Hold mouse at the edge of the screen to jump to other monitor on Mac OS X Lion I just set up my new TV on the wall above my iMac, so I arranged the external monitor above the main one in the preferences. The problem is that it got very hard to access my menu bar on top of my main monitor, when I move my mouse up so fast it would jump to the other screen! So I have to be precise and move my mouse slowly every time I want to hit something on my menu bar.

The question is, is there a way that I would have to hold my mouse on the edge of the screen to jump to the other monitor instead of it jumping right away?

Not by default in OS X there isn't a way to do that, and I don't know of any third-party utilities that do that either.

You could put the TV on an upper corner of the monitor (see below for ASCII art). Then you'd only be using a corner to transit the screens, not the whole top of the monitor.

               +--------------+
               |              |
               |              |
               |              |
+--------------+--------------+
|              |
|              |
|              |
+--------------+


How to run an app that require Java SDK on macOS Catalina 10.15? Currently I am getting issue with new macOS Catalina limitation. Every time I run an app that require openJDK I get this message:

  "openjdk-12.0.1.jdk" can’t be opened because it is from an unidentified developer.

  Your security preferences allow installation of only apps from the App Store and identified developers.

But if I use the recommended way to bypass this issue (by going to System Preferences → Security & Privacy → General → Open Anyway button) it just opens the JDK folder. Which is not what I want.

How I can use JDK with macOS Catalina?

Open System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> General, there should be a message about the JDK app, click Allow.

Run the Java-based app again (e.g.: type java -version in the Terminal app). A dialog should appear confirming you trust OpenJDK.

Source: https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/372235/35845


OS X upgrade on MacBook Pro mid 2010 trilemma I'd like to have some feedback from those of you who have experience to share about upgrading OS X on MacBook Pro 15" (mid 2010 - MacBookPro6,2).

I'm running OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard, and I've never needed to upgrade because I use my mac only for software development on the java environment, so I've never needed to stay up to date and I don't even have Apple or Android devices to sync. So, just consider the main use I do of my Mac is about developing on the java platform (ad just for fun).

Now I need to move to Java 7 or maybe Java 8 and I need to upgrade Snow Leopard to one of its successors:

Mountain Lion (10.7.3 at least)
Maverick
Yosemite

Here's my trilemma: which of the aforementioned OS would better fit my laptop's hardware? According to Apple's official site all of them have the same minimum requirements:

2 GB of RAM
8 GB free HD space

Here's an excerpt from the System Profiler running on my laptop (translated from Italian localization):

Model name:  MacBook Pro
Model ID:    MacBookPro6,2
Processor name:  Intel Core i5
CPU speed:   2,4 GHz
Number of CPUs:  1
Number of cores: 2
Cache L2 (per core): 256 KB
Cache L3:    3 MB
RAM: 4 GB

Please, don't point out the latter are free - I know - just focus on performance.

Personally, I don't feel like upgrading to Yosemite, but I'd rather move to Maverick. This is not based on figures, just on my gut feelings: I suspect that Yosemite may be too demanding about hardware configuration.

What do you think?

The more advanced version, results in most memory consumption system. So, if you are only care about performance, no doubts, Mountain Lion must be your choice.


iMac SSD upgrade – Firmware password lock My dad bought a used 21.5 iMac (2017) a few weeks back (previous owner bought it new but decided to sell after a week, so its basically new.) Given that it came with a 1TB fusion drive, we decided to switch it for the Samsung EVO he was using in his previous Macbook (He doesn’t need storage, only speed.)

All went according to plan in terms of opening and swapping the drives, but upon rebooting (attempting to ctrl+r to boot menu) it popped the apple logo and then swapped to a black screen with a lock and password field.
After a little reading on the subject it seems someone must have enabled the EFI Firmware password protection which doesn’t allow booting on other drives e.g. external or otherwise.

I’ve contacted the previous owner, but she's drawing a blank, claiming never setting up anything of the sort. I’m unsure if this can be enabled during first boot installation, but she didn’t strike me as the type who would know how to do so afterwards (let alone think about it.) My guess is that the shop might’ve had it returned from a prior owner, not reset it correctly and resold it as new (or perhaps discounted, hard to tell from the receipt.)

TL;DR

Knowing firmware is locked with an unobtainable password ...

Would I be able to remove the new SSD and insert the original HDD and have
the password prompt go away? Or is the system locked until correct
password is entered, no matter the drive (it booted prior to
switching drives).
Warranty void on opening and swapping diskdrive? Searching around it
seems everyone has a different story. Some say the rest of the
system is still under warranty, others do not. This isn’t Apples
issue of cause, but I would likely levy it against the reseller.
Even if the old HDD would work again, I’m assuming that not having
the FW password would be a roadblock if reinstalling OSX in the
future?

This Apple document tells you everything you need to know about Firmware passwords.

The essential points for you are:

Your Mac asks for the firmware password only when attempting to start up from a storage device other than the one selected in Startup Disk preferences, or when starting up from macOS Recovery.
If you can't remember your firmware password or passcode, schedule an in-person service appointment with an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider. Bring your Mac to the appointment, and bring your original receipt or invoice as proof of purchase.

The Firmware password is not required for OS installation.

You will need to ask the original purchaser for their receipt or other proof of purchase.


iphone sleeps in recovery mode i am trying to restore 4.3.1 custom firmware made by sn0wbrzee with expert mode.

at the last moment of restore itunes shows 1015 error. so i try to reboot, but iphone not rebooted.

at last I jailbrak with redsnow and iphone rebotted and i see my firmware was 4.3.1 with bb 6.15.00, but after 10 mints it sleep forever.

after this situation i tried for hours and hours by various method.but no result i get.
and now when i try restore it by itune during recovery mode, i tune shows 1601 error during the step " preparing iphone for restore "

please help. i become hopeless. also please say can i get back my lovely i phone, or i lost forever this.

This should help resolve the error 1015:

http://iphonerumors.blogspot.com/2010/11/bypassing-itunes-1004-1015-error-when.html


How am I supposed to use ProXPN on an insecure network? It seems that ProXPN will only launch after you connect to a wireless network. How, then, can I keep my connection secure while connecting to an insecure wireless connection while using ProXPN?

There will be a brief moment where I connect to the insecure network, and only then I can launch and enable ProXPN. Is there any way to make it so there isn't this brief vulnerability? Or is this brief moment not a risk at all since I am not browsing any websites from when I connect to the network to when I enable ProXPN?

What about other risks such as someone hacking into the computer via open ports or shared folders/files?

The reason your Proxy will not connect without an active connection is because inherently it encapsulates traffic, pipes it over an insecure connection in a secure fashion, and forwards that traffic to another host which actually makes the request. It is like saying you would like to send a secret letter without using the post service, unfortunately it is the base of how you are communicating.

If you join an insecure network and you dont actually perform any actions, there is no risk, that being said, on a mac you do have programs that may automatically request a connection (mail) and send out credentials or try to visit a URL. This is a fairly small risk, you can always keep them closed until you run your proxy software.

In terms of open ports or shared files and folders, if you are advertising these services and you connect to an insecure network, the thing to stop them is your firewall.


What is this grey bar underneath the home icon row? I'm getting this 'grey bar' in my home icon row:

It is the same colour as the 'grey dot' underneath some of the applications in the home icon row that are active.

My question is: What is this grey bar underneath the home icon row?

I'm running Yosemite.

Oddly enough I have been having an extremely similar problem. There was a small bar that showed up under the Dock on my desktop, about as long as the Dock is wide (my Dock is vertical) and with rounded corners. It was black, and the running application dots on my Dock are black as well (whereas yours is grey, and the bar is grey).

Upgrading from 10.10.1 to 10.10.2 caused it to disappear. Then it reappeared, along with a second one. It survived reboots. I didn't think it was actually part of the Dock, because it stayed in the same place when I moved the Dock from the right side of the screen to the bottom. Although, when the second one showed up, and I ran my cursor over the dock (triggering magnification of the icons), it stayed above the icons on the app side of the dock, and was below the icons on the Trash side of the dock.

I finally ran this terminal command to kill the Dock, and when it restarted itself, the bars were gone. It's been about a day and they haven't reappeared. Fingers crossed. I'm assuming this is a bug in Yosemite.

killall -KILL Dock


How to share over ethernet but not over wifi Running OSX 10.10.3

The office LAN is wired, the guest LAN is WiFi. I need to be on both at the same time.

I want to be able to accept connections from the office LAN, but I want to limit access to many of those services from the WiFi network. The clickable System Preferences for the firewall don't give me anything more powerful than "Allow Incoming Connections" which allows connections over all interfaces.

Where do I go to get more control over the firewall? Any tips for getting this config right?

This is not an issue of getting WiFi and Ethernet to work at the same time. They already work like I want them to. It's about firewalling-off services from certain interfaces, something that is not available in the standard System Preferences control panel.

OS X's firewall is very comprehensive, but it's GUI is limited, it can do what you want, but it's somewhat complex. I would try the following this guide http://www.techrepublic.com/article/configure-apples-built-in-network-firewall-with-icefloor/

For more advanced support you'd probably have more luck asking over on Server Fault (StackExchange) rather than here as it starts getting into the system and networking level stuff rather than OS X specifically.


HD accidentally reformatted to MBR, how to get back to GUID? So in trying to create an MBR partition of my hard drive which I could then use to boot a solaris-derivative OS using rEFIt, I messed up. Rather than a hard drive with a primary GUID partition map scheme to boot OS X 10.7 from, and an auxiliary partition with an MBR scheme for non-Mac OS's, I now have a hard drive that strangely enough, is formatted with an MBR scheme. Additionally, the very helpful recovery HD is gone, and I don't think i'll be able to reinstall it (http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/19145/how-can-i-create-or-recreate-a-lion-recovery-partition), without a normally formatted HD.

