How to fault find MacBook Pro that shuts down very soon after boot? How do I fault-find a macbook pro that works fine in one OS but repeatedly shuts down soon after boot? (Every time the machine is booted into OSX environments, even the installer, the machine will shutdown soon after boot).

I have a MacBook Pro 5.5

It had a problem of randomly shutting down during boot.  This corrupted (beyond easy recovery) the HD.  I replaced that with an SSD. (I had backups of my data and the original MacBook Pro disc can probably be fixed).

I installed a Linux (Fedora 18, then Fedora 20).  This was a 64 bit OS  using all the HD.  I had no problem with shutdowns.  I could play full screen video, DVDs, play games, etc with no problems.  There are frustrations using Fedora on this MBP, so I decide to wipe the drive and re-install Snow Leopard.

Installing OSX (Snow Leopard) from the grey discs that came with the machine is frustrating.  The machine will reboot very soon (a few minutes) after I have booted from the grey Install disc.  So far I have managed to boot and use disc utility to wipe the HD and reformat / partition to add a GUID HFS partition.  But I am still getting shutdowns after a few minutes of use.

Sounds like your hardware is fine and you have a brand new SSD.

Steps to heal it.

You can double check your hardware using the Apple Hardware check.

Press D during startup (for Hardware test) you might no longer have it on your hard drive so do not worry for now)
Disconnect all external devices to make sure they do not do something stupid.
Start in Safe mode to eliminate other programs interfering.

Press Shift during startup

If you mange to start open Console and look for logs before this start, and for reason why it shut down.

If the safe mode fails then try the Start up in Verbose mode.

Press Command-V during startup

This is line by line mode showing you each step. Sometimes it will show your where it got hung up.

In any case your best source of information is the Console (but it requires a running computer)


Have to restart to switch external displays I have a Macbook Air 2013 model that I use at work and at home. At work I hook it up to an external Dell 27" monitor via a display port adapter. At home I like to hook it up to my Samsung 40" TV.

When I get home after using the mac with the Dell monitor, I plug it into the TV and it doesn't detect the external display (the macbook blinks off briefly, as does the TV but that's it). Even if I go to preferences and hit 'Detect Displays'.

It seems to work if I restart my computer, but I would like not to have to reboot in order to switch external displays. Are there any steps I might be able to take to stop this from continuing to happen?

Edit: I have also noticed that when re-connecting to my monitor at work I can't drag certain programs (iTunes, Sublime Text, maybe others) to my external monitor. They claim to be on the monitor, but aren't visible. Restarting the computer fixes this.

I solved the problem in the past with two steps :

If you start your computer screen drop but the monitor connected, the display will default to the external and your notebook is turned off.
To change which is the main screen you must enter the "Alignment" tab and drag the menu bar to the screen you want to be the main screen.


Is it possible to use Adobe CS5 with Java SE 7? I have Adobe CS5 installed (old version because it's what my institutional site license covers) on Mavericks.

Whenever I boot my system, I get the following dialog box:

However, I don't have Java SE 6 installed, only Java SE 7 (and JDK 7). I don't particularly want Java SE 6 on my system since it is now quite ancient and probably full of security holes by this point. If I try to launch any of the CS5 apps, I get the same prompt.

Is it possible to run CS5 without Java 6 SE on Mavericks?

I don't know if this works for CS5 and Mavericks, but for CS6 I have found a solution for Yosemite (more details there):

Create a directory /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk.
Create a symlink /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents to /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents from your Java 7 / 8.
If missing, create an empty directory /System/Library/Java/Support/Deploy.bundle.

Paths on Mavericks may differ a bit though.

Also, you'll probably need to be root to do this, so use sudo using an administrative account.


iPhone not recognized by iTunes after not ejecting properly I unplugged my iPhone without clicking the eject button. Now the computer doesn't recognize it in iTunes.

I have followed everything in the help section but still no luck.

The built in help (on Mac at least) doesn't have the good troubleshooting articles that http://support.apple.com does.

I would start with running a Device Sync Test in iTunes and if that won't even run, you can fall back to the Device Connectivity Test.

That should pinpoint the source of the issue if it's not software to:

OS issue
USB hardware failure (on the computer, cable or device itself)
Hardware failure of the device (get it repaired / restored by taking it to another computer)


Print to PDF an email dropped into a Finder folder I need to record correspondence in projects and by default store everything as PDF files. I do the same with emails - I save the attachments in the relevant project folder, then copy the actual email message to the same folder, and then also print the email message itself to the folder.

What I need is a script that will notice when I drop an email into a folder, and then automatically save the email as a PDF into the same folder (using the subject as file name).

If it can be done that all the attachments are also saved to the same folder as part of the same script, I will be very happy.

Can anyone help?

I think you may want to investigate Hazel.

http://www.noodlesoft.com/hazel.php

It allows you to create automated workflows and is probably exactly what you need.


Mac won’t connect to internet I have an interesting problem and I believe I may be halfway to understanding it but don’t know how to fix it. My home network has two routers. One is the main one and is in a cabinet so I do not have wifi enabled as the cabinet limits the range of the wifi. I have a second router placed elsewhere which runs my wifi. Currently Ethernet shows connected but no access To the internet. My guess is there is an issue with the iP address as the internet works on wifi with the Ethernet cable disconnected and slowly with it connected. With wifi off the Ethernet still doesn’t connect to internet even though shows green. I guess there is a conflict and would appreciate some advice. Thanks in advance

Apple covers the basics in troubleshooting internet connections.

Solve internet connection problems on Mac
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/solve-internet-connection-problems-on-mac-mh11395/mac

This is a nice resource since it is specific to several versions of macOS and if it’s too technical, you can refine your problem by working through it and asking a follow on question with details of where you got stuck or what sort of information doesn’t make sense.
Here’s the how to connect which also might help: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201735


Set macvim as default application after homebrew installation I've installed macvim via homebrew. This is working fine.

But when it commes to choose a default application for a new file type I cannot see MacVim. How can I set MacVim as the default application for a file type when it has been installed with homebrew?

Note: The question is not about how to select a default application in Finder, the question is how to set an application as default which is not listed in /Applications and there fore not shown by the Finder as a possible default application.

I had the same issue. I moved MacVim.app to /Applications and then symlinked it into the Homebrew cellar directory.

mv /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/7.3-65/MacVim.app /Applications/
ln -s /Applications/MacVim.app /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/7.3-65/


Time Capsule and multiple backup drives Right now we have a single iMac in the house and I have two external hard drives.

One is connected to the iMac and used for TimeMachine backups.  The other is a few miles away (thanks Mom!) to act as off-site backup, and I swap them once every couple of weeks.

Thinking of adding another computer to the mix and I don't necessarily want to purchase two more disks to keep it backed up, so I am considering upgrading to TimeCapsule.

But it has an in-built disk.

So how do people either do
a) an offsite backup
b) swap disks like I used to
c) anything that will work similarly!

Golden Rule of Backups: Keep it simple!

Swapping disks and storing one of them off-site is a good backup strategy. But it also means that there are some manual steps every time you swap disks and sooner or later you will get it wrong. To avoid unnecessary data loss you don't

use one external backup drive for several computers
mix backup and other use on the same disk

Given the low costs of adding two additional hard disks to your pool I don't think it's worth the risk to avoid these costs.


How to Identify Safari Javascript Alert Dialog using AppleScript? In a particularly 'pesky' website, a dialog box pops up to block (or cover) automated entry of the userid input box.

I have used the following code attempting to get a reference & to close this window, but have been unsuccessful.

tell application "System Events"
    key code 15 using {command down}
    key code 36        // return key

end tell

tell application "System Events" to tell process "Safari"
    set numSheets to (count of sheets) & " sheets" as text       // 0 sheets
end tell

set numDocuments to (count of documents) & " documents" as text  // 1 documents
set numWindows to (count of windows) & " windows" as text        // 1 sheets

What else is available to find and close that alert box?

Edit: The key code 36 will sometimes close the alert, and other times, when it's not present, will submit the page too early.

If you had an alert dialog appearing with an OK button, then this AppleScript code would close it.

tell application "System Events" to tell process "Safari"
    if exists (button "OK" of window 1) then
        click (button "OK" of window 1)
    end if
end tell

You'll likely need to customise this to fit your exact situation. If the alert dialog appears with a title you can all specify that as below.

tell application "System Events" to tell process "Safari"
    if exists (button "OK" of window "Java applet missing") then
        click (button "OK" of window "Java applet missing")
    end if
end tell

Another option would be to identify the alert by using "front window" as in the following example (assuming the alert is the front window).

tell application "System Events" to tell process "Safari"
    if exists (button "OK" of front window) then
        click (button "OK" of front window)
    end if
end tell

Hope this helps.


App Store is insanely slow on Mac OS X Lion I'm not sure if it is a problem with Lion, but my App Store is insanely slow.

I Googled and tried the solutions available online, but none of them work.

And I just keep seeing the beach ball.

One thing I noticed is, on my Mac, when I click "see all" in the App Store, the list of apps first show in 3 columns, and after a while of beach ball, it becomes 4 columns. That's different from other people's video showing slow app store. (in their video, it is automatically 4 columns.)

Has anyone encountered the same problem? Is there solution available?

I'm not aware of a specific problem with this, but generally when I have an issue of an App running slow, I blame corrupt cache/preference files. What I would recommend is using an App like AppZapper. You can use a free trail from: http://www.appzapper.com/downloads/appzapper.dmg which will last for 10 "zaps"

I would recommend you drag App Store.app into AppZapper, and delete all files BUT App Store.app. Do so by UNCHECKING THE BOX beside App Store.app. On the next launch of the Mac App Store, it'll recreate these (possible corrupt) preference/cache files and hopefully fix your slowness problem :)


Unable to brew install wine Getting an error when trying to install wine using brew. Made sure I ran brew update and brew upgrade. Tried installing libpng on it's own as well, but still getting same error.

Just installed Xcode, and made sure I accepted the terms.

checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for a thread-safe mkdir -p... ./install-sh -c -d
checking for gawk... no
checking for mawk... no
checking for nawk... no
checking for awk... awk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes
checking whether make supports nested variables... yes
checking whether to enable maintainer-specific portions of Makefiles... no
checking for gcc... clang
checking whether the C compiler works... no
configure: error: in `/private/tmp/libpng-20161205-66702-a4brfd/libpng-1.6.26':
configure: error: C compiler cannot create executables
See `config.log' for more details

Edit: Adding versions.

