Disk cloning fails due to wrong format I am attempting to clone a 120gb Mac disk to a new 500gb hard disk. The hard disk has previously been used as an external disk on a PC, but has been reinitialised for Mac. However, it seems that no matter what method I use to clone (tried SuperDuper, CCC and Disk Utility), it seems as if the system thinks the disk is in the wrong format.

To test the 500gb disk, I put a clean install of Snow Leopard on it, and successfully booted another MacBook from it. At this point, I figured I had successfully ensured it would then be seen as a Mac disk when I cloned to it - but it wasn't. The software either doesn't see it at all or thinks it's formatted in Microsoft FAT32 format.

How can I fix this?

This from Disk Utility's log:

2012-10-28 11:13:26 +0000: Preparing to partition disk: “WDC WD50 00BPKT-00PK4T0 Media”
2012-10-28 11:13:26 +0000:  Partition Scheme: GUID Partition Table
2012-10-28 11:13:26 +0000:  1 volume will be created
2012-10-28 11:13:26 +0000:
2012-10-28 11:13:26 +0000:  Partition 1
2012-10-28 11:13:26 +0000:      Name       : “Macintosh HD - new”
2012-10-28 11:13:26 +0000:      Size       : 465.8 GB
2012-10-28 11:13:26 +0000:      Filesystem : Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
2012-10-28 11:13:26 +0000:
2012-10-28 11:13:26 +0000: Creating partition map.
2012-10-28 11:13:29 +0000: Formatting disk1s2 as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with name Macintosh HD - new.
2012-10-28 11:13:39 +0000: Partition complete.
2012-10-28 11:13:39 +0000:
**********
2012-10-28 17:25:50 +0000: Disk Utility started.
2012-10-28 17:26:57 +0000: Verifying volume “disk1s1” Starting verification tool:  2012-10-28 17:26:57 +0000
2012-10-28 17:26:57 +0000: Verify volume failed: Unrecognized Filesystem.

And this is what Disk Utility now reports:

Disk Description :  WDC WD50 00BPKT-00PK4T0 Media   Total Capacity :    465.8 GB (500,107,862,016 Bytes)
Connection Bus :    USB Write Status :  Read/Write
Connection Type :   External    S.M.A.R.T. Status : Not Supported
USB Serial Number : 000001D91811    Partition Map Scheme :  Master Boot Record

Your question is not very clear, but the problem is most likely to do with Partition Map Scheme :  Master Boot Record - this should be Partition Scheme: GUID Partition Table for a bootable OS X disk for a Mac with an Intel processor (the ones that have been sold by Apple for the last 6+ years).

The Partition Map Scheme :  Master Boot Record scheme is popular on Microsoft operating systems and can be used for disks that are not bootable on OS X and are required to just store data.


MacMini M1 broken sudo So I manage to break sudo during this one day of owning MacMini M1. I manage to break sudo during editing /etc/pam.d/sudo. How I can edit it back? I tried using terminal in recovery mode. This file is not present there. su is turned off in macOS. Is reinstall the only way?
Update: I ended up with reinstalling Big Sur.

TARGET in the Makefile needs to be updated.
For example, I'm using an M1 Macbook Pro with macOS Big Sur 11.2.1, so I changed it to arm64-apple-macosx11.2


Remove Gmail contacts from iPhone contacts list My iPhone has pulled in all contacts from my Gmail account into my contact list. It’s gotten so out of hand that it’s difficult to find contacts I need.

Is there any easy way to remove these and keep them from coming in again?

iPhone 6, iOS 10.3.3

Go to Settings → Contacts → Accounts → your Gmail account and turn off Contacts.
Choose ‘Delete from iPhone’ to remove them from your iPhone contacts list.


Sync Photos without iTunes? I really dislike iTunes and would prefer to never use it. The only thing I use it for right now is syncing photos from my iPhone 6 to my OS X El Capitan.

Use iCloud Photo library it'll sync pictures automatically between Mac and iPhone (it does also work with iPad, Apple-tv 4 and iPod Touch 5/6) with iOS 8.1 or newer.


How can I set Last Modified Date of file after using HandbrakeCLI to convert a file? Running this on OS X Lion.

I'm batch converting several hundred home movies using Handbrake CLI.  I'd like to set the last modified date and created date to that original file.

I'm using the following script:

for f in "$@"; do
  base=${f%.*}
  extension=${f##*.}
  newfile=${base}.m4v
  echo Converting \"$f\" to \"$newfile\"
  /Applications/HandBrakeCLI  -e x264 -b 4000 -a 1 -E faac -B 160 -R 48 -6 dpl2 -f mp4 --crop 0:0:0:0  -x level=40:ref=2:mixed-refs:bframes=3:weightb:subme=9:direct=auto:b-pyramid:me=umh:analyse=all:no-fast-pskip:filter=-2,-1 -i "$f" -o "$newfile"
done

I execute this script by running:

find . -name "*.avi" -print0 | xargs -0 hbapple.sh

Does anyone have thoughts on how I can set the last modified and creation time of the original file to that of the $newfile?

If I don't figure out how to do this I will have a difficult time knowing when these videos were actually created.

I appreciate any help or pointers

The modification date can be set with

touch -m -t 201207010742 whatever.m4v

AFAIK the creation/birth date can't be modified.

To set the modification date based on the creation date of another file you can use stat:

touch -m -t $(stat -f %SB -t %Y%m%d%H%M original-file.mov) new-file-m4v

To apply this to your script, use something like

for f in "$@"
  do
     olddate=$(stat -f %SB -t %Y%m%d%H%M "$f")
     base=${f%.*}
     extension=${f##*.}
     newfile=${base}.m4v
     echo Converting \"$f\" to \"$newfile\"
     /Applications/HandBrakeCLI  -e x264 -b 4000 -a 1 -E faac -B 160 -R 48 -6 dpl2 -f mp4 --crop 0:0:0:0  -x level=40:ref=2:mixed-refs:bframes=3:weightb:subme=9:direct=auto:b-pyramid:me=umh:analyse=all:no-fast-pskip:filter=-2,-1 -i "$f" -o "$newfile"
     touch -m -t $olddate "$newfile"
  done


AirPods not charging due to contact issue between the AirPod and the case After placing both AirPods in the case and taking them out long after they should've been fully charged, I noticed that the left AirPod was at 1%, while the right AirPod was at 100%. This happens every now and then, and thus I know it is a contact issue, but I don't know how to fix it.

Any ideas?

Try these solutions in the following order:

Cleaning the lightning port*;
Cleaning the inside of the case*;
Instead of manually inserting the AirPods in the charging case all the way, insert just a portion of them, and let them fall in the case. The gravity and the magnetic attraction will place them in the right position, thus allowing them to charge. Surprisingly, inserting them manually all the way might not place them in the right position;
Place a small piece of paper on the inside of lid so that when it is closed, it presses the AirPods against the connector**;

If none of these options worked, the case and/or the AirPods might be broken and need to be looked at by an authorized technician

*with a sharp object that doesn't conduct electricity (like a toothpick)
** This solution should be used as a last resort, since it might potentially damage the opening/closing mechanics of the lid


Can I safely uncheck the Optimise Mac Storage check box on the Apple ID - iCloud page? On this screen, the Optimise Mac Storage box is √ checked. If I uncheck it, do I lose all my files or do they eventually end up in the cloud?
I see a lot of advice about this, but none mention this checkbox option that I can see.

I can't work out if all files will be stored in the cloud, or all files will be stored on my computer?

Yes, it is perfectly safe to uncheck that box.

When you uncheck it, the computer will start downloading your files from your iCloud Drive (if you have any files there, that are not already stored on your computer).

Unchecking usually means that more space will be taken up on your computers disk drive, but that is fully safe and does not make your computer slower or anything like that.

If you decide against it later, you can always check the box again to let the system automatically manage disk space.


What does "brew --HEAD" mean? I've seen it mentioned several times to fix issues with some packages, that it installs newer versions of packages somehow. But I've been unable to find a clear explanation of what that option really does, when to use it, why some packages have a --HEAD version to install and why its necessary.

I found some information in the Homebrew docs.

Quoting from under the "Advanced Formula Tricks" section:

  Unstable versions (HEAD, devel)

  Formulae can specify alternate downloads for the upstream project’s devel release (unstable but not trunk) or HEAD
  (master/trunk).

  HEAD URLs (activated by passing --HEAD) build the development cutting
  edge.

Hopefully this helps with the what.  I can't help with the why.


Applescript IF statement with click and keystroke? I would like to make a script that press down the shift button every time i click on something and maintains it pressed until I release click.
Something like:

If click then key down shift
"when click released" key down shift

Thank you for your help I've been struggling with this one !

I don't know any way to do that with AppleScript, but you could add something like this to KeyRemap4MacBook's private.xml:

<autogen>__PointingButtonToKey__ PointingButton::MIDDLE, KeyCode::SHIFT_L</autogen>

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


There is a broken Sophos entry in Keychain Access after uninstalling the program - how do I remove it? I've followed the official instructions and also tried running the official removal tool (which btw hangs) for Sophos anti-virus for Mac but I still see a "Sophos" entry in Keychain Access.

I have also see errors in Console when system services try to open /Library/Sophos Anti-Virus/Sophos.keychain which is a non-existant file. I've even tried recreating a file in that path followed by sudo security delete-keychain "/Library/Sophos Anti-Virus/Sophos.keychain" but the entry still remains in the list of keychains.

How can I remove this annoying Sophos leftover?

(can't remember which Sophos edition I originally installed, maybe it was called "Home", maybe that is the only one for Mac)

To fix this you have to manually edit the file /Library/Preferences/com.apple.security-common.plist, as root, and delete the corresponding hardcoded <dict>...Sophos...</dict> entry in there.

Great care must be taken because you can totally screw up  your system(-keychain) if you leave any errors inside this .plist file. The section that needs to be deleted looks as follows:

...
<dict>
    <key>DbName</key>
    <string>/Library/Sophos Anti-Virus/Sophos.keychain</string>
    <key>GUID</key>
    <string>{some UUID string here}</string>
    <key>SubserviceType</key>
    <integer>6</integer>
</dict>
...

Upon save, there should no longer be any "Sophos" entry in Keychain Access or as output of security list-keychains.

I used vim and deleted the offending lines as (sudo vim /Library/Preferences/com.apple.security-common.plist) but you may use any text or plist editor you like - I frankly don't know with one is the most accessible (recommendations welcome).


Is there an app that will convert a movie to an image sequence? Does anyone know a mac app for converting a movie (.mov) to a series of images ? I know quicktime could do this in the olden days, but that features has been deleted.

