iPhone 4 falling in water - issues after fixing Two months ago, I accidentally dropped my iPhone 4 into water (for 3 seconds or so). Immediately I turned it off and put it in a bowl of rice. After two days, I took it to a repair shop, in which it was dried and fixed (headphones didn't work after the accident).

It was "fine" after that, but since then I've been experiencing some weird issues:

GPS isn't working well for navigation (can't seem to locate accurately, tell speed or direction).
When the battery is less than 1/4, it suddenly turns off. I have to wait like 10 minutes before turning it on again, and then it turns on normally.
The battery drains way faster than it used to.
A little blue stain has appeared on the screen.

What I want to know is if it is possible that all these issues are related to the accident I had and if/how it can be fixed.

Yes, it is possible, even likely, that one or more of these issues was caused by immersing the iPhone in water. You should seek repair quotes from Apple or other repair sources, but you'll most likely find that replacing the phone is the most economical solution. Check Craigslist and similar places for people selling their iPhone 4's after upgrading to a 4s.

If you're of a DIY mindset, iFixit provides repair information, parts and tools for fixing portable electronics.


Mail client locking up? Is there any way I could lock up my Mail client so that only I can read my emails(which are present locally on the machine)

I would think a good way of doing this might be to package your ~/Library/Mail folder within an encrypted disk image.  As long as it was allowed to grow to an acceptable size, I think it would work.  You would need to move the Mail folder into the disk image, then create a link from your ~/Library folder, called Mail, to the "real" mail folder on the disk.

In order to get to your mail, (I imagine), firing up Mail.app would follow the link to the disk image, which would prompt for your password, as it needs to mount.

Once you're done with your mail, you would be able to dismount the disk image and voila.

Never having tried this, I have no idea if it would work.


Bug in BSD: to whom shall I report it? I found what I think is a bug in the command chown in OS X 11.6. It appears to work contrary to its man page, ignoring the -f flag.

T_MaceT 33 ) chown -f T_MaceT foo
chown: foo: No such file or directory
T_MaceT 34 ) echo $?
1

According to the man page, using -f, it should ignore that the file doesn't exist nor should it change the return-value. (I have tested the correct behavior on RedHat 6 for comparison.)

I'm not sure who (if anyone) would fix these kinds of bugs. The man page refers to BSD. Is there an active project supporting these kinds of things?

It's not a bug, it's poorly written documentation. The -f option for chown states:

  Don't report any failure to change file owner or group, nor modify the exit status to reflect such failures.

This means the -f option is only applicable if the target file exists and there was an error in changing the owner or group of the file, which of course you can't do on a nonexistent file as in the OP example under macOS.

To show that the -f option actually works as intended, use the following compound command in Terminal while not doing so as root or using sudo:

touch ${TMPDIR}testfile; chown root ${TMPDIR}testfile; echo $?; rm ${TMPDIR}testfile

The output will be, e.g.:

chown: /var/folders/7l/lcvbc47n3sd7jcztdhc9c_pw0000gn/T/testfile: Operation not permitted
1

In this first form, without the -f option it fails, exits >0, because the chown command is trying to set the owner of ${TMPDIR}testfile to root while being executed not as root and not using sudo.

Now execute with the -f option:

touch ${TMPDIR}testfile; chown -f root ${TMPDIR}testfile; echo $?; rm ${TMPDIR}testfile

The output will be:

0

In this second form, with the -f option, it succeeds, exits with 0 without having made any change, because it was done not as root and not using sudo, which is necessary to change the owner of a file to root.

Note that each OSes chown is not equal in all functionality to each other. In other words, while I don't have Red Hat, as mentioned in the OP, I do have Linux Mint to compare to, and the man page in Linux Mint -f option for chown states:

  suppress most error messages

As you see most is the keyword, so it doesn't suppress all error messages in Linux Mint nor is the description of what -f does with chown under Linux Mint as detailed and explicit as under macOS.

So while in Linux Mint, not as root or using sudo, chown -f root non_existant_filename will not output an error, however, its exit code is 1, not 0 as it is with the macOS chown example above using -f within its defined context.


How to upgrade hard drive in Mac Mini I recently bought a new mac mini (my first mac ever yay) with a 1TB hard drive at 5,400 rpm. the guy at microcenter also sold me a 1TB hard drive at 7,200 rpm and said it shouldn't be to hard to replace. He said first I'd need to back up the OS to a usb thumb drive and then physically replace the hard drive and then some how get the OS onto the new hard drive.

So far I've found a few tutorials online on how to physically replace the hard drive but it seems like a lot more work than I anticipated (ie. http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing+Mac+Mini+Late+2012+Hard+Drive+Replacement/11716/1). Although, it does seem like something I could do.

However, my main difficulty now is i'm having a very hard time finding any help online on how to 'back the OS up on a usb thumb drive' and how I should re-install it once I do put in the new hard drive. He mentioned using time machine but when I open time machine it doesn't give me any options to interact with the USB thumb drive.

I recently did this very thing. I backed up my OS and files to an external drive (not a thumb drive), installed the new drive with new OS, and restored the Time Machine backup to the new drive. The whole process took a couple of hours. The best online video for doing this operation IMO is here: http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/mac_mini2011_hd/
Replacing the hard drive will not void your AppleCare warranty. OWC addresses this issue on their blog: http://blog.macsales.com/18244-owc-diys-wont-void-your-macs-warranty

NOTE: I have done the restore process in #1 using both Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner. Each is different, but relatively simple.


Notes not opening on OSX El Capitan 10.11.16 on MacBook Pro Notes will not open either from dock icon or from Finder, even after a forced quit and re-starting of MacBook Pro...just begun happening today during normal MacBook usage.

Suggestions?

Go to System Preferences -> Internet Accounts and see if you have any old email accounts there. If you do, then delete them.

Also, you could go to System Preferences -> iCloud, and try to switch Notes off and then on again.


Fundamental difference between OS X 10.6 Install Disc that come with New MacBooks one that comes in Retail Box-Pack What is fundamental difference between OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Install Disc that come with New MacBooks to one that comes in Retail Box-Pack (either Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard OS only, or Mac Box Set)?

