when it's executed, the Terminal window is behind my Chrome Browser.

How can this window be surely set on the top? I noticed that the window can be surely on top of other Terminal windows but how to set it on top of all other windows?

For example, the window is below Chrome and very hard to be seen:

Activate

Use the AppleScript command activate to bring the Terminal.app application to the front:

tell application "Terminal"
    activate
end tell

Using osascript this becomes:

osascript -e 'tell application "Terminal" to activate'


launchctl gives permission error I have a user named 'tv' (OS X 10.11.5) and I have these files in /Users/tv/Library/LaunchAgents/

# ls -lsa /Users/tv/Library/LaunchAgents/
total 16
0 drwxr-xr-x   4 tv  staff   136 Jun 24 20:46 .
0 drwx------@ 50 tv  staff  1700 May 19 11:05 ..
8 -rw-r--r--@  1 tv  staff   487 Dec 24  2015 com.bittorrent.uTorrent.plist
8 -rw-r--r--   1 tv  staff   559 Jun 24 20:46 com.drzoidberg33.plexpy.plist

I get Path had bad ownership/permissions when I try to load either file. I've rebooted, changed the group to wheel, tried to manually load them repeatedly, but I always get the same error. The permissions look exactly the same as on my normal user account:

$ ls -lsa Library/LaunchAgents/
total 8
0 drwxr-xr-x   8 lbutlr  staff   272 Oct  8  2015 .
0 drwx------@ 63 lbutlr  staff  2142 Apr  2 02:11 ..
8 -rw-r--r--   1 lbutlr  staff   452 Mar 30  2015 com.kreme.home.randsig.plist
$ launchctl load /Users/lbutlr/Library/LaunchAgents/com.kreme.home.randsig.plist
/Users/lbutlr/Library/LaunchAgents/com.kreme.home.randsig.plist: service already loaded`

This link is similar, but is dealing with root permissions inside the /Library folder

The issue turned out to be that the executable referenced in the ProgramArguments inside the plist was not executable. Doh!


Downgrade ipad 9.3.2 to 8.4.1 My ipad is superrrrrr slow on 9.3.2
Can I downgrade it anyway?

Short answer - No.

Long answer:

Any form of a software update (in this case a downgrade) polls Apple's servers to validate the update. This is part of a larger process called signing.

Apple only sign updates for a certain time frame for each iOS revision. Typically, when a new update rolls out, the second most recent firmware is still signed for a couple of weeks before it is no longer signed in place for the new firmware.

iOS 8.4.1 is years out of this window, and iOS 9.3.2 is also no longer being signed also.

This is Apple's way to assure that devices are running the latest version of iOS to promote features to users but more importantly security fixes for vulnerabilities and exploits.


Adobe reader XI font error with Chrome > print > save as pdf I have a strange error with Adobe Reader XI when opening documents saved from the web, using print save to pdf.

Preview does not have that problem with same document.

Looking at the fonts it shows the font, but there is nothing I can do about it in there.

Interestingly the problem is only with PDF's save from web after about March 1, 2013.

The older PDFs work fine!

I am using latest versions of

Adobe Reader

Chrome 26.0.1410.65

OS X 10.8.3

on MacBook Air mid 2012

Running the system Font check it shows the font to be OK.

Just to add some bitching.
I used to smack my software department for writing Error message like this one.
I told them, since you already know what he problem is how about telling the customer/user what to about it.

In summary:

Print any web page to PDF using the built-in Chrome option (not Print using system dialog)
open resulting PDF in Adobe Reader
get error message: "The font 'Times-Roman' contains bad / Flags"
opening the same file with Preview does not result in an error.
printing the same page with the "system dialog" does not result in a bad PDF.

How do I fix the Chromes embedded font.

This is a Chrome bug.  It has been marked fixed in version 27, so the easiest thing to do would be to wait for the upgrade or to upgrade now.

To fix the existing PDFs, you can do the following:

Open the PDF in Preview
File->Save

This will rewrite the PDF so that it does not have the issue.


EasyFind doesn't search inside .def files EasyFind doesn't search inside files with the extension .def. Why is this? Is there a way to change this behavior?

Open the Settings window by clicking on the cogwheel button.

Tick the 'Scan all files' checkbox.

Alternatively, add def to one of the lists (make sure to separate it with a comma from the rest of the list) and make sure the checkbox next to it is ticked.


Upgrade from Leopard (10.5.8) to El Capitan (10.11) without passing through Snow Leopard (10.6.8) I have an iMac(Early 2009) running Leopard (10.5.8). Now I want to upgrade my OS to El Capitan (10.11).

The situation is this one:

✔ my iMac version is listed under the upgradable devices

✘ MacOSX 10.6.8 is required to be installed (due to Mac App Store introduction) on the iMac

Official solution (or what I undestood reading Apple website)

buy the DVD of Snow Leopard (10.6) from online Apple Store and install it on 10.5.8;
update the OS until 10.6.8;
use the App Store to download and install El Capitan.

Said that, after some search, I found this macworld article showing alternative methods to upgrade from 10.5.8 MacOSX version to a more recent one. This reading brought me to another solution:

Alternative solution

use a Mac of a friend of mine which runs El Capitan to download El Capitan from Mac App Store;
create a bootable usb stick from it;
use it to do a clean install on my iMac (erasing all disk content before choosing the HDD in which to install El Capitan)
configure my iMac creating my Apple ID

Questions

Will solution 2 work?
Is solution 2 legal?

Note

The linked article hit my questions' topics but I did not deeply understand nor the configuration of the Apple ID on the fresh installed El Capitan nor the legal aspects of the solution.

My understanding is that if you bring the Mac to an Apple Store they will install it for you.
The S/L requirement is to access the store, not as a way to charge you $20. Stopping at a friends house is no different than going to the store.

Keep in mind, moving beyond Leopard, software compatibility may be an issue. I'd research that before making the jump .


Why can't new cloned hard drives be used in 2009 MBP 13" Ok strange one this and really can't figure it out.
Took out a dead 250gb apple (fujitsu) drive from 13" 2.53 intel core 2 duo
(mid 2009) model.

I cloned a copy of 10.6.8 using superduper to the new samsung 1TB 2.5" drive, test booted up via a sata/usb cable via the macbook pro and all working fine. My problem comes once the new drive is installed into the macbook pro it can't seem to boot from the 1TB drive at all. Disk utilities also does seems to be able to scan it correctly either and seems sluggish and it won't even let me format the drive via disk utilties either.

First I thought it was the new 1TB drive, but I've just had a 2nd drive delivered and cloned the same copy of 10.6.8 on to the 2nd new drive.
All boots fine via sata/usb cable then once installed in macbook pro it won't boot from the new drive. Tried holding alt to give boot options, it see drive and tries to boot but stops at apple logo.

Booted in via a clone of 10.9 on any external drive all boots fine and i can see the new internal 1TB drive. When I try to change the startup disk to the internal 1TB i get the drive is unable to be blessed. I know the drive is formated correctly and I know it boots via the sata/usb cable via the macbook pro.

My only think is there is something wrong with the sata cable to logic board on the macbook pro now? As any drive will boot with a system via usb, but once i install either of the x2 different new 1TB drives inside the macbook pro it won't boot and can't seem to format the drives either.

Any help would be greatful, not sure what i else i can do now?

Turns out it was the sata cable on this MBP, swapped out and put new sata cable in and boots the new 1TB drive totally fine.


Multiple iPhones and iPads with same Apple id My husband has his personal iPhone 5s and iPad Air 2 and he also has an iPhone 6 and iPad Air 2 for his work. He wants to change the "work iPhone 6 and iPad Air 2" to a new Apple id not associated with his personal Apple id (icloud ??). I am trying to help, but I am not familiar with Apple iPhones etc. He uses his personal email for his Apple id for all of devices, but separate email addresses.

How do I change his work devices without losing contacts, pictures etc. I am not sure if all devices are uploading information into the iCloud - (how can I find out?).

I am so frustrated with reading so many things on the internet, I am scared to try to accomplish this for him. He doesn't have a clue on any tech things, so he is of no use to me to help.