You can also use ffmpeg:

ffmpeg -i input.mkv -r 0.05 image_sequence%06d.png

-r 0.05 = 0.05 Hz = 3 images per minute. It sometimes includes a few extra frames from the start though. Without -r it saves every frame.


How to stop kernel_task from constantly using over 400% CPU? Configuration:

Model Name: Mac mini (Late 2012)
Model Identifier: Macmini6,2
System Version: OS X v10.11.3 (El Capitan)

For the past few weeks, kernel_task has been using over 400% CPU and its virtual memory size has ballooned up to 68.97 GB. Even after restarting, kernel_task starts hammering the CPU right away. In addition to kernel_task, there is also another process high up in Activity Monitor’s list that is always running and is constantly using between 90% to 100% of the CPU:

Python (running under the user: _devicemgr)

I’ve tried quitting this process, but to no avail… the process just reopens using the same amount of CPU resources.

As noted by Apple here:

  Activity Monitor may show that a process named kernel_task is using a large percentage of your CPU, and during this time you may notice a lot of fan activity. This process helps manage temperature by making the CPU less available to processes that are using the CPU intensely. In other words, kernel_task responds to conditions that cause your CPU to become too hot. When the temperature decreases, kernel_task automatically reduces its activity.

This would imply that kernel_task’s CPU usage will decrease once the process causing the CPU to overheat is stopped. Unfortunately, it was impossible to tell in Activity Monitor exactly what started the Python process owned by _devicemgr to begin with. Thankfully, someone else in this thread already did the detective work.

The steps I used to solve the problem:

Moved Server.app to the Trash.
Clicked OK in the Server app removal detected. dialog box:
The Python process owned by _devicemgr finally stopped, and kernel_task’s CPU usage dropped dramatically to far more normal levels (3 – 10 %)… making my Mac finally usable again!

Optionally, Server.app can be moved out of the Trash and back into the Applications folder. I attempted this and reopened it. After starting back up and setting up services, it gave a curious error related to DeviceManager (which is quite interesting considering the CPU was being trashed for the past few weeks thanks to a process running under _devicemgr in the first place):

More details in Console.app:

In any case, clicking on Continue and ignoring the error doesn’t seem to have any negative repercussions (yet) and CPU usage hasn’t seemed to spike yet either, so I’d say problem solved!


Weird network issues with Lion I recently bought a MacBook Air with Lion. I have had many issues since, especially when connecting to the internet through "open" wifi networks that redirect you to a login page in the browser (i.e., where you need to authenticate in-browser, not through some WEP, WPA or 802.1X thing); what follows has occurred with at least two distinct such networks.

Here's a list of the weird things that happen:

Can only login to the network using Firefox; not with Safari or Chrome.
When using Safari or Chrome (after logging in to the network using Firefox), I can only visit fairly "regular" sites; most https services (Gmail, Facebook, ...) just won't load.
Most annoyingly (I could just switch to Firefox to "solve" the above issues), other apps such as Mail.app or Twitter won't work. Mail and Safari even freeze quite often (I need to kill them to quit), and Safari won't even load anymore after being killed - I need to restart the Mac to have it "work" again.

My system is quite new and "clean", although I did copy documents and settings from an older Snow Leopard MacBook. I tried creating a new user to override any non-default settings I might have been using, to no avail.
Any ideas about what's going on?

Make sure you don't have any network proxy settings - you might want to try creating a totally new 'location' in System Preferences -> Networks, select AirPort, click Advanced, then make sure that none of the Proxies are checked.


Custom ukelele layout - cmd-w and similar shortcuts not working I'm making a custom non-latin keyboard layout in Ukelele. When I install the layout and activate it typical OS hotkeys like Cmd-W or Cmd-Q are not working, but when I switch to say Russian layout - all hotkeys work as usual.

How to make the layout respect typical hotkeys? Is there a setting somewhere that I'm missing?

// I'm using latest versions of Ukelele and Mac OS.

So the problem is solved by going to Modifiers tab and adding one for CMD down key, then selecting to switch to QWERTY layout when CMD is pressed. Same can be repeated for CMD+SHIFT down.


Why NTFS write softwares cause some certain problems? After installing NTFS write software on my mac, I found two problems.

The Windows system in bootcamp does not show in the startup disk in Settings app.
Parallels Desktop can't suspend the Bootcamp virtual machine because such software installed.

Both the problems can be solved by removing the software.

What's the reason behind this?

You do not mention what software you're using to mount the NTFS volume read/write in OS X, nor which version of Parallels you're using, nor do you say what model Mac you have.  This is important to give you accurate information.

Paragon NTFS works with Parallels just fine.  MacFUSE or other NTFS read/write utilities do not.  Also, Parallels 8 and lower have issues with Paragon HFS if you have that installed on the Windows side.

Also, you should never suspend the Parallels Boot Camp VM.  If you attempt to boot to Windows via Boot Camp while the Parallels VM is suspended, you can cause data corruption.


Attaching images into Notes for iCloud Web I use Apple's Notes app on my Mac, iPhone and iPad. At times, I need to log into Notes for iCloud via a Web browser (using another Mac, PC or Linux box) using the web application to access my notes without the usual apps.

https://www.icloud.com/#notes2

While I am easily able to add an image in Notes for iOS (by inserting) and Notes for macOS (by dragging), I couldn't find a way to add images to a note using Notes for iCloud Web interface.

Is it possible to add an image (using a desktop file explorer app) to Notes for iCloud web app?

To clarify, I am looking for a way to add image(s) from a public/non-personal computer where I don't have access to my iPhone, iPad or Mac. Only possible way to access notes in this case is via iCloud web site.

As per the current implementation, it is not possible to attach images and any other file/media supported by Notes app on macOS/iOS via the iCloud Web client.

There is no control in the Notes Web app UI to attach images/supported files, neither does dragging and dropping image(s) work.

Although the lack of feature is not directly mentioned, the help document for Notes for iCloud Web (accessed by tapping the ? in the header area) makes a cursory remark about requiring macOS/iOS device for attaching items.


Used Phone & No Apple iCloud Password I was given an iPhone but I don't have the Apple iCloud password.

I don't use as the iPhone as a phone, so no carrier is enabled. I just use it with my home wifi.

A message to enter the old users iCloud password pops up at times.

Any suggestions to make the pop ups for past owners password to stop?

You have to remove the iCloud lock to become the rightful owner of the phone. The previous owner should be able to remove the lock using his/her password. Otherwise it is essentially a stolen phone.


Is it possible to use etc/hosts to block a specific part of a whole website I know how to use etc/hosts to block something such as youtube.com

However, I when I try to use etc/hosts to block something such as: youtube.com/user/TEDtalksDirector

nothing seems to happen. Is it possible to block a specific channel on youtube with etc/hosts instead of the entire site, and if so how is it done?

Here is my etc/hosts file (youtube user is modified):

##
# Host Database
#
# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
# when the system is booting.  Do not change this entry.
##
127.0.0.1       localhost
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1             localhost
fe80::1%lo0     localhost
#
127.0.0.1       www.youtube.com/user/TEDtalksDirector

No. You need a web proxy or other filter product that snoops on and processes the URL instead of just the main host.


Mac book Air Does not start without charger connected When I close the lid of my macbook then it does not boot on opening the lid again. The battery is 100% charged, It boots only when I connect the charger and takes 3-4 minutes charge before it starts booting.

I used a compatible charger for a couple of months which caused this issue perhaps.

Click on Apple icon in top left and go to: About This Mac -> System Report -> Power and see the battery condition. If battery is Normal, check if your computer is actually sleeping after you close the lid.

Reset your SMC and PRAM.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

To make sure it is not a software problem, I would boot from an external USB with a clean OS installed on it. And test it with that.

If all these steps fail, I would brought it to Apple store so they would run some hardware diagnostics (it's free, just make an appointment at Genius Bar).

Hopefully SMC would fix it. If not, it sounds like a battery issue. That 'compatible' charger, was it Apple's? Some cheap replicas from eBay are not good. I hope it is not a logic board's power distribution failure which is still fixable, but it's more of a chipset problem then. A chip would have to be replaced/reprogrammed. At Apple, they change the whole board, not just a chip, so wait on fixing it with them (unless you still have Apple Care) and check local and online logic board repair stores.

Hope it helps!


Can I get a 'modern' browser for Mac OS X (10.7.5) without upgrading to OS X El Capitan? I am using Safari (6.1.6) for all my web use but certain sites I use often are telling me my browser is out of date. I gather Safari cannot be upgraded to a more modern status.

Having read the often less than complimentary reviews of 'El Capitan' which I assume would be the next logical step, I wonder if I can keep my OS X version but use another more up to date browser.

You can currently use Chrome, the world's most popular browser, but not for long. Google are dropping support for OS X versions before 10.9 from April of this year. A Chrome version you download now will keep working, of course, but it won't get updates.

However, it's unsafe to use the Internet from OS X 10.7.5, regardless of which browser you use. It's not received any security updates for years, so it's full of unpatched known vulnerabilities.


Can I create a service in Automator that will run without having a file selected? When creating services in automator, the topmost options is "Service receives selected..." Is there a way to create a service that just works on the currently open finder window, without having a file selected? The reason why this would be nice to have is the following:

I have my unit tests in a directory tree that duplicates that of my source code. I wrote a service using automator, applescript and php that makes it possible to toggle back and forth between the source directories and my test directories. Currently I have to select a file in the directory to activate the service. I would like to be able to just navigate to a folder and activate the service that toggles to the according directory, without having to select a file first (Sometimes there are no files yet!)

Edit:
Following robmathers's suggestion in his comment to his answer I now use

tell application "Finder" to set windowTarget to the target of the front Finder window as alias
set posixPath to POSIX path of windowTarget`

which gives me the correct path to the finder window's path when I run the service in Automator.

The problem now is that the service does not show up in the "Services" panel, nor in System preferences under keyboard shortcuts when I create a new service with these settings. If I modify the existing service, It is not available when I don't have anything selected.

Yes, at the bottom of the Service receives drop down you’ll find a no input option. You should be able to activate it from the services menu (under the application menu, i.e. Finder → Services).


How do I automatically enable Personal Hotspot when my Bluetooth device is in range? (Similar to Tasker for Android) I use a spare smartphone with no SIM card as a navigation tool in my car.
This works fine with offline maps, but I can't use things like Waze. I also have an iPhone which I carry around with me, which does have a SIM card.

I wanted to know if there was a way to have the iPhone automatically start its Personal Hotspot tethering when it sees the other phone is in range via Bluetooth.

This would allow data access to the SIM-free smartphone only while I was in my car, which would be a perfect solution similar to what the Tasker app on Android can do. Perhaps something like the Workflow app would help?

