How does iterm2 work? I am curious how does iterm2 work? I mean it would be a gargantuan task to re-implement all the unix commands and I guess it somehow uses the built-in terminal under the covers to run the actual commands but how?

Both applications: built-in Apple Terminal and iTerm2 are only terminal emulators. They do not implement any commands, they just take care of the display.

When you open either a Terminal or an iTerm2 window, it automatically runs a shell (like bash or ksh). This is the program that interprets most of the commands that you know as CLI. When you type a command into a shell, it first tries to match it with its internal set of commands and interprets it accordingly. If a command is not found, the shell will try to find a program which name matches the command. This is what you might perceive aa "unix commands", however they are just standalone programs.

For example: If you run a Terminal on a Mac, it runs bash shell by default. Then if you type date, the shell will find it is not an internal shell command, so it will search the disk (it will search only in places defined in a so called "PATH environment variable") and it will most likely find a program in the following place /bin/date. The shell will execute this program. The Terminal will then print the standard output of the date command in its window.

iTerm2 does not use Terminal in the background, but it will run the same shell. So the flow is: iTerm2 runs bash (by default), bash then executes a date command and date command will send its output to the iTerm2 which will display the characters for the user.


Time Machine is trying to backup I noticed my Time Machine is trying to backup 137G of data into my Time Capsule... I thought Time Machine suppose to do increments.. How is this increment when I only have 137G worth of data on my hard drive? before TM was always trying to backup gigs of data even when there was not that much change on my computer...

What can I do to troubleshoot this?

Did some research and found this: Time Machine Full Backup Issue.

Here is what it says on the site:

  Time Machine will always do a full backup in these circumstances:

  Backing-up from a new disk or partition (only that disk/partition gets a full backup).
  Backing-up to a new or erased disk or partition.
  After a full restore (not a "smart update") from a "clone" such as CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.  This includes getting a new HD or
  erasing your current one, and using the clone to restore your data.
  Effective with Lion 10.7.x, you may be able to prevent it via item #B6).
  After replacing or erasing your internal HD, and putting your data back “piecemeal.”  This includes dragging selected items or restoring
  selected items via the Time Machine “Star Wars” display.  Effective
  with Lion 10.7.x, you may be able to prevent it via item #B6).
  Going many days (at least 10, usually many more) without a backup, if a lot of changes have been made.


What accessories are needed to connect my iphone 5 with iPad Mini? I'm looking to connect my iPhone 5 to my iPad Mini to upload pictures taken from my iPhone 5. What adapters and/or cables are needed?

Update: According to this article, it is possible. Has something changed in the iOS to not allow this?

A wireless recommendation would be to use iCloud to sync the photos between the devices. Just go to Settings > iCloud > Photos and turn on Photo Stream. After this, all new photos will be synced to the cloud and back to all devices that use the same iCloud account.

You could also install Dropbox and sync the photos from there. Or use Flicr.


AppleScript is unable to get a date as string Be warned, I am a very new to AppleScript and most programming in general. The basic purpose of the script I've been working on is to read information from Excel files and put it into a FileMaker Pro database. Everything is working well so far, except when attempting to get the value of cells containing dates. Since the dates in the Excel file are already formatted correctly (mm/dd/yy) for the database they are to be put in, I would like to simply read and write them as strings.

The problem arises here, where AppleScript outputs the values as dates in the format (day of the week, month dd, yyyy at 12:00:00 AM) despite my attempt to read them as strings. Below is a shortened version of the script that shows where the problem is occurring.

    tell application "Finder"
    activate application "Microsoft Excel"
    open the first file in folder "Macintosh HD:Users:theUser:Documents:attachments test"
    tell application "Microsoft Excel"
        tell active sheet
            tell used range
                set rowCount to count of rows

                repeat with i from 2 to rowCount

                    set colA to "A" & i & ":A" & i
                    set theDate to get value of range colA as string

                    set rowB to "B" & i & ":B" & i
                    set theTime to get value of range rowB as real

                    set colC to "C" & i & ":C" & i
                    set serialNo to get value of range colC as integer

                    set colD to "D" & i & ":D" & i
                    set pH to get value of range colD as real

                    set colE to "E" & i & ":E" & i
                    set theVolume to get value of range colE as real

                    display dialog "The serial number of row " & i & " is: " & serialNo & " and the pH value is: " & pH & " and the volume is: " & theVolume & " and the date is: " & theDate & " and the time is: " & theTime

                end repeat

            end tell
        end tell
    end tell
end tell

I also tried another method to deal with the problem by setting a variable each for day, month, and year, but ran into another issue where month is not recognized as a purple word (whatever that should be called) and is instead blue (again, I cannot find what these terms are called anywhere). In the image below are three different ways I attempted to get these values from the date in format (day of the week, month dd, yyyy at 12:00:00 AM) so that they could then be reorganized manually.

My only guess for the initial problem is that 'as string' does not work when placed after the other parts of the line, but I have no clue why month is refusing to cooperate. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

This may not be a direct solution or quite the answer you are looking for, but this following AppleScript code provide examples of how to convert a given short date string into an actual date, how to extract the elements of the date, edit and set date and time values, and to create your own custom date and time as a string.  Hope this helps.

set dateAsText to "9/23/16"

-- converts dateAsText into an actual date
set someDate to date dateAsText -- date "Friday, September 23, 2016 at 12:00 AM"

-- extract the short date from someDate... as a string
set shortDate to short date string of someDate -- "09/23/16"

-- change the time value of someDate from "12:00 AM" to "5:00 PM"
set adjustedDate to date "5:00 PM" of someDate -- date "Friday, September 23, 2016 at 5:00 PM"

-- extract elements from adjustedDate... as strings
set theTime to time string of adjustedDate -- "5:00 PM"

set theWeekday to weekday of adjustedDate -- Friday
set theWeekday to (weekday of adjustedDate) as string -- "Friday"

set theDay to day of adjustedDate -- 23
set theDay to (day of adjustedDate) as string -- "23"

set theMonth to month of adjustedDate -- September
set theMonth to (month of adjustedDate) as string -- "September"

-- edit values of adjustedDate
set day of adjustedDate to 14 -- date "Wednesday, September 14, 2016 at 5:00 PM"
set year of adjustedDate to 1978 -- date "Thursday, September 14, 1978 at 5:00 PM"

------------
set customDate to short date string of adjustedDate & space & theTime -- "09/14/78 5:00 PM"


Can I silence alarms from shared calendar (on a calendar-by-calendar basis)? I use iCloud to share a family calendar with my wife (she owns the calendar, I am the sharee).  She likes to make sure she gets plenty of alarms for events on the family calendar so she doesn't miss picking up the kids or something like that.  Since I'm sharing, I also get the alarms, which aren't all that helpful when I'm in a meeting at work.

Is there a way to silence all the alarms from a particular calendar?  I still want to get alarms from my calendars.  I also can't remove the alarms from the shared calendar, or else she won't get them (and thus our kids will be stuck somewhere).

We use BusyCal, if it matters.

This answer's for iCal, since I don't have BusyCal, but I would assume that it has similar functionality.  Hopefully, it can help you to find the right control, even if it's not exactly right.

In iCal, you can right-click on a shared calendar in the calendar list and Get Info on it.  In the dialog that pops up (see picture), there's a checkbox to ignore alarms.

I can only assume there's something similar for BusyCal.


If mac has the built-in backup tool time machine, why we still need mac data recovery? I dont know much about computer thing and just knew that mac has a built-in backup called time-machine? what is that? can it help us recover the lost data in my mac. and why people still need some third party mac data recovery tool like minitool mac data recovery software used by my friends for a couple of years?

Time Machine is a bit different from third party data recovery software. Here's how they work:

When your computer is connected to an external hard drive and Time Machine is turned on, every hour it backs up the files on your computer (or any files changed since the previous backup). In this way, you always have a copy of everything, including versions going back in the past (depending on how large the external hard drive is). Then if you lose a file, you can grab a copy from this backup. (As a side note, the latest version of OS X includes a Versions feature that makes locally stored backups of older versions of files, so if you change a document, you can still see what it used to be.)

Third party data recovery software, on the other hand, is what you use when you do not have an actual backup to rely on. It's also not very reliable. What this does is it tries to scan your Mac's hard drive's empty space for files that were deleted. This sometimes works because even though files are deleted from the hard drive, the hard drive isn't necessarily overwritten, so some deleted files may still be retrievable.


Is it possible for iPhone's MAC or other network specifications to change through update to IOS 14? NOTE!!!
I already know that MAC address is static and is about the hardware's address. But i don't know what's happening,
Here is what got me wondering.
On the router in our house I set MAC filtering so that only our devices can connect.
Recently after i updated my iPhone 7 to IOS 14, i had my phone joined to the same wifi, but once i felt like i have a slow connection, i changed network to mobile data.
After a couple of days i found out that i don't have any message or email notification popping up when I'm on WiFi and there was the time i knew i have no access although I'm connected to the WiFi network.
So i searched for solutions. People suggested restarting my phone, resetting network setting and these sort of things(non of em worked).
Just a few minutes before, i reset the router and as a result, all the MAC restrictions are gone and its working properly.
I also think there might be other things that could change through this reset, but i cant work it out.
Moreover i changed the router's configuration (network name and passphrase) a couple of times before; another waste.

Yes, iOS 14 introduces a new type of MAC address randomization named "Private WiFi Addresses". This means that iOS selects a new, random MAC address for each WiFi network you connect to. Note that only the first time you connect a new address will be chosen - it stays the same for that network the following times you connect.
You can disable this behavior from the Settings app on the phone. Choose WiFi and then press the (i) button for the network in question. Ensure that "Private Address" is not enabled.


Is it safe to delete system logs? I'm using DaisyDisk to clean my hard drive and it is showing nearly 8GB of files in /private/var/log/asl. Are those files safe to delete?

Yes, you can safely delete log files. In the case of an application needing to write a new entry and the file not being found, it will be re-created automatically.

Just bear in mind that these ASL (Apple System Log) files may contain some useful information to trace or debug any issues you could be experimenting with your computer, which, of course, will be lost with the deletion of the files.

So, in case you might want to take a look at these files before deleting them, you could use the syslog command as follows: syslog -f /private/var/log/asl/nameOfTheFile.asl


How to select all similar files in an directory If I want to view images I made with my camera using Preview, I have to select all files separately. Because when I select all files (cmd + a) all the videos I made get selected (and opened in Quicktime) too.