Mac OS X 10.11.6

Xcode: 8.1

Another edit: Looking through the gist of the error, I think this might be the culprit.

configure:3291: checking whether the C compiler works
configure:3313: clang    conftest.c  >&5
ld: unexpected token: !tapi-tbd-v2 file '/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.12.sdk/usr/lib/libSystem.tbd' for architecture x86_64
clang: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)
configure:3317: $? = 1
configure:3355: result: no
configure: failed program was:
| /* confdefs.h */
| #define PACKAGE_NAME "libpng"
| #define PACKAGE_TARNAME "libpng"
| #define PACKAGE_VERSION "1.6.26"
| #define PACKAGE_STRING "libpng 1.6.26"
| #define PACKAGE_BUGREPORT "png-mng-implement@lists.sourceforge.net"
| #define PACKAGE_URL ""
| #define PACKAGE "libpng"
| #define VERSION "1.6.26"
| /* end confdefs.h.  */
|
| int
| main ()
| {
|
|   ;
|   return 0;
| }
configure:3360: error: in `/private/tmp/libpng-20161205-66702-a4brfd/libpng-1.6.26':
configure:3362: error: C compiler cannot create executables
See `config.log' for more details

Edit: Adding gist logs.
https://gist.github.com/codephobia/98b8c8e5954c7d324384c49c6ebd99dc

Edit: I was able to get it working by cloning the repo and building it from the source code. I am going to leave this question open, since I would prefer to install it with brew to make updating easier.

Good work with the detailed error message. I would try to install just libpng with brew install libpng and then if that fails brew update && brew update && brew doctor just to check out common issues. ( I know you said you tried this - but it's not clear that you succeeded with that try)

The above recommendation is from https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/blob/master/docs/README.md#readme

That links to the Troubleshooting Checklist for if you find one package that fails you (looks like libpng from your logs so far).

  run brew gist-logs <formula> (where <formula> is the name of the formula that fails you).


What process is accessing the hard drive? I can hear the hard drive chugging away when it should be idle. Some process is writing/reading from it in semi-random bursts, let's say once every second. Very annoying and wasteful.

I tried activity monitor, but that did not give me enough information and lsof is overwhelming.

Where should I start digging to find out what process is (ab)using the hard drive?

This is on 10.6.6.

I like using fs_usage to see whats going on. A lot of information is going to go by quick, but you usually can see which app is doing stuff. For example, when idle, ill see safari going pretty crazy at times, plus spotlight, etc.


Is it possible to "hack" a MacBook so as to be able to install macOS Mojave? I know you can hack an iPhone, but is there a way to "hack" a Macbook? I have a late 2010 model that has been upgraded so it has the RAM, hard drive space etc... and it works beautifully, but I would really like to put Mojave on it. I am able to download the developer file, but then I got told by the iTunes Store for Mac that it is not compatible with this model.

macOS Mojave requires Metal support. Apple is justified to prevent installation on older models because they literally do not have the capability to render the GUI.

Edit: A recent upvote has reminded me about this answer. I'm appending this section to say that an inability to run Mojave is not entirely the case. Mojave still has software rendering for Recovery Mode. AnyOS'll Do's answer is not entirely wrong, despite most of the answer being assumptive.

This answer links to a tool already in existence (that has been brought to my attention before, although I didn't think much of it) to enable installation of Mojave on unsupported Macs. The only catch is that hardware acceleration will be disabled, since hardware acceleration for old GPUs has been dropped.


Solutions to earphone jack distortion My earphones would not longer go all the way in / click into the earphone jack on my (out of warranty) iPhone 3GS. The sound was fine but the earphones fell out with the slightest knock.

I removed some lint with a needle; now it fits but sound isn't right. It's distorted, sometimes all treble, etc. Sound is fine if I pull the earphone plug out a little bit (to the depth at which it used only be able to go) but fall out at the slightest knock.

Could there be any other reason other than lint causing this? And if so, how can I troubleshoot and resolve the problem(s)?

Sounds like you need to do more cleaning.

Do not use metallic objects like needle.

Use toothpick.

Also use a ear-swab (with some alcohol).

Then see if you can get the sprig out in the proper position.

It is probably stuck. That's the piece that holds the plug in place.

You should see it when you look inside with flashlight and magnifier.


How do I block specific places on a web site's domain? For instance, how would you block google.com/news, without blocking google.com or any other subdirectories? I've already tried using the /etc/hosts file, to no avail.

This is for me. I need to shut out web distractions on my work computer, without limiting my ability to get stuff done. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Try Parental Controls

one caveat, the account you want to control cannot be a administrator of the machine in order for this to work.

open System Preferences > Parental Controls
Unlock it using the lock at the bottom left of the dialog. and entering an admin password.
Enable Parantal Controls
Choose an Account to be controlled by clicking Enable parental contorols in System Preferences > Accounts for the user that needs control.
Next click Open Parental Controls...
Then select the Web tab and choose Try to limit access to adult websites automaticly then click Customize...
Add any sites you do not want access to such as http://google.com/news to the Never allow these websites section.

This should work with any browser in that account.


How do I make an application's window span the whole width/height of my screen? I want to make an application use the whole width or height of my screen without having to drag the bottom/right sides to the edge of the screen. I also want to do this for the bottom right corner (as in, I want to make it go to the bottom right corner). Any cool tips that'll let me do this?

Yes, there is actually a cool way to do this on macOS Sierra! Just double click the bottom/right/bottom right of the window when the cursor turns into a resize cursor, and voila!


Locate long file paths on external drive with terminal I need to move a large volume to a new raid server that's PC formatted. However I have a couple paths and filenames that are interrupting this process.

I would just like to know how to use the terminal to:

Locate the targeted external drive
Then search that drive for paths/files that are over 130 characters

Can anyone help?

I know how to search for long paths find " . -type f -name '?????...*' ", just not sure how to target my external drive.

The following command will print out all files that have more than 130 characters

find -E . -type f -regex '.*[^/]{130}'

The Terminal (bash) command to list the disks attached to the system is diskutil.  The command diskutil list will output all disks - just select the identifier that matches your external device.

For example:

/dev/disk3 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk3
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk3s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS FreeAgent Go            499.8 GB   disk3s2
/dev/disk4 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk4
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk4s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS My Passport for Mac     999.8 GB   disk4s2

disk0, disk1, and disk2 are in a CoreStorage volume.  disk3 and disk4 are my external drivers

To access the drive (assuming it's mounted), look in the /Volumes directory for the appropriate mount point.

Assuming you wanted to search "My Passport for Mac" you would enter the command:

find -E /Volumes/My\ Passport\ for\ Mac/ -type f -regex '.*[^/]{130}'


Is using both wireless/wired charging simultaneously for an iPhone faster? The other day my younger sister had her iPhone plugged in via Lightning cable to the wall and she then put the plugged in phone on a wireless charging dock.

She swears it makes the phone charge faster and won't listen to me tell her that the engineers probably didn't design it that way.

Is there any formal documentation from Apple where they mention this use case (and whether or not it would actually charge the phone faster?) I suspect anything but a document written by Apple won't be enough to sway her opinion.

Your iPhone won't charge wirelessly when connected to USB. If your
  iPhone is connected to your computer with USB, or if it's connected to
  a USB power adapter, your iPhone will charge using the USB connection.

Source: How to wirelessly charge your iPhone 8 or later.


Using "Microsoft Surface Keyboard" on Mac Sierra I know the Microsoft Surface Keyboard isn't compatible with the lastest Mac OS. But was wondering if anyone has found workarounds to some of these problems.

1) It's not recognized as a keyboard but a bluetooth device. And I have to re-pair the keyboard everytime after long idle period or computer restarts.

2) I am able remap command/option keys using Karabiner-Element, but now the function row doesn't work at all. And with Karabiner turned off, I can use some of the built in function keys such as brightness/volume controls but can't seem to remap them with something like Keyboard Maestro.

I enjoy the feel and travel distance of the keys, and would be nice to have this keyboard working fully and help those that feel the same.

Not entirely correct about function key row: with the keyboard's function key lock engaged, the F1, F2, etc functions do work. However, unlocked none of the functions (volume, play, etc) work nor can they be mapped with Karabiner-Element.

This is pretty much par for the course for any Microsoft keyboard used on an Apple


How To Permanently Remove Movies Directory The directory ~/Movies:
16:43 $ tree /Users/ibodding/Movies
/Users/ibodding/Movies
└── TV
    ├── Media.localized
    └── TV\ Library.tvlibrary
        ├── Library\ Preferences.tvdb
        └── Library.tvdb

My .bash_profile deletes this every time on load, but it pops back up just as quickly.
I don't use any Apple applications aside from Finder and System Preferences. How can I prevent MacOS from recreating this directory?

How can I prevent MacOS from recreating this directory?

If you do not mind having a hidden file, not folder, named Movies in the Home folder, then the compound command below, In Terminal, will do the following:

Delete the Movies folder, including anything in it.
Create a file named: Movies
Sets an ACL of everyone deny delete on it.
Remove all permissions for everyone to it.
Hides the Movies file.

rm -R Movies; touch Movies; chmod +a 'everyone deny delete' Movies; chmod 0000 Movies; chflags hidden Movies

This effectively stops anyone, including the system, from creating a folder name Movies in the Home folder until the ACL is removed from the file Movies and the file is deleted.
For example, after running the above compound command, opening the TV application will not automatically recreate the a folder name Movies in the Home folder.

Notes:
Assumes the pwd in Terminal is your Home directory when running the compound command in Terminal.
The compound command used above was tested in Terminal under macOS Catalina and macOS Big Sur with Language & Region settings in System Preferences set to English (US) — Primary, from an Admin account, and worked for me without issue1.

1  Assumes necessary and appropriate setting in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy have been set/addressed as needed.

To remove the Movies file from Terminal afterwards:
chmod -N Movies
rm Movies
override ---------  $USER/staff hidden for Movies?

Type Y when prompted and press enter.


Automatically quit Terminal when typing exit Scenario
I use terminal to SSH a lot, however would like the Terminal App to quit when the last Tab closes using exit. I already have the terminal window itself set to close on successful exit, however Terminal keeps running. I followed Ricky Campbell's tutorial here which uses an AppleScript to quit terminal. The AppleScript works perfectly when running outside of Terminal, however I somehow can't get the trap command to work that needs to be placed in the terminal.
For reference I will post the relevant text here:

Now we need a way to kickoff the script. This can be done with the bash command “trap”, having it listen for the EXIT signal. Since I want this to happen everytime my user opens a shell, I add it to my .profile file. I do this with nano:
$ nano ~/.profile
In this file add the following somewhere. You may need to edit the path to the AppleScript file you created earlier:
trap '/usr/bin/osascript $HOME/Scripts/QuitTerminal.scpt' EXIT
All this does is listen for the EXIT signal within bash and when it gets it, runs the script we created earlier.

