Is there a way to delete the last 3 backups from Time Machine? I just updated to Sierra. As I am having problems to setup my Exchange email I want to reinstall El Capitan and use the Time Machine to get all the systems back.

I already used my Time machine to backup 3 days of to Sierra.

To answer your direct question, yes, you can delete backups by going into Time Machine, clicking on the backup in question (on the right-hand column), then right-clicking on your computer's name in the sidebar in the Finder window and choosing Delete Backup.

You should be able to downgrade without deleting backups, though. In order to do so, you'll need to do a few things.

First, disconnect your Time Machine drive so nothing happens to it during the following process.

Next, if you have any critical files that were created since you installed Sierra, copy them to another drive or a cloud service like Dropbox.

At this point you'll need to create a bootable USB flash drive with the El Capitan installer on it.

Download the El Capitan installer from the Mac App Store again. When's it done downloading it will try to run, and that will cause an error that it can't be run - don't worry about it. Just move to the next step.

Format the USB flash drive as HFS+ and name it whatever you like, but don't include spaces - the example used here is ElCapInstaller. If you change the name of your drive, change that name where it appears in the below command.

Once you have your USB flash drive ready, create the installer by opening Terminal and copying and pasting the following command:

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/ElCapInstaller --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app --nointeraction

(Again, replace ElCapInstaller with the name of your USB flash drive if you changed it.) This may take up to 30 minutes or more but it will tell you in Terminal once it's complete by showing "Copy Complete" and then "Done". Wait for "Done".

Reboot your computer with the flash drive still attached and hold Option as it's starting up. You will be shown options for startup disks. Select the flash drive you previously created by double-clicking on it.

At this point you want to reinstall El Capitan by erasing your hard drive. Otherwise you won't be able to proceed. Remember, you have a Time Machine backup in case anything goes wrong.

An OS X Utilities window will appear. Select Disk Utility and click Continue.
Once it launches, select the Mac’s hard drive in the left column. Click the Erase tab, and in the windows that appears, name your hard drive and select one of the OS X Extended formats, then click the Erase button to wipe out everything on the hard drive.

Once Disk Utility is done reformatting, quit the app. This will take you back to the OS X Utilities window.

Select Install OS X, click Continue, and proceed through the installation process.

Once the installation is complete and you're at the desktop, re-connect your Time Machine drive and run Utilities/Migration Assistant in your Applications. This will walk you through the procedure of restoring your files from your Time Machine backup. Obviously you will need to select one from before you upgraded to Sierra.


Mac osX boot camp issue i tried installing windows 8.1 on my mac osX and while the boot camp process was on the disk partitioning was in process and my mac suddenly restarted with a bootcamp error. now there is no windows8.1 installed on my mac but my storage shows partitioned please help

Go into disk utility.
Select your hard drive or SSD.
Click partition at the top.
Click the '-' button, then click apply.
You might have to restart you computer, but then it shouldn't say that it is partitioned.

Try to install bootcamp again and it should work.


13" MacBook Pro 2017 randomly shutting down I bought a new Mac and have had it it for like 1 week now. I noticed it turns itself off at 8% but I wasn't worried. Then it started shutting down on like 17%-20% cca.

When you plug charging cable you can turn it on and it's on the same % as when it turned off. I don't understand why it is shutting down on this much battery charge %.

I also think it's discharging pretty fast. I have no clue and I don't want to wait for a new MBP.

I'm not sure where to begin troubleshooting this and would appreciate any help.

How can I proceed?

Reset the SMC

I would start by resetting the SMC on your MBP. Follow these steps:

Shut down your MBP
Press and hold the power button for at least 10 seconds
Let go of the power button and wait 5 seconds
Power up your MBP again

Once you've reset the SMC use your MBP as usual. If you still feel it's shutting down too soon or perhaps not charging as it normally would, then reset the SMC again but with the following steps instead:

Shut down your MBP
Press and hold the right shift key and the left option and control keys for 7 seconds before then also pressing and holding the power button down for another 7 seconds (i.e. the keys will end up being held down for 14 seconds, the power button for 7 seconds)
Let go of all three keys and the power button
Wait 5 seconds
Power up your MBP again

Also, macOS provides a great deal of information about your power usage. Read on to see how to access this.

Checking your charging status within macOS

Follow these steps:

Go to Apple > About This Mac
Click on the System Report... button
In the left pane under the Hardware heading, select Power (it's about 2/3 of the way down)
On the right-hand side, scroll down to view the AC Charger Information
This will show you whether it's connected to a charger, the amount of wattage it's receiving, and if it's currently charging or not


Can you do a Find and Replace all in the Pages App for iPad? I'm using the pages app on my iPad and I have a large document. I need to rename term which is used many times.

I've found the find and replace functionality but it appears to only replace one term at a time. Doing one at a time could take hours, is there a way to Find and Replace All?

Here are the steps I took to Find and Replace a word with a word(s) in Pages app for iPad:

Tap in the toolbar and tap Find in the popover.
When the search field appears at the bottom of the screen, type in the word(s) you’re searching for. The results are immediately highlighted in the document. Use the forward and back arrows to move through the document to see the results in context.
To replace the found term, tap (gear) to the left of the search field.
In the popover, you can refine your search by searching for matching cases or whole words only. Or, simply tap Find and Replace and a second text field appears to the right of the search field.
Type in the replacement word and tap Replace. Pages for iPad finds the first instance of the word and replaces it. Tap the forward and back arrows to find each instance and manually replace it by tapping the Replace button.
To automatically find and replace all instances of the word, tap and hold the Replace button until Replace All appears in the popover. Tap it and all the found words are automatically replaced.

For a graphical representation of the steps mentioned above, check out this article which I found useful:

Find and replace in Pages for iPad

Source: my.safaribooksonline.com


iBooks library empty after upgrade Since upgrading my iPad all the books are gone from my library yet when I go to iTunes it shows the books I purchased. Am I going to have to download them again?

I think this can happen if you're a bit premature unplugging your iPad from iTunes.  Try plugging it in and resyncing.


"use F1, F2, etc. keys ..." in system preferences doesn't work, how should I do? I'm using macOS 10.13.6 and 101 windows keyboard. Each time I press Fn + F5 together I can play/pause my vlc player.
I'm trying to make it easier by lock Fn key so that I need to press just F5 itself to play/pause.
per a post
"system preferences>keyboard and mouse>keyboard" can lock Fn key.

However, no matter I check that option or not, I have to press Fn key and F5 key together to play/pause my vlc player.
Am I missing something?

A windows keyboard will not necessarily send the same Fn combinations as a Mac keyboard. One way to test the Preference itself is switching is to listen for the error beep. When you press [actual] F3 in Finder, it should error beep, because it has no assigned function. The alternate Special Function should invoke Exposé, moving all your windows out so you can see them all. Whether you hold Fn to invoke this depends on which way that pref is set. The pref switches immediately as you check/uncheck it, you don't even need to close the window.
If it still beeps on both settings, the keyboard is likely sending the wrong message.
It's hard to tell what message the special function keys send because they're combined in the keyboard & acted upon before anything else in the computer can read them.
Try Key Codes (freeware) from the App Store & test to see what shows when you press F1 and Fn/F1. The 'true' F-key will show a true code, the Special Function version will show nothing, it will just do the special function. If that's not what you see in KeyCodes, then you can be fairly sure your keyboard is not sending something the Mac can act on.


Importing photos without using the OS X Photos app I would like to import my photos off my camera without using the OS X Photos app and locate my photos direct in the Finder so I can store them in folders, edit them in Photoshop etc. (i.e. do whatever I like with my files without getting involved with the Photos app)

This app automatically recognises my camera and offers to import but I can't work out how to import them to a folder or seperate hardrive where I can sort through the files.

Does anyone know how to import to a folder? or even access the individual files in finder if photos has to be used for import?

…or is there a free import software I can use to avoid "photos " completely

(Theres no camera software available for Yosemite from the company that made my camera)

Use Image Capture, in the Applications folder - which is the importer 'behind' Photos.app anyway.

You can set it to auto-launch any capable app, including itself [or do nothing] & set exactly where your imports should be saved. You can also dictate whether it should auto-delete from the camera afterwards, or alternatively you can manually delete any selected pictures.


iTunes only plays first part of song I downloaded an album from iTunes Store on my MacBook (macOS 10.13.6).

One of the songs, only the first 17 seconds play. Then it jumps to the next song.

The total time of the song is displayed correctly (4:06).

When I navigate to ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music and find the album, the m4a file that the song is stored in does the same thing:

QuickTime shows it's 4:06 long, but only plays the first 17 seconds then freezes. Trying to skip with the scrubber past 0:17 in QuickTime causes the song to be unplayable, unless I put it back before 0:17.

How can I fix this? I want iTunes to play the whole song.

You can try a different player like VLC and check whether that works.

But it's way more likely that the file is just corrupted. You can try to copy it again from the source.


Contacts sync conflict with google and exchange On my iPhone, I sync with my business Exchange account on one side and with my private Gmail account on the other side. This runs smoothly.

My contacts information, however, is centralized in Google Contacts. Thus, I can make contact information available on all other devices. Unfortunately, I discovered that the iPhone stores new contacts information randomly. How can set my iPhone to - by default - store new contacts in Google Contacts?

You need to change the default Contact account for each of your iDevices to point to a single service (i.e. Exchange, iCloud, etc).

The solution along with some screenshots.


Does using a transparent screen protector for the face and the back of the iPhone 4 have drawbacks? I saw multiple videos that the iPhone 4 screen can not be scratched by keys, coins and is even quite resistant to dropping. What are the drawbacks to adding this layer of protection (in general or perhaps for a specific film you have used) so I can weigh whether I wish to use one?

In the end, the worth of a case/screen protector is entirely up to you.

The iPhone 4/4S screen is incredibly durable, and without a protector, I've had mine since the release of the 4S and it's only got the smallest micro-buffs in the screen (you really have to be looking at them to see it).