Reason behind asking this particular question is, I have a MacBook (Late 2009) which was running Snow Leopard. I have another Mac, 15" MacBook Pro(Mid 2010).

My White MacBook got corrupted, and not booting up at all. I need to re-install Snow Leopard on it, but I have lost OS X Install Disc that came with it.

I have Snow Leopard Install Disc that came with MacBook Pro, but I don't know if this particular disc is optimized for MacBook Pro only, or can work with any Mac desktop or notebook.

Generally MacBook Pro have 4 GBs of Memory, while White MacBook have 2 GB.
May be, install disc that came with MacBook Pro is optimized to run on 4 GB, and not on other Macs.

Retail discs are usually early releases (10.6.0 or 10.6.3) lacking driver support for newer hardware models.

Discs bundled with specific hardware models have full driver support and are usully more recent versions (10.6.5 or 10.6.6) but are also restricted to running on just that model or release series. They also contain install packages for any bundled applications such as iLife or iWork.

In most cases the retail disc should work and you should immediately apply the latest Combo update to add any missing drivers or feature support. If the retail disc gives you any errors you'll need the bundled disc.


How to tell if Optical Image Stabilization is actually working on my iPhone 6 Plus Today I started getting suspicious that Optical Image Stabilization is not working on my iPhone 6 Plus. These are the factors that led me to my suspicion:

While recording a video, if I shake the phone lightly, the shakiness is visible in the preview. However, when I play the after recording, most of the shakiness is gone.
This makes it look like stabilization is only being applied only once the video is done recording: Optical Image Stabilization (at least the way Apple describes it) is supposed to move the physical sensor to compensate for movement, so I believe that the preview shown while recording should also be stabilized.
Based on the previous assumption that the physical sensor should move, I think that said movement should be apparent by observing the rear-facing camera while the camera app is open and the phone is being shaken lightly. Unless the actual moving parts are not directly visible, I don't think they're moving in my phone. Besides this, the inner part of the camera (the lens you can see right behind the outer glass and the black plastic around it) looks like it's slightly offset downwards, because I can see a small gap right above it, between the plastic and the frame of the camera. The same gap is not visible below the plastic, so it looks like it isn't centered. I have never seen the camera move from that position.

Is there a way to be sure that Optical Image Stabilization is actually working? Do the things I described only happen on my device?

The optical image stabilization on the iPhone 6 Plus has to do with a tiny motor changing the lenses while the sensor is fixed to the body of the phone.

It only engages for still photos and due to the size of the motors and limited space inside the device, it will be almost impossible to hear the sound of it in operation.

The real test will be if your phone isn't capturing sharp still images that are well lit and have some contrast lines for the focus pixels to establish what the proper focus should be. I suppose you would need to mount an iPhone 6 and 6 Plus on the same physical mount and take the same picture (burst mode) or using something to trigger both shutters at the same time.

Also, you might try taking pictures from a moving car out the side window and see if you can detect any difference in the EXIF metadata between pictures taken while moving versus pictures taken when still. Apple encodes all sorts of details and I would start by looking at the Focus Mode field to see if OIS is indicated there.

That said, optical image stabilization on professional canon and nikon lenses costing $4000 and up isn't magic and just gets you one or two stops of exposure for a given shutter speed. The effects are not huge so you are gaining a slight boost in the amount of light that can be gathered and the shutter is allowed to stay "open" for longer than if the OIS were not helping to keep the image centered on the CCD.


How To Handle Power Outages With Remote Macs? At my condo, which I visit monthly, I have a 2010 MBA (High Sierra?) that runs a webcam and performs various other periodic tasks. I don't have an UPS for it, but the internal battery usually lasts long enough to handle power outages. However, this week the condo scheduled an all-day outage in order to do maintenance on the electrical systems. I have the MBA scheduled to "Start up or wake" every morning. (This MBA does not have "Start up automatically after a power failure".) As expected, the MBA's battery went dead during the power outage. I expected that the battery would charge up after power was resumed and that the MBA would start up on schedule. It did not and remains shut off.
What should I have done differently?
At home I have a 2017 iMac running Catalina. It has a UPS with a battery that lasts about an hour after a power outage. When the battery gets low, the UPS sends a shutdown command to the Mac. During a long outage the UPS shuts the Mac down and then turns itself off when the battery dies. When power resumes, the Mac starts up automatically. ("Start up automatically after a power failure" is enabled.)
However, this week, while I was away, there was a power outage. The outage lasted long enough for the UPS to shut down the Mac, but power resumed before the UPS shut itself off. So, power to the Mac was never lost. As a result, it stayed shut down and required manual intervention to start up.
What should I have done differently?

You might want to consider replacing the MBA with a Mac Mini, perhaps a previously owned model from OWC which as some real inexpensive models. Your needs don't seem to require a superlative machine with lots of RAM & etc. The Mini should be able to provide the startup after power failure option because it is a desktop Mac.
For the problem of starting up the iMac in the circumstances you described, you should consider creating a series of Terminal pmset commands which wakes or restarts your Mac with a frequency you find amenable.
This example should attempt to wake from sleep or power on the Mac on an hourly basis every day:
pmset repeat wakeorpoweron MTWRFSU 01:00:00
pmset repeat wakeorpoweron MTWRFSU 02:00:00
pmset repeat wakeorpoweron MTWRFSU 03:00:00
.
.
.
pmset repeat wakeorpoweron MTWRFSU 24:00:00

If the Mac is already up and running, these commands have no effect. A wealth of information is found in man pmset.
The app Power Manager may also be helpful as it provides a GUI method for setting the same commands.
Disclaimer: I have no financial or other ties to the developers of Power Manager, nor in Other World Computing, Inc.


nfs mount fails from Finder though works from command line Using Finder's Connect to Server... option with nfs://vers=4;nuc.local/mnt/tb I'm unable to mount my nfs server. However from the command line it works just fine.

