How to install working GrowlVoice from scratch on Mac OS 10.9.5 (Mavericks)? As of April 2014, Google Voice apparently broke the GrowlVoice 2.0.3 interface. Since then various fixes/patches/etc have arisen. I need a procedure to reliably (re)install a working variant on Mac OS 10.9.5--I don't (yet) want to upgrade to Yosemite. I have to reinstall every time I'm forced to reboot my laptop, and on the last reboot, all my past tricks (that I can remember at least, derived from these sources) appear to be failing, with this result: "Sign in error: The operation couldn't be completed. (com.google.HTTPStatus error 404.)"

I need a "from scratch," Mac OS 10.9.5 procedure to get Growl Voice working:

Remove all existing, conflicting files/artifacts.
Install http://www.growlvoice.com/trials/growlvoice-2.0.3.zip or some other canonical source of the App.
Fix/patch/whatever #2.
Preferably: make the above work through reboots.

Since I'm having trouble on this latest (re)install, I need a full, autonomous procedure (to de-install all pertinent and potentially-conflicting files, install GrowlVoice, install patches, etc); most if not all the procedures here appear to be partials.

According to this discussion, on approximately 2015-05-26, users first noticed that Google broke the API that supported GrowlVoice.


Disable volume adjustment sound effect while audio is playing When there is currently no audio playing, the 'blip blip' sound effect is useful to know where the volume is currently set.  But when there IS audio playing, you don't need the sound effect, yet is plays anyway.  It is annoying, especially if you are using your computer for a presentation, or music at a party, etc.

Has anyone found a way to disable the volume adjustment sound effect for when audio is already playing?

Hold down the Shift key when clicking the Volume Up/Down keys to disable the volume adjustment notification sound.


Where does OS X store the list of processes? Command ps aux displays the list, but where does it get it from - kernel itself or launchd?

The ps command enumerates the mach kernel process listing in a similar manner to how many linux (which don't use mach kernel) expose this as the /proc filesystem.

macOS and tvOS and iOS and watchOS all share the same underlying core OS:

Getting a list of currently running processes
iOS: Where is /proc/?
Getting list of pids and process names
Process list with name and VPRVT

If you want to see the source code - check out xnu section at https://opensource.apple.com/source/xnu/xnu-4570.41.2/


Recover my lost data I wanted to delete my Linux partition, but I don't know why my OS X partition was also deleted.

So, I then reformatted the partition and installed a new OS X (Yosemite) on that partition.

I am trying to recover my lost data, I tried many applications such as Disk Drill, EaseUs, etc. But none of them was able to recover a single file from my 300 GB SSD!

If you hadn't written to it, you might have had a chance.  No chance, now.  Restore from your backup.


Fix "You don't have permission" in home folders On a Macbook Pro with a new install of El Capitan, a friend used the only account, Admin, for a while. A few weeks later I made a copy of that home folder, renamed it "B", and created a personal account for her, short name also "B" and allowed it to "adopt" the "B" home folder. Account B also has admin privileges.

Using account B, she gets "You don't have permission to view its contents" messages when she tries to access her ~/Documents folder (and probably other folders as well but I don't have her machine in front of me at the moment). Seemingly, adopting the copy did not include taking ownership of its contents.

Is a recursive chown the proper fix? I'm hesitant to blast ahead and just try things as she's leaving for college tomorrow!

Since account "B" didn't exist when you copied that folder over, then the files would not be owned by that user.  You can do a recursive chown to correct the situation.

However, I might suggest that you use the Finder's tools to make the modifications for you.  If you select that folder in the finder and select File > Get Info (or command-I) you can then adjust the owner in the "Sharing & Permissions" section to change the owner and apply the changes recursively.  To me, this approach would have a lower risk of issues cropping up later.

When she is off at college, remember that you can use Messages to do Screen Sharing.  You can click on "Details" in the upper right corner and ask to share her screen.  Useful for remote troubleshooting!


How do I make an HDD as fast as an SSD? I have a really slow iMac that I bought 2 years ago. I've been so annoyed about how I have to wait for the rainbow circle to stop loading. I did some research and found out it's about the hard drive. My iMac had an HDD drive. I didn't want to buy an SSD so I thought why not do something to make the HDD as fast as an SSD.
Can you please help me on making an HDD as fast as an SSD?

Here are my imac specs

I'm afraid that's impossible. Your hard drive is essentially not much different from an old record turntable: it has spinning disks and a 'head' that writes or reads the magnetic stripe at a point on the wheel.
There are many different mechanical parts that all contribute limitations to the maximum possible speed.
Furthermore: it's a sealed unit, made in a factory. If there was some easy 'tweak' to make it as fast as an SSD, the manufacturers would have done it.


What happens on the other end when you press "End call" If someone is calling you and you press "End call", does that mean that the caller is "cut" off, or does the ringing continue on the callers phone?

If you press "End Call" you effectively terminate the call and the other person is also immediately disconnected.

If you don't want this to happen, you have to press the "hardware" volume down button to "silence" the phone or mute the phone with the hardware button (as far as I can remember). This way the phone will keep ringing but you won't hear it, and the other person won't notice it.


Numbers: Find a cell in a table (lookup) using multiple criteria I'm using Numbers '09 (but can upgrade if need be).  How can I find a value using multiple criteria?

Let's say I have a table of flights, with columns for the flight date, flight number (including airline code), booking code, etc.; and another table that contains the earnings in a frequent flyer program (award miles, elite miles, elite dollars) for each airline, date range, and booking code.  For each flight (row) in the first table, I need to find the row in the second table that matches the airline code from the flight number, the flight date, and the booking code.  I'll then take the value in a specific column of that row and multiply it by the flight distance to get the earnings for that category.

Example:

Table 1 ("Flights") has columns such as:

Table 2 ("Per-Airline") has columns such as:

For the "Projected EQM" column for a flight (e.g., flight in row 3, the second flight), I want to find the row in Table 2 ("Per-Airline") where:

The airline code matches the code at the start of the flight number
(e.g., "cx")
The "Flight Dates From" column is either blank or no earlier than the flight date
The "Flight Dates To" column is either blank or no later than the flight date
The "Booking Code" column contains the booking code of the flight

In the example, row 96 matches.

Then, I need to take the value in the "EQM" column of that that row (1.5) and multiply it by the value in the "Flight Miles" column.  The result is the "Projected EQM".

How would I do this?  I've read through the descriptions of the likely functions (LOOKUP, VLOOKUP, MATCH, INDEX) but can only see how to search using a single criterion.

I've gotten it working now, by extending techniques discussed elsewhere (which uses an extra column to contain an aggregate of the match criteria).

To handle the date ranges, I created an extra lookup table that assigns an arbitrary single value to each date range:

In the per-airline earnings lookup table, I added an extra column to hold the Date-Code for the date range, using VLOOKUP against the date-from column, with exact-match, since it finds the largest value that's smaller than the criterion:

And another extra column to hold a calculated lookup-string that's a concatenation of the airline, the booking codes, and the date range code:

Then, in the main table (that holds the flights taken), I added an extra column to contain the lookup string, which is a concatenation of the airline, the date range code only if applicable, and the booking code with asterisks on either side as wild cards, and another extra column to hold the calculated row of the per-airline lookup table:

(Of course, I could have avoided adding two extra columns in both tables by making the formulas more complex, but I opted for better readability.)

Then, the actual earnings columns in the main table uses the LOOKUP function with the calculated per-airline lookup table row and the applicable column, e.g.,:

= IF ( $PNR '1' = "", "",  ROUNDUP ( IF ( INDEX ( 'Per-Airline',  $Lookup Row '1', COLUMN ( 'RDM per $ (EXP)' ) ) > 0, INDEX ( 'Per-Airline',  $Lookup Row '1', COLUMN ( 'RDM per $ (EXP)' ) ) *


Mac Mini - Installing Windows 7 from external CD/DVD drive - hangs before installation with black screen Really wanted to get Windows 7 working on my Mac for some Windows-specific applications.

Essentially, I followed all instructions after having updated my Mac's EFI Firmware, and have been left with a blank screen when it should be installing Windows. Running Lion with all updates applied, and booting off an external optical drive due to my Mini not having one.

Has anyone experienced a similar issue? Is it perhaps to do with my display?

Many thanks

this link identifies an black screen issue when installing Windows 7 on some iMac's, it may be relevant even though you have a Mac Mini

this link is the Apple FAQs for Installing Windows 7 in Bootcamp, there are some good resources there for the main issues most users meet.

this link is the Apple Install Guide for Windows 7 which I think you have already been following, but I'm linking it here for other people if required.


Safari having trouble accessing my keychain On El Capitan my Safari seems to have trouble remembering my settings for keychain: when the following pops up it stays there if I click "Allow" or "Always Allow". It goes away when I click "Deny" with the obvious consequence that the key is not used and my identification fails.

Is that a know bug? What can I do to diagnose it in more details or to fix it?

Always Allow should add the application to the item's 'always allow' list. If it doesn't, you can try adding the application yourself.

Open the keychain in Keychain Access.
Find and open the 'Internet password' item for GitHub.
In the Access Control tab, click the + and add Safari to the list.


brew path didn't cover sbin I have problem when I used brew to install aircrack-ng. I found out that it cover path

/usr/local/Cellar/aircrack-ng/1.1/bin

but it couldn't find commands after I tried tab-completion in path

/usr/local/Cellar/aircrack-ng/1.1/sbin

What should I do? Do I need to add another path?

The sbin directory, which some admin tools like dsniff and aircrack install to, is not on the path by default, and it's not in Homebrew's initial setup instructions, which tell you to get /usr/local/bin on your path. This is because, traditionally, sbin/ is for administrative tools that only root would expect to run.

Tab completion is picking up the files in /usr/local/Cellar/aircrack-ng/1.1/bin because they are symlinked in to /usr/local/bin, which is on your PATH. It does not find the files in /usr/local/Cellar/aircrack-ng/1.1/sbin, because they are symlinked in to /usr/local/sbin, which is not on your PATH. Your current working directory does not matter for tab-completion, because . (the current directory) is not on the PATH.

If you want to see those other programs on your path, where tab-completion can pick them up, add /usr/local/sbin to your PATH in the same place you added /usr/local/bin - probably your ~/.bashrc file.