I'd say the only real good reason for protection of any kind is to protect your device from drops. Being that they're a specially treated glass, if you drop it from a sizeable distance, they'll more than likely shatter.


latest compatible version of an app Where on the app store can I find this "latest compatible Version thing? I have tried to download the remote app for ios6 but there is no button or anything. So I downloaded the iOS7 App but that one does not install on my iPhone (5).

iTunes on Mac or Windows currently doesn't offer a way to download older versions of an app. If you have an incremental backup and downloaded the app before you might be able to pull the old .ipa file from your backup.

Otherwise you need to download the app directly from your iPhone/iPad running iOS6 (or any other older version). The Store app will try to download the most recent version first and then get back to you with a prompt asking whether you want to download the most recent compatible version instead.

There doesn't appear to be a way to expose this previous version information other than attempting a download on an app by app basis.


How to edit .imovielibrary extension as project? On iMovie 10.1.6 for Macbook Pro High Sierra 10.13.6— I'm trying to edit a project/clip which has been autosaved by iMovie with a .imovielibrary extension.

When I try to open it to edit in iMovie, it shows me the saved movie clip in My Media and allows me to drag to panel below. Doing so seems to have saved none of the transitions, overlaid music, etc necessary to make additional edits. Checking My Movie above in Project Media is the same story.

Question: How can I recover / open the video clip with the transitions, overlays, etc so I can begin where I left off?

Then I thought I should click on All Events then drag them onto the library clip but it won't let me drag or otherwise add the events:

Originally I thought I may have lost them, so I checked in the cached folder and it's the same deal here (no editable "project" files):

~/Users/me/Library/Containers/com.apple.iMovieApp/Data/Library/Caches/iMovie Backups.localized

Found the answer. You cannot open an .imovielibrary and open it as project from the first interface. It will default to opening the library of finished movie clips and allow you to drag into the timeline (which won't include any of your transitions, etc available for edit).

Instead, you need to click the Return to Projects button on the top left (which it will then ask you to save your current project. Save it then delete it).

You will see your project file there. It won't default (at least it didn't for me) to opening it as a project, instead it will default it opening it as a playable movie. You need to click the ellipsis button under the project thumbnail and explicitly tell it to open as project:


VPN (PPTP) connection is working on iPhone but not on MacBook Pro On the iPhone I have the same server address, user name, password and the encryption is for all data. Encryption mode is also set to automatic. The VPN to my WHS 2011 is working fine.

On the MacBook I have the same server address, user name and encryption is set to automatic (128/40 bit). In the authentication settings I have set the same password. But I get always username and password are wrong. I tried to set encryption to none, encryption to all my data but nothing changes.

The only idea I came up with is that the special characters in my password are not supported. But I don't know if thats the problem. Ok I tried it with another account and now it works ... But why?

As I thought the special characters were the problem. I also updated to 10.9.4 but the behavior was the same. It works on the iPhone but not on the Mac ... I would not recommend to use special characters. What is security?


Re-applying ComboUpdate to Sierra after later SecurityUpdates are installed It is often said that one troubleshooting attempt for macOS is
The universal panacea for macOS problems: install the Combo updater
On a machine running macOS 10.12.6 an attempt to do so will result in the ominous error message from Installer.app:

macOS Sierra update can't be installed on this disk.This volume does not meet the requirements for this update.
Similar to the error message here on Ask Different: macOS Sierra update can't be installed on this disk.This volume does not meet the requirements for this update

Without giving away the slightest hint at what the requirements really are.
After searching the net it appears in this case to be caused by later SecurityUpdates installed that increment the build number:

If you previously installed Security Update 2017-001; then that's expected, at the moment. The installer script checks for a build version of 16G29 or older; but after 2017-001, you'll be on 16G1036.
Perhaps Apple will eventually refresh the combo package to reflect recent changes.
Apple Communities: 10.12.6 Combo Update, Nov 7, 2017 10:38 AM

The machine in question runs 10.12.6 (16G1408) and had the SecurityUpdate 2018-003 applied. A freshly downloaded ComboUpdate from Apple: Download macOS Sierra 10.12.6 Combo Update Date: Post Date: Jul 19, 2017 reveals an installer package that is dated to 15. July 2017 at 10:19. So, no updated ComboUpdater as hopefully hinted at in the community answer at Apple.
How to fix this situation?
Preliminary ideas: Rolling back a security update seems not really possible. Would just changing the build number of the installed system and then re-applying Combo and Security update solve this impasse?

You could try using macOS Recovery. Simply hold ⌘ cmd-R during startup and follow the prompts to reinstall macOS.

This will reinstall the current version of macOS installed on your Mac. You can then check whether to reapply any supplemental updates.


Lion Server wireless filesharing for iPad, what are the file type limitations? I've been searching for information about wireless file sharing for iPad through webdav, which is new in Lion Server. However, I can find nothing more than the few lines Apple has to say, which has been re-blogged around the place.
To keep to Q&A, can anyone provide instructions for setting this up, and what types of files can I share? Am I limited to certain file types and why? Is there a way around any file type limitations?

There doesn't appear to be any file-type limitation. WebDAV file sharing is enabled in the new Server.app under the File Sharing Service. Click the share you want, and then check "Share with iOS Devices (WebDAV)."

There isn't anything specific about file types, and Server.app seems to treat WebDAV as just another file-sharing protocol.


what is Siri consuming? is Wifi enough? or 3g celluar data is involved while Siri searches online? So I am concerned if I can save data usage(I have only 200M per month on my account..) by using Siri at home(with a wifi connection)??

You will save on data usage if you only use Siri at home with a wifi connection. Siri sends the raw audio of your talking to its servers, so the data usage will be comparable to using VoIP. Although that's only if you talk constantly to Siri (which I'm actually seeing some people at work doing these days).


OS X's "free" or "/proc/meminfo" equivalent OS X lacks the "Linux-friendly" free or /proc/meminfo.

What would be the most reliable and backwards-compatible way of extracting this info:

Current free memory, in bytes

Going back as far as possible in terms of OS versions, without requiring extensions like ports, brew, etc.

The closest analogs to free and cat /proc/meminfo might be vm_stat and ls -l /var/vm but you also have the BSD tools like heap and Darwin tool allmemory to dig deeper into processes and libraries to determine how the overall virtual memory load is allocated to specific processes.


Mojave screen saver starts randomly I have a new Mojave (10.14.1) installation on an iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017).  My screen saver is set to start after 5 minutes.  I have a hot corner defined to start the screen saver.

I have noticed that periodically, the screen saver just starts up out of the blue.  Typically this happens while I am scrolling with the magic mouse.  I am definitely not hitting the hot corner.

Any suggestions for why this is happening and how to stop it?

It turns out another Mac had an idle screen sharing session open to this computer.  After closing that, I have not experience the screen saver start.


Open file dialog doesn't allow to select tagged folders I use the latest OS X El Captain on MacBook Pro Retina, and I had this issue since Yosemite.

When I try to select a file to upload in browser (same problem in Safari and Chrome, but not in another applications like Photoshop) - it HIDES all the folders when I click on any colored tag on the side panel. Folders just disappear right after a half of second. So, I am able to select a tagged file but I can't go to tagged folder and select a file there.

I have tried to delete com.apple.finder.plist, I have also tried to create a new user, but the problem remains :(

Ok, looks like it's a browser issue with a upload field. When it has attribute accept="image/gif,image/jpeg,image/jpg,image/png,video/mp4,video/quicktime,video/x-m4v" - I can't select a folder.


Identify if an iOS In-App Purchase is a consumable or non-consumable? I need a small help to know if what I propose in my iOS app is a consumable currency or not.
From the Apple Developer In-App Purchase webpage:

Consumable
Users can purchase different types of consumables, such as lives or gems in a game, to further their progress through an app. Consumable in-app purchases are used once, are depleted, and can be purchased again.

Users can buy a currency that has a name, such as "bucks", for example: 100 bucks can be bought for $1.
User can receive or send this currency to another user. When desired, he can convert this virtual currency to money = for example: $1 for 95 bucks.
This currency is like a cryptocurrency and my app is not a game.
So is this currency a consumable or non-consumable? I need help with understanding to prevent my app from getting rejected.

If an item can be used once and then is not available again, it is a consumable.

If an item can be reused over and over, it's a non-consumable.

This is explained in the developer Apple's IAP overview you referenced:

  Consumable

  Users can purchase different types of consumables, such as lives or gems in a game, to further their progress through an app. Consumable in-app purchases are used once, are depleted, and can be purchased again.

  Non-Consumable

  Users can purchase non-consumable, premium features within an app. Non-consumables are purchased once and do not expire, such as additional filters in a photo app. Apple can host content associated with your non-consumable in-app purchases.

Based on your comments, I would say you have a Consumable IAP.  You app could be reject for other reasons, though, so this is no guarantee that it will pass App Review.


MacBook Pro 2016 USB-C to HDMI (Apple Multiport Adapter) problem My MacBook won't display anything connected through an USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter to HDMI display. I have tried with many (Dell, Samsung, Acer, Iyama, LG, from the local store) external displays.

Sometimes (after a restart, with SMC reset) it works for 5 seconds and suddenly stops. It does not even show the external display in the preferences.

Do you know how to fix it?

Hardware details:

USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter from Apple (MJ1K2ZM/A)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports)
2,4 GHz Intel Core i7
16 GB 1867 MHz LPDDR3
Intel Iris Graphics 540 1536 MB

I have noticed one thing - when I disconnect the HDMI cable the display says "No HDMI Cable" when I connect it back it says "Entering Power Save Mode".

I had to replace the adapter. It seems the one I was using was broken. Now everything is fine and the display displays :).


How to give Airplay traffic priority on network? I noticed that when I download a large file over Wi-Fi my Airplay stream stutters and then dies out.
I am just streaming audio from MacBook Pro 5,3 (e.g. Spotify) to my Airport Express.
At the same time a Xiaomi Redmi 2 and a Huawei P9 are often connected to the Airport Express. No heavy traffic is going to them (only some WhatsApp and browsing)

During the download, data is coming in at around 6 MB/s, and I see that 200 KB/s is going up.

When I check my Wi-Fi statistics I see I have a transmission rate of 145 (Mb/s I assume), which converts to 18 MB/s so I should have plenty of headroom.

How can I give Airplay priority on my network, such that there's always plenty of bandwidth available to stream?