Also, he wants to change his personal iPhone 5s to an iPhone 6 Plus (without losing his stuff).

I think I need some really good to help me to accomplish this without losing any contacts, photos, etc. Can someone help me?

Thanks in advance!

Sure I can help, but this will take time to cover all of the bases. I'll keep updating this answer as I update it. I'll even comment when I update it.

1st thing 1st you want to make sure that all of his devices have a backup. While this may seem tedious it's a crucial step in migrating and changing accounts and devices. We want to do this 1st so that nothing is accidentally lost, locked or disappeared. You can either do an iTunes backup over the computer, although I personally recommend an iCloud backup since its 1 less device that you have to open and use, and you can do it right on the iPhone/iPad as long as it has WiFi access and is charging/has a decent amount of battery life.

To backup to iCloud, 1st make sure that he has iCloud on in settings (Settings -> Click his name -> Click on iCloud -> Scroll down to iCloud Backup (if he's logged in he should see it) - Click on iCloud backup and then make sure its on (green) and then Backup now (unless he has a backup and its recent with no changes made on the device's information - aka: contacts, messages, photos, etc). The other way (for older devices) is to go to Settings -> iCloud and then iCloud Backup.

If thats done with all of his devices then the next step is to copy all photos on these devices to a PC. It's easier that way rather than to deal with iCloud. If his iCloud photo library is on (Settings -> Click his name -> Click on iCloud -> Click on Photos -> Make sure iCloud Photo Library is on aka green) then he may not have direct physical access to his photos since the cloud has already begun uploading them. If there are photos that he can't access from his device but they are on the iCloud, there is a way to also download them from a computer. He will need to know his Apple ID email (usually in settings -> click his name -> email thats under his name) and password.

If you aren't familiar with extracting photos from these iPhones/iPads leave a comment and then we can discuss those matters.

iCloud Backup - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203977

Once the iCloud backups and the photo extraction is done, then you are ready to check his accounts and see if he has a Gmail, Yahoo, AOL email (basically 3rd party client that hosts their own web-based email). If he does then usually that email has his contacts saved to it. He can always check by signing into the email address on the web and then checking contacts. If all of them are there great, then we can move on to the next steps. If not then we need to make sure contacts is on in iCloud so that they are all backed up. There is a way to download your contacts list from iCloud on the web. If you need that pointer, let me know. Once those contacts are confirmed/backed up then we can move forward.


Alias for network drive In the Finder > Connect To Server window I have an IP address I connect to. Is there a way to make a nickname or alias for this server?

Try adding the following line to your /etc/hosts file:

10.0.0.1     alias.local


System Information Recognizes iPhone, Xcode/iTunes Does Not Following the directions outlined by Apple here, i can confirm that the system itself recognizes my device, but iTunes and (more importantly) Xcode refuse to. I made sure to update everything i could; and since this is a vanilla install, I can think of no "third-party security software" that would conflict. How does one troubleshoot this?

Phone Type: iPhone 6

macOS version: 10.12.6

iOS version: 10.3.3

Full Output of system_profiler SPUSBDataType: here

This sounds like a problem with the iTunes Helper. Try reinstalling the latest version of iTunes, just in case something broke along the way.


Deleting a synced photo or bookmark It appears when you sync pictures or bookmarks that it syncs in both directions, so if my iPhone (4s) has a bookmark that my PC doesn't have it will will be once synced, or if my PC has a bookmark then my iPhone will get it once synced.

If I want to delete a bookmark, or photo, do I need to delete it in both places so that it doesn't come back when I sync. I find it annoying that I delete it then it comes back, or that I have to look at my phone and PC when I delete things.

How to sync in one direction (which I've done with mapping CRM software)?

You shouldn't need to delete a bookmark in both locations. When you delete a bookmark from one location, on the next sync it will delete it from the other location.

The Apple KB article here explains how you can manually manage one-way syncing for Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, Books, Audiobooks, Contacts, Calendars, Bookmarks, Notes and Photos.


Restore a backup without restoring OS iTunes makes automatic backups each time I want to sync in a different day (if I recall correctly) - what if I want to restore to a backup WITHOUT having to restore the whole operating system? Can it be done?

iTunes doesn't restore your OS during a normal restore, it only restores backed up information which is listed below.

Contacts(1) and Contact Favorites (regularly sync contacts to a computer or cloud service such as iCloud to back them up).
App Store Application data inlcuding in-app purchases (except the Application itself, its tmp and Caches folder).
Application settings, preferences, and data, including documents.
Autofill for webpages.
CalDAV and subscribed calendar accounts.
Calendar accounts.
Calendar events.
Call history.
Camera Roll (Photos, screenshots, images saved, and videos taken. Videos greater than 2 GB are backed up with iOS 4.0 and later.)
Note: For devices without a camera, Camera Roll is called Saved Photos.
Game Center account.
Home screen arrangement.
In-app purchases.
Keychain (this includes email account passwords, Wi-Fi passwords, and passwords you enter into websites and some other applications. If you encrypt the backup with iOS 4 and later, you can transfer the keychain information to the new device. With an unencrypted backup, you can restore the keychain only to the same iOS device. If you are restoring to a new device with an unencrypted backup, you will need to enter these passwords again.)
List of External Sync Sources (Mobile Me, Exchange ActiveSync).
Location service preferences for apps and websites you have allowed to use your location.
Mail accounts (mail messages are not backed up).
Managed Configurations/Profiles. When restoring a backup to a different device, all settings related to the configuration profiles will not be restored (accounts, restrictions, or anything else that can be specified through a configuration profile). Note that accounts and settings that are not associated with a configuration profile will still be restored.
Map bookmarks, recent searches, and the current location displayed in Maps.
Microsoft Exchange account configurations.
Network settings (saved Wi-Fi hotspots, VPN settings, network preferences).
Nike + iPod saved workouts and settings.
Notes.
Offline web application cache/database.
Paired Bluetooth devices (which can only be used if restored to the same phone that did the backup).
Safari bookmarks, cookies, history, offline data, and currently open pages.
Saved suggestion corrections (these are saved automatically as you reject suggested corrections).
SMS and MMS (pictures and video) messages.
Trusted hosts that have certificates that cannot be verified.
Voice memos.
Voicemail token. (This is not the voicemail password, but is used for validation when connecting. This is only restored to a phone with the same phone number on the SIM card).
Wallpapers.
Web clips.
YouTube bookmarks and history.

Your contacts are part of the backup to preserve recent calls and favorites lists. Back up your contacts to a supported personal information manager (PIM), iCloud, or another cloud-based service to avoid any potential contact data loss.

Source: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946


iPad Air & iPhone 5 w IOS8 suddenly won't text (iMessage BAD) send is gray or Red? After I had to change my email associated with my Apple ID, both my iPad & iPhone have gone berserk. Both are iOS 8. I have already repeatedly:

Rebooted, signed out, clean the cache, reset all settings, reset the network (which gave me the added problem of now seeing "No Service" displayed in the upper left corner despite having service) erased all messages, rebooting each time I did anything.  I'm now reaching you on a totally ERASED & set up as new iPad... That still doesn't text!

Especially on the iPad, now, even after totally erasing and resetting, I go to Messages
Type in a name of a friend who DOES have an iPhone
The name is coming up in RED?

If I type in the message area, (back when the names were NOT RED) the SEND button was GRAYED OUT   you could not send

OR

And this was the first problem... I would compose a text, with or without a photo no difference. ... Phone or iPad, and get a red ❗ With the notation 'message not sent'

It does not matter if the person has an iPhone or not.  The iPhone might send a plain text but no longer will send photos.

I tried to match settings from iPhone to iPad, but that didn't help. (The iPad doesn't use cellular, btw). The iPhone apparently will still allow SMS messages, but the iPad will not.  If I turn off that option and try to text, a sign in comes up and puts it back to iMessage.

I am nowhere near a "genius", and the two hour drive to them once was totally unsatisfactory.  Siri found this site for me.  I have my fingers crossed.

You said you had to change your Apple ID email associated with your account. I just want to make sure you signed out of the old one and signed in with the new email address under "Settings > Messages > Send & Receive" on both devices. After you do this, uncheck Settings > Messages > iMessage, wait 15 minutes and check it again.