Question
How do I go about troubleshooting this problem. For some reason the trap is not firing or working the way it should, even after numerous reboots. Is there an alternative way to get the Terminal App to close when the last tab exits?
Solution
The links provided by Dori led to the solution. The article suggest that the trap command should be in .profile, when in fact it has to be placed in .bashrc. Moving it to the correct script fixed the problem.

The approach given here looks a little simpler—maybe it would work for you?

If you don't want to remember to type "quit" instead of "exit", and you're using bash, just add the following to your .bashrc or other shell startup script:
trap '/usr/bin/osascript -e "tell application \"terminal\" to quit"' 0

What's it do? When the shell receives signal 0 (zero), that is, told to exit, it will execute this command as the last thing it does. This allows your shell, etc, to exit gracefully, and asking Terminal.app to exit via applescript makes sure it does the same. In other words, type 'exit', and your shell exits, then Terminal quits, all cleanly and the way nature intended.

The full thread can be found here.


Why large size calculation difference: Mac Finder vs du? I have just noticed that for some of my directories on an external disk there is a huge difference in calculated size depending on whether I use the GUI Finder or du (or rather du -h). Using Finder on this directory I get 145 GB, whereas du gives me 135 GB. That is a difference of 10 GB! Checking another directory I (on my local machine) I get 41 vs 43,7. So there seems to be almost a 10% difference here. Can anyone explain this?

I'm not entirely sure but 145GB is exactly 135 GiB so I think Finder gives result with decimal prefixes while du uses the binary ones.
See this article


Upgrading MacBook Pro mid-2009 RAM I'm trying to upgrade my MacBook's RAM to 8GB (2x4 GB), but somehow when I install the new cards I got the 3 beeps + 5 seconds pause. The 4GB cards were already working in another early 2011 MacBook.
The point being that, if I install the memory in a mid-2009 in a 2GB+4GB configuration, the Mac runs well. I have tried to switch cards and slots and it works, too.
Does anyone know what's happening?

My bad! It was a matter of the frequency.
The 4 gb cards are 1600 MHz and the max admitted by mid-2009 is 1066 MHz.
When installing 2 gb (1066 MHz) + 4 gb (1600 MHz), the macbook automatically slows down the speed of the highest to the lowest one. But if both 4 gb are installed, the Macbook gives the error. That's it.
Thank you for the advises.


How do I convert my Photos library to actual files and folders with no quality loss? I spent a lot of time organizing my iPhoto Library with Events. Now, my events have been converted to "Folders" in the new Apple Photos system. I moved them up a level (making them Albums), and I've been using this kind of structure to keep my photos stored in different sets for several months. Now, I'd like to convert my Photo Library to a file-and-folder structure, so that I can move to a different program, such as ShotWell for Ubuntu. Unfortunately, it seems that they have been "converted" to a new Apple proprietary format (.photolibrary). Is there any way I can automate the creation of a folder structure like this:

Photos Library/Example_Album/IMG_0001.jpeg

Without losing any quality?

Here is what I tried:

Right-clicking onto Library and selecting "Show Package Contents": files seem to be in a wrong structure
Dropping all Albums from Photos to Desktop: does not export files with correct "Albums" folders

Help will be much appreciated!

At the end, the only solution to this was to download Photos-to-Disk Software I mentioned above. It worked perfectly, creating the Folder Structure I needed. I recommend to do the same guys, if for some reason you have this issue.


Remove device from iCloud I sold my iPad (after restoring it and deleting all accounts/data), but it still shows up in iCloud settings under "Devices". Since I don't have access to the iPad anymore, how can I delete it from iCloud.com?

First, contact the new owner, and ask him/her to enable Airplane mode. Once that's done, visit https://www.icloud.com/#find, and select the device. You should now have the ability to click "Remove from Account".


Are applications required to be installed to the /Applications folder in order to be sandboxed? I have an application installed in the ~/Applications folder. I've been using it for years with no problems. But after a recent update this application started giving me warnings that it should be installed in the main /Applications folder. But still it is working just fine, and I see no reasons to move it out from where it is now (aside from this annoying warning).

So I asked the application's support team, why do they want me to have their application installed exactly in /Applications, and here's the answer they gave me:

  In order to be fully sandboxed the application must be installed into the /Applications folder

Is it really so? Mac OS sandboxes only applications installed in the /Applications? Is it stated somewhere in Apple's documentation? I could only find this article (the section about launching helpers).

And additional question: does it mean that ~/Applications (or any other) folder is "less secure" then for installing applications?

[Update]

I've got another answer from support: now they're saying that it's sandboxing and access to code signature verification API what requires them to have their application installed exactly at /Applications. I've posted a Stack Overflow question about that.

No, it is not really so. Being or not being stored in /Applications is not the determining factor in deciding whether or not an app is sandboxed.

No, other folders are not "less secure" than /Applications.

You haven't described which application in particular you're dealing with, but I would guess that you're running into a specific limitation on sandboxed applications - namely helpers:

An application can include a helper that is run in background using LaunchService - i.e. it runs even though you haven't started the main application.

However, a sandboxed application can only automatically start a helper if the application is stored in /Applications!

Note that there are other requirements that must be fulfilled also, but this is the one with relevance to sandboxing and the /Applications folder. The other requirements are for example that the helper must be signed (similar to the main application) and that the user must have manually started the helper before it can be automatically started.

You can read about macOS sandboxing in more detail here:

https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Security/Conceptual/AppSandboxDesignGuide/AppSandboxInDepth/AppSandboxInDepth.html


Why can Finder perfom shutdown, when it is a privileged command? The Finder allows a non privileged user to perform a shutdown assuming there are no other users logged in, however shutdown is a privileged UNIX command. Does anyone know by what mechanism it does this?

Please clarify how Finder lets you do a shutdown. On my 10.7.3 system "shut down" is part of the Apple menu and always present, it is not part of the Finder menu.

/sbin/shutdown is indeed a restricted command, the Menu "Shut Down" feature may use a different mechanism (or it may not). I'd imagine the exact mechanism exploits the Unix suid bit feature in some way. Suid allows a command to be run as though the file owner were running it, e.g. the command is owned by root but can be executed by non-root users. This is a common (and risky) method to enable non-privileged users to run privileged commands.


Applescript to read facebook notifications I am very new to applescript as well as programming. I am trying to find a way for applescript to access my facebook unread notifications and whatsapp web unread chats and read it out to me.

I can use applescript to access mail or other mac apblications am facing difficulty with accessing the notifications and chats in google chrome browser. Is it possible to do it?

AppleScript is built by Apple, for Apple (though unfortunately support has steadily declined since the move from 10.6.8 to 10.7)

While it is possible to do what you describe with AppleScript (or any language, with enough blood, sweat, tears, and coffee), it will be much more difficult than using Facebook's API to view your notifications (or using OS X's built-in Facebook plugin).

As far as scripting Chrome with AppleScript, Safari will be easier as it has some built-in hooks. I'd start with something to download a YouTube video (non-copyrighted, of course) using Safari, else you may get bogged down in authentication and trying to parse HTML, rather than actually having fun coding.


How to get dark menu bar and dock in Mojave light mode? I prefer light windows with dark menu bar as in High Sierra. However, it seems I can only choose all-dark or all-light in Mojave now. Are there any way to hybrid or customize it?

Try this:

defaults write -g NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance -bool Yes

Then logout or restart. Then go to the system preferences and select dark mode. It will make top bar and dock dark while everything else in light mode.

To revert it back:

defaults write -g NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance -bool No

EDIT: Please also have a look on the answers bellow, they are needed in order to make other parts working, like notification center & spotlight. Run all of the commands, and then logout. Still missing the trash can color :)


How to remove passpoint wifi network on iphone? I'm having this issue on my iPhone where it connects automatically to a certain network (Orange Mobile WIFI). These things are all around town but they do not work at all. The thing is that I can't even remove the network because there is no "forget this network" button. Has anyone else had this issue and how can I permanently remove the network? (iOS 9.3.3, jailbroken)

My iPhone was trying to connect to TWC Wifi Passpoint after I deleted the Time Warner app. Even when I adjusted my wifi setting, it persisted. I resolved the issue by going into Settings -> General -> Profiles and removing the TWC profile.


How do I block SMS text spam? I open my Mac's message app (I also get the text on my iPhone, iPad, & Apple Watch), and wish to add this caller to my "blocked" contact, but don't see how to do this.  Some of my SMS text spam don't appear to have phone numbers.   Maybe "SMS with 9564489646" is something I can add to my contact "blocked" number, but if so, I have to write it down by hand and transcribe it.  But it appears that I would need to re-add my "blocked" number to message/preferences/iMessage/blocked every time I make a change.

I pay for "RoboKiller" on my phone, but that just looks at phone calls.

Is there a practical way of marking a SMS text sender as Spam?

I have a Spam 'contact' & just add to that.

I've not figured a good way to do it on my iPhone, but on Mac from the drop menu on the incoming number, Add to contacts… then the Spam contact.

 I can't add a pic of an actual spam message & procedure, because, of course, I never hear from them again, so this is a 'fake'


How did my iPhone determine the location of Photos when off-line? How did my iPhone determine the location of a Photo when the iPhone was offline and not connected to any wifi? It even determined the location exactly, even though there was no Network. How does this mechanism work?

That's what GPS is for, which doesn't require data connectivity because, like any GPS receiver, it gets its position data directly from the GPS satellites.


Using Late 2015 13" MacBook Pro as a 2nd monitor for Late 2015 27" iMac I have a Late 2015 13" MacBook Pro (HDMI, Thunderbolt 2, and USB 3) that I want to use as a 2nd monitor for my Late 2015 iMac (Thunderbolt 3 aka USB-C and USB 3).

What is the cheapest/best cable choices to hook them up? Is there way to use the Sidecar and Airplay software to set up this?

Using Late 2015 13“ MacBook Pro as a 2nd monitor for Late 2015 27” iMac

You cannot use a MacBook as an external display for an iMac.