I don't know how to fix your issue but i can help you to go around it.
So if you have the wifi 5GHz (dual mode) you can put your playing device on that network and the downloading device on the 2.4GHz network. This somehow helped me to fix the dropouts while watching videos online.

my config is: iPad playing music via airplay audio, macbook Pro downloading a video. airport express with dual wifi.

It is not the final solution neither the solution you are looking for but it helps in some cases.


Mac OS 10.13.5 - Dual monitor set up for MacBook with single USB-C I see that a lot of people are having issues with connecting dual monitors.

I currently have the USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter - with one HDMI cord and it works with 1 of 2 monitors. I also have a USB to HDMI adapter but it wont display the 2nd screen.

Does anyone have a solution to connect 2 monitors with the MacBook that has only one USB-C port?

There is an issue with the DisplayLink Driver and the macOS update 10.13.4.

From the macOS page on DisplayLink's webpage:

  Installing macOS 10.13.4 will cause DisplayLink connected displays to
  go blank after the OS update when using DisplayLink driver v4.1.
  Extended displays continue to work as expected in macOS 10.13.3, and
  we can only recommend that you stay on macOS 10.13.3 or earlier if you
  require this feature and have not already updated. Functionality such
  as Ethernet and audio, where implemented, is unaffected.

You have to downgrade to 10.12.3 and the best way to do that is to revert to a Time Machine backup.  The second best way is to reinstall.  There's currently no way to roll back an update.


Sync iPod Touch Automatically when on WiFi but not plugged in I haven't seen this addressed anywhere, and I sort of understand why Apple would implement this but I want to see if there's any work around I haven't found yet.

Basically, I have an iPod Touch I keep in my car's glove compartment hooked up to my stereo.  The auto wifi sync only works when plugged in, but I would love for every time my ipod connects to my network for it to sync.

Currently, I can manually do it, and I have an Applescript that tries to sync every night, but that only works about 10% of the time.  Is there any automation apps or other work around you have found that will allow me to never have to take my ipod out of the glove compartment yet sync every time it is able?  Thanks in advance.

If you're willing to jailbreak, you can install Wi-Fi Sync.

This is a jailbreak tweak invented before Apple implemented the actual iTunes Wi-Fi Sync, and can be scripted with AppleScript to sync whenever you want it scheduled.


iPhone 5 Updates Frozen I have an iPhone 5. I have apps that are updating but never finish.
I tried restarting. I tried some examples on this website. I waited days for it to refresh. Nothing seems to work. The "Updates All" is greyed out. You can't select it. Recently upgraded to iOS9 9.0.1(13A404).

I would connect your phone to a computer, open iTunes and delete the apps from there that are not updating properly. Once this is done, simply unplug your phone from your computer and re-download those applications.


Delete last word using Command + Backspace Is there a setting to delete the last word using the command key and backspace?

Currently this combination of keys deletes the current line. Instead, I want to delete the last word (before the cursor).

How can I do that natively (without any other apps, if possible)? Is there a terminal command to run or maybe an option somewhere?

In the terminal I use Ctrl + w, but I'm interested how to do that in UI apps (browser, and other non-terminal applications).

Option-Delete        Delete the word to the left of the insertion point.

Have a look at the Document shortcuts section in: Mac keyboard shortcuts


Iphone 4 without itunes or lock button Okay my iphone needs to connect to itunes, but my device doesnt support itunes and my iphone lock button is broke, what can I do?

You have a few options:
Option #1

Take it to the Apple store and have them fix the lock button.
Take your iPhone back home, and run iTunes on a friend's computer.

Option #2

Take it to the Apple store and have them do everything for you.

Option #3

Go to the Apple store and get your lock button fixed.
Get a real computer that supports iTunes in some way or another and use that.

Option #4

Go to the Apple store and get a real iPhone - one that actually supports modern software.

In reality, you've got no good options.  You need to go to the Apple store one way or another.  Sorry bro, welcome to 2016.


Why does Safari no longer save flash game progress? I don't play flash games a lot. In fact, I try to avoid flash whenever possible; I just don't like the thing. However, there are a few games I like to play in my free time, like Amorphous+.

Lately (I can't tell you which OS it started happening on, but it happens on Sierra and it didn't happen, back when I was using Snow Leopard), whenever I restart my computer all progress made in those games disappears.

I understand these games save your progress by storing information somewhere on the computer's hard drive. If I right-click on the flash game, I get a contextual menu which includes the options "Settings" and "Global settings":

If I select "Settings" and then go to the "Local storage" tab, the option to allow the website that hosts the flash game to save files to my computer is selected.
If I select "Global settings" and then go to the "Storage" tab, the selected option is the one that says "Allow sites to save information on this computer".

I just found a solution!

Go to Safari->Preferences->Privacy. For cookies and website data, check "Always allow". Refresh the page and the games save correctly. But you need to risk your privacy doing so.

Edit: It could be Kongregate changing locations of Flash game file recently causing this issue.

Edit 2: I think I found the cause of the issue. I have compared the source code of some webpages on Kongregate. On the pages where the games do not save correctly (such as Anti-Idle: The Game and Amorphous+), there is a string "konggames" in the source code. In the previous states as on Web Archive, there is no such string in the source code. To show that this is indeed the cause and not just the same string appearing everywhere on Kongregate, I checked the game Solarmax 2 and found that the game saves correctly and of now, and there is no string "konggames" in the source code.

This means that Kongregate has recently changed the host of some games to this "konggames" thing. By choosing "allow cookies from websites I visit"  or stronger settings in the preference, you effectively caused Safari and Flash unable to load save correctly because you have not visited the site "konggames".


How to put computers online in Apple Remote Desktop In Apple Remote Desktop I see my computers but they are offline. How can I put them on line so I can control the computer

You have to enable remote desktop sharing on the target computers.

Apple has an excellent kickstart resource to enable this setting remotely.  See this Apple Support document and also if your network supports it, you can send a wake command if the network is active while the machine is sleeping. That last item won’t start a powered down machine or reach across routers, only machines oN the same subnet can be woken.


Is an external keyboard with the keys from the new Macbook available for purchase? Is an external keyboard with the keys from the new Macbook available for purchase? I'd like to get the San Fransisco font key caps and crisp new mechanics in an external keyboard.

Apple describes the keyboard on their site...

  Now when your finger strikes the key, it goes down and bounces back with a crisp, consistent motion that makes typing with precision a breeze.

It definitely feels good to type on and I'd love to acquire those mechanics in the size of the Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad.

As of now, no, it is not possible to buy one.

I must admit that I would like one too, especially if it also has a Magic Touch Bar.


.smbdelete files accumulating on server share I manage a very modest macOS server (Late 2014 Mac Mini, Mac OS 10.12.4, Server 5.3) that supports several sharepoints for about 20 clients - a mix of macOS and Windows.  I typically have my work machine set to 'AppleShowAllFiles TRUE' so I notice that the shares are accumulating '.smbdelete...' files. These are hidden for most users, but they are getting a little annoying for me because the file listing of one share in particular is getting long.  From web searches, it looks like this has to do with macOS' handling of SMB connections to shares.

So two questions:

Can these be safely deleted?
Can the accumulation of these be halted.

Spotted an answer on the Apple support forums: https://discussions.apple.com/message/30046649#message30046649

  Apple introduced this behavior in OS X 10.10 you can find it in the
  source code here:

  http://www.opensource.apple.com/source/smb/smb-759.40.1/kernel/smbfs/smbfs_smb.c

  The comment above the code that does it is:

* We have an open file that they want to delete. Use the NFS silly rename
* trick, but try to do better than NFS. The picking of the name came from the
* NFS code. So we first open the file for deletion. Now come up with a new
* name and rename the file. Make the file hidden if we can. Now lets mark
* it for deletion and close the file. If the rename fails then the whole call
* should fail. If the mark for deletion call fails just set a flag on the
* vnode and delete it when we close.

Other googling implies that these are held while 'someone' has an open file handler and are cleaned up automatically later.


How to upgrade my Mac Pro to an OS newer than 10.6.8? I have a Mac Pro running Snow Leopard. I tried upgrading to Mavericks, but the App Store won't let me download it. It directed me to this page. At first I thought it was because I was out of space (8GB required) so I deleted some things. Now I have 8.17GB available with 5GB of RAM (2GB minimum). The only thing I can think of is that my Mac Pro is arbitrarily too old. However, I don't know how to confirm that. I'm not even sure if there are any upgrade options available. What do I need to do?

It sounds like your Mac Pro is not supported (too old?) by a newer OS than 10.6.8.

Check by looking in the System Information app, to see what version of Mac Pro it is. Supported versions are "MacPro3,1" or greater. Unsupported versions are MacPro1,1 or MacPro2,1.

The reason why the older models are not supported is not arbitrary - it's because the first models had a 32-bit EFI, and the later ones have a 64-bit EFI. The later operating systems require a 64-bit EFI.


IPhones sharing neither Apple ID nor iCloud somehow still sharing data My girlfriend has recently acquired her sisters old iPhone 5s running latest iOS version as of writing.

Her mother has an IPhone 5s as well, under similar conditions.

Both devices are linked to distinct iCloud and Apple IDs.

My girlfriend's phone contains a number of contacts belonging to her mother. When she deletes one, it is removed from her mother's phone as well.

How do we prevent this?

This happened to me I gave my husband my old apple 5s but didn't wipe it clean first. He deleted 3-400 of my contacts in a 1 hour period since they were still using the same iCloud account. From experience I now know to rest the old phone to factory default and set it up that users own Apple ID. Problem solved except couldn't recover my contacts since a new update was being performed and didn't have a current backup.


How do you get the angle of the lid from the CLI? I know that you get whether the lid is open or closed from:

ioreg -r -k AppleClamshellState -d 4 | grep AppleClamshellState.

What I want to know is if the lid is open, what is its angle relative to the plane it is sitting on.

There is no easy way to do this from within the computer (you could always measure it of course). The hardware on laptops only needs to know whether the lid is closed or not, so a simple on/off switch is enough and built-in.