So I was wondering how I can select only the images in a certain directory?

You can use the Search feature in Finder to limit the view in a specific folder to search criteria that matches what's in the search field. One of the criteria you can search on is kind. In the screen shot below I start typing kind:jpeg in the search field and you see that Finder presents me with a drop down list that includes JPEG Image. I select this from the list and I'll see only files of that kind. To limit the filter to just this folder I make sure the Downloads view is clicked on the Search: area just about the list of files instead of This Mac.

Once you've searched and filtered your view this way, you can select all to perform an operation on files that match that search.


check why iPhone restarted Is there a way to check why iPhone restarted? My iPhone restarted once during the day, not being connected to power, so I believe that wasn't update. It happened just once today, so I'm curious what was a reason to restart.

I had the problem of my iPhone 6s randomly restarting. It might not be the same problem you're having, but it will give you something to check.

For me, the restarting problem occurred several times in the months leading up to the phone dying. Well, let me be more specific: about a month after experiencing the random restarting problem, I began to notice the phone wasn't holding a charge. So I called Apple support and they had me check Settings-->Battery-->Battery Health.

In that section it showed I had "Maximum Capacity 87%" but then below that in the "Peak Performance Capability" section it had a message indicating there had been a problem (I can't remember, but the message was something like performance monitoring had been turned off because the battery couldn't supply enough power).

After that I took the phone in to an Apple service center to get the battery replaced, but was told that it wasn't that easy: there was a problem with the power supply which meant a hefty repair. That's when I changed phones.

So, I'd check the above settings, keep an eye on your battery performance, and perhaps call Apple if things go downhill.


Mac mini cannot login A newly bought Mac mini was working perfectly for 4 days with a single user. Now when I tried to login, the screen turns blank (the Apple icon appears when first started, with that background color) for a moment and jump back to the login screen again.
When I try the wrong password entry, then I get the known shake-effect as expected.

What is the reason I cannot login and how can i solve this?

Try using Recovery Mode to correct this issue. Change the affected user password with Recovery Mode and see if it works. If this doesn't work, you need to return this Mac to the Apple Store and have a Mac Genius check it out. It will save you many headaches to let them check it than trying to solve the issue yourself.


Add more RAM to my MacBook Pro 5,3 I got my MacBook Pro on October 2009  , here are the specifications:

  Processor 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
  Memory 4 GB 1067 Mhz DDR3
  Lion 10.7.3
  15-inch, Mid 2009
    Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,3

I want to add more RAM, hopefully add 4 GB more.

What are the required/recommended manufacturers?
Can I do it myself? Any proven guide/tutorial?

You can check out OWC. On the page itself, they have information on the RAM that's suitable for various Mac. They also have a bunch of video tutorial on the installation of RAM for different Mac model.


iPhone 4s wifi problem My iPhone is no longer on I'm using it as an iPod for now but I cant connect to the wifi ; like the wifi is greyed out. I restarted and rest it , it's not on air plane mode or anything. How do I fix my phone?

that is a trick you may tried it out, it's work for me for now.

1) use air dryer heat up your phone at the top part(you can aim on the headphone jack) until you iphone shown up the temperature screen.

2) When the temperature screen show up , turn off you phone (caution! the phone is very HOT).

3)After it is off pit it into a zip lock bag.

4)Let it rest for 1-2min and then put into the freezer for 30Min

5)When you take it out let it remain in zip lock bag and turn on the phone ( it may show battery low screen. If it's happen wait for a while and try turn it on again)

6) You are done!! you fix your wifi.

It will grayed out again whenever you update to a newer version of ios, so if that happen redo this proccess. So far it work for me, you may give it a try..


Where does the Apple Bootcamp software store the drive definitions on the windows partition? I removed my CDROM and added an SSD to my MACBOOK PRO I7 (mid 2010) in it's place. I can boot into my windows partition, however while I am in bootcamp(in WINDOWS) I can only select to start from old OSX partition and not my new SSD. I always have to hold OPTION key down to be able to boot form the SSD when coming out of windows. I've looked for INI files related to bootcamp in the \Program/ Files Directory and user directory. Where can I find the Drive definitions, so that I can add my new SSD? BTW, it boots just as fast as many newer models now.

diskutil  list
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *120.0 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                 Apple_APFS Container disk2         119.8 GB   disk0s2

/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk1
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage MacHD                   898.3 GB   disk1s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk1s3
   4:       Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP                101.0 GB   disk1s4

/dev/disk2 (synthesized):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      APFS Container Scheme -                      +119.8 GB   disk2
                                 Physical Store disk0s2
   1:                APFS Volume MacSSD                  36.6 GB    disk2s1
   2:                APFS Volume Preboot                 21.7 MB    disk2s2
   3:                APFS Volume Recovery                503.9 MB   disk2s3
   4:                APFS Volume VM                      5.4 GB     disk2s4

/dev/disk3 (internal, virtual):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS MacHD                  +898.0 GB   disk3
                                 Logical Volume on disk1s2
                                 76C259A6-63E8-45F6-9E3B-0D7F2AD246C9
                                 Unencrypted

/dev/disk4 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk4
   1:               Windows_NTFS Backup                  1.0 TB     disk4s1

A drive is usually divided up into partitions. There is a table stored in the drive that contains this partition information. The Boot Camp software installed in Windows looks at this table to determine which partitions are bootable. APFS is fairly new and your Boot Camp software does not properly recognize bootable macOS volumes stored in APFS partitions.

There is a workaround that can allow you to boot directly to your SSD from Windows. See the question: macOS partition disappered after installing windows 10 using bootcamp. I consider the accepted solution as a temporary fix. Apple may issue a Boot Camp update for Windows that will fix this problem. Or, Apple may  not.

Below are the steps to make this fix to your Mac. The commands need to be entered into a Terminal application window.

Create the new volume.  The diskutil command, shown below, shrinks the APFS container by 300 MB and creates the new 200 MB "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" volume labeled "MacSSD via rEFInd".

sudo diskutil ap resizeContainer disk1 119500M JHFS+ "MacSSD via rEFInd" 200M

After the command completes, restart the Mac.
Download the rEFInd Boot Manager software from this SourceForge web site. Enter the following commands to install the software to the "MacSSD via rEFInd" volume.

cd ~/Downloads/refind-bin-0.11.2
./refind-install --ownhfs /dev/disk0s3

  Note: The error message Could not set boot device property: 0xe00002bc was expected and can be ignored.

Configure the TextEdit application. Open TextEdit, then navigate to the "Preferences..." window. Uncheck all the "Options", as shown below. When finished, quit TextEdit.

Use the command below to navigate to the folder containing the refind.conf file.

cd "/Volumes/MacSSD via rEFInd/System/Library/CoreServices"

Make a backup copy of this file.

cp refind.conf refind.conf.orignal

Open the file in the TextEdit application.

open -e refind.conf

Add the following lines to the end of the refind.conf file. You should be able to just cut and paste these lines. When finished, save the changes, then quit TextEdit.

#
# Added to make rEFInd silent.
#
menuentry "MacSSD via rEFInd" {
    icon \System\Library\CoreServices\icons\os_mac.png
    volume "MacSSD"
    loader \System\Library\CoreServices\boot.efi
    ostype MacOS
    graphics on
}
timeout -1
hideui all
scanfor manual

Enter the following commands to modify the /etc/fstab file. This entry will instruct macOS not to mount the volume labeled "MacSSD via rEFInd" at startup.

sudo bash
echo >>/etc/fstab
echo "LABEL=MacSSD\040via\040rEFInd none hfs rw,noauto" >>/etc/fstab
exit

  Note: The character sequence \040 is just the octal representation of the space character.

When finished, restart the Mac.

Now when choosing Boot Camp from the Control Panel, you should get something similar to what is shown below.


What is the best way to record an audio conversation made in Skype? I will be interviewing someone in a few weeks for a story, and we won't have the opportunity to meet in person. Therefore, the interview will be done on Skype or something along these lines.

What's the best way to record both me and the person I'll be interviewing?

I suggest you use Ecamm Call Recorder. It's a plugin for Skype that will record both sides of the conversation into separate tracks. If you need high quality audio, you could have your interviewee record their own audio locally with QuickTime and send you the audio file. We use a combination of these two to create the Ask Different Podcast - individual QuickTime recordings for quality, and a Skype recording that we use to sync up the conversation.


Why are emails from Find My iPhone in the wrong locale/language? I'm a native English speaker and I can only understand English. For some reason, every email notification I get from the Find My iPhone service (such as a "locked" or "alarm" confirmation) is in French. At least, it looks like French. Before today I've never set my locale to anything other than English on my phone or iCloud.

I tried switching my locale on my iPhone 4 and on iCloud, but the email notifications from Find My iPhone are still in French.

I was able to log in to https://appleid.apple.com/ and set my country/locale/language to "USA". Took me a little while to figure this out. :)


Mac OS X startup manager always appears (option key inverted?) I set up a fresh install of OS X 10.7.5 on a mid 2007's MacMini2,1 and installed my personal stuff like some components via Homebrew.
After a few restarts it stopped booting automatically into my OS. The startup Manager always appears now where I can select the boot device.
When I press the option-key during boot, everything is like normal. It seems like the option-key-function is inverted?!

Anybody else got this? How can I repair EFi?

Ok, the solution was ridiculous... Really.
My MacMini got any signals from infrared like maybe only the light or any remote control or whatever in room. It works normal when I put anything on the infrared-receiver on my MacMini. The signal was like an option-keypress (menu on remote control)

Hope that helps people in future


Remove Specific Text from Multiple Descriptions I've recently upgraded to iPhoto '11 (couldn't resist the pricing on the new app store) and as I'm adding more meta-data to my library and generally organizing things (places, faces, etc... I hadn't upgraded since '08) I've noticed something odd in my photos.  Every photo in my library has a description (though many are short), but it would appear that somehow the description of one of the photos has been appended to many.

I don't know if maybe I accidentally screwed up a batch change at some point in the past, or if the library upgrade somehow messed up, or what else may have happened.  But what I need to do is fix these somehow.

Now, manually editing is something of a daunting task.  Within a library of 21,248 photos, 18,858 of them have this additional text.  The one thing I do have going for me is that it's a specific string.  If there's a way to "remove this string from everywhere in the library without removing the rest of any given description" then that would be perfect.