  Is there way to use the Sidecar and Airplay software to set up this?

No.


Where on my pc does iTunes store the backup? I backup my phone to iTunes but need to back up my pc.  I can do pictures as I can just copy those from the phone but what about the contacts, texts etc that are backed up to iTunes? Where is that stored?

From Locate backups of your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch:

  iTunes places the backup files in the following places:

  Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
  Windows XP: \Documents and Settings\(username)\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\

  Note: To quickly access the Application Data folder, click Start, and choose Run. Type %appdata% and click OK.
  Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10: \Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\

  Note: To quickly access the AppData folder, click Start. In the search bar, type %appdata% and press the ↩ Return key.


Advice on “leanest” package manager for OS X? Hope this is the right place to ask the following question:

I want to install Octave on my Macbook Air, which means I need a package manager. I had Homebrew installed previously, but I got the impression the manager took a huge bite out of my (rather limited) HDD space, possibly as well (or even: mainly) due to the necessary libraries.

Any advice on which OS X package manager I should get if HDD space is the main concern, and any advice how to use it to limit space impact?

The size of your package manager will be trivial (20 MB) compared to the data it needs for your packages (golang clocks in at 250 MB, node at 37 MB). I'd say stick with Homebrew and work with it if you find some libraries are causing large space usages.

My thoughts are what specifically are your HDD space concerns? You could install brew and the files it needs on an external volume, but my guess is you have other files that could be co-located elsewhere - even on an SD card if you can't accommodate these files on the boot volume.

Here are some target numbers for a clean install of OS X 10.11 with the store Xcode and homebrew installed.

5.4 GB for /System
5.1 GB for /private _( most of that is the RAM sleep image on a 16 GB Mac)
2.4 GB for /Library
1.1 GB for /Applications (and you could need an additional 5 GB for the full Xcode if you wish to carry that around - most of it isn't needed for command line and open source compilation)
0.3 GB for /Users

So between 14.5 GB of minimal filesystem usage to 20 GB if you carry all of Xcode simulators and SDK for iOS, tvOS, Mac OS that are easily thinned if you only want command line tools.

Basically, even if you have a high cost/low storage capacity 64 GB SSD drive to boot your Mac, it's likely not full of system or tools, but what you've brought to run.


How to pass inputs to a shell script in automator? I want to pass the filename of the file I rightclicked to a shell script through automator:

# encrypt file.txt to file.enc using 256-bit AES in CBC mode
openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -salt -in file.txt -out file.txt.enc

When I create a 'service' I can pass on the input 'as arguments', but how to I implement it in the code?
It would be great if the file could be called 'file.enc' instead of 'file.txt.enc' if that is possible.

pass=$(osascript -e 'tell app (path to frontmost application as text)
text returned of (display dialog "Enter password:" default answer "")
end')
for f in "$@"; do
    printf %s "$pass" | openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -salt -in "$f" -out "${f%.*}.enc" -pass stdin
done


Can I manually re-calibrate the iPhone 4 compass? My iPhone 4's compass is off to a significant enough degree that it's annoying... is there any way to manually re-calibrate the compass?

I have, of course, done the "figure 8" (whatever action that was supposed to elicit) when I first set up the phone, and again whenever the phone prompts me to (which is very rare).  What I'm looking for is a setting/menu/option by which I can call up that re-calibration interface, instead of waiting for it to prompt me.

There is no setting in the standard iOS that allows this. The easiest way to bring that recalibration screen back up is to briefly put a magnet near your phone.


What is a good program for timing activities? I am looking for a program to time projects and activities, both computer- and real life-based, allowing me to tell him to start and stop timing this or that activity, in a very light, background, non-invasive way, and possibly keping past data about time intervals spent on various activities.

I have been trying out such a program called TrackTime, but it is (at least on my 10.5 MacBook) quite slow to react, and cannot show easily data for more than five or so activities.

Any suggestion for such a program?

UPDATE: Thanks everybody for your answers, but I am not sure I have yet found what I am looking for. For instance, while I appreciate the usefulness of these features, I am not interested in iCal integration, nor in the ability to create invoices.
Basically, what I am looking for is just a sort of "multi-timer", in which each timer can be easily started/stopped, and which logs the timings in any readable form. It may well be, as someone suggested, that it can be done with just some script.


Public folders or "All Users" folder in Mac? I have a web server in OS X Server with an open source digital asset management system installed: ResourceSpace.

The main Web Root folder is shared via FTP and with permissions set to "All Users". I'd like to determine if "all Users" refers specifically to all the users in the OS X Server or if it is actually "Public" and it means anyone can access it (more like an "Everyone" permission in Windows).

With permissions set to "All Users", any local or directory-based user can access the item when authenticated. It refers specifically to all the users in OS X Server. The folder is not public, but accessible to all authenticated local or directory users on your server


How to create diacritical characters with the Dvorak keyboard on Mac? I configured the Dvorak keyboard and its almost working. I need to write chars like 'á' typing two keys, but when I type the first the ' char already shows. How to fix this?

Diacriticals for vowels and some consonants are created using the "dead key" system.

First you type the "dead key" by holding down two keys at the same time; for example, Option-E, which produces "´". Then immediately after that you let go of the two keys and then type the vowel that you want the accent to appear above. So in this example, to get "é", you type Option-E, let go, then type "e".

If you want "á", then you first type Option-E, then let go and type "a".

If you want "í", you first type Option-E, then let go and type "i".

Here are the dead keys in the Dvorak layout, highlighted in orange.


Request for Sierra screenshot of 2 folders Can anyone running the released version of Sierra post screenshots of the folders:
Library>Fonts and System>Library>Fonts?

Got something I want to check about deprecated system fonts, but I don't have a noncritical machine I really want to install Sierra to.

Thanks.

This is from macOS Sierra 10.12, downloaded yesterday from the App Store.

