Establishing ssh session using Back To My Mac I am trying to establish a ssh session to my MacBook using "Back to my Mac". So I turned the "Back to my Mac" option on in iCloud and ticked the remote sign in box. But if I issue the command

ssh user_name@computer_name.number.members.btmm.icloud.com

the terminal just goes into the next line and stays black.
Sorry for not providing more information, but I don't know much about this, so I don't know what else information to provide.

Does anybody know what I did wrong?

Edit: As suggested I used the -vvvv flag and got:

OpenSSH_7.4p1, LibreSSL 2.5.0
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config
debug2: resolving "computer_name.number.members.btmm.icloud.com" port 22
debug2: ssh_connect_direct: needpriv 0
debug1: Connecting to computer_name.number.members.btmm.icloud.com [private_IPv6_address] port 22: Operation timed out
ssh: Connecting to computer_name.number.members.btmm.icloud.com [private_IPv6_address] port 22: Operation timed out

Also the command

ssh localhost

works without any troubles.

"Back to my Mac" uses a special tunnel device configured with two - more or less random and unique - IPv6 addresses from the local address room:

a link local address: fe80...
a unique local unicast (ULA): fc00… to fdff…

All IPv6 traffic (computer_name.number.members.btmm.icloud.com is the DNS name of a IPv6 host/device!) is wrapped into IPv4 packets, so that a IPv6 capable router isn't needed. On the Apple side it's unwrapped - probably with some 6in4 relay - and then routed to the remote device.

Apparently this doesn't work if you want to ssh from your own host into your own host (aka ssh -6 %localhost-utun1-ULA%). It works with a second device (also registered with your Apple ID in iCloud) in your own private or a remote network.

It's really slow though (tested with two Sierra VMs on one hosting Mac all using the same physical network interface!).


What did I do to remove the Terminal Window But Preserve Running Processes? I was using Terminal and accidentally fat-fingered some shortcut. The apparent result was the window was destroyed and all of the running processes (some local dev server processes running in the foreground) were put into the background. I tried everything I could think of to find the window (e.g. mission control), but even after quitting Terminal completely the local server processes are still happily running. What did I do, and is it reversible (barring reboot)? The processes were ruby and node processes if that's somehow relevant.

Edit: I forgot to mention these processes were running from inside tmux.

Ah, the thing I forgot to mention turned out to be the most critical. Opening a new window and running tmux attach -t 0 fixed it.

Thanks to https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/22781/how-to-recover-a-shell-after-a-disconnection.

Must have closed the window with command-w.


install NTFS system checks? I have a external hard drive and I'm checking it with the Disk Utility. However, it gave me an error says

** No NTFS file system checks have been implemented yet.

How can I install one?

OS X supports the option to read NTFS-formatted drives, but has not supported writing to these drives. Therefore, the use of a third-party driver such as Paragon NTFS or Tuxera NTFS has been required for those seeking full NTFS support; however, OS X does support writing to NTFS, but this feature is just not enabled by default.

Enable NTFS option via Terminal (I am not going to document this, as I highly do not recommend using this option at all, unless you are aware of the problems this will lead to)
Download and install SL-NTFS which is an NFTS writing preference for your Mac. Works on Mac OS X 10.6+ (FREE)
Install NTFS-3G, though this is not my favourite option. It's a little slow and can cause compatibility issues with anything after Mac OS X 10.6. Some users report it working flawlessly. I personally think it's write capability is a little slow. Touch and go. (FREE)
Paragon NTFS which is approx $20, is the entry-level of paid software version. I have used this for quite a while and never had a problem. Works on anything from Mac OS X 10.6.x → 10.8.x
Tuxera NTFS costs approx $32 and does everything that Paragon NTFS does. I use this one now, because it built upon the NTFS-3G option I mentioned earlier. I personally believe it works the best as I have never had an issue with it to date, but then I have used all options (aside #2) and found no issues with any of them.

To solve your enquiry, either NTFS-3G, Paragon or Tuxera will all enable you to use Disk Utility to check the drive, format the drive, etc etc. The picture below is from my system.

NOTE: I am not saying SL-NTFS will not do what you want, I just have not tested it.


Insert Character on batch folder rename I have a folder that has several hundreds of thousands of files named like "ABC 123456". I need to add a dash after between the two blocks of text like this "ABC - 123456". Leaving the trailing space.

Automator does not offer a method for counting 4 characters in and inserting an new dash and space.

I have this terminal command and have been tinkering with it.

for file in *.txt
do
  echo mv "$file" **"$file" count 3 "- "**
done

Anyone know of an Applescript or can help with the terminal command that will help me rename the files?

The question itself isn't exact too, because the OP talks about:

files names like ABC 123456 (without extension), but in the example code using *.txt extension
add a dash between two blocks (e.g. where is the space) like ABC - 123456, but in the next taking about counting to 4 and count 3, e.g. not exacltly clear what the script should do for example if find ABCD 12 or AB 345
also, want keep the trailing space, what is strange - but OK ;)

The problem is dividable to 3 separate parts:

selecting the right files for the rename
preparing the new filename, replacing/adding characters into the old one
the "physical" rename

Ad "selecting the right files". Selecting the files, can be done by some external utilities, for example by the find command.
The main benefits of the find are:

it can search files recursively in the sub directories too
is possible more precisely select the right files, e.g. exclude directories, select files by time or size and so on. (check from the terminal man find.)

Ad "prepare the new name". This can be done by external programs,
like sed or awk or any program what can manipulate text in shell
scripts, or it can be done (in some simple cases such this) withing
the bash itself - and is possible to save one expensive command execution.
(for hunderts of thousand files it makes a difference).

The following:

${file/ /-}

substitutes (replaces) one space (the / / part) with the dash (/-). So it is possible to write

mv "$file" "${file/ /-}"

and save the sed execution.

So one of the alternative solutions could be, for example the following:

#!/bin/bash
while IFS= read -r -d $'\0' filename
do
    newfilename="${filename/ /-}"
    [[ "$filename" != "$newfilename" ]] && echo mv -i "$filename" "$newfilename"
done < <(find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -iname "* *.jpg" -print0)

The abobe is for the DRY RUN - it only will show, what will be done, for the real execution remove the echo.

Decomposition:

selecting the right files for the rename: the find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -iname "* *.jpg" -print0 will find all

what are only in the current directory (-maxdepth 1)
and they're plain files (-type f)
and their name matches (anything)(space)(anything).jpg case insensitively - e.g. the name must contains a space
supply the filenames as null terminated, so their name can safely contain newline character too. (-print0)

the cycle while IFS= read -r -d $'\0' filename; do ... done < <( )

reads the output from the above find command
where the filenames are null terminated (-d $'\0')
ignore any escaped characters (-r) /advanced topic - not needed to explained here/
the IFS=  prevents trimming of leading and trailing whitespace from the filename (also, a bit advanced topic)

preparing the new filename newfilename="${filename/ /-}"

is done by bash internally (without executing an external command).
if want preserve the trailing space after the dash use ${filename/ /- }

the actual renaming is done by the mv command (see man mv from the terminal), where

the -i what will ask the user if here are already a file with the new filename (don't override it)

and the mv is executed only when the newfilename is different from the filename [[ "$filename" != "$newfilename" ]]

The above solution is mostly error-prone, but it still isn't very effective,
because for hundreds of thousand files will execute hundreds of
thousand times the mv command.
The solution can be: using some
utility, what can read the filenames and do the renaming without
executing the mv command N-times.
For example, the "big gun" of system admins the "perl", as:

find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -iname "*.jpg" -print0 |\
    perl -0nle '$n=$_; $n=~s/ /-/; rename $_,$n unless($_ eq $n || -e $n)'

what will rename all files what outputs the find in one execution - e.g. much faster as thousands of mv executions.

Tor testing (DRY RUN) use the following:

find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -iname "*.jpg" -print0 |\
    perl -0nle '$n=$_; $n=~s/ /-/; print qq{old:$_ new:$n\n} unless($_ eq $n || -e $n)' #print instead of the rename

Ps: the perl is powerful enough to handle everything itself, eg. the find command too, but it is more advanced topic...

Ps2: my English is much worse as my bash, so someone could kindly edit this post for adding/correcting things.. ;)


Does this cable support 1440p/2k 144Hz? I would like to connect an external monitor (1440p/2k 144Hz) to my Macbook Air M1.
My monitor has Mini displayport and HDMI outputs.
Does this cable support 144Hz on 2k? https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HN8B2ZM/A/mophie-usb-c-cable-with-mini-displayport-connector
Or can I use an adapter instead of this cable?
Thank you!

That cable is marketed as supporting "4K and 5K external monitor[s] with pixel-perfect clarity", which implies that it's at least a Standard DisplayPort cable that supports HBR2, capable of up to 4K 60 Hz. Furthermore, cables that carry a DisplayPort Alt Mode over USB-C signal support HBR3, meaning it can support 5K 60 Hz all the way up to 8K 60 Hz.
At 1440p, standard DisplayPort cables of HBR2 spec can carry up to 165 Hz signal. HBR3 increases that to 240 Hz.


iPhone 5: How to upgrade from 7.0.4 to iOS 9 and above? I have iPhone 5 which is running iOS 7.0.4, in Software updates section, it is showing I can upgrade to iOS 8.4.1, I've read on other sites that iPhone 5 can be upgrade to iOS 9 and one user on Apple forum even said that it can be upgraded to iOS 10 as well.

So why it is not showing me the last supported version? Or I have to first upgrade to 8.4.1 and only then it will allow me to upgrade to iOS 9?

iPhone 5 can run iOS 10.x

You may need to do iOS upgrades in sequence, but I can't find definitive info on this.

You might want to use iTunes on Mac or PC to update your phone to keep settings intact.


Saving PDFs from Safari to Files app in iOS 12 After upgrading to iOS 12 it seems that I can no longer save PDFs from Safari directly to the Files app. When I hit the share button, it doesn’t give me the option to Save to Files. The only available option is Create PDF which just creates a blank file screen with the file name and data. If you save this to Files app, it doesn’t open.

Anyone else encountered this issue and found a fix?

Currently I am saving PDFs to Google Drive and then transferring them to Files afterwards which is a pain.

Didn’t find the option either. Quick workaround is to use „Create PDF“ and the „Save to Files“ from the sharing sheet when the PDF is displayed.