In Terminal:

diskutil list
    /dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk0
   1:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            500.1 GB   disk0s1

In Disk Utility:

Disk Description : APPLE HDD HTS547550A9E384
Media Total Capacity : 500.11 GB (500,107,862,016 Bytes)
Connection Bus : SATA
Write Status : Read/Write
Connection Type : Internal
S.M.A.R.T. Status : Verified
Partition Map Scheme : Master Boot Record

Not surprisingly, this initially caused some problems in that neither Macintosh HD nor the Recovery HD were being seen by EFI, but I was able to erase the hard drive, and restored my OS via Time Machine.

This leaves me in a tenuous situation. Messing with partitions and such is always risky business, and if anyone can come up with a reliable and trusted method for returning my HD to its native GUID'ness, it would be much appreciated! As I have a Time Machine, I'd be totally ok with completely erasing my HD and reinstalling lion.

EDIT:

sudo fdisk /dev/disk0
Disk: /dev/disk0    geometry: 60801/255/63 [976773168 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
     Starting       Ending
 #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1: AF 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -  976773167] HFS+
 2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
 3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
 4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused

As your Partition starts on sector 1, there is no space for a GUID partition table, which requires 2 sectors between the MBR (sector 0) and the start of the first partition as a minimum. You could try to move the partition with a specialist tool (the tools that come with OSX only let you change the size of a partition, not the starting position).

However, as you're OK with re-installing the OS, I suggest you make sure everything is backed up via Time Machine, then boot from the OSX installation stick. Open up Disk Utility before starting the installation, select the whole drive and open the "partition" tab. Repartition it from scratch by selecting "1 partition" (or however many you want) from the "partition layout" dropdown. Before you apply the changes, click the "Options..." button and choose the GUID Partition Table scheme. Then apply the changes (obviously, this wipes the disk) and restore OSX to the newly created system partition. This will create the GPT, protective MBR and EFI System partition.


Unable to use gdb on Mavericks I installed gdb via brew and also code-signed it. But even after doing that I am getting this error.

Error in final launch sequence
Failed to execute MI command:
-exec-run
Error message from debugger back end:
Unable to find Mach task port for process-id 14291: (os/kern) failure (0x5).\n (please check gdb is codesigned - see taskgated(8))
Unable to find Mach task port for process-id 14291: (os/kern) failure (0x5).\n (please check gdb is codesigned - see taskgated(8))

Any suggestions as what is going wrong and what I should do?

Answering my own question. I had to follow the steps enlisted here to get past this error.

Creating a Code-Sign System Certificate from Keychain Access.
Marking that Certificate to Trust Always. This is important.
Finally code signing the gdb executable codesign -s gdb-cert /path/to/gdb

With this, I was able to use gdb on mavericks.


The encryption of an external drive in 10.7.5 does not seem to work. "Conversion Status: NoConversion" On a Mac running OS X Lion 10.7.5 I have attempted to encrypt an external drive using Disk Utility.

Since this is 10.7, there is no option of right-clicking to encrypt in Finder. Also, there's no option to create an encrypted partition when formatting. So, here's what I did:

I reformatted the drive like this:

/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *2.0 TB     disk1
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk1s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Heap                    1.7 TB     disk1s2
   3:                  Apple_HFS Time Machine            300.0 GB   disk1s3
   4:       Microsoft Basic Data EXCHANGE                49.5 GB    disk1s4

Then I wanted to encrypt all Apple_HFS partitions, starting with Heap. The only way to accomplish this using the GUI seems to be the following:

Select the volume you want to encrypt in the sidebar on the left side.
Select the tab "erase" on the right side.
Choose an option of your liking in "Format:"

Click "Erase..." to reformat the partition as an encrypted volume. You have to create a password to continue.

If this were Mountain Lion, this would be it. All I'd have to do is waiting for the encryption to finish. So, I checked the status in the terminal using:

diskutil cs list

And to my surprise there's no conversion happening:

Sequence:               2
Encryption Status:      Unlocked
Encryption Type:        AES-XTS
Encryption Context:     Present
Conversion Status:      NoConversion       // OH NOES!!! WHY THIS? WHY ME? :(
Has Encrypted Extents:  Yes
Conversion Direction:   -none-

But I did expect something like this:

Encryption Status:           Unlocked
    Encryption Type:         AES-XTS
    Conversion Status:       Converting    // This is what I expected.
    Conversion Direction:    forward
    Has Encrypted Extents:   Yes
    Fully Secure:            No
    Passphrase Required:     Yes

Question

What is going on here? Am I just interpreting the diskutil output the wrong way?

I believe you need a Recovery HD on that volume to let FileVault 2 do it's business. Here's the article on how to FileVault 2.

OS X: About FileVault 2

I believe the section where it says FileVault 2 requires OS X Lion or Mountain Lion and Recovery HD installed on your startup drive is not technically correct, since the keys to decrypt an external drive would only be stored on the internal drive of the Mac doing the encryption.

I know this isn't true since I've had encrypted external drives that I've taken to several Mac and had all of them read it. You could start by letting Time Machine encrypt the external drive since that's the canonical GUI manner to get FileVault 2 on an external drive.

You can do everything in terminal though. Here is your recipe - bookmark this guy's web site - Rich is an asset to the community for documenting how to wrangle encryption and many other things.

Encrypting 10.7 non-boot volumes without erasing them

Here is what a functioning external without FileVault 2 looks like to me (warning - this is all on Mountain Lion).

/dev/disk2
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk2
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk2s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS HEAP                    10.0 GB    disk2s2
   3:                  Apple_HFS Time Machine            300.0 GB   disk2s3
   4:       Microsoft Basic Data EXCHANGE                189.6 GB   disk2s4

So, you can convert things thusly:

Air:~ me$ diskutil cs convert /Volumes/HEAP -passphrase
New passphrase for converted volume:
Confirm new passphrase:
Started CoreStorage operation on disk2s2 HEAP
Resizing disk to fit Core Storage headers
[ | 0%..10%.............................................. ]

After a short delay, the progress will end and you will get this notice:

Air:~ me$ diskutil cs convert /Volumes/HEAP -passphrase
New passphrase for converted volume:
Confirm new passphrase:
Started CoreStorage operation on disk2s2 HEAP
Resizing disk to fit Core Storage headers
Creating Core Storage Logical Volume Group
Attempting to unmount disk2s2
Switching disk2s2 to Core Storage
Waiting for Logical Volume to appear
Mounting Logical Volume
Core Storage LVG UUID: 4FA72C96-80B5-4794-B6C9-D5E94B3194C8
Core Storage PV UUID: A60F4F77-18F7-4972-9A37-4873390BE326
Core Storage LV UUID: 02A09627-7955-4671-84F7-BD26FE1D9B93
Core Storage disk: disk3
Finished CoreStorage operation on disk2s2 HEAP
Encryption in progress; use `diskutil coreStorage list` for status

Setting aside whether Lion has the same output (since it likely will not end the command until the encryption is done) - here is the end result of what the diskutil list command shows once the external has been encrypted:

/dev/disk2
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk2
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk2s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage HEAP                    10.0 GB    disk2s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk2s6
   4:                  Apple_HFS Time Machine            300.0 GB   disk2s3
   5:       Microsoft Basic Data EXCHANGE                189.6 GB   disk2s4

It appears that disk2s6 gets shaved off the 10.0 GB disk2s2 and serves to hold the keys for [en|de]crypting HEAP.


Imac turn off the screen: where is the eject button to use in the shortcut? I have a small wireless keyboard. Where can I find the eject button to turn screen off??

At the back of the screen. It's the same as the power button. There may be a setting to make this work.


Bootcamp not asking for USB I bought a new Macbook and i'm trying to install windows on this computer with bootcamp (i added windows to my other macs too without problem) but this app won't gives me the option to choose the usb drive where he downloads the drivers and boot files... why is the first 1 - 2 step gone ? This way if the windows install starts it tells me there is a problem because no boot file is there... why i can't choose the usb ? did apple updated something ? :/ can't find any solutions... any idea ? Thank you

Please have a look at this article: http://www.idownloadblog.com/2015/10/01/el-capitan-boot-camp-windows-changes/

Just follow the next steps and windows should install without using a USB drive.


How do apps installed via Mobile Device Management behave? What happens if a user installed an app manually (from AppStore or Enterprise App) and later on MDM tries to install the same app?

Does MDM app installation fails (because the app is installed already)
Does MDM overwrite existing app?
Does MDM request whether to overwrite?

MDM has a notion of "managed apps". These apps are installed through MDM and MDM can remove them. Mainly, I am interested in this question to understand whether these apps could be removed through MDM later on.

If MDM overwrites existing app (with or without user acceptance) then these apps will be managed and could be removed through MDM later on. If MDM fails to install them than they won't be managed (can't be uninstalled).

Having an MDM doesn't change the permissions and app deletion behavior on iOS so it only facilitates getting a redemption code onto the device.

What really matters is who signed the app. If the app is signed from Apple - then it doesn't matter if it came from iTunes, iCloud restore, MDM or Apple's app store. A user can either delete all apps or no apps based on the iOS profile in force.

Now, for enterprise signed apps (or developer signed apps), you can tie a signing certificate or trust chain to a configuration profile and ensure that apps signed by that cert get deleted when the profile is deleted.

So a user can decide to remove one app or remove all apps or remove the profile. But the user can't remove the profile and have the apps remain.

This is a nice general overview. If you select a particular MDM solution (Casper, AirWatch, Mobile Iron, etc..) or just use iPhone Configuration utility or Apple Configurator - you can re-ask this to nail down your particular deployment scenario and we can dive deeper into what you seek to accomplish.


Can I do iOS like dictation on OS X Lion? Dictation on the iPad is great.

I can use Dragon Tree etcetera but would like to use an iPad like voice dictation program instead for simple tasks.

Can I do the same thing on my OS X 10.7.4 iMac?

iOS like Dictation...
...currently isn't a native feature of OS X. However, Mountain Lion's new features willl include a system wide speech input.
Mountain Lion will come out this month (July '12). So you might wanna just wait a few more days.
Here's the description by Apple:

Now you can talk anywhere you can type. Dictation converts your words into text. It uses the built-in microphone on your Mac, so there’s no need to set anything up — just start speaking instead of typing. When you say “comma” or “exclamation point,” Dictation punctuates for you. The more you use Dictation, the smarter it gets. It learns voice characteristics. And it recognizes people from your contacts so it enters names accurately. Dictation supports English (U.S., UK, and Australia), French, German, and Japanese.