$ ls -l /Library/Fonts
total 265360
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    124996 Jul 30 16:48 Al Nile.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     76572 Jul 30 16:48 Al Tarikh.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    178720 Jul 30 16:48 AlBayan.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   2410616 Aug  6 22:48 AmericanTypewriter.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    109700 Aug  6 22:48 Andale Mono.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    335572 Aug  6 22:48 Apple Chancery.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  15292988 Nov 13  2014 AppleGothic.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  18757920 Apr 21  2015 AppleMyungjo.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    122556 Aug  6 22:48 Arial Black.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    558672 Aug  6 22:48 Arial Bold Italic.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    750984 Aug  6 22:48 Arial Bold.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    553284 Aug  6 22:48 Arial Italic.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    183932 Aug  6 22:48 Arial Narrow Bold Italic.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    184420 Aug  6 22:48 Arial Narrow Bold.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    184944 Aug  6 22:48 Arial Narrow Italic.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    179492 Aug  6 22:48 Arial Narrow.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     49296 Aug  6 22:48 Arial Rounded Bold.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  23278008 Aug  6 22:48 Arial Unicode.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    773236 Aug  6 22:48 Arial.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   2310148 Aug  6 22:48 Athelas.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    304592 Jul 30 16:48 Ayuthaya.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    106220 Jul 30 16:48 Baghdad.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    429068 Jul 30 16:48 Bangla MN.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    365072 Jul 30 16:48 Bangla Sangam MN.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   1330920 Aug  6 22:48 Baskerville.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     78976 Jul 30 16:48 Beirut.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    213512 Aug  6 22:48 BigCaslon.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    230216 Aug  6 22:48 Bodoni 72 OS.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     79956 Aug  6 22:48 Bodoni 72 Smallcaps Book.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    416692 Aug  6 22:48 Bodoni 72.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     72492 Aug  6 22:48 Bodoni Ornaments.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    592324 Aug  6 22:48 Bradley Hand Bold.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    222640 Aug  6 22:48 Brush Script.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    166072 Aug  6 22:48 Chalkboard.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    519772 Aug  6 22:48 ChalkboardSE.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    483652 Aug  6 22:48 Chalkduster.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   2097188 Aug  6 22:48 Charter.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   1224236 Aug  6 22:48 Cochin.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    120120 Aug  6 22:48 Comic Sans MS Bold.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    135484 Aug  6 22:48 Comic Sans MS.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   1257000 Aug  6 22:48 Copperplate.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     71784 Jul 30 16:48 Corsiva.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    506640 Aug  6 22:48 Courier New Bold Italic.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    691796 Aug  6 22:48 Courier New Bold.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    589900 Aug  6 22:48 Courier New Italic.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    684624 Aug  6 22:48 Courier New.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    147024 Aug  6 22:48 DIN Alternate Bold.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     82260 Aug  6 22:48 DIN Condensed Bold.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   1973380 Jul 30 16:48 Damascus.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     94640 Jul 30 16:48 DecoTypeNaskh.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    414396 Jul 30 16:48 Devanagari Sangam MN.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    406212 Jul 30 16:48 DevanagariMT.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    712936 Aug  6 22:48 Didot.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     90540 Jul 30 16:48 Diwan Kufi.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   1318280 Jul 30 16:48 Diwan Thuluth.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    550984 Jul 30 16:48 EuphemiaCAS.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     88452 Jul 30 16:48 Farah.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    279940 Jul 30 16:48 Farisi.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    502120 Aug  6 22:48 Futura.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    385768 Aug  6 22:48 Georgia Bold Italic.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    363800 Aug  6 22:48 Georgia Bold.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    400624 Aug  6 22:48 Georgia Italic.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    379588 Aug  6 22:48 Georgia.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   1220852 Aug  6 22:48 GillSans.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    222388 Jul 30 16:48 Gujarati Sangam MN.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    381112 Jul 30 16:48 GujaratiMT.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     87460 Jul 30 16:48 Gurmukhi MN.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     80636 Jul 30 16:48 Gurmukhi Sangam MN.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     63936 Jul 30 16:48 Gurmukhi.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    107692 Aug  6 22:48 Herculanum.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     41544 Aug  6 22:48 Hoefler Text Ornaments.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   1632416 Aug  6 22:48 Hoefler Text.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    826144 Jul 30 16:48 ITFDevanagari.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    138488 Aug  6 22:48 Impact.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    260064 Jul 30 16:48 InaiMathi.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   3356712 Aug  6 22:48 Iowan Old Style.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   1175268 Jul 30 16:48 Kailasa.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    511428 Jul 30 16:48 Kannada MN.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    465676 Jul 30 16:48 Kannada Sangam MN.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    389880 Jul 30 16:48 Kefa.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    436596 Jul 30 16:48 Khmer MN.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    155560 Jul 30 16:48 Khmer Sangam MN.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    677004 Jul 30 16:48 Kokonor.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    186800 Jul 30 16:48 Krungthep.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     85588 Jul 30 16:48 KufiStandardGK.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     85352 Jul 30 16:48 Lao MN.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     38824 Jul 30 16:48 Lao Sangam MN.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    553520 Aug  6 22:48 Luminari.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    174380 Jul 30 16:48 Malayalam MN.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    159240 Jul 30 16:48 Malayalam Sangam MN.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    915352 Aug  6 22:48 Marion.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    652248 Aug  6 22:48 Microsoft Sans Serif.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    658260 Jul 30 16:48 Mishafi Gold.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   1425292 Jul 30 16:48 Mishafi.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    169024 Jul 30 16:48 Mshtakan.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    197916 Jul 30 16:48 Muna.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    225784 Jul 30 16:48 Myanmar MN.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    162772 Jul 30 16:48 Myanmar Sangam MN.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   7108788 Jul 31 23:18 NISC18030.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     59452 Jul 30 16:48 Nadeem.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    148656 Jul 30 16:48 NewPeninimMT.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    251312 Jul 30 16:48 Oriya MN.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    215452 Jul 30 16:48 Oriya Sangam MN.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    309348 Aug  6 22:48 PTMono.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   2767520 Jul 30 16:48 PTSans.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   1151720 Aug  6 22:48 PTSerif.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    700100 Aug  6 22:48 PTSerifCaption.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   1104648 Aug  6 22:48 Papyrus.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    223020 Aug  6 22:48 Phosphate.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     72052 Jul 30 16:48 PlantagenetCherokee.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     63248 Jul 30 16:48 Raanana.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    369156 May 11  2012 STIXGeneral.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    186612 May 11  2012 STIXGeneralBol.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    143764 May 11  2012 STIXGeneralBolIta.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    141844 May 11  2012 STIXGeneralItalic.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     16992 May 11  2012 STIXIntDBol.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     17500 May 11  2012 STIXIntDReg.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     16608 May 11  2012 STIXIntSmBol.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     17416 May 11  2012 STIXIntSmReg.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     16576 May 11  2012 STIXIntUpBol.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     16932 May 11  2012 STIXIntUpDBol.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     16964 May 11  2012 STIXIntUpDReg.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     16856 May 11  2012 STIXIntUpReg.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     16916 May 11  2012 STIXIntUpSmBol.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     17184 May 11  2012 STIXIntUpSmReg.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     54556 May 11  2012 STIXNonUni.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     25508 May 11  2012 STIXNonUniBol.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     41188 May 11  2012 STIXNonUniBolIta.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     46268 May 11  2012 STIXNonUniIta.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     13464 May 11  2012 STIXSizFiveSymReg.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     12628 May 11  2012 STIXSizFourSymBol.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     15656 May 11  2012 STIXSizFourSymReg.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     12924 May 11  2012 STIXSizOneSymBol.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     19004 May 11  2012 STIXSizOneSymReg.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     12636 May 11  2012 STIXSizThreeSymBol.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     15648 May 11  2012 STIXSizThreeSymReg.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     12576 May 11  2012 STIXSizTwoSymBol.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     15620 May 11  2012 STIXSizTwoSymReg.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     21776 May 11  2012 STIXVar.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     14808 May 11  2012 STIXVarBol.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     74936 Jul 30 16:48 Sana.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    414872 Jul 30 16:48 Sathu.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    101512 Aug  6 22:48 Savoye LET.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   4983524 Aug  6 22:48 Seravek.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    520156 Jul 30 16:48 Shree714.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    397316 Aug  6 22:48 SignPainter.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    288864 Jul 30 16:48 Silom.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    642736 Jul 30 16:48 Sinhala MN.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    328636 Jul 30 16:48 Sinhala Sangam MN.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    489424 Aug  6 22:48 Skia.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   3587668 Aug  6 22:48 SnellRoundhand.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  66954320 Jul 31 23:18 Songti.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    626056 Jul 30 16:48 SukhumvitSet.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   2681496 Aug  6 22:48 SuperClarendon.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    626928 Aug  6 22:48 Tahoma Bold.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    681120 Aug  6 22:48 Tahoma.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    190204 Jul 30 16:48 Tamil MN.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    148524 Jul 30 16:48 Tamil Sangam MN.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    807688 Jul 30 16:48 Telugu MN.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    606924 Jul 30 16:48 Telugu Sangam MN.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    620008 Aug  6 22:48 Times New Roman Bold Italic.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    842168 Aug  6 22:48 Times New Roman Bold.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    660268 Aug  6 22:48 Times New Roman Italic.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    834452 Aug  6 22:48 Times New Roman.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   1160004 Aug  6 22:48 Trattatello.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    137008 Aug  6 22:48 Trebuchet MS Bold Italic.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    129360 Aug  6 22:48 Trebuchet MS Bold.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    144820 Aug  6 22:48 Trebuchet MS Italic.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    138848 Aug  6 22:48 Trebuchet MS.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    173132 Aug  6 22:48 Verdana Bold Italic.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    153260 Aug  6 22:48 Verdana Bold.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    174612 Aug  6 22:48 Verdana Italic.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    186188 Aug  6 22:48 Verdana.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    368184 Jul 30 16:48 Waseem.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    124308 Aug  6 22:48 Webdings.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     68768 Aug  6 22:48 Wingdings 2.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     38308 Aug  6 22:48 Wingdings 3.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     86384 Aug  6 22:48 Wingdings.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    406468 Aug  6 22:48 Zapfino.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  11409608 Oct  9  2015 ヒラギノ丸ゴ ProN W4.ttc
$

$ ls -l /System/Library/Fonts
total 785616
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    263912 Aug  6 22:48 Apple Braille Outline 6 Dot.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    280980 Aug  6 22:48 Apple Braille Outline 8 Dot.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    183080 Aug  6 22:48 Apple Braille Pinpoint 6 Dot.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    189668 Aug  6 22:48 Apple Braille Pinpoint 8 Dot.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    135960 Aug  6 22:48 Apple Braille.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  90421904 Aug  6 22:48 Apple Color Emoji.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    973516 Aug  6 22:48 Apple Symbols.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  28386056 Aug 11  2015 AppleSDGothicNeo.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  18487164 Nov  7  2014 AquaKana.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    192088 Jul 30 16:48 ArialHB.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   3325568 Aug  6 22:48 Avenir Next Condensed.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   5045468 Aug  6 22:48 Avenir Next.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   1593228 Aug  6 22:48 Avenir.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   1646421 Aug  6 22:48 Courier.dfont
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   1023944 Aug  6 22:48 GeezaPro.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    750818 Aug  6 22:48 Geneva.dfont
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    181804 Aug  6 22:48 HelveLTMM
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   2563430 Aug  6 22:48 Helvetica.dfont
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   6739979 Aug  6 22:48 HelveticaNeue.dfont
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   5377548 Aug  6 22:48 HelveticaNeueDeskInterface.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  13187340 Jul 31 23:18 Hiragino Sans GB W3.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  13249216 Jul 31 23:18 Hiragino Sans GB W6.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     55840 Aug  6 22:48 Keyboard.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    907504 Jul 30 16:48 Kohinoor.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    635128 Jul 30 16:48 KohinoorBangla.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    343244 Jul 30 16:48 KohinoorTelugu.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel      3044 Aug  6 22:48 LastResort.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   3181856 Aug  6 22:48 LucidaGrande.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    621152 Aug  6 22:48 MarkerFelt.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   2134884 Aug  6 22:48 Menlo.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    563895 Aug  6 22:48 Monaco.dfont
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    551924 Aug  6 22:48 Noteworthy.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    253740 Aug  6 22:48 Optima.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   1770652 Aug  6 22:48 Palatino.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  80376964 Jul 31 23:18 PingFang.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    288120 Jul 31 13:08 SFCompactDisplay-Black.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    312640 Jul 31 13:08 SFCompactDisplay-Bold.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    313248 Jul 31 13:08 SFCompactDisplay-Heavy.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    310664 Jul 31 13:08 SFCompactDisplay-Light.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    313620 Jul 31 13:08 SFCompactDisplay-Medium.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    306876 Jul 31 13:08 SFCompactDisplay-Regular.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    313492 Jul 31 13:08 SFCompactDisplay-Semibold.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    309476 Jul 31 13:08 SFCompactDisplay-Thin.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    309320 Jul 31 13:08 SFCompactDisplay-Ultralight.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    178988 Jul  6 15:19 SFCompactRounded-Black.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    193664 Jul  6 15:19 SFCompactRounded-Bold.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    193508 Jul  6 15:19 SFCompactRounded-Heavy.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    191380 Jul  6 15:19 SFCompactRounded-Light.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    193788 Jul  6 15:19 SFCompactRounded-Medium.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    187600 Jul  6 15:19 SFCompactRounded-Regular.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    193812 Jul  6 15:19 SFCompactRounded-Semibold.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    193080 Jul  6 15:19 SFCompactRounded-Thin.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    192088 Jul  6 15:19 SFCompactRounded-Ultralight.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    306152 Jul 31 13:08 SFCompactText-Bold.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    167884 Jul 31 13:08 SFCompactText-BoldItalic.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    303736 Jul 31 13:08 SFCompactText-Heavy.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    167004 Jul 31 13:08 SFCompactText-HeavyItalic.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    299932 Jul 31 13:08 SFCompactText-Light.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    169716 Jul 31 13:08 SFCompactText-LightItalic.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    307168 Jul 31 13:08 SFCompactText-Medium.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    168604 Jul 31 13:08 SFCompactText-MediumItalic.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    301796 Jul 31 13:08 SFCompactText-Regular.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    167984 Jul 31 13:08 SFCompactText-RegularItalic.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    307160 Jul 31 13:08 SFCompactText-Semibold.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    168200 Jul 31 13:08 SFCompactText-SemiboldItalic.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   1271388 Jul 31 13:08 SFNSDisplay.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    145624 Jul 13 16:26 SFNSDisplayCondensed-Black.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    157096 Jul 13 16:26 SFNSDisplayCondensed-Bold.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    156080 Jul 13 16:26 SFNSDisplayCondensed-Heavy.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    157376 Jul 13 16:26 SFNSDisplayCondensed-Light.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    155440 Jul 13 16:26 SFNSDisplayCondensed-Medium.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    150940 Jul 13 16:26 SFNSDisplayCondensed-Regular.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    156284 Jul 13 16:26 SFNSDisplayCondensed-Semibold.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    155928 Jul 13 16:26 SFNSDisplayCondensed-Thin.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    154988 Jul 13 16:26 SFNSDisplayCondensed-Ultralight.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   1761608 Jul 31 13:08 SFNSText.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    169580 Jul 13 16:26 SFNSTextCondensed-Bold.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    168520 Jul 13 16:26 SFNSTextCondensed-Heavy.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    168364 Jul 13 16:26 SFNSTextCondensed-Light.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    167356 Jul 13 16:26 SFNSTextCondensed-Medium.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    163036 Jul 13 16:26 SFNSTextCondensed-Regular.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    168296 Jul 13 16:26 SFNSTextCondensed-Semibold.otf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    879792 Jul 31 13:08 SFNSTextItalic.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  55997812 Jul 31 23:18 STHeiti Light.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  55966692 Jul 31 23:18 STHeiti Medium.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    109612 Aug  6 22:48 Symbol.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   2411184 Jul 30 16:48 Thonburi.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   1599593 Aug  6 22:48 Times.dfont
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    208494 Aug  6 22:48 TimesLTMM
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    154132 Aug  6 22:48 ZapfDingbats.ttf
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  11867472 Oct  9  2015 ヒラギノ明朝 ProN W3.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  11975732 Oct  9  2015 ヒラギノ明朝 ProN W6.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   3567792 Jul 14  2015 ヒラギノ角ゴシック W0.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   7286744 Jul 14  2015 ヒラギノ角ゴシック W1.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   7270552 Jul 14  2015 ヒラギノ角ゴシック W2.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   7891480 Sep 18  2015 ヒラギノ角ゴシック W3.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   7259328 Jul 14  2015 ヒラギノ角ゴシック W4.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   7260984 Jul 14  2015 ヒラギノ角ゴシック W5.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   7998200 Sep 18  2015 ヒラギノ角ゴシック W6.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   3607768 Jul 14  2015 ヒラギノ角ゴシック W7.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   4096288 Oct  9  2015 ヒラギノ角ゴシック W8.ttc
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   3464676 Jul 14  2015 ヒラギノ角ゴシック W9.ttc
$