How can I play YouTube in the background without using Safari? Is there an easy way to keep playing YouTube videos in the background, even if I switch to a different app?

I'm not interested in using the Safari multitasking trick. I want something super easy to use.

On iOS 5.1 (not sure for earlier versions) the same procedure works for the YouTube app too (as for Safari):

Start the video in the YouTube app.
Press "Home" button once to go to springboard (or twice to switch to another app)
Press "Home" button twice to bring up the app-switcher. Slide to the right to bring up background audio controls. The icon on the right side will show whichever program you last used with background audio: YouTube.
Press Play. YouTube audio will resume playback.


Where did all my Outlook mail go? I recently attempted to switch OS X Mail from using POP to using IMAP to access my Microsoft Outlook (msn.com) e-mail account. In doing so all mail in my Outlook account older than a week disappeared.

Where did this mail go and how do I recover it?

FWIW, I've switched back to POP (IMAP appears not really to work), but the missing messages are still gone (and they're missing from outlook.com too).

And FWIW, here's what my "Activity" looks like after creating the Outlook.com IMAP account (while nothing beyond a handful of messages has appeared in my OSX client):

Meanwhile, the number of unread messages I see on iOS for the same account (synced using an "Outlook.com" account) is diminishing!

Weirdly, when (and only when) my network connection is interrupted (e.g. if my system sleeps) the number of messages in my MSN inbox jumps a bit.

First, all your emails are still in your web version of MSN.

You need to switch the MSN to IMAP type and it is called Outlook (the web version) of Outlook, not the office version.

In your Mac Mail set up following:

Choose Account Type: IMAP.

Input the following as the Incoming Mail Server: imap-mail.outlook.com.

Choose to Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) for incoming mail security.

Input the following as the Outgoing Mail Server: smtp-mail.outlook.com.

Choose to Use Authentication.

Choose to Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) for outgoing mail security.

Depending how large your mail is it might take a while to transfer. To monitor the process turn on the Activity, located under the Window Tab in Mail app.


Doing a clean install of Lion on a system purchased with Snow Leopard results in iPhoto lost. How to recover? I am not terribly dependent on iPhoto, but I'd prefer not to purchase it via the App Store, as I already owned the app in Snow Leopard.

However, now that I have done a clean install of OS X Lion (did a complete format and used recovery mode to install Lion), it is not there.

How can I install iPhoto on my system without repurchasing it?

You shouldnt need to buy it as it is included as part of the iLife suite which comes with all Macs.

From: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2604

Insert the Applications installation disc and double-click the Install Bundled Software icon.
If your computer came with an iLife installation disc, or you purchased a newer version of iLife, insert that disc instead.
Follow the onscreen instructions. Then, in the Installation Type pane, click Customize.
Click the disclosure triangle next to Bundled Applications, select the checkbox next to the application you want to install, then click Install.


2015 MacBook Air display awake while lid closed I want my late 2015 MacBook Air to remain awake when the lid is closed. I have tried Caffeine, Stay Awake, and Theine, as well as changing my power saving settings to 'never' but nothing seems to work. The display still turns off when the lid is closed. Does anyone have a fix?

A friend of mine did it when we saw a movie this weekend.
He used my TV as monitor and of course I asked him for a tutorial.

He sent me this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbWQuswykec

I will try it tomorrow. I hope it be helpful for you too.


The speech voice my new Mac speaks is different from my old one I purchased M1 MacBook Air but it speaks different voice from my old Mac (2017 MacBook). I thought the voice is set at System Preferences | Accessibility | Spoken Content, but both of my Mac are set to Ting-Ting.
However, the voices my Macs speak are different between devices, and I don't like the way my M1 Mac speaks.
I play the speech either on Memrise or Anki, where I use the third-party speech tools:

https://github.com/cooljingle/memrise-audio-provider
https://github.com/AwesomeTTS/awesometts-anki-addon (where I use 'OS X Speech Synthesis)

Ting-Ting is a Chinese female voice but I play the speech on Korean and English as well as Chinese, and all of them seem to be different.
Is there something I'm missing? Why are these different and how can I make them speak in the same voice?
Both Mac is run on the latest version of Big Sur.

UPDATE
I have found that the setting on System Preferences | Accessibility | Spoken Content does not have any effect on the voice of the aforementioned tools. I tried several different speaker such as French male but the voice did not change.

In System Preferences > Accessibility, click on Speech (in the left-hand sidebar). Then open the System Voice menu and select Customize. Here, verify if the selected voices have downloaded to your system:

(Screenshot from macOS Mojave).
Note also the "Upgrade to enhanced quality" option, next to already downloaded voices.


Can I connect three monitors and provide power to my MacBook Pro with a single cable? I currently own a 2017 MacBook Pro (13", four Thunderbolt 3 ports) and a Dell P2415Q. I'm strongly considering purchasing two more Dell P2415Qs so that I can have a triple-monitor setup, but I only have one free USB Type-C port when docked right now. I also know that the Dell P2415Q's daisy-chaining capability isn't supported by OS X.

Is there a device I can purchase that will allow me to provide full charging power to my 13" MacBook Pro and allow me to plug three Dell P2415Qs into it (at 4K@60hz), all going into the MacBook via a single Thunderbolt 3 / USB Type-C cable? (If not, can it be done with only 2 TB3/USBC cables?)

My specs are:

13-inch, 2017 MacBook Pro with four Thunderbolt 3 Ports
3.5GHz Intel Core i7 CPU
16GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 RAM
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 1536 MB

Official Apple specs

Officially your MBP supports two external displays at up to a maximum resolution of 4,096 x 2,304 pixels at 60 Hz at millions of colours or a single external display at a maximum resolution of up to 5,120 x 2,880 at 60 Hz at over a billion colours.

So, running the two external displays along with your built-in display is officially supported.

Unofficial real-life scenarios

However, unofficially you can exceed this. More specifically I've seen a user connect three external displays while in clamshell mode. However, this did seem to result in the MBP's fans spinning at a higher rate when they were watching videos, playing games, etc. Not something I would really recommend.

Your setup

So, I wouldn't recommend three external displays. But, as for your setup, you say that you only have one free USB Type-C port. So for you to do what you want may require you using your ports differently so that you have at least two displays connected directly, and another different display connected via an adapter and your other devices connected via a dock or hub.


Website hosted on Mac taking too long to load on the first access I'm using an old Macbook Pro (2011) to host a few websites. Everything works fine, but after a long time without hitting the server the websites take a really long time to load (even in my local network) and I can't figure out why.

I imagine that it has to do with the machine entering in a sleep state, or something similar, but that's just a guess.

Any idea of what could be happening?

Things I already did

Turn off Put hard disks to sleep when possible (Preferences->Energy Saver)

Some extra info:

macOS version: 10.13.3
Server software: Caddy
Disabling the sleep mode: InsomniaX

Take a look a my question over here How to prevent Safari from stopping downloads?.  I would mark as an exact duplicate but it is not the same question, only the same answer.  The problem that what is occurring is your computer has to wake up from sleep. "But wait InsomniaX is supposed to prevent it from sleeping!" Yes it is. But it does not seem to work in this case.

Since you do not want specific times for the server to wake and sleep I would suggest these settings.

System Preferences>Energy Saver

Computer Sleep: Never

Put Hard disks to sleep when possible: Unchecked

Wake for WiFi Access: Checked

Then open a new Terminal.app in /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app and enter the following command: caffeinate and leave it running.

You can also create a LaunchDaemon so that caffeinate will start automatically on restart.

P.S. I too use my MacBookPro 2011 as a server.  I use it with macOS Server to host websites, file server, VPN, and others.  Great use for an old computer.


Maps vs Google Maps data consumption Out of Apple's Maps (or just - Maps) and Google Maps, which is more economical on data?
Google Maps caches the path to destination. I know this because I have searched for locations on Google Maps and then turned my phone data off. It still takes me there, minus the traffic updates.
On Maps, I have no idea myself and also there is no information about data usage online.
The specific cases I'm looking answers for:

Going to an address in the same city, which is better in terms of data usage?
Going to another city, which is better in terms of data usage?
What features can I sacrifice in one or the other so that I can get the most information with least data usage?

Update: I noticed recently that Apple Maps has also started caching. If you start the directions to a location and then turn data off, Apple Maps too takes you there. However, I have seen this only when going to a place close by. Not sure of the behavior when going to a distance farther away - like going to another city altogether.

There was a study about it recently and it compared the data used on average for 10 miles and for 20 minutes driven.
Google Maps uses the less data, 0.67 MB every 10 miles and 0.73 MB every 20 minutes on average.
On the other side, Apple Maps uses 1.33 MB every 10 miles and 1.83 MB/20 minutes.
If you want to use less data you should turn off trafic data and satellite view.
I’ve tested caching for long trips <60 miles and it worked in both apps, so you can use the one you prefer!


Copying Files Using SuperDuper! First time using SuperDuper and after an hour of attempting to copy files, the process is still in '1. Prepare to Copy Files'. Is this normal?

SuperDuper! has an option to repair permissions on the source volume before copying. Normally this shouldn’t take 1 hour, unless maybe you’ve never run a permissions repair in the last years and the permissions are totally screwed.

I would try this:

Do the permissions repair with Apple’s Disk Utility app.
Start SD, click on the Options… button, then, under the General tab, deselect the option Before copy … Repair permissions on <source volume>.
Start copying.


Problem with iPad personal hotspot on OS X 10.11 I'm having problems with iPad tethered USB internet share (personal hotspot).
OS X 10.11. (15A226f) and iOS 9b (13A4325c)

Tethering via USB to iPads internet has worked before, but as far as I remember it stopped working after updating OS X to 10.11., so most likely the problem is NOT iOS 9, but the OS X 10.11

I'v already tried rebooting both devices, reconnecting everything etc., but nothing seems to work.

As this is an issue involving Beta Software, it should be reported to Apple via the Bug Reporter.  Sign in with your Apple ID or developer account.

As to why: Check again your OS X Network settings.

Is there a fix: Perhaps with the next Beta release.


Reformat hard drive - why do I have two hard drive options? I'm trying to erase my hard drive by reformatting. I am following the steps here:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

I am using the  Opt ⌥   Cmd ⌘   R   option on startup to install the latest OS compatible with my device. When I get to the erase screen, I see the following hard drive items listed:

This is different than what the directions are showing. Should I be erasing both "Macintosh HD" and "disk1"? I've never made any changes to my hard drive, it's a MacBook Pro 2014. Not sure why there are two entries there.