There's a way to do this if you're jailbroken with tweak called Activator by Ryan Petrich, and unfortunately it's the only solution because regular App Store apps aren't allowed to access settings like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Personal Hotspot (even Workflow cannot access them).

If you happen to be jailbroken, the way to do this with Activator is to go Settings > Bluetooth > On then Settings > Activator > Anywhere > Bluetooth Devices > Connected to [your Bluetooth device] and assign it to Switches > Hotspot. You might also want to assign the Disconnected from [your Bluetooth device] event to the same action, so when you connect Bluetooth, your hotspot turns on, and when you disconnect Bluetooth, your hotspot turns off. If Switches > Hotspot doesn't appear in the list of available assignments, then you'll also need to install Flipswitch by the same author.

For use on iOS 9 and 10, see Doron Gold's comment below on how to set it up.


Shortcuts for Inserting objects in PowerPoint for Mac The screenshot shows the common items to be inserted into a PowerPoint Presentation. Being on a Mac, of course we are handicapped on not having mnemonics support to perform the action by the keyboard.  Or are there some shortcuts to do these?

The point here is that needing to hunt for the menu item with the mouse and then click on the item is way slow compared to keyboarding.

Update: An answer was provided with a link to the shortcuts provided by MS online help. I should have noted that link had already been pored over and does not mention any shortcuts for "Insert" items.

There are keyboard shortcuts for almost every menu command.  Here's a link for Microsoft's Office for Mac keyboard shortcuts site.  I normally frown on just posting a link but because there's so many shortcuts available it doesn't make sense to copy/paste them all here.

Also, if you don't find the shortcut you're looking for, you can always create your own.


Wi-Fi turning on and off since Mavericks upgrade MacBook Pro
Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013
Since upgrading to Mavericks, the Wi-Fi turns off for roughly 8 seconds and turn back on for roughly 8 seconds. I have tried this on several different networks in different physical locations. It seems to be the exact same symptoms as described in this Apple Support Communities thread - even turning Wi-Fi off manually doesn't help (it just turns right back on again).
I tried this and rebooting, but it didn't work

Try backing up and then deleting this file:
com.apple.airport.preferences.plist
from this folder:
/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/

In fact, none of the suggestions in the thread seemed to work.
I would rather not go through the trouble of downgrading since Ethernet works.

Turns out there was a custom script running under a subdirectory of /Library/Scripts/ on this laptop. It looked something like this:

#!/bin/bash

dscacheutil -flushcache
if ifconfig en0 | grep inet;
then
    /usr/sbin/networksetup -setairportpower en1 off
    /usr/sbin/networksetup -setairportpower en2 off
else
    /usr/sbin/networksetup -setairportpower en1 on
    /usr/sbin/networksetup -setairportpower en2 on
fi

Commenting its insides out fixed the problem The Wi-Fi no long periodically disconnects. I'm guessing that between 10.8 and 10.9, one of the commands in that script changed.


Airport Disk - How can I access it over the Internet without iCloud or Back to my Mac? Airport Disk -  How can I access it over the Internet without iCloud or Back to my Mac?

I have enabled the "access disk over WAN" option but when I try the ip nothing happens.

The ip is correct, I always have the same one and I've used it to connect remotely to my desktop.

Anyone? I've read somewhere Apple disabled this?!

PS. I've already read this Access disk attached to Airport Extreme over internet? and it does not fix my issue?

Did you specify volume name in the afp url?

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4538


Removing Citrix Reciver icon from Menu Bar I switched companies and no longer need to use Citrix Receiver. I removed the app using CleanMyMac X, but the icon still appears on the menu bar in the upper right. It is greyed out, but I just want to clean this up and get rid of it. Too many bad memories.

Thanks.

See https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-workspace-app-for-mac/install-uninstall.html:

  You can uninstall Citrix Workspace app for Mac manually by opening the .dmg file, select Uninstall Citrix Workspace App, and follow the on-screen instructions. The .dmg file is the file that is downloaded from Citrix when installing Citrix Workspace app for Mac for the first time. If the file is no longer on your computer, redownload the file from Citrix Downloads to uninstall the application.

You can probably also just run

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/libexec/{AuthManager_Mac,ReceiverHelper,ServiceRecords}.app
sudo rm /Library/LaunchAgents/com.citrix.*
sudo killall ReceiverHelper

but this will leave traces in other places like /Library, ~/Library etc.


Can Apple decrypt iCloud data of third-party app? Suppose that a third-party app is encrypted (say, with AES 128), and that this app stores data in iCloud through iCloud Drive. In general, can Apple decrypt this data as it would with data stored in native iOS apps?

If Apple is telling the truth, then they can’t access your data, assuming the third-party app developer doesn’t store your AES key in iCloud. Apple has no way to get at a key stored locally on your device (according to Apple) and no way to decrypt the data without the key (according to everything we know about cryptography).
If Apple is lying, then of course all encryption keys created or used by third-party apps could be secretly transmitted to Apple’s servers so that they can be used to decrypt your data, even if the app thinks it’s only storing them locally.


Catalina not allowing to change read/write permissions despite having SIP disabled Currently Running: macOS Catalina 10.15.1
Issue: Ever since I upgraded to Catalina, macOS is not allowing me to change read and write permissions on system protected files, hence, I am not able to tweak the system as per my likes and dislikes.
Steps Tried To Solve The Issue: SIP, always remains disabled on my boot drive. So, no question arises regarding any conflict with system integrity protection.
I have also tried to force change the permissions on the system files I want to edit using certain brute force commands, which I can't recall the name of, right now. But, I have tried.
As of now, I am still unable to change read and write permissions on system protected files and resources.

Catalina introduced a new feature that overlaps and reinforces the filesystem protections that SIP provides. What it does is split the files between two volumes: a system volume containing Apple-provided system files, and a "data" volume containing all non-Apple and modifiable files. The system volume is mounted read-only as / (the root filesystem), and the data volume is mounted with read-write access as /System/Volumes/Data. There are also "firmlinks" that merge the content from the data volume in where it "belongs" (e.g. /System/Volumes/Data/Users shows up in /Users). If you change something in a firmlinked directory, the changes are stored on the data volume. If you try to change something in a non-firmlinked directory, it'll fail because it's on a read-only volume (even if SIP is completely disabled).
For more details, see the Ars Technica review of Catalina, the WWDC2019 sesson "What's New in Apple File Systems", and a filesystem map from the Eclectic Light Company.
If you really need to make changes in the content on the read-only system volume, it is possible, but I'd recommend against it if there's an alternative. Most of the things you normally want to change/add/etc can be done from modifiable parts of the filesystem (e.g. using /usr/local instead of /usr). So the rest of this comes with a warning.
Warning: I have not tested this much, and make no promises at all about what the consequences will be (including both immediate consequences, and what happens the next time an OS update changes things). Do you have any important files on this Mac? Do you have a good backup? Do you feel lucky?
[Update: In Big Sur, the system volume is not just read-only, but also signed, so changing it is even more difficult. See "Mount root as writable in Big Sur" for more info.]
To make changes to the normally-read-only volume, you need to both disable SIP's filesystem protection and also re-mount the volume with read access:

Restart in Recovery mode (Command-R at startup), open Terminal (from the Utilities menu), and disable SIP filesystem protection with:
csrutil enable --without fs

Restart normally, open Terminal, and remount the root volume for read access:
sudo mount -uw /

At this point, you should be able to make changes everywhere (subject to normal filesystem protections) up until the next restart. Disabling SIP's filesystem protection survives restarts, but remounting with write access does not. If you want everything to be writable after restarting, you'll have to repeat the sudo mount command after each restart. What I'd recommend, though, is locking everything back down as soon as you've made the necessary changes. To do this, restart in Recovery mode, run csrutil enable, then restart again normally.


iPhone Field Test mode permanently in iOS 7 I have seen 2 different methods of putting your iPhone in Field Test mode permanently in iOS 7, a short one and a long one.

The short way:

Open your phone app and dial *3001#12345#* (I recommend putting this in your Notepad so can copy and paste it. You will need it several times.)
Press and hold the power button until the slide to close appears.
Hold the home to kill the Field Test mode app (In iOS 7 it will restart, in iOS 6 it is now permanent.)
Repeat step 2 and 3 a couple of times.
Tap the home button to close Field Test mode.
Repeat steps 1–3 (With a little bit of luck it will work the first time here. I am usually able to get it the first time here. If not keep repeating.)
When it works you will see the Field Test mode actually close and NOT restart. When this happens it is now permanent.

The long way:

Open your phone app and dial *3001#12345#*.
Press and hold the power button until the slide to close appears.
Slide the slide bar to turn your phone off.
Turn your phone back on.
It should now be permanent.

Sources:

http://forums.imore.com/guides-how-articles/271233-guide-signal-strength-changing-dots-decibels.html
http://forums.imore.com/iphone-5s/263849-numbers-instead-signal-dots.html#post2092268

Has anyone found any other ways to put your phone in Field Test mode permanently with iOS 7?

For iphone6 and ios8.1.1 once I was in field test mode I had to hold down power and home buttons - hard reset the phone to get the #'s to stay - all other methods the bars/dots came back


Unable to remove phantom iTunes storage under the new mac storage management tool The storage tool, opened from About This Mac, shows there is 30.15GB of iTunes data. I went into the iTunes root folder and removed all the music and podcasts. The 30.15GB remains. I have tried restarting the mac. Is this a bug or is there somewhere else I should look to delete this 30.15GB of data?

Be patient. It takes some time for the Mac to rebuild the index that determines the (exact) size of each section.

Keep a mobile Mac connected to a power source if you want to accelerate the process.

You could also rebuild the spotlight cache, but it's barely worth it just to update the view.


Insanely high kernel RAM usage (over 9GB) in Mavericks I upgraded to Mavericks yesterday, and everything seemed to go fine, but today I noticed that my computer was becoming a bit slow. I checked Activity Monitor, and CPU / disk were at normal levels so I checked memory use, only to find this:

The kernel is taking over 5 GB of memory? Surely this is not normal? The machine has 16 GB of RAM. Any ideas on what would cause this and/or how to debug?

Update: it's now at 9 GB.

A reboot seems to clear my system that experiences similar RAM allocation for the kernel, but it will climb up again over time. I have chatted with Apple support and they suggested an SMC reset, which I did along with a PRAM reset and so far, it seems to be under control. It's hovered just under 1GB as I've been working, and watched it dip down a couple of times when some apps were idle.

Long term, resetting SMC & PRAM didn't affect the memory allocation and I've tracked the insane memory usage to the "installd" process.