In general, if you want to use tab-completion on programs in the current directory, you need to call them with a ./ prefix. For example, cd /usr/local/sbin and then type ./air and hit tab, and you'll get some choices.


continuity not working except for receiving calls, iMessages and AirDrop for some reason the universal clipboard and handoff between apps stopped working but AirDrops, receiving and making calls on my Mac and iMessages continue to work perfectly.

I contacted Apple Support and we went through resetting the bluetooth adapter but it didn't work. I gave up on that because Apple support insisted log me out from iCloud on all my devices but I don't want to do that because this will force me to set-up banking apps and 2FA code generators from scratch.

Do you have a a suggestion that doesn't involve resetting the phone and the mac?

The phone ins an iPhone 6s and the Mac is a Macbook Air 2015. The OS versions are the latest. It might have stopped working after upgrading to High Sierra but I'm not sure about it.

Thanks.

This is so hard to troubleshoot - I wish I had some good tips. Calls and iMessage probably are relying on APNS push notifications and AirDrop happens on demand - so you might have some blockage or delay in the full continuity system.

Are you able to take the devices to a location where WiFi and Bluetooth are not congested like an empty field or a house with one Access Point?
Are you confident Bluetooth works on the devices (and is ON)?
Are you confident WiFi works on the devices (and is ON)?

Sadly, the “sign out of iCloud and/or reset all settings / erase all content and settings” ladder of escalated troubleshooting on iOS is likely the way you’ll get this fixed. But, you might lose any apps that aren’t available for re-download or downloaded on iTunes (if you have older apps that aren’t for sale anymore). Also, that three step process takes a lot of time for devices with 60 GB of iCloud content or more.

Sorry for the “non-answer” answer but I wanted to explain there is no good consumer level debugging or logs that are publicly documented to get at the root of what’s happening with continuity.


AppleCare ended any value in keeping agreement # So AppleCare ended on my device like 1 year ago.

Is there any value in keeping the agreement numbers or terms of service?  I printed them out but they seem completely useless now.

Pretty much AppleCare helps with resale value, but usually only when you have it still active. I suppose someone might presume you meant to take care of your device since you purchased it or may have given it better care and service since that was prepaid?

The agreement number only matters if Apple loses the record, though. Most AppleCare is provided on the basis of the serialized product - not the agreement number.


Understanding Photo Stream I have some questions about Photo Stream:

Are the photos that I take with my iPhone kept in the camera roll and PhotoStream folders? (Sometimes I take a photo and it appears in camera roll but not on Photo Stream, why?)
Are all the photos I take on my iPhone automatically uploaded and saved on my iPhone? How can I be sure?
What happens when I delete a photo from the camera roll or Photo Stream? Do they disappear from my iPhoto library?

How Photo Stream Works
If you have Photo Stream enabled on both iPhone and iPhoto, any picture you take on iPhone is automatically uploaded to Photo Stream, and the automatically downloaded to iPhoto. iPhoto must be open for this to occur (but don't worry, the photos stay in Photo Stream for 30 days or until 1000 more pictures are taken, whichever comes first, so you don't have to have iPhoto running constantly).
Uploading Photos to Photo Stream
Photo Stream only uploads from iPhone while connected to WiFi. Occasionally a picture is missed, and as of now (August 2013) videos are never uploaded. There is no way to trigger an upload later if a photo fails to upload to Photo Stream. You can, however manually sync iPhone with iPhoto to sync videos as well as any missed photos.
Syncing iPhone with iPhoto Manually
Plug iPhone into your Mac then in iPhoto, click on your device in the left sidebar. There will be an Import button. It will automatically skip any photos previously imported from Photo Stream. Once imported you can choose whether to remove them from Camera Roll on the phone. If you do this, make sure you are syncing them back to iPhone in iTunes if you want them on the phone in albums.
Deleting Photos
Deleting from Photo Stream
When you delete a photo from Photo Stream, it removes it from Photo Stream entirely. If it was already downloaded into iPhoto it will remain there under the (MonthName Year) Photo Stream album, but not in Photo Stream itself.
Deleting from Camera Roll
When you delete a photo from Camera Roll it removes it from that area but does not delete it from Photo Stream.


How to remove or rename a folder with a "bad" name on El Capitan? On my iMac I have a folder, left from preceding systems, named "ZipIt 2.2.2␀". I cannot delete or rename it, nor delete the files it contains, both from the Finder and from Terminal. Looking at this question and related answers I understand this is a bug of Mac OS 10.11 (and later?), connected to the presence of NUL character in the name.

I haven't an older Mac OS at hand. I tried to rename the folder with Onyx and A Better Finder Rename 10 but without success. I also tried to boot from Mac OS Recovery but couldn't do anything useful.

Any ideas?

EDIT.

Here's the output I get from Terminal when using find:

    % ls -li
    total 0
    1067625 drwxrwxrwx+ 6 root  wheel  204 25 Mag  2011 ZipIt 2.2.2␀

    % sudo find . -inum 1067625 -mount -exec rm -rf {} \;
    rm: ./ZipIt 2.2.2␀/.DS_Store: Invalid argument

[... many similar lines ...]

    rm: ./ZipIt 2.2.2␀: Invalid argument

EDIT 2.

I thought of a possible way out, but don't know if it's viable. I could create a new user, transfer the offending folder to its desktop, then delete the user.

Do you think this could be effective? I'd like to try, but I'm afraid this could hang the whole system.

EDIT 3

As requested by Allan, here's the detailed content of the folder I cannot delete:

% find . -type d -name 'Zip*' -print0 | xargs -0 -J -t ls
./ZipIt 2.2.2␀:
Drop files here to zip (OS_X)   ZipIt.app
Read me.pdf

./ZipIt 2.2.2␀/ZipIt.app:
Contents    ZipIt

./ZipIt 2.2.2␀/ZipIt.app/Contents/Resources/ZipIt Help:
ZipIt Help idx  ZipIt help  faq     images

Using the bash shell, you can try the completion feature. Example

Ravens-Claw:tmp garex$ mkdir "this\ is\ a\ bad\ folder\ with\ äü\ encoding"
Ravens-Claw:tmp garex$ ls -ltr | tail -1
drwxr-xr-x  2 garex  wheel   68 13 Jun 19:17 this\ is\ a\ bad\ folder\ with\ äü\ encoding
Ravens-Claw:tmp garex$ rm -rf "this\\ is\\ a\\ bad\\ folder\\ with\\ äü\\ encoding"/

Just type rm -rf "this, hit TAB key and bash will do the rest. Don't forget to close the ".

For files with strange filenames, you can try:

rm -- "<start typing filename and hit TAB key>"


How do I "copy image address" in iOS? On desktops, when web browsing you typically right click on an image and choose an item from a contextual menu to display/copy the image URL. In iOS, when you tap and hold down an image, an action sheet displays asking if you want to save the image, copy to the clipboard, etc. But what if you just want the URL?

If safari doesn't offer this functionality, is there a 3rd party browser that does? Specifically, one that works on the iPad.

Tap, and hold the image; then choose "copy," open a new browser window, and paste into the address bar.


Apple Silicon: port all Homebrew packages under /usr/local/opt/ to /opt/homebrew I recently purchased a MacBook Pro 13" with the M1 chip and transferred all my data over using a Time Machine backup. Homebrew packages are currently installed in /usr/local/opt/ but it is my understanding that they should be under /opt/homebrew for Apple Silicon Macs.
How can I:

Get the list of packages I currently have installed
Remove those from /user/local/opt
Reinstall them under /opt/homebrew

I kind of assumed Homebrew would be clever enough to do this automatically but apparently it needs some manual maintenance.
Here's my Homebrew config if it helps:
HOMEBREW_VERSION: 2.7.2
ORIGIN: https://github.com/Homebrew/brew
HEAD: dad7dc6a1498b80770d98f2d7cd6fb927c300bbb
Last commit: 3 days ago
Core tap ORIGIN: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core
Core tap HEAD: 2b1d79d038bffdbfcee93283051d48919a4caf3d
Core tap last commit: 16 hours ago
Core tap branch: master
HOMEBREW_PREFIX: /usr/local
HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY: /usr/local/Homebrew
HOMEBREW_CELLAR: /usr/local/Cellar
HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS: []
HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS: 8
Homebrew Ruby: 2.6.3 => /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.6/usr/bin/ruby
CPU: octa-core 64-bit arm_firestorm_icestorm
Clang: 12.0 build 1200
Git: 2.30.0 => /usr/local/bin/git
Curl: 7.64.1 => /usr/bin/curl
macOS: 11.1-arm64
CLT: 12.3.0.0.1.1607026830
Xcode: N/A
Rosetta 2: false

Thanks in advance!

According to https://docs.brew.sh/Installation, /usr/local is for Intel binaries, /opt/homebrew for ARM. So you may want to reinstall instead of just migrating.
You can dump the list of currently installed packages with brew bundle dump. To duplicate your current installation, you'll need to

run brew bundle dump to create a Brewfile

install ARM Homebrew into /opt/homebrew by following the instructions in https://docs.brew.sh/Installation
cd /opt
sudo mkdir -p homebrew
sudo chown -R $(whoami) homebrew
curl -L https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/tarball/master |\
    tar xz --strip 1 -C homebrew

make sure that the ARM version is at the beginning of your PATH
PATH=/opt/homebrew/bin:$PATH

Reapply the brew file created in step one
hash -d brew
brew bundle install --file /path/to/Brewfile`

Optionally run brew analytics off to turn of the tracking/analytics gathering done be Homebrew (https://docs.brew.sh/Analytics)

PS: Some formulae don't seem to work on ARM yet


Move to a larger drive My wife got me an external SSD for my bday. I'm on a 2013 Mac Pro, so my existing user folder is already on another external. I'd like to move to the new drive and use the old one for backups.

Given that the original user folder is not on a boot drive, can I simply copy the contents over? Is there anything else I need to do, like set the permission or anything?

Most guides say you should do this with Restore in DU, but the Restore... menu items is greyed out when I tried it.