There are (at least) two threads on reddit where apparently the tilt level seems to control audio volume:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/comments/6fek1m/hope_you_dont_mind_having_the_volume_turned_up/
https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/comments/6fowct/lid_controlled_volume_mac_edition/

The first one is quite obviously a fake, the second one claims

  You're right! I used the ambient light sensor values to calculate the percentage

So while there isn't a way to get the angle directly, it can be calculated/approximated using other sensors.


Newly-created contacts in Outlook don't sync to iPhone I hope someone can give me some guidance relative to syncing contacts between Outlook and my iPhone 5. I can sync contacts I load on my phone to Outlook, however when I enter new contacts into Outlook those contacts do not sync to my phone.

Why do my new contacts created in Outlook not sync?

In the case where you don't have a specific failure message or error, it's often best to isolate where the problem lies.

If you were using iCloud, I would recommend you add a contact from your computer then log into the web interface of iCloud to see that the change propagates to the cloud.

If it does, then you will know to focus on the cloud to iPhone part of the sync. If it does not, you can know that Outlook (or the PC end of things is failing.)

You can try these two things:

Set up syncing again on the guess that iOS isn't set up properly
Get access to the servers that are syncing the information and dig into the troubleshooting or logs that are available there to determine where the break down is happening.


How can I obtain the Full Name of the currently logged in user via Terminal when run as root? This command works great to list the Full Name out:

finger $(whoami) | egrep -o 'Name: [a-zA-Z0-9 ]{1,}' | cut -d ':' -f 2 | xargs echo

But, if you run it after a

sudo su

It returns CVMS Root System Administrator

I'm wondering if there's perhaps another place to read the Full Name variable? Is there a User object somewhere that would list this out? I thought I was on to something with

dscacheutil -q user | grep -A 3 -B 2 -e uid:\ 5'[0-9][0-9]'

But it doesn't look like Full Name is represented in that return data.

Simply use id -P $(stat -f%Su /dev/console) | awk -F '[:]' '{print $8}'

id -P $(stat -f%Su /dev/console) yields:

adminuser:********:501:20::0:0:AdminUser:/Users/adminuser:/bin/bash

awk -F '[:]' '{print $8}' yields the 8th term (the "RealName") of an output separated by colons.

As proposed by fd0 you can alternatively use:

id -P $(stat -f%Su /dev/console) | cut -d : -f 8

which is even more simple/elegant.


How to view man pages in a web browser? Which .conf file do I need to edit in order to view man pages in a web browser? I'd like to use Google Chrome to do this.

Is this possible?

One way to do this is to put the following command in ~/.profile:

export PAGER="col -b  | open -a /Applications/Safari.app -f"

The PAGER environmental variable controls what program man uses to display man pages. the col command removes all of the backspace-formatting from the man page. The open command saves the output as a temporary text file and opens it with Safari.app.

Or you can edit the PAGER variable in /private/etc/man.conf. You could also probably edit the NROFF variable and eliminate the need to use col -b. See the man page for man.conf.


Boot from CD, make backup, reinstall snow leopard. Good idea? My iMac has some problems, and to repair it I thought I'd do as it says in the title. Currently, I'm running (a broken) Snow Leopard, and ideally I'd make a backup (with Time Machine) before I erase the disk and reinstall Snow Leopard.

Is this possible? What happens when I boot from a CD? Do I just reach my desktop? If not, would I be able to make a backup (obviously without later restoring it, just some files one by one) from there?
Can I do this with the CD with Snow Leopard coming in a Mac Box Set? (I couldn't find the apple store page for the Mac Box Set anymore, just the system requirements.)
I never did something like this before. All thoughts welcome.

Booting from an install media such as a Snow Leopard install DVD will not boot to your desktop. Instead, it will boot to the OS installed on the disc and whilst this is OS X, there's no Finder for you to move files around.

However, the disc does come with Terminal and you can use it to copy your files to somewhere else, another disk, etc. There are numerous tools that you can use in Terminal to copy files, but for individual files/folders as mentioned in your question you can simply cd /path/to/original /path/to/location to copy them.

Then, using the disc, reinstall Snow Leopard and copy your files back once booted back (using the now-available Finder).


Change root password to be different than Admin password I want to change the root password so it is different than the admin password.

I need to change the password so the admin can still be logged on, but the root password to modify the hosts file through terminal with nano at /private/etc/hosts is different.
Even if the admin is logged in, he will need a different set of codes to modify the hosts file.

Is this possible?

I'm not sure I get what you want, but here's how things work on OS X.

You can't prevent an admin user from becoming root with their own password.
Root user isn't enabled, and doesn't even have a password unless you set one.

So, if you want to prevent a user from editing hosts, you need to remove their admin rights. Anything you can lock with special permissions, that admin user can unlock so what I'm guessing you ask is not possible.


Changing the default iTunes download directory Is it possible to change the download directory of iTunes on mac?

I use mac OSX (10.8.5) and iTunes 11.0.5.
I want to relocate the directory on a external hard disk storage?

You can move the Downloads folder in your ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Downloads directory to your external drive, and then create a symlink (symbolic link) to the new Downloads location, and place that symlink in the
~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Downloads directory.

Here it is in step form:

Quit iTunes.
Go to ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media, and move Downloads to your external drive. Ensure you move the folder, and you don't just make a copy.
Open Terminal (located in /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app)
Enter ln -s "/Volumes/NAME_OF_YOUR_EXTERNAL_DRIVE/Downloads" ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes\ Media/Downloads

Substitute the NAME_OF_YOUR_EXTERNAL_DRIVE part with the name of your external drive that you placed Downloads on. Downloads needs to be in the root directory for that command to complete successfully.


Cannot add more people to a group chat in iMessage How do I add people to an already existing group chat?

There are currently four people in the chat, three of the members are using an iPhone, and one is using a non-iPhone.

I am trying to add another person to the group chat, how do I do this?

You cannot add people to a group message if one or more of the people does not have an iPhone.  You also cannot add people to an already existing iMessage group chat if they do not have an iPhone.
In this case, one of the people that was in the group chat doesn't have an iPhone. (You can tell because it doesn't have a FaceTime option next to the call and message button.)


How to sync mouse pointer correctly in screen sharing when connecting to a Windows VM? I am using the screen sharing application on a MacBook Air running OS X 10.9.3 to connect to a Windows 7 virtual machine on a different computer.

Although the keyboard and mouse work in general (input is received by the VM), the mouse pointer is not synced correctly. I see two mouse pointers: the Windows one and the one from my Mac. However, the Windows mouse pointer is always off by quite a bit. It seems to have a higher acceleration. If I quickly move my mouse, the Windows mouse pointers moves more than my Mac's.

I cannot find any information on the Web about this problem. Is this a known issue? Should it work with Windows systems?

In the Screen Sharing app, go to the View menu and click "Customize Toolbar..." There's a button you can add to the toolbar called "Cursor" that toggles your Mac's mouse cursor. You can turn it off so you'll only see the one on the remote machine instead of both the remote and local cursor.


Airport Extreme & Airport Utility 6.3, "Port Settings" (i.e. port mapping) Unavailable I'm trying to add port forwarding for a few services on my iMac and haven't used the airport utility in quite a while, so after poking around, I found the port mapping settings (i.e. Airport Utility, Manual Config, "Network" Tab, "Port Settings" but the setting is greyed out and I can't click on the "+" to add a new service. A quick web search didn't show this as a common problem, so I'm wondering if anyone has experienced this with the latest airport utility and know of a fix?

Sorted out my own question. To resolve this kind of issue one needs to change the "Router Mode" setting from "DHCP Only" to "DHCP and NAT."


How can I automatically run an AppleScript on shutdown or logout? I am more used to the Javascript style event handlers,

but is there a similar thing in applescript that listens to system events like logout or shutdown to execute code

or is there a way to have an applescript run on shutdown or logout?

I know about script timer but I would rather have something free.

All my script does is mute the volume for the next startup.

Launch agents can be used for this. See this tutorial on MacScipter. If you are not familiar with the process, Lingon offers a simple interface to create the file. Here is an example to launch a script named ZuluDeltaNiner.scpt on login.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
   <key>Label</key>
   <string>com.paul.applescript_Launchd</string>
   <key>ProgramArguments</key>
   <array>
       <string>osascript</string>
       <string>/ZuluDeltaNiner.scpt</string>
   </array>
   <key>QueueDirectories</key>
   <array/>
   <key>RunAtLoad</key>
   <true/>
   <key>StartOnMount</key>
   <false/>
   <key>WatchPaths</key>
   <array/>
</dict>
</plist>


How can I switch to Space 1 with the mouse? What can I do to be able to switch to space 1 easily with my mouse only ? I touch about an Exposé corner but there is a limited list of actions possible... I though about the 3rd mouse button but there is no space command in there...

Any idea ? Any trick ?

EDIT : I see that on the 3rd button mouse, there is a "Other..." item in the popup action list. Choosing this opens a dialog where I have to choose an applescrit (as far as I know). Is it possible to make a script that switch to Space 1.

PS : I really want to shift to space one in 1-move or 1-click. I know how to go to Space 1 using only the mouse, But not "at once".

The mentioned BetterTouchTool can definitely do it via keyboard shortcuts.

After you install BTT, switch to Normal Mouse tab. There you click on + Add new mouse button and then click 3rd button inside the Click here to select mouse button.

Next, if you already haven't set up keyboard shortcuts to switch directly to a space, just pick any of the three modifier keys (CTRL, Option, Command), click inside the Custom Keyboard Shortcut field and press the key along with number 1, e.g Ctrl-1.

Note: if you have already set up such a shortcut, you have to disable it before trying to enter the shortcut to BTT, because OS X would otherwise capture this event and BTT won't get it.

Now close BTT window and go to System Preferences > Exposé & Spaces > Spaces and select the appropriate modifier from the To switch directly to a space: list:

Now you should be able to switch to Space 1 directly with Middle click.

PS. I should mention that I have Magic Mouse and have BTT set up with three-finger gestures to switch spaces from mouse - very convenient.


Cannot change region (locale) on MBP running OS X 10.9.2 I'm running OS X 10.9.2 on a MacBook Pro (Mid-2012) and cannot change its region (locale) via System Preferences -> Language & Region:

Changing it ostensibly works, but revisiting the preferences pane later shows the region reverted to its previous value.