Open Activity Monitor and FORCE QUIT that process and watch the kernel usage drop down to normal levels. Unfortunately, you have to do this after every startup as it appears to be leaking memory on builds lower than 10.9.1 and 13B42.


How to hide sidebar preview (on the right) in Finder on El Capitan I don't know since when, but I believe from some update of El Capitan, this annoying sidebar preview on the right comes up everytime I open a new Finder window.

If I hide it using the mouse, it stays hidden in the current window but re-appears when I open a new window.

The sidebar on the left is all fine, showing items as it does normally.

Logically speaking, when I have switched to the preview window option and I already see items at the top, why would I need a second one at the right?

I couldn't find anything on the internet, people are just talking about how to hide sidebar preview in the Preview app. So any help would be greatly appreciated.

The image is attached:

This is called Preview.

Type Shift+Command+p to turn it either on or off.

Alternatively open Finder's View menu and select Hide Preview / Show Preview.


Moving photos from MacBook download folder to desktop and Photos I would like to move photographs from a professional photographer to my desktop as well as into Photo. Please tell me how to do that.

Select all photos you want to move (in downloads folder in Finder), go to Edit menu-> cut. Go to desktop and in Finder, Edit menu-> paste.

For photos, Go to File -> import -> navigate to downloads and select using command-click or shift- click and hit review for import. Then finalise.


How Insecure is OS X Lion (10.7.5)? I've got an older (classic?) black plastic MacBook that can't be upgraded past OS X Lion (10.7.5). It looks like it's no longer receiving security updates, and critical software (like web browsers) have also discontinued support. This makes me nervous to use it on today's internet. Should I install something like Windows 10 or Linux Mint instead? (If it weren't for security issues I'd be fine keeping it running as-is.)

Yes, I would definitely recommend installing an operating system which is currently supported with security updates. Whether that system is a version of Windows, Linux or something else is entirely up to your likings.

Running an old, non-supported OS X on a machine connected to the Internet is not a good idea, if you have problems with it being compromised.


For how many years can I expect to use an used iPad 1 if I buy one today (as of 2014)? A coworker offered me his iPad first generation (model MB294LL, WiFi, 64gb) at a good price (the same price range doesn't have a good brand new alternative), but I am worried that it might run out of service in the near future.

I have tested it and it has all the functionality I desire (mostly as a fancy Dropbox-based mobile library and iBook-based reader for use indoors, mostly at home)

My main worries would be:

Apple would take some measure to force obsolescency (like Amazon already did with Kindle in the past);
The apps I currently use will become unavailable and I won't get the same version again (since there are no "installers", so to say);

I suppose that eventually there will be battery-related issues or some other non-serviceable physical damage, but considering the best-case scenario, is there any possibility that the iPad generation 1 wouldn't keep its current functionality due to software support/availability issues?

Everyone is looking at this from the (entirely reasonable) POV of someone that wants to keep up with the latest IOS updates. Understandable as they often fix bugs and enhance the O/S greatly.

But from a strictly utilitarian point of view, the answer is, "as long as the hardware works."

I have an old SE/30 sitting in my office. I haven't turned it on in a long time but last time I did, it worked fine. So more than 20 years later that SE/30 works just fine.

"For how many years can I expect to use an iPad 1" depends COMPLETELY on how you plan on using it and what your needs will be 2 to 10 or 20 years down the road.

If you can download and use all the apps you need NOW without ever upgrading them or the O/S then you can use it till the hardware gives out. If all you need is a simple web browser, mail program, etc. The same applies.

If, however, you need to keep up with technology. If you need to have the latest and greatest apps and operating system if you need to be compatible with all the NEW stuff out there, perhaps an original iPad would not be a great investment. Save up your dollars and buy a newer one.

The wife and I bought an iPad 2 in May of last year for a specific purpose: POS for our small business (square) and streaming music plus some casual web browsing. there is no reason why it won't still be able to do that 2, 5 or even more years in the future as it doesn't NEED to have the latest and greatest to do the job it is currently doing.

If that is the case with you, buy the old iPad and be satisfied with what you have.


nsurlstoraged and CPU usage Since yesterday nsurlstoraged is constantly using a huge amount of CPU. Nothing shows up in the logs but opensnoop shows that the process is accessing

/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Caches/com.apple.mail/fsCachedData

The directory contains XML files from the beginning of the month (from October 1. at 8:12) up to now (growing). I now have more than 9 GB of cached data and a new file is created every 2-3 seconds.

After a reboot the nsurlstoraged starts again with the same behaviour.

Any idea on how to stop it or on when it will stop by itself?

This solved the issue for me:

Make sure you have a recent backup
Quit Safari (if it is running)
In Finder, type Shift-Cmd-G and enter ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari
A Finder window will open, with the com.apple.Safari folder selected
Delete the whole folder
Restart Safari


Is there a Cydia tweak that gives the camcorder its own button? I have an HTC One V in addition to my iPhone. One thing I love about it is the camera application. It has two buttons: one to capture a photo, and another to capture a video.

I love that you don't have to toggle between them and wait a second or two while it switches. That second or two could cause me to miss the funny things my kids are doing at that moment.

Is there a jailbreak tweak that brings this same sort of functionality to iOS?

This is a four step process that takes less than 3 seconds for me on iOS 6 - so I don't know if anyone's going to tweak this in jailbreak.

Press the sleep wake button to lock the screen (or wake the screen if the phone is off).
Press and swipe up on the camera icon on the lock screen.
Decide if you want video or photo and examine the toggle where you initially pressed the camera icon.
Tap the toggle if the camera isn't in the mode you prefer.
Tap the record button.

If you take 3 minutes to practice this, see if training your brain to know it only has to track two places on the phone speeds this up fast enough to avoid needing a dedicated button. The lock button and a very small portion of the screen are the active targets, so you might be able to optimize your speed to start recording knowing that you can start recording as fast as possible and then trim the clip later once the recording starts.


Can I remotely access my Mac from Linux using screen sharing? I like to access my Mac from work (Linux) and I wonder if it is possible without installing additional software like TeamViewer or ChickenVNC. I also noticed somewhere that it is possible to wake my Mac via WiFi. What is needed for that (Mac has to be plugged in? Do I have to be in the same Network?) and how do I do it?

You can take either one of the following two approach:

1. VNC

This is pretty simple, you'll need to go to System Preferences → Screen Sharing and then click on Computer Settings. From there you can select VNC viewers may control screen with password: and supply a password.

2. Wi-Fi Wakeup

Go to System Preferences → Energy Saver. You can only do this with the Mac running on power (if it's a portable). You'll need to enable an option tick called Wake for Wi-Fi network access.

OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2 Problem

If you're running this release of OS X Mountain Lion, you may find this doesn't work.

  Q:

  No Wake-on-LAN possible since updating to ML

  Hi everybody,

  since updating from OS X 10.7 to 10.8 (clean install), Wake-on-LAN does not work anymore. Setup: Mac mini (Early 2011) connected to Time Capsule (2nd gen) via devolo dLAN. Mac mini goes to sleep after 30 minutes and eventually disappears from the network. Sending Wake-On-LAN packets or using Back To My Mac fail, it simply won't wake up.

  Wake-on-LAN worked smoothly under 10.7 after some problems. Any ideas?

  Thanks and regards

  Steffen

However, OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.3 fixed this.


Is it possible to open 2 different instances of Chrome with different tabs open? I want to be able to open Chrome on my Mac, and have 2 instances open, each with different tabs.

Is this possible on OS X?

I know on Windows I could do this with Desktop shortcuts.

From the Terminal, you can run:

open -na "Google Chrome"

where -n parameters opens a new instance of the application.


How to define the VPN PPTP port in OSX Lion? Is there any change to set the port to use when connecting to a PPTP VPN from a Mac?

I configured a VPN at home from Server 2008 so I can access my home server and use ports like RDP, VNC, IMAPS (Gmail), ..., that are blocked.

The problem is that port 1723 is also blocked. So I configured my home router to accept requests on port 443 (HTTPS) and forward it to port 1723 of the VPN Server.

Can I tell the OSX to use port 443 instead of 1723 for that VPN connection?

Thanks!

Unfortunately, it is not possible to change OS X's built-in PPTP client's port. However, you can use a third-party client such as OpenVPN. OpenVPN has many more options and will allow you to specify the port with which to connect to the server.

Good luck and happy tunneling!


Mac File Sharing with Windows 7 I haven't found any useful info about what to do when asked for a password whilst sharing files between Mac and Windows. My scenario: I have ONE user on my Mac (somebrit) and no one else, not even guest. I have ONE fileshare located at /Users/somebrit/share.

I'm using Mountain Lion -> System Preferences -> File Sharing -> SMB Sharing and have selected the folder to share. For all intents and purposes, I've allowed unrestricted access to it.

On the Windows side, I simply hit Start, type \\IP\ and can see the Mac. After clicking it, I'm instantly prompted for a username/password and having tried my-mac\somebrit and the password, nothing.

Can someone please help my sanity and provide some answers?

When connecting to a Mac from a PC for file sharing, you should be able to use your full username that shows up on your login screen and the password associated with it. For example, when connecting from a PC to a Mac someone with the username "John Doe" would sign in using that as the username. They would use their password associated with that account as their password, but make sure that that account is enabled in System Preferences to support SMB file sharing, because if the account is not enabled, then you cannot log in. Here is a screenshot of what I mean:


How to add hyperlinks to local files in Numbers? How do I add a hyperlink to a local file?
I know how to add a hyperlink to a website, so I tried something like file:///Users/MyUser/Documents/Invoices/Some%20Stuff.pdf
However, adding this path to the hyperlink won't make Numbers open the file.
Any ideas?

If numbers app is not expecting a filesystem link, i.e. it is not coded to except such cases, it will not open the file.
Compare this with Sublime's, VSCode's or Xcode hyperlink feature that you can follow by double clicking or command-clicking. They are programmed to do it.


Automator :: Remove 6 digit date from filename; append current date I apologize in advance if this has been answered but have performed a lengthy search in hope of a solution.

I have a working Automator app that appends the current six-digit date (YYMMDD) to the end of the file name:

Input: Filename.txt
Output: Filename_181212.txt

Current bash command:

today=$(date +%y%m%d)
for f in "$@"
do
    basename=${f##*/}
    filename=${basename%.*}
    path=${f%/*}
    ext=${f##*.}
    newfilename="$filename"_"$today"
    mv "$f" "$path"/"$newfilename"."$ext"
done

This is great but after using it regularly, I have realized it would be nice not only append the current date but first check to see if a date is already appended to the filename; if so, remove it and append the current date, otherwise simply append the current date.