MacLife also states how to use Dictation:

To use Dictation, open any application that has a text input area and position your cursor in that text area. Press the Shortcut key twice (by default, it’s the Function key).


iPhone will not connect to my wifi My iPhone says its connected to wifi but it won't let me surf the web. My iPad is using the same connection and I don't have a problem with it. Does anyone have any ideas what is wrong?

Is there any IP address assigned? And if so, does it come from your router? (e.g., is it in the same range as a computer or other device that is connected to the same router? ) If it happens to start with 169.254.x.x, then there probably is something wrong with one of the router settings (probably DHCP not configured properly), as that indicates that your iPhone has a self-assigned IP-address.

You can check the IP-address by opening the Settings app, tapping Wi-Fi, and tap the blue information-icon (i) next to the connected Wi-Fi network. And are the iPad and iPhone the only two devices connected to that router? Or are there other devices that are successfully connected as well?


Disable proximity sensor when locked If my phone is sitting on my desk locked, something like a napkin is just covering the proximity sensor, and I get a notification or something, the screen will not turn on. Can this be disabled?

Short answer

No, this is not possible with a standard installation of iOS.

Long answer

Yes, this is possible if your iPhone happens to be jailbroken. If so you can install software that allows you to create custom gestures. This is achieved through the installation of a couple of packages: Always on Proximity and Activator.

NOTE: This answer in no way supports or endorses jailbreaking your device.


Add an iPhone number to other iOS devices to receive iMessages/Facetime calls via the phone number? I bought an iPad for school and have been enjoying using iMessage and (especially) FaceTime, and I have recently acquired the new iPhone. So I'm wondering if there is a way I could add my iPhone's number to my iPad to receive iMessages and take FaceTime calls sent to that number, rather than having to rely on my phone 24/7 for these features.

No,

iMessage and FaceTime are linked to your Apple ID so you will need to add your Apple ID to the device, not your phone number.

If you send a message from the iPad it will use the Apple ID, so someone can reply to your email address, if they send a message to your phone number it will only go to your phone.


How can I sync history of Safari? Question is in the header. I know that Google Chrome stores his history in sqlite database, and there's impossible to sync Chrome's history. Can I do this with Safari? I didn't find this option.

Somebody heard you, because this is now baked in. Your iCloud account will sync bookmarks, browser history, and even tabs in Yosemite and iOS 8.


How can I always show my user's 'library' folder in macOS Sierra? I’ve just upgraded to a much newer Mac after having been on an old MBP running Snow Leopard. There’s a lot to learn in the major jump from 10.6 to 10.12. One change is that my user’s Library folder is invisible.

I did Google this and see I can hold down the option key to make the Library folder visible when I need it to be, but is there a way to always make it visible so I don’t have to do this extra step every time?

Yes. Probably the easiest way is:

Click on the Finder icon in your Dock (usually the very first icon)
In the Finder window that appears, click on your username in the Sidebar (see note at end if it's not listed)
Now go to View > Show View Options (or press commandJ)
Now tick the Checkbox next to the Show Library Folder option (it's the bottom checkbox - see screenshot below)

Now your Library folder will remain visible as you were previously used to.

NOTE: If your username is not visible in the Sidebar, then go to Finder > Preferences, select the Sidebar tab and then select the checkbox next to your username at the bottom of the Favourites list.


How do I increase default font size in Reminders under Mavericks? Apparently is IS possible to change the size of the font in Reminders under Mavericks via a modification of "a text file inside the app package".

Can someone please post these instructions or point the way to finding them?

Thank you

I've had a look at it and at a glance (with a disassembler) there's no .plist (property list) file that could have anything that it directly would use to alter the size.

The size of the sidebar is inherited from what Apple call "Aqua", which is the default theme for OSX. Although they allow you to over-ride side-bars in most apps, they haven't allowed this in ALL apps, which is perplexing as I have the same issue!

I'd strongly suggest that you drop the resolution of your display. This will generally make the font (and everything else) across the system larger, depending of course what you set it to!

You can do this by:

Click on  (Apple, Top Left)
Click on "System Preferences"
Click on "Displays"

note here that you might see:

This is the system default setting which is generally acceptable with people who are neither nor nor far sighted To change this, carry on to 4 below.. If you don't just close the screen as you would any other screen.

Change the setting shown above to "Scaled", which will present you something similar to:

`Mine is set to the highest possible setting on this MacBook (1440 x 900), so if I click on one setting lower, that is (1344 x 840), the above image would be larger, and as I click on the various ones going down, they get gradually more "zoomed" as to put it.

MAKE SURE YOU MAKE A NOTE OF THE SETTINGS IT WAS ALL INITIALLY ON!

Without unorthodox system "hacks" there is no run of the mill way to change what you need changed sadly.

Hope this helps!

Adrian S


re-enable mouse scroll inertia in Sierra In previous versions of macOS (OSX), when I scrolled fast, the page woule keep sliding a bit, as if there was some inertia keeping it moving. This seems to have been disabled in Sierra, and I can't find the setting to re-enable it.

I found the setting in System Preferences > Accessibility > Mouse & Trackpad > Trackpad Options.

It was enabled, and disabling it and re-enabling fixed the issue for me.


My mac Automator Application script is not working with two arguments On my Catalina mac, I have this Mac Automator shell script to remove all metadata from image files as follows:

for f in "$@"
do
/usr/local/bin/exiftool -all= "$f"
done

Now this utility exiftool by default makes a backup of the original image file and it works OK. However, exiftool has another option "-overwrite_original" which can be added to the command line as follows:

exiftool -overwrite_original -all= filename

My problem is that when I add the other option (overwrite) to the Automator shell script above, the script just doesn't work. Is there any syntax problem that I need to fix?

From Terminal on macOS Catalina 10.15.1, exiftool -ver returns 11.78.

I used the ExifTool-11.78.dmg from https://exiftool.org to install it.

exiftool -all= filename does not make a backup, nor does exiftool -overwrite_original -all= filename; however, in both cases a filename_exiftool_tmp file is created during the process and I'm just left with filename when the process completes.

As an example, I take a screenshot of the Desktop and just use exiftool filename from Terminal and it prints out 90 lines of metadata.

Then I use Automator on it, then back in Terminal using exiftool filename it prints out 20 lines of metadata.

The metadata of the 20 lines left cannot be removed by exiftool.

I then run exiftool -all= filename from Terminal and it prints 0 image files updated and 1 image files unchanged.

This is exactly as it should be as some of the information is not being pulled from the file when queried by exiftool.
Some of that info comes for the filesystem, attributes of the file and what info is shown that comes from within the file just cannot be removed by exiftool and I've actually read that somewhere within the documentation, whether it be at https://exiftool.org, or from where I just don't remember exactly where, sorry.


iVPN Connection Problems I want a way to create a secure connection to the internet (something I can trust) on my iPod Touch and Laptop through a source I can trust. In my research, it was suggested I use iVPN on my iMac at home to set up the connection. So I bought that and tried it out. The VPN client connects, but I cannot navigate to the internet. Any thoughts on how to fix it?

Doing so would require being able to access your iMac from remote places, thus configuring either a DMZ host, or port forwarding on your router. Either way it will be a headache.

Also if you're on a residential connection note that the public IP address can and will change. I recommend a dynamic DNS server for that.

Assuming you can get that all setup it's as simple as setting up VPN on your iDevice.


How can I add extra groups to Finder's recognised kinds presently when I attempt to group files in Finder (Yosemite 10.10.3) by kind the created Documents category creates a vast number of files including CSVs DOCX etc:

Is it possible to make this groupings more efficient, by:

Grouping files by extension -or-
Defining what extensions are classified where, for instance in case of the Documents category I would like for it to contain only PDFs and DOC/X-XLS/X files whereas CSVs could be in a separate data category. The developer category is particularly messy as it tends to contain hundreds of files, lot of them created automatically when working with *.tex files.

I would recommend creating several saved searches, each for a specific file extension within a given folder, and then add each saved search to the Finder sidebar. For example:

In Finder, go to your working folder, then type something (e.g., xxx) in the Search field.
This reveals the Search row; click the '+' at the far right.
Change Kind to File extension, and type one of the extensions you need.
Remove the "xxx" or whatever you had originally typed.
Click the Save button.
Type a meaningful name for your search (e.g., Documents - PDF), and tick the Add To Sidebar checkbox.

Now that you have a saved search in the Finder sidebar, you can make duplicates of it.

In the Finder, right-click the Documents - PDF (that you just created), and choose Show in Enclosing Folder.
Duplicate your saved search, and rename it to something like Documents - DOC (i.e., for whatever you intend it to represent).
Select the duplicate search, and choose File menu >> Add To Sidebar.
In the Finder sidebar, click the Documents - DOC shortcut you just created.
Then right-click the shortcut and choose Show Search Criteria.
At this point, change PDF to DOC. Optionally, you could click '+' and add DOCX here, as well.

Unfortunately, you can't modify the folder location that a saved search points to; this seems like an oversight, but there you go.


Mophie juice pack is being drained too fast? I have an iPhone 5 with iOS 8 installed. Sometimes, when I charge the iPhone with a mophie Juice Pack Case for iPhone 5, the power of the battery pack gets drained up in merely 5 seconds. This does not happen a lot, it happens randomly. I am sure my Juice Pack is fully charged.

What is the reason behind this? How can I fix this?

I uninstalled the SpacePack software and the battery does not drain quickly/too fast any longer.  However, I don't have access to the 32GB of storage now either.  Moreover, the latest SpacePack application only supports iPhone OS 8 or later [bummer].  Check your: Settings > Battery and notice the SpacePack application slaying your battery usage.