Ideally I want the MBP to boot and mount the share when at home automatically. However I'm struggling to understand auto mounting on MacOSX 10.10.4. Can someone please additionally illustrate IIUC a /etc/auto_master example?

nuc.local's /etc/exports is:

/mnt/tb     *(rw,insecure,async,no_subtree_check,no_root_squash)

To properly connect to NFSv4 share with the Finder use nfs://vers=4,nuc.local/mnt/tb instead of nfs://vers=4;nuc.local/mnt/tb.

To mount a share automatically do the following:

Create a folder (e.g. /Users/youruser/mnt) as the future mount point
Open Terminal and enter sudo nano /etc/auto_master
Add a line with the following content:

  /Users/youruser/mnt /etc/auto_nfs

Please check, that the file contains a trailing empty line!
Save the edit with ctrlO and quit nano with ctrlX
enter sudo touch /etc/auto_nfs to create a new file with the name "auto_nfs".
Enter  sudo nano /etc/auto_nfs to edit the file.
Add a line with the following content:

  DirectoryName -fstype=nfs,other_options... exported_share

Please check, that the file contains a trailing empty line!
Save the edit with ctrlO and quit nano with ctrlX
Enter sudo automount -vc to mount the new NFS-share immediately.

Example (mount an external iTunes Media folder to local /Users/someusername/mnt):

auto_master:

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

auto_nfs:

iTunesMedia -fstype=nfs,rw,bg,hard,intr,tcp 192.168.2.11:/volume1/iTunesMedia

Tested with 10.7.5 and 10.10.4

After some extended testing with a virtual ArchLinux VM as NFS-server and Mac OS 10.10.4 as the NFS-client I come to the following conclusion:

The Finder probably has a bug connecting to NFSv4-only NFS-servers (ArchLinux).
So if you have disabled NFSv2/NFSv3 in /etc/conf.d/nfs-server.conf you won't be able to connect to the NFS-Share with the Finder.

You will be able to connect to it with mount_nfs options server.local:/share /destination.. or NFS Manager though.

If you enable NFSv2/NFSv3 you will be able to connect to the share with the Finder if you use the full path (as defined in exports) to the share: nfs://vers=4,server.local/path/to/share.


Drag application window to another space In OS X Mavericks how do I drag a window to another space?  I was able to do this in Mountain Lion.

Go to system preferences -> Mission Control and uncheck "Displays have separate Spaces"

Now logout and login.

You now should be able to drag your windows between spaces like in (Mountain) Lion.


Remap command-arrow key to the same as ctrl-arrow keys (moving by word) I would like to be able to use Command arrow keys to navigate by word like you can with Ctrl. I've disabled the Mission Control mappings already. What's the easiest way to remap?

You can change the default keybindings for OS X text editing with the DefaultKeyBinding.dict file. Make a new text file at ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict, with these contents:

<?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>^&#xF702;</key>
    <string>moveWordLeft:</string>
    <key>^&#xF703;</key>
    <string>moveWordRight:</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Restart or log out and in, and controlleft and controlright should do what you're looking for. This will work in most OS X apps, but there are some (typically third party text editors) that use their own bindings, which will need to be switched on a case-by-case basis.


Disabling NTP on OS X Lion or older Following a new security vulnerability in the Network Time Protocol software package, Apple has provided a software update for Mountain Lion and newer versions of OS X.

As usual, the older versions of OS X that one may be stuck with (because the hardware does not support newer versions, because one needs Rosetta, …) are not covered by the security update.

My questions are:

is disabling “set date and time automatically” in Software Preferences enough to ensure that ntpd is not running?
what might break if the ntdp binary was simply deleted for safety on OS X Snow Leopard or Lion?

In doubt I might use these instructions to limit the scope of ntpd without completely disabling/deleting it, but in this case there remains the risk of getting it wrong and leaving ntpd exposed.

Instead of disabling ntpd, you should download the source for version 4.2.8 of ntp and compile it yourself. All you need is Xcode for Lion/SnowLeo. It should work on 10.6.x and 10.7.x just fine.

I have updated my 10.10 install immediately after the CVE was made public and source code released and I didn't wait on Apple to release the update.

To compile ntpd, download the source from ntp.org and apply the patch for OS X/FreeBSD. After applying this patch, you will be able to just run "./configure && make." Then you can copy the binaries to appropriate directories (/usr/sbin/ and /usr/bin/).

For Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion):

mkdir ntpd-fix
cd ntpd-fix
curl http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~ntp/ntp_spool/ntp4/ntp-4.2/ntp-4.2.8.tar.gz | tar zxf -
cd ntp-4.2.8/ntpd
curl http://bugs.ntp.org/attachment.cgi?id=1165 | patch -p1
cd ..
./configure && make

Here's the list of files and folders to which they belong to that will be built from the source above. After compilation, all these files will be in various sub-folders.

/usr/bin/sntp
/usr/bin/ntp-keygen
/usr/bin/ntpq
/usr/sbin/ntpdc
/usr/sbin/ntpdate
/usr/sbin/ntpd

Rename old ones using something like:

sudo mv /usr/sbin/ntpd /usr/sbin/ntpd.old

and then move the new one in. Make sure to chown the files after moving them in place:

sudo chown root:wheel /usr/sbin/ntpd

Note: I did not use  sudo make install because I didn't trust the Makefile  (I wasn’t sure it would place files in the same folders that Apple has originally placed them in and wanted to be sure they're still in the same spot as old ones). Manually moving 6 files is not a big issue. Rest of the files (man pages, html pages, etc are the same so you don't have to bother moving those.)


How to write a formula with a reference that adapts to new columns When writing a reference in a formula like:

HLOOKUP(Table1::B$2$;Table2::G$3:K$82;46)

have the area referenced adapt to new columns added to Table2.

E.g. Table2 has columns from A to K, and every column contains the same formula. When I add extend the table with new columns, until AA the reference should target Table2::G$3:AA$82.

I am writing a complex solution involving COLUMNS() and ADDRESS(), but I'm looking for the general accepted way of doing this.

Sadly, there simply is no feature in Numbers resembling open-ended cell-range references.

The only manageable workaround I observed actually working as intended involved either using entire rows, or marking as headers all of the columns/rows to be ignored.