Should apps on iPad Pro work just like on any other iPad iPad Pro resolution size is  2732‑by‑2048. iPad air 2 resolution is 2048‑by‑1536. So if an iOS game was built specifically for all iPad's from Apple, and the app is currently out, does it mean on the new resolution iPad Pro the game app will look like it doesn't fit on the screen?

TL;DR;

It depends on the app.

More explanation:

Many apps that look fine on all iPhones and iPads are basically the same app. They are written that way to work on all resolutions. (It's a good programming practice not to assume anything about screen resolution of the device the program is run. It's not always possible though).

However, there is the possibility that some apps don't look good on iPad Pro because developers haven't tested their apps on it. For example, in a game, you may view more of the field.


When I turn on my MacBook Pro, I see the Apple logo and the progress bar but then it turns off When I switch on my MacBook Pro 2011, I see the Apple logo with progress bar but before it enters the next screen it turns off. Why?

Troubleshooting is a process of elimination and can take quite some time. This means trying various things and reporting back with the results in order to try and get to the bottom of your problem.

Apple Hardware Test / Apple Diagnostics

The first thing to try is running Apple's built-in hardware diagnostics. To do this:

Ensure your MacBook Pro is connected to AC power
Start your computer
Immediately press and hold down the D key before the grey screen appear
When the icon appears on the screen let go of the D key
Select your language and click the right arrow
Select the "Perform extended testing" checkbox
Click the Test button
Take a note of the results that appear in the bottom-right window

Report back with your results.

NOTE: If holding down the D key doesn't work, you can also try holding down the OptionD keys during startup to try and run the diagnostics test via the internet.


anchored split screen across desktops Is there a way to have split screen, where one side remains anchored across all spaces/desktops?

What I'm trying to do is essentially have two desktops split on the same screen, much like if you were having two screens connected at the same time side by side.

Currently the only solution seems to be split screens but on different desktops (i.e. if swipe to another desktop, new split screen setups, not one persistent one), but I want to have random things like spotify, chats, etc. on one side whilst I flick between apps like browsers, word, programming software etc.

I have a widescreen so I have the space to do that, frankly otherwise this screen I just bought is too wide!

FYI I'm using the LG 34" 5k2k widescreen 34WK95U

I've come up with one approach for the LG 34" 5k2k screen...

On the same mac, I connected with a thunderbolt 3 cable, and then via an adaptor I connected the same mac via HDMI, the solution being the mac thinks you're connecting to two screens, and the LG monitor thinks it's receiving two input signals which can then be displayed via PBP mode.

I have a 75/25 split and I'd say the resolution on the 25 side needs to be modified so text is readable which for me is at 800x1350, which doesn't give much space but just about works... I wish it supported 70/30 and it'd probably be better.

If someone has a single-cable split screen solution for what I describe, I'd love to hear it!


How can I see what custom URI schemes are registered? One of the neat things about OmniFocus is that you can add tasks to it by calling omnifocus:///add?name={query} from a browser, or launcher (like Alfred or LaunchBar). I'd like to know what other functions there are to call for it, and other apps as well.

I poked through the info.plist of Package Contents of the app, but it only detailed that omnifocus:// was indeed registered as a custom scheme. And I couldn't find any reference to it on Omni's site as well.

I like to use RCDefaultApp to manage handlers for protocols and URIs.  There may be a better way to do it programmatically, but Rubicode's RCDefaultApp is very useful for a lot of other reasons too.

When you dump the launch services database does it show up there?

 /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -h


What can I use to get dust off of my rMBP display? I've noticed that the Retina display on MacBook Pros gets scratches and dings very easily.  I just recently had to replace the display for a different reason, and I'd like to put on a tempered glass screen protector to prevent scratches and dings.  The problem is that I need to make sure that the screen is completely clean and dust-free before installing the screen protector, which I've found is very difficult to do.  I'm wondering if there are any products that I could buy to help get dust off of the screen?  Would something like an electronics brush or maybe even a camera lens brush work?  Please let me know!  Thanks.

I recommend this $13 iKlear Screen Cleaning Bundle.

It cleans dust and grime off of any modern screen (including iPhones and Macbooks) really well and I've been using it happily for the past few years. It comes with a chamois cloth and some special spray that cleans off dust very well without harming the screen (or you—it doesn't irritate skin in my experience).

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with iKlear in any way.


Deleting Google Signins Over the last few years, I've accumulated several "suggested" sign-ins to Google. in the "CHOOSE AN ACCOUNT" screen.  See pic below:

I'd like to delete almost all of these to reduce clutter. How do I delete these?

You need to go into Google Chrome Settings, under People to remove the accounts.

Select Manage other People

Select the person you want to Delete by hovering over the upper right corner of the avatar to show the three vertical dots.

Select Remove this person


Creating an iCloud email I'm trying to create an iCloud email account. After following the steps and get to the end, I get a message that says "Problem Turning On Mail". It says to try again later, but I keep getting the same message. What do I do now?

Lots of reasons why Apple doesn’t allow mail creation. Best bet is to ask Apple Support about your case specifically:

https://support.apple.com/contact

Sometimes it’s because too many accounts were created from that device or location, sometimes it’s a conflict reserving the alias or address, sometimes it’s just that millions of requests across thousands of computers get stuck on the server side or break.

Support will know is the system is up or down or if you hit a specific roadblock.


Can you switch the top case and keyboard to a different language? I really regret not getting a CTO 2012 macbook pro before they went to the retina only. I was wanting a different keyboard on a MacBook Pro that has an nvidia 650 GPU and a 1680x1050 monitor.

Once when I took my computer in to an Apple store the genius bar guy offered to switch my keyboard to a US keyboard; so, that would imply that it is possible. So, does anybody know definitively if I can just get a MacBook Pro with a US keyboard and then just find the appropriate top case and keyboard with the language I want and then switch them out or should I just keep hoping one shows up refurbished?

I have done it on a PPC 17" MBP equivalent and also on 2011 15" MBP. It needs plenty of time and care. Say 24 hours for first time. Look on iFixiT for "how to s" and read them through carefully two or three times. My original reason to do so was to change keyboard from Spanish to GB English.


Yellow background/black text ls output Here is what I have for ls output in my Volumes dir ...

Going from the info found here ...

What do the different colors mean in ls?

it seems its "file that is setgid (g+s)".  However, I do not know what that means?  What are the implications of this?  Also, why is the other external hdd not the same?  Is there a way to change it to normal?  Also, in the second column it seems that both hdds have 24 and 23 links to them.  Is this normal?  Thank you.

Those colors indicate that you are in a directory that's writable by others and the sticky bit isn't set.  This is defined by the attributes in the first column: drwxrwxrwx

What this is telling you is that it's a directory, the user, group, and others all have read, write, and execute permissions on the file.  This would be the equivalent of issuing chmod 777 on that directory

In the other volume (WDred) it has the attributes drwxrwxr-x which means it's a directory, the user and group have read, write and execute rights while others can only read and execute (no write permissions).  This is the equivlant of chmod 775.

Permission Attributes

The first character is is the type

-    regular file
d    directory
l    symbolic link
n    network file
s    socket

The next nine characters are the permissions for, in order by groups of three, owner, group, others

r    Permission to read file
w    Permission to write to file
x    Permission to execute file
a    Archive bit is on (file has not been backed up)
c    Compressed file
s    System file
h    Hidden file
t    Temporary file

Colorized output

The color you are seeing is not indicative of the permissions set in the system - it's a customization you control to help you identify things.

You must "ask" for colorized output with the command ls -G (my ls has been aliased to be ls -laGh meaning list, all, color, human readable).

Next and optionally, you must specify your colors in an environment variable LSCOLORS which would look something like this

export LSCOLORS="exfxcxdxcxegedabagacad"

Each attribute has a pair of letters; the first one being directory.  The first pair is directory foreground and directory background.  ex would be blue with the default background.

There's an excellent LSCOLOR Generator to see what the colors look like "live"

For a full description of what the colors are and how they are tied to attributes view the man page for ls (man ls) and look for the LSCOLORS section.