In terms of what tools and apps report, the story is inconsistent:

defaults read -g AppleLocale does show the NEW locale
locale, by contrast, shows the PREVIOUS locale
Similarly, Calendar.app shows holidays from the PREVIOUS locale

Thus, for the most part, the system behaves as if the region changes was ineffective - which is at least consistent with the preferences pane reverting to the previous value.

Here's what I've tried:

Reset the NVRAM
Repaired the disk with Disk Utility
Booted into single-user mode and ran fsck -yf
Cleared most caches with OnyX
Checked the syslog for telltale entries

All to no avail.

Any help is appreciated.

Is there maybe an AppleLocale key in ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/.GlobalPreferences.*.plist? That would override the key in ~/Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences.plist.


How do I delete sites from Safari reading list? How do I delete sites from my Safari reading list? There is no delete button.

Click on “Safari” to launch it.
Select the “View” menu. It is the one, which has the book icon.
Choose “Show Reading list Sidebar” You can also press Command + Control + 2. You will see your Reading List.
Select the item you wish to delete. Then right-click on it and select Remove Item.


Inheriting Time Machine and merging old history Last year I replaced my MacBook Pro's internal OEM SSD with a larger one from Other World Computing.  A side effect of that migration was that my main drive was renamed from “Macintosh HD” to “OWC Aura SSD.”  Two months ago, I upgraded operating systems (which took a lot of work because of the third-party internal SSD), and managed to get the main drive renamed back to “Macintosh HD.”

Now I notice that when I changed the name of the drive, the name of the snapshot volumes changed as well.  So I have in my Time Machine file system /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb/My MBP/2017-09-26-102523/Macintosh HD, but the next one is /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb/My MBP/2017-10-23-131237/OWC Aura SSD.

My latest snapshot is April 6, and contains a OWC Aura SSD volume, but now my drive is called “Macintosh HD” again.  Time Machine is failing to back up, and complaining about the TM drive not having enough space. I'm gathering that's because it wants to do a full backup on what it thinks is a new drive.

Through some research and the tmutil man page, I think that I should use a command such as

# sudo tmutil associatedisk -a "/Volumes/Macintosh HD" "/Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb/My MBP/Latest/OWC Aura SSD"

That should tell Time Machine that the current “Macintosh HD” is essentially the same drive as the Latest/April 6 “OWC Aura SSD”.  Please correct me if I have that wrong.

But my main question is: Is there any way to go further back and stitch together the changes between 2017-09-26 and 2017-10-23?

After I posted this question, I thought of a possible solution.  And it turned out to be the right one.  It's the same command!

After running

# sudo tmutil associatedisk -a "/Volumes/Macintosh HD" "/Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb/My MBP/Latest/OWC Aura SSD"

I did the same thing with the old Macintosh HD backups:

# sudo tmutil associatedisk -a "/Volumes/Macintosh HD" "/Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb/My MBP/2017-09-26-102523/Macintosh HD"

The -a flag is important because it associates all backups with the same disk identity in the same way.

The result is that all the backups on my Time Machine Drive are associated with my MacBook Pro, and that's just how I wanted it.  Once I ran these commands, Time Machine was able to delete the oldest backups and do a new one.


Is it possible to merge 2 different Contacts archives? Is it possible to merge 2 different Contacts archives?

I'm using OS X 10.11

Sure, copy each archive to /Users/Shared and then make two new user accounts. Import one archive in one account and export it as vcard to /Users/Shared. Repeat for #2. Go back to your Main account and import both sets of vcards in to your intended app.

At that point you can export/sync and clean up the un-needed user accounts and files from /Users/Shared folder.


Apple Pages - store changes with document? Is it possible to track changes (version control) in Apple Pages?

Yes. Activate it via: Edit -> Track Changes in the menu bar.


What steps are needed to create a new user from the command line? What commands (or script) can create a fully functional user account on Mountain Lion, running only from the command line via terminal or ssh.

It looks like an existing pair of answers might work, but I wondered if there were a short script or tool for creating fully functional user accounts on Mountain Lion?

Here is a shell script I wrote at work to handle this as part of the NetInstall process (creating a local administrator account automatically during imaging process).

#!/bin/sh
. /etc/rc.common
dscl . create /Users/administrator
dscl . create /Users/administrator RealName "Administrator Account"
dscl . create /Users/administrator hint "Password Hint"
dscl . create /Users/administrator picture "/Path/To/Picture.png"
dscl . passwd /Users/administrator thisistheaccountpassword
dscl . create /Users/administrator UniqueID 501
dscl . create /Users/administrator PrimaryGroupID 80
dscl . create /Users/administrator UserShell /bin/bash
dscl . create /Users/administrator NFSHomeDirectory /Users/administrator
cp -R /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj /Users/administrator
chown -R administrator:staff /Users/administrator

Some notes to mention:

I have this saved as an executable ".sh" file.
Since it executes during NetInstall it runs as root, and needs to run as root to work properly. You can also subtract the first two lines, add a "sudo" to the beginning of each subsequent line, and manually run these as individual commands in Terminal.
Modify UniqueID from 501 to a number that you will know is safe on all systems (501 is taken by the first account created on a Mac, generally something higher like 550 will probably be safe, depending on how many users you have on your system).
PrimaryGroupID of 80 creates an Admin user. Change to PrimaryGroupID of 20 to create a Standard user.
I've imaged well over 50 Macs this way with no issues. I use this account to run commands via SSH, to push out patches via ARD and to do local desk-side administration.


Set Find my Friends so it shows my laptop location instead of my iPhone location? Find my Friends currently shows my iPhone location. I would like to change it so it shows my Mac location instead. I am running macOS Sierra 10.12.6.

Is this supported directly by Apple or a 3rd party tool or app?

Sure - if Find My Mac (FMM) is enabled and your iCloud accounts match, then open the iPhone Find My Friends (FMF) app and then do the following:

Tap your icon / row that's pinned at the bottom of the screen
Select your Mac from the list below
If the Mac isn't showing on the Mac in System Preferences

In sharing preference item, give your Mac a name that's different than any of the other names in iOS FMF
In the Security preference item, be sure Location Services is enabled and that System Services is enabled for Find My Mac (FMM)
In iCloud preference item, ensure you're signed in with the identical AppleID as on the iPhone
Turn on Find My Mac (FMM) - look for any network errors or server errors that show up within 5 minutes or so of registering

At this point the Mac should be able to select itself or your other iOS devices should be able to select the Mac to report your location. Be sure you leave WiFi on and Bluetooth on for the Mac to have the best chance to get a correct location. Search this site if your Mac doesn't pull the correct or any location


What was Mac OS 9 built on? I am interested in old school technology. The Mac OS X is based on UNIX. I am interested in the old school OS, Mac OS 9, what is this based on? Can it run the UNIX application? What is the file system in Mac OS 9?

This should cover everything you're looking for: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Mac_OS


Keyboard shortcut to lock the screen on macOS 10.14 Mojave? Is there a keyboard shortcut to lock the screen on macOS 10.14 Mojave like Command + L or something easy without setting up Hot Corners/Spaces etc.

The app Lock Me Now used to work fine till maOS High Sierra, but isn't starting up on macOS Mojave. It is showing this popup as soon as I try to run it:

Is there an app that works on Mojave which helps to customize the lock keyboard shortcut to Command+L? I am used to using Command+L on windows and older Mac OS (using "Lock me now" app).

You can use the built-in keyboard shortcut Control + Command + Q to lock the screen.

The command is also accessible via  → Lock Screen in the Menu bar.


How do I run this command in verbose output mode? I want to update my OS X Mavericks USB key and would like to be able to see what my mac is doing after I enter the following command.

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app --nointeraction

When I run the command as it is currently, only some information is output to the terminal, and while the install is copying over, the terminal does not display any info about what is going on.

I know that --v usually displays each step in the terminal window as it takes place, but I tried adding that to the end of the above command and it did not work.

I tried both with -verbose I get a not a valid mount point error.

When I tried --verbose I got the following error

createinstallmedia: unrecognized option `--verbose'
Usage: createinstallmedia --volume <path to volume to convert> --applicationpath <path to Install OS X Mavericks.app> [--force]

Arguments
--volume, A path to a volume that can be unmounted and erased to create the install media.
--applicationpath, A path to copy of the OS installer application to create the bootable media from.
--nointeraction, Erase the disk pointed to by volume without prompting for confirmation.

Example: `createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install OS X Mavericks.app

You can use the verbose option only if the command itself provided it, which means that the programmer of the command you want to use has to check for the verbose option and set a flag its code so that the program outputs additional information. So if a command does not have a verbose option you cannot do anything about it. However it might output some information in system log files.


How to fix npm to find correct node enviorment? I have installed homebrew via boxen. I did not know that npm update -g is a bad thing to do, as npm runs amok trying to update itself. Hence, npm stopped working. I am now trying to get node and npm back to work again.

I have installed the node via homebrew:

$ brew unlink node && brew link node
Unlinking /opt/boxen/homebrew/Cellar/node/0.10.26... 5 symlinks removed
Linking /opt/boxen/homebrew/Cellar/node/0.10.26... 4 symlinks created

Yet npm claims that

$ npm
nodenv: version `v0.10.26' is not installed

Running nodenv indeed shows that the current version is not found:

$ nodenv versions
v0.10
v0.10.21
v0.6
v0.6.20
v0.8
v0.8.8

I am confused as to why nodenev shows all the versions it does.

How do I fix nodejs and npm?

I consider this a workaround, if there is a way to get node upgraded the brew way, I appreciate it.

It seems that boxen in its standard configuration only provides v0.10.21 yet once npm updated itself, it expects v0.10.26.

I tried to reconfigure boxen to install node yet failed.

I then went along and installed NodeJs manually over the pgk provided by nodejs.org and globally installed node 0.10.26. Then nodenv was able to find that version and by setting

nodenv global v0.10.26

npm started working again. I then had to reinstall certain packages not expecting that v0.10.26 version, e.g. bower version.


iMac consistently losing all bluetooth connectivity I have a Late 2011 27" iMac that once a day loses all bluetooth connectivity. (Very rarely it will drop just the keyboard or just the mouse, but 99% of the time, it's everything) This is a huge problem because I only have the iMac bluetooth keyboard and mouse, so this basically renders the entire computer useless.