Is there anything I can do like this?  Maybe even manually editing a library file in a text editor?  (Would that break anything else in iPhoto if its library was edited outside of the application, even while it's not running?)  Does anybody have any ideas?

Consider using an AppleScript to perform this task. The following AppleScript will get you started:

tell application "iPhoto"

    repeat with i from 1 to number of items in photos

        set myPhoto to item i of photos

        set comment of myPhoto to replaceText("find this", "replace with this", comment of myPhoto)

    end repeat

end tell

-- replaceText from Bruce Phillips (http://brucep.net/2007/replace-text/)
on replaceText(find, replace, subject)
    set prevTIDs to text item delimiters of AppleScript
    set text item delimiters of AppleScript to find
    set subject to text items of subject

    set text item delimiters of AppleScript to replace
    set subject to "" & subject
    set text item delimiters of AppleScript to prevTIDs

    return subject
end replaceText

To use this AppleScript, copy and paste it into a new AppleScript Editor document.

In this situation, you want to find and remove a specific piece of text. Modify the above AppleScript as follows:

Change the "find this" segment and enter the text to find.
Change the "replace with this" segment to be blank, "".

With these changes in place, save the document, and click Run in the toolbar. Depending on the number of photos, this AppleScript will take a long time; potentially hours.


Why do i need a new email account to sync my notes in iCloud? I'm trying to sync Notes from mac to iPhone. But when I turn on Notes in iCoud, it says that I require an iCloud email address. This is unexpected since my Gmail account is alreadyh linked with my iCloud account.

Why is an iCloud email address required to sync Notes?

(I'm able to sync Reminders with no problems.)

iOS Notes syncing works through the IMAP protocol, which in iCloud is integrated into the email service. Although Apple could technically choose to allow for notes syncing without explicitly requiring an email address, they have chosen to make it a part of the email, almost like Notes is its own email folder.

You should also be able to sync your Notes using your Gmail account since it is also based on the IMAP protocol:


Apple Watch activity too high I have a new Apple Watch and have to learn how to use this device properly.

Because I miss-add a workout in the Health App my activity rings show that I exercised more than 1000 minutes.

I cannot find these minutes anymore kn my Health App but want to clean these results.

You should be able to delete the data relating to this via the Health app on your iPhone.

More specifically:

On your iPhone open the Health app
Tap on the Sources icon at bottom
At the bottom of the Sources screen you'll see a list of your devices - one of them will be for your Apple Watch. Tap on this.
Now you'll see a range of options - tap on the one that says Exercise Minutes
Now you'll see a screen that lists all recorded data, sorted with most recent at top
Identify the one(s) you need to delete
Now tap on the red Edit option at top right
Now you can delete any of the entries you want to (NOTE: Be careful not to tap on the Delete All option at top left!)


What is special about Preview added text or shape elements? Can I move other elements besides these? I found that if I use Preview to open a PDF file, and use its tools to add text, or shape elements such as arrows, ellipse, rectangle, then I can use Preview to edit them.

But if the items are not Preview's, then I can't edit them.  In this case, I have also tried using Adobe's Acrobat Standard or Pro trial version to edit a file, and when I see a person wearing a tie, with a shadow, I can move the tie to the left and move the shadow to the right (not always, for example, if the person with the tie is a pure image, then I can't).

So, can Preview have this capability?  Why can I move element that Preview added to the PDF but not move other elements in the PDF?

The items you add using Preview.app (text, shape elements, etc.) are annotations (technically correct term), also called "comments".

The example you mention to move around using Acrobat are part of the contents of the document.

Annotations and contents are two completely different things in a PDF.

Acrobat (Standard, Pro) has the tools to access both. Preview.app (and Acrobat Reader) have the tools to access annotations, but not to access contents. (a bit of a rant: …and that's good so, considering how badly Preview.app can mess up PDFs…).


Is it better to use ePub or mobi files in iBooks? I've purchased some books that make epub and mobi versions available for download. What are the main differences and which is better supported in iBooks?

ePub is the newer standard and is supported by the Apple iBooks app, but Apple only supports it's own FairPlay DRM wrapper used to encrypt the ePub files to protect the books from being copied or read on unauthorised devices.

Most other (non-Apple) eBook stores sell ePub books encrypted with Adobe's Adept DRM wrapper, which you can't read with the iBooks app (although certain other eBook apps do support the Adobe DRM system)

Mobi is for other reader systems (I believe the Kindle uses this format) and is not supported by the iBooks app. I expect there are other iPhone apps that support mobi files.


How do I copy my HD to my SSD? I just recently replaced my SuperDrive with my Mac's HD and put a new SSD into HD spot. How can I download and install the OS into the new SSD and copy all my files there? The SSD is smaller in size, so I want to only copy certain things.

If your Mac supports 10.7 or later, see the "Installing OS X on an external storage device" section in http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4718.

Open Disk Utility when started up normally. Select the SSD, open the Partition tab, set the partition layout to one partition, set the format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), and press the Apply button.
Download an OS X installer from App Store and install it on the SSD.

You can copy the old files manually or by using Migration Assistant. If you can't download the installer from App Store, you can also download and install OS X from the recovery partition.

Related questions:

How can I move my data to the new harddrive?
What's the best way to move from an HDD to an SSD on a Mac Pro?
How can I copy the OS X system image from primary HDD to new SSD?


Does half-resolution on Retina displays really look the same as native? If you run a retina display at exactly half resolution (i.e. 1280x800 on a 13" Retina MacBook Pro [native 2560x1600]), that it will not look blurry at all and will look the same as if the display was native resolution.

Is this true?

I've tried using these half-resolutions but they look extremely jagged.  I wouldn't describe it as blurry, but it definitely looks pretty awful.

However, if I use the same resolution (1280x800) on a native panel (i.e. MacBook Air 1366x768), it looks MUCH better.

What's going on here?

Why doesn't half-resolution on Retina look the same as a panel with the same native resolution?

It depends of what you mean by "will look the same".
It looks the same only in the way that the elements on your screen are displayed in the same size as if it was a 1280x800 screen.
The aim of the retina displays is to display more details, to do that, what it does is that it displays things at the same size a half resolution screen would have done but uses all the available pixels to show you more details, nothing is better than an example to explain you what I mean :

In fact, the pixels of a retina display are designed to be small enough so that you retina won't be able to distinguish them at a standard use distance, that's why it looks as sharp as a printed page, and that's why a retina display will never look the same as a display that would be natively 1280x800 pixels, actually it should looks much better.
Now let's answer to your question ! You didn't explained if it always looks blurry or only on some applications/websites.
I will assume that it does not always looks blurry because it shouldn't.
As I explained, although they are displayed in the same size than on any other display, the elements are "constituted" of 4 times more pixels which means that an element that would have been 10x10 pixels (100 pixels) needs to be 20x20 pixels (400 pixels) to take advantage of all the available pixels ; it looks blurry if the element hasn't got a resolution that's high enough "to fill all the available pixels", in fact, this is exactly like when a picture is pixelated but here it looks more blurry because the pixels of your screen are extremely small.
There should be more and more retina ready websites/applications in the future (in think that in something like 4 years most of the websites will be).


" No such file or directory" when copying from local harddisk to icloud drive I am trying to copy some files via command line to the icloud drive

This is I have done:

cd '/Users/antkong/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs'
cp -r ~/Download .

Then I got a lot of 'No such file or directory' error messages. Here are some of them:

cp: ./Downloads/python-docs-samples-master/translate: No such file or directory
cp: /Users/antkong/Downloads/python-docs-samples-master/translate: unable to copy extended attributes to ./Downloads/python-docs-samples-master/translate: No such file or directory
cp: ./Downloads/python-docs-samples-master/translate/cloud-client: No such file or directory
cp: /Users/antkong/Downloads/python-docs-samples-master/translate/cloud-client: unable to copy extended attributes to ./Downloads/python-docs-samples-master/translate/cloud-client: No such file or directory
cp: ./Downloads/python-docs-samples-master/translate/cloud-client/quickstart.py: No such file or directory
cp: ./Downloads/python-docs-samples-master/translate/cloud-client/quickstart_test.py: No such file or directory

I have double-checked and I am certain the local files exist.

In console, I set the filter to 'icloud' and I see these logs:

default 12:07:57.409443 +1100   com.apple.iCloudHelper  MacOS error: -67050
default 12:08:02.507858 +1100   com.apple.iCloudHelper  MacOS error: -67050
default 12:08:07.757674 +1100   com.apple.iCloudHelper  MacOS error: -67050
default 12:08:12.858678 +1100   com.apple.iCloudHelper  MacOS error: -67050
default 12:08:18.105600 +1100   com.apple.iCloudHelper  MacOS error: -67050
default 12:08:23.300585 +1100   com.apple.iCloudHelper  MacOS error: -67050
default 12:08:28.403153 +1100   com.apple.iCloudHelper  MacOS error: -67050
default 12:08:33.548442 +1100   com.apple.iCloudHelper  MacOS error: -67050

Why the copying has failed?

The root cause of the issue is the lack of the disk space.

During my copy operation, my local HD has run out of spare space:

 df -h
Filesystem      Size   Used  Avail Capacity  iused      ifree %iused  Mounted on
/dev/disk1     233Gi  233Gi    0Bi   100%  5751980 4289215299    0%   /
devfs          191Ki  191Ki    0Bi   100%      661          0  100%   /dev
map -hosts       0Bi    0Bi    0Bi   100%        0          0  100%   /net
map auto_home    0Bi    0Bi    0Bi   100%        0          0  100%   /home
/dev/disk2s2   466Gi  420Gi   46Gi    91% 10491127 4284476152    0%   /Volumes/Time Machine

After I removed some apps from /Application and rerun the cp command, it works as expected.


Gofortran installation for mac I need a C compiler and gofrortran to install a package. I was able to get the c complier with:

xcode-select --install

Unfortunately I am having trouble getting a working fortran complier. I know that I should be able to download one here:

https://cran.r-project.org/bin/macosx/tools/

Any advice?