External monitor causes very high CPU usage I have an external LG 27UD69P-W monitor connected (via HDMI) to my late 2013 MacBook Pro, which causes the CPU usage of the Mac to go extremely high (kernel_task > 400%, sometimes much higher even), with the fan running very fast. (The computer is so sluggish that even the cursor does not move smoothly, often.)

Some things I've noted:

SMC reset doesn't help.
Safe mode doesn't help.
GPU usage is very low (almost zero) when monitor is connected. Is this to be expected?
Occasionally I can connect the monitor and still have a usable computer (< 50% CPU usage) for 5 or 10 minutes, but that's it.
Monitor works fine with another MacBook.

What could be the issue here? A troublesome kext perhaps? Any suggestions?

Update

Here's my system log for when I plug in the screen and a couple of minutes after, while the computer is running sluggish / high CPU usage. Notable are the following sorts of events:

kernel   Currently unsupported feature requested
kernel   DisplayPipe Capabilities are not supported on offline Fbs
IOAudioStream
IOAudioEngineUserClient
streamFormat
coreaudiod*
OSCMultiMonitor
tccd
coreduetd*
com.apple.AmbientDisplayAgent  Invalid display 0x1b5671a5

Here's a "normal" system log for a few minutes while the monitor is not plugged in.

There has been some unconfirmed reports that the NVIDA drivers that came with High Sierra are not operating correctly.

Suggestion is to get updated Drivers from NVIDA directly.

Some have suggested to change the resolution back and fore to fix the problem.

It also looks like your system is no doing Graphics switching.

Check in System Preference that the Auto Graphic switching is turned on.

Also it could be very useful to us if you copy/paste some 30-50 lines in from your Console at the time when you plug in the external monitor so we can see what is going on.


How to stop my High Sierra quit all my programs when I log out or go to sleep? Im using Macbook Air 2012. Should I downgrade system? its really anoying me :/
I currently have High Sierra 10.13.1

All programs always quit when you log out. Nothing will change that. You can go to the Login Window WITHOUT logging out, by choosing "Lock Screen" from the Apple Menu (on newer OSes) or choosing "Login Window" from the User menu. That will bump you to the login screen while keeping the current user logged in, and all programs open.

No programs should ever quit when you put your Mac to sleep. I'd like to hear more about this because there must be some other thing going on in this situation.


Mavericks Terminal - 'Command Not Found' for everything About everything (even clear and open) is giving 'Command Not Found' on the Terminal.

If I do and echo $PATH, it gives me this.
/Users/username/Documents/android/android-sdk-macosx/platform-tools:/Users/merck/Documents/android/android-sdk-macosx/tools

The /.profile file is not even there in the Finder.

The environment.plist file in .MacOSX has this value.
bplist00—_SENCHA_CMD_3_0_0_$/Users/username/bin/Sencha/Cmd/4.0.2.67E

Can anyone give some pointers.

Look in the .bashrc file, and see if anything towards the end is overwriting (rather than appending to) the $PATH ...

I am guessing that the Android SDK b0rked it somehow.


MBP - Switch back to built-in microphone I have some Apple earplugs with a broken microphone, therefore I cannot talk. I would like to switch back to the built-in microphone. However, there is no option to do so in the Sound System Preferences, and only this is shown:

And if I unplug the earplugs, I only see the built-in microphone.

How can I switch to the built-in microphone, when I connect the earplugs?

Apple headphones, works
as Combo Jack, ie ear headphone + microphone
external, so you'll have to use another headset.
give it a try.


Is it possible to close a script with a keypress? In AutoHotKey, using the keyword "ExitApp" can allow the user to stop a script with a keypress.  For example, Esc::ExitApp can stop a script by pressing "esc".
Now, with a combination of do shell script (using a bash function like read) and on idle and then calling exit somehow, I thought this was possible in AppleScript.  However, inside of an Automator function, you can't save an AppleScript as "stay open" - pasting the on idle thing underneath on run only loops through idle once without providing opportunities for listening for keypresses.  Any ideas?
Example:  Let's say I have this script in an automator workflow:
on run {input, parameters}
    set i to 0
     repeat while i < 100
       keystroke "a"
       set i to i + 1
       delay 5
     end repeat
end run

I’m not quite sure if my solution will help you or not.
I have a whole bunch of different AppleScripts attached to folders by use of Folder Actions and I also run AppleScripts directly from the Script Menu in the menu bar.
Occasionally one of my AppleScripts decides to misbehave and freezes or gets stuck and trying to quit the running AppleScript from the spinning gear in the menu bar does not work either.
My solution in these circumstances is to run this following AppleScript code.
tell application "System Events"
    set pidList to unix id of application processes whose name is "osascript"
end tell

set text item delimiters to space
do shell script ({"kill -9", pidList} as text)
set text item delimiters to ""

I saved the AppleScript code as a .scpt file and run it using Voice Commands, but you can just as easily use the code in a new Automator Quick Action then assign it a keyboard shortcut in System Preferences.

NOTE: One of the drawbacks of this solution is that if you are running several scripts at the same time, this will force quit each one. As far as I know, there is no way of knowing which osascript belongs to which running AppleScript. (Not knowing which is which forces me to force quit each one.)
Again, I don’t know if any of this will help you or not.  If nothing else maybe it will help spark some ideas for you.


I Would Like To Host an HTML Website Without Using Server.app I am somewhat a novice when it comes to the Apache web server. I currently host Ruby on Rails applications on my Mac Mini Server (Mavericks) using Phusion Passenger.  I know that some of the config files are in different libraries than the standard Apache implementation.  I'm currently using Server.app to host one HTML website.  I would like to stop using Server.app to host it but I do not know how to set this up in Apache on an Apple machine.  The solutions I have found are not specific to the Apple setup for Apache.

I would appreciate help on how to do this from anyone who has done this.

Apache is there by default, you just need to turn it on:

sudo apachectl start

To tweak it to do what you want you may need to adjust the .conf files located at /etc/apache2/ These behave like any other apache configuration (though there are a few OS X specific modules installed).


Can a MacBook's Thunderbolt port be used as an HDMI "in" to view a feed/signal from a video camera? I am a filmmaker who wants to be able to use my macbook as an external monitor for a video camera in a studio-interview type setting. The camera is decent, but its screen is small and I don't have any external monitors handy (money is tight). Is there some software that would be able to receive an HDMI-out signal from my camera and then display it on the macbook screen via an HDMI → Thunderbolt adaptor (I have one)?

So the flow would look like this:

Camera → HDMI Cord → HDMI-to-ThBt Adaptor → Software to look at what the camera is sending → my eyes.

Recording the feed is not necessary.

No, not directly.  You can buy any number of HDMI capture hardware that connect via thunderbolt or FireWire and use a thunderbolt FireWire adapter.


Mission Control has no spaces, background image doesn't change and Launchpad background is dark I just ran a system update on Lion and after the reboot I got issues with Mission Control.

Namely,

When I trigger Mission Control, it only shows windows on current space and doesn't provide a way to add or switch between spaces. The whole top bar is missing.
When I trigger Launchpad, it shows on a background that has nothing to do with the desktop background image, as if the underlying image was black.
Changing background image in Preferences doesn't take effect until a restart.

This is very frustrating and seems like a bug. How do I fix this?

Seems like I'm not the first one to hit into this issue, and it is related to Dock process working incorrectly. The easiest way to fix this is to type

killall Dock

into the Terminal, which will effectively relaunch Dock process (and hopefully fix the problem).

If this doesn't work, reportedly trashing Dock preferences and attempting several restarts may help.


Full screen application turns to windowed application and leaves a black screen in Mission Control While I'm working, I often see an application I made full screen turn to a windowed mode. When I attempt to make it full screen again, it leaves a black screen in my Mission Control. I've attached an image below. Has anyone else experienced this and do y'all have any solutions?

I found a temporary solution: This happens on Big Sur when applications open pop-ups as tabs in full screen mode. Closing those tabs seemed to have caused the issue as far as I am currently aware.
To fix this currently, I went to System Preferences > General > Prefer Tabs: "never"
This also fixes JetBrains IDEs (PHP Storm, Android Studio, PyCharm, IntelliJ IDEA, etc) becoming unresponsive with pop ups. After I found a solution to that issue I was having, it seemed to fix applications in full screen like Firefox and XCode having the primary issue I inquired about above.