I'm not sure about if you can just copy over. Why is your user folder on a separate drive?? Anyway. I do have another suggestion. I got an ssd drive to use for my main drive, cause it's like ten times faster. I then ordered this thing that is basically the same shape as a cd Rom drive, but it holds a laptop hard drive. I removed the cd Rom drive and replaced it with that, which holds a terabyte drive. I partitioned it in half. 500gb is for my time machine backup, and the other 500gb is for extra storage. Or "external", without being external. I don't use DVD or cd's anymore, so it made sense to me. Good luck.


Erase partition without recreating one? I've got an external USB hdd that I wish to use entirely as a TrueCrypt volume. There was one pre-formatted partition, so I'm trying to erase that with Disk Utility. But no matter what I do or try, whenever I Erase the partition (or the entire disk), it keeps automatically re-creating a new partition.

How do I just erase the partition, without recreating one, thus leaving the entire disk empty (i.e. without even one partition) ?

To remove all entries from the GPT and MBR tables, open the Disk Utility application and do the following.

Select your disk.
Select Partition tab.
Set Partition Layout to "1 Partition".
Set Format to "Free Space".
Click on the Option... button and select "Master Boot Record".
Click Ok to close the pop up window.
Click the Apply button.

The image below was made just before clicking the Apply button.


How to retrieve photos from iPhone 5 with broken screen I have important photos on an iPhone 5 that got severely damaged during a trip several years ago. The photos weren't backed up to iCloud because there was no wifi during this trip. The screen is cracked and since it wasn't showing anything, I assumed the phone was dead beyond repair. It sat in a drawer for the last 5 years.

However! I put a new battery in it and plugged it to my Mac. While the display did not turn on, I think the iPhone tried to boot, as the Finder in macOS showed the iPhone along with a message to reset it to factory settings (which I canceled out of).

From this, I deducted that the logic board is still functional (unless it's just the boot rom?) and that (hopefully) the user data is still on it.

Are there tools available that can help me retrieve photos that are on this iPhone?

Yes there is an app called iExplorer that will allow you to transfer files and photos to your mac.  The app has a free trial period. Connect your phone to your mac and run it. You should be able to see everything on your phone and transfer what you need.


/opt folder no longer accessible in finder on Catalina I have always been able to save to the /opt folder. I recently upgraded to macOS Catalina and can no longer see this folder.
In Finder I am able to display hidden folders and I can see it once again. However, when going to the Save As dialog in various programs I cannot see it there.
How can I make /opt visible again?

Make sure that you are using /System/Volumes/Data/opt instead of /opt, because the later is not writable due to security features. If you are sure the folder is on the data partition, then chflags nohidden /System/Volumes/Data/opt should unhide it.


Why is there a pause before the light comes on/mac starts charging when plugging in? My mental model of a charger is that you plug it in and electricity fires out of it like a hose whether you like it or not. When I plug in my macbook charger, it often takes a few seconds before the light comes on and the menu bar icon says charging.

This is only educated speculation, but I imagine it's related to the amount of switching that has to take place when changing from battery power to being on the mains. The electrical input needs to be registered, the hardware switched from running off battery to a charging state if needed, and time for the kernel to be informed of the state change based on the polling frequency. Then the other power management daemons have to pick up the state change and the OS get the message that the power state has changed. If that polling was taking place at intervals of less than a few seconds, I'd be surprised.


Ford Sync and Reminders problem iPhone 4s My 2010 Ford Edge has Sync but not the nav system. The phone is paired. With radio off, a phone call works fine through the car's system, but reminders only vibrate the phone and there is no sound. If the radio is on, the reminders can be heard. The dealer upgraded the Sync so it is current. He said something about privacy mode, but I can't find that on my phone.

I deleted all devices from the car's bluetooth memory and re-paired the phone. No help.

How to make reminders audible while driving with radio off?

I do not think this is possible. I have a 2010 Fusion with Sync and no nav. The iPhone's ringtone is the only thing that will preempt the current audio setting if it is not Bluetooth Audio. Any other sounds (text message, reminder, turn-by-turn directions using Waze or MapQuest) are only audible if Bluetooth Audio is selected, a phone call is already in progress, or Siri is active. In other words, the phone's audio must already be playing to hear any alert other than a ringing phone. (caveat: I do not use Sync's USB or line-in connections for my iPhone.)

Privacy mode is when you manually change your call audio from Sync back to the iPhone using the audio sources button; the radio will display "Privacy Mode" and mute whatever is playing as long as you're on the phone.


How to temporarily disable the Finder application? I am trying to incorporate the use of CLI commands in my daily workflow to learn them better. I have tried the seemingly popular solution of force-quitting Finder from the Apple menu, but it isn't very difficult to relaunch it by simply clicking on Trash or a folder on the Desktop. I am unsure as to what extent Finder manages macOS operations, but is there a way to disable it that makes it harder to relaunch?

System: MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2014), running macOS Mohave 10.14.4

While I can decide to religiously refrain from using Finder, I have noticed that making things harder to reach is the fool-proof way to curb the muscle memory that has developed over time, just as the best way to start learning hard things is to reduce friction and make them more accessible.
I wish to make it so that the command line is my only way to get around, and if there's a way to force this without much damage I'd be happy to give it a shot :)

You should move away from force-quitting Finder.

Use graceful quitting:

    defaults write com.apple.finder QuitMenuItem -bool YES
    killall Finder

You now have a regular "Quit" command, not in the Apple menu but in the Finder application menu with corresponding keyboard shortcut cmd+q.
This makes the Desktop clutter disappear and Finder won't launch if clicking on the backround picture or the Trash.
This is a nice and easy option, and it should be enough!

Bonus: if you do this for 'enforcing more CLI usage/skills', then that means more keyboard centric activities? ➞ Turn on Dock hiding (System Preferences ➞ Dock ➞ Automatically hide and show the Dock). Then use cmd+Tab  to switch between active applications. This further minimises chances for a 'mis-click' on the Finder icon that would cause an unwanted relaunch.

For the case presented as is in the question the above is quick & easy and a non-running Finder is reversed easily with one single click of the mouse (or for those wanting to improve their CLI skill with a open -a Findercommand in Terminal…)


How to enable multiple spellchecker dictionaries in Chrome? I am new to Mac, and I have my rough time (missing keys, wrong shortcuts and etc). But I don't give up. I am a JS developer and computer user with almost 20 years of Windows and Linux (Debian, Ubuntu) experience. I am also bilingual, my second language is english. In Chrome for Windows or Linux one can add as many dictionaries as pleased. Then it is very comfortable to switch between them by clicking right mouse button in the textarea (take a look at the picture). How to make it in osx?

Edit > Spelling and Grammar > Show Spelling and Grammar


How Many USB Controllers Are in the Late 2014 Mac Mini? I am transferring a lot of data to a large number of iPads from a Mac Mini, over USB. I am finding that the late 2014 Mac Mini is significantly faster at completing the transfer than the Mid 2011 model.

If it's relevant - I'm connecting to iPad 2s.

I think I can rule out any CPU / Ram differences.

Have Apple added more USB controllers to the new Mac minis?
My understanding is that the old models had 2 controllers, is it possible that the 2014 model has 4?

The 2011 Mac Mini only have USB2 ports.
Since 2012, the Mac Minis have USB3 ports.

That probably the reason.

Also, there is only one physical USB controller the Mac Minis ref1,ref2, that never changed (note: On the 2014 Mac mini, it's integrated in the processor ref,ref)


macOS High Sierra not trying other DNS servers On one of my laptops which is running macOS High Sierra, is failing to resolve hostnames. I have specified two DNS servers in my network settings. One is an internal DNS server, and the other is 8.8.8.8. When I try to resolve local hostnames that the internal DNS knows, it resolves properly. But when I try to resolve something like google.com it fails.

I see that it tries to use the internal DNS server first, and since it doesn't know the hostname, I thought it would try to use 8.8.8.8 to resolve the hostname, but it never tries the other DNS server.

When I try this from my other laptop, it works properly i see

$>nslookup google.com
;; Got SERVFAIL reply from <internal dns>, trying next server
Server:     8.8.8.8
Address:    8.8.8.8#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:   google.com
Address: 172.217.5.110

But from the one where it doesn't I see

$>nslookup google.com
Server:        <internal dns>
Address:    <internal dns>#53

** server can’t find google.com: SERVFAIL

There is no attempt to try the 8.8.8.8 DNS server. Why is that happening? How can I get it to try the other DNS server if it fails with one.

First: nslookup does not use the system DNS resolver, and does not behave the same way that the system resolver does. Neither do dig or host, so none of these tools are useful for checking how macOS resolves names. If you want to use the system resolver, use dscacheutil -q host -a name google.com, but note that it uses the entire resolution system -- it looks in the local cache, /etc/hosts, mDNS (for .local names), and then DNS. Oh, and the man page for dscacheutil claims it can flush the DNS cache, but it doesn't work; use sudo killall mDNSResponder instead.

Second: the system resolver does not do a good (or even adequate) job of failing over between DNS servers. If you list multiple servers, it'll fire off queries to all of them in a sort of randomized-round-robin fashion. If it doesn't get a response, it'll eventually time out and try the other one. If it gets a "that doesn't exist" response, it assumes that's correct and doesn't try any other server. As a result, you really need a single server that can answer all queries, both internal and external.

Ok, there's one possible workaround: you can point your system at a public DNS server, then create /etc/resolver/ and put files in it to redirect queries for certain domains to your internal server. Provided you know what domains to redirect, that is. See Apple.SE: "Do /etc/resolver/ files work in Mountain Lion for DNS resolution?".


Does iTunes Match work with iOS8 Family Sharing? Since I currently don't use iTunes Match, but have started to use the new iOS8 Family Sharing feature to share app and music purchases with the rest of my family, I'm curious to see whether Family Sharing also shares the iTunes Match content with the rest of the family.

Does data from one family member's iTunes Match account show up for other family members that are part of the same Family Sharing group?

No. This Apple support document details what can and cannot be shared with family sharing. In particular, there is a list of items that cannot be shared:

  There are a few things that you can't share:

  Songs added to iTunes Match from outside the iTunes Store
  In-App Purchases
  Items that are no longer available on the iTunes Store
  Items that were hidden
  Apps that aren't shareable

We still don't know how many apps will opt-out of being shareable. So this "few things" could end up being many things.

You could alternately describe the above list as Things That Can Be Shared Only With a shared iTunes Account.