'disk1' is a temporary structure & the 'disk' you are currently booted from, generated by the image you downloaded from Apple as part of Internet Recovery.
It will disappear as soon as you boot regularly from your HD.

That's how you are able to format your main 'Macintosh HD' drive, which you cannot do from the drive you are booted from.

You can verify this since the system won’t let you erase disk1 even if you attempt that operation - that’s a snake eating its own tail situation.


Disable Family Sharing for Apple TV+ I used family sharing for my family, now I have Apple TV+ and suddenly lot's of content is enabled for my daughter to watch on her IPad that I would rather not share with her.
Thus, is there a possibility to disable family sharing vor Apple TV+ specifically?

Assuming that you’re using parental controls on your child’s iPad, you can disable access to video content with the ratings of your choice. See here for Apple’s instructions on how to do so.
The current instructions (which may change, so following the link is preferable) are:

To restrict explicit content and content ratings:

Go to Settings and tap Screen Time.

Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions, then tap Content  Restrictions.

Choose the settings you want for each feature or setting under Allowed Store Content.


Enable Do Not Disturb While Driving" automatically I have an iPhone 5S, recently successfully installed iOS11. In the "Do Not Disturb While Driving" Option under Activate, I only get option to enable "When Connected to Car Bluetooth" and "Manually" but not "Automatically" which I can see by many tutorials and help sheets (and from the "Learn More" section from the iPhone itself" should be an option. Why is it not appearing?

Thanks dwightk. It looks like you're right. I just watched this video on iOS 11 for the iPhone 5S. When they came to the Do Not Disturb While Driving feature (@ 3:55), the shot didn't show the "automatically" option either, just the two mentioned above.


How does maximizing/full screen work in Mavericks and Yosemite? OSX features full-screen mode in recent versions but that's not really the same thing as automatically resizing a window to use the full desktop like on Windows...

And, what is the + button supposed to do exactly? It generally seems to make the current window a bit bigger but not in an obviously consistent way.

Somehow I can't figure out how this is supposed to work (or I'm too used to the Windows way of things), so any explanation would be apprecated.

The green button used to be just for "zooming" the window (at least that's what they call it in austrian systems) - it's what it does when it shows the "+"

If you use that function what it does is it makes the window just so big, that no scroll bars are needed (with the limitation that it can't make it bigger than your screen of course).
That is the intended behavior, some 3rd party apps might not implement that correctly however.

In 10.10 Yosemite the green button is now used for switching to fullscreen.
It will behave as in 10.9 if you hold the alt-key while pressing it (you will also see the + sign appear).


I can't activate my son's iPad I have removed my son's iPad from my iCloud account, and I have reset the iPad. I can't activate it because it says it's linked to my Apple ID and that Activation Lock is on. I can't turn this off, because when I log into my iCloud account, his iPad is no longer visible.

What can I do to remove Activation Lock and set up my son's iPad in his name?

Per Apple, you will need to use your Apple ID to login on that screen, and then you will be able to remove the device from your account.

If that doesn't work, continue setting up the device using your account. Once it's set up, enable Find My iPad, make sure it shows back up in your iCloud account, then disable it again. Ensure it no longer shows up in your iCloud account. Then reset the iPad again and it should no longer have the Activation Lock in place. You can also verify if the iPad currently has Activation Lock using https://www.icloud.com/activationlock/.


Can I use Time Machine to restore to a smaller disk I have used Time Machine to restore my MBP to a larger HDD with great success, but am about to purchase a smaller SSD for it.

With the obvious caveat of not having more data than the SSD can hold, is there anything stopping me from going from a 500GB SATA drive to a 240GB SSD using a Time Machine restore?

It's a 2010 MBP running Lion 10.7.1, if that makes any difference.

Yes.

The system is built to accommodate this if possible.

The restore process does a fairly good check before starting to restore to ensure the space is free enough to land the data stored on your specific snapshot in Time Machine.

Time Machine (and Disk Utility restores) work well as long as the "cargo" fits with maybe just a little extra room for overhead. Generally, less space is wasted at the end of files on smaller drives, so the thousands of small preference files pack more tightly on smaller drives.


Commercial application for cataloging & categorizing images? The marketing team where I work is looking for an application that would allow their team to categorize and sort a slew of images and have them be read/write for the whole team. My understanding of the request is that they're looking for iPhoto or Adobe Bridge on a commercial level. The database and images would need to be accessible from multiple people, on multiple machines; preferably stored on a Windows file share. The number of people using the application could range from 5-50 people depending on how widely the solution gets adopted.

Often the first step in finding a solution is to put a name to it and in this case it sounds very much like you are after a Digital Asset Management package.

There are many of these available;
 iView Media Pro used to be held as a benchmark and this has had a few transitions of ownership and is now sold as Media Pro 1 by Phase One. Another option could be the Portfolio Suite of products from Extensis.

You might even find that Apple Aperture or Adobe Lightroom  would fit the bill although these are targeted at photographers shooting in RAW format than being general DAM solutions

There are many more each with their own strengths and you need to review these along with the marketing team to find the best fit for their workflow.


How to get rid of Xorg from Macports? I have installed some packages from macports, and nearly all of them required to install Xorg. How can I remove the Xorg packages? Is there a way to reinstall all my Xorg dependant package without Xorg support?

Many ports have a +nox11 variant, which you can add as a default variant in the variants.conf file that's pointed to in your macports.conf file.  However, in my experience, there are some X11-dependent ports that don't have the +nox11 variant. I believe I've also seen situations in which non-X11-dependet port A depends on port B, and port B is so deeply X11-dependent that it wouldn't even make sense for it to have a +nox11 variant. Overall, in my experience, it's practically impossible to keep Xorg from getting installed. :-(


Why Is Hands Off Block Local Network Setting Greyed Out? I'm trying to restrict an application's traffic using Hands Off not to be able to connect to servers on the Internet respectively to servers on the LAN. But the when I try to add such a rule, the "Local" and "Local (IPv6)" option is greyed out. Why?

This option seems to be only for outgoing connections, which is too bad. I would also like to be able to restrict some incoming connections to my LAN.


macOS 10.13 High Sierra - Location Services will not enable I'm running macOS 10.13 High Sierra on my 2011 15" MacBook Pro. Whenever I try to enable Location Services, the checkbox momentarily turns 'checked' and then goes back to disabled.

How can I enable Location Services on this Mac? Is it not an option because the Bluetooth is limited to v2.1?

This script worked for me, macOS Sierra.

More details pls check here:
https://www.jamf.com/jamf-nation/discussions/22095/enable-location-services-after-imaging

#!/bin/bash

## Unload locationd
launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.locationd.plist

## Write enabled value to locationd plist
defaults write /var/db/locationd/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.locationd LocationServicesEnabled -int 1

## Fix Permissions for the locationd folder
chown -R _locationd:_locationd /var/db/locationd

## Reload locationd
launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.locationd.plist

exit 0


How to turn off the Terminal's "Allow mouse reporting"? Every time when opening an new Terminal window, the View -> Allow mouse reporting is always checked. And everytime i must press CMD-R to disable it.

Is here a way how to disable it by default?

The View > Allow Mouse Reporting menu item does not enable the terminal Mouse Reporting behavior, it merely controls whether Mouse Reporting is allowed.

This gives the user a means to temporarily bypass Mouse Reporting when it has been enabled by application programs, to interact with the terminal view for short periods of time. Also note that you can use the Fn modifier key when clicking, dragging and scrolling to temporarily bypass Mouse Reporting.

Mouse Reporting is not enabled unless application programs running within the terminal request it. Application programs normally do not enable it by default, and must be configured to do so. For example, to enable Mouse Reporting in Vim, one puts set mouse=a into ~/.vimrc.

If you do not want Mouse Reporting to be enabled, configure the appropriate application program(s) to disable it.


Delete picture from the photo library using the command line? After installing my wife's new Mac (macOS 10.15.4 Catalina) some pictures ended up in HEIC format. This format is not convenient for her, so I converted the files using ImageMagick.

Somehow the files where not picked up by the photo application so I imported the converted files back in the library.

Now, I would like to delete the "old" HEIC files. Is it possible to delete them from the command line without corrupting the library?

You can either search using the Finder:

kind:heic

Or, from the command-line - mdfind uses Spotlight:

mdfind -name 'heic'

Or, normal unix find:

 find /path/to/search/in -iname "*.heic"

You can then use that output to do as you please. Rather than deleting, I agree with Seamus that you could move them first, and confirm no issues with the Photo's library.

eg. to move them:

find /path/to/search/in -iname "*.heic" -exec mv {} /path/to/move/to/ \;


Locate iPhone without an internet connection I want to desperately locate my lost iPhone 4 (factory unlocked). It does not have an Internet connection—no 3G, no 4G and it is not in a Wi-Fi zone. The bell rings when I call which means that SIM is the same and battery has some juice left.

Can somebody please help?

Unfortunately with today's technology it is not possible to locate your iPhone, if it has no connection to the internet of any kind.


Is it safe to use 2 Power sources into a MacBook Pro 2016 15" I have a 4k monitor that has power over usb-c but it is only supplying 15W instead of what it advertised of 60W. So I was wondering if I could charge my Mac with its 87W power supply while having the monitor plugged in with its 15W while I sort out why my monitor is only suppling 15W and not its advertised 60W. Thanks.

Yes - that would be just fine. If you notice the battery draining you can always disconnect the display and leave the power connected so it shifts, then re-plug the display.


log: Could not open local log store: The log archive format is corrupt and cannot be read I'm having some problems with my Macbook. The primary problem is that I'm unable to log into my admin account since a recent system update. I tried searching for solutions online, but haven't found any yet, I also haven't had time to go to an Apple store.

Now on my User account, a possibly related problem I have encountered is that I cannot access the logs, when I tried to run:

log show | grep 'Wake reason' | grep '2018-06'

I get:

log: Could not open local log store: The log archive format is corrupt and cannot be read

Does anybody have a clue what might be going on?

The error message you are seeing is very misleading. I believe what's actually happening is the system is preventing unprivileged accounts from reading the log contents. If you instead use sudo to execute the log show command as shown below, you'll get what you want.