Update I attempted downloading from HPC and received the following error while untaring:

x usr/local/: Can't set user=0/group=0 for usr/localFailed to set file flags
x usr/local/bin/
x usr/local/.com.apple.installer.keep
x usr/local/libexec/
x usr/local/include/
x usr/local/lib/
x usr/local/share/
x usr/local/share/man/
x usr/local/share/locale/
......
x usr/local/libexec/gcc/x86_64-apple-darwin17.5.0/7.3.0/plugin/gengtype
x usr/local/bin/gcov
x usr/local/bin/g++
x usr/local/bin/gfortran
x usr/local/bin/gcc-ranlib
x usr/local/bin/gcov-tool
x usr/local/bin/gcc-nm
x usr/local/bin/gcc-ar
x usr/local/bin/gcc
x usr/local/bin/gcov-dump
x usr/local/bin/cpp
tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors.

Yea that has always been a difficult task but I would recommend gfortran. Its part of the GCC package from gnu. It's a nice Fortran compiler and the best part is it is free. If you've searched the web you know most Fortran compilers are pricey. The link above will let you access precompiled binaries for gfortran. The binaries are packaged as simple to install Mac .dmg files.

The version for Sierra is 6.3 while the latest version for Mojave is 8.2.


How to turn off Mac's sounds by default? In some situations I would open my macbook in a public place or library, and I still have something open that produces sound, such as music or a chat program giving notifications. I would like to have my sound be muted by default when I open the lid. Anyway to achieve this?

Have you tried muting the sound?

Muting the sound before closing the lid and/or rebooting will keep the sound muted.

I also found this: Mute volume of macbook on sleep


Specification for CUPS printing options I would like to ask if someone knows where can I find all the possible printing options the can CUPS send to backend/filter etc.

These are some of the possible options:

com.apple.print.PrintSettings.PMBorder..b.
com.apple.print.PrintSettings.PMBorderType..n.=1
com.apple.print.PrintSettings.PMColorMatchingMode..n.=0
com.apple.print.PrintSettings.PMColorSpaceModel..n.=0
com.apple.print.PrintSettings.PMCopies..n.=1
com.apple.print.PrintSettings.PMCopyCollate..b.

I would like to get the full list of these options, but can't find any specification for that.

https://www.cups.org/documentation.php/doc-2.0/api-cups.html#cupsParseOptions

Documentation

The standard documentation of cupsd configuration file is available with:

man cupsd.conf

Modification

These options are configured through the cupsd configuration file which is:

/etc/cups/cupsd

If cupsd is running it will overwrite it. Hence so as to be able to edit it, here is how to proceed:

stop cupsd:

cd /System/Library/LaunchDaemons
/usr/bin/sudo launchctl unload org.cups.cupsd.plist

edit cupsd configuration file:

cd /etc/cups
cp cupsd.conf cupsd.conf.orig
vi cupsd.conf

start cupsd:

cd /System/Library/LaunchDaemons
/usr/bin/sudo launchctl load org.cups.cupsd.plist


Routers that are compatible with Time Machine I'm looking for a router that provides file storage requirements for OS X Time Machine to see the router as a backup destination. I found that Netgear R7000 is supporting it. While unfortunately, Linksys WRT1900ACS doesn't.

Of course, Apple sells their own solution (Time Capsule) which serves as a router and a time machine destination for backups but I don't prefer to invest in that hardware.

Just to clarify, the term "router" is incorrect here mostly because it is used incorrectly by manufacturers who sell products in the retail market.
A router is neither compatible nor incompatible with Time Machine.  A router simply routes network traffic (packets) from one network to another.
What these retail "routers" actually are is an amalgamation of

the network router (described above)
a network switch
a WiFi access point
a NAS (network attached storage)
a server (DHCP, DNS, Web, etc.)
whatever other nonsense they try to jam into an overpriced, but severely under powered, extremely low quality SoC (System on Chip) covered by flashy plastic.

What is incompatible is the NAS functionality of the device.   Specifically in this case, the protocol(s) the router manufacturer chose to include don't include support for Bonjour.
Solution:  Buy a separate NAS Device
Relying on a single device that is literally at the edge of your network (meaning it's the security between your internal network and the rest of the WWW (wild wild web), it's risky to store your backups there.
Instead, get a separate NAS device that supports Time Machine.  Like the Synology (I personally use the DS212j at home)   It fully supports Time Machine and is designed to be a NAS and functions as such.
If you have an old computer you can install FreeNAS on it and basically get the NAS for free.  If you have an old Mac, you can turn it into a "server," make a shared directory and backup Time Machine(s) to it over the network.
Bottom line:  Backups are important.  Put it on reliable hardware, not devices that add it on as an afterthought.


Can I use two wireless keyboards with my iMac? We were hoping that our iMac would accept two wireless Bluetooth keyboards of the exact same model to be used at the same time. (Lego 2 player, in case you're wondering)

However, I can't seem to pair the second. I thought as long as we used different keys to control each player, we'd be fine.

Anyone have any idea?

You can connect a wired and wireless keyboard at the same time.

I don't have a way to test two wireless right now, but how are you doing it?  Just turning on the second keyboard won't work. Your iMac won't bother because one is already connected. Have you tried connecting manually? In the Bluetooth preferences you can manually connect to other devices. Of course both keyboards have to be paired first. If you have the Bluetooth menu turned on in the preferences, you can try connecting from there as well.


Where is my macOS installer file located? I am looking for the installer for the OS X operating system installer I downloaded. Where is it stored?


Apple Watch is not recognising any activity. What is the problem? I have the original Apple Watch(I bought it as soon as it was released in 2015). I have now realised that it is not tracking any of my activity data, and that it displays 0 for all of the 3 categories, even after a day of running and exercise. How can I resolve this issue?

Unpair your watch from your phone and re-pair it. It will reset the watch.

Go into the Watch app on your phone, tap your watch at the top of the app screen, tap the "i" button, then tap Unpair Watch.

After this is complete, re-pair the watch to your phone and see if your issues are resolved.

If that doesn't work, you may need to call Apple support or take it in to the Genius Bar.


Activation lock on Ipad My Ipad locked on it on I don't remember my I cloud ID or Password How do I unlock it? It came up on my Ipad Activation lock.

Provided you can remember the answers you gave to your security questions, you can reset your password at https://appleid.apple.com.


Can command or option and shift (just those two keys) be assigned as an OS X shortcut? How can I assign command (apple) + shift or option (alt) + shift as a shortcut? It seems that I can assign other keyboard combinations but not this one as a shortcut.

You can use KeyRemap4MacBook. This inserts Q when releasing shift:

<autogen>__KeyOverlaidModifier__ KeyCode::SHIFT_L, ModifierFlag::OPTION_L | ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::SHIFT_L, ModifierFlag::OPTION_L, KeyCode::Q</autogen>
<autogen>__KeyOverlaidModifier__ KeyCode::SHIFT_R, ModifierFlag::OPTION_R | ModifierFlag::SHIFT_R | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::SHIFT_R, ModifierFlag::OPTION_R, KeyCode::Q</autogen>

This inserts Q when pressing shift, but it requires pressing shift before option for shortcuts like ⌥⇧[:

<autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::SHIFT_L | ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L | ModifierFlag::OPTION_L | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::Q</autogen>
<autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::SHIFT_R | ModifierFlag::SHIFT_R | ModifierFlag::OPTION_R | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::Q</autogen>

This remaps pressing option and shift simultaneously:

<autogen>__SimultaneousKeyPresses__ KeyCode::OPTION_L, KeyCode::SHIFT_L, KeyCode::Q</autogen>
<autogen>__SimultaneousKeyPresses__ KeyCode::OPTION_R, KeyCode::SHIFT_R, KeyCode::Q</autogen>

See the source for the key code values and predefined settings.


Where can you buy Apple earphones? On the Apple store there are EarPods.

And there are In-Ear Headphones.

But what if I want to buy the good ol' Earphones?

I find these to be the most comfortable of them all. Apple appears to still produce them, as they are mentioned on the Compare iPod Models page where they are bundled with the iPod Shuffle.

I thought maybe Amazon would work, but apparently OEM does not mean what it used to.

Where can I buy Apple Earphones?

Honestly, I would just buy some off eBay. I prefer the old ones too and have bought some from there before which were genuine.

If you're worried about fakes, look up the seller or look at their feedback.


Switching from Microsoft Remote Desktop back to Mac I am using Microsoft Remote Desktop app to connect to a Windows machine from my mac. When I start the app it goes in full screen (I don't see any of the Mac controls). I was used to switching back from the app to the Mac desktop by using CMD-Tab but for some reason this stopped working. When I press CMD-Tab I'm getting a task bar of the Mac applications that are running but when I try press on an icon nothing happens - I am still stuck with the Microsoft Remote Desktop app. How can I get back to from that app to the Mac controls?

Microsoft Remote Desktop automatically opens on another desktop space. You can quickly change between your remote session and the Mac desktop by pressing control + left arrow, and vise versa for going back to Windows.

You can also press control + up arrow to see all spaces at the top of the screen.


How do I revert iTunes contact sync? I first upgraded my operating system (Windows Vista) and then iTunes.

During the upgrade, I accidentally chose contact syncing should prefer my Windows' contacts over my iPhone's contacts. Now I've lost my phone's contact directory.

How do I revert the iTunes contact sync so I can get my iPhone contacts back?

I'm Michael and I work for connex.io, an address book app.
You can probably retrieve your contacts by taking the following steps:

On your iPhone go to Settings -> iCloud
and disable ‘Contacts’

They should re-appear.
If you want your contacts to be safer, you can always try connex.io. With our service you will always have your contacts with you. So even if you lose your phone, your contacts will still be in the cloud. It can also sync, de-duplicate, merge, clean, complete and update all of your contacts automatically. So you connect your devices once and then you will always have your contacts where ever you need them. If you would like to try it out, check out this link or you can send me an e-mail at michael@connex.io


After cloning my Mac, why are my time machine backups so slow? I recently cloned my late-2015 MacBook Pro (to another of the same model) using Acronis True Image 2018 for Mac. The cloning part worked well, but on the new laptop my Time Machine incremental backups are taking 30+ minutes to complete even though there's been almost no activity on my Mac since the last backup and very little (under 1GB) is usually backed up each time.

Both original and new laptop are running High Sierra using the new (APFS) file system.

When I look at Time Machine activity during a backup using sudo fs_usage -f filesys backupd it looks like TM is requesting data on 100,000's of different files, even though they haven't changed since the last backup and aren't actually backed up.  It's as if TM isn't correctly using FSEvents to know which files have changed.