So if you want maximum media sharing between adults, but still want to use Family Sharing for restricting children and/or for its non-media features (photo sharing, location sharing, calendars, etc.), then the best compromise seems to be:

Define one Apple ID (the "ownership ID") to be used only for media purchases, for iTunes Match, etc.. Adults use this Apple ID only for logging into the iTunes Store and the App Store.
Create an individual personal Apple ID for every adult and child. Everyone uses their personal ID for iCloud, Messages, and other personal services.
If you want to restrict children, then children also use their personal accounts for iTunes (which means they don't get iTunes Match and other non-shareable media, but they do get restricted sharing and purchasing via Family Sharing)
The ownership account or an adult's personal account configures itself as the family organizer, and invites all the other accounts to the family.

I believe this configuration achieves the following effect:

Adults get unrestricted sharing via logging into iTunes with the ownership account
Children can get restricted sharing/purchasing via Family sharing
Everyone gets private messaging and doc-sharing via their personal IDs
Future purchases by adults are owned by the ownership account, diminishing fragmentation (unlike purchases by children, which will be owned by the child's account, paid for by the ownership account, and shareable only as far as allowed by family sharing)

How to decide whether to use the ownership account or an adult personal ID to be the family organizer? I don't know. It seems pretty equivalent to me. One difference is that, if you use an adult personal account as the family organizer, then you have to duplicate payment information in the ownership account and in that individual's personal account.


How do I fix iPhone SE celluar network after 12.1.2 upgrade? My iPhone SE was just upgraded with ios 12.1.2, but the cellular network is now dead.  After restarting it, I got this message

  Cellular Update Failed

  Your iPhone cannot make and receive calls or access cellular data until it has been updated.

  Learn More / OK

You need to update your cellular settings.

How to do so from this Apple Support page:

  Make sure your device is connected to a Wi-Fi or cellular network.
  Tap Settings > General > About. If an update is available, you'll see an option to update your carrier settings.

If there is no option or it doesn't work then:

  If you see either of these alerts, take your iPhone or iPad to an
  Apple Authorized Service Provider or make a Genius Bar reservation at
  an Apple Store. You can also contact Apple Support.

According to this Apple Support page.


Quartz Filters not working on High Sierra—is it fixable? I noticed tonight that I can't convert a document to black and white in Preview. When I open the PDF in Preview and select Export, I see a select input for Quartz Filters, and I'm able to choose any filter including "Black & White". But when I save the document, the filter is not applied.

Same results if I open the document in ColorSync Utility instead: I see a Filter input, and when I choose "Black & White", the window shows me a preview of the document in black and white. But when I click "Apply", the document reverts to its previous color mode, and no change is applied.

Is there any way to troubleshoot or fix this issue? I used this feature a lot in the past.

This is a known issue (I reported it directly to Apple engineering) and they are working on a fix in a future update. In the meantime it does mean you need to use 3rd party software or find a workaround.

Without knowing what your ultimate aim is, one workaround I have discovered is to first export the PDF as an image file (e.g. a .jpg image) and then open the newly created .jpeg file in Preview and export it again. When you export it, select the PDF option and the Quartz Filter you want. This will then save the file as a PDF again, but this time in grayscale or B&W.

Of course, this is not ideal in the case of multiple pages. One possible option may be to use Automator, but I haven't pursued this as I already have access to 3rd party software.

However, I can update this answer as soon as it's fixed (the Apple Engineers have committed to letting me know as soon as it's fixed - and I will be following up with them!

UPDATE

After further investigation Apple's Engineers contacted me on 9 August 2018 to advise they have determined that this issue only occurs when PDFs have been originally produced by certain 3rd party products, typically older ones. As a result, a fix for this may no longer be in the pipeline because as time goes by users are less likely to come across PDFs originally produced by these older legacy products.

In my own testing I have found the problems do not occur with PDFs originally created with MS Office 2016 or later (both Mac and Windows versions). However, the problem does occur with PDFs originally created with older versions of MS Office (e.g. 2010, 2013) and other software such as PDFCreator.

The age of the original software is not necessarily indicative of whether a PDF will have issues. For example, PDFs produced with Adobe InDesign CS5 (2010 vintage) and QuarkXPress 9 (2011 vintage) work fine with Quartz Filters.

At present this has been left open by the Engineers until macOS Mojave is released. However, if it is not rectified by then it will be closed as it's unlikely to ever be.

Workaround for multi-page PDFs

In my own testing I have found a workaround that works perfectly for multipage PDFs, albeit somewhat ironically. However, it is an easy workaround:

Open the problematic PDF in Preview
Go to File > Export as PDF...
Give it a name, choose a location and click on the Save button
Open the newly created PDF in Preview
Go to File > Export...
Select PDF as your format
Choose the Quartz Filter you want (e.g. Black & White or Grey Tone)
Give it a name, choose a location and click on the Save button
Now your newly exported multi-page PDF will have the Quartz Filter applied


How do I prevent my Mac from opening so many windows every time I restart? I have to restart my Mac all the time because I'm using Boot Camp and switching in between Windows 8 and OS X. Every time I restart and come back to OS X, my screen gets flooded with open windows, every thing from Firefox to text editors. Is there any way to set it up  so that there are no open windows upon restart?

When you go to shutdown/restart, unclick the check box to disable the resume feature, which is likely what is opening all these windows (that were present upon shutdown).

If this doesn't do it, check that these applications are not in your user start up list.


Symbolic integration in Grapher.app? Several months ago I was using Grapher, something strange happened. Instead of going to Equation → Integrate, I clicked the symbols menu (with the summation notation, cube root, etc.) and clicked the integral there instead. Now, whenever I do Equation → Integrate it does the silly integral computation instead of the symbolic integration which is so much better. The silly integral computation struggles to compute an integral of 2x to the left of the y-axis, although it may have its uses with integrals which cannot be solved symbolically. It used to say about symbolic integration here but now that page isn't working so now it's turned into a bit of a conspiracy theory.

Does anyone have access to the original symbolic integration? Has anyone else experienced this bug?

I have been meaning to ask this somewhere for a while, also, I have no evidence that the symbolic integration even existed so anything about that helps.

There are some options about integration in Grapher Preferences.

You can also try deleting its preferences file ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.grapher/Data/Library/Preferences/com.apple.grapher.plist


How to set boot device when it doesn't show in boot screen I'm using my Mac Pro as a FreeNAS server. FreeNAS is based on FreeBSD, so I assumed it would play nice with Mac Pro, but it really doesn't as it relates to boot devices.

FreeNAS will only boot IF you trick Boot Camp Assistant to think FreeNAS is Windows and when it prompts you to install Windows, you switch the disk on boot-up and install FreeNAS instead.

Lastly, FreeNAS will only boot if you have a SATA drive connected to one of the 6 built-in SATA channels on the Mac Pro. It will NOT boot if you have a PCIe card with a SATA SSD mounted on it.

If you do everything right and get FreeNAS to boot from one of the built-in SATA channels, if you hold down Option while booting, no boot disks are shown.

My concern is although Mac Pro is happy to boot into FreeNAS today, if it stops booting for some reason, how do I tell Mac Pro to boot from a disk that doesn't show up in boot drive screen?

(Note: FreeNAS has the option to mirror boot drives, so if one fails, in a normal PC hardware situation you can just point to the mirrored drive for boot. I'd like to use this technique as well for my Mac Pro FreeNAS, but since Mac doesn't recognize FreeNAS as a bootable device unless you trick it via Boot Camp Assistant, I don't see this as a viable option, unless someone knows how do it otherwise.)

You may want to try a different boot loader than BootCamp. Personally I've used http://refit.sourceforge.net/screen.html and http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/ (a fork of refit) to boot various linux flavors on my old Macbook Pro. They're relatively simple to setup (for a boot loader).


Make iTunes stop prompting me for my username and password On OSX Lion, iTunes keeps prompting me to enter my username and password to "sign in to enable this computer for automatic downloads." In the past I tried checking the box to remember my password but it kept forgetting, so now I just disabled the "always check for available downloads" option in Prefs -> Store. It still prompts me. It drives me crazy.

Is there a way to get it to stop prompting for my password, so it will just behave like a well-behaved offline music library manager, and only ask me for my username and password when I open the iTunes store?

All you need to do is Sign OUT of the itunes store!

If you are signed in, each time you fire up iTunes, it will try to login again and ask for your password. Sign out and it won't bother you!


Is it possible to define template files for the context-menu? I often have to generate files (for example letters), which should have a certain content at the beginning (e.g. letter head,...). In Many Linux-Distributions there is a folder called ~/Templates - Every file in this folder appears in the context-menu/"File new" and is copied to the folder after selecting this entry.

Is something like this also possible in MacOSX 10.6.8?

There is no equivalent user or system wide feature in Mac OS X 10.6.

However, many applications support Stationery Pad documents. These are documents marked as read only and when opened create a new untitled document using the original document's content.

The Stationery Pad option is available in the Finder > Get Info panel:

tuts+ has a tutorial explaining how Stationery Pads can be created and used.


refresh Preview from command line I have a workflow (LaTeX editing in Emacs) which produces PDFs that I then examine in Preview. Preview is smart enough to re-load the PDF when it changes, but it only does so when I click on the application and bring it to the foreground.

Is there a way to tell Preview to re-load the document (and stay in the background) using the command line?

Edit: To follow up, I'm perfectly happy to do a little AppleScript hacking or whatever (I've never used AppleScript, but it can't be too hard).

No simple solution that I can think of.

You can switch to using Skim, or another PDF previewer that supports the behavior you seek.
You can "open file.pdf" to refresh and bring Preview to the foreground, and then another command to bring your editor or terminal in front of it (open file.pdf; open -a Terminal.app).


How can I read Xcode documentations in browser instead of documentation viewer? Is there any way that I can view documentations in browser instead of the default documentation viewer?

You can see this file file:///Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Documentation/DocSets/com.apple.ADC_Reference_Library.DeveloperTools.5_1.docset/Contents/Resources/Documents/documentation/DeveloperTools/Conceptual/WhatsNewXcode/00-Introduction/Introduction.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40004635-SW1

Which is the index of Xcode doc.