How can I rename desktops in Mission Control? The default new desktop space is named 'Desktop 1'. If you create a new one, it is named 'Desktop 2'. Is there a way to change those default names to something more meaningful?

Additionally, it looks like you can't rearrange spaces either and the 'automatically rearrange spaces based on most recent use' checkbox seems to do nothing.

No, there is no way to do that in the current build. Well, sort of. An example is if you have iTunes open in fullscreen in a separate desktop, and go to mission control, the desktop will be called iTunes.


Cannot connect to High Sierra using afp I have used the afp protocol to share between Macs on my local network.

I normally connect using a command like the following:-

open afp://Thylacine.local

This then prompts for a shared directory to connect to.

I have experienced some difficulties since upgrading to High Sierra.

My wife has a new Macbook Pro, which she setup by copying from a TimeMachine backup from her old Mac (running Sierra) then upgrading to High Sierra.

I can access the old Mac with no issues.

I have checked and double checked. Sharing (using afp) has been enabled, and there are a number of shared Directories.

Any attempt to connect fails because there are no shared directories.

I tried using my daughter's laptop MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2012) also running High Sierra 10.13.2
This exhibits similar difficulties, although bizarrely it offers to share 2 mounted external Volumes.
I can access her Mac using Screen Sharing.

Can anyone suggest what is wrong, or any other steps I might follow.

I have just tried connecting from my daughter's MacBook to mine (also running 10.13.2) and this seems to proceed flawlessly.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207828

AFP can’t share files on Apple File System (APFS). Apple File System (APFS) is the default file system in macOS High Sierra for Mac computers with all-flash storage. You can't opt out of the transition to APFS when you upgrade a Mac with all-flash storage to macOS High Sierra.
If you need to share files, switch to SMB. If you have network home directories shared via AFP on an APFS volume, update the mount records and user records to use SMB.


iTunes AirPlay to AppleTV works perfectly; System Preferences audio output to AppleTV jitters horribly? Interesting one here, I have an iMac 2011 and a MBP 13" Retina 2013, the iMac works fine every which way, both are connected at 5GHz to my router, both running Mavericks.

My MBP will jitter and pop horribly when outputting audio to my AppleTV.  Audio output is fine when using Display Mirroring.  Audio is also perfect when initiating AirPlay from iTunes... unless I afterwards enable AirPlay from System Preferences in which case the popping starts again.

It can't be the router because my iMac doesn't have a problem with it.
It can't be the AppleTV because of the above reason.
It can't be the MBP because iTunes doesn't have an issue and when Display Mirroring is on it's fine.
What the heck is it then?

Can anyone think how I can output audio from the comfort of my couch to my AppleTV without having display mirroring on and without enduring horrendous bouts of skin-curling pops?

The problem stopped occurring since updating OSX last night to 10.9.2.

In the fix lists is one ominous line:
"Fixes an issue that may cause audio distortion on certain Macs"

Here is the support link for reference:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT6114


How do I improve video perfomance on my dual core Macbook Pro? I have a late 2011 MacBook Pro, 2.7 GHz i7 with 8MB RAM. I run t cover closed to a 24" 1920 x 1050 monitor connected via a Thunderbolt to DVI adapter.

When I play Flash video, the fan goes to over 6000 rpm and the CPU spikes. Annoying and loud. Is there any way to improve performance?

Assuming that you are not using the full computational power of your CPU (if you were, then that would be the end of the optimization process, overcloking put aside), the only thing you can optimize is cooling.

CPU can get throttled quiet heavily at high load after a certain point if the cooling system fails to evacuate the remaining heat, for two reasons :

Fans and radiator can get quiet dirty, hence obstructing the airflow
The heat paste can be aging and/or of poor quality, not transferring heat between the CPU (the place were heat is generated) and the heatsink (the place were it is evacuated by the airflow), hence the heat buildup and necessity to throttle the CPU to prevent it from damaging itself.

So, as for the solutions :

Cleaning the fan(s) AND radiator with pressurized air will get you a performance output proportional to their dirtiness and is quiet straightforward (just need a a Phillips and T6 screw driver).
As for the state of your thermal paste, and can diagnose it easily by putting your computer under a maximum load and looking at the reading of temperature sensors (the iStat Nano widget is enough) for both CPUS and Heatsink; too much a temperature difference between your CPU (should be 90-95°C) and your heatsink(should be more than 60-65°C) is the sign that could benefit from changing it. Be careful, as it is a very demanding and precise work, but could give you the extra performance you are looking for (don't expect too much of it though, maybe 10-20% ?).

Guides are available on iFixit for all these operations.


Wi-Fi Static Ip on a Macbook-Pro I have a Macbook Pro Mid 2012 with Mountain Lion. The goal is to have an ip address that never changes, even after reboot or changing to a different wireless network.

I followed the steps from this link - http://www.macinstruct.com/node/550 and it works for 'ethernet' connections. It tells you to go to network advanced settings and to use  "Using DHCP with Manual Address" under the TCP/IP tab.

It does not work for 'Wi-Fi' connections. Does anybody know how to make it work for 'Wi-Fi'?

Make sure that you have the correct gateway and netmask, and after setting your IP address information you click OK, then click Apply on the original network screen.


Restore partition type to NTFS I have a usb disk with two different partitions, one for TimeMachine and the other for storage formatted as NTFS.

This morning i was looking for a way to mount in r/w mode the NTFS partion (macfuse and "ntfs for macosx")  but something gone wrong and my partition is not more mountable.
Diskutils show the partition as "ExFat" but I'm 100% sure that is a ntfs partition.

There is a way to restore the partition type to NTFS?

ExFAT is not the same as NTFS, it is however cross-compatible with Mac (10.6.5+), Linux and Windows (may require additional drivers/software).
It seems as you have unintentionally formatted your NTFS-partition to an ExFAT partition, and depending on which version of OS X you're running your Mac can only read from that file system and not write. (Unless you have additional software installed to handle that file system)
You can try and reformat the partition in Terminal in case the Disk Utility is being silly, you will lose all files from that partition (they're technically not gone, but you'll need third-party software to restore them).
To format the partition open up the Terminal App and run:
sudo diskutil list

Find the partition that matches your USB-partition you wish to format. It should looks something likes this (This is from my own harddrive). Find the correct identifier for the ExFAT partition.

Now run the following in the Terminal:
sudo diskutil eraseVolume {FileSystem} {Name} /dev/diskN

Replace {FileSystem} with HFS+ or similar (only natively supported on Mac, not Windows/Linux) and {Name} with a name for the partition. Replace /dev/diskN with the identifier for your ExFAT-partition. Make sure you type the right identifier, if you type in the wrong one you could easily wipe your Mac's internal harddrive.
Now the partition should be reformatted, unless any errors occured. Now you can open up Disk Utility and choose to format the partition as NTFS if you don't want to stick with HFS+.
This might not be the most effective way to do it, I'm no expert so anyone with better knowledge feel free to come up with a more effective solution


Using Mac OS X 10.9 lsof launches 5 to 10 processes at a time on its own taking all cpu I am running a MacBook Air 13 (Latest) with 8GB / 512 Flash / Core Intel i7.

Lately shortly after bootup I hear the fans winding at top speed. I checked the top processes and see several instances of lsof and Python consuming 50% CPU each. There are sometimes 6 or 8 and if I kill them they just relaunch. When I check the parent ID of these it looks like it the postgres database which is the parent and it appears to be backing up calendar.

Is there any way to stop this from happening? It's eating up my battery not to mention cycles off of the Air's life. Any help would be much appreciated.

I had the same problem, and quitting the Adobe Acrobat update fixed the issue.


How can we unlock an iPhone backup file if we don't know the password? I've got a rather peculiar problem. My wife's iPhone got stolen and we bought a new one from the insurance money. When trying to restore the backup file to her new phone, iTunes asks for the password:

Enter the password to unlock your iPhone backup file.

The problem is, that she removed the password a long time ago. Hence she can not remember it. All we know is that it must be a number between 1111 and 9999.

Is there any way to brute force this? Other than by hand?