The 30+ minute numbers are after I've already used sudo sysctl debug.lowpri_throttle_enabled=0 to speed up backups. Without this setting, they're even slower.

I've already tried deleting all old backups and even creating a brand-new share on my NAS device. Nothing worked.

Any ideas how to get quicker incremental backups?

I found this answer on Apple's forums (excerpted below) after much searching. After applying the solution below, incremental backups only take a few minutes after the first (very long) backup. Looks like my suspicions were correct about FSEvents not working. I suspect that something about the disk cloning process-- both for me and for the poster excerpted below-- messed up FSEvents logs and a rebuild was needed of those logs.

Sharing the solution here to help others:

  I was having the same problem (hours-long backups of a few MB) after
  using CCC to transfer my files to a brand new SSD. I don't think the
  SSD has any problems, as it is brand new, and the disk verification
  checks out. After hours of searching online, disabling Spotlight, and
  using TimeTracker to see if 100000+ files were actually changed (they
  were not), I found the following seems to work:

  Delete /.fseventsd on your startup drive or move it to another location:

  sudo mv /.fseventsd /.fseventsd.bak

  Reboot
  Start a Time Machine backup

  Afterwards, the first time TM is run, it took much less time to reach
  "Finishing Backup," though it stayed on that step a really long time.
  However, subsequent TM runs are back to normal.

  Source: http://www.ehmac.ca/archive/index.php/t-100787.html

  (Posting here so more people can find the solution; it took me several
  hours to find that one.)


Quicktime screen recording creates a green movie I tried creating a screencast on my OSX 10.8.5 MacBook pro, using QuickTime. This has worked before, but when I try it now I get:

The problem happens both on an external screen and on the retina display on the Mac. I've Googled the issue and tried installing gfxCardStatus, but it wouldn't work on my external monitor.

Any ideas how to fix this problem?

The (Ugly) solution that works is installing gfxCardStatus, Choosing "Integrated Only" and screencasting my laptop monitor without any external monitor.

It's is ugly indeed - will welcome any proper solution.


Recommended way to remotely control your Mac Mini from your Macbook Pro at home My configurations to access Mac mini (Leopard) from my MacBook Pro (Leopard) at home are:

Mac mini: Apple remote desktop enabled with VNC viewers flagged
MacBook Pro: Jollyfast VNC

I find this configuration too slow for my cabled LAN (100Mbit) and I'm searching for a better software solution.

What is a recommended way to remotely control your Mac Mini from your Macbook Pro at home?

Is your Mac Mini Intel-based? If so, then it, along with your MacBook Pro, has gigabit ethernet. My suggestion would be to get some cat 5e or cat 6 cables and a gigabit switch. Still, I personally use Apple's "Screen Sharing" remote desktop client and server built into Mac OS X, and it works fine, and has acceptable performance even over wifi (or remotely through Mobile Me).


iMessage sending to my mac and phone I am receving messages from my phone to my mac and I would like to turn it off, can anyone help? I am new to mac and really just can understand how to make my messages go to my phone and mac I would like it in just my phone.

Go to messages (if you can't find it anywhere just hit command+space bar and search for messages). When messages opens up hit Messages again. It's a the top of the left of your screen next to the Apple logo. Hit preferences, and hit Accounts. You should see that you are signed in. Just hit your account and hit sign out. That should work.


Accidental in app purchase by minor My 3 year-old son made an accidental in app purchase of around 270 pounds. I tried refund my money to my account but couldn't do it. Please help me refund my money because I can't afford to lose money that way.

You can request refund on the website Apple Support, selecting "iTunes Store" product and "Unintentional/unauthorized In-App Purchase by a minor" topic.

Here is a good article for this case: http://www.macworld.com/article/2140066/how-to-get-an-app-store-refund-for-kids-accidental-in-app-purchases.html


Do I need to zero out a new disk after formatting it? Does anyone know if I should 'zero out' the new disk I bought?  It was NTFS formatted so, unable to use it like that. I did a repartition to HFS+ in seconds, and then decided it might be better to zero out, was this a waste of my time or is there a benefit to this?  Finally this zero out took about an hour and ten mins for 500gb, does this sound like USB 3 performance? - I was expecting it to be faster... my new Macbook Air (which is doing the formatting) is USB 3 and so is the external disk, but 1.1 hrs for a 500gb zero out doesnt seem fast.

Zeroing out a brand new disk is, for the average user, a waste of your time. Writing all those zeros to every single block on the disk is time consuming (and yes, your zero-out time seems to be in the ball park even for USB 3) and has no real benefit. The disk, if new, and freshly HFS+ formatted is ready to go without any additional work.

Zeroing out can help the security-paranoid erase latent data from the platters (though, zeroing isn't sufficient to meet US Government regulations for sanitizing media see NIST Special Publication 800-88 for more details). And it can help find and mark bad sectors before you start relying on the media for day to day use. I'll contend that, except for ultra rare cases where new media is heavily damaged on arrival, that modern methods for finding and marking bad sectors in situ are good enough to make pre-finding them before serious use unnecessary in this day and age.


How to switch input languages with different key combination? I don't like to switch languages with ⌘ + space. Is there any way I can use more common keyboard combinations:

Control + Shift or
Control + Opion or
Caps Lock

I'd preferred the simplest solution possible. Can I just change some system settings instead of installing a software to solve this problem?

I already use PuntoSwitcher which does the trick but it has some annoying bugs and it's  only useful for russian-speaking users because UI is only in russian. That's why I want to find an alternative.

The main purpose of PuntoSwitcher is to fixe words typed with wrong keyboard layout. For example:

руддщ → hello
ghbdtn → привет

So it may be useful for somebody who uses russian a lot (outsourcing managers, people who learn russian, etc).


Pass a variable from bash shell into Applescript? Using the path defined in bash shell How would i pass the variable to applescript using osascript/applescript? Here's what I have so far.. The path of $FOOD_NUM is subject to change and it must be a variable that I have defined in bash. The "-e open... doesn't seem to like the path. error code 810:815: execution error: The variable input is not defined. (-2753  Thanks!.

FOOD_file=~/Desktop/FOOD/FRUIT/
FOOD_NUM=012345
osascript -e 'tell application "Adobe Photoshop CC 2017"'
-e 'open "'$FOOD_file/$FOOD_NUM/apples.psd'"' -e 'end tell'

Instead of using Applescript to open Photoshop, why not just open it directly with the open command in bash?

FOOD_file=~/Desktop/FOOD/FRUIT/
FOOD_NUM=012345
open -a "Adobe Photoshop CC 2017" $FOOD_file/$FOOD_NUM/apples.psd

Now you don't need to worry about using Applescript at all.


Adobe CS5 compatibilty with new OS on iMac I have an iMac running OS X 10.6.8. I need to update the operating system as I can't update search engines etc. but am worried if I do CS5 Adobe suite won't run (I also have Microsoft 2008). I need both for my job.

Happy to update to not the latest OS, but just enough to make sure I can access the web (already can't do Linkedin).

What should I do? Thanks!

If you are running 10.6.8, you have at least an Early 2006 iMac (but not earlier because that would make it a G5 which renders this whole thing moot).  It also can't be any later than a Late-2009 since that was the last model that could support 10.6.x

If it's a 2006, you are pretty much dead in the water so to speak and it's time to buy a new iMac because the most you are going to upgrade to is 10.7.5

So, I am going on the assumption that you have a 2007 or later iMac....

You are right on the cusp of being able to upgrade to macOS Sierra if you have a 2009 (macOS Sierra How to Upgrade).  However, I don't recommend you going that far.  In my personal experience, the problems associated with Sierra have far outweighed any potential benefits I never needed in the first place so I advise skipping or waiting out this version.

Regardless, you must upgrade to El Capitan first; just stay here for now.

As for CS5, there's not too many known issues, but generally it appears that it works.  Though CS5 is 7 years old, so, it's highly unlikely you will find very much way in the development of "fixes" for any outstanding issues.

  Happy to update to not the latest OS, but just enough to make sure I can access the web (already can't do Linkedin). What should I do? Thanks!

Since your particular iMac (assumed) is capable of running El Capitan, I would suggest only a couple of hardware upgrades:

Max out memory (depending on your model, this can go from 6GB to 32GB)
Add an SSD (I personally use and recommend the Samsung 850 EVO; I use it in my iMac)
Do a full Time Machine backup and do a fresh clean install (preferably on the new SSD) to ensure you are starting from "factory."

ifixit.com has an excellent guide for opening your machine (the 2007 - 2011 iMac's used magnets to hold the display in so removal is actually fairly easy)

Bottom Line:  As long as your iMac is at least from 2007 onward, you have a bit more life that can be extracted from your machine as it supports at least El Capitan.  A few dollars spent on upgrading your hardware will speed things up and breathe new life into it.


How can I stop applications from preventing restarts? I have some applications that routinely prevent restarts from happening correctly (most often iTerm2 and Slack, though others participate as well). When I request a Restart, these applications will present an "Are you sure?" dialog and halt the restart process.

This annoying most of the time, but especially so when I've requested system updates to install overnight and I instead waste the first several minutes of my day after clicking "Yes I'm sure" and then allowing the reboot to proceed.

Is it possible to tell OSX to always reboot when requested and never stop for user input?

If you insist to not save any work, open terminal and run sudo shutdown -r now

You could force the updates as well before issuing the restart with softwareupdate -ai and never see an “Are you sure?” or “Save this data?” dialog since the shutdown command sends SIGKILL which kills as opposed to asking nicely for programs to exit.

Back up your files, the filesystem will be safe but your data in specific files won’t necessarily be safe.


Why is my memory still inactive after purging? I'm trying to understand how memory is allocated on my machine.  I have read, and believe I understand, these posts and associated links:
Trouble Understanding Inactive Memory in MacOSX, Inactive Memory

However, I still have 10 GB of 'inactive' memory while a process is using ~25 GB of swap.  My machine has 32 GB RAM and a single process is using 21GB Real Mem / 24 Private / 34 virtual.

Why is this process going to swap?  Is it really using all that memory that's labeled inactive, or is it possible that something is wrong with my inactive memory?  I've tried purgeing, but that had no effect according to activity monitor.

I was doing some reading about inactive memory after wondering about it myself. My understanding is that inactive memory is memory containing programs and data which you have quit. OS X keeps the memory incase you decide to restart the program. Because it is still in memory it can start it much quicker. You can see this in action by quitting a large program and restarting it. It should start much faster than it originally did.