Sending text to a Terminal or iTerm2 window? How can I send text to a Terminal or iTerm window?

I'm presenting a demo of some multi-user software and would like to create several windows, programatically sending (different) text to each one, something like

send to terminal window 1:  insert into foo values('hello');
send to terminal window 2:  insert into foo values('world');
etc...

I'm currently using Terminal and iTerm, but can use any other program.

You can use the Applescript keystroke command.

tell application "iTerm" to activate
delay 0.5
tell application "System Events"
    keystroke "a"
    delay 0.2
    keystroke "b"
    delay 0.2
    keystroke space
    delay 0.2
    keystroke "c" using control down
end tell


Mac operating system from disc at startup Hello everyone and thank you in advance.

I have just downloaded Linux Ubuntu and put it on a disk. What i want to do is to hold C during the Mac startup so that I can choose to boot my mac through the CD with the Linux Ubuntu operating system. However, I am worried about what will happen when I run my Mac through this CD and I have some questions

How do I change back between operating systems?
Will the startup commands work the same?
What will happen if I turn my computer off and eject the disk? Will
my Mac just launch normally?
Any other information about booting from a disk that may be relevant

I understand this might seem stupid but please answer if you have any idea of how this whole "boot through CD thing works"! Thank you

Just press Alt/Optn on startup.
Absolutely
Yes
There is noting special, read here on other bootup options


Can I group received emails in Sierra? In Apple Mail v.10.3 (3273), is there a way to see received emails grouped together by sender name and subject as in Mail v.7 (running under Mavericks v.10.9.5) where I was able to click on the "#>>" (the number of emails in the group and 2 right-facing arrows) to expand or collapse the list? Thank you.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013), macOS Sierra (10.12.4), Time Capsule; AGT784WNV DSL Gateway


IOS 6 opens RSS feeds in Podcast app - how do I prevent this? When I click on an RSS feed link in Safari in iOS, instead of opening the RSS page it opens the podcast app, which is not helpful and very annoying. Is there a way to disable this automatic redirect to the podcast app?

Unfortunately, as far as I know (and that is usually enough ;), you can not change the default app that opens the RSS feed.
Personally I use the Downcast podcast app, to add the rss feeds from Safari to my Downcast app is as follows:

Go to the specific website and find you URL
Press and hold the rss-link you are interested in
Choose Copy
Now go to your RSS app and paste the URL


Does "Sync with this iPhone over Wi-Fi" use encryption? I would like to sync my iPhone to iTunes over Wi-Fi but only if the process is encrypted for privacy.  I'm still feeling a lack of trust after learning that MobileMe synced personal data across the Internet unprotected.  Is the sync encrypted?

iTunes Wi-Fi Sync does not use encryption as it is performed on your local network only.
Your data is not transferred over the internet, so it's as secure as your local network is.

(The link about MobileMe is extremely old; Yahoo! Mail and Windows Live didn't use HTTPS.)


How to mount a RAM disk on startup? I'm trying to mount a RAM disk on startup with this:

/Users/Aram/Development/Tools/ramdisk.sh

diskutil erasevolume HFS+ "RamDisk" `hdiutil attach -nomount ram://800000`

com.aram.ramdisk.plist

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
        "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
    <dict>
        <key>Label</key>
        <string>com.aram.ramdisk</string>
        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
            <string>/bin/sh</string>
            <string>/Users/Aram/Development/Tools/ramdisk.sh</string>
        </array>
        <key>RunAtLoad</key>
        <true/>
    </dict>
</plist>

And then running:

sudo chown root:wheel /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.aram.ramdisk.plist
sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.aram.ramdisk.plist

But I get these in the console:

1/08/12 1:29:25.982 PM fseventsd[64]: could not open <</Volumes/RamDisk/.fseventsd/fseventsd-uuid>> (No such file or directory)
1/08/12 1:29:25.982 PM fseventsd[64]: log dir: /Volumes/RamDisk/.fseventsd getting new uuid: 102D7293-F1F1-4640-AA50-D547C365339F

1/08/12 1:29:24.561 PM sudo[1193]:     Aram : TTY=ttys000 ; PWD=/Library/LaunchDaemons ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/bin/launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.aram.ramdisk.plist

1/08/12 1:40:17.052 PM com.apple.launchd[1]: (com.aram.ramdisk) Throttling respawn: Will start in 8 seconds

It works if I set KeepAlive to true, but then it creates a RAM disk every 10 seconds.

Is there a way to delay the script for 10 seconds before running?

You can delay the execution of the diskutil command in your ramdisk.sh script by prepending the line sleep 10.

Sleep suspend the execution for an interval of time, in seconds.

Your new ramdisk.sh becomes:

sleep 10
diskutil erasevolume HFS+ "RamDisk" `hdiutil attach -nomount ram://800000`

Update#1: launching the ramdisk.sh every 10 seconds and only creating the RAM disk when it is not there, is a workaround. See this example script for such a conditional check:

sleep 10
RD=RamDisk
if [ ! -e "/Volumes/$RD" ];  then
    diskutil erasevolume HFS+ "$RD" `hdiutil attach -nomount ram://800000`
fi

Your error might be caused because /Volumes is not already created in the boot process at the moment your launchd job is executed. Thefore you could first check for the existence of /Volumes before even further executing the script, like:

if [ -e "/Volumes" ];  then
    RD=RamDisk
    if [ ! -e "/Volumes/$RD" ];  then
        diskutil erasevolume HFS+ "$RD" `hdiutil attach -nomount ram://800000`
    fi
fi

And when the creation succeeds you might want to unload your com.aram.ramdisk.plist from launchctl until the next boot.


Handoff feature devices requirement Why are supported devices for Handoff feature so strict to a small set of devices?

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT6555

Handoff requires three things:

specific bluetooth hardware - this eliminates most of the older devices
specific wireless hardware - this has to do with MIMO antennas and a sophisticated wireless chip. This doesn't eliminate many devices as bluetooth capabilities were upgraded at the same time as wifi as far as I can tell.
a fast enough CPU

Thus the list of devices that support handoff is related directly to new hardware capabilities.


.plist returns: Invalid property list, plutil says ok! I'm trying to create my first .plist. I want to mount a ssh drive on login so i don't have to enter the command each time I start my Mac!

The command is: sshfs -o allow_other,defer_permissions user@xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:/home/user/ /Users/user/Desktop/Website/ -o reconnect

The plist looks like this:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple$
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
        <key>Label</key>
        <string>name.plist</string>
        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
                <string>/usr/local/bin/sshfs</string>
                <string>-o allow_other,defer_permissions</string>
                <string>user@xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:/home/user</string>
                <string>/mnt/User</string>
                <string>-o reconnect,volname=User</string>
        </array>
        <key>RunAtLoad</key>
        <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

I've followed a tutorial saying when done with the .plist I have to run these 2 commands:

launchctl load ~/path/name.plist
launchctl start ~/path/.name.plist

It then returns Invalid property list

I saw Launchctl says plist is invalid, plutil says it's OK, where it says i should replace the first few lines but no change?
plutil return ok when run so I'm lost!

P.S.

I've used the template below posted by user3439894. This time it loads properly but when I start it nothing happens

When I look at the systemlog there is nothing posted about it....

About the path to sshfs i've tried 2 things:

I've left it as it stood in the example given below.
I've done a suggested and added the path again /usr/local/bin/sshfs

Because it would be more difficult to post this in a comment I'm posting it as an answer, although it may not be the right one.

I took your command line while using Lingon X to create the .plist file, here is how it parsed the command line, which is different from yours.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>name</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>sshfs</string>
        <string>-o</string>
        <string>allow_other,defer_permissions</string>
        <string>user@xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:/home/user/</string>
        <string>/Users/user/Desktop/Website/</string>
        <string>-o</string>
        <string>reconnect</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

You'll note that while I used the command line you have in your question it didn't include the path to sshfs, you might have to add that back. The other thing it did different is each string in the array holds the information up to but not including the spaces between the arguments.  Maybe this makes a difference.  Can't say since I can't test your command line however it's worth a try using the format Lingon X created.