"Whole rows" tack, example procedure:

Normalize and rearrange your data to inhabit the entire set of rows in question, rather than starting in column G.
in your formulas' references to those areas, don't use any column letters. For example,
rather than COUNTA(G3:AA82,">50") use instead COUNTA(3:82,">50")

"Headers" approach, example procedure:

select Table2 column A
choose 'Add Header Column Before' from the 'Table' menu (may differ between versions?)
select cells in the new column A, from A3 down to A82
from the 'Table' menu, choose 'Merge Cells'
enter a fitting name for that group of rows into A3
use that name in any formulas needing those rows

All data following the header column/row is referred to by its chosen label. You'll see Numbers offering it in the auto-complete choices as you type it into formulas, and when chosen that area will be highligted.

They're both means to the same end, and behave similarly in practice. With both, you'll see the desired behaviour that when adding additional columns/rows, the new area will be no exception—the formulas with references to whole rows/columns or names from headers will also see any new data.

Again, particular to your described spreadsheet, note that since you're starting your data in column G, you may need to…
• alter your formulas to ignore non-numbers
• alter your formulas to ignore data that doesn't pass some other test
• rearrange your overall layout so the data starts in column B


Is it possible to change a Finder List View column width in AppleScript? I want to create an AppleScript that opens five predefined folders in five different tabs in one new Finder window with predefined bounds and then shifts the active tab of this window to tab one. I would also like the full filenames (of the files in all five folders) to be displayed without any truncation. I exclusively use List View in Finder.

Can this last condition be accomplished in AppleScript or automated in any way?

The default "Name" column width is too narrow; the full filenames of my files are always cut off. To fix this, every time that I open any folder, I have to either manually drag the "Name" separator dramatically to the right or double-click on the separator itself (which automatically adjusts the width to show the longest entry in full).

My understanding is that it is impossible to change the default width of the List View "Name" column on a Mac. Otherwise, I could simply set the default width of this column to be larger and this width would be set as the default across all folders.

Holding down the option ⌥  key while dragging a column separator (to save its width) is fruitless.
I tried setting the wider column size as the default by pressing command ⌘  + J in Finder & selecting "Use as Defaults." But, this did not work.
I tried increasing every "Name" width value in my com.apple.finder.plist file and then re-saving the file, as described in the most recent comment by user azeotropo (from 2012) of this webpage (from 2003). But, the old, narrow "Name" width remains.

OS X El Capitan, version 10.11.6.

The answer to the subject of your question "Is it possible to change a Finder List View column width in AppleScript?" is YES. The answer to your question about using AppleScript to set the width of the name column to be big enough to display the names without truncating is also yes. I am not sure how to handle the tabs in the Finder window but it sounds as if you have a script that addresses the tabs already.

One big surprise (to me) was that I had to close and re-open the Finder window in order to see the change.

Here is a script that operates on the frontmost Finder window. The width of the "Name" column is set to be 7.5 * (number of characters in the longest name in the window). It is not the perfect width but it works for me as long as I'm using 12-point text in the Finder. We are setting the width of the column to a certain number of pixels, and each character takes a different number of pixels since the Finder is not using a fixed-width font, so we can't be exactly right when setting the width. But 7.5 * the number of characters in the longest name seems to work pretty well. You can adjust it of course.

tell application "Finder"
    activate
    set the_window to window 1
    set current view of the_window to list view
    set the_options to list view options of the_window
    set the_name_column to first column of the_options whose name is name column
    set the_items to name of every item of the_window
    -- get the longest name (count of characters)
    set longest_name to 0
    repeat with I from 1 to count of the_items
        --check for invisible files, which we don't need to consider
        if character 1 of item I of the_items is not "." then
            if (count of characters of item I of the_items) > longest_name then
                set longest_name to count of characters of item I of the_items
            end if
        end if
    end repeat
    -- this only works if the text size is 12. The multiplier 7.5 could be changed
    -- if the text size is something else.
    set desired_width to longest_name * 7.5
    set width of the_name_column to desired_width
    -- we have to close and reopen the window in order to see any changes.
    -- there might be a "refresh window" command but I don't know it.
    set the_target to target of the_window
    close the_target
    open the_target
end tell


How can I sleep the display from Terminal? I'd like to be able to turn my screen off from command line.

I know there's the keyboard shortcut ctrl+⇧+⏏ but I want to do it from a shell script or remotely.

Is there a way?

In OS X 10.9, you can simply do pmset displaysleepnow. This will immediately turn off your display without changing any of your settings or putting the entire host to sleep.

Escalated privileges don't seem to be required (at least with recent versions of OS X), but if you get a message about inadequate privileges, you could do sudo pmset displaysleepnow.

Based on feedback from commenters, this is not available in OS X 10.8 or earlier.


Which macOS processes handle iMessage network communications? I am trying to identify the macOS Catalina processes which handle network communication with Apple's iMessage servers.

If you have iMessage enabled and quit the Messages app, incoming messages are still delivered to your computer.

I've tried killing the imagent and IMDPersistenceAgent processes because they sounded related to messaging, but the former seems to be related to FaceTime only and killing the latter did not stop incoming iMessages.

To be clear: I am not simply trying to disable iMessage. I am trying to identify the processes that handle communication with iMessage. This is for two reasons:

The termination of these processes needs to be able to be executed in an automated bash script using pkill or something similar, and deactivation of iMessage cannot be done in such a way.
The computer needs to remain activated with the iMessage service so that when the processes are restarted (or the computer is restarted and the processes are launched on their own), any pending incoming iMessages are delivered. If iMessage were to be deactivated and then later activated, any messages during the period of time which it was deactivated would not be delivered.

iMessage message delivery is not as such handled seperately in a specific process for that single purpose.

Instead the generic apsd (Apple Push Notification Service Daemon) process handles the network communication. apsd handles Apple's push notification service in general.

The imagent process that you have already identified is indeed involved in iMessage, and not only Facetime. It is there to receive the notifications forwarded by the apsd process.