Inactive memory does not suck up your memory though because OS X regards it as still available for programs to use, jsut at a lower priority than free memory. ie. if OS X needs memory for another program, it will allocate memory from the free area, then the  inactive allocation. So when thinking about how much memory you have free for applications to use, inactive and free is combined.

As for swap, if a program is using it you should easily be able to tell by the amount of I/O going on and a noticable slow down.

If you really want to see whats going on I would suggest download iStat menus which is a really nice tool for seeing the internals of your system and display various instruments in the menu bar.


Thumbnails in Finder for larger files I have multiple svg files in a single folder and only a few of them have thumbnails - all those less than 10MB have thumbnails and all those larger do not. Is there a size limit for generating thumbnails in finder?  Is there some way of increasing that limit?

Finder will not generate thumbnails for files larger than 10 MB, unless it's a package with a Quick Look preview pre-generated, such as a large Pages document. It doesn't seem to be possible to increase the limit currently. You can provide feedback to Apple here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html


Repeat tracks and repeat playlist On iOS 8.4 why when I want to play my playlists do I have to constantly "add next" to play all the songs in that playlist? And where is the "repeat playlist" option that was there before?

You can "REPEAT PLAYLIST" in iOS 8.4. I play my playlist on a daily basis in a repeated manner.

Do refer the User Guide for iOS 8.4 version, under page 71.

https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/1000/MA1565/en_US/iphone_user_guide.pdf

Let me know if it helps.


iPhone 4S to new iPad - iMessage does not work I recently purchased the new iPad (WiFi) for my mom (Actually, my brother purchased it in USA and shipped it to India). I have a iPhone 4S. They created a contact with my name, added my number (I live in UK, in the following format +44 7XXXXXXXXX). I have created a contact called Mom on my mobile with her Apple ID (i.e., the email address).

When I create a new message...I am able to pick the contact and Message turns to iMessage. The "Send" button turns from (hulk) green to (blue). I send a message. It is sent, but I do not get a delivered report.

When my mom creates a new message, she is able to pick my contact and Message turns to iMessage and "Send" turns from (hulk) green to (blue). However, it fails and comes up with the red exclamation mark.

Any ideas what could be the problem?

Try turning off iMessage in Settings, reboot the device, and turn on and log into iMessage again.  This should re-register your device with Apple's iMessage servers, and may resolve your problem.

This has fixed a similar issue for my iPhone in the past.


Ubuntu HUD in Mac OS Is there and app or something that gives Yosemite the functionality that Ubuntu HUD has - search menu for items?

I am switching to Mac from Ubuntu. Even thou I was on Ubuntu Linux for only a few weeks and originally came from a Windows background, I got super used to the HUD  functionality. I would like to take that with me if possible.

Spotlight on OS X is the closest built-in feature, Use Spotlight in OS X Mavericks to find files and more.

There are third party alternatives that have additional functionality. Well known examples include:

Alfred
LaunchBar
Quicksilver


Automator - automatically copy files/folders when tagged a specific custom label Being a Mac user, I really enjoy the simple feature of tagging files and folders. Its very useful to filter by tag to quickly access any files which I have tagged regardless of where they are located.

I use this feature for images and audio. Any images or recordings I like, I tag it to keep track of them.

However, I have been thinking about a simple feature that I would love to see and would like to see if this can be done with Automator at all or perhaps there exists a simple tool already.

I would like to be able to automatically copy any files or folders to a specific location if they are tagged something specific, such as a custom label "Backup". So if I tag any file with the label "Backup" to then copy those files to my Dropbox directory or Google Drive directory.

My intention with this is to rather backup/sync curated content rather than everything. I would like to be able to go through my creative work and simply tag the files I like which then automatically get copied to wherever I sync them to the cloud.

In addition, it would be ideal for this to work for external devices as well. So if I connect a USB drive and tag any files there, they get copied to the destination.

Any advice that might point me in the right direction would be much appreciated.

Check out Taggy Tagger.

It is a macOS menu bar app which automatically tags files and copies/moves files to a specified folder. Right now, it supports Dropbox, Box, GDrive and OneDrive as destinations (actually you can select any destination folder).

How does it work?

Select the folder that contains your files.
Enable copy/move action (Dropbox, Box, OneDrive or GDrive)
Select path to destination folder

From now on, everytime you add a file to the folder that you selected in step 1, it will add a tag and copy/move the file to the destination folder (step 3). Alternatively, perform the action for all files already sitting in the folder by pressing a button.

There is video how it works on the website as well.

[Disclaimer: I am the developer of Taggy Tagger.]


Simulator to run iOS apps on laptop? Is there a simulator that I can run iOS on a Mac that would allow me to launch and use apps as if I was on the device?  This is for consumer testing not for development.

What I am trying to do is to load the simulator app that would allow my Mac to act as if it was an iPhone/iPad. Then that laptop would join a consumer panel (ooVoo or Adobe Connect) and give the user control so that they can use and interact with an app that is available, while the research team is talking to them about the app.

Does anyone know how I can do this?

I agree with Ryokuchasan: the only simulator I've heard of is the one bundled with the iOS development tools. This only works with apps you have the source code to because it compiles the iOS app for Intel to run in OS X (using the Simulator window as a screen).

It also has limited multi-touch capability, generally limited to pinch-to-zoom, so you likely won't be able to demo the majority of many apps. (Also, using the mouse to drive an iOS app can be awkward.)

If you want to do consumer testing with iOS apps, you need a physical device in the same room as the test user.


Can you help me reformat my disk in recovery mode? Seriously botched Yosemite/FileVault installation I have a mid-2011 macbook air. When I start up my computer, it automatically goes to recovery mode. I have a backup of my data, so I don't care what I have to do to get OS X working again.

Disk utility shows Macintosh HD, but no partitions below it. When I click verify it tells me to repair the disk. When I click repair the disk, it tells me to repair the disk again... not getting anywhere with this. When I try to reinstall OS X from recovery mode, it does not have my 120 GB partition availible to install on. When I try to recover from my time machine backup, there is no partition to install on.

Here's some context on how I got here:
I installed Yosemite this weekend. I elected to use apple's filevault . The encoding process failed. Computer was working alright, but the cooling fans were constantly on and battery was draining quickly. I decided I needed to do something about it. So I tried to recover using time machine in recovery mode and it told me that it failed and that the computer had to be restarted. After it restarted, there was no partition under the Macintosh HD icon in diskutility.

Like I said above, I don't care what kind of reformatting/erasing I have to do, I just want to get my computer out of recovery mode and formatted correctly so that I can eventually recover from my time machine backup that is located on an external hard drive.

Thanks.

So if I understand you correctly, all you want to do is wipe your disk and reinstall OS X.

Boot into recovery mode
Choose "Utilities" in the Menu bar
Select "Disk Utility"
Select the disk
Click on "Erase" and select "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)"

Then you should be able to do a fresh install of OS X.


What precise hard drive do I need to install in this iMac? I was just given an old iMac without a Hard Drive.

This is the model (image from the software Mactracker):

It only gives the following details about the hard drive:

320, 500, 750 GB, or 1 TB 7200-rpm

However, when I consulted ifixit to see how I could replace the hard drive, and clicked on the suggested replacement hard drive, some instructions said:

  Important: To ensure compatibility with the 2009 and 2010 21.5" or 27"
  iMac, the replacement hard drive must be of the same brand as the
  original. The model number of the hard drive does not matter as long
  as the brand matches. 2011 and up iMacs cannot be supported by us.

Which doesn't help since I have the 2008 model. I am also not sure whether a 2.5 or 3.5 hard drive is required. The "About this Mac" menus are not available since the computer doesn't power on. I don't know what the RAM is (2.8 or 3.06).

What is the exact reference for a compatible model for this iMac Early 2008?

I'm going to try to answer your question as best I can.

The drive is definitely a 3.5" SATA disk.
The notice doesn't apply to your model.
I'm not sure why the notice suggests to choose the same brand. For one, the drives are likely co-branded, with markings for both Apple and the company that made the drive. The companies that would have supplied the drives would be, AFAIK: Western Digital, Seagate and (possibly) Hitachi.
I'm not sure how similar you have to go in terms of storage. I'd guess you could probably use any SATA drive, but because of the temperature sensor, if I were you, I'd use one of the ones suggested in the guide, depending on your storage requirements (1-4TB).

TL;DR: If you're super worried about compatibility and need to get the machine working fast, disassemble it and look at the HDD to determine the brand, then order that brand. Otherwise, I would suggest you buy whichever of the listed HDDs strikes your fancy - I doubt that it really matters.


A partition copied with cat can't be mounted Well some days ago my mac got broken, I had an Ubuntu on it and booted through it, first thing I did I copied mac partition to an external hard partition, something like this:

cat /dev/sda2 > /dev/sdc2

I was able to mount the sda2 partition in Ubuntu with hfsprogs, but I wasn't able to mount /dev/sdc2, I made a diff on two devices (with cmp) and they were just identical, now I erase sda2 and installed Yosemite again but I can't mount sdc2 even on mac (here it's disk2s2).

When I try to mount, verify or repair it, I get this error:

Invalid node structure

(this is the same error I got in Ubuntu for this partition), it's really weird cause I'm sure this partition is identical to the real one (and I was able to mount the real one in Ubuntu) I tried fixing it with DiskWarrior 5, it did its job without any error, but it didn't fix it.

cat is not an appropriate tool for copying volumes. It dumps files character by character. Yes, unix abstracts everything to a file, but it also distinguishes between character devices (files) and block devices (storage).

Wipe the partition and use dd, rsync, or a GUI tool like Carbon Copy Cloner to make a duplicate.

However, if I read your sequence correctly it looks like you made a copy and then wiped the original without verifying your copy. If so, time to get the backups out.


How to make AppleScript read the items of a variable that are numbers set theList to {"123", "124", "abc", "125", "efgh", "126"}
set theNumbers to numbers of theList
return theNumbers

How can I get AppleScript to recognize which items of theList are numbers and assign a variable to those numbers?
The variable I have for theList is a place holder, the items it represents will be constantly changing.