What is rapportd and why does it want incoming network connections? I've just updated to the latest MacOS 10.13.2 and after restarting, my machine asked me to allow incoming network connections for "rapportd".

After blocking it and checking in the firewall config, I can see that this is an executable in /usr/libexec/rapportd which was created on my machine on the 1st of December.

That's a day after I installed the security update 2017-001 (for the second time; autoupdate didn't seem to notice that I'd manually updated it), and I haven't installed or updated any other software recently / around that time. Google Chrome updates whenever it feels like it, so this could be related to a Chrome update (no idea when it last updated).

The internet suggests this is related to some banking protection program but that doesn't seem to fit here, and from a vague text-edit inspection of the binary I can see that it references /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Rapport.framework/Versions/A/Rapport (a framework created on my machine back in July and updated in October) which makes me think this is likely to be a new 1st-party OS daemon.

What does rapportd do?

EDIT: It looks like the man page has been updated and now reads:
Daemon that enables Phone Call Handoff and other communication features between Apple devices.

I just had the same experience. The man page states that it is a:
Daemon providing support for the Rapport connectivity framework.
Checking the code signature with codesign -dv --verbose=4 /usr/libexec/rapportd shows it is signed by Apple and in a SIP-protected location (unless you turned off SIP), this appears to be legitimate Apple software. The man page implies it's related to communication, though I've yet to find any real documentation on it.
(Thanks to John Keates for the code-signature tip.)


master reset on phone I had a iPhone that was in my ex boyfriend's name he took it from me before I could erase any of my contents out of it.

I asked him to do it and he won't. Now he is calling people I had saved on the phone.

Can I do a master reset on the phone without having the phone so he will stop harassing people that is stored in the phone?

I have tried to contact the Verizon store but they said nothing can be done.

If it is still signed into your Apple ID and has Find My Phone enabled, erase it via iCloud: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH2701


What is the process for restoring iPhone from a backup that is NOT in iTunes? I would like to restore my iPhone from a backup that is not listed in iTunes. How can I do that? The backup file is saved on my computer hard drive. Thx.

Is the backup folder in the right location on the hard drive? iTunes only lists backups in the MobileSync/Backup folder. If you need to move the folder there, here's instructions for Mac and Windows for getting to that folder: https://deciphertools.com/blog/where-are-iphone-backups/

If it's in the right place, let's make sure it's not a version issue. iTunes won't show backups as a restore choice if they are incompatible with the version of iOS you're restoring to.

Open the iTunes Preferences (iTunes menu on Mac, and Edit menu on Windows)
Change to the "Devices" tab.

If you see the backup listed in Devices, iTunes recognizes the backup, and the issue is that the device you're restoring to is running a lower version of iOS than the device that made the backup.


How can I get a OSX mountain lion installer for deployment testing? I have a macmini which came with Mountain Lion preinstalled as from factory. I need to create a virtual machine on this macmini (OSX host/OSX guest) with the same version for end-user deployment testing. I went to the apple store to get the installer, but I can only get mavericks, and I want to test deployment on 10.8. How can I get a ML installer so I can use vmware or virtualbox to install osx in the virtual image?

Developers registered with Apple's Mac Developer Program can download older editions of Mac OS X for development and testing purposes.

The screenshot below shows OS X Mountain Lion is still available to developers.


How to get rid of the stocks app from spotlight? I run OS running on german - there the stocks app ("Aktien") clashes with the activity monitor ("Aktivitätsanzeite").

I prefer to launch apps via spotlight.  Often just a millisecond before I press enter a new suggestion jumps to the top of the list and is launched instead.

Suppose something uses up all CPU and I want to investigate by activity monitor (german: Aktivitätsanzeite). I start typing "Akti" - see the correct App (top suggestion) and hit enter - but (half the time?) "Aktien" (the stocks app) pops up and jumps the top of the list - and I end up in the setup for the stocks app.  Very annoying if something else already grinds your system down.

I have a similar issue with other apps - but not as annoying as I can just delete the unwanted ones
I experimented using the "original" name - but it is a guessing game as the only way to figure the name out is to guess the name (it's nowhere mentioned in the apps).

If you do not want an app showing in Spotlight you can add it to the Privacy tab in: System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy

You can add by clicking [+], or drag a folder, disk or app into the list section.


How do I uninstall or downgrade from OS X Lion Server? I've upgraded from Snow Leopard to Lion, then I purchased and installed the Server from App Store.

Now I'd like to remove the Server features, and revert to standard Lion.  I don't mind reinstalling, I don't want to reformat, or restore from backup.

What is the most correct and complete process?

Since the server component changes files and preferences, you can't easily undo those changes other than by a back up. There is no uninstall - and there are in general no way to undo any patch or upgrade - even between major revisions like 10.6.7 to 10.6.8.

The only sure way is to restore those settings and files that get changed from a backup or set things up after a totally clean installation.

Boot into recovery, erase the volume and install Lion (without the server component) and you will have a correct and complete non server Lion. You can migrate data in from external drives, time machine (at any point in time) or make the set up new by hand.

Lion will not allow a simple re-install to "undo" the server changes as it's not programmed to do all that work in reverse.


Cmd+Tab does not work on hidden or minimized windows When I want to switch between windows using ⌘ Cmd + ⇥ Tab it does not work with hidden or minimized windows. I can see the icons of these windows in the application switcher but choosing them does nothing. How can I get this to work again?

This one is a bit tricky :

press ⌘ Cmd + ⇥ Tab to show your running apps. Keep holding ⌘ Cmd.

press ⇥ Tab until you've selected the app

press the ⌥ Option, and let go of the ⌘ Cmd.
( You must release ⌘ Cmd after pressing ⌥ Option ! )
( You must release ⌘ Cmd before release ⌥ Option ! )


Will I still have a geo-tag if I take a screenshot on my computer? I am sure the answer is no but I am always a bit more investigative.

Let's say I took an picture with my iPhone 5 and the image has geo tags.  I email it to myself and then I take a screenshot my using the Preview tool.  Will I still have geo-tag information on that image or since I took a snapshot only on my Mac, it won't have it?

It sounds like you're talking about taking a screenshot on your Mac of the iPhone image, in which case, no, it won't have any geo-tagging information embedded.

However if you want to remove geo-tags from any photos (screenshots included) that you do have, the more convenient way is probably to use a tool like ImageOptim to strip out the EXIF data (which is the metadata containing geolocation data, amongst other things). That way you preserve the quality of the original, and you don't need to bother exactly trimming the size of the screenshot you take to the photo.


How to use iostat with AppleRAID volume? When I try iostat disk5, I get the error:

iostat: could not record 'disk5' for monitoring

Iostat works with my other drives, and with the individual disks which make up the RAID volume.  How can I get the speed of disk5, which is an AppleRAID volume?

BSD iostat - yeeeecchhhhh. There are some things that Gnu/Linux just does better.

What happens when you try iostat -d -n 9 - that should give you an iostat on the first 9 drives hooked up (if you have 9 drives).


Why is Google Backup and Sync exchanging files bidirectionally instead of unidirectionally? Everything was fine until I uninstalled Google Backup and Sync in favor of Dropbox Plus (what a mistake!). I ended up actually restoring my entire internal flash drive from a backup, which I thought would restore GB&S to normal functioning, but ever since then, when I launch GB&S and configure it to back up my Desktop and Documents folders on "My Laptop" to the "Computer" tab in Google Drive, it asks me if I want to merge files from my local Desktop and Documents folders with those in my laptop as it appears in the "Computers" section of Google Drive. I thought it meant unidirectionally (i.e. backup), but what happens is that GB&S starts downloading stuff that was deleted long ago! If I cancel the merge requests, GB&S basically stops.
Is there any way to insure unidirectional backup?

I wound up deleting my computer and all documents from the "Computer" tab in Google Drive, and backing up everything again. So far so good.


iPad Safari Delete Website Data Off late, the Safari on my iPad has become a bit slow. That is, the pages take a long time to load.

Would deleting Website Data help in improving the speed ? Or any other options ?