Also, the log facility has a built-in method (via the --start and --end command-line switches) to limit the time range of log messages you want.

Give it a shot:

# log show --start "2018-08-01" --end "2018-08-31"

log: Could not open local log store: The log archive format is corrupt and cannot be read

# sudo log show --start "2018-08-01" --end "2018-08-31"

Skipping info and debug messages, pass --info and/or --debug to include.
Timestamp                       Thread     Type        Activity             PID    TTL
2018-08-01 00:00:00.093146-0700 0x2f722d   Default     0x0                  879    7    com.apple.dock.extra: (CalendarFoundation) [com.apple.calendar:calendar] [com.apple.calendar.foundation.docktile] [[CalDockTileController] dateDidChange: NSCalendarDayChangedNotification]
.
.
.


Delete all music from iPhone How do I delete all music from an iPhone 5?
It got loaded from my computer without me checking the box.
I tried to follow the directions from one search result with no success.

If you are on iOS 8, you can go to Settings > General > Usage > Storage > Manage Storage > Music, slide the first item "All Songs" to the left and press "Delete".

Warning: there is no confirmation dialog, as I've just found out :|


After using my MacBook Pro for a while, it becomes very laggy (Swap usage high) I have a decent spec MacBook Pro:
The MBP has 64GB of RAM.

This is the output of htop command after 6 days uptime:
As you can see, the Swp usage is quite high.

Note: I do have Docker and JetBrains PyCharm running often.
Is the Swp usage impacting performance, and how do I fix this?
After restart, it's fine for a while, but then reaches a critical point where even Safari lags a lot.
Update
As requested, here are some pics of Activity Monitor:

Swap usage in itself does not mean that performance is impacted.
You seem to be judging swap usage as "high" based on the fact that 8.19 out of 9 GB are used - however the swap size is automatically expanded as needed. So there's no real "9 GB limit" or anything like that - so you cannot use this as a measure for saying that swap usage is either low or high.
Your performance is impacted when things are actively being swapped in or out while you're waiting for the computer to do something. Data being swapped in/out while you're not using the computer won't hurt the performance you see, just as data being swapped out and staying there won't hurt the perceived performance.


Really switch among all the applications by shortcuts I am using Mac OS X 10.7.3. ⌘+tab is used to switch among different applications, but sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. I guess it is because some applications are hidden or minimized.

Is there a way to really switch among all the applications by shortcuts no matter whether they are hidden or minimized?

If you use ⌘+tab to go through your open applications, you should see even minimized ones, but if you select them, they don't automatically maximize/unminize. If you however press the option key after you've selected the desired minimized application but before releasing the ⌘ key with ⌘+tab, the app window that was minimized to the dock will return to its previous view.

I know this probably isn't exactly what you're looking for, but perhaps it'll help nonetheless.

Following this tip should also create a window for apps with no active window (works for Mail, iTunes and Keynote).

You can also switch from an app to "itself" (by hitting shift+tab once) then holding option before letting go of command will unminimize or create the window.


Mac Pro custom graphic black screen during boot My 1st gen Mac Pro with a custom graphics card (ATI Radeon) does not show any boot prompt. Actually it doesn't show anything until Aqua comes up. I need boot prompts and pre-GUI screens for multiple OSs.

Also when I hit alt  during startup screen stays black.

Verbose Boot is on.

Is there any way to put that thing in always-on mode?

"Custom graphics card" is the problem… or more precisely, PC graphics card, not Mac.

Unless you bought one that was already Mac-flashed you will get nothing until the OS starts up.

The only two options are

keep your old card around & swap it in if you need to see the boot process, or
get that one flashed.

More info/opinion that I can reasonably précis in here - http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/the-golden-guide-to-flashing-graphic-cards.877441/

Actually, from that I notice that the Zeus flashing tool is by Oskar Groth, aka Cindori - which ought to make it at least a trustable method
See - https://www.cindori.org/software/


Backing up to an internal drive of another machine I have a mac laptop that I want to back up to an internal drive on my Mac Pro. The drive I want to back up to is blank and not the OS drive. They are connected via ethernet, but I do not see the drive on my computer. How would I be able to recognize it?

You have two options to allow Time Machine on your Mac to use an internal drive on another Mac Pro as the destination for normal backups from your MacBook.

Neither is a great option, but here they are.

Load OS X server on the Pro and set it up minimally to share that drive as a Time Machine backup destination. Your Mac will see the drive as long as the two computers have any sort of network connection and your Mac will quite happily send files to it's server as if it were a Time Capsule or other NAS device that supports Time Machine.
Shut down the Mac Pro and boot it in Target Disk Mode. This involves less expense (if you already have a FireWire or Thunderbolt cable) and less setup time (server could take hours to set up the first time) but it means you can't use the Mac Pro when the MacBook needs to back up. It also means you can't use the ethernet (or any other network) to perform the backup. Thunderbolt is practically limited to 2 meters by the longest copper cable being sold and the max length it could be is 3 meters until a fiber optic version of the protocol gets released. FireWire can work up to 100 meters, but cables that long are pricey and rare.

Since neither of these is a good option, you could also look at getting some free software like CrashPlan. This software would be installed on both computers and each could back up to the other (or you could only back the portable to the Pro - one way backup) and you could have all the files stored on the one drive.

The downside is it's not Time Machine - but it is quite solid software that many, many businesses depend upon for valuable data.

Sorry there isn't a quick - do this and that to make the Pro serve up a drive as a Time Machine destination - but hopefully one of the three options will let you work out a plan.


Tool to quickly hide/blur/redact text in screenshot? I’ve captured a screenshot and I want to share it (on Stack Overflow, actually), but I need to blur/hide out a couple words in the screenshot. Is there a tool to quickly do this?

Skitch can do this quickly. See?

Just click the blur button in the side bar and draw over your image to obscure things.

Please note that this app saves files to Evernote by default which can be a problem for sensitive content. You may want to disable it by not signing into your Evernote account or by making the following setting changes:

Set Sync -> Save New Skitch Notes to Evernote to Manual
Uncheck Sharing -> Automatically Share and Copy Link after creating new Skitch Notes


Set the Working Folder of `.app` Created by Apple Script I have a simple Shell File .sh which copies files form the PWD to a destination folder.
This is basically Hand Made installer of a program.
I want to create an APP from it.

The idea is to have the following structure of the files at the user:

- MyApp
    - SourceFiles/
    - MyInstaller.app

Something like:

#!/bin/sh

# Copying

cp -r './SourceFiles/.' '/DestFolder/SourceFiles/'

exit 0

I created an Apple Script (MyInstaller.scpt) file which looks:

tell me to activate

display dialog "Run My Installer?" buttons {"Run", "Cancel"} default button 1

if the button returned of the result is "Run" then
    do shell script "cp -r './SourceFiles/.' '/DestFolder/SourceFiles/' & exit 0;" with administrator privileges

    display dialog "Finished Successfully!" buttons {"OK"} default button 1

end if

I compile it with osacompile -o MyInstaller.app MyInstaller.scpt.

Then I try to run MyInstaller.app it doesn't work.
Though if I run the sh Shell Script form the same location it works.

I had a feeling it is related to the PWD of the APP when it runs.
So I did the following trick, I compiled an .APP from the following Apple Script:

do shell script "pwd > ~/Temp.txt & exit 0;"

Then I saw at Temp.txt that the PWD is / (Namely the Root).
Indeed if I copy SourceFiles/ to the root and run the APP it copes the files correctly.

Is there a way to make the APP of the AppleScript to run relative to the location of the compiled APP?

One way to handle this is to set a variable, e.g. myPath, and build out from there.

set myPath to POSIX path of (path to me as text)

The myPath variable will be returned in the form of:

/path/to/AppName.app/

You can then concatenate  myPath and addition path segments and filename as needed.

Note that when using this in a do shell script command, use quoted form of to allow for spaces in the path filename.

Have a look at the AppleScript Language Guide and more specifically: path to (application)

  path to (application)

  Returns the location of the specified application.

  ...

    me

      The script itself. For script
  applications, this is the same as current application, but for script
  documents, it is the location of the document.


Recover FIles/Folder from sudo rm -rf Terminal Command Short Story:
I was attempting to create a symlinked folder from my external to my desktop, and the folder I wanted (ALL of my working folders and files) are gone.

Long Story:
My job wanted me to use Box Sync for my files. I installed Box Sync, and told it to use my work external HDD as the sync. It created a folder on there called "Box Sync".

On that same HDD, I had a folder on there called "Work Files". I opened up Work Files in another window, and dragged and dropped everything from there into the new Box Sync folder.

Box Sync started scanning so it could sync. There were a LOT of files and folders in there, so it didn't start syncing right away. While it was scanning, I decided to create a SymLink of the folder onto my desktop. I can never remember the terminal code, so I used the instructions in THIS ARTICLE.

In the article, they say to do:

sudo rm -rf /PATH/TO/COPY

and then

ln -s /PATH/TO/PASTE/

Howerver, directly after using the first line, my "Box Sync" folder was deleted off of my external.

How on earth can I undo this damage?

The command you ran first deletes all files and folders in /PATH/TO/COPY; note the warning above the command in the article you linked to: "Next, remove the existing Downloads folder (make sure it is empty first)."

Though the data is probably still present on the drive, the operating system now has no idea where it is.

Assuming that you don't have backups available, your only option at this point is probably to use some kind of file recovery software. This answer at Superuser has some links to potential options. PhotoRec is a free, open-source solution that might work.

Best of luck, and be sure to back up your data (ideally to multiple places) in the future.


Ubuntu Bootable DVD created with a MacBookPro9.1 is not recognized I followed   http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/burn-a-dvd-on-mac-osx to create a bootable UBUNTU DVD with my MacBook Pro9.1 (OS X Yosemite 10.10.5).

I ended all the steps but I cannot boot such dvd on my MacBookPro9.1.
BUT..the same dvd works in other computer (MacBookPro8.1 OS x Lion 10.7.5).
Is not a problem of the Computer?

Below is a copy of an image from the link you gave in your question.

If you enlarge the image, you can read that the source is the file "trusty-desktop-amd64+mac.iso".

This is the WRONG iso to be using. You should be using "trusty-desktop-amd64.iso".

The iso's ending in "+mac" is for users who wish to do a BIOS boot. This includes users whose machines are not Mac's. The regular iso's that do not end in "+mac" are for users who wish to do an EFI boot.