In addition there's a special case for iMessage attachments (i.e. very large iMessage messages in general). Their content is not transferred using push notificcations via apsd, but are rather downloaded from iCloud. That process is initiated via a notification from apsd however.

All in all this means that you can kill the apsd process, and keep it from restarting, and thereby stop iMessage messages from coming in (without "deactivating"). However it would also stop any other push notification from arriving at your computer.


How do I create a static permanent ifconfig alias? How do I get this ifconfig loopback alias change to persist after a restart?

$ sudo ifconfig lo0 alias 172.16.222.111
$ ifconfig
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 16384
    options=1203<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,TXSTATUS,SW_TIMESTAMP>
    inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
    inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
    inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
    inet 172.16.222.111 netmask 0xffff0000          ### <-- WANTED!!!
    nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>

The only similar instructions I've found are for nonexistent OSX files on other *nix systems for files like /etc/network/interfaces or /etc/sysconfig/networking-scripts/ifcfg-eth0.

Generally speaking, you can create the persistent alias in Network in System Preferences.

However, the lo0 loopback device doesn't show up here.  For this special case, we need to utilize launchd to kick off a short script with the ifconfig command you used above.

Here is a sample .plist file, saved as com.user.lo0-loopback.plist (can be saved anywhere as it will be copied to the appropriate directory later).

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC -//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd >
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>Label</key>
  <string>com.user.lo0-loopback</string>
  <key>ProgramArguments</key>
  <array>
    <string>/sbin/ifconfig</string>
    <string>lo0</string>
    <string>alias</string>
    <string>172.16.222.111</string>
  </array>
  <key>RunAtLoad</key> <true/>
  <key>Nice</key>
  <integer>10</integer>
  <key>KeepAlive</key>
  <false/>
  <key>AbandonProcessGroup</key>
  <true/>
  <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
  <string>/var/log/loopback-alias.log</string>
  <key>StandardOutPath</key>
  <string>/var/log/loopback-alias.log</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Next, move it to the /Library/LaunchDaemons/ directory so it's kicked off at boot (will be run as root) and set the correct permissions

$ cp com.user.lo0-loopback.plist /Library/LaunchDaemons/

$ chmod 0644 /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.user.lo0-loopback.plist
$ chown root:wheel /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.user.lo0-loopback.plist

Then load it with launchctl

$ launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.user.lo0-loopback.plist

Reboot and your lo0 loopback should have an alias IP assigned to it that will be persistent across reboots.


Keyboard backlight UI stuck on Touch Bar MacBook Pro Whenever I try to increase or decrease the brightness of the keyboard backlight — using the Touch Bar on my MacBook Pro (macOS Catalina) — the GUI just shows this:

What does this mean? Is some hardware broken, or just a software bug?

You can also use a Terminal command to refresh the Touch Bar.

Launch Terminal
Type in the command pkill "Touch Bar agent" and hit Return.

It should help you to fix this issue.


Print an individual email that is part of a conversation Mail.app Version 8.2 (2104), OS X Yosemite 10.10.5.  I have a message in my inbox which I would like to print, but Mail associates it with a conversation in another mailbox and the print preview shows the entire conversation.  How do I print just the message in my inbox?

Mail does only print the selected email in a conversation rather than the entire conversation.

The problem is that the selected email at the end of an email chain includes a quoted copy of the previous emails. This can't be removed as it is part of the email that you selected. If you only want the text that the author of the email wrote, you will need to copy the content out into a text document and print that instead.


Can I use 2 iPads at the same time for synchronized music making? What about with the same app? I am getting an iPad and my mate has an iPad as well. We have a bit of a band and want to know if it's possible to 'sync' 2 iPads together to use music making apps that will play at the same tempo and be on beat with each other?

Is there some way to do this or something we need to do? How can we achieve true syncing of 2 iPads for music app usage?

This is something that the app itself would have to have supportfor.  There's no support for this inherently in the iPad or in iOS.


Macbook display flashing when using Terminal the macbook I use for work will very occasionally 'blink' or 'flicker' while using external machine connections such as the Terminal or programs that connect to databases (used for work). As a bonus, occasionally, if these connections are left open for too long, my Macbook screen will go white or white/black striped. At this point, the only way to effect this is to manually restart the laptop. Has anyone seen this before and does anyone have any advice on how to solve this or at least begin to diagnose the problem?

This problem has no sounds or other cues associated with it other than the occasional flashing. I've disabled flashing/sounds for errors in the system preferences.

This is the "beep" when the Mac sound is off. This happens if you press the arrow down key at the end of the history queue.


Menu bar still present after uninstall I have been using a Vodafone mobile broadband(modem) and decided to get rid of it then everything went wrong. I dragged the app and dropped it on to the trash but its menu bar is still there but inactive. I searched for multiple help to rectify the problem but still the menu bar was there. I used easy find to look for everything related to Vodafone and deleted it still the menu bar was there. Nothing in the PC has Vodafone related files except that its menu was present.

Guys is there any way I could deal with this or is it a more larger problem than I thought.

There are a few places where items can get launched, and the most common place is in System Preferences > Login > Startup Items.  That's the goto place for most issues like this.

Removing the Application doesn't always remove all traces, especially if the App was installed by an installation script, rather than simply being dragged into your Applications folder in the first place.  Scripted installs often perform all sorts of background installs, such as kernel extensions, and helper apps that sit in the Menu Bar, and the startup items list is the common place to fire them up.


Hide frequently used Memojis from Emoji keyboard in iOS 13 I just upgraded my iPhone to iOS 13 and I noticed that, while composing a message, when switching to the "Emoji" keyboard (that now can be accessed through an apposite button), it shows, on the very left hand side of the screen, my 8 most frequently used Memoji. This is very annoying to me, since I almost never use Memoji and I'd like just Emojis to be shown.

Does someone know how to hide Memojis from the Emoji keyboard?

From https://ioshacker.com/how-to/hide-memoji-stickers-ios-13-emoji-keyboard:

Swipe emoji keyboard towards the left and [hope that] iOS remembers the keyboard position.

  iOS "remembers" the keyboard position for a few minutes only. When the app is unloaded and reloaded, the next time I open the emoji keyboard, there are the stupid memoji stickers again.

later:

  as of iOS 13.2, this behavior is no longer present, and the memoji drawer stays hidden now.