Why won't Special Characters display certain characters? When I access Special Characters (⌘+⌥+T), many groups of characters will not display any characters. Coptic, Glagolithic, Runic, Gothic, etc. (Mostly more obscure characters) I'm running OS X Lion.

First, you may need to enable these groups by clicking the button in the upper left and choosing "Customize List…":

Then find the desired list and check the checkbox:

If you have done this and you see boxes instead of characters, it just means you don't have a font that supports those characters. If you download and install an appropriate font you should start seeing the characters.


What are all these tvOS services? I noticed Apple's tvOS broadcasting no less than 7 mDNS PTR-RRs (via Bonjour, I presume):

+ Apple TV._airplay._tcp.local
+ Apple TV._mediaremotetv._tcp.local
+ Apple TV._companion-link._tcp.local
+ 1BC5121395BA@Apple TV._raop._tcp.local
+ 70-61-23-49.1Apple TV._sleep-proxy._udp.local
+ BC69B8CC-AEE6-B37E-AAB3-E2D55C4DE0AA._homekit._tcp.local
+ EC9ED9FECEDB93DFEE5A0AC02C0BA9A5CD8DDA27._touch-able._tcp.local

Note: Unique, personally identifiable values have been randomized.

It seems like a lot. At first I thought it was only the first 5 (still seems like a lot). Some are obvious, others are.. not so much. But, pull the AppleTV's ethernet cable and watch them all disappear.

The services are:

._airplay._tcp.local

This is a Bonjour advertisement for the network service that enables AirPlay of video content. I.e. this allows iOS devices to discover the Apple TV as a "remote display" that it can display video on.

._mediaremotetv._tcp.local

This is one of the network services that makes the Apple TV Remote work - i.e. the app or Control Center built-in feature for remote controlling Apple TV devices from iPhones and iPads. This service is advertised on the network via Bonjour to ensure that iOS devices can discover the AppleTV.

._companion-link._tcp.local

This service is seemingly not documented by Apple, but seems involved in making the AirPlay 2 system work.

._raop._tcp.local

This network service is called Remote Audio Output Protocol. It is essentially saying that the AppleTV works as an AirPlay audio receiver. This Bonjour advertisement allows iOS devices to discover the Apple TV as a "speaker" that you can send audio to.

._sleep-proxy._udp.local

This is a Bonjour Sleep Proxy. The idea is that the AppleTV can respond to various network queries for other devices that are currently in low-power mode to lower energy usage. For example it could be a Mac offering a shared iTunes library or a shared printer. The AppleTV can then answer network requests for these servers while the Mac is in sleep mode - for example allowing the user to list the shared printers available on the network. However, when the user chooses to print something, the AppleTV will wake up the Mac and transfer the request to it.

_homekit._tcp.local

This is a network service regarding HomeKit, Apple's system for communicating with and controlling devices in the home. Think controllable light bulbs, shades, door bells, whatever. The AppleTV works as a proxy in such a setting such that the user can control devices remotely (i.e. while not at home) even though the devices might be Bluetooth only and out of range. Note that ordinary HomeKit devices on the network advertise as _hap._tcp instead.

._touch-able._tcp.local

This is another of the network services that makes the Apple TV Remote work. This service concerns device authentication. I.e. if you want to for example play a Youtube video on the Apple TV, the Apple TV can require that the device is authenticated before being allowed to do so. In practice authentications work by the Apple TV displaying a PIN-code on the TV that the user enters on the iOS device. This PIN-code is transferred using the service advertised as "touch-able" to authenticate the device.


Unable to switch keyboard layout I just rebooted and for some reason am unable to switch keyboard layouts.  This feature had been working previously since just after getting the computer (and setting up the alternate keyboard layout).

The secondary input source is shown here:

My attempt to select the alternate input source is shown here:  note I clicked on usd2.  However the input source did not change as a result.

I did not do anything related to keyboard settings for quite some time so it is puzzling this problem just showed up.  I am on Sierra with MBPro 2015.

I re-added the same keyboard input:

.. and the second one is working.

I have no idea why this suddenly started failing.


How do I convert old Pages documents to Pages '13? I have a document I created with an old Pages version. When I try to open it in Pages '13, I get the message :

  This document is too old. Please open and save with Pages '09

I don't have Pages '09 and I don't know where that old version of Pages is and if it will run on Mac OS 10.9.

Is there an easy way to convert the document? If there is no easy way, is there a way to at least extract the text from the document?

I've posted a general solution for all three iWork programs here, but here's what to do for Pages.

This solution requires using Terminal. Do the following:

Make a backup copy of your file
Open Terminal.app
In the Terminal window, type cd (that's with a space after the cd) then drag your file to the window. It should insert the full path of your file (e.g. /Users/me/Documents/My\ Great\ File.pages).
Copy and paste the following command as a single line and press Return: gunzip --stdout index.xml.gz | sed 's-:version="72007061400"-:version="92008102400"-g' > index.xml
If you don't see any errors (such as No such file or directory), now type rm index.xml.gz and press Return
Type exit and press Return and try to open your file. It may give you a compatibility problem report but should open.

Explanation

The file index.xml.gz is a compressed XML file that holds information about your document. The command in step 4 uncompresses the file and runs it through a search-and-replace program which looks for the version 72007061400 and replaces it with the version 92008102400 (I don't know what these versions mean but it appears to work). It outputs to an uncompressed version of the file, which is why in step 5 you remove the original, compressed file (iWork will used compressed or uncompressed files).

Notes

If step 4 gives you a No such file or directory error, it's possible the index.xml file is uncompressed, in which case you can replace the step 4 command with sed 's-:version="72007061400"-:version="92008102400"-g' index.xml | gzip > index.xml.gz, and step 5 with rm index.xml.

This solution could be adapted to an Automator action by someone motivated.

Source

This method is adapted from a similar solution for Keynote documents which I found in a comment on this Google+ post.


Change Apple ID on iPhone without causing 'damage' to apps/app store purchases and keeping app data I have an old iPhone 5. It has lots of apps installed on it; there's a long message history in WhatsApp and other apps that I don't want to be deleted.

I have created a new Apple ID and want to use it on this iPhone.

How do I accomplish this without causing any damage to apps/app data? Also, if I change the ID, would I be able to update my apps?

It is possible to change the Apple ID on an iPhone. You can do this by going to Settings > iTunes and App Store and logout with your current Apple ID. After that, you can login with the new Apple ID.

When you download/purchase an app from the App Store, it will be connected to the Apple ID that is used to do the download/purchase. This means that if you start using a different Apple ID to download/purchase new apps, there's no problem to update them.

As you mentioned, you have for example WhatsApp installed. If there's an update for WhatsApp in the App Store, you are still able to update it, but you have to use the Apple ID password of your "old" Apple ID.

On a side note, you can make a backup from your WhatsApp history (texts and media) in iCloud. After this, you can delete and reinstall WhatsApp and restore the backup.

I don't know if other apps that are important for you have the same functionality to create a backup to iCloud.


How to tune Notes on OS X to use plain text or not to reformat quotes? As technical guy, I do hate the markup support in Notes.app and I would prefer to be just a smart text one.

Here is my wishlist:

Use a different font, like a fixed width one
Drop any font/color/size on text paste
Prevent replacing quotes with smart-quotes/curly-quotes (I like this while typing an email but not here where I copy/paste even code!)

I suspect that some of these could be obtained using some hidden preferences options. Anyway, if you know other 3rd party applications that could replace Notes, let me know. Still I do not want to lose the ability to access notes from iOS!

Notes

Notes.app in OS X 10.10 can do all you request:

Font colour, size, and family can be set through the Format menu.
Substitutions and smart quote behaviour are managed through the Edit > Substitutions sub-menu.

Beyond Notes: Text Wrangler

If you need more than Notes.app offers, try Text Wrangler from Bare Bones.


Would App store accept a program that bundles a Python interpreter? I have developed a Python IDE for beginners, which bundles Python 3.6 and a recent (ie. not-too-buggy) Tcl/Tk (neither is available in macOS by default)

At the moment the users install it from a dmg file, but as recent macOS versions have become more suspicious (hostile?) towards non-app-store apps, the users (often with very low technical abilities) have more and more trouble with the installation.

Is there a chance that such application will be accepted to the App Store? Do you know any examples of similar apps, that are in the App Store?

Before the Mac App Store

To improve your user's experience, you may be able to avoid needing to be in the Mac App Store.

Code sign your existing application and macOS's hostility towards your app will vanish.
Improve your application's first run experience using LetsMove. This open source framework will automatically copy the application into the /Applications folder and eject the disk image.
Use the open source Sparkle framework to add automated software updating to your application.

Just code signing your application will dramatically improve the first run experience for your users.

App Store Requirements

If your application meets the requirements below, then it will likely be accepted into the Mac App Store:

conforms to the App Store Guidelines;
supports being sandboxed;
can be bundled within a self contained application.

Ask Apple's iTunes Connect Team

You can contact Apple's iTunes Connect and talk to them before committing to significant development work. They are best placed to know what is likely to be accepted or not.


Add ~/Downloads to Dock through Profile Manager I am trying to create a minimal dock through Profile Manager (OS X 10.10.2/Server 4.0.3) but I need to include the users' Download directory. Profile Manager has an option to add the Documents folder but not Downloads. I figured I'd add it in the Dock Items, but so far it isn't working.

In Dock Items, I've tried:

~/Downloads
Downloads
/Network/Servers/<fully qualified servername>/Users/%short_name%/Downloads

The last configuration shows a proper folder on the client dock but it has a permission denied icon present and it clearly is not pointing to the right place.

I'm considering another approach which would involve allowing the dock items of the user to merge with those provided by Profile Manager as this keeps the Downloads on the dock. This approach would require me to create a dock template that is used when I create the users' accounts. This approach may be okay but I also may have to limit modifications to the dock, and so I'd like to get the first approach to work.

Any ideas on how to solve this?

Thanks.