I have found the EFI boots work with 64 bit Macs as early as the 2007 models.  If you have a optical (DVD) drive you can boot this way, but the USB flash drive method also works even when Windows USB installer will not. My (20-inch, mid 2007) iMac7,1 can boot Live and/or install current versions of Ubuntu using either a DVD or USB.

Both DVD and USB once booted, have software to verify the media. If found the DVD's verify, but the USB's, created using Ubuntu's instructions, do not. The boots and installs seem to work OK, but the fact the USB flash drives do not verify bothers me. Fortunately, if you create the USB media using UNetbootin, the resulting flash drive verifies.

Evidently, you can also use UNetbootin to create a Live USB version of Ubuntu that has *persistence, but I have never pursued that option.(Persistence allows you to keep your preferences and data even after a reboot.)

I have read may cases where users are happy with BIOS installs of Ubuntu. Problems occur when users what to triple boot of OS X, Ubuntu and Windows. If Windows should be installed in BIOS mode, then the user has to figure out how to get Grub to boot both Ubuntu and Windows. In these cases, booting Windows in BIOS mode and Ubuntu in EFI mode would be a better option. The problem here is that EFI Ubuntu installs do not set up the software to boot on Mac's. You are left to figure that out.

There are may solutions to this problem. Here are a few: First, you can move the files in the EFI partition get the Mac firmware to recognize Ubuntu. Second, you can install and configure rEFInd. Third, since Ubuntu installs a Grub that can recognize hfs+ formatted partitions, you can configure Ubuntu to boot the same way OS X boots. (Actually, the Mac firmware thinks it is booting OS X.)

An explanation of how it implement any of these three method is beyond the scope of the original question.


iPhone 6 stuck in iTunes recovery logo After having a jailbroken iPhone for a while, I wanted a clean version of iOS 9.3.1. So i followed all the steps in iTunes to achieve this. But when the little black bar on the iPhone was filled up it restarted into the iTunes recovery logo.

I tried every possible way of getting out of it, including trying DFU mode. But every single time I try something new it puts me back on the iTunes recovery logo.

What I have tried:

Updating phone
Restoring phone
Trying another computer
iRecovery

Sometimes a battery change will solve the problem


No option to remove Bluetooth device in iOS Settings app? I would like to remove my Raspberry Pi from my iPhone 8 (running iOS 11.2.1) as a connected bluetooth device.

Normally, I would go into my Settings -> Bluetooth and select the Info button (a small blue circled "i") to show the "Disconnect" and "Forget Device" dialogs:

Unfortunately, iOS does not give me this option for my device. The bluetooth device list does not contain an "i" for the item, and there is seemingly no other way to disconnect.

How do I unpair this device if there is no button to trigger to the unpair prompt?

Due to work restrictions I cannot completely reset the device.

Workplaces and schools can prevent bluetooth modifications via an installed configuration profile. Check for the presence of such a profile at  Settings > General > Profiles.

Using Apple Configurator 2 (an application made by Apple to allow companies & schools to administrate their employee's/student's devices) there is an option:

  Allow Modifying Bluetooth Settings (supervised only)

Unchecking this option in the installed configuration profile will prevent iOS from forgetting the device.

Note: It is the same for Profile Manager in macOS Server

If you are using iOS with an installed configuration profile, I would suggest contacting your IT department and requesting that they allow you to edit Bluetooth settings.

Heres a picture of what it looks like in Apple Configurator 2:


Remove an app from Notification Center preference pane My girlfriend added Facebook to my Notification Center. I tried to set the alert style to none, and you can see the check mark to show items in Notification Center is deselected.

I want it completely gone but don't know how else to configure things.

Open Safari › Preferences › Notifications
There you can remove objects permanently by selecting the notification you wish to delete and then either hitting the delete key or by using the remove button ('-') if it exists.


My iMessage won't send I have an iPad 2 and have used iMessages many times. For some reason now I can't message. The send button is not active.  I'm trying to message a friend who has an iPhone and who I have messaged many times in the past.  Any clue as to what to do?

I have force closed the app, powered off, checked the contact number, all to no avail.  WiFi is active. Have gone thru all steps listed as possible fixes except deleting and reinstalling.  I can't find iMessage in the App store so I don't want to delete because I don't know how to reinstall.

Turn iMessage off, hard reset your iDevice and then turn iMessage back on again and it will start working again! I've had this issue on more than one device, most recently after updating to iOS 6.


Battery of my Mac with Problems When I charge my MacBook the battery goes only up to 99% and doesn't reach 100%. Is this something to worry about and if yes, how do I fix it?

To determine the Battery status open About this Mac -More -System

now look for battery information in there under Power.

Look for:

Charge cycles count < 600 for yours

and the Full Charge Capacity (mAh): > 4557

In any case resetting your SMC (System Management Controller will help some).


How to enable journaling to be able to upgrade to El Capitan? I cannot update my MacBook Pro 13-inch Mid 2012 to El Capitan and it is driving me crazy. At the moment I'm using OS X 10.8.5 and everything on my laptop is going slow etc.

I have however missed 2 other updates... I have tried to download those ones before installing EL Capitan but it won't allow me. It only lets me download El Capitan and when I down load it, it comes up with this:

So can anybody please tell me what this means or how I can upgrade?

Warning: before trying my solution, ensure you have a complete backup of your hard drive (usually Macintosh HD)

Before trying the method below, try the following:

Open Disk Utility (booting to Recovery Mode by holding cmdR while starting your Mac, select Disk Utility in the OS X Utilities menu)
Select your main volume (usually Macintosh HD)
Select First Aid -> Repair volume... then wait for the operation to complete.
Go to File > Enable Journaling

If the above does not work, try

Erase your drive and install OS X

(From Apple's website)

  You can use these steps to erase the files on your startup disk and install a new copy of OS X:

  Before you begin, make sure your Mac is connected to the Internet.
  Restart your Mac. Immediately hold down the Command (⌘) and R keys after you hear the startup sound to start up in OS X Recovery.
  When the Recovery window appears, select Disk Utility then click Continue.
  Select the indented volume name of your startup disk from the left side of the Disk Utility window, then click the Erase tab.
  If you want to securely erase the drive, click Security Options. Select an erase method, then click OK.
  From the Format pop-up menu, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Type a name for your disk, then click Erase.
  After the drive is erased, close the Disk Utility window.
  If you’re not connected to the Internet, choose a network from the Wi-Fi menu.
  Select the option to Reinstall OS X.
  Click Continue and follow the onscreen instructions to reinstall OS X.


Is it possible to insert a 8 GB RAM stick and a 2 GB RAM stick into a Mac? I'm buying a Mac mini with 16 GB of RAM on board. The other Mac I have is a 4 GB MacBook Pro. I'm wondering if it would be possible to shuffle the memories between both of them, so I have a single 8 GB RAM stick in the MacBook, and in the mini I would put a 8+2 GB RAM?

The specific models in question are:

a Mid-2010 model MacBook with 2x2 GB of DDR3@1067Mhz.
a July-2011 model mini with 2x8 GB of DDR3@1333Mhz.

The answer to the general question is yes - Macs have never required paired RAM although many machines get a 5 to 15% speed boost if you pair the RAM. In some integrated graphics applications on the 2007/2008 era designs, this could be larger a speedup for some graphics operations.

As long as your Mac doesn't exceed the total RAM the CPU/logic board wants to handle, you can split up the banks in any way you choose.

For your specific models, I would look at a reputable RAM seller like Ramjet to see if people have been reliably making more RAM work in your specific models. Often Apple will say the maximum RAM is 4 GB but 8 will work well if you have top of the line chips with the correct timing. Also - be aware that mixing speeds of RAM (1066 vs 1333) can be problematic or cause the system to fail to start up. Normally, permanent damage is not done to the memory or the computers when you place the wrong RAM in, but it can lead to aggravating crashes, video glitches and slowness.


What does a blank window represent in the list of apps displayed by double-clicking "home"? When I have "Pokemon Go" running, and I double-click the "home" button, I sometimes see a blank window in the list of apps that can be scrolled through by swiping to the right. I've only seen this happen with "Pokemon Go." And, the app functions just fine with, or without it.

What does that blank window represent?

btw: double-clicking "home" not only shows running apps, but also recently run apps, right?  Yet, I've never seen "Pokemon Go" in the list other than when it is explicitly running (never as a recently run app). So, I'm a little confused.

(Answer added from the comments)

Check the title of the window when you're in multitasking mode.  Some windows are either 'blanked' or 'blackened' in this mode to hide sensitive or proprietary info.

The window will refresh once it receives focus again.


Now that disablelocal is gone, how to stop local (internal drive) TimeMachine backups? For years now everyone who needs backup just leaves a now-cheap ultra fast external drive continually plugged in to the back of their mac or macbook, job done.

To disable the "local" (internal drive) backups, you would just

$ tmutil disablelocal

This is gone in 10.15.2  :/

How to completely stop local time machine backups on 10.15.2 ?

Keeping an external drive connected cleans up snapshots in 24 hours. There’s no real need to disable things in my experience, other than let the hourly backups run and prune.
I would also upgrade to 10.15.7 and then report if you have some specific issue once a day passes on the new system build.
With APFS on SSD I can’t measure any performance issue since copy on write is basically handled at full speed via non-blocking IO.
The old mechanism absolutely had a performance impact so strategic cases, disabling made an effect. If you are on a hard disk and APFS, you have much bigger performance problems in general with APFS than managing the snapshots.


Does iPhone 4 work with Bluetooth Headphones/Headsets that have Back/Next/Answer? I am considering purchasing something like Sennheiser MM450 Bluetooth Headphones but I'd like to get some input on whether the Back/Next/Play/Pause/Answer buttons work as expected with iPhone 4?

I've seen some old reviews that said not, but nothing about iPhone 4 / iOS 4.x..

Yes. The iPhone 4 has Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR wireless technology meaning it supports stereo audio and controls. Personally I have these and they have answer/volume +/-/ skip/back/play/pause buttons that all work with iPhone 4.


How to run GimpShop on Lion I've just downloaded GimpShop and wanted to run it on Lion.
So I've copied the app to the Applications folder and started it.
It starts, I can see it's doing something with cache and bam.. it goes away. The only thing left is X11 window with bash prompt.
I've tried closing the X11 app and running it again... nothing.
Is there any way I could start GimpShop on Lion?