The only solution I have so far is to hold down the power button to force the iMac to power down, and boot it up again. Everything works fine after booting it up, but I can guarantee sometime in the next 24 hours it will happen again.

Turning the mouse on/off, taking the batteries in/out and doing the same for the keyboard has no effect. The light on the bottom of the mouse blinks, but that's it.

It is not the battery levels; brand new batteries make no difference. On the rare occasion when it is just the keyboard that drops out, I can get it back by disabling it in the bluetooth menu and re-enabling it. Of course when the mouse drops out I've no idea how to use the keyboard-only to achieve the same actions.

Do I have a faulty iMac? I've only had it for less than 3 months, and although this did happen once or twice when I first got it, it was rock solid until the latest OS release that I upgraded to (Mountain Lion? I always forget those ridiculous names).

I have two Macs that have recently started doing the same thing since an OS X update. Apple exchanged my keyboard on one machine but it still kept happening. I note that in the latest OS X update (today 11 April 2015) that Apple have addressed this issue. Perhaps now it will go away.


Is it possible to reset launchpad layout? My launchpad has become very cluttered overtime. I'm wondering if there is a function to reset launchpad like the iOS reset home screen layout feature. Let me know in the comments if you don't understand what I'm asking.

To reset Launchpad to the default, delete the following file:

/Users/$USER/Library/Application Support/Dock/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx.db

Where "xxxx..." in the file name is an alphanumeric string.

And then run the following command in a Terminal:

 killall Dock

The Launchpad is now reset to the default and a new database (.db file) will be created with the default settings.

Note:  If you want to examine the contents of the database you can use an app like Liya.


How can I get value for AQI on apple watch? I want to see the latest AQI (Air Quality Index) on my Apple watch, but it just show '--'.

How can I get it to show the actual AQI figure?

It will only show if you are in a city that actually records the data.

You can double-check this on your iPhone, Weather app. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. If the last figure is Air quality, that city records it. If it is Visibility, then it doesn't.


How to find which ports depends on a given one when using macports? I want to find which ports depends on a given installed port (texlive in my case). I found port deps texlive, but this is working in the "wrong" direction. How can I do it?

Use port dependents <portname>. From man port:

  dependents
         Lists the installed ports that depend on the port portname.

There is no way to search for all ports (including those not installed) depending on a certain port.


Macbook Pro 15 progression bar halts then circle spins We have a Macbook Pro 15 Last 2011. The computer starts to boot, it shows the progression bar, then it disappears and the circle just spins.

I have tried safe mode and it just spins.

I just ran the hardware test and it returned no problems - I am trying to boot into safemode now

This screen has been running for 15 minutes now - Eventually the grey bar disappears and it just spins

EDIT:: I booted in startup mode and chose the disk utility - It said the HD was fine :(

EDIT:: I am able to boot from a external thunderbolt drive

Ran in verbose mode. Last couple of lines after rebuilding b-tree:

The volume Macintosh HD could not be repaired

launch_msg(): Socket is not connected

If you are able to boot from external drive, then your boot sector has a problem (obviously).

Using the cmd+v will boot in Verbose mode if you care to investigate where it hangs up.

Using the cmd+r and restoring os is the best option here.


MacBook Pro: Keyboard layout mismatch I just received my repackaged MacBook Pro (Retina, 13 inches, end 2012) and I have a problem with my keyboard. The keyboard layout is different from the one I had before, and I can't find the right one in the input types of the system!

So what's problematic: I have the @# key above the Tab key, but when I press it, I get <>. Then, I have the <> key below the delete key (which is weird I've never seen that layout before) and when I press it, I get £.

Otherwise the keys seem to work fine.

I have an AZERTY keyboard and I'm running macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 (17G65). The language associated with it isn't really important as long as when I press a key, it actually gives me the character printed on it!

So my question is: Is there anyway to fix that? Somewhere to download another keyboard layout? Does apple have some hidden layout somewhere? Do I have to write my own layout and if so how?

I've looked at all the languages available in the system right now and searched for hours on Google but I didn't find anything.

EDIT
I usually type in french. Here's a photo of my keyboard :

Only Belgian and French Apple layouts are AZERTY.  If you have either the French or Belgian input source active, they will give you @# above Tab.  But <> will be next to the left shift before W.  Your picture indicates this latter key is missing, so it is not a proper French/Belgian keyboard, but some kind of mishmash, with keys from an ISO keyboard grafted onto an ANSI keyboard.

The only keyboard with <> near Delete is Turkish, which is different everywhere else, and also has the extra key,

To get output to match your keys you will need a custom layout made with Ukelele or Karabiner.

Here is one I made with Ukelele which may work.  You put the French Mod.keylayout file in Library/Keyboard Layouts and then go to system preferences/keyboard/input sources and use the plus and add buttons to activate (it will be in the Others category).


Can I encrypt an external harddisk which is in HFS+? (journaled, encrypted) is a new option which I am able to find in Lion.

Can I convert an existing harddrive (external) to encrypt the whole drive instead of using other tools ?

Whole disks, no, but partitions, yes. While the Disk Utility GUI application cannot, the diskutil command-line utility can do this.

First, come up with a password (such as myVerySecurePassword). I believe this is not tied to your login password, unlike encrypting the boot volume.

Then, find out the identifier for the target volume, e.g. disk1s1:

diskutil list

Then, use diskutil cs convert, like so:

diskutil cs convert disk1s1 -passphrase myVerySecurePassword


Overheating problem in MacBook Pro I have MacBook Pro I bought 6 months ago. When I charge it, it overheats in the charging port and my charging adapter is also hot.

Should I return it or keep using it?

MacBooks, especially Pros, do heat quite a bit when under heavy use. It is is perfectly normal. You can however check you system by downloading a temperature monitor. Most also allow you to monitor/control your fans. I personally have used smcFanControl before, but the app in the previous answer should do too.

I once had a MacBook (2006, black model) with a faulty fan. It broke after years of use and plenty of dust. If the computer detects it is overheating past a certain threshold, it will automatically shut down to protect its components. I'm not sure what this threshold was, but I want to say about 100 degrees Celsius.

As long as the temperature of your Mac is not approaching this threshold and your fans are functioning properly, it should be fine. Don't hesitate in taking it somewhere to be checked if you're not fully confident however!


Can I run 2 16 Gig ram in my MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) I am looking to increase the ram in myMacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) 2.5 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7.
BANK 1/DIMM0:

Size:   8 GB
Type:   DDR3
Speed:  1600 MHz

Manufacturer:   0x80AD
Part Number:    0x484D54343147533642465238412D50422020

BANK 0/DIMM0:

Size:   8 GB
Type:   DDR3
Speed:  1600 MHz

Manufacturer:   0x80AD
Part Number:    0x484D54343147533642465238412D50422020

I want to upgrade to 32gig can I do that and what do you recommend I use and where should I get it?

Everymac says no.
The RAM is soldered to the motherboard & cannot be changed.

16 GB of RAM is onboard and cannot be upgraded to a higher capacity at the initial time of system purchase or later.


How to find a site whose name I do not remember in Chrome history? I need to find a specific site in my Chrome history, but I don't remember the name of the site.
My Chrome history is full of Youtube and Google searches so I can't just scroll before I find the site that I need. Maybe I can somehow exclude Youtube and Google searches in my Chrome history in order to find the site that I need? Please help me solve my problem.

Google Chrome stores its history in an SQLite database in ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Profile 1 by default. You could run
cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/Chrome/Profile\ 1
sqlite3 History

to open it, and then use a query like
select title, url from urls where url not like '%youtube.com/%' and url not like '%google.com/%';

to list all URL not matching the pattern.
If there are a lot of lines to search through, you can also dump the content of that table into a CSV file.
sqlite3 -csv History "select title, url from urls where url not like '%youtube.com/%' and url not like '%google.com/%'" > ~/Desktop/URLs.csv

will create a CSV file containing page titles and URLs on your desktop from where you can open it in Numbers, LibreOffice or any text editor.


Camera is not being detected on Mac I have a Macbook Pro (Retina) and recently my camera stopped working.

I didn't drop it or anything, it's just not being detected as a hardware.

When I try to see why, System Report shows me:

No video capture devices were found.

I don't have Apple support anymore and I can't find any comprehensive guide or tips for this kind of problem - I just found issues with the camera, but not itself not being detected.

I tried to reset NVRAM and other things such as Diagnose mode, which gave me this error code above:

4HDD/11/40000000:SATA(0,0)

But on subsequent runs of this diagnose mode gives me no error. I also think it's unlike SATA has to do with the camera, as it typically uses USB.

I'm kind of lost and I just want to take it to assistance only if there are no other options, since I need my computer to work.

For anyone experiencing this problem, I would suggest going with System Diagnose + NVRAM reset + SMC reset + Disk repair.

And if none of those work, follow @IronCraftMan advice and proceed with reinstalling OS X - you won't lose any data.

These steps worked for me.


Automatically tag newly shared files? I'm loosing track of all my shared iCloud files throughout my Mac. Is there a way to automatically tag newly shared files with a tag called Shared for example, then remove the tag when it is no longer shared?

I tried creating a Workflow via Automator, but I didn't see anything like this. Is there a way to do this or a better alternative?

You’re gonna need some toolset: https://doc.owncloud.org/server/10.0/admin_manual/enterprise/file_management/files_tagging.html
Hope that helps


How to block calls on iPhone 4? I have the first Apple iPhone 4.0, it does not have the "i" with the circle around it that I can tap and access a means to block a "contact" number in my phone. I've tried every option I know of....is there ANY way I can block a caller or do I have to buy a new phone just to block a call?

The call blocking feature was added in iOS 7, which your iPhone can run.

iOS7 allows you to block calls and messages from particular contact or number. This feature, included by default, even allows you to block messages and calls performed on FaceTime.

Procedure:

Open the Contacts app
Select the contact you want to block and scroll to the bottom of the contact info page.
Click "Block Contact".