Take a look at this blog post at nbalonso.com: Relative Paths in Configuration Profiles about including the Downloads folder into the Dock


How to open or convert old .efx (eFax) documents without PowerPC support? I have a number of very old .efx documents (from 2004) that were sent to me from the eFax service.  They are no longer available on eFax's website (so I can't just get them from there and change the format). (I changed eFax's setting a long time ago to send me new faxes in PDF format, so this problem only applies to my very old faxes.)

The most recent version of eFax Messenger is a PowerPC app so it can't be opened on recent versions of Mac OS X.

The simplest way seems to be just downloading eFax Messenger on a computer with Windows, but since I don't have access to one that's not an option.

So does anyone know of an all-Mac way to open these files?  Or a way to convert them into a file format that I can open, e.g., PDF or TIFF?

Since you updated your settings to receive faxes now in PDF, you can:

Fax the EFX documents to your assigned eFax® number (via website or
e-mail).
The new files should be received as PDF.

If you need further assistance, please let us know and we can convert them to PDF for you.  You can respond to this thread or contact us on Twitter @efaxcares so we can exchange contact info.


App to organize my photos into folders by date Is there an app on OS X that can sort through all your photos within a folder and organize them into folders and name each folder the date it was taken.

Here's a bash script that sorts files into year/month/day/ directory paths.

#!/bin/bash
dir=/path/to/directory
find "$dir" -maxdepth 1 -type f | while IFS= read -r file; do
  year=$(stat -f "%Sm" -t "%y" $file)
  month=$(stat -f "%Sm" -t "%m" $file)
  day=$(stat -f "%Sm" -t "%d" $file)
  [[ ! -d "$dir/$year/$month/$day" ]] && mkdir -p "$dir/$year/$month/$day";
  mv "$file" "$dir/$year/$month/$day"
done

Untested, have backups, etc

Save the script as something.sh, change the second line of the script to the path that you want to sort the contents of, then run chmod u+x /path/to/file.sh && /path/to/file.sh. However, if you are unfamiliar with shell scripts I wouldn't recommend this hacked-together, untested script that I wrote late at night be the very first script you run!


Force any printer to convert all colors to Grayscale automatically? I've got a color inkjet printer, and I only have black ink left.

I want my printer to automatically convert all colors printed to a grayscale equivalent.

I'd like a solution that works with any printer, not just my specific printer.

Is this possible using a virtual printer or something like that?

Note that as stated in the title, I'd love to be able to do this automatically, so I don't have to select options in a print dialog every time.

A "one-size-fits-all" approach may not be possible, as different printers have different capabilities and driver controls for specifying Black ink only.

You could try the Color Matching pane of the print dialog: select ColorSync, and select a Greyscale or Black & White color profile. However, even if you do this, some printers may still try to print this as a '4-color Black', to spread the ink usage across all the cartridges.

Your best option is to determine what controls your printer has (if any) for printing to Black ink only: then select them in the print dialog and save as a Print Preset.


import photos from iPhone and save them on Big Sur I have a large collection of family photos covering more than a century (scanned from my parents photo album, scanned slides, digital cameras and lately iPhone images of my grandchildren). I have developed my own cataloging scheme and viewer software which I use on multiple platforms.
Until recently I could import new photos from iPhone and save them to macOS, but with Catalina and Big Sur this does not seem possible.
I have searched, but apart from iCloud or Photo import (which I don't want to use) have been unable to find a method of importing, apart from AirDrop, which is OK for a few files.

I have found 2 Apple solutions which meets my needs, but no search came up with these methods.

NOTE - Both of these are documented in macOS Help

Import images from a camera into Preview on Mac
You can import photos from digital cameras or devices with cameras (such as iPhone) in Preview.
Connect your camera or device to your Mac, then make sure your Mac and the camera or device are turned on.
If the device is locked, use a passcode or Face ID to unlock it.
In the Preview app  on your Mac, choose File > Import from [camera name].
If more than one camera is connected to your Mac, choose File > Import from Camera > [camera or device name].
A window appears with thumbnail images of all the photos on your camera.
Use the buttons at the bottom of the window to view the thumbnails in a list, to see larger thumbnails or to rotate images.
Drag the slider in the lower-right corner of the window to change the size of the thumbnails.
To import only some of the photos, select them, then click Import. To import all the photos on the camera, click Import All.
Choose where to save the images, then click Choose Destination.
The images are imported to that location and opened in one window in Preview.
Transfer images in Image Capture on Mac
You can use Image Capture to transfer images and video clips to your Mac from many cameras, iOS devices, iPadOS devices and other devices that have a camera. Once you transfer the items, you can choose to delete them from the device.
Connect your device to your computer using a cable, then turn the device on.
You may be asked to unlock your device with a passcode or to trust the device.
In the Image Capture app  on your Mac, select the device in the Devices or Shared list.
The Image Capture window showing pictures to be imported from an iPhone.
Use the tools in the Image Capture toolbar to change how the thumbnails are shown:
Increase or decrease the size of the thumbnails: Drag the slider.
View images as a grid of larger thumbnails: Click the Icon view button.
View images as a list: Click the List view button.
Rotate images: Click the Rotate button as many times as needed. To rotate the item to the right, press and hold the Option key, then click the button as many times as needed.
Select images, if you don’t want to import all of them.
Click the Import To pop-up menu at the bottom of the window, then choose where to save the images or to create a PDF or a web page that contains them.
To download images to an app, such as Photos, choose Other, then the app.
Click Download (if you selected images) or Download All.
By default, items you download remain on your device. If you prefer to remove them from your device, click the Action button  in the Image Capture toolbar, then either unselect “Keep originals” or select “Delete after import” (the option available depends on the type of device you connected).


Why can't I delete messages from my IMAP account on my iPhone 4? I have an iPhone 4 and have set up mail with an IMAP account. When I delete a message a popup says Unable to move message - The message could not be moved to the trash folder.

How can I fix this?

Maybe the trash folder is not correctly set on your iPhone.

Depending on the email-provider, you may have to choose the correct "deleted" folder in your account settings on the iPhone.

(maybe the translations are not literally, i am using a German iPhone):
Go to "Settings" -> "Mail, contacts ...", choose your IMAP account, choose "account info", look at the bottom and choose "advanced".

Here you can choose which folder is your trash folder.


Disk utility shows unattached external HDD I have an external hard drive (WD Elements 1TB) that I use for Time Machine backups on my Mid-2015 Retina MacBook Pro 15" with macOS Sierra 10.12.3.

Lately, the drive doesn't get mounted any more when I plug it in. In Disk Utility, I see two instances of the drive when it is plugged in. When I unplug it, one of the instances disappears. The other one stays, even when I select "Eject" from the context menu.
After a reboot, the "ghost instance" is gone, and the drive gets mounted again on plugin. But after one or two eject/unplug/plug-in cycles, I have the same problem again. Time Machine doesn't do backups to the drive unless it is fully mounted.

Is there any way to forcibly "eject" the "ghost" of the unattached drive?

As requested, here's the output of "diskutil list" and "gpt show":

$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage Macintosh HD            999.7 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3

/dev/disk1 (internal, virtual):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                            Macintosh HD           +999.3 GB   disk1
                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2
                                 2E277268-61D5-4149-B45C-39204E7C1CD8
                                 Unlocked Encrypted

/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk2
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk2s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage TimeMachine BFD         999.9 GB   disk2s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk2s3

/dev/disk3 (external, virtual):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                            TimeMachine BFD        +999.5 GB   disk3
                                 Logical Volume TimeMachine BFD on disk2s2
                                 A7F8C874-D9AE-4818-98EE-C4D6F5DC610A
                                 Locked Encrypted

Offline
                                 Logical Volume TimeMachine BFD on disk2s2
                                 A7F8C874-D9AE-4818-98EE-C4D6F5DC610A
                                 Locked Encrypted

$ sudo gpt -r show disk2
gpt show: unable to open device 'disk2': Device not configured

$ sudo gpt -r show disk3
gpt show: unable to open device 'disk3': Resource busy

and two screenshots of Disk Utility:

External HDD attached:

External HDD not attached:

I seems found a work around to avoid reboot. After eject the Time Machine volume in the normal way, I open disk utility and eject the physical drive there, and wait untill the disk LED indicator shows that it is in sleeping mode (slow blinking) and then disconnect the drive. Now the physical drive is gone in disk utility, and I can close/sleep the MacBookPro. Next time when connect the drive, it will show up normally.

I wonder if this is because OS X sierra didn't handle the ejection process for encrypted drive properly.


Pages to pdf export results in a smaller page size, how can I make the page size as setup in Pages? I have a 48 by 36 inch poster in Pages. I can see size in Page Setup. The print people want the poster as a pdf so I export it to pdf.

When I open the pdf in Adobe, and look at Page Setup, it tells me that the page size is 8.5 by 11 inches.

I can't afford to make any mistakes in the printing. How can I make sure the pdf I send to the printer is the correct size?

Very easy answer to this. The size is under Properties in the File menu. There the page size is listed.


Where is the previous recipients info in Entourage? Where is the "Previous Recipients" info in Entourage?  Can it be edited?

You can do it, though it's done in kind of an odd fashion.

From the Entourage 2008 Help file:

To delete a single entry from the recently used address list, you must first add it to your address book and then delete it from your address book.

Click Mail, and then click New.
In the To box, type the first few letters of the address. A list of suggested addresses appears.
On the pop-up menu of addresses, click the recently used address that you want to delete.
Press CONTROL, click the address, and then click Add to Address Book. The address appears in a new contact.
On the Edit menu, click Delete Contact. If a confirmation message appears, click Delete.
Close the message, and then click Discard Changes.

You can also clear the entire list in one go by choosing Entourage > Preferences > Mail & News Preferences > Compose, then clicking Clear List.


Is there a macOS equivalent of the Windows assoc command? I am looking to change a file association on the Mac using some sort of script. I know that I can do something like that in Windows using the assoc command.

Is there something scriptable on macOS which will do a similar job? I don’t mind whether it’s in Bash (my preference), AppleScript or something in Automator.

I am aware of the dutil command but I want to be able to do it without additional software.