And, in the Messages app, bring up the keyboard in the app and tap on the grey A icon besides camera to bring up the feature bar. Swipe to find ● ● ● and then click Edit, and remove Memoji keyboard from the list of favorites  in the “more apps” list below.

Update:

From the same site: Open Go to Keyboard Settings to remove the "Memoji Stickers". You can search for the same also in Settings itself.

  disabling stickers via Settings only works in iOS 13.3. This option is not present in 13.2.


VGA vs Mini-DVI to HDMI adapter I'm about to buy an external monitor to use with my MacBook Pro late 2008. I do understand HDMI (digital) looks much better on screen (better quality?) than VGA (analog), so I'm thinking about buying a Mini-DVI to HDMI adapter. My questions are:

Does the Mini-DVI to HDMI adapter decrease video quality?
If so, is it noticeable and does it still have better quality than VGA?
Are there any known issues with third-party adapters?

No HDMI and DVI are both digital signals there will be no degradation in quality between the two. If in fact they are compatible with each other as referenced on Wikipedia.

  HDMI is backward-compatible with single-link Digital Visual Interface digital video (DVI-D or DVI-I, but not DVI-A). No signal conversion is required when an adapter or asymmetric cable is used, so there is no loss of video quality.[5]

Both are much better than VGA. VGA is an analog signal. There are noticeable differences when using a VGA connection vs a pure digital one. Everything will appear to have a slight fuzziness, it's not horrible but if you have good vision you can see the difference up close. With pure digital, the text, images, etc with all be sharper. This is a side effect of the analog to digital conversion that the LCD monitor has to do. Additionally as part of that conversion process most LCDs have an auto correction button to dynamically adjust the VGA signal to fix over-scan and other minor adjustments to the VGA source. Something that you don't ever have to do with a digital source. I would avoid buying a monitor that only has VGA input, spend $20 to $50 more and get a better display that has at least one digital input source, either DVI or HDMI.

Confirming Source for LCD Analog vs Digital inputs.

I have had bad luck with 2 Mini-DVI to VGA adapters purchased from Monoprice.com that had Red, Green, Blue hewing due to poor wiring. For example, I had to slightly twist the cable to get the picture color just right. They replaced one and then the second one did the same thing, I am due for a third try...  However my mini-DVI to HDMI adapter from them works flawlessly and has since day one.


What does this button do in the iTunes device sync status bar? When an iPhone is plugged in and syncing, the status bar shows a message like:

  Syncing "Phone" (Step 2 of 6)

On the left side of the bar there is this icon:

It darkens when clicked, which implies that it's a button. If I had to guess from the icon alone, I would say "rotate clockwise", but that doesn't make sense in this context.

Hovering does not display a tooltip. Clicking it does not have any visible effect.

What is this button?

It is the skip button for skipping the current process. The button usually only shows on skippable actions and is most commonly shown for an iOS device iTunes backup.


How to fix iPhone 5S reporting excessive space used for Photo Library? I have an iPhone 5S running iOS 8.1.3. I have removed all photos from the phone (i.e. the Camera Roll is empty). However, under Settings -> General -> Usage -> Manage Storage, it reports that 1.9 GB is still in use for Photos & Camera. Specifically, underneath that, it reports that 1.9 GB is being used for the Photo Library (which is ostensibly empty). This is a large chunk of the storage on my 16 GB phone!

I have tried doing a factory reset of the phone and restoring from backup, with no effect; it still reports the excessive storage usage. I've checked the following:

The Photo Library (and Recently Deleted) is empty.
Photo Stream is not enabled.
iCloud "Photos" is not enabled.
There is no photo sharing of any kind enabled.

Is there anything else that I should look at to determine why the incorrect amount of usage is being reported?

apparently the "recently deleted"-feature in iOS8 is broken.
Photos you've deleted don't disappear after 30 days, they're just hidden on your device.
The storage being used isn't "phantom usage", since the photos are still safely stored.
The easiest short term solution is to set back your date on the phone month by month (until the release of iOS8), and your deleted photos will reappear in the "recently deleted"-folder. There you can manually and permanently delete them.

As long you regularly delete all "recently deleted" images, your storage won't clog up.

If you want to get an overview of the photos on your iphone just download iexplorer. There you'll see all of them, even those you can't see on your iphone.

Here's a blog post about the issue: https://blog.tmoehle.de/ios-photo-problem/

Cheers,


What should the permissions on the /EFI partition be? Currently, I am able to mount and edit the EFI partition without any special privileges. Is that correct?

I understand that the bootflags for SIP protected regions are stored in nvram which is inaccessible through bless, but it seems strange that I can manipulate the binary, and the changes will persist through a restart.

Is something wrong here? If not, why is it the case?

EFI partitions are formatted with a FAT32 file system. FAT32 doesn't provide POSIX file permissions. Whoever accesses an EFI partition in OS X/macOS has full ownership of all files and folders (777).

This even applies if you change your user with Fast User Switching.

Mounting of the EFI partition requires admin privileges though.


Stop autocorrect from autocorrecting a word even if I re-type it after it has been autocorrected If I type 'grg' it gets autocorrected on the next time I press space to 'gtg'.

If I backspace the 'tg' and then type 'rg' to once again form the word 'grg', it still autocorrects (again) to 'gtg'.

It does that infinitely. Additionally, no suggestions are shown above/under the word as I am typing it so I cannot escape/cancel the autocorrection before it happens.

This question was actually frustrating to write, I found that the only way i could type 'grg' was by typing 'gtg'  first (notice the space), then left-arrowing to the 't', replacing it with an 'r', and then right-arrowing to the end (after the space) and typing the next word.

Can I stop autocorrect from repeatedly correcting the same word even after I've re-typed it?

Looks like this doesn't happen with dictionary words, for example I can type "automatoc", gets auto-corrected to "automatic", and then I can backspace "ic" and type "oc" and it will leave it as-is.