Is there any way to disable APFS local snapshots? APFS local snapshots are generally a pain for me, especially on some of my systems with small internal drives. All of my systems have Time Machine backups and the hourly backups it performs are more than sufficient for my needs.

Is there any way to disable just local snapshots and keep Time Machine backups running?

With macOS 10.14, it appears not to be possible to disable local snapshots.

You can remove local snapshots using a method documented in Apple's About Time Machine local snapshots support document:

  How local snapshots use storage space

  You don't need to think about how much storage space local snapshots are using, because they don't use space needed for tasks like downloading files, copying files, or installing new software.

  Your Mac counts the space used by snapshots as available storage. Even so, Time Machine stores snapshots only on disks that have plenty of free space, and it automatically deletes snapshots as they age or as space is needed for other things.

  If you want to delete local snapshots manually, turn off Time Machine temporarily:

  Open Time Machine preferences from the Time Machine menu  in the menu bar. Or choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Time Machine.
  Deselect "Back Up Automatically" or click the Off/On switch, depending on what you see in Time Machine preferences.
  Wait a few minutes to allow the local snapshots to be deleted. Then turn on Time Machine again. It remembers your backup disks.

See also the Apple forum discussion Disable local snapshots in High Sierra with APFS.


How do keep auto-correct from making one particular change An email address I frequently type into web forms is srs@.... Yesterday auto-correct started changing the srs to sis as soon as I typed @. While keeping the rest of auto-correct working I would really like it to leave srs alone.

In my searching for an answer I found Is it possible (and how do I do it) to change what word Auto-Correct chooses when I make a typo? But I'm not making a typo.

I found a variety of answers for both OS X and iOS, but none seemed to the point. The worst was decrypting a substitution file maintained by Safari to edit?!

Add a text replacement for srs to srs. This appears to preempt autocomplete from changing it. The technique is the similar to this answer for how to choose the correction to a typo.

To suppress a specific auto-correction:

Open System Preferences
Open Keyboard
Choose the Text tab.
Click the + below the replacement list.
Add the same word to the Replace and With columns
Close System Preferences.


iMac used for Target Display Mode runs really hot I have a 2014 15" retina MBP that I've hooked up to my old 2009 27" iMac using it iMac as a monitor via Target Display Mode while the MBP is in clamshell mode.

My problem is that the iMac turns really hot very fast. A lot hotter than it turned when I was using the iMac as my primary machine.

The iMac is running a fresh install of OS X Mavericks so there shouldn't be an issue with a lot of background apps running.

Any ideas on why this could be?

I'm experiencing the same problem.  I have a current generation 5K iMac which I use as my main computer, and a 2009 iMac which I use as a second monitor using TDM.  In TDM mode, the older iMac runs painfully hot.  Switch back to regular mode, and that same iMac runs cool.

Typically, I don't even bother to login to the older iMac - I just turn it on and off with the power switch when I want to use it in TDM.  Hence, there can be no question about background apps running hot.


Automator script runs without error but does nothing? I'm trying to create an automator app that will run a python script on text files that are dropped onto it.

I have the following automator app set up using the various other solutions from SO;

It runs without error, but the python script does not seem to be invoked properly, as it should be producing a text file with the analysis that my python script does. Running this directly in terminal does work as intended, so I'm not sure what's going on.

I've done a global search to see if the file is exported elsewhere, but no go; it is not generated.

I think you want "Pass input: as arguments" (drop-down menu to the right of your "Run Shell Script" component) and then the following script

for f in "$@"
do
    /usr/local/bin/python3 /Volumes/Scripts/script.py "$f"
done


Keyboard shortcuts for non-menued items (iTunes 11)? I'd like to have keyboard shortcuts for the horizontal menu bar in iTunes 11.

This one:

Is there a way (maybe using Automator or Terminal?) to create shortcuts for items not in a menu?

Try this:

In Automator:
 1, Create a new service. And Set the Service receives to none in  iTunes

2, Add a 'Run Applescript' Action

3, Add this code.

activate application "iTunes"
    delay 0.4

    set the menuItem to "Artists"
    tell application "System Events"
        try

            tell application process "iTunes" to click radio button menuItem of radio group 1 of splitter group 1 of window 1

        on error
            try
                tell application process "iTunes" to click radio button menuItem of radio group 1 of window 1
            on error errorM

                display dialog errorM

            end try
        end try
    end tell

4, Save the service as:Select Artist

5, open the folder: ~/Library/Services

6, Select the Select Artist service and duplicate it.

7, rename the file to another Menu item you want i.e Select Genres

8, Open the Select Genres in Automator by double clicking it.

9, In the Applescript code change the line: set the menuItem to "Artists"  to set the menuItem to "Genres"

10, save the changes to the file.

11, repeat steps 6 to 10 for each menu item. Changing the Select Artist to the correct file name for the menu item and the set the menuItem to "Artist" to the correct text for the menu item.

12, Open System Preference and go to the short cuts Tab in the Keyboards Preference pane.

13, Select the Services menu on the left and scroll down to the General menu short cuts on the right.

There you should see your new service menu items. Add your short cuts to them.

Close the System Preference when done.

14, Quit and relaunch iTunes. This will make sure the short cuts are registered with it.

Remember to not use any existing Short cuts that may clash. Doing so may also mean the short cut do not show up or work.

You may be told that iTunes or Automator Runner is not allowed to control your computer.

To counter that you can first add iTunes by dragging 'n' dropping it into the Accessibility group in the Security and Privacy System preferences and ticking it.

Or add it at the time.

There should be no need to add Automator Runner.

If you are testing from Automator.app then Automator.app will also need to be added.


What application can open the .waveform file that the Voice Memos app creates? I plugged an iPhone into my Ubuntu desktop and browsed the available files. In the Recordings directory I could see my voice memos, including a .waveform file, which I understand contains the visual plot of the audio. What application can open this file?

the .waveform file looks to be a vector file to display the audio waveform on a grid.
- jdio -


How to convert WMV to QuickTime MOV? How can I convert a WMV (Windows Media Video) movie file to QuickTime MOV on OSX El Capitan?

If possible I would prefer to use an installed program rather than an online program.

Neither VLC nor Handbrake can convert WMV to MOV. A Google Search reveals some other options, but I'm dubious about installing these unknown 3rd-party applications without a recommendation from people I trust (ie StackExchange users).

Install FFmpeg, e.g., using Homebrew:

brew install ffmpeg

FFmpeg is high-quality software for converting video and audio files between different formats.  It does require installing separate software, though.


Safari file save location Whenever I try to manually save a file through Safari (for example by pressing CMD + s on a pdf file opened in a new tab or selecting "save blah blah as" from the context menu) it opens the last directory I uploaded something from as the default location. I find this annoying and unintuitive specially when I have already set a default downloads location.

Say the last time I uploaded something it was a pdf for a university assignment and as a result the next time I save something it'll go to that same folder unless I'm careful enough to chose otherwise. Depending on what I save, the results could be catastrophic if I'm to upload that entire folder again (which I was actually on a couple occasions and thanks god I checked the contents before doing so).

I have Safari 11.0.3 on macOS 10.13.3.

Any way to change this behavior?

I can think of three possibilities:

One option that will definitely do this is to use Default Folder X1. It's not free, but you can use it for free for 30 days. Depending on the version you download, it's compatible with versions of macOS from Snow Leopard to High Sierra.
Default Folder X does a lot more than just setting the default "Save" location of individual applications.
As for a native macOS solution, I seem to recall a bit of a trick users could do that involves creating a smart folder and then adding it to the Sidebar. The idea was that you then navigated to that folder (via the Sidebar) when you next uploaded a file via Safari. Safari would then remember that location when saving files in future, regardless of where you subsequently uploaded files from. However, this is an old trick from about ten years ago and I couldn't vouch for it's validity now.
One possible workaround for you, assuming you're wanting to use the Downloads folder as the default Save location, is to just remember to use the optioncommandL shortcut when the Save As dialog window pops up. This shortcut takes you straight to the Downloads folder within the dialog box.

1. I have no affiliation whatsoever with Default Folder X.


How to change selection color in appearance? I usually use the "graphit" appearance in Yosemite. With "blue" I don't like the selection color. However I miss the red-yellow-green colors on the left from the "blue" appearance.

Is there some (cli) tool where you can customize the appearance and mix both themes up as you desire?

Bodo

selection color as in the highlight text color or the selection box color?

If it's the appearance, you cannot help it, unless you're willing to pay some money to change it; (Flavours $19.90) Flavours looks really good and you can get the trial for free to give it a go.

If it is the Highlight color you are talking about, completely customizeable in colors!


How to switch horizontal and vertical scrolling directions I would like to know how to switch horizontal and vertical scrolling in OS X 10.9, i.e. when rolling the ball to the left to make the screen go down, and when rolling right to make the screen go up.

Question is not how to switch horizontal/vertical direction!
Question is how to switch axes x and y.

Does anyone know how to do that? Thanks in advance!

System Preferences > Mouse

Scroll direction check box will be at the top of that window.


Switching between applications always hides other apps When switching between applications how does one allow applications to stack or remain in view?

Example: I have a web browser open (not in full screen but sized to cover the full display) I then open the calendar which is sized smaller and used to appear in front of the browser in previous OS versions whilst still displaying the web browser behind it.

What occurs for me is that when I switch applications the previous application is hidden to the dock, not minimized but hidden.

Here is a short gif as I have most likely explained my problem terribly.

Do you have Keyboard Maestro installed? Have you accidentally selected this option?

The slight delay between clicking an app and the previous app being hidden (shown best when clicking an app with a smaller window after a larger window, exemplified in the frame below) indicates that this is not the system performing this action but rather a separate app detecting the trigger and acting accordingly (hence my suggestion).