Or open it from the doc:


Can't login to MacBook Pro because keystrokes are repeated! Every key I type in the login screen is repeated, so I can't type my correct password! (unfortunately my password is not comprised of pairs of characters)

I recently tried to speed up my key repeat rate via this post but after reverting that change the problem is still happening. It only happens on the main login screen after boot; if I go to switch users the keyboard works normally. Fortunately I've found a workaround through the guest account, but I would really like to know how to get my main login keyboard back to normal!

Any ideas?

Try looking at the InitialKeyRepeat default for the sudo account. I had the same problem, and noticed this that for my user account defaults read -g InitialKeyRepeat returned a value of 25. But sudo defaults read -g InitialKeyRepeat returned a value of 5, which is much faster. I changed the value for sudo using this command:

sudo defaults write -g InitialKeyRepeat -int 25

and I no longer have a problem typing my password at the logon screen. This page is helpful for more details.


Can't open Java Preferences with Oracle Java 7 installed I have both Oracle Java 7 and Apple Java 6 installed. Apple Java 6 is disabled in Java Preferences.

Now, when I try to launch Java Preferences I get a "Cannot launch "Java Preferences - No compatible version of Java 1.5+ is available." error:

This is the output of /usr/libexec/java_home -V:

Matching Java Virtual Machines (1):
    1.7.0_05, x86_64:   "Java SE 7" /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.7.0.jdk/Contents/Home

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.7.0.jdk/Contents/Home

Besides the (Oracle) 1.7.0.jdk folder,  /System/Library/Java also contains a 1.6.0_31-b04-413.jdk folder.

Java for OS X 2012-004 isn’t available any longer. But 2012-005 solved the issue for me.


Removing FileVault2 key from memory on lid close I would like to know, how to remove FileVault2 keys from memory, when I close the lid on my Macbook pro 15" running Yosemite.

It works, when I leave the computer as it slowly goes into standby by itself (first lock-screen then the screensaver and then standby). I had manage to do this, with this classic command:

sudo pmset -a destroyfvkeyonstandby 1

But the problem is, that when I close the lid when the screen is just locked, or it isn't locked it, wouldn't destroy the keys. It just locks the screen.

Short version: I want to destroy FileVault2 keys when I close the laptop lid.

In addition to the destroyfvkeyonstandby option, you also need to specify that pmset is setting hibernatemode 25 for the power management options.

sudo pmset -a destroyfvkeyonstandby 1 hibernatemode 25

Setting both options ensures that the Mac in question will hibernate (where the contents of the RAM are written to disk) and also have the FileVault 2 key automatically removed from the saved RAM.

When the laptop is awakened from hibernation, you should see your account icon and a password blank at the FileVault 2 login screen, which would indicate that it had been asleep.

When this setting is set, you may run into some Power Nap-related issues. I have a post on that available from here:

Power Nap, power management settings and FileVault 2


In the iOS 5 Music App, some songs have a circle with small square beside them I would like to know how to remove the songs with this shape next to their title because they seem to mess up the song play. When they appear the music app stops playing music.

i just had the same problem. what i did was i downloaded other songs of the same artist and i deleted the whole music section of the artist. (i hope that makes sense) i have an ipad and it happened to some of my taylor swift songs so i redownloaded all my other taylor swift songs and i went to the artist section in the music library on my ipad and i deleted taylor swift and the songs with the grey circle disappeared. i hope this helped!


Is there any iPhone app that will sync .txt files locally or be able to decrypt files stored in dropbox I need a way to sync plain text files from a mac that are usually edited with Notational Velocity and they must not pass through any cloud based storage unless they are stored encrypted with a key I create.

I've looked at Evernote, Simplenote, and multiple dropbox based apps but I have yet to find a good solution.

The closest I've found has been MobileOrg with Emacs org-mode to encrypt the files and sync them through dropbox or my own webdav server but being a Vim user this is not optimal. And since I'm looking into this to help someone who isn't as proficient with computers I can't tell him to start up Emacs just to sync plain text between his Mac and iPhone.

(I really don't see the point in having everything passing through the "cloud" other than to provide more information for targeted advertising.)

So is anyone aware of any iPhone app that will edit plain text files and sync them through the local network?

My solution was to use simpletext.ws, since the source is available I can use my own server to sync notes in my local network without having to worry about encryption. And on the iPhone I use the WriteRoom app to search and edit notes.

(As this is my first time using any stackexchange site I'm not sure if I should include this in the original question or answer it myself... apologies in case I'm not following the proper way of using the site.)


How do I access these 3 hidden volumes? The following image shows my Disk Utility window.

It says there are 5 volumes in total, but I can only access two: Macintosh HD and Macintosh HD - Data. Apparently one of them is a Virtual Machine as denoted by the VM. Another one of them is Recovery, but I do not know what this means exactly. The final volume is not mounted; it does not even mount after I click the Mount button.
Is there a way possibly through terminal or Recovery mode in where I can access them and determine if they are useful or not? I am running macOS Catalina on my 2015 iMac if that helps.
Thank you in advance!

A typical APFS volume under Catalina will have 5 partitions.

Macintosh HD: the read-only volume that stores the OS
Macintosh HD - Data: the 'normal' everyday volume where you save stuff to.
Preboot: a small amount of data used ... before booting.
Recovery: the Recovery volume that you boot to when holding Command R
VM: caches for virtual memory.

These are all essential, and you should not need to access them or do anything else with them.


Screen brightness decreases when I middle-click I have a logitech wireless mouse hooked up to a macbook pro running 10.7. Whenever I middle-click the mouse button, the laptop's display brightness decreases. It behaves just as if I had pressed the F1 key. The middle-click still works in applications (e.g. Firefox opens a new tab), it just has this annoying side-effect. How can I correct this behavior?

What you need to do is change the key mappings on your mouse. What this does is tells your computer what to do when you press key X.

For Mac…

  MapKeyboard is a free program to remap your keyboard. Using MapKeyboard, you can alter any key on your keyboard to function as a different one or altogether disable it as well. This is an essential tool for laptop users and other people with keyboards whose keys differ from the standard 101 keyboard layout.

For Windows…

  SetPoint Software

  Logitech SetPoint™ software lets you customize your mouse buttons, keyboard F-keys, and hot keys. Use SetPoint to control tracking speeds and configure other device-specific settings. It can also notify you of our device’s battery status, and whether Caps Lock and Num Lock are on.


Increasing Mavericks Time Machine backup size for remote backups We are using Mavericks OS X server with the Time Machine service. We had originally setup our Time Machine server to limit remote backups (backups of desktops and laptops) to 1,000 GB of space.

However, some machines need 2,000 GB of backup space, so we increased the Time Machine backup destination to 2,000 GB. But, when workstations backup to the OS X server, they complain about not having enough space and the backup size is just a few GB shy of 1,000 (e.g. 992 GB).

We restarted the server and the client, but the problem persists.

On the client, the backup destination was removed, Time Machine turned off, the destination was added back and Time Machine turned back on but still the problem persists.

Why am I not able to get more than 1,000 GB of backup space even though I've configured the Time Machine server to limit to 2,000 GB?

Here's what you need to do to resize an existing Time Machine sparsebundle without loosing data on a Time Machine server (OS X Server):

Turn off Time Machine Server.
Turn off Time Machine Client(s).
Resize the disk image and the partition following these instructions. Execute these steps on the server, where the drive is attached if possible.
After 3 completes, turn on Time Machine Server.
Remove backup destination on client and add it back.
Turn on client Time Machine and perform a backup.

I followed these steps and I was able to increase my backup destination from 1TB to 2TB without loosing backup history.

Here are a few issues I ran into and how I worked around them:

The Resize Image icon was greyed out in Disk Utility. This was because my logged in user didn't have read/write access to the sparse bundle. Rather than change those permissions, I logged in as that user and could resize image.
Nothing appeared to happened after I told Disk Utility to resize the image. This is apparently a defect in Disk Utility. While there are no indicators resizing the image worked, if you go to the partitions tab, you will see the image was increased.
It took 4 days to complete. Increasing the partition size appeared to have kicked off a disk check of sorts. That process and checking multi-linked directories took about 4 days to complete. This was on a directly attached 7,200 RPM drive array attached via USB 3 with about 1TB of backup history. I don't know of any way to speed this process up, so just be aware it may take a very long time.


Apple MainStage audio output device changes automatically after some time I am using Apple MainStage 3.5 and I route the Audio Output to a Loopback virtual device. And this works like a charm. Until it switches to another device after some inactivity.
I tried another Loopback device, but the same thing keeps happening. Does anybody have an idea how to tell MainStage to not switch devices? I thought that setting the hot-plug behavior to do nothing was the key. But it does not seem to work.
I did some Googling, but could not find an answer to my question. I hope somebody knows.

After some frequent contact with Rogue Amoeba we came to the following solution.
Strictly speaking is this not an answer to the original question, but a workaround.
I used the Loopback device to connect to Audio Hijack, but another solution is to select System Setting as Audio Output in MainStage. Then I captured the MainStage application in Audio Hijack instead of the Loopback device. Thus circumventing to whole need for Loopback as an input device into Audio Hijack.
BTW I still use Loopback to connect the Audio Hijack output further in the chain.


OS X El Capitan and older not available on App Store? So it turns out I can not install Sierra because I have a Mid2009 Macbook Pro. I wanted to update to El Capitan, but it turns out its no longer available on the app store?

Any ideas, how to get El Capitan?

I am downloading it now from the App Store and it seems to be working fine.  I did not go through the App Store, but used the following link:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206886

After going to the link there is a section on how to get El Capitan from the App Store if you do not meet the system requirements for MacOS Sierra.  Click on that link (pasted below) and it will open the App Store to the El Capitan App download section.  Simply click on 'Get' and it will start downloading.

https://itunes.apple.com/app/os-x-el-capitan/id1147835434?mt=12


Some PDF bills are printed out with empty squares replacing the text I have some bills from my electricity and gas provider and all the bills are printed out with squares being displayed instead of text.
I already restored the Font Book to default fonts.
I have no problems with viewing any of those bills on my computer.
I have other PDFs and they are all printed out correctly.
If I open up the PDF which is printed out badly and export it to PDF within PREVIEW app, the output is same as on my printer.

What else can I do to restore the normal printing?