Changing the file association for a single file or a set of files (AppleScript)

This script demonstrates first that the default application for some text file on my system was set to TextEdit.  Then it changes the file association for that particular file so it now opens with Atom.  Finally, it associates all text files on the desktop with the Atom application.

tell application "System Events"
    get the default application of the file "/path/to/some file.txt"
        --> alias "Macintosh HD:Applications:TextEdit.app:" of application "System Events"

    # Individual file:
    set the default application of the file "/path/to/some file.txt" to ¬
        the path to the application named "Atom"

    # A set of files:
    set the default application of every file of the desktop folder whose ¬
        name extension = "txt" to the path to the application "Atom"
end tell

Changing the file associations for all files of a given type (JXA)

Using JavaScript for Automation, you can implement Core Foundation functions in a way you cannot do with AppleScriptObjC, so as to interact with Launch Services at the system level and change the file association for a given file type.

Here, I've targetted plain text files (these have extension .txt by default), and switched the default application that responds to them to Atom:

ObjC.import('CoreServices');

var contentType = 'public.plain-text';
var bundleID = Application('Atom').id();

$.LSSetDefaultRoleHandlerForContentType(
            contentType,
            $.kLSRolesAll,
            bundleID
        );

The file type must be targeted by way of a Uniform Type Identifier.  These are special text strings that uniquely identify a given class or type of item.  The link will take you to a page that lists Apple's system-declared UTIs for all the likely file types that you'll be interested in.  Be careful not to simply choose the one that appears to match your needs at first glance, as UTIs are structured in a kind of inheritance tree.  Therefore, I could have lazily picked out public.text, which I saw first in the list, until on further reading, we learn that this UTI is a base type for all text, which would include HTML and RTF files.


Airport Extreme, no internet I have an Airport Extreme (4th generation) with firmware 7.5.2; it has been working fine for a long time, but stopped working properly after a brief power outage a couple of days ago.

The router powers up normally and shows a solid green light, alas connected devices (a notebook, apple tv, and a couple of iphones) get "no internet".

using the Airport Utility i have verified that the WAN link is up and the devices are accociated with the network; I have also called the ISP and verified that the IP lease is ok.

I have tried resetting the router several times, as well as powering down different elements of the network and restarting them in different order.

i should mention also that my service is over a fiber network, so if I plug the Ethernet cable directly into my notebook everything works fine - the ISP is not to blame.

To me this seems to be a problem with the Airport router itself, a software / firmware problem of some sort - has anyone come accross anything similar?

To start I'd do a reset to factory settings. This support document tells you how.

From there I would start by then connecting a Mac using Ethernet and seeing if you can get it connected to the 'net.

First would be to establish that the Extreme is handing out IP addresses via DHCP. When you look in System Preferences > Network the Mac should have an IP address from the Express (probably 10.0.. or 192.168..), not a 169...* self assigned IP.

Then can you ping the Extreme from the Mac. Then can you ping your modem. Finally, can you ping "www.google.com" (which will also show that you have DNS working).

If any of that breaks then check the settings on the Extreme until it does and you should be good.


Are there any car stereos out there that support AirPlay? First, I understand that I'm walking a fine line but, to be clear, I am sticking to the FAQ and I am not asking for hardware recommendations.  Instead, I simply want to know if there are any car stereos out there that have AirPlay built in.  If not, why not?

This seems like a no brainer, especially considering that AirPlay has been around for a while.  Nevertheless, other than hack-it-together solutions, I can not find a means of getting AirPlay to work in my car.

Does anyone have any insight?  Is there a chance that I'm searching for the wrong type of product (i.e. Apple allows for car stereo manufacturers to integrate with iOS devices through some other means) and that's what I should be looking for?

Any tips would be helpful.

AirPlay works over UDP and it requires that both the sender and receiver device exist on the same TCP/IP-based network. That's generally not possible in your car because you aren't running an 802.11-based wireless network in that space.

For wireless audio streaming in your automobile you want to look for a head unit that  supports the Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP). This is a BlueTooth spec that lets two BT-enabled devices exchange high quality audio streams. Your iDevice supports it, you just need an A2DP compatible head unit and you can stream your music to your car system without any wires.

Happily, there are many head units that support A2DP on the market today, both aftermarket and OEM.


AppleScript to check if fn key is depressed? How can I return 1 when the fn is depressed and 0 otherwise?

I found this page that claims it has a solution but it relies on an external shell script file (I'd rather have a pure AppleScript solution if that's possible) which I can't download because it redirects me through some weird dutch scam sites.

The aim of this is actually to have a way of checking for function key + fn key combinations in ControllerMate, which doesn't seem to have a way to check if fn is pressed or not.

Straight from the post by Oscar...

property vers : "1.0"
my isModifierKeyPressed("function") // the only addition to his raw script

on isModifierKeyPressed(checkKey)
    set modiferKeysDOWN to {command_down:false, option_down:false, control_down:false, shift_down:false, caps_down:false, numlock_down:false, function_down:false}

    if checkKey = "" or checkKey = "option" or checkKey = "alt" then
        if (do shell script "/usr/bin/python -c 'import Cocoa; print Cocoa.NSEvent.modifierFlags() & Cocoa.NSAlternateKeyMask '") > 1 then
            set option_down of modiferKeysDOWN to true
        end if
    end if

    if checkKey = "" or checkKey = "command" then
        if (do shell script "/usr/bin/python -c 'import Cocoa; print Cocoa.NSEvent.modifierFlags() & Cocoa.NSCommandKeyMask '") > 1 then
            set command_down of modiferKeysDOWN to true
        end if
    end if

    if checkKey = "" or checkKey = "shift" then
        if (do shell script "/usr/bin/python -c 'import Cocoa; print Cocoa.NSEvent.modifierFlags() & Cocoa.NSShiftKeyMask '") > 1 then
            set shift_down of modiferKeysDOWN to true
        end if
    end if

    if checkKey = "" or checkKey = "control" then
        if (do shell script "/usr/bin/python -c 'import Cocoa; print Cocoa.NSEvent.modifierFlags() & Cocoa.NSControlKeyMask '") > 1 then
            set control_down of modiferKeysDOWN to true
        end if
    end if

    if checkKey = "" or checkKey = "caps" or checkKey = "capslock" then
        if (do shell script "/usr/bin/python -c 'import Cocoa; print Cocoa.NSEvent.modifierFlags() & Cocoa.NSAlphaShiftKeyMask '") > 1 then
            set caps_down of modiferKeysDOWN to true
        end if
    end if

    if checkKey = "" or checkKey = "numlock" then
        if (do shell script "/usr/bin/python -c 'import Cocoa; print Cocoa.NSEvent.modifierFlags() & Cocoa.NSNumericPadKeyMask'") > 1 then
            set numlock_down of modiferKeysDOWN to true
        end if
    end if
    --Set if any key in the numeric keypad is pressed. The numeric keypad is generally on the right side of the keyboard. This is also set if any of the arrow keys are pressed

    if checkKey = "" or checkKey = "function" or checkKey = "func" or checkKey = "fn" then
        if (do shell script "/usr/bin/python -c 'import Cocoa; print Cocoa.NSEvent.modifierFlags() & Cocoa.NSFunctionKeyMask'") > 1 then
            set function_down of modiferKeysDOWN to true
        end if
    end if
    --Set if any function key is pressed. The function keys include the F keys at the top of most keyboards (F1, F2, and so on) and the navigation keys in the center of most keyboards (Help, Forward Delete, Home, End, Page Up, Page Down, and the arrow keys)

    return modiferKeysDOWN
end isModifierKeyPressed

if Fn is down

Result:
{command_down:false, option_down:false, control_down:false, shift_down:false, caps_down:false, numlock_down:false, function_down:true}

else

Result:
{command_down:false, option_down:false, control_down:false, shift_down:false, caps_down:false, numlock_down:false, function_down:false}


Bootcamp Windows 7 Installation on Macbook Pro Late 2008 with MiniDisplayPort Monitor (Broken Laptop Display) I previously had a setup of one SSD partitioned in two (Yosemite on first, Windows 7 on second) and the original HDD as additional storage (two HFS+ partitions). I was going through yesterday to try to clean up and make the HDD have two partitions -- one FAT and one HTS, while retaining my backups on the HTS. Long story short, for some reason my Windows install would fail to boot after these changes (despite being on a different drive from the Windows and macOS installations).

I wiped the Windows partition and have been attempting to reinstall via Bootcamp. Unfortunately, my laptop monitor has been broken since I did the first install and I think that may be my problem. I load a bootable USB and partition through Bootcamp Assistant just fine, but upon reboot to do the Windows installation, I get a momentary grey screen followed by a blank screen (monitor turns off from no signal). It does sound as though the machine is working, so my hunch is that the MiniDisplayPort drivers have not loaded but that the Windows installation is present. If it makes a difference, the monitor is running HDMI to a HDMI-to-Minidisplayport adaptor.

I think that I have ruled out the drive being un-bootable as I just used it to do a fresh macOS install on another machine. Any advice on next steps would be greatly appreciated.

I can not guarantee this is going to work. Good luck!

  I assume Windows is detecting your broken display and does not know the display is broken. I assume broken means you can not see anything on the display. I also assume the external display is not mirroring the broken display. If all of this is true, then the problem is: How to get Windows installed to a point where the external monitor can be set as the main display.

There is an old answer that would require you to install VirtualBox 5.2, which would be compatible with Yosemite. Ignore the update regarding an improved procedure. The following steps would need to be added to the instructions.

At step 23, when running the sysprep application, Choose Enter System Audit Mode instead of Enter System Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE), as shown below.

At step 25, after Windows starts, execute the following steps.

On the external monitor, right click and select Screen resolution, as shown below.

If a window similar to the one shown below appears on the external monitor, then skip to the next step. Otherwise, while holding down the  option key, press the space bar. Release both keys. Next, press and release M key, followed by the → cursor key. Finally, wiggle the mouse in the external monitor display, until the window appears. If the windows does not appear, use the cursor keys to move the window to the external monitor.

In the window, click on the second display, then check off the box Make this my main display, as shown below. Next, click on the OK button to close the window.