Thanks

EDIT:
There's something wrong with font caching or immediately after fonts are cached.
If I remove the font cache directory it will go through the process of caching again and will close immediately after it [or in the middle, hard to tell].
I can see few files inside. If they stay there and I will try to start GimpShop again it will close immediately.

EDIT2:
So I've followed these instructions, but I'm still getting an error:

bash-3.2$ ./Gimp
/Applications/Gimpshop.app/Contents/Resources/init: line 7: dev/null: No such file or directory
Fontconfig warning: no <cachedir> elements found. Check configuration.
Fontconfig warning: adding <cachedir>/usr/X11/var/cache/fontconfig</cachedir>
Fontconfig warning: adding <cachedir>~/.fontconfig</cachedir>
/Applications/Gimpshop.app/Contents/Resources/script: line 17: open-x11: command not found
Unable to find application named 'XDarwin'
2012-01-17 00:39:24.040 defaults[74566:507]
The domain/default pair of (kCFPreferencesAnyApplication, AppleLanguages) does not exist
dyld: Library not loaded: /opt/local/lib/libfreetype.6.dylib
  Referenced from: /Applications/Gimpshop.app/Contents/Resources/lib/libfontconfig.1.dylib
  Reason: Incompatible library version: libfontconfig.1.dylib requires version 15.0.0 or later, but libfreetype.6.dylib provides version 10.0.0
bash-3.2$

Any tips?

Lots of changes were made in Lion. This could be why you are having issues. However, They do suggest that you use MacPorts to install GIMPShop. This might help you install it on Lion.

Resources:

GIMPShop Instructions (from their website)
gimpshop on osx lion (a thread from Mac Forms)


Are Trådfri motion detectors, dimmers, and switch compatible with HomeKit? Today Ikea announced HomeKit compatibility for their Trådfri line of smart lighting. I assume the bulbs show as accessories in HomeKit but do the motion detectors, dimmers, and switches show up as well?

To see what's currently compatible with HomeKit have a look at HomeKit accessories.
The list keeps getting smarter,, at Apple's website.

At the present time, nothing from Ikea is compatible and will not be until later this year in the fall, starting with Ikea's Trådfri line of smart lighting. Explicit compatibility of any other Ikea products has yet to be announced.


Disk utility killed my external drive I have a problem with disk utility. I have a external USB3 drive, formatted HFS+. It should hold roughly 500GB out of 1TB of Data. Now Finder told me, that the data was there but no files were visible (out of the blue, of course).

When I ran First Aid in disk utility, it immediately returned a "operation complete" (or the likes - my OS is running on German). Unfortunately my volume is now toast, displays as untitled, is unmountable and is displayet to be full to the last bit with "other".

Did I mention, I'm a bit desperate?

Running Diskutil in command line mode is pretty much the same as running it in the GUI and that is the right way to go: select the disk and click on repair. Or do it the way "perhapsmaybeharry" indicated. Either should work.

If that fails you may need to try a dedicated disk repair program (I use Diskwarrior but there are others that work well too).

Likely a bad sector cropped up at the wrong place at the wrong time that the drive firmware could not fix. It is unlikely that Disk Utility did anything. And another disk repair utility may be able to fix this.

If it can't you may have to send it off to a data recovery company, but that is expensive and DiskWarrior (or others) is likely to fix it.


Macbook with thunderbolt 3 and disk drive? I thought I just saw someone with (what I believe to be) a thunderbolt 3 and a disc drive on their MacBook, and I thought there were no more disc drives that were built into MacBooks (that have thunderbolt 3 ports also). The computer did look like one of the thicker, somewhat older MacBooks. What did I possibly see?

Could it have been a Kensington Lock Slot? I believe the pre-retina MacBook Pros and MacBooks with optical drives all had them.

(Image: Wikipedia User "Yetzt", CC-BY-SA-2.0-Germany)


Archive not shown in Mail.app on Yosemite I'm not sure what happened, but I don't see Archive mailbox in Mail.app.

Compared to iCloud.com, there is a Archive directory.

Wha might be wrong? How can I bring back the Archive box in Mail.app?
I use Mac OS X 10.10.1.

I don't know exactly what happened, but the box comes and goes.
I set the Archive box in the favorite toolbar so that I can bring it up when it's not showing itself.


Output folder contents to .CSV with alphabets removed from filename I would like to turn the contents(filenames) of a folder into a .csv

My problem is that the files are organised in sets. I only want to output the filename of each set without anything else but the first numbers.

Desired Output:

Example of files in folder:

10405a.jpg
10405b.jpg
10405c.jpg
160405a.jpg
160405b.jpg
160405c.jpg
2002035-1.jpg
2002035-2.jpg
2002035-3.jpg

I found some code that i modified with no luck.
I assume i have to loop through the files and check for any non-digit characters and pars that somehow. Any help would be much appreciated.

set src to (choose folder with prompt "Choose source folder where source tree is rooted at")'s POSIX path
    set theCsv to ""
    repeat with i from 1 to number of items in src
        tell application "Finder" to set this_item to displayed name of item i of src
        set this_item to this_item & ",\\n"
        set theCsv to theCsv & this_item
    end repeat
    do shell script "echo " & quoted form of theCsv & " > ~/Desktop/names.csv"

You could try the following example AppleScript code:

set src to quoted form of ¬
    (choose folder with prompt "Choose source folder where source tree is rooted at")'s POSIX path

set shellCommand to ¬
    "cd " & src & " && echo 'Object #' > \"$HOME/Desktop/names.csv\"; ls | grep -Eo '^[0-9]+' | sort -u >> \"$HOME/Desktop/names.csv\""

do shell script shellCommand

Note: The example AppleScript code is just that and does not contain any error handling as may be appropriate. The onus is upon the user to add any error handling as may be appropriate, needed or wanted. Have a look at the try statement and error statement in the AppleScript Language Guide. See also, Working with Errors. Additionally, the use of the delay command may be necessary between events where appropriate, e.g. delay 0.5, with the value of the delay set appropriately.


Calendar broken after upgrade to High Sierra I upgraded from Yosemite to High Sierra and found that Calendar has "forgotten" all entries after the upgrade: no trace of them was to be found in ~/Libraries/Calendar. As I never activated synchronization with iCloud and also suppressed it during the upgrade, there was no direct way of recovering them.

In an effort to get the Calendar entries back, I copied the contents of the ~/Libraries/Calendar folder from my pre-upgrade Time Machine backup (overwriting some of them in the process). However, now Calendar cannot even be started, it crashes right on startup and leaves error messages like

error: (6922) I/O error for database at /Users/me/Library/Calendars/Calendar Cache.  SQLite error code:6922, 'disk I/O error'
error: Encountered exception I/O error for database at /Users/me/Library/Calendars/Calendar Cache.  SQLite error code:6922, 'disk I/O error' with userInfo {
NSFilePath = "/Users/me/Library/Calendars/Calendar Cache";
NSSQLiteErrorDomain = 6922;} while checking table name from store: <NSSQLiteConnection: 0x7f971e01d160>

in the logfile. What can I do to make Calendar work again and get the old entries back?

Thomas

Try this:
Quit calendar (cmd + q), delete the calendar directory on your Mac’s HD/SSD, empty trash, reboot (with the option to open previous apps/Windows off), launch calendar, wait 5 minutes, quit calendar (cmd + q). Find the .ics files in the backup, import them with the calendar app, wait, see if your calendar works.

Another soloution may be:
Quit calendar
Find the old calendar app in your backup, and copy it to your desktop.
Copy the calendar directory from your backup, replace the current directory on your Mac. Reboot (with the option to open previous apps/Windows off).
Launch calendar from your desktop, and see if it works...


Bootcamp error: Can’t install the software because it is not currently available from the Software Update server Whenever I try to proceed with the bootcamp installation or click the download windows support software option from the action menu, it throws me that error.
I've googled this problem and made sure I have a strong wifi connection, plugged in my Macbook while doing this, am running the latest Catalina version and apart from the current windows 10 iso on the microsoft website, tried using older versions of windows 10. Nothing helped.

So I have been getting same error when trying to install windows with bootcamp but I managed to bypass it. Usually I would choose win iso image, choose size for windows partition and click next. Software would begin to download but soon after the error would show up. Usually i would click OK and it would cancel installation, but this time i did not click anything and left it for some time and I noticed that download bar is changing. I left it to finish and only then click OK message, and then I re-run bootcamp installation and that worked!


Is installing Windows on Macbook Pro for Game development good and efficient I have a Macbook PRO, new to game development. Looks like Windows is the recommended OS for game development. Will installing Windows in mac with bootcamp assistantfor Game development good. Is anyone here is doing that? Or continue to use MacOS for game development. Im going to be using Unreal Game Engine.

If you look at it objectively, then yes installing Windows in BootCamp is both "good" and "efficient" in the sense that (a) this is a supported configuration for your computer that will not "break" anything, and (b) you'll be able to make full use of the computer's hardware's performance.
On the other hand, I don't see you couldn't keep using macOS for game development as well. There's no rule or general recommendation that Windows is always "best for game development" - far from it.
If you're planning to develop a game for the Mac or for iOS users, I would stick with the Mac. If you're developing a game only for Windows users, there's good arguments for running on the same target as your own users.


Is Windows 10 32 bit good for iMac 4,1 running Bootcamp? I have an iMac 4,1, 2Gb RAM and installed Bootcamp.
Is Windows 10 Home Premium 32 bit good for that machine? Or is it too heavy, better install Windows 7 Home Basic 32 bit?

The latest supported Windows version for that machine is Windows 7, 32-bit.

There will be no drivers available for Windows 10.

Ref: Everymac


No install location available in Mac Internet Recovery I tried to start my Mac & a folder with a question mark appeared.
I researched on Google and discovered it was a problem with the Boot partition. I saw how to fix it. I used  Opt ⌥   while booting and I was able to get to Mac Internet Recovery.

I tried to install new software, after agreeing to terms and conditions, it took me to the next screen where I had to choose the Install destination. But it was blank - There was no Macintosh HD hard disk icon present there.

When I went to Disk Utility, There was no Macintosh HD there either. When I researched on SE, one similar questions was asked - the solution said that there would be a drive named super disk. But here in my Mac there is no super disk. Only a single disk 2 GB drive.