I have seen this issue before, and it appears to be a bug in Preview on 10.11.
It does something weird with specific TrueType fonts (including some previously supplied by Apple) that causes this effect.
The documents in question view perfectly fine, but when you try to save or print from Preview, it re-encodes them incorrectly in some way, resulting in the squares.

The same documents view, save and print fine in all 10 previous versions of OS X, and also work perfectly fine on every other platform.

I've seen some suggestions that replacing / fixing your system fonts will fix it - however, that won't help in a lot of cases - particularly not with third party PDFs, since the fonts will be subsetted and embedded in the document.

Your best option is to attempt to report it to Apple.
It's a real problem, because there's millions of PDFs out there already created that can't just change because Apple decides they're not going to fix their product.

You should also report it to your energy provider - their print supplier may be able to work around the issue by changing fonts or rendering the text as an image.

Of course, that won't help the unknown number of future PDFs you may encounter with the problem, so definitely do report it to Apple.  The more people that report it, the more they'll come to see it's a problem that needs fixing.


macOS temporarily freezes After working fine for days, my Mac has started freezing temporarily. This is triggered by switching between applications. This freeze may last a couple of seconds to a minute or even more. After that, everything works as if nothing happened. When I switch to another app, it will happen again. I can only stop this by rebooting the Mac. Then it works fine again, even when switching between apps.

Some additional info:

I was not able to pinpoint a single app to cause this issue. Once it occurs, it occurs on every switch, no matter between which applications.
It doesn't matter how I switch, either CMD-TAB or by selecting an other apps window by mouse, the problem is the same.
The problem occurs both with external monitors attached and when working "stand alone". (Before, I thought it had to do with external monitors, but recently the problem occurred when I was working "stand alone", so that theory is off the table.)
The problem occurs every couple of days now.
Normally, I never shutdown or reboot my Mac. I just close the lid and it goes to sleep until I open the lid again.

Details:

macOS version: 10.13.5 (17F77)
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014)

Does someone have had a similar problem? If so, what was the cause en did you find a solution? If not, where do I start to look for possible causes?

TL;DR
I found out that my problem was caused by the no longer maintained MagicPrefs software. Uninstalled it, problem gone!
How I found the culprit
Today the problem occurred again, and I think I managed to find the culprit! Once the problem occurred, I opened Activity Monitor to see if I could spot some process doing weird. The first thing I noticed, was that the CPU load was low overall. No processes were taking up more than 20% CPU.
Then I right clicked on the column headers to add some more columns, hoping I would find a clue. I added the column showing if a process was unexpectedly stopped. (My MacOS is set to Dutch, the column is called Plots. beëind. in Dutch, I don't know the exact column name in English.) I immediately noticed that the hidd process had a "Yes" in that column.
So I went Googling and found this explanation of what the hidd process is. It's the Human Interface Device Daemon. The article states:

If high resource usage persists, the likely culprit is third party software. If you’ve recently installed drivers for a third party input device, or software that lets you do things like customize your key bindings, this could hypothetically be the issue. Try uninstalling this software, then see if that solves the issue.

That made me think about software I have installed that has to do with Human Interface Devices. There wasn't anything installed recently, but I was using MagicPrefs for some years. I went to their website to see if there were any updates and saw this notice:

MagicPrefs is more than 5 years old now and is no longer mantained, the functionality it provided was made possible by Api's that are now deprecated and reverse engineered private Apple frameworks. Apple is not likely to replace the deprecated Api's nor provide access to the underlying multitouch technology so that's the end of the line for MagicPrefs and similar software.
TLDR if it doesn't work anymore thats it, if it still works then its just a matter of time until it won't.

When I uninstalled MagicPrefs, the freezing problem immediately disappeared! I think that proofs that MagicPrefs was the culprit. A pity I can't middle click any more, but I'm relieved that this weird problem is gone now!


Is it possible to purchase hardware using my Apple ID credit? I know that I can purchase apps, music, movies etc. using the credit that's on my Apple ID. But is it also possible to purchase hardware from the online Apple Store, using that same credit on my Apple ID?

No. The credit shown in the Mac App Store or iTunes App Stores is not spendable from the retail stores or the online store.

There is a physical gift card that can be bought for online store or retail store use, but it's not the same bucket of funds as the iTunes store gift cards. See http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/giftcards for more details...


What apps for OS X exists to ease the writing of emoticons? I want an application like TextPics on iOS, but for use in OS X. I want to use it with chat programs, web sites (twitter, facebook, et al), etc.

Emoji is the one that's gained the most notoriety.


Can I buy an iPhone 4 in another country? I want to know if I buy a iPhone 4 in another country if I take it home to Denmark where I live, can I then reinstall it so it uses the Danish keyboard and the iPhone is on Danish?

Yes, you can buy a SIM-lock free iPhone 4, such as the ones that get sold in the UK or in Belgium and use them anywhere else in the World where iPhones are supported by local providers.

Be aware that the UK phone ships with a different electrical plug.

Language settings can be set from within the iOS preferences. I have mine running with multiple different keyboard layouts; and you can also set the main language of the device, just as you can set the language of any MacOS device to any installed language (usually quite a few). The nice thing is, that usually all apps also respect that language choice if they provide translations.


How to cure Mail of being stuck on one message? Every time I open Mail, it has the same message selected.  I scroll up three or four screens to the new messages, then close.  Next launch, it's on that same old message again.  It used to select the newest message on open.

The message doesn't appear to be corrupted.  I can read the whole thing, and it's all plain text (via a listserv that doesn't allow attachments or HTML).  I can scroll up and select/read other messages.  Can't find any other malfunction in Mail.  Rebuild Mailbox doesn't help.

Don't want to delete this particular message, just don't want mail to make me look at it on every launch and then scroll & scroll to the new mail.

Reason?  Fix?

A corrupted email message can get stuck on your email system, like clogged pipe in your plumbing. In my experience the problem is always one of those joke emails that has been forwarded countless times.

Web Access To Email

Solution is to use the Web interface to your email provider rather than your email client app. In the web browser, find the offending email and delete. If you really need that message - put it in a folder that doesn’t sync if you can.

Then return to your email client. Your pipes should be clear again. You may need to do a Rebuild command to reconstruct your local cache.


how to annotate scanned PDF on MAC I've a scanned PDF and i can't seem to highlight the text of course using the preview on my OS X, is there a software that do that like in windows?

Thanks

Highlighting text in a PDF assumes that there is text in the PDF to begin with.

When you scan a document to PDF, it is simply an image. You should still be able to use the annotation tools available in preview to draw on it and add notes, but you will not be able to highlight or copy text from it because there literally is no text in the document.

There is, however, a type of software called OCR, for Optical Character Recognition, that can be used to programmatically "read" the letters in the image of your document and write out accurate text to the PDF. Some of this software is pretty good, but it is rarely free. Some scanners come with OCR software, and the you may be able to find some software online that will let you try it out for free.

Running an image PDF through OCR software will provide it with text data that you can then highlight using the annotation tools in preview.


How to fix a Time Capsule disk in "Internal disk needs repair" status? My Time Capsule disks shows "Internal disk needs repair".

How can I repair the disk (without erasing it)?

It is simple but non-obvious, as you have discovered...

There is an Apple KB article that states:

"Simply restart your AirPort Time Capsule. AirPort Time Capsule automatically performs a file system check on the internal drive during startup. If the AirPort Time Capsule detects an issue that it can resolve, it will repair the file system of the disk. If an issue is found that cannot be resolved, the AirPort Time Capsule's LED will flash amber, and AirPort Utility will state the issue. You should use the most current version of AirPort Utility."

You can find that here.

Failing that you may have to remove the disk from the airport (ifixit.com has instructions) put it in an external USB drive sled and attach it to your Mac for further repairs and diagnosis. If Apple's Disk Utility cant fix it then you may have to use a commercial utility on it like DiskWarrior or Drive genius.


Why does MacBook connect to AirPort Express but has no internet connection, while iMac works just fine? My 2007 MacBook (10.6.8) worked perfectly fine with my AirPort Express, until I added a 2010 iMac (10.8.4) to the network.

When I first setup the iMac it connected to the AirPort Express, but not to the internet. The AirPort menubar icon showed an exclamation mark on it. At some point in or after the setup I was prompted to set up my AirPort Express, which had already been configured and working just fine with my MacBook.

I followed the instructions and the AirPort Express restarted. It worked! My iMac was/is now online. However, when I went back to the MacBook it was now showing the same exclamation mark on the AirPort menubar icon that the iMac had initially showed.

I have tried restarting the MacBook, the AirPort Express, and the iMac. I've disabled and enabled the AirPort on the MacBook. After each attempt the MacBook connects to the network and a few seconds later shows the exclamation mark when it fails to receive an IP address.

Wanting to dig into the router settings I opened up AirPort Utility on the iMac but got an error message: "This version of AirPort Utility doesn't support this base station."

Is the problem a compatibility issue between 10.6.8 and 10.8.4? Or 10.8.4 and the older AirPort Express? I'm confused by this since the MacBook did work perfectly fine before, when the iMac did not, and now that the iMac does, the MacBook does not.

Does anyone know what is going on!?

Setting the AirPort Express b/g to g-only mode solved this problem for me, though I don't understand why.


iPhone 4S stereo sound Possible Duplicate:
  iPhone 4 - sound only comes out of one speaker

I finally got my iPhone 4S! But when playing a song, I noticed the sound isn't stereo. The right box is doing all the hard box, while the left one is producing a very minimal sound. Is this standard on the iPhone 4S or is it a hardware/software issue?

This is expected - the iPhone 4S does not have stereo speakers. The left "box" is actually a microphone:

image from apple.com/iphone/specs.html


OS X 10.7.4 Wi-Fi 802.11d network interface country code switching So I live in Sweden and since a couple of days ago one of my neighbors are broadcasting country code "US" from their AP, rendering my newly awaken MBA 2011 confused, so after a couple of seconds it changes the country code on the wireless interface to "US" and my own network SSID disappears.

Apparently this functionality is according to the specifications of the 802.11d protocol and simplifies manufacturing and country specific regulations for wireless equipment.

This so called "feature" is making my life a real pain for the moment and I'd rather not re-configure my own AP to a channel which is included in both the US and SE/EU array of accepted channels for a number of reasons.