Execute sysprep again, but with the following settings.


Is there any way to get BetterTouchTool to let me swipe between apps without cycling? I am using BetterTouchTool to add more gestures for my Mac. I want three fingers swipes to move me back through the previous apps that I have open. Currently, I am setting the gesture to Cmd-Tab. Unfortunately this cycles me through the last two apps. I want to be able to swipe twice to go back two apps. How can I add this ability to BetterTouchTool?

If you don't mind adding a modifier key to the gesture. Hold the key, say CMD, and swipe twice.


Is there a way of getting a notification when you are using data? Often when I am using my iPhone I find that I am using mobile data without realising it. If I am engrossed in an activity, it seems unlikely that I would look up to check whether I am using 4G. So is there a way of getting a notification when, unbeknownst to me, I start using 4G rather than Wi-Fi.
I’m not against using 4G; I’d just like to know when this is happening.
Can I enable this directly or with a third party app?

There's no way in iOS that would send a notification if you start using mobile data rather than Wi-Fi.
However, you can either disable mobile-data entirely; disable Wi-Fi assist, which is a feature baked into iOS that lets the phone switch automatically to mobile data if the Wi-Fi signal is weak; or disable mobile data on a per app basis.
If you are concerned about a data hungry app such as video streaming or social networking apps, you can selectively disable mobile data for them by going to Settings app → Mobile Data and turn off the switch shown corresponding to the desired apps.


Can I calibrate 2 screens to match, without buying expensive gear? I use a 2010 Cinema Display and a 2011 Thunderbolt Display, both connected to my 11-inch MacBook Air. The screens are ever so slightly different in terms of how things are reproduced.

How can I get both screens to render things the same?

I know I could buy expensive color calibration hardware, but its really not worth it to me for a one-time use. Instead, is there any other way I can do this? I have a pretty good eye for colours (which I guess is why it bothers me in the first place?) and so perhaps there is some kind of tool that lets me do this by eyeballing it?

Personally, I'd go with the expensive option - you have a grand's-worth of screens there; why not have them both accurately profiled?
The first downside of manual calibration is not knowing which of the two is 'more correct' in the first place - the second is actually getting them both to look the same...

Back in the good old bad old CRT days I always used to set screens up by eye - since I bought a colorimeter, I haven't looked back.

If you do decide to go for a colorimeter, avoid the entry-level Huey Pro, as it no longer works on Mac. Bottom of the line these days is probably the Color Munki Smile, which is quite adequate for 'in-house' calibration, if you don't need a fully-calibrated workflow to printers/publishers etc.
You can also do PCs & your iPhone with it, if you want ;-)

Anyway - if you want to try it manually, the functionality is built right into the OS itself...
System Prefs > Displays > Color > Calibrate... [you get one on each screen, though it doesn't look like you can run both at once]

Clicking that launches the Display Calibration Assistant,

which you can run through as many times as you like; save with a different name each time & review later to see which you're happiest with.

I didn't quite dare to actually run the assistant at first - didn't want to mess up my own calibration ;-) When I did try it I discovered there seem to be far fewer tweakable options than there used to be - you used to be able to adjust per 'gun' colour balance, amongst other things. All I got to pick was a white-point, which really isn't going to be of much use :/


Trouble with encrypted SD card I recently encrypted a SD card with disk utility to secure some of my most precious files, with a password. I then renamed the SD card, and then copied the files to it. The trouble is, that when I unplugged my sd and plugged it back, the password I did set didn't work anymore. I guess it's because I changed the name of my card. I tried many things with the terminal, but I can't get anywhere. Does anybody have an idea that could get me out of this trouble, cause those files are really important to me, I'd be desperate to lose access to them forever.

Many thanks in advance,

You’ll need to step through the process manually using Disk Utility.

First connect the card and then don’t enter anything. Next open Disk Utility and then see if the entire disk is encrypted and how many volumes exist. You can also get this data from the command line:

diskutil list

Or the information tab in Disk Utility and perhaps the menu item to show all partitions. It’s possible you erased everything but it’s also possible that you just renamed the volume inside the encryption. It’s hard to guess without specifics and some back/forth between you and someone that knows disk partitioning.


Does automator work when screensaver is active I have set a function in automator that opens a website everyday in specific time (after midnight basically). So I decided to leave mac turned on to let automator work. Instead I trigger screensaver with login screen. I wonder if the automator execute my command during active screensaver?

I wonder if the automator execute my command during active screensaver?

Yes, the automator action will execute as long as you Mac is not asleep.


I created a 'Image from Folder" using Disk Utility, with Encryption and Files are Invisible I'm in a little over my head.   MacBook Pro, OSX 10.8.2:   I just created an  encrypted image (128 bits read/write), that Image Disk mounts fine...I can see the number of files and folders, but none of the files are visible to me.  I can see the subfolders, but none of the files at all.   Seems like using encryption for the partition was NOT good.

I've tried the Disk Utility to Convert the .PNG...I've tried to Restore the Image (folder) from the Partition, but I keep getting duplicates of the same Invisible Files.  I'm guessing I also can't delete these either.

The files are there, can be seen via the Terminal, but they are invisible.  Maybe because of attribute properties on the prefix of each file?   Each file starts with a "-rw-r--r--@".

Is chmod possible to adjust the attributes/?  Can anyone help with the right line entries.

Is there anything else I can do?

Thanks in advance for any help.

kd

The 'Image from Folder' will use the existing ownership/permissions of the folder and files.

First off, is the disk image a read/write image?  Are you able to add new files to it?  If not, the instructions below won't work if it is read-only.

The permissions you've listed, "-rw-r--r--@", mean that the file is read and writable by the owner and readable by everyone else.  The @ at the end means there are extended attributes to the file, which might include some kind of invisibility option.  You would have to get a directory listing with -@ to show the attribute keys.
For example, here is a listing showing an image that I manually set to be hidden.

$ ls -l@
-rw-r--r--@ 1 insom  staff  - 64832 Dec  6 18:56 FunnyImage.png
    com.apple.FinderInfo       32

If all your files also have a com.apple.FinderInfo attribute, use Terminal to change into the directory of the files and run the following command to unhide the files.

chflags nohidden *

Now, if your dir listing doesn't show the com.apple.FinderInfo attribute then they are not being hidden using this method but something else is going on.

Have you tried rebooting?  What about copying the disk image to a different computer and mounting it?


How to compile OSS binaries to replace the versions shipped with OS X? I want to compile new versions of openssl, bash, and similar unix tools in the same way that Apple would. I want to link against the OS's built-in libraries where possible, and I want to copy the resulting binaries into /usr/bin, replacing what Apple ships with OS X.

I am aware that this is usually a terrible idea, for two reasons:

An OS X update might reinstate Apple's binaries, undoing your work and leaving your system in an unknown state.
Some software may depend on the specific behavior of Apple's binaries.

Instead, it is generally recommended that mac users install custom binaries alongside Apple's system binaries. Both homebrew and MacPorts operate under this principle.

However, I'm running Mavericks, which will never receive another software update from Apple. The Apple binaries on my system have known security vulnerabilities, which IMO outweighs theoretical compatibility concerns.

Is there a standard way to go about this, or would it be different for every program? Can I somehow leverage parts of e.g. the MacPorts project to make the process easier, or do I need to install all compilation dependencies from scratch?

If this just isn't realistically feasible, I'd like to know that too.

You will need to individually check and build every program, although the process for most programs is fairly similar.

You might be able to take some inspiration from MacPorts/Homebrew in their recipes, but I doubt that you can use them 1:1 as they typically feature versions that differ greatly from the Apple supplied utilities. For example by offering GNU versions of supplied BSD utilities, or by offering something that is a completely different major version.

As an example of this, I saw that you received a comment on your question recommending you to install "openssl" for example. This can be quite tricky, as if you install "openssl", you actually get something substantially different than what Apple actually supplies with macOS today. If you run the command "openssl" on a modern Mac, you'll actually be running something called LibreSSL. You'll have to make an individual choice for each and every software package such as this to determine if you want to go with Apple's choice (LibreSSL), or a new major version of OpenSSL.

I think the most feasible route is to go to Apple's open source web site:

https://opensource.apple.com

Here'll you find the source for the utilities that came with your 10.9 system. Using that list, I would go through the sources for 10.15 and find the same programs.

This will often give you security patched versions of the same major version or at least very similar programs to the ones that came with your 10.9 system. If you're lucky, they compile without problems. In some cases, you'll run into stuff that is only supported on newer operating systems, and then you'll have to work around it by modifying the program, or going back to an older version.

All in all, it is going to be a lot of work!


Finder froze when copying large folder I have a 1TB hard drive which I need to backup the info, so I copied all folders into another drive (4 TB) and after a full day of copying progress the Finder appears this way:

So it says "About 5 seconds remaining..." and the actual free size of the 4TB drive tells me the files are there, but as you can see in the picture most of the folders are greyed out, like if they were not there.

I want to know what can I do, someone knows what happens if I cancel the transfer?

As far as what happens after you cancel the transfer, I'd surmise that it would, like it says, cancel the transfer. Items already copied may remain, items that were in the progress of being copied will be removed, a process which may take a significant amount of time in itself.

If your intent is to copy/move a Time Machine backup so that it remains functional in its new location, the system has many idiosyncrasies you need to work around.

James Pond maintained a website which was a fantastic source of reference on the "gory details" of Time Machine (in his own words); he has since passed away, and the information is slowly becoming outdated, but much of it is still relevant. You can still access it on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.

Since you are trying to back up the entire drive, I think following these instructions would be better than trying to copy every single item file by file:

  Copy LOCAL backups from one volume to another LOCAL VOLUME

  Format the new drive/partition, with either the GUID or APM Partition Map Scheme, and the exact same Format as the old backups. See  question #5 if you need detailed instructions.
  Connect both drives to your Mac, via separate ports if possible, then open a Finder window. Make sure both volumes are shown in the sidebar (if not, from the Menubar select Preferences > Sidebar, and check the box to show External disks in the sidebar). Leave the Finder window open.
  Start Disk Utility, select anything in the sidebar, and click the Restore tab.
  Drag the old volume to the Source box, and the new volume to the Destination box.
  Check the Erase destination box, then the Restore button. This will take a long time.
  When the duplication is complete, note that Disk Utility has changed the name of the destination volume to be the same as the source.  You do not want to leave it that way, so immediately rename one of them.  In the sidebar of the Finder window opened above, control-click (right-click) the one you want to rename.  When done, look back at the Disk Utility display to be sure you renamed the right one, then quit Disk Utility.