It would be great if my form autocomplete data and website history (shown in address bar) do not get deleted. I guess the Clear History/Cookies would do that.

Please suggest.

Open the settings application.
Select Safari from the left bar, from there you can press "Clear Cookies and Data"

It will not clear your history.

But cleaning cookies will make you login again to web sites you use.

You can go to Advanced, Website Data to see which sites store information on your iPad (mostly cookies).


Selectively restore data to iPhone from iTunes backup I was unable to find a solution online, so my question to the expert community is:

Can I restore only the health data to my iPhone from an iTunes backup?

If you are signed into icloud on a iphone go to general, storage & Backup Usage, then you will see icloud /Manage Storage with a arrow to open it. You can see and set all you applications to be included or not in your cloud. You can set what you want to back up or erase backups. If you sign out of Icloud you will only see the storage options. The Health app is the only one that seems to be sneaky. I don't think you can delete it.


(Airpods) Very poor connection/choppy quality between Airpods and Macbook Ever since I updated my OS to High Sierra 10.13.6, I've been experiencing very choppy connection between my Airpods and Macbook. If I'm sitting right in front of my computer, the sound seems to cut out randomly- sometimes when I move my head slightly or walk a few steps away. However, they work completely fine when I pair the Airpods with my iPhone.

I've seen similar posts about this issue on this forum and others from google searching, but most of them are about a year old and looked unresolved. I've tried all the tips I've seen posted- I've reset the bluetooth module and always switch the Sound Input to "External Microphone" instead of the airpods, but it didn't help fix the choppy quality. (Links below)

AirPods: Extremely poor mic quality on Mac

AirPods choppy/unreliable when connected to Mac, but not iPhone

My guess is there is interference so I opened About This Mac > System Report > Bluetooth > Devices (Paired, Configured, etc.) > Airpod

Bluetooth Paired Info-   Apple Bluetooth Software Version:  6.0.7f10

Devices (Paired, Configured, etc.):
Myself’s AirPods:
Major Type: Audio
Minor Type: Headphones
Services:   Handsfree, Wireless iAP, AVRCP Controller, Audio Sink, AVRCP
Target, AAP Server
Paired: Yes
Configured: Yes
Connected:  Yes
Manufacturer:   Apple (0x6, 0x03)
Firmware Version:   0x0372
Class of Device:    0x04 0x06 0x240418
RSSI:   -72
Role:   Master
Connection Mode:    Sniff Mode
Interval:   441.25 ms
EDR Supported:  Yes
eSCO Supported: Yes
SSP Supported:  Yes

Is there a better tool to graph or detect if interference is to blame for bluetooth audio being choppy?

Thank you for providing more information.
Out of the BT profile we can see that your RSSI signal strength is low (borderline low).

About RSSI, it is used to measure the BT signal strength (also WiFi).
It is bit confusing since the values are invert. means the lower the number the better the signal.

As of this moment it is not clear why is it 72 !

As you say you are close to your Mac so the distance should not play a role in this case.

Your RSSI should be lower than 60.

The high 72 would explain intermittent connection.

As for why is it so high, it is difficult to determine from where I stand. In most cases it is just some interference from another device, like from the WiFi which also operates at 2.4 GHz band. Try turning your Mac's WiFi off to test.

If you whish to investigate Apple provides a way to do it.

Apple provides tools to actually test your Bluetooth in real time
.
It is on the Apple Developer site, but you must register/Log in to get them. You can find it under "More Downloads for Apple Developers"

Then download the additional tools for xcode 10
That package contains the Bluetooth Explorer.app that will analyze your RSSI signal in depth.

It will look something like this

Sorry I can not help you further at this time.


Password no longer works on MacBook Air Yosemite 10.10.2 I need to reset the password, without logging in I do not know why, but my password is no longer working on my MacBook Air v. 10.10.2 Yosemite. I have tried several things including restarting in Recovery Partition, going to terminal and typing "resetpassword." This does pull up the standard screen that allows me to change the password, but then the volume containing the user account never shows up, which means I can't select it to change the password. I have also tried the older method of deleting the /var/db/.applesetupdone file through terminal, but it seems this file doesn't exist for v.10.10.2. I've looked at the Installer Log, and some things I noticed are "keyboard layout identifier -16899 has been replaced with -28673" and other related messages, as well as "Can not connect to /var/run/systemkeychaincheck.socket: No such file or directory", and "Could not read prev-lang:kbd to set keyboard". I don't know if any of these messages are related to the problem.

Note: I'm not able to test this so I don't know if a backup will reintroduce the same problem. Also note that this is more of a blunt instrument approach

Firstly, I can't speak directly to the terminal logs. Someone may have a more sublime approach using that information.

If you have a Time Machine backup, you can reinstall OS X following these instructions (from this page). Once a clean Yosemite install is ready, you can migrate your user settings and data using Time Machine.

Clean Install OS X Yosemite

It’s time for a clean install. We’re going to show you how to do it without using a USB drive, which makes it much easier and less confusing. So to start, you should download OS X Yosemite from the Mac App Store. Once it’s finished downloading, it’ll immediately load up on your screen. Follow the instructions to install OS X Yosemite. Once it’s done, it’ll ask you to restart your Mac. Do it, and once it’s loaded up, we’ll start the clean install process:

We’re going to restart your Mac again. But this time, hold down Cmd+R. (Keep holding it down while it restarts, do not let go)
Now, your Mac should load a screen with a few options (you can let go of Cmd+R now).
Select the Disk Utility option.
In the window, at the top of the left bar, select your Mac’s Main Drive. It should be something like MainHD.
Now, select the Erase tab, located next to the First Aid button at the top-center.
Near the center of the window, select the Format drop-down list and select “Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)” as the type.
Click Erase (this will erase your main drive!) and allow some time for the drive to format.
When it’s finished, close out Disk Utility and select “ReInstall OS X” from the menu. It will ask for your Mac App Store password to redownload OS X Yosemite. Give it a minute to do so.
A new window should pop up and OS X Yosemite should begin to install. If it does not, press back and enter your password again.
Once again, follow the install instructions and enjoy your newly clean-installed OS X Yosemite.

At this point, you'd migrate your Time Machine backup, and fingers crossed, you will have cleared the password problem.


building wine on mac I'm not really a big fan of macports or any package manager that exists for Mac; Im more of a compile from source guy. Has anyone here tried compiling wine for OSX so that I can execute exe files on my OSX(10.6)?

Are there any alternatives for wine that you would suggest?

This sounds like what you're looking for: http://code.google.com/p/osxwinebuilder/


Pages multilevel bullet spacing With multilevel bullet lists, is it possible to leave less space between lower level bullets? Eg

• Item1

• Item2
    - Item2a
    - Item2b
    - Item2c

• Item 3

Currently, I can only do it manually, each time I change the level.

I am using Pages 5.

Update Pages to version 5.2.2 (1877). I don't know when they've added the following functionallity, but with this version you can do your changes manually one time, and then update the bullet list style as follows:

Open the Bullet & Lists drop down pop-up. Notice that there's an update button next to the bullet list style name, which is marked as 'changed from default' by an asterisk:

You can either press the update button, or click on the arrow next to it and select 'Update stlye' from the popup menu (featuring other options like clear, rename or delete):


Can I bridge the iPhone wireless signal with a router to use it with ethernet cable? I have a tp-link router with bridge option. I would like to connect with the router to iphone's wifi signal, and share it to an NVR using the ethernet cable. Is it possible? I tried it with TP-Link TL-WR741ND, but unfortunately the internet connection doesn't work.

Simply put, no, you cannot do this. However, I would like to believe there are different options for what you are trying to accomplish.

I am not too familiar with NVR's, however you should be able to bridge your connection from your iPhone to a laptop, via Wifi, and after that be able to bridge your laptop's connection to your NVR.

I wouldn't imagine it would be the most reliable thing in the world, but should work.