The password used to encrypt the backup file might have been saved to the user's keychain.

from /Application/Utilities open the Keychain Access utility
make sure that on the left side "All items" is selected under categories
in the upper right search field enter "iphone" and then look for a keychain item named "iPhone Backup" of kind "application password". If there is no such item, you´re mostly out of luck
double click on the "iPhone Backup" entry and in the new window that will open, click on the "show password" checkbox
you will now be prompted to enter your password (the one your user has on your Mac) to show the iPhone backup password; click Allow (once). You should now see the iPhone Backup password in clear text.

I don't think windows has an equivalent store for saving the password. If not, you will have to try brute forcing it in iTunes - just me methodical - write down all sorts of passwords that may have been used - brainstorm a bit. Then try them one by one. Hopefully with the pressure off a bit you will stumble upon the pass phrase that was used.


How to Automate Cropping Images? Is there any way to automate cropping images on Mac? (Not the whole file, but part of the file.)

I've tried this with Automator but the cropping function just makes the whole image smaller instead of chopping the part that I don't want off of the image.

You may use ImageMagick in order to crop from command line. That way you may include the command inside an Applescript, or call the command directly from terminal.
You can install it following these instructions and then you crop all images inside a folder, given:

convert '*.jpg' -crop 120x120+10+5 thumbnail%03d.png

where 120x120 is the resulting size and 10+5 is the offset (10 pixels width and 5 pixels height).


Range of values for a cell in Numbers? Is it possible to have a range of values for a cell in Numbers? E.g. for financial calculations involving income and costs, is it possible to have a "vague" value like $ 1,000 - 3,000, and base a calculation in another cell on it like =SUM(A1:A3), and that sum will output as a calculated range like $ 10,000 - 40,000?

Not in one cell, but in two adjacent cells that is easy for both input pair and output pair.
However, the two outputs could be shown in one cell by using the separate calculations joined by concatenate.


My Shut Down menu is partially in English After macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 Supplemental Update 2, my Shut Down menu changed from Dutch to English, but only partially:

I tried adding and removing Dutch and English in the Language & Region System Preferences pane, but to no avail.

What worked for me is following the instructions to change the language used at the login screen on your Mac, namely:

Switch to admin account
Open Terminal.app
Run sudo languagesetup
Enter 9 (which indicates Dutch, my preferred language)
Reboot


Upgrade to Mojave with a usb drive I want to upgrade to Mojave but there is no room on my main disk drive to download it. Is it possible to download it to a usb drive and then upgrade the operating system on main disk drive from there?

It is easier if you free space on your main drive, move the stuff to iCloud, Google drive or USB.

You would have to free some space anyway.


Google Exchange service and missing calendar events I have my iTouch (4th generation, up to date) syncing with Google's Exchange service, and mostly it works fine.  The problem is that some of my calendar events just seem to disappear, sometimes eventually coming back if they're events that are set to recur.

I have found no rhyme or reason to which events refuse to sync or when, but this is a problem I need to resolve somehow.

I do have several calendars syncing through the Exchange service, but I'm not missing entire calendars, just some events from various calendars, including my main (default) calendar.

Edit: My bounty expired without a solution, and I can't really place another. Please, someone help me. I'm desperate for a solution!

I do need to know if you have it set to sync "All Events" in: Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Sync ""All Events"


How can I force Photo app on the Mac to scan for faces in a given picture? I have a few pictures where the photo app has detected no faces at all.

Is there a way to force the app to rescan those picture for faces?

I have noticed on El Capitan Photos that manually adding faces on individual photos (cmd+i, click circle with + , position manually and resize circle, type person name) then skipping forward one by one (right arrow or slide) will rescan sequential photos.

Then going directly to Faces and clicking person face which you were working on will suggest that more photos could be added.

This made Photos to gain additional 10-20% face recognition for me.


Mass change a portion of a file name? I have a whole bunch of files named as following (example):

ADVANTE  18''8.0 PCD5'114.3 ET45 CB73.1.jpg
ADVANTE  18x8.0 PCD6139.7 ET20 CB110.2.jpg
ADVANTE 'A MI576B 20''8.5 PCD6'139.7 ET25 CB110.2 GBXZLDCP.jpg
ADVANTE 'A SH10 15''6.5 PCD8'100-114.3 ET40 CB73.1 3FPBU.jpg

How do I go to each file and change a portion of their filename to:

ADVANTI  18''8.0 PCD5'114.3 ET45 CB73.1.jpg
ADVANTI  18x8.0 PCD6139.7 ET20 CB110.2.jpg
ADVANTI 'A MI576B 20''8.5 PCD6'139.7 ET25 CB110.2 GBXZLDCP.jpg
ADVANTI 'A SH10 15''6.5 PCD8'100-114.3 ET40 CB73.1 3FPBU.jpg

using some sort of command or app? It would take too long to rename each and every one of them manually.

If you use the ZSH shell, this can be done easily in Terminal with zmv (included with OS X by default). Why use fancy scripts if the work is already done?

Type zsh in a terminal window if for some crazy reason you do not have it set as your default shell.

autoload zmv
zmv 'ADVANTE(*)' 'ADVANTI$1'


My iPhone suddenly started showing me an activation error I am new here so please forgive me if it's the wrong place to ask.

My iPhone suddenly showed me an Activation Error with the message "Activation could not be completed. Please restore the phone and install the latest version of IOS and attempt activation again. If the problem persists, please contact customer support." - when I googled it, some solutions would say I need to download the OS from a laptop. But I do not have a laptop, this iPhone and another phone are all I have. Please tell me what to do, I need to access my iPhone urgently. Thank you

While you are in queue for support, why no step through this?

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201407

Especially the get more support section once you have implemented each of the steps above. Usually it’s less than 30 minutes to solve most of the errors in my experience. Worst case without a computer you will need help from someone else or to ship it to service.


iCloud keychain problems - asking passwords, can't change password, can't unsync Main symptom: When I reboot I get multiple prompts asking for the "local items" keychain password.
Details:

The password required is my old iCloud password, not my current user account password nor my current iCloud password
The keychain access program lists "local items" as a keychain until I log in to one with my old password -- after which it changes to "iCloud"
The option to reset the password for both local items (before entering the PW) and iCloud keychain (after) are both greyed out.
I cannot stop syncing my iCloud keychain. When I uncheck the box, the box rechecks itself in a second or two.
to confuse things, I used my iCloud account as my login for the computer briefly

I have looked at several topics to guide me, but none of them have led to a resolution as it seems the problem is always slightly different.

Any help is highly appreciated!

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I found this simple solution. At least in my experience, the password for the default keychain cannot be changed, so:

1) Create a new keychain (File→New Keychain… ⌥⌘N). I named it temp and gave it a simple password.

2) Right-click the temp keychain and select Make Keychain “temp” Default.

3) Select the original keychain.

4) Edit→Change Password for Keychain [name]… should now be accessible. Select it and change the password to your heart’s content.

5) Right-click the original keychain and select Make Keychain [name] Default.

6) Right-click the temp keychain and select Delete Keychain “temp”


Spotlight search stopped suggesting my frequently-used app I use Spotlight Search frequently to launch apps on my Mac, and it works perfectly. I use Telegram Desktop frequently by typing a few letters in Spotlight Search. I just type a few letters and tap enter and it opens. Simple as that.

However, today it started not finding it. Instead, it shows this:

The app is there, launches perfectly manually from Applications folder:

But in Spotlight Search, it's not being suggested. I've got Applications option ticked in Spotlight options from System Preferences (though I haven't touched it anyway) and it suggests other apps from the Applications folder with no problem. I am on macOS 10.12.6.

How can I fix this problem?

the same thing happened to me today... I just shut down my Mac and restarted it after a while and for now it's fixed...

I hope it will stay this way, nd it might be a solution for you as well!


How does the visible storage on a Time Machine disk work? I've had a computer failure and had to replace my computer with a new one. I have a Time Machine backup that I want to use to restore a large number of files from, but I don't want to do a full system restore. My old setup was a little crufty, and the OS version is old, so I want a new, clean OS/Application install. I don't want to use the Assistant, because I want more fine grain control over the files I'm copying over.  I know how to use the "Browse other disks" function buried in the Time Machine setup, but this is a pain.

My question is about what you see when you browse the disk in the Finder or the Terminal. It lists the backups by date and time stamp, along with a shortcut to "Latest". I know Time Machine making a complete copy each time it backs up. My understanding is that it's not copying the diff each time it runs, it's just recording a new copy of any files which have changed since the last backup (like a directory diff).

What then does the user actually see when the browse to a particular folder with a given timestamp? Is OSX representing the filesystem in such a way that these folders look like a point-in-time representation? Can I just treat them as such without having to use the stupid animated, kill-everything-else on screen, Time Machine program?

You can safely restore files using finder or the command line (rsync or other) if you want to avoid using the Time Machine animation.

The reason why needs explanation: Technically, the system uses hard links. So if you make three new files on the desktop named A, B and C and then make three backups. This is what happens:

The first backup copies the new files to the correct location on the backup drive (in your user's home folder for the time specific snapshot - or /Volumes/Drive/Backups.backupdb/mac_name/2011-07-03-123456/Mac HD/Users/you/Desktop/A and B and C.
The next backup detects that the file is unchanged and makes a hard link in the next backup interval desktop directory pointing to the original file on the first backup.
Now modify file B and make a backup. There will be one copy of A, C - each with link count of three (three intervals have that version) and there will be two versions of B one version with link count of 1 and one version with link count of 2.

Now the file "exists" in both directories with a link count of 2. Any copy operation copies the correct bits to the new place, and if you deleted one copy (Time Machine prevents this with Access Control Lists) of file A it would decrement the link count on the file and remove it from the folder list where you deleted it.

Eventually when the link count of a file is 1 - deleting it deletes both the data and the entry for the file.

For your case - you could pick a time and copy whatever files you want as hard links don't cross volume boundaries and you'll end up with a non hard linked file with link count 1 where you put the file on your current disk.

You didn't ask, but be sure to use tmutil to clean up files on the Time Machine or the graphical interface. They understand link counts and work well. If you try to delete files manually (say dragging them to trash) - you are in for a bad time unless you are sneaky about it.


If I turn off iCloud Camera Roll backups, do I still have the pictures somewhere? So when I'm asked if I want to turn off iCloud Camera Roll backups and delete the backup data from iCloud, will I still have the pictures somewhere? I don't get it...

You should still have them on your device, unless you deleted them already. However if your device is wiped, you will not be able to restore them from iCloud, as they no longer exist there.

Also, photos taken in the future will no longer be backed up to iCloud. They will only be on your device.