There two scenarios:

Filename contains any date (previous/current/future) in the 6-digit format described previously preceded by an underscore (Filename_181212.txt)
Filename does not contain at 6-digit date format appended to it (Filename.txt)

I realize that the solution I am hoping for will remove any six digits and its preceding "_" if it exists, whether it is a date or not.

Is it possible to precede my current bash command with something like:

  if any combination of numbers exist immediately before the file
  extension (".ext") AND contains exactly 6 digits AND is preceded by
  an underscore ("_")

  then remove the underscore plus 6 digits AND run the bash command
  listed above

  if not then run the bash command above

Summary
I'm trying to alleviate manually removing dates that may exist on a file name before appending the current date to them. Some files may have dates and others may not.

This should do as you requested:

#!/bin/bash

today=$(date +%y%m%d)

for f in "$@"; do

    filebasename=${f##*/}
    filename=${filebasename%.*}
    path=${f%/*}
    ext=${f##*.}

    if [[ "$filename" =~ ^.*_[0-9]{6}$ ]]; then

        filename="$(sed -E -e 's/_[0-9]{6}$//'<<<"$filename")"

        newfilename="$filename"_"$today"
        mv "$f" "$path"/"$newfilename"."$ext"

    else

        newfilename="$filename"_"$today"
        mv "$f" "$path"/"$newfilename"."$ext"

    fi

done

Note that when used within a Run Shell Script action in an Automator workflow, you may need to add the full path to sed in the code provided, e.g.: /usr/bin/sed


FaceTime calls lower system volume When you enter a FaceTime call in OS X, as of Mavericks, it lowers the volume of everything else besides the call. There's no way to disable this "feature." People here suggested disabling audio ducking in Voiceover Utility, but that doesn't have any effect, at least not in Yosemite.

Any suggestions for a hack solution to fix this? I don't want to install some system-wide audio mixer to help, but I'll happily mess with the FaceTime application or some system settings. I'm guessing there's some library it's using to control the system volume, and I'm trying to find a way to prevent the app bundle from accessing it.

Open FaceTime app (don't make the call yet),
Paste the following line in to terminal,

printf "p *(char*)(void(*)())AudioDeviceDuck=0xc3\nq" | lldb -n FaceTime

and then make the call.

Update: for macOS sierra or higher, replace FaceTime with avconferenced.


Can I exchange an iPhone 4 with an iPhone 5 without getting a new SIM? I understand that for certain iPhone models it is necessary to get a new SIM if I want to exchange them.

If I have a 4S and want to exchange it with a user who has just purchased a 5, is this possible to do by simply following the same straightforward SIM-transfer procedures used to exchange (for example) a 4 with a 4S.

According to this article, the problem isn't just the size.

  It turns out, as well as a smaller size, the Nano SIM is reportedly
  15% thinner than the Micro SIM cards. So even if users cut the Micro
  SIM to Nano SIm size with a knife or nano SIM cutter tool, the Sim
  card would still be too thick to put in the iPhone 5.


Will smoking around my apple products void their warranty? Recently I read an article on the Apple forums which says that Apple are not honouring warranty if the product comes for a smoker's home. This is also described in this other article which instantly got me wondering.. is this still happening?

If this is actually still an issue how can one prevent it?(Given the smoking habit is to remain present, of course)

Apple warranty doesn't cover damage caused by (d) to damage caused by accident, abuse, misuse, fire, earthquake or other external cause so it's really a matter of how much nicotine, tar and smoke gets ingested into the product.

I have seen iMacs brought in for repair that were stained the color of a cigar and there were inches of dust and residue coating the blowers, vents and the internal temperatures were significantly above normal due to exposure to cigarette smoke. I've never seen an iOS device so coated with nicotine that it would be a problem since they don't have blowers / fans and need airflow to function properly, but I have faith that someone is capable of getting enough coating on anything to cover up any size gap large or small with enough effort.

It's really up to Apple whether they cover each repair based on how they train their service staff and common sense shows that most devices won't be affected enough by smoking to matter. It's not so much as voiding a warranty as the warranty is designed to cover defects in manufacturing and not problems caused by operating environments that are extreme or prolonged.

If your product were placed in a sealed plastic bag and you took it to a smoke free room and had a child sniff it - you probably wouldn't be denied service for something that wouldn't make someone recoil from the amount of nicotine and tar that permeated the air left in the bag after a few hours of being removed from the environment where it normally is stored and used.


How to repair damaged mkv file on mac I tried Meteorite. It doesn't work, just keep crashing. Any other way I can fix the damaged .mkv file on Mac?

Try extracting video and audio with MKVToolnix and re-muxing with the same tool.


MacOS High Sierra VSCode "Writing login information to the keychain failed with error 'UNIX[No such file or directory]'." MacOS High Sierra 10.13.6 with new install of VSCode 1.50.0

Attempt to "Sign-in to Sync Settings"

web/browser-based SSO redirects to Microsoft and/or Github browser login

login fails - error message in VSCode:

Writing login information to the keychain failed with error 'UNIX[No such file or directory]'.

New install of VSCode on MacOS

And MacOS info:

This is a keychain error which look similar to some others upon Google search, but I didn't find this exact error... so, adding the solution here...
SOLUTION

Attempt to "Sync Settings" by logging into Microsoft or Github
this will fail as OP states... but
close ALL instances/windows of VSCode
RESTART VSCode
You should be prompted for Apple KeyChain permissions like this image shows:

Type in your MacOS root password
You will either immediately login without error(s) ... or....
RESTART VSCode AGAIN
"Sync Settings" / login once more


Formula required to add time at rest How can I create a formula that will sum up different times based on certain criteria below?

The below table is an example of what my current formula looks like, which is very basic and is changed on a daily basis.

B12 = 8:00 Start of shift, C12 = 19:10 End of Shift
From End of shift to midnight F12 = 4:50
I never work on the 17/11/16 and the 18/11/16 which totals 48 hours. The clock restarts at midnight 0:00 hrs
I returned back to work on the 19/11/16 at 9:25
So the total rest from work would be 62:15 hrs G9 = SUM(F10:F12)+B9

In the G column I have to change the formula to suit each day to get the total rest from finish to start of next shift.

If we look at the next Rest time G8 this is SUM(F9)+B8 = 13:30 and so on.

The formula is required in the G column so I can do away with the manual entry each day. I want the formula to sum these ranges by some form of indexing criteria.

I have solve the above formula requirement.
I posted this on discussions.apple.com. Link to discussion is https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7778822

I had to add a hidden column H:H, then the formula

  =IF(F3=DURATION(,,24,0,,),F3+H3,DURATION(,,0,0,,))
  +IF(F3< DURATION(,,24,0,,),F3,DURATION(,,0,0,,))

I then copied formula all the way down column H

The second formula in I:I column is written so that it only returns a time if there is a time in the B:B range.

  =IF(B2="","",B2+H2)

I hope this helps someone. It has really made my life easier.


./ vs normal execution This is probably a question more for unix systems but because i have it on my Mac Pro i hope i will find an answer here :

When i browse to /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_11.jdk/Contents/Home/db/bin

with a cd I can't execute the command startNetworkServer present in bin , instead i can run it via ./startNetworkServer.

However from ~

MacCris:~ cris$ /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_11.jdk/Contents/Home/db/bin/startNetworkServer

it works without ./

Any idea why ? (rights related ?)

Thanks

This is due to the behaviour of your shell that is running in there Terminal.app. It is probably the bash shell

When you ask the shell to run a command if you provide an absolute path (that is beginning with / as your second one does) it will try to execute that program at that path. If you provide a relative path (i.e. one not starting with /) it will try to create an absolute path by prepending the directories that are in your PATH environment variable to what you typed. As your current directory or . is not on your PATH it cannot find  a file to execute. If the path begins with a . the it will repave that by the absolute path of your current directory and thus get a path that can be executed.


Should I buy 2015 13 inch MBP or 2016 13 inch (non-touch bar) MBP I am planning to buy macbook pro from US this month.(I live in India and one of my friend is coming from US next month).

Please help me in making right choice-

My options are-

1st choice-  2015 MBP 13 inch with price $1299. I want to do following updates to it:

a. Processor update from i5 to i7. Upgrade cost = $300.

b. RAM upgrade from 8 GB to 16 GB. Upgrade cost = $200.

c. SSD upgrade from 128 GB to 512 GB. Upgrade cost = $400.

Final cost of MBP = $1299+$300+$200+$400=$2199.

pros-

a. performance wise it is similar to 2016 non-touch version.

b. USB and other ports are available.

cons-

a. It is using 5th gen broadwell processor as compared with 2016 skylake processor.

b. Since apple dicontinue product after 5 years, so if I purchase 2015 model now I have 2.5 only years before it is discontinued.
And after that if any part need replacement I will not be able to do that even if it is under apple care after 2.5 years.

2nd choice- 2016 MBP 13 inch non-touch bar version with price $1499. Similar upgrade as above for Processer, RAM and SSD.
Final cost of MBP = $1499+$300+$200+$200=$2199. After doing upgrades its price is similar to 2015 model with similar upgrades.

pros-
a. It is using skylake CPU.

cons-
a. Ports are removed. I need to buy dongle.
b. There is lot of negative reviews for 2016 model on internet.
3. No magsafe.

3rd choice- I have early 2011 13 inch model. I wanted to upgarde its RAM and SSD and use it instead of buying new MBP. But its battery cycle count is 1060 and since apple has discontiued
the product I can not get battery replaced with apple manufactured battery and I am not sure about non-apple battery if they will work or not.

My choice is 2015 model but main problem I see in that is it has only 2.5 years before it become discontinued and if I buy applecare after 1 year that will make product warranty 1+2=3 years but MBP time remaining for discontinue is 2.5 years. So 6 months apple care will be of no use.

The crux of your question/decision seems to lie in the following assumption:

  Since Apple discontinue product after 5 years, so if I purchase 2015 model now I have 2.5 only years before it is discontinued. And after that if any part need replacement I will not be able to do that even if it is under apple care after 2.5 years.

However, your assumption is wrong.

I refer you to Apple's policy on Vintage and obsolete products, which outlines their hardware/parts support.

In summary:

Vintage products are those that have not been manufactured for more than 5 and less than 7 years
Obsolete products are those that were discontinued more than 7 years ago.

Note: Bold emphasis mine.

In essence, the 13-inch MacBook Pro (2015) model is still being manufactured and has not been discontinued yet. Apple's warranty provides global coverage, and if you purchase Apple Care then you will be covered for the whole of that Apple Care period.