Maybe this is a problem that only happens with learned spellings or so (I think I made macOS "Learn spelling" of gtg)

I don't want to learn the spelling of words like 'grg', because ordinarily these kinds of autocorrections are helpful. However, in the rare situation I am trying to purposefully write such a word, I feel like me re-writing the word should be enough of a hint for the OS to realise what I am after.

Right click to bring this menu and select Learn Spelling.

Alternatively, you could set up a text replacement in Keyboard Preferences.


Share only iTunes Match between two devices My wife and I have separate Apple IDs, but all of our music is in my iTunes Match "account".  Can I share just that between our phones, keeping everything else separate?  We both have IOS 7 installed.

In Settings -> Store, make sure you’re signed into the account that has all the music/media/etc. (iOS lets you have one Apple ID signed in for iCloud and another for store purchases).

Then, in Settings -> Music, turn iTunes Match on. In iTunes for Mac, go to Store -> Turn Off iTunes Match.

The iTunes Match will then only be on your iTunes devices, but your Macs won’t have any iTunes Match.


How many amps should an iPhone 5s car charger output? When looking on Amazon for a car charger I noticed that different items have different amp values, 2.1 and 3.1 being the most frequent. What is the recommended value?

Does it even matter? Is there more to it than the fact that more amps mean faster charging?

More amps will not mean faster charging. The iPhone (and any electronic device) will only take as much current as it requires, and no more. The iPhone will take 1A to charge, and an iPad will take 2.1A.

There's no harm in using a charger that is capable of providing more current than a device requires, but there's no benefit either.

Providing less current than the device requires will lead to longer charging times, or no charging at all.


Creating a bootable usb for MacOS from Windows 10 I've a MacBook Pro and recently my hard drive kicked the bucket. I bought a new ssd drive and installed it in my MacBook.

Now I have to create a bootable usb to install latest MacOS. I've spare a windows pc. Researching, I found that I could use Transmac software to create one.

However, the official ".dmg" file of latest macos (i.e., high sierra) can't be downloaded from PC.

Is there a way to download this file from a PC?

In a word, no.

I am sure there are "unofficial" downloads but do you trust that? Me neither.

Put the model of your Mac in your question, as that matters.

Most modern Macs have Internet Recovery. Reboot your Mac holding COMMAND R. Which will get you into Internet Recovery mode, allowing you to connect to a network and download the version of the OS your Mac shipped with. Once that installs and boots properly you can download a later version if you like.


mobi file on Kindle - MacPro & MacBook I bought an electronic book.  I downloaded the mobi version of the book.  And loaded it into my kindle-macPro.  Started reading it, highlighting, etc...worked great.

Then I wanted to read the book on my macbook.  Opened up kindle on my macbook and the book wasn't there.  So, I copied the file from my kindle directory, loaded into kindle, it opened up, but it didn't have any of my hightlights.

I do not own a kindle device.

Is there an easier way for me to share the book across multiple machines?

I would recommend using the Send to Kindle program from Amazon for synchronization.
It has options to send to other devices (like your macs.)


How can I make ctrl+right/left arrow jump words in Visual Studio Code My fingers are programmed to use ctrl+right arrow to jump a word forward, ctrl+left arrow to jump a word back, in Terminal.
I have disabled Mission Control.

I can not figure out how to get this functionality in Visual Studio Code's Integrated Terminal (in macOS obviously). vscode/Code Version 1.27.1.

How do I accomplish this?

I ended up finding the solution via Microsoft vscode github issues:
https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/issues/64972

Add these keybindings in ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/keybindings.json

{
    "key": "ctrl+left",
    "command": "workbench.action.terminal.sendSequence",
    "args": { "text": "\u001bb" }
},
{
    "key": "ctrl+right",
    "command": "workbench.action.terminal.sendSequence",
    "args": { "text": "\u001bf" }
}

Tested in GNU bash version 4.4.23, (installed via homebrew brew install bash)


How to mute the microphone on Key-Down and unmute it on Key-Up? What I would like to have is:

By default the microphone should be muted
When CapsLock is Down the microphone should unmute
When CapsLock is Up the microphone should mute

(Basically convert my Skype to act like a Walkie-talkie with a push-to-talk functionality)

I found the AppleScript that can change the volume input of the microphone, so the first step was easy, but I didn't find any way to even assign the CapsLock to a script. Note that my CapsLock key is turned off and I would't like to sTART experiencing something like tHIS.

If the CapsLock is very special I wouldn't mind using another key, but I want to achieve the same functionality.

Edit:
Probably it is not really possible to do it without using any application, so if there is an app that can do that, it would also work for me.

First, the AppleScript that inspects the key state and handles the mic enabling and muting:

if (modKeyDowntest()) then
  tell application "System Events" to set volume input volume 100
  repeat while modKeyDowntest()
  end repeat
  tell application "System Events" to set volume input volume 0
end if

on modKeyDowntest()
  set modKeyDown to do shell script "~/opt/checkModifierKeys shift"
  set modKeyDown to modKeyDown as integer
  set modKeyDown to modKeyDown as boolean
end modKeyDowntest

Note, that

the script depends on the checkModifierKeys command line app (and it's path).
inspects the state of shift instead of caps lock (other possibilities are cmd, option, control and caps lock - caps lock, however, means the status of caps lock, not the key state!)

In the second step we bind the script to a key shortcut. There are many applications that can do this (some listed in an answer in SuperUser) or as an Automator service. (C&P from Lri's answer...)

  One more option is to save the script as an Automator service:

  Open Automator and choose the Service template.
  Utilities — Run Shell Script / Run AppleScript.
  Service receives [no input] in [any application].
  Add the script to the text area and save.
  Assign a shortcut in System Preferences — Keyboard — Keyboard Shortcuts — Services.

So, I assigned opt+shift+M to the script above and it enables the mic, keeping it unmuted as long as I hold shift. The mic is muted again when I release shift.


Factory Reset MacBook Air makes it better? I have MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2011) I did never factory reset it.
It's getting sometimes slow and have too much heat, I've changed the fan but still got some heat and slow function till I force quit all apps.