"About this mac -> Storage" show different values than "Macintosh HD" I attached images to better illustrate the problem

Notice how the total of all the file folders in the Macintosh HD pic is approximately 150GB

--however--

"About This Mac -> Storage" shows only 24GB free of 250GB

vs

I believe I've reindexed the HD by preforming the following steps:

System Preferences -> Spotlight
Click Privacy tab
Drag Macintosh HD to dropbox and click ok
Remove Macintosh HD from list with "-" button
Restart the mac

The reason I'm trying to figure this out as I'm trying find the files taking up the most space in order to free up space on the mac.

These show absolute TOTAL space, not usable space. For instance, you’ll have some space used for swapping. Clearly, swap is part of the total amount, but not available for use for general storage. Also, depending on how the disk is partitioned that will affect space. For a more practical display of space, try:

df -h

For instance, those tools show my disk space as 4GB in total, but that’s not all available for my use: df -h shows it as 3.6 GB.


Device management not showing up on iOS 9.2.1 I truly don't know where to find this when I look it up under the search for settings it brings me to the general settings then leaves me there. I've tried to restart my iPhone but nothing seems to work and I've looked up numerous ways to try and fix it but I can seem to do it.

You don't actually have a profile installed on your phone yet. Once you do, it will appear


Stop email pop ups on iPhone When I switch my iPhone (3G) on and put it immediately into the email app (or if it was left in the email app), I get annoying pop ups like:

Cellular Data is Turned Off
Turn on cellular data or use Wi-Fi to access data.
Settings OK

A few seconds later the Wi-Fi connection is restored and I can get email. But this is very annoying: I have to click away the pop up (and sometimes multiple pop ups because I read multiple email accounts).
Is there any way to prevent this pop up? (It's only valid for a few moments...)

No. The popups occur because to receice mail, you will require an Internet connection (be it cellular or wifi). Without a connection, Mail cannot pull any emails from the server (hence the notice).

The popups are hardcoded into to the app and there is currently no option to supress them.

So you have two choices: a) you can wait for your phone to negotiate a connection with your carrier or wireless network and then open Mail, or b) click through the prompts as you currently do. I'd choose the former (a) because even if you don't wait (perhaps want to read old mail), you'll not only have to bypass the prompt asking you to enable a connection, but also the prompts that tell you a connection to the mail server could not be established.

As much as it's likely not the solution you were hoping for, it does make some sense as Mail is generally of little use without an Internet connection (except for those rare moments when you need to reference an old email).

A Popup Blocker does exist in the halls of Cydia (requires jailbreak), but fails to mention if it handles those specific Mail warnings (it might be located under the Data Network errors listing).


.mov file in external HD, greyed out and won't open: "this item is used by Mac OS X" The file won't open, with QuickTime, with the following error message:

Item "file.mov" is used by Mac OS X and cannot be opened.

Tried selecting repair disk on disk utility, didn't work.

I'm under OS X 10.7.5.

This is a common issue which happens when the file's type and creator attributes are modified by Finder when its writing files, if these attributes aren't restored back to the original values by Finder at the end of its write action, those files won't be accessible to the user.

Running this command will remove the creator and type attributes set by Finder,

SetFile -c "" -t "" path/to/file.mov

Note: If the above command is not found, try installing Xcode command line tool and try the above command again,

xcode-select --install


A true large image viewer for OS X? Are there any image viewers out there that can navigate a truly massive (i.e. 500 megapixel/250MB) JPEG image? Everything but Preview has crashed for me.

Preview does OK, but doesn't have many features.

I'm not sure what your requirements are, Preview always does ok for me. However I heard that Xee is more powerful and some people prefers it.


macOS Sierra: mounting NFS volumes I have a Linux server with a number of NFS exports. I have been mounting them on my Mac by setting up an auto_nfs file, and mounting them in /nfs/… folders.

I think this may the cause of some peculiar behaviour with some applications, which don’t seem to be able to fully traverse these volumes (see Applications Not Working Properly with Networked volumes for details on what I mean by peculiar).

When I mount a SMB share, it appears as a separate volume under my computer, but not so with NFS.

I conclude that things would work better for me if I mount the NFS shares in the /Volumes directory. But I can’t:

The settings in auto_nfs require existing directories, and in Sierra, I can’t create one.
I cannot mount an NFS share using the nfs: protocol, since apparently this isn’t supported.

Apparently Sierra changed a few rules regarding the /Volumes directory.

How can I mount an NFS share as an ordinary volume? Mount NFS share in /Volumes as a drive, but:

It’s an old one and not applicable to Sierra
The suggestions don’t work here

The accepted answer only works when the NFS server allows connections on non-reserved ports (i.e. >1024).

The exports man pages say it:

  exportfs understands the following export options: secure

  This option requires that requests originate on an Internet port less
  than IPPORT_RESERVED (1024). This option is on by default. To turn it
  off, specify insecure.

For my CentOS 7.3 box this is not the case by default and I had to add insecure to the mount.

So for MACOS client to work you'll have to add the insecure option to your nfs server in your export

E.g.: /my/export 192.168.5.0/24(insecure)

If that's not possible: using mountyou can supply an option to allow reserved ports from the Mac side:
sudo mount -t nfs -o resvport server:/my/export nfs


How to move data between iCloud accounts? For some reason when I first got my iPhone the iCloud was created under my mom's email. Now that she recently got an iPad all of my contacts, Photo Stream, internet favourites, etc are all on her iPad.

What I'm trying to figure out is how to get rid of all my info off her iPad that doesn't involve anything getting erased from my phone. Eventually we need to create two separate iClouds, but how would you go about doing that when all the info is on "her" iCloud account?

Here is a simple solution for getting your contacts at the very least. This is what I did from one iPhone to another iPhone.

Login to the iCloud account associated with the device you are trying to retrieve this data from.

Once you are logged in click on the contacts tab in iCloud. In the bottom left hand corner you will see a "setting gear". Click this and then click select all.

Once all have been selected, click the "settings gear" and click export vcard. Save as contacts somewhere you will be able to easily locate like your desktop.

Log out of that account and log into the account you wish to transfer this data to. Once you are logged in to this account, click contacts and the "settings gear" in the left hand corner. Click import vcard, locate and select vcard imported from other account. You should now see your contacts transferred from one account to the next.

You will then need to click the "setting gear" again and click refresh contacts. Power off your device associated with the device you want contacts transferred and power back on.

Once everything is updated you should see your contacts on your new device.

Best of luck!


Windows on a partition BSOD's within a minute of startup after Windows Update iMac, 27 inch, mid 2011, 3.1 GHz Quad Core i5, AMD Radeon HD 6970M

BSOD error message: SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (igdkmd64.sys)

From what I've read elsewhere this seems to be an issue with the Intel Integrated Graphics Driver (Intel HD 4000) But disabling the driver still causes the bug because igdkmd64.sys is still present. At one point I had deleted igdkmd64.sys and disabled the driver which stopped crashing but videos wouldn't play either. The two might or might not be related.

Has anyone else had this problem and found a solution to it?

At first glance, I am wondering why you are using an HD 4000 driver for an AMD Radeon HD 6970M chip.

Have you tried downloading and installing the AMD Drivers?

http://www.amd.com/en-us/products/graphics/desktop/6000/6970


Shortcut for [return] key How do I make a keyboard shortcut for the return key? For example, if I pressed ~ it would press return for me. I'd like to do this without applescript. Is this possible, or will I have to buy a functioning external keyboard because my return key doesn't work!

Download, install and start Karabiner. In the menubar open (Karabiner icon)-> Preferences. Enter "Return" in the search field and choose one of the preconfigured key codes:

By editing the private.xml in Misc & Uninstall  you may add any additional  key or (not already used) key combination and choose this one instead.


iOS 6 broke gmail email account (not imap type) - Send is extremely slow (5-10 minutes) A lot of people, myself included, cannot use their gmail account with the iPhone anymore because of an annoying iOS 6 bug. It will not send anything no matter what you do. If you switch to IMAP type then it works, but IMAP type is much worse than the gmail type which has flags, keeps sent messages synchronized and other nice things.

Does anyone manage to somehow fix that? Here are a couple of links to the problem:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4367006?start=0&tstart=0

http://www.iphoneforums.net/forum/ios-6-101/gmail-account-not-working-io6-upgrade-47163/

Two potential solutions are described in https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4367006

Replace standard SMTP server (smtp.gmail.com) with smtp.googlemail.com (using the same credentials/login details)
Reinstall iOS 6


Does iOS 5 have a SSL security bug that got patched on iOS 6/7? Apple released iOS 7.0.6 and 6.1.6 to patch a specific SSL/TLS security bug.

I can't find anything official about iOS 5. Does iOS 5 have the same bug?

Please cite your answer.

ZDNet says :

  iOS 5 and Mac OS X 10.8 never had the bug


Is there a way to change font sizes system-wide while preserving UI resolution? I have a 17" widescreen mac book pro (1920 x 1080) and find it hard to read the small fonts in the finder menu and in the Finder let hand panel even though my vision is good. Even the font's in most applications appear small. I know certain applications will allow you to configure font size but I'm really looking for a system-wide/global solution.

I have tried several solutions such as:

 1.> defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleDisplayScaleFactor 1.5
 2.> User Interface Resolution with Quartz Debug application

and both these mothods/features seem incomplete in that the GUI elements are not scaled smoothly.

I also tried lowering my monitor resolution but that wasn't ideal cause the display gets a bit blurry.

You can use TinkerTool to change the default system fonts and increase their size.