Steps to attempt this:

Create a hotspot with your iPhone. Settings > Personal Hotspot (Enable)
Connect to it with your laptop
Bridge your connection! Helpful links to bridge your connection below
http://www.countrymilewifi.com/how-to-share-computers-wifi-with-ethernet-devices.aspx
http://www.windowscentral.com/how-set-and-manage-network-bridge-connection-windows-10


What are the networking requirements for a successful AirPlay connection? We are using devices we know are capable of AirPlay (iphone 5 on ios7, apple tv3). Sometimes the phone can see the apple tv, sometimes it cannot. When it cannot, we check, and the apple tv IS still on. What must be true for the phone to see the apple tv?

Of course they must be on the same wireless network. this is true. However our network is large (we are not in a home), and so there must be some other issues. We even checked and both the phone and apple tv are on the same subnet. What else must be true? must certain ports be open, etc, etc.?

Per Apple KB article HT6175, AirPlay makes use of a number of ports:

╔══════╦═════════╦════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ Port ║ TCP/UDP ║                  Name                  ║
╠══════╬═════════╬════════════════════════════════════════╣
║   80 ║ TCP     ║ Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)     ║
║  443 ║ TCP     ║ Secure Sockets Layer (SSL, or "HTTPS") ║
║  554 ║ TCP/UDP ║ Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP)    ║
║ 3689 ║ TCP     ║ Digital Audio Access Protocol (DAAP)   ║
║ 5353 ║ TCP     ║ Multicast DNS (MDNS)                   ║
╚══════╩═════════╩════════════════════════════════════════╝


Any way to configure fsck_hfs to use more memory to speed up verification of Time Capsule images? Periodically Time Machine verifies sparsebundle backups with fsck_hfs. When the sparsebundle is on a Time Capsule (TC) it does this by creating a partial and much smaller representation of the sparsebundle on the TC, transferring the result to the mac into
/private/var/db/com.apple.backupd.backupVerification

and then running fsck_hfs on it locally (it mounts the local sparsebundle as can be seen with diskutil list).
The problem is that it takes a very long time for fsck_hfs to verify this representation of very large TC sparsebundles (e.g. >24hrs).
[This leaves the timemachine process showing in the menu as if it was stuck 'verifying' with the real Time Capsule disk apparently no longer mounted under /Volumes - which confuses many into thinking the process has died]
fsck_hfs is launched by its parent process backupd with the parameters -f -n -x -E . There are various posts about fsck_hfs working much more efficiently if allowed to use more memory (-c option). By default (at least on my system) it seems to be limited to 3Gb.
My question is, is there anyway to pass a config that might cause backupd to launch fsck_hfs with the additional (-c) parameter and so run faster?

As far as I know, there's no configuration file or GUI part of the setup that you can use to force Time Machine to let fsck_hfs use more than the default amount of RAM for caching.
There's however a kind of "workaround" for making this work anyway. You replace /sbin/fsck_hfs with a new program (script or binary) that checks if it is run by Time Machine, and if so adds "-c 8G" (or whatever you want) to the command line parameters given to fsck_hfs. If it not run by Time Machine, just run fsck_hfs with the given parameters.
If you're on a recent macOS, you'll need to disable SIP in order to replace fsck_hfs.


Defining environment variables with launchd/launchctl There are different solutions regarding the definition of environment variables that are stored in the launchd process, namely over at StackOverflow and Superuser. How do these solutions differ?

For the sake of clarity, I will refer to this solution as the static solution, the second solution as the dynamic solution,
and finally this one as the launch agent solution. I am going to compare the static and dynamic solution with the launch agent one, respectively.

The static solution involves the editing of /etc/launchd.conf. This has the advantage, as with the launch agent solution, that the variables are set right at the login. Disadvantages are that

the variables are defined for all users. The launch agent solution lets each user decide for himself. If one wants to define variables for all users with the launch agent solution, the shell script can be amended with a loop (and another file),
the definition of the variables in /etc/launchd.conf does not allow for things like variable substitution and such stuff (at least that is my guess, maybe it is feasible),
obviously, you need access to /etc/launchd.conf to pull the static solution off, with the other one you can put all files at accessible places, e.g. the launch agent in ~/Library/LaunchAgents/,
the variables are not available immediately after editing the file, as with the launch agent solution (but see below).

The dynamic solution is similar to the launch agent solution. Its disadvantage is that the variables are not available right after login, you first need to (re-)define them. To combine the dynamic solution with the other, imagine you wanted to set the variable FOO to the content of the variable BAR. You would fire up a shell, say the bash, and type

launchctl setenv FOO "$BAR"
echo 'setenv FOO $BAR' >> ~/.conf.launchd

Then FOO would be available in all applications started after this definition, and would also be defined right after the next login.


How can I hide google search field in safari? When customizing safari toolbar I can't get rid of google's search field right next to address bar. Is there any secret preference tweak to achieve this?

You can use Safari Omnibar.

From the website:

  Features

  Unified location bar with search bar
  Search directly using location bar
  Quickly switch engines using search engine keywords
  Define new search engines

It works on Snow Leopard and Lion.

NB : it requires you to install SIMBL. See the FAQ on the website.


Most suitable Mac OS X version for Power Mac G5? I have a Power Mac G5 Dual 1.8 with 3.5GB of ram running 10.5.8

The system feels so slow though.. :(

Taking in mind that this was a beast back then, which would be the best OS X version I could install on it, in order to make it breathe again?

You may want to give Mac OS X 10.4.11 a try.

Reference: http://lowendmac.com/ed/royal/08sr/tiger-or-leopard.html


using windows on a mac for a few applications i need to use visual studio and a few other windows programs but i am now looking at getting an iMac.  Can someone recommend the best solutions for being able to use these windows programs from a mac.

I see that there is bootcamp built into the mac operating system but i am unclear if that is the best solution from a workflow point of view (switching back and forth)

Virtualisation software such as VMware Fusion, Parallels or Virtual Box will allow you to run windows "in a Window". They work very well.

I recommend VMWare, as best performance-wise, and has some advanced features which make the file exchange between OS's almost seam-less. VirtualBox is less user friendly, but still works well and is free.

Note that for this to work well you need plenty of RAM. I'd recommend 4GB as a minimum.


Does receiving spam iMessages / FaceTime calls indicate my account is compromised? I have a question and a story, since things aren't completely clear in my mind how iMessage and FaceTime work.

If someone sends me an iMessage / FaceTime call, does it mean they have other contact information about me?

I received a Facetime call request that came up with the email address amelia.thompson03@hotmail.co.uk which I did not answer as I do not know anyone by that name. I then received an imessage from 'her' saying hi its amelia thompson and was this emelia stone (a name that is attached to an email account I set up years ago but not in fact my real name). I asked how they knew Emelia Stone and they replied that they were in her class. Not likely as she is a fictitious character.

I decided to leave it at that but have since received two further facetime requests and several more imessages including a grand total of 16 picture messages of One Direction's Harry Styles, to which I responded in no uncertain terms that I did not wish to be contacted again..

I'm inclined to find the whole thing rather amusing but it is obviously not acceptable and I'm interested to find out how on earth somebody could contact me, not via regular email spam, but directly to my iPhone.

In short, your account wasn't hacked or compromised if someone you don't know places a call or SMS or iMessage or FaceTime call to your address.

Sadly, you can't easily block or change your iMessage and FaceTime account today, but if this grows, I would expect a way to block things just like the phone company now has various options for blocking unwanted calls even though they did not have such blocking in the past.

When you register for iMessage, you tell Apple either your email address or your phone number. Anyone else with iMessage can add your email address or phone number, so in that respect this is exactly like email spam.

In the physical world, someone can put a letter on your doorstep if they physically can make a letter and drop it off. Similarly, anyone with an iMessage/FaceTime account can enter any address and press send. Apple will deliver that message to you if your account is listening to the address the sender placed.

In many cases, people have several addresses in iMessage, and merely sending a message to an email associated with your Apple ID doesn't compromise your phone number, password, location or any other details about you by the mere fact that a message was delivered.

It's hard to tell whether the person has any information other than your email address, because it's probable they just guessed it. Email spammers use computers to generate millions of possible email addresses, and hope that some of them work. Also, the world is large, there could be thousands of people whose parents named them (or they chose an identity) the same as your fictional creation. Without engaging the sender or additional sleuthing, you may not be able to tell if this is a prank, intentional marketing for One Direction or a coincidence.