I understand the disk may be dead but it could be also because of a loose connection as I recently opened my Mac.

Update (5 Months after asking question): When the Genius Bar took a look at it, they found out that the disk had died. I got it replaced and now it works perfectly.

Follow this guide on how to erase and install Mojave and all recent macOS releases. Many old instructions on the net are wrong.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

You create the Macintosh HD as part of the process, so if it’s not there either you aren’t taking the intended action or there is a failure in the disk (hardware) and Disk Utility should throw an error condition to trace that.

Follow the link on erase in step 2 above for the erase portion.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208496


iPhone 4 will charge in wall, but won't sync or charge via USB I have an iPhone 4 that is showing its age.  It will charge when plugged into the wall charger.  However, when I plug the same cable into a USB port on my computer it will not charge or be recognized at all by iTunes.

When I plug my new iPhone 4S into the same cable it is recognized and syncs just fine.

Is there anything I can try to get the iPhone 4 syncing via USB so I can update the OS and sync with iTunes, etc?

Edit: I will occasionally get the "This accessory is not optimized for this iPhone" message when I plug the iPhone into the cable connected to the USB port.

I know, in most cases, this problem to be the usb port on the iphone. Unfortunately this part seems to be a part which only one in five of these parts to be good from experience. Either the mic or data port are defective which makes a diy repair frustrating. Most people will change it once they hit a defect part and give up. Don't give up. Trying to help people who are frustrated as I was. Usually occurs when you update with a port having bad contacts and ends up with a no sync or no voice on phone mic. May not be what you want to hear.


How to determine the specific rule Mail App used to move a given message? I have dozens of filter rules in my Apple Mail (under Mavericks).

(the SyncedRules.plist file is  110460 bytes long)

99% of my rules move spam mail to the trash.

My criteria are somewhat loose, and sometimes it happens that
legitimate messages end up being moved to the trash.

I have a case where I can't find manually which rule applied
to a specific message. This message is moved to the trash,
but I can't figure out which rule it responded positive to.

How can I get the info of the rule which was found as a match
to a specific message, so that I can tighten it and avoid it
apply in the future to alike messages ?

2 ways I can think of, neither particularly 'fun'

The 'one rule' method

Disable all rules bar one
put the 'mistreated' email back in the inbox
Run the single rule
see if it moves the email
rinse & repeat

the 'sounds' method

Add a new line to each existing rule - Play Sound
repeat for each rule, using a different sound
move the email back to the inbox & Apply Rules

a late posible 3rd… eliminate by halves [based on 1, but better for a large number of rules]
but this requires that no rule will halt the entire process with "Stop evaluating rules".

Add a rule halfway down the list that will play a sound if it processes that far.
test by halves, disabling rules & moving the sound to the 'silent' half each time


Headphone Jack Detection Sometimes my headphone jack stops working and I need to restart my computer. I can also put the computer to sleep and it will wake in the proper mode (headphone vs. speakers). Is there a way to reset whatever is causing this problem without restarting?

Double check to make sure there is no dirt in the headphone port - there is at least one sensor there that might be dirty and making it hard for the system to tell what is or is not plugged into the port. Blow it out with compressed air and/or carefully remove whatever is in it with a toothpick.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Clean-A-HeadPhone-Jack/

In many Macs, the headphone jack also has optical audio output in the same port, so if some dirt is in there, the system might think an optical cable in plugged in, so the headphone circuit will be turned off. If the system preferences says "digital", than probably this is what has happened.


How can I check that my Apple Watch is backed up before upgrading to iOS 9? I'm looking to research what to do to back up my Apple Watch settings and such before I upgrade from iOS 8 to iOS 9 on my iPhone. Is there an Apple support article or other information on how to make sure everything is successfully saved.

I'm especially keen to not lose my health app data, but the watch app settings and screen layout also are of interest to keep.

User fuzunspm shows how to see the size of the last backups. You can probably trust things if the dates and sizes there make sense.

Apple has an article that explains the non-upgrade/normal backup scenario, so one avenue is to perform the following steps in order.

Verify that the iPhone is backing up to iTunes using a password to encrypt the backup and/or use iCloud for backup. (Health data is not backed up otherwise)
Verify that the watch and iPhone are in range an paired by using the watch glance that shows Airplane Mode/Do Not Disturb/Silent and ping the iPhone.
Run one backup before unpairing the watch (or one each to iCloud and to iTunes if you are worried that iCloud could be too busy on launch day or your network would be slow to restore from iCloud)
Open the Apple Watch app on the iOS 8 iPhone and choose Unpair Apple Watch - this forces a complete backup of the watch data to the iOS device
Run a second backup (or second pair of backups) to iCloud and/or iTunes.
Consider saving the iTunes backup folder contents (compress the folder and save it to an external drive, etc...) just in case.

At that point, you can run the iOS 9 update. If you want to re-pair the watch, that would be fine since you have a known backup with the data embedded in the iOS backup.

Also, once the iOS 9 update is done, you will want to run the Apple Watch app to update your watch to watchOS 2.0 if you wish. It happens as a second/separate step to upgrading to iOS 9 on your iPhone.


How to update Xcode from 7.2.1 to 7.3.1 using terminal (commandline tools) I just need to know if there's a way to update Xcode from 7.2.1 to 7.3.1 using terminal (command line interface)?

The reason is I updated the Xcode via Mac App Store and once it was installed, the Xcode is still showing the version as Xcode 7.2.1.

I've been searching here as well as over Google and I couldn't find any info regarding this.

Depending upon the version of macOS/OS X that you have installed as well as your boot volume's storage, you might not see the version of Xcode.app in your /Applications folder update immediately after updating from the App Store app.

For a relatively easy way to deal with MAS apps and updates, check out the mas recipe in Homebrew:

https://github.com/mas-cli/mas

  A simple command line interface for the Mac App Store. Designed for scripting and automation.


AppleScript or Automator Workflow for Bulk-Converting Powerpoint Presentations to Keynote I have a large set of Powerpoint presentations that I would like to convert to Keynote. I can convert each one manually by following these steps:

In Finder, right-click Powerpoint document and select Open With... -> Keynote
In Keynote, choose Save As..., check the Save copy as checkbox, select iWork '08 as the format, and click OK.

However, doing this for each document is tedious. I'd like a way to convert them all at once.

I've been trying to create an Automator workflow for this, but have been completely unsuccessful.  (I think being a programmer actually makes it impossible to understand the for-the-rest-of-us tools like Automator and AppleScript.)  Can anyone help me out?

I couldn't figure out how to get Automator to do it, but I was able to beat AppleScript into submission.  Just save the following as an Application in the AppleScript Editor, then drag the files you want to convert onto the icon.  It will prompt you to choose a folder where the converted files will be placed.

on open droppedFiles
    set theDestinationFolder to (choose folder with prompt "Choose destination folder") as Unicode text
    repeat with theFile in droppedFiles
        tell application "Keynote"
            open theFile
            set theSlideshow to slideshow 1
            set theDestinationPath to theDestinationFolder & (name of theSlideshow)
            save theSlideshow in theDestinationPath
            close theSlideshow
        end tell
    end repeat
end open

(I don't really know what I'm doing with AppleScript. If there are improvements that can be made here, I'd like to know about them.)


Can I sync drafts to gMail from iPhone mail? I have gmail set up via exchange. My drafts aren't syncing back to the server. Should they be? Is there a setting somewhere?

No, this is limitation of GMail via Exchange on iOS.

The only way to have draft support is to use the GMail template when adding a new mail account.


Why is my iPhoto burn failing? I am trying to burn selected photos to a DVD and it keeps telling me that the burn failed:

I've tried rebooting and that helped the first time, but the second disk I tried to burn failed. What's up with this? How can I fix it? I am using iPhoto '11 (9.2.1).

Ok, so after taking the MBP to the Genius Bar, they ended up replacing the optical drive. Luckily it didn't cost anything, as it was under warranty. So, I had a faulty optical drive to blame for my problems.


Macbook Pro turning off in sleep mode Since upgrading to the latest MacOS my Macbook Pro seems to be turning off while in sleep mode if left for a long time, I think only when it's not plugged in.

If I close the lid and open it up in about 10 mins, it'll come out of sleep as expected and ask for my password. However if I close the lid and leave it for a few hours, I need to press the power button to boot it back up again asks for HDD encryption password and then prompts to log in.

I have tried resetting the NVRAM and SMC but no luck. There are no further MacOS updates.

Any idea what else I can try?

My iMac began shutting down at random in sleep mode. As it was 6 years old I assumed that the power supply was packing up causing overheating and shut down.

Was about to rush out and buy a new one but had a specialist look at it first. It turned out to be software,  freebie malware and avast. Once removed machine runs fast,like new, and doe not shut down. Object lesson look before you leap!


How Mac OS Associate System Folder with Special folder Icon I just ran into this question. I think there must be a plist file or something similar. Here is what I found:

When customizing a plain folder with my own icon file, there is an invisible file created in the folder called "Icon^M", which I think is a kind of icon file?
But system "special" folder like /Applications, /Users/Documents, and so on, do not have this kind of file in it, and are displayed as special icons instead of stock plain blue icon.

So, how does Apple associate special folders and their special icons? I think there is some system plist file to associate these two, like:

...
< key >/User/Documents< /key >
< value >pathToIcon or binaryRepOfFileAndPath< /value >
...

Where can I find the file? Thank you!

The special folder .icns files, e.g for Applications, Library, System and User, etc. are stored in /System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources and the info.plist file to control these is /System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Info.plist.


How to Add Gmail Contact via iPhone I have my Gmail account configured via Exchange on my iPhone 4S.  When I add a new contact, it only adds it to my phone.  I have to add separately to Gmail and then merge duplicates, which seems like too many steps.

I want this to work so that any contact I add through iOS is added to my Gmail contacts, not the local phone's contacts.  How can I accomplish this?

In the settings, set your default Contacts account to Gmail.

Launch Settings
Navigate to Mail, Contacts, Calendars
Scroll down to Contacts
Under default account, select the email address you use with Gmail.

Now whenever you create a contact on iOS, it will be added to Gmail. The only time a contact will not be added to Gmail is if you go into the Contacts application, select Groups on the top, and choose an account other than All Contacts or your Gmail account (e.g. iCloud).


How can I download an older version of OS X/macOS? Sometimes it's hard to search for older versions of macOS & OS X  on the App Store.