You could try converting items in the list to the desired class, and ignore the ones that error:

set theNumbers to {}
set theList to {"123", "124", "abc", "125", "efgh", "126"}
repeat with anItem in theList
  try
    if contents of anItem is not "" then set the end of theNumbers to anItem as number
  on error errmess number errnum -- didn't convert
    log errmess
  end try
end repeat
return theNumbers


Power Macbook Air with Early 2008 Macbook Pro I have two batteries from my old 15" Macbook Pro Core 2 Duo (Early 2008). It's a non-unibody (discrete) model. Anyone know of any way to use these batteries to power my 2nd Gen Macbook Air? An external battery costs ~$300-$450 and it seems kind of unnecessary if there is an adapter or some hack job way to make the old batteries work.

Note: I'm not talking about replacing the macbook air batteries, I'm talking about using the macbook pro batteries as an external battery connected to the magsafe power port.

Much like the commercial versions you mentioned, what you want to do is possible (that there are commercial versions essentially proved this).

You'll need to chop apart a MagSafe cable or figure out how to interact with Apple's airplane adapter. You'll also need to figure out how to interact with the batteries to get the correct voltage (and maybe do cell wear levelling).

Also, I doubt the MacBook Pro batteries will last anywhere near as long or be as reliable as the commercial versions.

(There was an original answer, but it made incorrect assumptions that were addressed in the comments. See the edit stack for the originals.)


How does double-tap to drag work? I'm using an image editing program, and I'm trying to do a large clone.  This requires me to keep the mouse button down (virtually, this is on a trackpad) for a long period of time, and any mistake means I have to start all over.  (Not to mention, if I get to the edge of the trackpad and still need to push the pointer further I am in trouble!) So I have been looking for a way to keep the software thinking the button is down without having to keep my finger touching the trackpad for an extended period of time.

I read this answer here, which seemed to offer a solution to the problem.  However, perhaps I am not understanding what it really means to "double tap", because after setting the option exactly as given in the answer, two literal taps on the trackpad in quick succession do nothing to enable dragging.  When I do it in my image editor, I see two modifications made to my image, as if I made two separate taps.  If I try it on the top of a window where I would normally click and drag to drag the window around, dragging does not start and the taps are completely ignored.  I already have single tap to click enabled, so I know a tap is being registered properly.  Setting the "Enable Dragging (with Drag Lock)" seems to have had absolutely no effect.

Is there something else I am missing?

After some experimentation, I discovered that it isn't quite a double-tap that is required to activate the drag lock.  The second tap of the double-tap need to be held down until the drag is started instead of being released immediately.

So the sequence of steps look something like this:

touch trackpad
release after ~0.1s (or some short period of time)
wait ~0.1s
touch trackpad
begin drag
release touchpad

And then when I am done dragging:

touch trackpad
release after ~0.1s


Magic Mouse Sticks in Full Clamshell I have been using my MBP (13" mid-2009 running OSX 10.9.5) in clamshell mode with an external monitor connected via minidisplay port, Apple wireless keyboard, and magic mouse for a couple of months. Starting a few weeks ago the mouse would not recognize left clicks anymore and remain stuck on a random spot on the screen with a left click when I close the MBP and try to work in clamshell mode. It still tracks, so that when I move the mouse it highlights from where it got stuck. Also right clicks still work; but obviously they are no use without being able to left click. Also, the keyboard works without any issues.

This problem disappears when I open the lid minimally without waking the MBP monitor. This workaround was suggested here. Similar fixes that people have suggested such as removing any plugged-in USB devices do not apply because there isn't anything plugged in besides the MDP and the magsafe connector.

Additionally, I believe that it's not a hardware issue because it worked previously, i.e. an external bluetooth dongle or wrapping aluminum foil around the MDP should not be required.

Any suggestions or fixes?

Thanks!

News Flash edit

Found this discussion which strongly suggests it is a hardware problem but not the mouse itself. One guy solved it by using a USB dongle.

My original answer remains below, un-edited.

end News Flash edit

Never had this problem w/ my magic mouse, nonetheless...

Get back to a default - disable any 3rd party enhancement software. Reset mouse system preferences to defaults.

Magic Mouse iFixIt video search

From there, Here's an interesting video: Can I DYI fix a Broken Left-Click Resistance?. The tear down may not be something you want to do. I think I would try because the mouse seems pretty useless in its current state. iFixIt sells tools and parts for doing this kind of stuff.

P.S. I liked my magic mouse perfectly fine. In the PC world this thing is E.T. alien technology. Anyway, I like using the magic trackpad much more.


Can I move a volume from one computer to another in Time Machine? I am slowly migrating from an older Mac Pro to a MacBook Air. Both machines are backed up to two different 2TB drives using Time Machine. Recently I decided that I wanted to make the extensive data I have on my older Mac Pro more available to my MacBook Air, so I bought a 1TB portable drive which I can keep with me.

I moved approx. 430GB of data onto the portable drive ('SideCarlson'). This was enough data that I figured trying to back it up while associated with the Air would not work (I read somewhere that if TM is backing up two different computers, it can't delete old backups of the OTHER computer to make room for the current one)

So, I backed it up while associated to the Mac Pro.

Question: Can I drag this backup to the new machine's backup? (See screenshot)

I'm assuming I would need to:

Make sure both machines' backups are current (I see both have a backup in progress)
Turn off Time Machine in Mac Pro ('jPro')
Restore 'SideCarlson' from the MacBook Air ('Air Carlson')

Thanks for your help :)

No, you can't do this. The folder you've selected doesn't contain the entire backup, just the changes from the last backup, and many symlinks to the older data contained in other backups. Such symlinks will break if you do this.


How to lower minimum iPhone / iOS volume listening to streaming app on bluetooth headset I've looked here
Reduce minimum

and here
Minimum volume too loud

And did not find a solution to this issue - minimum volume on my bluetooth headset paired with my iPhone is too loud when listening to streaming app like Pandora.

One limited solution that should work with wired or wireless headsets - if you listen with just one earpiece:

In settings select:
1. General/Accessibility
2. Scroll down to Audio Volume Balance slider.
3. Move it towards the ear piece that is NOT in your ear.
I.e. if you have only the right ear piece in your ear, move the slider towards the left. This will reduce volume in the right ear BELOW the minimum that you can achieve with the regular volume control. Which proves it's possible and why on earth Apple doesn't allow you to lower both channels this way I don't know.
4. May want to enable Mono Audio as well.

Not a solution for hi-fi listening but works well enough for having some casual background music without sacrificing your ear drums.

Has anyone come up with a solution for lowering volume in both ears for streaming audio apps over bluetooth headsets since the other threads were closed?

the " Audio Volume Balance slider " is only a setting to either reconfigure the ear piece so that if one ear piece is more louder than the other. You can change it through that setting or to check if you think one piece is not working this will allow you to verify this, but it is NOT to lower the volume on ear pieces for that you need to press the volume buttons on your iphone or the bluetooth headsets themselves or find the " Audio slider " in the " Audio streaming apps " themselves.   To " lower the minimum volume " is based on personal preference. If changing the volume this way does not work then you may be facing a product quality issue in bluetooth headset because not all bluetooth headsets are created equally


How do I make my MacBook Pro (mid 2009) running Lion, DNLA compatible? I would like to view photos and videos on my smart TV.  I do not do video games and am not real technically knowledgeable so need answer in layman's terms.

One way would be to install p3mediaserver which is free and does provide DNLA functionality. Despite its name it not only works with a PS3 on the other end.

To install just download the .dmg linked above, double-click to open and drag the application to your /Applications folder. All folders are shared by default, but this can (and should) be restricted in the settings.

OTOH you might be better off with investing in an Apple TV box which makes the whole sharing thing much easier.


How to make a modified dmg distributable? Adding files to a dmg and redistribute it

Purpose :

Adding some settings files to firefox.dmg (mozilla.cfg and policies.json) in the objective of redistributing the modified dmg

How the dmg is modified :

Decompressing the dmg with tools like (hdiutils/ultraiso/transmac/dropdmg/disk-utilities)
Mounting and adding files to the decompressed dmg
Optional (recompress the dmg with same utils used to decompress)

Issue :

Opening the new dmg in a different machine give the result "firefox" is damaged and can't be opened, you should move it to trash

What was tested :

Removing com.apple.quarantine attribute with the command xattr -c works but its not a reliable solution
Tried to remove _CodeSignature directories from the dmg without success
Creating a new dmg containing files of the previous one without success
Tried to edit Info.plist without success

Question :

How to make the new dmg package usable in other machines ? (How to avoid the error from gatekeeper without using xattr -c)

You cannot modify the DMG and have it still pass trough GateKeeper without re-signing it. This is basically the entire reason for having the code signature!

Basically you have three options:

1) Remove the old code signature and re-sign the DMG with your own signature. This requires you to be enrolled in Apple's Developer Program.

2) Distribute the original, unmodified DMG - and accompany it with your own modifications. This could be done as instructions for the user on what to copy over, or it could be in the form of an automatic script.

3) Remove the signatures completely (both from the DMG and the app). The user then needs to have GateKeeper set to allow opening unsigned applications (i.e. the user will be prompted on the first open).


Partition problem after HDD to SSD swap Recently decided to replace my nearly full 500GB HDD with a 1TB SSD to breathe some new life into my mid-2010 Macbook Pro. I used a toaster-style drive cloner (Dyconn Dubbler) to do a sector by sector duplication of the drive. Everything went smoothly but when I booted up from the new drive, I seem to only have around 500 GB of total space, almost all of it full. I fooled around with the partitions a little in disk utility, hoping I could maybe create and delete one, but haven't had any luck. Thought I would be able to drag the partition size but that doesn't seem to be an option. Here is what I see in disk utility with the drive attached/mounted from my other machine:

Feel like I am missing something obvious here, any help would be greatly appreciated!

Edit: forgot to mention, running most recent version of Yosemite

The following diskutil cs resizeStack command is vastly undocumented and as such potentially destructive.

Please backup your Mac OS X before proceeding.

First you have to backup your Recovery HD: Start Terminal.app and enter
defaults write com.apple.DiskUtility DUDebugMenuEnabled 1 press enter and quit Terminal.app
Start Disk Utility and enable 'Show every Partition' in the Debug menu
After a few seconds all partitions should be visible
Choose Recovery HD on the left side and mount the partition Recovery HD. If the Recovery HD is missing skip to step 7.