What is the focal length of the iPhone 7's camera when accounting for video cropping? I have shot some video footage using two iPhones from two different vantage points for doing motion capture of a human figure. In order for this to work I need to do camera-matching in my 3D software. In order to do the camera-matching I'm searching for the following specs:

iPhone 7's focal length (after cropping for stabilization)
iPhone 7's sensor width and height (Update: 1/3" sensor = 4.80 x 3.60 mm)

Note that the iPhone 7 in question is not a Plus (so it has just one camera). Note also that this is for video footage, and that while shooting video the iPhone crops the frame slightly to compensate for stabilization. My understanding is that this results in a longer focal length. I've read that on iPhone 5 the result is a 4.1mm focal length instead of 4mm (or 4.027777~ to be precise... I think). Not sure if this is the same for iPhone 7.

So, I have the following specs for the iPhone 5, in case that helps determine those of the 7:

iPhone 5's focal length: 4.1mm (after cropping for stabilization)
iPhone 5's sensor: 4.54 x 3.42 mm

Thanks in advance for any help.

P.S. If you can explain how you found the answer that will be even more helpful than specs alone.

On the iPhone 6, I have found the video crop with stabilization activated to be 1.1x tighter than a still photo with stabilizer deactivated. The field of view goes from 63.9° to 58.1°, diagonally. The effective focal length changes from 4.2mm (29.3mm on full frame DSLR) to 4.6mm (32.3mm on full frame DSLR).

If you overlay a still image from the video footage and align it to a photo from the same position, you can see this crop in action.


Privacy: can a app from App Store access my Apple ID data? Can a app from App Store access my Apple ID data (like first-name, last-name, country, email,...)?

I am interested in both platforms, iOS and macOS.

No, the Apple ID information is not available unless you manually provide it yourself. There are no public APIs available for Apple ID access.

On macOS, if you 'un-sandbox' an App Store app by granting it access to your ~/Library folder, it is then able to read the relevant plist to get your Apple ID email.

On macOS or iOS, if you grant access to Contacts, then the app is able to lookup your ‘me’ contact to find personal information. This may or may not be related to your Apple ID.

For unique device identification, identifierForVendor is available in UIKit which is a unique ID for the device, but no personal information can be obtained.


Calendar reminder freezes and requires reboot to get rid of I have the Macbook Pro and use the Calendar program that came with it.  I have reminders come up an hour before my appointment but it does not allow me to "CLOSE" or "SNOOZE" it and when I put my cusor over it it shows the system bust WHEEL turning.  How can I correct this without losing all my calendar data?  I have to RESTART my system in order for the reminder screen to reset.  This started happening after one of the last system updates Mountain Lion OSX

Found a Fix, although it's not a definitive solution:

"
I've been seeing this for some time now and getting quite sick of it. It happens when I've been away at work for the day and come home to find frozen notifications.

You can fix this temporarily by quitting Notification Centre from Activity Monitor but it keeps happening to me every week or so.
"


Export photos from an iPhone 4s using iTunes without iCloud How can I export photos from an iPhone 4s using iTunes without iCloud? I'm using Windows XP and I don't want to Jailbreak my iPhone.

I don't connect my iPhone to my WinXP box, but a bit of Googling returned this instructional which shows how to get the result you are looking for using XP's built-in "Scanner and Camera Wizard".


How can I transfer or link my Clash of Clans account to an Android device, from iOS? How do I retrieve my Game Center username and password from my iPhone to my Android, so I can restore the progress of my Clash of Clans app?

You don't need your Game Center user and password —which in any case is usually your Apple ID and password; you can link devices in-game.
From the Supercell support site, specifically "Transferring your game to another device":

iOS > Android or Vice Versa
First, make sure the game is installed on both devices, keeping them both on-hand. Use the “Link a device” feature in the in-game settings, and then select “Link a device” on both. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the transfer.


Will iMac boot chime play if there is no CPU? So I got this iMac from auction, as is. The iMac chimes when I press the start button but the screen remains black. Is it possible that the iMac chimes if it has no CPU? I just wanna make sure if the iMac indeed has the CPU because I noticed missing screws on the front screen. I did not disassemble the logic board as I never done it. So is it possible to not have a CPU and still have the iMac play a chime when it boots up?

No, there will be no boot-up chime (an EFI ROM tone) if the CPU is missing. The chime only plays if the power-on self test completes successfully, which is impossible without a CPU.


How does APFS on macOS handle upper/lower case file names? So I recently learned here that HFS+ is case-insensitive but the APFS on iOS is case-sensitive. Is there a publically accessible documentation/reference which describes how APFS does handle upper/lower case file names on macOS? Or has somebody tried on Sierra already and can provide examples?

APFS has case-sensitive and case-insensitive variants. The
  case-insensitive variant of APFS is normalization-preserving, but not
  normalization-sensitive. The case-sensitive variant of APFS is both
  normalization-preserving and normalization-sensitive. Filenames in
  APFS are encoded in UTF-8 and aren’t normalized.

  The first developer preview of APFS, made available in macOS Sierra in
  June 2016, offered only the case-sensitive variant. In macOS 10.12.4,
  the APFS developer preview was updated to also include a
  case-insensitive variant. In iOS 10.3, the case-sensitive variant of
  APFS is used.

Apple’s Developer FAQs


7th gen iPod radio with a bluetooth headset in motorcycle helmet I have just bought a 7th generation iPod and I have a bluetooth headset in a motorcycle helmet. Is there any way to listen to the radio through bluetooth given that the headphones are the antenna?

Assuming you are talking about an iPod nano.

  iPod nano uses the headphone cord as an antenna, so you must connect headphones to iPod nano to receive a radio signal. For better reception, make sure the cord isn’t tangled or coiled.
  FM radio will not play through a Bluetooth accessory.

Source: Apple support document


Will Safari 7.0 run on OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard? I really like the new Safari in OS X 10.9, but otherwise don't like much else and want to downgrade back to 10.6 -- the last time I was happy using my computer.

But, can I take the new Safari with me?

No: Snow Leopard runs Safari 5.1.10 at the newest (via and also).

I recommend using Chrome or Firefox if you downgrade back to Snow Leopard. There are messages that Chrome and Firefox no longer support Leopard, but both seem to still support Snow Leopard.


How to update the EFI firmware of a replacement logic board of a MBP mid-2015 to make it compatible with Mojave? Apple has put me in a pickle. I had a lot of parts (battery, display, logic board) of my MBP mid-2015 replaced at the local Apple Store. When it was returned to me, it had a big new problem: it would keep booting into internet recovery mode (although it eventually did boot), but eventually ended up freezing while I was using it. Trying to reboot into recovery mode put me in the same internet recovery cycle

However, it turns out that my MBP runs fine from a bootable external backup SSD over USB. Since running Disk First Aid at that point found no errors on the internal SSD, I thought I would try to reinstall Mojave from the SSD, but when I did so, the installer refused, informing me that my Mac had an incompatible firmware version and suggesting that I try to install Mojave on a HFS+ disk! (alas, my MBP's flash drive is formatted as APFS encrypted). It was then that I realized that what must have happened is that the replacement motherboard has an earlier firmware version that is incompatible with OS X 10.14.1 installed on the MBP's internal flash drive, and the so-called "geniuses" at the Apple Store didn't think about this.

The problem is this: how can I update the logic board firmware so that it is compatible with Mojave? I just tried an internet recovery install of Mojave, but the installer refused for the same reasons as before (incompatible firmware). I can't even see a way to downgrade the internal flash drive to HFS+ …

Is my MBP able to run from the external SSD because it happens over USB, or because that SSD happens not to be encrypted?

Let me outline the solution here in case any one else encounters the same problem.

The installer wouldn’t allow me to select the internal flash drive of my MacBook Pro, and the precise installer error message was “This Mac needs a firmware update in order to install to this volume. Please select a Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume instead.”

So there were 2 solutions:

Backup the internal flash drive, erase, reformat as HFS+, and run the installer again.
Install Mojave on an external HFS+-formatted drive.

Explanation: with the “stock” firmware of a replacement logic board, the installer expects an HFS+-formatted drive, and won’t update the firmware until it can install the OS on an HFS+-formatted drive.


Key combination for selecting all the text in an edit buffer? I need combination for selecting all of the text in an edit buffer for an editor like Sublime Text.

On the Windows OSes I would use control + a. On OS X this combination seems to moves cursor to beginning of the current line.

So how do I select all the text in the buffer?

Hahaha. The answer is simple: it is cmd+a


Is it possible to use an iPhone as an external encrypted drive accessible by iOS and any unix-based OS? Is it possible to use an iPhone in a way that can be encrypted and accessed by both iOS and any unix based OS as an external  drive? Even if additional software or tinkering is necessary in either system.

Reasoning is that I always carry it with me and it seems a much more secure alternative to uploading sensitive files to Dropbox so I can access them by the phone and any other computer.

~~I will be cross-posting this question to several other subject related stack communities in the hopes to obtain a good answer. I haven't been around here for a while; let me know if this is not kosher and I'll remove them~~ Edit: I've been advised against this, so moot now.

The short answer is, yes. There are a huge number of file manager apps out there. The trick is to find one which is (a) secure and (b) provides a webdav server so you can access the files on the device from other machines on the network (via a web browser or other webdav client).

I use Files by Olive Toast, which certainly fits your second criterion. Another one which looks like it would is EZ Server by Lisa Burns.

Regarding security, it depends what you're looking for. Do you want the files stored in encrypted storage on your iOS device? That's how iOS works for everything. Do you want them protected by a password? Isn't your iOS passcode enough? Do you want the webdav server to support https? Probably only necessary if you're using public Wi-Fi networks.


iOS 8 - Apps other than Safari won't accept Cyberoam certificate My college network is secured with Cyberoam network. And Cyberoam requires a certificate it provides to be installed to access SSL secured websites. However, even after installing the certificate only Safari seems to be using the certificate and can open secure websites like Facebook. However other apps like Chrome, Facebook and Messenger won't work. I wonder why Chrome says Invalid Certificate Authority (see the screenshot below). The same certificate works well in PC.

I'm on iOS 8.1.4.

I found this: Certificate error when using Chrome for iOS with company CA

  There is no way to add Certificate Authorities to Chrome.app on iOS.
  The only way to manage them is in Settings > General > Profiles.

  It seems like this is an issue with Chrome.app that's not resolved
  yet. See Chrome for iOS ignores trusted root CA certificate. You may
  get additional help by posting to the Google Chrome Forum (linked
  before).