Is there a way to disable this country code switching functionality in OS X 10.7.4?

Not that I am aware of (Believe me I've looked). I had this issue too (See my blog post here: http://jeff-with-a-g.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/5ghz-wifi-on-your-mac-got-you-down.html).

In the end I had to choose a channel that worked in all of the regulatory domains that my neighbours' wireless access points were broadcasting. That may be a bit trickier in Europe given the smaller number of channels available.

This doesn't seem to affect Macs running Snow Leopard so I guess it's an issue with Lion. Maybe Mountain Lion will provide a fix.


Location of power Logic on Macbook Air 13" A1369 main logic board Is there anyone who can help with the placement of of power logic components on main logic board? My macbook air is totally dead.

I assume you're looking for a way to bypass the power button to power it on?  If so this should help.

The power pads, two slightly raised solder points, are found just above the keyboard flex connection on the logic board.  See the circled pads in the picture below.  Bridging these two pads while power is provided to the Mac should power it on.  Be sure to use a metal tool with a non conductive handle to bridge the two points.

Source picture can be found in iFixit's 13" Mid-2011 MacBook Air logic board replacement guide, used and modified under a CC license.

Something to keep in mind, a stuck power button will prevent a Mac from powering on even when the power pads are shorted.  To verify that the top case (it houses the power button) is at fault you should disconnect the top case flex cable (silver flex in the photo) and try again if the Mac doesn't first power on with the power pads.  If it still doesn't power on with the flex disconnected then the logic board is likely at fault although you could still dive deeper and disconnect components (SSD, speakers, display) to further isolate the logic board.

Good luck!  Hopefully it's something simple/cheap.


Mac outlook reminders always late Just reiterating a few locked threads that I found reporting the same issue but without any solution/conclusion:

Calendar reminders - noticeable delay
Calendar reminders in Outlook for Mac v15.3 show up late
Calendar Reminders late on desktop
Calendar/Reminder Notifications Late

And hopefully some day somebody can have an answer.
For my case, MBP desktop,

reminders for first pop up (say 15 mins) and then when snoozed to (say) 5 mins before are normally on time (when pop up shows, the time on the URH corner is still the same, say 9:45, 9:55)
however, it is the the final reminder at the time of the event that constantly show up late, range from 50 seconds to 1.5 minutes (when pop up shows, the time on the URH corner is almost always at least a minute late, say 10:01+)
and today, the final reminder show up one hour late

My OS: Mac Catalina
$ sw_vers
ProductName:       Mac OS X
ProductVersion: 10.15.7
BuildVersion:   19H524

I think I have an answer, I'm not sure yet, but let me throw it out first, so people can verify....
Today, after my reminder was late for almost 5 minutes, I have a theory --
The final reminder should be triggered on time, but what I suspect is that its triggering time is 5 minutes after you last click on the "Snooze" button.


How to edit iCloud Photos Library EXIF metadata on the Mac? I'm using the modern Apple iCloud Photos library on my iPhone and Mac.
How can I edit arbitrary EXIF metadata tags for photos in my iCloud Library?
The tags must be edited within the Photos.app / iCloud Photos database. I do NOT want to re-import the images, or be forced to make EXIF edits prior to using Photos to import the images.
I am mainly wanting to edit the photo EXIF on my Mac. An iOS tool that syncs the changes back to iCloud and the Mac would be ok, but a Mac-only solution is preferred.

The "Get Info" window can be used to edit some EXIF data in Photos.app on the Mac. You can add a Title, Description, Keyword, and Location. You can also Adjust Date & Time.
Other EXIF metadata tags such as "Camera Model" are displayed, but seemingly cannot be edited.
In my case, specifically, I have an old digital camera that does not embed Camera Information EXIF. I want to manually add this data to its photos after importing them to my iCloud Library.
I want to eventually use the Camera Model EXIF tags to create a Smart Album in Photos.app on the Mac containing only the photos taken with this camera.

Have you seen this?  https://apps.apple.com/us/app/photos-exif-editor/id1202851767?mt=12. I've used it at work and it works well and its 99 cents.


Keyboard backlight is on by default after High Sierra update Before the High Sierra update, when I used to boot my Macbook Air, the keyboard backlight was always off by default. However, after the update, upon booting the backlight is always on. This is irksome because I always work in a well-lit environment and don't need the backlight. So I have to turn it off each time after start-up. I can't find out how to change this default setting. Can someone help?

Go to your system preferences (not sure if that's the exact name in English version of MacOS as I'm looking at the Dutch translation) > keyboard > disable "adjust keyboard backlight in low light environment" (or English words to that effect, it is next to a checkbox).


How to backup my iPhone without access to Internet, PC or a Mac? I have unlimited data available on my phone, but my plan does not let me create
a mobile hotspot. So I can’t even share my own data. I am also in a place where I do not have access to Internet or a computer and my iPhone needs to be backed up.

Is there any way I could possibly get this done?

You can enable iCloud backup in your settings. You will not need to create a hotspot, only use your data to upload the backup to your iCloud account.


How to re-span a cron-like launchd script in case of script error? I have a cron-like launchd script (StartCalendarInterval) that does a backup of some website data once per day:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.example.backup</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/Volumes/Example/backup.sh</string>
    </array>
    <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
    <array>
        <dict>
            <key>Hour</key>
            <integer>2</integer>
            <key>Minute</key>
            <integer>15</integer>
        </dict>
    </array>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/var/log/com.example/backup_error</string>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/var/log/com.example/backup_output</string>
</dict>
</plist>

In rare cases it might go wrong when the Internet is not available. The backup.sh script then sets a proper error code that is larger than 0.

Now I would like that the script is automatically relaunched an hour later after an error. And again and again until there is no error. But not after 24 hours to avoid two instances of the script running at the same time.

I believe this must be possible with ThrottleInterval and SuccessfulExit. My problem is that SuccessfulExit is linked to KeepAlive. I do not want the script to run all the time, but just once a day via the StartCalendarInterval.

Is my task doable directly with launchd? Or should I simply add wait 1 hour and try again after error to my script? The script would require resources all the time when set up like this. I would like to avoid this.

It seems it can be done partially. Basically the problem was that KeepAlive in combination with SuccessfulExit implied a RunAtLoad (the program was launched right at the start and not at the specified StartCalendarIntervall.) Setting the additional parameter AfterInitialDemand (which is undocumented) will change this behaviour and the program is first launched at the specified calendar time:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.example.backup</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/Volumes/Example/backup.sh</string>
    </array>

    <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
    <array>
        <dict>
            <key>Hour</key>
            <integer>2</integer>
            <key>Minute</key>
            <integer>15</integer>
        </dict>
    </array>

    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <dict>
        <key>SuccessfulExit</key>
        <false/>
        <key>AfterInitialDemand</key>
        <true/>
    </dict>
    <key>ThrottleInterval</key>
    <integer>3600</integer>

    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/var/log/com.example/backup_error</string>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/var/log/com.example/backup_output</string>
</dict>
</plist>

The only problem is that if the program/ script fails then ThrottleInterval will overrule the StartCalendarInterval, so depending on time of error and the set interval the program/ script would not launch exactly at the specified calendar time after a day has elapsed (assuming it failed until then) and might continue at odd time offsets (until it succeeds.)

But to sum it up: the trick is the undocumented AfterInitialDemand set to true.


"Not enough space" on partitioning? I have a 320GB harddrive with 95GB free.  I boot to a 10.5 disk, open disk utility, and add a 40GB partition.  Halfway through the progress bar, though, it tells me that there's not enough space.  I'm not sure what it means- I'm just splitting my free space off to another partition- it shouldn't need any extra space.

Any ideas as to how I can partition my drive?

Clarification: this is my laptop's internal drive- the one I boot from.  I can't boot normally and partition with /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.app.

Ok, solution found on an old superuser question, posting here for posterity.

I just needed to defrag the thing

I got Coriolis iDefrag.  I ran that on the compact setting (required restarting into it's own special mode, but no disk burning was needed).  A few hours later I tried to resize the partition and it worked fine.


Understanding what is being downloaded Using iStat (which provides a small graph in the menubar showing the present upload and download speeds), I notice once in a while that something is being downloaded, without any action on my part. Since I allow most of the programs to download all the updates, any of them, plus MacOSX updates, plus Dropbox etc. may be the culprit at any given time. But is there a quick way to understand what exactly is being downloaded at a given moment (for instance, to stop it if the case might be)?

There are different ways of doing this. The easiest way is to use an application designed for this purpose like Little Snitch which has the option of showing a window that displays what files are being downloaded/uploaded and to where.


stuck with name and new and enter password prompt I reinstalled Catalina and everything works just fine with installation. but I am stuck at here and the setup assistant doesn't show up after the installation.
I tried I Cloud account and I tried also the old user password

This is completely normal. This is a macOS setting that some users prefer because it might provide more security. Do you remember the Username of your user when you were on Mojave (Or High Sierra)? If so, that is your username in the "Name" field. Password is the password to that user.

If you don't remember your creds:
If you don't remember your login information, you can try using macOS Recovery to find out. First, boot macOS Recovery by restarting and pressing Command + R. Next, access the Terminal. If you had your disk encrypted, then first, you would need to type diskutil unlockVolume diskID and type the password of the disk. Then, type diskutil mount diskID. Then, you can do cd /Volumes/VolName/Users and ls. This will show you all users on the Mac.

Good Luck!


My son added an app on my laptop. How can I update it? My son added Pages back when he was living at home and using my laptop. He now has his own and I still use Pages. I would like to update it as it has been a few years without updates now. I am even happy to pay for it again since he is probably using it on his laptop too from his cloud. But I don't want to lose my current documents. What do I do? I cannot update using my Apple ID and it will not let me purchase it since it is already on the computer.
Does this question even make sense?

You'll not lose any of your documents if you delete the Pages Application from your Mac and, then, buy it again using your own AppleID. This is because documents are stored on as individual files on your computer not within the Pages application.

If you want to update the current installation, you have to use the AppleID that your son used to install it.


Why do I get this error: "The name of your computer is already in use on this network"? For 5 years now this bug has apparently persisted with each version of OS X. I'm now on Catalina 10.15.3 and a much newer Mac.