Network topology: Internet connected on a leaf node? Before I go ahead and spend money on new kit, I'd like to run by you my proposed network setup to see if it's feasible:

Cable Modem <--> Airport Express <--> Airport Extreme
(bridge mode)                          |
                                       +------> Clients
                                       +------> Another Airport Express ----> Clients

The Expresses extend the wireless network from the Extreme.

The reason for connecting the Cable Modem to the Express is because of it's location in the house.  The Extreme is centrally located, and does a good job today, but I'm moving from ADSL to Cable, and that will be connected on the edge of the house rather than to the Extreme like it currently is.

a) Would this topology work?  Would the Extreme route traffic through the Express to the internet?
b) Are there any problems in this approach that you can envision?

I don't see any issue with this as long as both the Extreme and the second Express are run in Bridge mode extending the current network provided from the first Express. Whether that is possible will depend on what kind of signal each receives.


How to stream only the video to an Apple TV from a Mac? I have an Apple TV with which I'd like to read videos from my mac, both from Internet (Youtube for example) and from files stored on my hard drive.

There is two ways of doing it: the first one is Airplay Mirroring, but this does not work well enough, since there is a lag between the sound and the video. The second one is to use the built in option to read only the video, and not to mirror the whole screen.

I managed to use both of these options with my iPhone/iPad :

Airplay Mirroring is done through the control center
Reading only the video is done with a little icon that appears on the bottom right of the video player, like this one :

But on my mac, the icon does not appear when I try to read a video. It is always in the menu bar (top left part of the screen), where it only allows me to to mirror my screen. I would like to read only the video, like I do with my iPad/iPhone, to avoid this sound/picture offset.

Is there any way to do it? The best would be to find a solution that would work for videos on the Internet and for saved video files.

There are two ways to send content via AirPlay from your Mac to your Apple TV when it comes out of the box. The first is the Mirroring method, found, as you mentioned, in the Menu Bar on OS X and in the Control Centre on iOS. As far as the in-app method goes, the only app that supports that is iTunes. There should be an AirPlay icon at the top of the window to send music and movies to your TV.

There is some third-party software available for sending content via AirPlay, as well. First of all, I have not personally tried these methods, so keep that in mind. The first is Beamer ($15), which can take video files and send them over to the TV. The second is AirParrot ($15), which allows you to mirror content as usual, but it also allows you to have the TV act as a second monitor or to beam over a single app (so you can send any single app over, like QuickTime or a web browser).

Then there is the tried-and-trusted option of just taking a video cable and connecting your Mac that way. I don't know what Mac you're using (might not be so feasible with a desktop) but AirPlay has in my experience always had some latency and picture quality drop associated with it (same goes with the Chromecast and other wireless display technologies I've tried in the past) and just using an HDMI cable should give you a speedy, high-quality output. It's the option I'd choose most of the time.


Is there an app that creates a system-wide audio equalizer? I like using iTunes' equalizer, but that only works in iTunes.

I'm looking for some software that lets me apply a global, system-wide equalizer to Mac OS X.
The app (or pref pane, etc.) would let me change EQ settings and have that apply to all apps (iTunes, Spotify, Chrome, etc.).

Ideally the software would have some nice presets like iTunes does.

Free preferred, but I'm certainly willing to consider buying something.

I didn't want to pay to have an equalizer so I developed my own one and giving it away for free! Click  here to download eqMac!
The app is signed by Apple and works for OSX 10.9 and higher!


Boot Camp drivers don't always load (for Windows 7)? Recently, I backed up my Windows 7 Boot Camp partition with Carbon Copy Cleaner before realizing that it would not be a bootable backup. Well, after some fiddling around, I made it bootable again (with the help of iPartition) and it generally works well.

However, for some reason, sometimes when I boot into Windows 7, it appears that some drivers don't work properly about half the time. For instance, if I load a game, the game will not be full screen and will instead be the exact dimensions that is specified (my display is 1920 x 1080; if the game is set to 1280 x 720, then it won't stretch to full screen but instead appear at that size). As I said, this happens about half the time.

Also, I use MacDrive so I can write to Mac partitions, and when these display problems occur, then MacDrive will also show an error saying that it needs to be repaired.

All of this can be fixed with a restart, but after restarting, my two displays will be duplicated instead of extended.

It appears that the display drivers (and perhaps a few things, related to MacDrive) don't seem to be loading properly at all times? For some reason, I can seem to fix this if, when in Mac, I quit all applications first before booting up Boot Camp. I don't know how they could be related, but it so far seems that way.

Whatever you do in OSX is completely unrelated in how W7/8 behaves. Unless one of the apps you are using is VMware Fusion (dont know if Parallels can do this too) to access the bootcamp partition as a VM.

I would highly reccommend reinstalling the WindowsSupport files created from the Bootcamp Assistant to see if that fixes the problem.


How to enable the iPad QuickType "Floating Keyboard" mini keyboard? The iPad now contains a mini, draggable, floating keyboard as an alternative to the full screen keyboard. This was released in iOS 13 / iPadOS 13 in September 2019.

This mini keyboard is roughly the size of an iPhone keyboard, but floating on your iPad's screen.

From the iPadOS release notes:

  QuickType

  New floating keyboard leaving more room for your content—drag it anywhere you like

and Features:

  Floating keyboard

  Pinch to shrink the QuickType keyboard and move it wherever you want so there’s more room for your apps.

How do you enable this iPad mini floating keyboard?

Tap and hold the "Dismiss Keyboard" button in the bottom-right corner of the default iPad keyboard.
You will see a "Floating" pop-up. Select this action to activate the Floating keyboard.

To return to the standard iPad keyboard, grab the Floating Keyboard's drag handle and drag the keyboard to the bottom of the screen.


Can I sync Notes to and from a secondary iCloud account? I have my work iCloud account that needs to be primary for Keynote collaboration etc.

But all most Notes are in my personal iCloud account. I can use my personal iCloud account for iMessages and iTunes, is there a way to also use my personal iCloud account for notes?

Did a bit of searching and found this answer - Notes from iCloud account don't sync with devices when added as secondary account - that is a bit confusing with the various upgrades downgrades of OS. I am on all the latest OS versions.

As of now, it is not possible. I tried adding a secondary iCloud account in Notes>Accounts and Apple restricts the sync of Notes, etc and only supports Mail, Contacts, Calendars, and Reminders on secondary iCloud accounts:


Can't switch iMessages on I can't switch iMessages ON anymore (it was ON).
When I try to flip the switch from OFF to ON it instantly returns to OFF (I don't see any message like "activating...", it just doens't flip). So I don't think it's a server problem because the iPhone isn't even trying to connect. It's like te switch is broken.

I try'ed/checked

restart
hard reset
resetting the iPhone settings
changing Wifi network and switching to mobile internet
there are no restrictions (they are off)
Facetime works (I can turn it on/off)
Date & time are correct
I can send iMessages via Messages on my iMac
Googling
Plain SMS messages work fine
I can log in and out on my iCloud account

I did make a change to my AppleID. Move my mobile number from "home number" to "mobile number" (http://snag.gy/ze6Ip.jpg) because iMessages didn't work with my mobile number anymore. I tried reverting this changed without succes.

Anyone has an idea how I can fix this?

I created a new (iCloud) backup, wiped the phone and restored my backup.
Not really a decent solution, but iMessages works again and I didn't lose anything.


Saving files to a Mac Computer I'm trying to save a file to a folder. I keep getting an popup that says I do not have permission to save files to a location

Set permissions for items on your Mac

  Permission settings determine who can view and alter files on the
  computer. Permissions are an important factor on OS X and other *nix
  systems and defines the way the system handles users, files and
  devices.

  Assign permissions to users and groups

  Select a disk, folder, or file, then choose File > Get Info.
  If the information in Sharing & Permissions isn’t visible, click the disclosure triangle.
  If necessary, click the lock icon to unlock it, then enter an administrator name and password.
  Click a user or group in the Name column, then choose a privilege setting from the pop-up menu.

  Read & Write: Allows a user to open the item and change it.
  Read Only: Allows a user to open the item, but not change its contents.
  Write Only: Makes a folder into a drop box. Users can copy items to the drop box, but can’t open it. Only the owner of the drop box can
  open it.
  No Access: Blocks all access to the item.

Shamelessly copied from: OS X Yosemite: Set permissions for items on your Mac

Another useful read: Understanding UNIX permissions and chmod


iPhone Personal Hotspot always visible even when off I was surprised to see my iPhone 5's personal hotspot available as a WiFi choice from my iPad. I checked the phone and personal hotspot was turned off. I turned it on and off again and it still appeared. Using Airplane Mode and rebooting the devices did not help - it just would not turn off.

This is intentional behaviour since iOS 8.1. It is called Instant Hotspot and is described as a feature of Continuity:

  If you’re out of Wi-Fi range, your iPad or Mac can connect to your phone’s personal hotspot when your iPhone is close by. With the new Instant Hotspot feature, you’ll see the name of your iPhone in the list of Wi-Fi networks in Settings on your iPad and in the Wi-Fi menu on your Mac. Just select it and you’re connected. And when you’re not using your phone’s network, your devices intelligently disconnect to save battery life.


MacBook Pro can't see my android phone WiFi hotspot My MacBook Pro pro can't see my Android phone wifi hotspot, when I got the phone new the MacBook was seeing the hotspot and I was connecting to it but after some months it stopped seeing the network. It sees other wifi network around but can't see that of my Android phone
It also happened with my Fujitsu Laptop running Windows 10, sometime ago and I was able to solve the issue by resetting my network.
I have tried disabling my network and putting it up again by doing ( sudo ifconfig en0 down ) on the Terminal but it still did not work, I tried disabling the wifi by going to System preferences ->> Network ->> select the wifi from the left hand bar ->> and clicking on ( - "Delete the selected service") and used the ( + "Create a new service") to add it again but it still did not work.

Have you tried using a Bluetooth PAN? Turn on your hotspot and open bluetooth settings on both your Mac and phone. You should be able to see your phone show up and pair with it.


Changing preset colors in Keynote I know how to create custom color palettes in MacOS Keynote. I also know that different presentation templates come with different set of preset colors. However, I can't find a way to change this set of preset colors in a customly created template. Whenever changing colors, instead of clicking on the preset colors button and selecting the color (2 clicks, marked A on the diagram below), I need to click the color wheel, select the palette and select the color (3 clicks, marked B on the diagram below).

Is there a way to attach a palette to a template so that it becomes its custom set of preset colors?

This drove me nuts forever! It's actually pretty easy (but a little tedious). Just like you can drag a selected color from the picker to create a default (opened with the picker wheel) color OR create a new palette – once you've selected your color it will appear in the presets as the "current fill". Then, just drag the "current fill" color box onto the default palette color you want to modify.