This is an attempt to provide the canonical QA for this issue, as per the Meta QA -
Where is the list of canonical questions stored for Ask Different?
I expect it to be modified over time to hopefully become a complete information resource.

How can I get any older version of a Mac OS to be able to run as a VM, or to reinstall on my Mac?

Some of this answer is getting a little dated now, as it's been periodically updated over several years.
It might be simpler to first check Apple's own page on How to get old versions of macOS (which didn't exist until relatively recently), & come back here if you still have issues.
One thing that still applies throughout is - you need a Mac to get macOS easily & legitimately.

If you are trying to jump a long way - say from 10.8 to 10.14 or later, received wisdom is to first upgrade to El Capitan 10.11, then High Sierra 10.13.
This will prepare your machine for the long jump.
Some users seem to have managed to miss out El Capitan, but High Sierra still seems necessary.

Since Mojave
[This section is still work in progress]
It would appear that in the new Mojave App Store, older purchased OS Installers no longer appear at all, so the 'simple method' of grabbing it from your purchase history is no longer valid.
Sierra, High Sierra & Mojave are available via direct links - see below.
Testing the El Capitan installer which has a published URL it will appear in the App Store, but if requested to download no longer says 'not valid for this Mac' it now says 'The requested version of macOS is not available'.

Some further testing is required - contributions welcome - to see if other OS versions are similarly removed. We may need direct links for these, which I don't have at present.
Additional note:-
I've attempted from VMs of older OSes to recreate the App Store as it used to be in El Capitan & High Sierra, to see if I could still access the old 'purchase history'.. with no success. The history appears as it used to, but I have been unable to access any older versions through it.
It seems you actually need a physical Mac running those older OSes to be able to reach back for those older versions.

For macOS versions since Sierra.
Sierra itself has now vanished from everybody's Purchase History. However, Apple are keeping Sierra fully available, even though High Sierra is out. No Apple ID is required.
Apparently, you must use Safari to access these links, otherwise it doesn't correctly redirect to the App Store.

Sierra - Direct download link from the App Store
High Sierra - Direct download link from the App Store
Mojave - Direct download link from the App Store
Catalina - Direct download link from the App Store
Big Sur - Direct download link from the App Store

High Sierra link tested from Mojave Jan 2019 - still works to download, though it does it via the new Software Update control panel. It won't run on a Mojave Mac but you have the installer in your Apps folder to move elsewhere

For OS X versions from Lion up to El Capitan.
I successfully re-tested this method Jan 2019 - still working as stated for a Mac limited to El Capitan. Purchased older OSes are still listed & accessible
The simplest way - if available to you - is to use your Purchase History on the App Store.
If you have ever previously installed any OS X version, it will still be available to you from that list. This should include any public beta versions too.
The version available from that list will always be the latest version of its type - i.e. 10.7.5, 10.8.6... 10.11.6
Image heavily modified to show only OS versions.

Note, it will say Download or Install depending on whether or not you have the Installer file saved locally - even on a non-boot drive.

If the version you are trying to download is older than the Mac you are attempting to download it to - the Store will not allow the download.
[looking for workarounds to this part - edits welcome - I can't test this as the newest Mac I have is a 2012 Mac Pro]
Potential workarounds, need testing -
How to re-download Lion from Mountain Lion

For older Macs
If you are trying to update an older machine running Snow Leopard or Lion, then you can get a special version of El Capitan from the App Store

This version of El Capitan is for users running OS X Snow Leopard or
OS X Lion who would like to upgrade to macOS High Sierra. If you are
running Snow Leopard or Lion and would like to upgrade to High Sierra,
you need to install El Capitan first. This version of El Capitan can
also be installed on computers that are not compatible with High
Sierra.

Note that last sentence... this version will not install on any machine that is not currently on Snow Leopard or Lion, if the machine is capable of running High Sierra.
That leaves it as quite a specific resource & not a general 'get out of jail free card' for anyone wanting El Capitan.

Recovery Options
If you need to reinstall from Recovery, & were previously running Sierra 10.12.4 or higher, there are now 3 options available.
Hold the appropriate key combo at the boot chimes...

 Cmd ⌘  R
reinstall the latest macOS that was installed on your Mac, without upgrading to a later version
 Opt ⌥   Cmd ⌘  R
upgrade to the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac
 Shift ⇧   Opt ⌥   Cmd ⌘  R
reinstall the macOS that came with your Mac, or the version nearest to it that is still available.

The first 2 options are available to any Mac newer than Lion, approximately 2009.

Should you have access to an older point release of any OS, 10.11.0 etc & wish to upgrade, then you can download Combo Updaters from Apple that contain everything necessary to go straight to the latest point release in a single step, e.g. 10.11.6
Google is good at finding these, as the top hit if you just search combo update 10.11 etc but here are links to a few
Mavericks 10.9.5
Yosemite 10.10.5
El Capitan 10.11.6
Sierra 10.12.6
High Sierra 10.13.6

If you need to create a bootable USB to install from
How do I create El Capitan installer on a Catalina (or post-El Capitan) installed Mac for use on USB boot installer
How do I make a bootable USB OS X installer on a Mac?
How do I create a Mac bootable USB drive using Windows?

If none of these methods are available to you, you have two options

Find a friend who can access the download [recommended]

Find a torrent/sharing site [not recommended]

Additional Note:
There is no 'legitimate' way to download macOS from anything other than a Mac. It requires the Apple App store.

Note: You can not use a Time Machine backup to revert to an OS which is older than the OS of the latest backup on that Time Machine drive.
This means that to preserve your ability to ever restore to an earlier backup & OS with your Time Machine backup, you must swap out that Time Machine drive before upgrading the OS. This is because once the Time Machine drive sees the new OS, there's no going back to the older OS using it. You can still pick data out from the Time Machine manually, but cannot use it to restore to the older OS.

I've moved this section to the bottom, just to keep for historical purposes.
This certificate issue should now be resolved.
NEWS
October 2019
Because of the certificate issue Apple faced, which overnight obsoleted all the previous macOS installers, they have re-released several of these, with new certificates.
Apple KB - If an installer says it can't be verified or was signed with a certificate that has expired
This contains links to further KBs for each of the 6 most recent OSes from Catalina back to Yosemite.
The three newer ones link to the App Store, but Sierra, El Capitan & Yosemite link to direct downloads.
Caution: Use Safari if your browser doesn’t open the Mac App Store links in the App Store app. iTunes and Music and iBooks and other apps can’t download these installers - they will say item not available, often quoting your country store by name.
Note for those of us who like to keep all these for 'just in case'.
Download them one at a time & label them correctly before downloading another, so you know which is which. They are not identifiable from the dmg or installer name as to which OS they are :\
Worse… even when you run it, you get absolutely no indication of which OS it is going to install. Be careful.
The following would probably still apply if you were trying to access something older than Yosemite…
General Note
This task seems to be getting harder as time passes. A new wrinkle is that a lot of these older installers, even if you can get hold of them, have an 'expiry date'. The last widespread expiration date for many Mac installers was October 24, 2019 so you will need to re-download your installers after that date to keep them valid and signed.
If you see a message such as
“This copy of the Install OS X El Capitan application can’t be verified. It may have been corrupted or tampered with during downloading”,
or a more vague “An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running again”
A new error seems to be…
No packages were eligible for install.
Try setting your clock to a date within a year of the OS's initial release date if you absolutely cannot re-download them.
From Michael Tsai's blog - Installing Old Versions of macOS

It seems that the installer is signed with a certificate that has
expired. When booted from the installer, you can open Terminal and use
the date command to set the clock to the past, i.e. to when that
version of macOS was current. After installing, be sure to set the
clock to the correct date, or various other things won’t work
properly.


Unable to verify mail every time I am at a different location There are a lot of people that have a problem verifying mail clients and there are lots of solutions that may or may not work.

I've seen that I have this problem every time my mail client (Catalina) tries to access a Hotmail account from a physical location that it is not used to. I get an email notifying me about a suspicious activity, which I mark as safe, but the mail still cannot verify the account (password is certainly correct). The only solution until now was to completely remove and add the account, but I cannot do this every single time I travel. It is getting ridiculous.

I understand that this is a security feature for my own benefit, but most of the time lately I don't have access to the mails. Is there any way to disable this feature? Or some other workaround?

Per Microsoft:

Microsoft prioritizes account security and works to prevent people from signing in without your permission. When we notice a sign-in attempt from a new location or device, we help protect the account by sending you an email message and an SMS alert. If your phone number or email changes, it's important to promptly update the security contact info on the Security basics page so we can work with you to keep your account secure and active.
If you sign in to your account while traveling or if you install a new app that signs in with your account, you may get an alert. We just need you to provide a security code so we know it was you, and that your account is safe.

I added the bold part.  It appears that MS notices the IP or access location is new or different than usual and requires the additional security login measures.
Catalina does not control your email access, it simply sends the credentials to the mail server.  It's possible that it takes time for MS's mail servers to validate your response to their security challenge.
I also have a Hotmail account and I use Spark as my email client on Catalina.  This happens to me when I travel but I find when I wait 10-15 min I can login again.  Strangely, this doesn't happen to my Yahoo or gMail accounts, only Hotmail (and Outlook but it's the same system).


Can I get a list of file types a particular app is set as the default to open? I would like to see all the file types that a particular application is set as the default for.  I will change some of these default file type associations; I know how to do that on a filetype by filetype basis.  My question is, can I find a list of what file types an app has set itself as the default for so I can do the ones I want all at once?

On this site I found How can I disassociate a single app (e.g., XCode) from all file types it's mapped to? which is close to my question but people seem to think it is a duplicate of the change-default-app question (I disagree).  Anyway there is some information there about all associated file types, but unless I misunderstand, nothing about the default-open which is what I am concerned with.

Take a look at RCDefaultApp for Mac OS X.  This app adds a "Default Apps" preference pane to your System Settings where you can view and change your Mac's file associations.  Under the hood it interacts with the LaunchServices database.


How to disable App Limits on macOS admin account, without passcode? I don't remember my passcode and those block-screens are getting annoying) There should be a way to disable it with admin privileges, but I cannot find any info on apple forums.

Edit: I DO remember my admin password. I don't have the 4 digit-passcode for Screen Time feature.

If you've forgotten your admin password, then you can reset it using the steps shown in this Apple document.