It is apparently WiFi related because disabling WiFi and using a wired connection doesn't result in the problem. It doesn't matter what I name it. This page made years ago claims to have the fix, this does not fix it at all.  If I type hostname at the terminal I still get the proper name but it keeps changing the name that would appear on the network.

Is there any progress or fix on this front or will this always be a bug in Mac OS?

Open a terminal.
Type the following command to change the primary hostname of your Mac:

  This is your fully qualified hostname, for example, myMac.domain.com

 sudo scutil --set HostName <new host name>

Type the following command to change the Bonjour hostname of your Mac:

  This is the name usable on the local network, for example myMac.local.

sudo scutil --set LocalHostName <new host name>

If you also want to change the computer name, type the following command:

  This is the user-friendly computer name you see in Finder, for example
  myMac.

 sudo scutil --set ComputerName <new name>

Flush the DNS cache by typing:

dscacheutil -flushcache

Restart your Mac


What is the format I should write the command to SSH into Linux VPS? I am trying to use SSH and log in from the terminal into a Linux VPS.

I have tried a few variations around the following:

ssh [user]@[hostname].[my.ip.address.xx]:22

and keep getting:

ssh: Could not resolve hostname [hostname].[ip address]:[port]: nodename nor servname provided, or not known

I have verified that my VPS works fine logging in from Windows with Putty, so I am sure I have something mixed up.

What is the format I should write this SSH command in?

Use a hostname, or IP address. Not both.

The hostname will only work if there is a resolvable DNS entry.
The IP address should always work as long as you use a publicly routed or otherwise reachable one.
You don't have to specify port 22, it is the assumed default when otherwise unspecified.


OFFLINE VIDEOS, are they at a risk? I use an iPhone. What would happen to the Offline videos on the YouTube app once I delete/uninstall the app and want the videos (offline ones) back, after I install it again later?

So would the Offline videos(I downloaded on YT) stay, or they’ll be deleted once I install the app again later?? As I am willing to delete the app, but I want the videos to stay when I reinstall the app later.

Once you delete any application (in this case, Youtube), you will lose all the data that application has. But with the introduction of iOS 11, Apple added a new feature that would allow you to keep an application's data intact while deleting the application itself. If you have iOS 11, to do this:

Open Settings app and navigate to "General > iPhone Storage"
A list of apps will appear shortly. Choose the application you want to delete.
Press "Offload App". This will delete the app, leave it's icon on the screen, but it will be reinstalled when you try to open the app. Your data is still intact on your phone, but the app is now deleted. I hope this is what you wanted.


How does Keynote decide which display to appear on? The scenario: I go into class, hook up my laptop to the projector using mini-display port adapter, and fire up Keynote.  Keynote opens with it's window on the projected display, showing off the hidden slides or completed builds or slide #42.  I'd rather have it open on the laptop display so the only thing my audience sees is the title slide.  I then spend two minutes trying to get a mouse over the titlebar so I can pull the window back to my laptop display.

I'm not sure this is a Keynote specific question.  I just don't end up using other apps in the classroom.

So, how can I control which display an application will open on when started?

More recent versions of keynote don't have that preference.
Instead: start the presentation. On the presenter notes screen you'll see these icons:

Click on the one that's second from the right (that looks like 2 screens being switched :-)


Terminal automatically opens conda Every time I open my terminal I get

(base) Users-MacBook-Air:~ Uriel$

instead of

Users-MacBook-Air:~ Uriel$

without the (base) line which means that the environment of conda is open. In order to get this, I have to do

conda deactivate

every time in my Terminal and it is annoying because not only I always have to type that but also because every time I open it, I have to wait some seconds because I think is logging conda in

Up in my Terminal what I should only get is the label

user--- -bash ---

but before I get that I see that first appears

Terminal --python<-bash

then

Terminal --java<-bash

then

Terminal --R<-bash

etc., until I get the

user--- -bash ---.

Is it because I let conda open? Or something like that? How do I fix this?

Following is the contents of the ~/.bash_profile file:

# Setting PATH for Python 3.6
# The original version is saved in .bash_profile.pysave
PATH="/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.6/bin:${PATH}"
export PATH

# Setting PATH for Python 3.8
# The original version is saved in .bash_profile.pysave
PATH="/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/bin:${PATH}"
export PATH
# added by Anaconda3 2019.10 installer
# >>> conda init >>>
# !! Contents within this block are managed by 'conda init' !!
__conda_setup="$(CONDA_REPORT_ERRORS=false '/Users/user/opt/anaconda3/bin/conda' shell.bash hook 2> /dev/null)"
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    \eval "$__conda_setup"
else
    if [ -f "/Users/user/opt/anaconda3/etc/profile.d/conda.sh" ]; then
        . "/Users/user/opt/anaconda3/etc/profile.d/conda.sh"
        CONDA_CHANGEPS1=false conda activate base
    else
        \export PATH="/Users/user/opt/anaconda3/bin:$PATH"
    fi
fi
unset __conda_setup
# <<< conda init <<<
conda deactivate

It's default behaviour and it is not really problematic. If you deactivate it, the terminal will see default python installation, 2.7. That is troubling if you're using conda for python > 2.7.

If you're troubled by the (base) appearing in the prompt, Run:

open ~/.bash_profile

and add this line at the end

conda deactivate

How do I remove the source (base) from my terminal?
How to get rid of (base) inside terminal app in 10.14.6?


Windows 10 Bootcamp Partition Unseen By OS X I've look around here and Apple's support community, but can't find my exact issue. I recently reinstalled Windows 10 to my MacBook Pro (Mid 2012), added a partition to start on installing Linux, and now OS X doesn't see the Windows 10 partition at all. I can still hold down alt/option to start it up, but I would like to have the option to have it automatically start to Windows 10, which I don't anymore.

sudo fdisk /dev/disk0 returned the following:

Disk: /dev/disk0    geometry: 29185/255/63 [468862128 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
 #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1: EE    0   0   2 -   25 127  14 [         1 -     409639] <Unknown ID>
 2: AF   25 127  15 - 1023 254  63 [    409640 -  233553880] HFS+
*3: 07 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 234225664 -     204800] HPFS/QNX/AUX
 4: 07 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 234430464 -  234428416] HPFS/QNX/AUX

sudo gdisk /dev/disk0 returned this:

Disk /dev/disk0: 468862128 sectors, 223.6 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): F33219B5-A986-430B-8674-23055706EF16
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 468862094
Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries
Total free space is 234693781 sectors (111.9 GiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1              40          409639   200.0 MiB   EF00  EFI System Partition
   2          409640       233963519   111.4 GiB   AF00  Untitled
   3       234225664       234430463   100.0 MiB   0700  BOOTCAMP

Of course, Disk Utility was SO helpful by showing this:

I don't want to reinstall Windows 10 AGAIN, and I can't seem to find any information that actually helps with this issue. Any assistance would be appreciated.

As you stated, you can hold down the option key at startup to invoke the Startup Manager. If you hold down the control key while selecting one of the displayed partitions, then chosen partition will become the new default startup partition.


My battery cycle count surpassed 1000 (MacBook Pro Retina Late 2012) It already passed 1000 cycle counts, and it doesn't say to replace yet. When I check the condition it states "Normal."

I already order a new battery, because I was under the impression after I reach the limit of cycles count I would need to replace the battery. I restarted my Mac to see if it changes the conditions, but it did not. It still shows "Normal".

Should I replace the battery anyways with the new or wait until it says "Condition: Replace"

Lithium batteries lose capacity over time, as you recharge them. Your MacBook can sustain 1000 recharge cycles and still retain 80% of its original capacity (more or less).

What this means is that if your battery originally held 10000 mAh, then in its current state of wear and tear it now holds 8000 mAh (80% of original). When you charge it up to 100%, you're now only charging it to 8000 mAh. Your battery has shrunk by 20%, so to speak.

What this means is your battery drains a little faster than before. But unless the lowered capacity truly bothers you, you've still got some time to go before you need to replace it. If you were okay with it at 81% of original capacity, I doubt you’ll notice a difference at 79% or 75% of original capacity.

Replace your battery when your laptop can no longer operate long enough to accommodate your needs without having to plug in, or when System Information advises you to replace it. If you always use your MacBook while plugged in, you likely won't need to replace its battery before you want to buy a new laptop entirely.

1000 cycles isn't a "limit," only a reference. You can go through many more cycles than that.


App cannot create folder when needed, needs permissions I'm trying to use Unity to export the app I'm creating. It gets about halfway through the process before showing the message:

"Creating directory. Creating directory Library/ScriptAssemblies failed. Please ensure there is enough disk space and you have permissions setup correctly."

There's 60GB of free space. I don't understand permissions well enough to know what to do here. I could really use some help, I only know Windows.

This  problem could be solved by deleting the "library" which is generated by Unity. Unity directory is as following:

Unity >
- Assets
- Library <- Delete the directory, and reopen Unity
- Log
- ProjectSettings
- Temp

On the other hand, you can see information about permissions and their errors in the following Apple website: https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT203538


Is there a way to disable web page auto refresh in Safari? I'm new to Safari ... and would like to know if there is a way to cause Safari to inhibit the auto refresh function that a lot of pages seem to use these days.

Fwiw, my rationale is to stop large websites - being refreshed regularly - and hence consuming my download quotas. This is common with a number of news sites in Australia - eg. www.news.com.au

I know there are ways to do this in Firefox, but I'd like to use Safari.

Sadly (it happens to me too), most of these pages use either a Meta

<meta http-equiv=”refresh”>

or some form of Javascript to accomplish the reload every XX seconds.

For the former case, Firefox (not Safari) had an option to disable it (Tools >> Options >> Advanced >> General >> Accessibility ->  Warn me when web sites try to redirect or reload the page).

However that option not always works, specially with newer sites; also that is a Firefox option only, which apparently you already knew about.

In the latter case (Javascript) there isn’t much we can do. As far as I understand, no CSS trick can prevent that (which would be the only tool we could have at the moment). I’m sure that at some clever (and bored) coder will create an extension that captures that and tries to prevent it.

In the meantime, you (and the rest of us) are out of luck while using Safari.

The ideal would be those sites to implement an AJAX form of communication that informs the user that there’s new content. All in all, it’s a series of hacks over a static protocol that maintains no “session” by design.