Verify the disk

Create a disk image of Recovery HD and save it read-only externally

Check the disk image for restore

Detach all external drives
Restart into Internet Recovery Mode by pressing altcmdR
or a bootable Mavericks or Yosemite Thumb Drive (full system or install).
start Terminal from the menubar/utilities
enter following command at the Terminal prompt:

  diskutil cs list

Copy the Logical Volume (LV) alphanumeric UUID of your CoreStorage volume. The LVUUID should be the fourth listed.
Run the following command:

  diskutil cs resizeStack LVUUID partsize

According to the number found above it would be:

  diskutil cs resizeStack xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx 100%

This will hopefully expand your CoreStorage volume to full 1 TB. Depending on your disk this will take several seconds (SSD) or minutes (HDD). After a successful resize check with diskutil list if the  Recovery HD still exists.
Quit Terminal.app and start Disk Utility and verify the expanded volume.
Reboot to Recovery HD and your main drive. Delete the disk image created in step 5 if everything works as expected.


Does Secure Keyboard Entry Prevent All Forms of Keyloggers? I had an understanding that Secure Keyboard Entry (or EnableSecureEventInput) was a feature that essentially disabled keyloggers.

Is that the case? Are there ways around it?

Almost correct but:

Using the Secure keyboard Entry (on screen key board) will not keep some supper hacker from using the screen capture to see what you entering.

That is assuming you have a serious bug on your system.


Delete Stored Offline Attachments in Mail.app I'm using Apple Mail and have noticed that the ~/Library/Mail/V2 folder is using up over a gigabyte of space. I'm guessing that a lot of that is stored attachments for my email messages. I've already set the Keep copies of messages for offline viewing setting to All messages, but omit attachments, but how do I delete all of those attachments that have already been downloaded? Note that I've already found out about the Remove Attachments option, but I want to simply delete my offline copy of the attachments, not delete them on the server as well.

I've seen the [my account]/INBOX.mbox/[alphanumeric string]/Data/[#]/[#]/Attachments folders; is it safe for me to simply delete all of these folders?

Thanks in advance!

If your mail account is IMAP or Exchange, you can simply rebuild your mailbox(es).

In Mail.app, ensure that the Mailbox sidebar is exposed and highlighted (click the mailbox you would like to rebuild)
On the menu bar, select Mailbox -> Rebuild to rebuild the highlighted mailbox.

Repeat, if necessary for any other mailboxes.


iPhone 5 contacts app On my contacts app it says "me" next to my mom's contact but I'm not entirely sure what that means. Does this mean she's using my number on her phone for imessage or is it simply that I am on the same Apple ID as her?

That means that contact has been designated for Siri to use when she needs personal information about you.

For example, if you have a contact created with your home address you can then ask Siri for "directions to home".  She will look up the home address attached to the "me" contact.

You can change which contact the "me" is attached to by going to Settings > General  > Siri > My Info and selecting a different contact.

Apparently this setting also can be changed here: Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars> My Info.


Autocomplete in Chrome Browser, not sure if its Mac OS or Chrome Every time I type "Th" in a text field within my Chrome browser, an autocomplete prompt of "Thanks" pops up. I've dug around and can't figure it if its a Chrome, plugin, or a macOS thing but its incredibly irritating. Any help please?

This is called "Text Replacements" and it's a function/feature of macOS.
This feature will work on any app that uses the Cocoa interface; so apps that use it like all native Apple Apps and 3rd party apps like Chrome will be able to use this functionality.  Apps that don't use Cocoa like Microsoft Word or Firefox won't be able to use Text Replacements.
To remove it (stop it from happening), open System Preferences → Keyboard → Text and remove the entry for "th". I just tried adding it, and it behaved exactly as you described. It even tried to intercept it as I typed it here until I removed the entry.


Given the same remote LDAP server, why does Directory Utility work on one machine but not on the other? I have an LDAP server (OpenLDAP) running under Ubuntu 20.04 that I use for user authentication in my network, which consists of Linux servers and MacOS 11 clients. On my desktop, which runs MacOS 11.1, I can use Directory Utility to access the LDAP database without any problems.
I have a MacMini that I upgraded last week to MacOS 11.2. When I try to use Directory Utility on that machine, I get the error "Connection failed to the directory server (2100)" as soon as I select the LDAP server (as "/LDAPv3/servername") and before any prompt for username and password.
There is a known problem with logging in to remote LDAP servers that can be resolved by executing the following script:
#! /bin/bash

for f in /Library/Preferences/OpenDirectory/Configurations/LDAPv3/*
do
  LDAP_SERVER=`/usr/bin/basename $f ".plist"`
  echo $LDAP_SERVER

  SASL_MECHANISMS="`/usr/bin/ldapsearch -x -h $LDAP_SERVER -b '' -s base -LLL "(objectclass=*)" supportedSASLMechanisms | awk '{if($2 != "") printf "%s ",$2}'`"
  echo "  $SASL_MECHANISMS"

  /usr/bin/odutil set configuration /LDAPv3/$LDAP_SERVER  module ldap option "Denied SASL Methods" $SASL_MECHANISMS

done

I have executed this on both the desktop and the MacMini. So it seems that I have a different problem.
I looked at the log file of the LDAP server to see what happened when I selected /LDAPv3/servername and got the following:
Feb  7 01:42:17 s-tow-00 slapd[65708]: conn=1266 fd=16 ACCEPT from IP=192.168.1.32:54621 (IP=0.0.0.0:389)
Feb  7 01:42:17 s-tow-00 slapd[65708]: conn=1266 fd=16 closed (connection lost)

Feb  7 01:42:28 s-tow-00 slapd[65708]: conn=1267 fd=16 ACCEPT from IP=192.168.2.127:65230 (IP=0.0.0.0:389)
Feb  7 01:42:28 s-tow-00 slapd[65708]: conn=1267 fd=16 closed (connection lost)
Feb  7 01:42:28 s-tow-00 slapd[65708]: conn=1268 fd=16 ACCEPT from IP=192.168.2.127:65231 (IP=0.0.0.0:389)
Feb  7 01:42:28 s-tow-00 slapd[65708]: conn=1268 op=0 SRCH base="" scope=0 deref=0 filter="(objectClass=*)"
Feb  7 01:42:28 s-tow-00 slapd[65708]: conn=1268 op=0 SRCH attr=supportedSASLMechanisms defaultNamingContext namingContexts schemaNamingContext saslRealm
Feb  7 01:42:28 s-tow-00 slapd[65708]: conn=1268 op=0 ENTRY dn=""
Feb  7 01:42:28 s-tow-00 slapd[65708]: conn=1268 op=0 SEARCH RESULT tag=101 err=0 nentries=1 text=

The MacMini (conn=1266, IP=192.168.1.32) returns immediately, whereas the desktop (1267, 1268, 192.168.2.127) proceeds to initiate a query.
I looked at the files in /Library/Preferences/OpenDirectory/Configurations/LDAPv3 on both machines to see if there was any difference there. Both contain entries for my LDAP servers (let's call them server1 and server2). On the desktop, their permissions were 0644, whereas on the MacMini they were 0600. I cannot change the permissions with chmod (thank you, SIP), so I started Directory Utility with sudo, but the problem still persisted, so I conclude that it has nothing to do with permissions.
I then experimented with dscl in interactive mode. On the desktop I got the following:
> ls /LDAPv3/server1
Automount
AutomountMap
CertificateAuthorities
Groups
Mounts
OrganizationalUnit
People
Users

whereas all the MacMini could manage was
> ls /LDAPv3/server1
ls: Invalid Path
<dscl_cmd> DS Error: -14009 (eDSUnknownNodeName)

I'm at a bit of a loss knowing how to proceed. I thought about exporting the configuration from the desktop using Directory Utility's "Write to Server" and then importing it on the MacMini, but I get "Operation is not supported by the directory node.", which I guess means that I have configured something incorrectly. I can "Save Template...", but the directory that I was told was intended for templates (~/Library/Application Support/Directory Access/LDAPv3/Templates) is stubbornly ignored on the MacMini.
Does anyone have any suggestions, please, as to how to proceed?
Steve

I learnt the following whilst fixing this problem. Perhaps it will help someone else in the future.
A MacOS LDAP client configured with Directory Utility stores the configuration data for LDAP servers that it knows about in /Library/Preferences/OpenDirectory/Configurations/LDAPv3 in plists named <servername>.plist. These files can be manipulated with odutil (see man odutil).
Directory Utility can be used to upload those plists from the local file system or from the LDAP server itself.
To access the plist from the local file system, copy it to ~/Library/Application Support/Directory Access/LDAPv3/Templates and ensure that it is called <anything>.plist (i.e. it must have the filetype .plist). After that has been done, if you edit the server data in Directory Utility under the 'Search & Mappings' tab, in the drop-down labelled 'Access this LDAPv3 server using' you will see the text '<anything>' from the filename of the plist. If you select this, the settings from your plist will be applied to the client.
Similarly, it is possible to create an entry in the LDAP server itself that contains exactly the same text and use that instead. The following shows what I see in ldapvi when I look at the entry I created:
13 ou=macosxodconfig,<local RDN>,<LDAP base DN>
objectClass: top
objectClass: organizationalUnit
ou: macosxodconfig
description:; <?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>\
    ...the rest of the plist comes here ...
</dict>\
</plist>

Note: everything from the ";" to the end of the definition is the contents of our plist - without the "\"s, which are an artefact of ldapvi. How you get the plist into your server is up to you: I use Apache Directory Studio. The only apparent restriction is that the entry must be an organizationalUnit called ou=macosxodconfig. After that has been done, if you edit the server data in Directory Utility under the 'Search & Mappings' tab, in the drop-down labelled 'Access this LDAPv3 server using' you will see the option 'From Server'. If you select this, you will be prompted for a search base (I suggest you choose '<local RDN>,<LDAP base DN>', replacing the stuff in angle brackets with something that makes sense on your context. The settings from your plist will then be applied to your client.
Just in case you forgot, you have to tell MacOS that your are using an LDAP server. You do this in System Preferences -> 'Users & Groups' -> 'Login Options': to the right you will see the label 'Network Account Server' with an 'Edit...' button next to it. Authenticate yourself by clicking on the lock at the bottom of the window, click on the 'Edit...' button and add your server(s) to the list here.
You may also need to go back to Directory Utility and add your LDAP server(s) to its 'Search Policy' (tab on the home window).
Steve