Here I've already dragged my grayscale and just added light indigo from dragging the current fill box to the color fill box.


How do I find where an environmental variable got set? I installed a program to try it out, and decided I didn't like it so I moved the app to the trash.

Today, in my shell, I noticed that there are a couple of PROGRAMNAME_BLAHBLAH environmental variables set.  I'd like to remove those, too.

I don't even have a .bashrc or .bash_login, so I grepped every file I could think of (~/.* ~/Library/* /Library/* /etc/*).  The only place these variables turned up was a file ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist, so I removed it from there (Xcode can edit binary plists), but new shells still have these variables set.

What other files does Mac OS X 10.7's terminal/bash run on startup?  How might these variables get set?

Or is it something funny like "need to reboot after editing environment.plist"?

~/.MacOSX/environment.plist is read at session start. If you want your change to it to be tested immediatly you have to restart your session.
A restart of the system is useless.
You can edit this environment initialisation file with:

plutil -convert xml1 environment.plist
vi environment.plist

I advise you to simply recover it to its version prior to your software
installation.

Other hint, check all the files which were modified on the date
of installation of your unwanted software.
If you installed your software 15 days ago, you can perform this with:

find / -mtime -16 -mtime +14 -ls


Mac very very slow or won't boot I recently tried upgrading my parents' iMac from Snow Leopard (I think) to El Capitan. It started out all right, but after the first reboot, it became very very slow. That each, each minute remaining on the progress bar took approximately 2 hours. After running for over 48 hours I had to shut the computer down (by holding the power button). Since then whether I try resuming the installation, booting the recovery partition or booting an external bootable USB of the El Capitan installation disk, I get the same thing, which is that the boot progress bar gets slower and slower, taking several hours to reach the end, and then nothing further seems to happen.

I've tried resetting the PRAN. Makes no difference.

I'm thinking this must be something in the hardware, and the next step would be to remove the hard drive and test it using a different computer.

But maybe someone out there has other suggestions?

I would add that I have a time machine backup of the computer in its last usable state, and quite happy to restore from that. But if I can't even boot a recovery partition, then I'm stuck anyway.

Sounds like it might be a dying hard drive. Can you boot the Mac off another system, either an external hard drive or another Mac via Target Disk mode, and see how that runs speed-wise? Then run SMART Utility and see what it says about the internal hard drive


Cannot remove a rogue mount point A mount point /home appeared in my root directory that I cannot get rid of. I suspect it was caused by using Docker for Mac, but I have completely uninstalled Docker for Mac, restarted my system numerous times, and the mount point fails to disappear.

At first I thought it was a regular directory, so I tried calling sudo rm -rf /home yields rm: /home: Resource busy and using sudo lsof +D /home and sudo fuser -c /home both yield empty results. At that point I tried sudo mv /home ~ which gave the error message mv: cannot rename a mount point.

I tried to unmount the volume with diskutil unmount /home which executed successfully, however the mount point is immediately recreated, as evidenced by the logs from diskutil activity:

***Begin monitoring DiskArbitration activity
***DiskAppeared ((no BSD name), DAVolumePath = 'file:///home/', DAVolumeKind = 'autofs', DAVolumeName = '<null>') Time=20190109-08:43:03.9065
***DiskAppeared ((no BSD name), DAVolumePath = 'file:///net/', DAVolumeKind = 'autofs', DAVolumeName = '<null>') Time=20190109-08:43:03.9079
***DiskAppeared ('disk0', DAVolumePath = '<null>', DAVolumeKind = '<null>', DAVolumeName = '<null>') Time=20190109-08:43:03.9081
***DiskAppeared ('disk0s1', DAVolumePath = '<null>', DAVolumeKind = 'msdos', DAVolumeName = 'EFI') Time=20190109-08:43:03.9082
***DiskAppeared ('disk0s2', DAVolumePath = '<null>', DAVolumeKind = '<null>', DAVolumeName = '<null>') Time=20190109-08:43:03.9083
***DiskAppeared ('disk1', DAVolumePath = '<null>', DAVolumeKind = '<null>', DAVolumeName = '<null>') Time=20190109-08:43:03.9084
***DiskAppeared ('disk1s1', DAVolumePath = 'file:///', DAVolumeKind = 'apfs', DAVolumeName = 'Macintosh HD') Time=20190109-08:43:03.9085
***DiskAppeared ('disk1s2', DAVolumePath = '<null>', DAVolumeKind = 'apfs', DAVolumeName = 'Preboot') Time=20190109-08:43:03.9087
***DiskAppeared ('disk1s3', DAVolumePath = '<null>', DAVolumeKind = 'apfs', DAVolumeName = 'Recovery') Time=20190109-08:43:03.9088
***DiskAppeared ('disk1s4', DAVolumePath = 'file:///private/var/vm/', DAVolumeKind = 'apfs', DAVolumeName = 'VM') Time=20190109-08:43:03.9089
***DAIdle (no DADiskRef) Time=20190109-08:43:03.9089
***DiskUnmountApproval ((no BSD name), DAVolumePath = 'file:///home/', DAVolumeKind = 'autofs', DAVolumeName = '<null>') Comment=Approving Time=20190109-08:44:16.5264
***DiskDisappeared ((no BSD name), DAVolumePath = 'file:///home/', DAVolumeKind = 'autofs', DAVolumeName = '<null>') Time=20190109-08:44:16.5385
***DAIdle (no DADiskRef) Time=20190109-08:44:16.5386
***DiskAppeared ((no BSD name), DAVolumePath = 'file:///home/', DAVolumeKind = 'autofs', DAVolumeName = '<null>') Time=20190109-08:44:16.5537
***DAIdle (no DADiskRef) Time=20190109-08:44:16.5537

Any tips on how can I find the process that keeps mounting /home and eliminate it?

Many thanks.

EDIT 1:

Output of calling mount:

$ mount
/dev/disk1s1 on / (apfs, local, journaled)
devfs on /dev (devfs, local, nobrowse)
/dev/disk1s4 on /private/var/vm (apfs, local, noexec, journaled, noatime, nobrowse)
map -hosts on /net (autofs, nosuid, automounted, nobrowse)
map auto_home on /home (autofs, automounted, nobrowse)

Content of /etc/auto_master:

$ cat /etc/auto_master
#
# Automounter master map
#
+auto_master        # Use directory service
/net            -hosts      -nobrowse,hidefromfinder,nosuid
/home           auto_home   -nobrowse,hidefromfinder
/Network/Servers    -fstab
/-          -static

Alright, I did some more digging and it looks like pointing the finger at /home was a red herring. The problem arose when I was trying to run a Docker image and received an error message along the lines of there not being enough disk space available in /home to mount image data.

From this response it's apparent that while /home serves no direct use to the MacOS file system (it's not referenced in the official MacOS filesystem guide), it's used to mount files when MacOS is connected to an NFS filesystem, like the one in the running Docker container. Some order of doing a clean re-install of Docker, re-mounting /home, re-pulling the Docker image, and restarting my laptop seems to have fixed the issue and my container is now running without issues.

For what it's worth, it is possible to permanently unmount /home, and I found a guide for doing so on this StackOverflow post, albeit for a much older MacOS version than mine.

Thanks to those who responded!


How do I prep a, temporary, root login before editing sudoers? I want to alter my sudo capabilities on my mac, to avoid password prompts on starting postgres among other things.  I'm reading Michael Lucas' Sudo Mastery and generally have an OK idea on how to modify the entries and use visudo.

However, Michael makes the point that, regardless of what you do, editing sudoers is inherently unsafe and can lock you out of your machine.  And he goes out of his way to warn people to activate a root login, especially on macOS.  Once your sudoers file is ok and you've confirmed that with a reboot, you can always disable the root.

I mean, if it's just copying the original sudoers and then, when things blow up, safe boot, go to the Terminal and restore the backed up sudoers, that's fine.  But I want to be 110% sure I will not get locked out.

Note:  I might very well try my hand on a Linux VM's sudoers first, but I still want to have an escape route.

On macOS Mojave, keeping in mind Apple's various intentional security limitations around safe boots and SIP, what are the simplest steps to go create temporary root login backdoor?

No backdoor is required, in fact really nothing (not even a backup) is required to edit the sudoers file. You can't get locked out of your machine.

A backup (sudo cp /etc/sudoers /etc/sudoers.bak) is more convenient though, because you can simply restore it with a one-liner.

Reasons:

sudoers is not required to authenticate a user at log-in
sudoers is not required to activate the root user with Directory Utility - only a working admin account. Authentication is done with the local OD services.
If you have a working Internet connection or a working local Recovery Mode (aka recovery partition) you can always restore the default sudoers file either from an online resource (e.g. pastebin or github) or as mentioned earlier: more convenient from a local backup file.
If you have a second Mac and some fitting cable you can always start the "broken" Mac in Target Disk Mode and transfer a working good sudoers file from the second Mac.

Tested in a Mojave VM by:

simply removing the sudoers file completely
editing sudoers with nano and commenting out the root and %admin line, changing ownership of sudoers to 501:staff and make it 777

Proof:


iPhone app to show me my locations database It seems that Apple stores GPS information (or GPS information of  hot spots) in the iPhone/iPad, and a hacker invented a tool to show the info on Mac. I think this is a pretty useful feature for automatically recording what I've been visiting.

Are there any apps for iPad/iPhone to track my GPS info so that I can extract the data to display on Mac later?

I'm afraid that, without a jailbreak, you won't find any apps that do this for you using your 'locations database' (the "tracking" you're talking about). There are two main reasons:

1: According to Apple, the file is protected. Besides, apps don't get access to system files anyway.

2: Such an app would probably scare some people, and Apple would never allow it on the App store.

Maybe we'll see some apps for jailbroken phones, but I wouldn't expect anything to come to the standard App Store.


iPhone drops data connection when in call I'm on O2 Uk so I'm pretty sure it's a GSM network. I was under the impression that iPhones (at least) could browse the Internet while on a call. But when I switch to Safari while on a phone call I get an alert view saying I can't use data on a call.
And it doesn't matter if I'm in 3G Edge or GPRS (the dot) coverage.

Why is this, and why hasn't it always happened? And more importantly how can I change it?

This is coming from an American, but the 3G coverage should allow simultaneous data and voice.

From Apple's Website:

  You can tell iPhone is connected to
  the Internet over a cellular data
  network if you see , or  in the status
  bar at the top of the screen.

  If you're outside your carrier's
  network, you may be able to use a
  cellular data network from another
  carrier. Roaming charges may apply.