Where is the list of sidebar's favourites stored in macOS Sierra? Where is the list of sidebar's favourites stored in macOS Sierra?
I tried to delete ~/Library/Preferences/com.applde.finder.plist and ~/Library/Preferences/com.applde.sidebarlist.plist - almost all preferences are reset except list of favourites - it remains

Thanks to @TonyWilliams for the starting point and after a brief research I realized that requested sidebar's favourites are stored actually in directory ~/Library/Application Support/com.apple.sharedfilelist/, the file com.apple.LSSharedFileList.FavoriteItems.sfl among other files which are responsible for other sidebar sections. But those files are not available for easy editing.

Starting from OSX El Capitan and newer versions there is a command-line tool sfltool availabe to make some operations with that files, such as add an item.
But this tools doesn't have ability to remove items (the root of my problem which causes to this research) and I found another good tool on GitHub called mysides
which allows to remove items as well.


how to record video with mixture of line-in and out? I want to create a guitar video when I'm playing guitar simultaneously with a track playing. So I want to write mixture of line in and out. Is it possible in Photo Booth? By default, it writes only line-in channel.

Install Soundflower
Open QuickTime Player and choose File > Movie Recording
Change the input device to Soundflower (2ch)

Create a new project in Garageband
Set the output device to Soundflower (2ch) in the preferences

Add one audio track for the background audio and another for recording the guitar
Enable playthru for both tracks

Start recording in QuickTime Player and Garageband


How can I play video with spacial audio stored locally on device? How can I locally store a video file on my iPhone and play it with spacial audio support using AirPods?
I'm ok transcoding it into a format specific for this. The audio info from mediainfo for the track I'm interested in is below.
Audio #1
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AC-3
Format/Info                              : Audio Coding 3
Codec ID                                 : A_AC3
Duration                                 : 1 h 46 min
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 640 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 6 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Bit depth                                : 16 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Delay relative to video                  : -5 ms
Stream size                              : 488 MiB (7%)
Title                                    : Surround
Language                                 : English
Service kind                             : Complete Main
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No

Spatial audio changes the left right balance of any sound. You don’t have to encode anything other than having stereo sound.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211775

Playing video from the files app works for me. Whether you choose local storage or Cloud storage, the processing of my head moving relative to the device works.


Trash folder is not emptying because of the P ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́A ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́I ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́N ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́.jpg file When I cd ~/.Trash in the terminal, it shows that there is a folder Downloads, and inside the Downloads folder, another folder Reactions, and inside Reactions, there is a file called

Shutting down or restarting the computer does not work to empty the trash. Also, I should say that the file is hidden and is not showing when I open the Trash folder. Is it a virus? If yes, how do I get rid of it?

In terminal, using:  cd ~/.Trash/Downloads/Reactions and then ls -al, shows the jpg file.

(shown in the screenshot of the file because I could not copy and paste the text here in this question)

drwxrwxrwx  3 username  staff  102 Jan 19 14:36 .

drwxr-xr-x  3 username  staff  102 Jan 19 16:09 ..

Update 1
 I moved the Reactions out of the Downloads and emptied the trash. Now there is only Reactions left with the .jpg inside.

 By running ls -aBeil ~/.Trash/Reactions in terminal, following is the result:

 36328284 drwxrwxrwx  3 username  staff  102 Jan 19 14:36 .
 68013143 drwx------  3 username  staff  102 Jan 20 14:55 ..
Update 2
 From cd ~/.Trash/Reactions > rm 'P > enter spacetab'return
 Result is as follows:

Update 3
 Below is the result from unset LANG ; ls -aBeil ~/.Trash/Reactions:

Update 4
 Below is the result from utility disk verification:

Update 5
 I just repaired the disk through Disk Utility using command + R access after system restart. Then, .jpg file is not hidden anymore and can be emptied on trash. Below you can see the screenshots.

 Thank you all for your comments and answers. Special thanks to daniel Azuelos, patrix and klanomath.

This answer may not really answer the question but provide some information what might had happened.

I've downloaded the torrent with 4Chan pictures containing the Pain.jpg and two other pics with hebrew chars.
Here is the diabolic culprit ;-)

ls -aBeil shows:

mymac:Reactions user$ ls -aBeil
ls: P ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́A ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́I ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́N ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́.jpg: No such file or directory
total 528
581705 drwxrwxrwx  6 user  staff     204 Jan 21 12:08 .
401304 drwx------+ 6 user  staff     204 Jan 21 11:57 ..
 0: group:everyone deny delete
582449 -rw-r--r--@ 1 user  staff    6148 Jan 21 12:08 .DS_Store
582261 -rw-r--r--  1 user  staff    4792 Jan 21 12:05 ה̌͐͊͒̾͆יͩ́א ͭ̆צ̿̒̃͛ו͋פͯ͆̉ה͑͑ͧ̇ͪ͆.jpg
582094 -rw-r--r--  1 user  staff  253804 Jan 21 12:06 ה̌͐͊͒̾͆יͩ́א ͭ̆צ̿̒̃͛ו͋פͯ͆̉ה͑͑ͧ̇ͪ͆.xcf

lsof -- . * shows:

mymac:Reactions user$ lsof -- . *
lsof: status error on P ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́A ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́I ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́N ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́.jpg: No such file or directory
COMMAND  PID     USER   FD   TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF   NODE NAME
bash    1290 user  cwd    DIR    1,2      204 581705 .
lsof    1345 user  cwd    DIR    1,2      204 581705 .
lsof    1346 user  cwd    DIR    1,2      204 581705 .

All files were visible in the Finder except .DS_Store of course. Pain.jpg had a default icon and couldn't be opened. After moving Pain.jpg to the Downloads folder (at ~12:13 - check log below), waiting a few seconds and moving it back into the Reactions folder the preview icon appeared and the file could be opened.

ls -aBeil now shows:

mymac:Reactions user$ ls -aBeil
total 616
581705 drwxrwxrwx  6 user  staff     204 Jan 21 12:14 .
401304 drwx------+ 6 user  staff     204 Jan 21 12:14 ..
 0: group:everyone deny delete
582449 -rw-r--r--@ 1 user  staff    6148 Jan 21 12:14 .DS_Store
581871 -rw-r--r--  1 user  staff   44041 Jan 21 12:01 P ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́A ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́I ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́N ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́.jpg
582261 -rw-r--r--  1 user  staff    4792 Jan 21 12:05 ה̌͐͊͒̾͆יͩ́א ͭ̆צ̿̒̃͛ו͋פͯ͆̉ה͑͑ͧ̇ͪ͆.jpg
582094 -rw-r--r--  1 user  staff  253804 Jan 21 12:06 ה̌͐͊͒̾͆יͩ́א ͭ̆צ̿̒̃͛ו͋פͯ͆̉ה͑͑ͧ̇ͪ͆.xcf

lsof -- . * shows:

mymac:Reactions user$ lsof -- . *
COMMAND  PID     USER   FD   TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF   NODE NAME
bash    1290 user  cwd    DIR    1,2      204 581705 .
lsof    1390 user  cwd    DIR    1,2      204 581705 .
lsof    1391 user  cwd    DIR    1,2      204 581705 .

The corresponding log entries (sorry for the irritating hebrew chars cluttering the entries - at least editing and viewing them in Google Chrome - it's really difficult to format it at all):

21/01/15 12:07:10,734 QuickLookUIHelper[1231]: CoreAnimation: failed to create OpenGL context
21/01/15 12:07:32,702 sandboxd[346]: ([1180]) mdworker(1180) deny file-read-xattr /Users/user/Desktop/Reactions ()
21/01/15 12:08:03,862 QuickLookUIHelper[1248]: CoreAnimation: failed to create OpenGL context
21/01/15 12:13:41,303 Finder[325]: sandbox extension creation failed: file system representation creation error for path: [/Users/user/Downloads/Reactions/P ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́A ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́I ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́N ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́.jpg]
21/01/15 12:13:41,303 Finder[325]: __CFPasteboardCreateSandboxExtensionDataFromCFData : failed to obtain sandbox extension data for url [file:///.file/id=6571367.581871]
21/01/15 12:13:41,304 Finder[325]: Failed to obtain a valid sandbox extension for item: [789514] of flavor: [public.file-url] from the pasteboard.  Because the sandbox extension failed to be generated..
21/01/15 12:13:41,304 Finder[325]: Failed to get a sandbox extensions for itemIdentifier (789514).  The data for the sandbox extension was still proxy data
21/01/15 12:13:47,518 Finder[325]: sandbox extension creation failed: file system representation creation error for path: [/Users/user/Downloads/Reactions/P ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́A ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́I ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́N ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́.jpg]
21/01/15 12:13:47,518 Finder[325]: __CFPasteboardCreateSandboxExtensionDataFromCFData : failed to obtain sandbox extension data for url [file:///Users/user/Downloads/Reactions/P%20%CD%8E%CC%AE%CD%89%CD%8D%CD%A8%CC%88%CC%81%CC%BE%CC%88%CC%81A%20%CD%8E%CC%AE%CD%89%CD%8D%CD%A8%CC%88%CC%81%CC%BE%CC%88%CC%81I%20%CD%8E%CC%AE%CD%89%CD%8D%CD%A8%CC%88%CC%81%CC%BE%CC%88%CC%81N%20%CD%8E%CC%AE%CD%89%CD%8D%CD%A8%CC%88%CC%81%CC%BE%CC%88%CC%81.jpg]

Moving the whole Reactions folder to the trash and deleting it with the pics is no problem.
The same applies for copying the folder or moving it around.
The Pain.jpg - though really a PITA regarding proper display - doesn't seem to be a virus.

The problems in Finder and sandbox probably occur because of the strange naming of the file: mixed roman and hebrew chars. Hebrew only file names are notated right to left (see second picture). Additionally some filesystem damage may had happened.

My advices are:

like others already mentioned: try to repair your main volume with 'Disk Utility' after rebooting to Recovery Mode
move the file to another folder, wait some time and move it back to its origin until you see the preview image. Check your logs for the sandbox messages (see above).
try to execute find . -inum <inode> -exec rm {} \; after successfully using ls -aBeil to get the inode of 'Pain.jpg'. In my case that would have been: find . -inum 581871 -exec rm {} \;
reboot to Recovery Mode and try to execute the last command (find . -inum <inode> -exec rm {} \;) after repairing the filesystem.
try to execute rm 'P\ ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́A\ ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́I\ ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́N\ ͎̮͉͍ͨ̈́̾̈́.jpg'