  Note: If not on 3G, while iPhone is
  actively transferring data over the
  cellular data network—downloading a
  webpage, for example—you may not be
  able to receive calls. Incoming calls
  may go to voicemail.

GPRS and EDGE will fail at offering both voice and data, and it might be that you initiated the call on an EDGE network, and moved over to the 3G areas, either way I would recommend resetting network settings on the phone.

Settings>General>Reset>Reset Network Settings

This will reboot your phone, reestablish network connections, and forget your wifi passwords.


Logging camera access on OS X Yosemite and up I'd like to have camera access by applications be logged in system logs, so that I can later search for camera access in the console app. Any idea if there is some debug feature in OS X to enable logging ?

I'm not certain how you would do it natively, but by pure coincidence I discovered this today, from Obdev, the makers of Little Snitch.

  Micro Snitch

  Ever wondered if an application records audio through your Mac’s built-in microphone without your knowledge? Or if the camera captures video for no good reason?

  With Micro Snitch there’s no doubt anymore. This ultra-light menu bar application operates inconspicuously in the background. It monitors and reports any microphone and camera activity to help you figure out if someone’s spying on you.

  Logging

  Never miss any microphone or camera activity, even in your absence. Every status change is logged to a file, so you can review it later to find suspicious activities.

€3.99 direct, or also on Mac App Store showing at $3.99 US or £2.99 UK

No affiliation, & I haven't tried it myself; I'm just a satisfied user of Little Snitch.


I can't update from Lion 10.7.5 to El Capitan I just keep getting this appear when downloading from the Apple App Store

Please activate (click on the desktop) your Finder and press the Keys CMD + Shift + G copy and paste the following path in the Box and hit Enter.

/private/var/folders

Went into the folder RZ (if is not present look for the folder 35). You will see a new folder witch was replaced xxxxxxx-xxxxxxx. In this folder you find the subfolder C and into it com.apple.appstore.
Remove this to your desktop (please don't delete unless you are sure that you have not additional problems).  Restart your mac and try to download EL Capitan from the Appstore again.

Additional Information:

If you not able to locate the folder on my steps above open the Terminal copy and paste the following command:

sudo find / -name "com.apple.appstore"

You need to Enter you Password for search. Remember that you not see any input if you type you password. But the Terminal recognize your input.
You get a list in the Output window of the Terminal with location path in /private/var/folder .

Note: If you not use bash as standard Shell you need to type

exec bash

first before you use the command above.


Whay does my Backspace key not delete in vi? The delete key works - delete text to the right.

But the backspace key (I'm using an external keyboard btw) moves left but doesn't delete (I am in insert mode)

However it does work OK (moves the remaining text left AND removes one chr) at the command line itself when I use command line vi (set -o vi) and insert mode.

I normally use tmux and iterm2 however I experimented with the basic terminal app and the problem persists (I am still using tmux though in case that is the issue)

Is this a new keyboard? I wonder if it's outputting a slightly non-standard code for backspace, one that many programs accept, but vim does not. Try CTRL-H - that should work as backspace in vim.

You can find out the code your backspace key outputs by going to Terminal, then Preferences>Settings>Keyboard and double-clicking any key in the list. Make sure "Send Text:" appears in the dropdown next to "Action:" Press your backspace key and its code will appear in the box. Make sure to click cancel so you don't change a mapping here. (Mine reports \177 on an Apple keyboard.)

You'll then need to convince Vim to respond to that code. This tutorial looks like it will explain that process. http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Mapping_keys_in_Vim_-Tutorial(Part_1)

Of course, you could also look for a different keyboard.

References:
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO-5.html
http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Mapping_keys_in_Vim_-Tutorial(Part_1)
http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~fine/Tech/vi.html


IMAP folder named Notes does not appear in Mail.app I have a folder on my IMAP server named « Notes ».

I have deactivated the use of the IMAP account by the Notes.app, but the folder is still not visible in Mail.app.

Is there a way to have this folder displayed as a normal folder ?

With the advent of Mountain Lion, Mail.app has removed its Notes capabilities in preference of the Notes.app. This Notes folder is used (if enabled) only in Notes.app on Mountain Lion and iOS 5+.

What you can do is rename it something other then "Notes". You can change it to something like "Notes1" or "My Notes", and it will then appear as a normal folder in Mail.app (as an example).


Website Track App Store Price I am looking or a website, which will monitor the price of an application on the Mac App Store and send me an email notification when the price of the application drops.

I have already tried appspy.com, but they did not send me email when the price dropped.

Try App Shopper. You need to register an account to utilize their price drop notification.


Wi-Fi syncing and Home Sharing with iPhone 5 not working in iTunes after iOS 8 upgrade I have a recent MacBook Pro running OS X 10.9.5 (Mavericks). I also have an iPhone 5 that had iOS 7.1, but I recently updated it to iOS 8.

When I had iOS 7, I used to be able to connect via Wi-Fi and drag music from my Mac to my iPhone. All I had to do was let both of them automatically connect to my home Wi-Fi and drag the songs to my phone, which was listed in the "Devices" section of the sidebar in iTunes.

But now, I don't see my phone in the sidebar. I can still transfer the songs via USB, but I can't do it via Wi-Fi.

Does anyone know why this is happening or what can be done about it?

I clicked "Sync Now" in the "iTunes Wi-Fi Sync" section in the Settings app on my iPhone, and it looked like it did something, but I don't see the iPhone in the iTunes sidebar. I looked at "Devices" in the file menu in iTunes and I don't see my iPhone there like I used to.

EDIT: I just noticed that Home Sharing is not working. It is enabled in iTunes, but on my iPhone, I don't see the "Libraries" choice in the "More" section in the Music app. I tried looking for something that would appear to let me access the music on my laptop from my iPhone, as I have been doing with iOS 7, without any success.

You need to have your Iphone connected to a charger before it will be possible to sync over WiFi

From the iOS 8 User Guide:

  If Wi-Fi syncing is turned on, iPhone syncs when it’s connected to a power source, both iPhone and your computer are on and connected to the same wireless network, and iTunes is open on your computer.

EDIT: Update to iOS 8.0.1 and it is working again without connected to a power source.


Mailto: tag won't dissappear I've had this problem a few times in the past. How do you get rid of a mailto: or alt tag that won't disappear from the Google screen.

EDIT

@Buscar - it wasn't just Google, it was appearing over every window Chrome or otherwise.

I found a solution. option+command and left-clicking on the application (Chrome in my case) got rid of it for me.


No admin account in macOS I know this has been answered before with the whole "rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone" thing in High Sierra but when I try to do this, I'm told that it's a "read only file system". Is this because I have my SSD encrypted?

Whatever the case, I'd really appreciate a work around.

When launching single-user mode, you're informed with the following text that you need to mount the disk as writable before you can make changes.

Root device is mounted read only

If you want to make modifications to files:
        /sbin/fsck -fy
        /sbin/mount -uw /

This text is printed when you launch single-user mode. Do as it says to mount with write access.


I'd like to upgrade my MacBook Pro's RAM and hard drive. What brands are reliable? I do heavy web development/web design and run my software on a MacBook Pro (Mid 2009) 2.8ghz model. I use Adobe products, run virtual machines in Parallels, have multiple browsers open, text editors and sometimes IDE's. That's how I typically use my machine.

I'd like to upgrade my RAM and possibly get a larger capacity hard drive, but I'm not sure what brands to buy.

From what I've read so far, it looks like Kingston HyperX KHX1600C9S3P1K2/8G is what I need. As for a hard drive I'm after something reliable. No nasty surprises a year from now.

I would really appreciate some advice as this is something I've delayed doing since I purchased my MacBook Pro.

I did the same to one of my old macs and opted for Crucial Memory and a Western Digital hard drive. Their still going strong and I've had absolutely no problems (and the WD drive is really fast)


Mirror iPad Pro screen to my Windows 10 PC via USB I need to mirror my iPad screen to my windows 10 computer without wifi (via USB). Is there a modern software solution that does not involve very low framerate or high latency ?

The good folks at Air Squirrels have the software that’s the closest to your request. I have used them in the past, was delighted by the previous version of their Reflector app and it looks like they have a trial version so you can be sure of the value before buying it.

https://www.airsquirrels.com/reflector/try

Since you require USB, be sure your non WiFi networking works before you invest if that’s the key factor for you. Reverse tethering works for Macs out of the box so hopefully this is close enough for windows.


VMware Fusion: Command + Tab window switching not focusing *inside* virtual machine I'm a "keyboard-oriented" user. I normally switches between applications via Command+Tab combo. I noticed the following issue when working with a Linux guest (steps to reproduce):

Run a Linux VM in Single Window mode.
Switch focus to another Mac application window such as Chrome browser.
Switch focus back to the VM via Command+Tab.

At the point, it looks like the VM has been focused, but it seems actually only the VM window is focused, but not the running VM itself. I'm saying this because at this point:

Command+H combo still hides the VM window. It's not sent inside the VM itself. Note I have unchecked the shortcut in "Keyboard & Mouse > some_profile > Edit Profile > Keyboard & Mouse > Fusion Shortcuts > Hide Application".
Command+M combo still minimizes the VM window, having unchecked the relevant shortcut as above.
Typing "Space" key is not sent in the VM.
Not until typing some "normal" keys, such like alphanumeric keys, does the focus actually move inside the VM itself.

This focusing issue does not happen when the VM window body is focused by mouse pointer. Actually it does happen if the window is focused by explicitly clicking VM window title bar, but not the window body.

Is this a bug or what config change is needed (e.g., keyboard settings)? Essentially, what I want is Command+Tab able to switch right inside the VM, but not at the VM window.

While I work from a Windows host to a Linux VM, I found the same issue.

The solution that VMWare offers is the key Ctrl + G.
On a Mac I'm assuming that would be Option + G.

Once my VMWare window has focus, pressing Ctrl + G will allow me to start using keyboard commands in the VM.

Your procedure would become pressing Command + Tab, then Option + G

Source:
https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/vmware/keyboard-shortcuts-for-vmware-workstation/

Hope it helps!


Issue about the external display on macOS Mojave After I install macOS Mojave, the external display became very strange.

First of all, I have a MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016), and I'm very sure I'm not in the mirror mode because I can put different applications on each display.

When I tried to switch between desktops on the external display (that's my main screen), the one on the MacBook will switch with it. This is very annoying because the desktop I can use now is very limited.
When I play the movie in the full-screen mode, the other display will be pure black.

These only happen after my update to Mojave, so I guess it is the problem of the system. Am I the only one have this problem?

Best guess, you have unchecked 'Displays have separate Spaces' in System prefs> Mission Control...
or, alternatively, you don't have more Spaces than screens, so they are forced to share.