Do you think factory reset can make it better? I'm aware to do that cause I have a lot of files to be removed and some are critical to being moved of its location.

You can reinstall macOS without resetting

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


Mac Mail: How to have mail popups show for only a couple seconds Whenever I get mails from Mail on my mac, they just stays there until I have to manually close the notification. Is there anyway to make the popups automatically go away after 1-2 seconds?

Photo:

As mentioned you can change the Notifications settings in Notification Center.

You have the Mail alert style set to alert which makes the notification stay until dismissed.

To make the notification disappear after a few seconds you need to change the style to banners in Notification Center.

Shown below:


Opening apps in same desktop I have 10.8.5.  I have a laptop with a larger monitor on an A/B switch.  I want to open AutoCAD on desktop 1 on on the main monitor.  I want to open Safari on desktop 1 on the laptop screen so I can take a class on Safari, and immediately do the work in AutoCAD.  I cannot get them to be on the same desktop.  How do I do that?

On 10.8.5

  After you connect the displays to your computer, you can choose
  whether to use the displays as an extended desktop or for video
  mirroring. If you choose video mirroring, the displays each show the
  same image. If you choose an extended desktop, the displays form one
  large continuous desktop.

  If you are playing a DVD on a television connected to your computer,
  click the Arrangement button in Displays preferences and move the menu
  bar to the television. If you don’t see an Arrangement button, your
  computer is only capable of mirroring (showing the same image on all
  screens). For more information, see the manual that came with your
  computer.

On 10.9.3 (Mavericks)

  With an external display connected to your Mac, you can work the way
  you want. Each display has its own menu bar, and apps can run in full
  screen mode on each display. Want to use your HDTV as another display?
  You can easily do that with AirPlay and an Apple TV.

  Each display connected to your Mac can have its own windows and
  full-screen apps. You can spread out your work however you like.


Terminal Equivalent of Finder Sort Order One of the features I like about the Finder is that it sorts numbers "correctly", i.e - a file named "Episode 10" will come after "Episode 9" in a list, rather than after "Episode 1".

However, I haven't been able to find a way to replicate this ordering on the command line with any of the basic tools such as ls, sort and so-on, though I may have just missed or misunderstood an option.

Is it possible to mimic the Finder's alphabetic sort order to sort numbers by value when encountered? If so, is there a means of doing this that is cross-platform (even partially)?

GNU ls has the rather useful -v option that will do exactly what you want. Unfortunately there's no similar option for OS X's BSD-based ls.

A quick solution is to do the following:

$ ls | sort -n -k1.5

That sorts the output starting at the 5th character of the first field.

The same question was asked at StackOverflow and there are a number of other possible solutions listed there (some are Linux-specific though).


Connect to wireless network without password A new Mac user here...

On Windows, I could connect to my parents' router by clicking a WPS button on the router and then connecting to the network within a given timeframe, even though I can't remember the password.

Is this possible on Macs?

Yes, it's possible on Macs as well as Windows.

The router is doing the control of who can get in without a passcode. Just perform the same action on the router to get it to suspend the password for the next client and let the mac be the next to join the WiFi network.

Use AirPort Utility to Add Wireless Clients... from the Base Station menu for your router...


What are the implications of leaving the XHC20 interface "up"? In order to sniff USB traffic on macOS, the XHC20 interface must be "brought up" by executing the following command:

sudo ifconfig XHC20 up

Many online tutorials also suggest to disable the interface after the sniffing is complete. This can be done by executing:

sudo ifconfig XHC20 down

My question is: can I leave the XHC20 interface "up" even when I'm not actively sniffing it?

What are the implications (performance, memory, security, etc.)?

Yes, you can leave the interface "up" when not actively sniffing it.

The interface is actually a sort of pseudo interface based on BPF. Those are generally very performant, and have little to none implication for performance and memory usage.

In terms of security, you could be exposing the your USB traffic to other users on the same Mac that have access to the interface, but not otherwise to your USB traffic. This is not commonly the case on macOS installations in homes / offices.


Filter by column in Numbers I have blanks in each row.  Can I hide them?

I want to be able to select a row and gather it together by getting rid of the empty cells.

Perhaps the simplest way to accomplish this is to use the CONCATENATE
Function in a new column and then hide the others.

At an appropriate place in your table, add a new column.  (Perhaps at the end)
Add a formula such as = TRIM ( CONCATENATE( A2, " ", A3 )) adding in the calculation as many cells as needed.
Drag the formula down the column.
Now, hide the columns.

The Trim function removes the blank space you add in the formula in the event the first row is blank.

See examples below.


Did I just brick my Apple TV's internet capability? I tried to spoof my location with Xcode for my Apple TV 4, with a blank app. As soon I did this my network connection dropped and showed an internal IP from the Apple TV (and not WiFi option, only ethernet). So, I hard reset it via iTunes and it still only gives me the option ethernet (there is no option to connect via WiFi). Even when I plug the ethernet cable in it does not work and says 'no network connection found'. Also I am not able to set get connected via the option to set up the Apple TV with my iPhone?

Does anyone have an idea how I can fix this? Or did I totally brick my Apple TV?

Steps I already took:

Hard reset via an IPSW via iTunes.
Called Apple Care for help (they do not have a solution, I can go to
genius bar to check it out: I'll but no free slots)
Restarted/reset router
Different lan-cable/try to get ethernet connection via my Mac
Settings back via Xcode, but it tells me I have to activate my Apple TV first (which I cannot do because I can't get internet to work)

Thanks in advance! Apple TV is on 10.0.1

Update 12 december: made an appointment with the genius bar for Wednesday.

Do a clean install of tvOS 10 on your Apple TV

Download the tvOS 10 on developer.apple.com
Once the download is complete, launch iTunes.
Now connect your Apple TV 4 unit to your computer using a USB-C to USB-A cable.
Assuming your Apple TV 4 is connected to your computer and powered on, you’ll see your device listed in iTunes in the top left hand corner. Click on it to select.
Click on the ‘Restore’ button while holding down the left ‘Option’ key. A new window will come into view asking you to select a firmware file.
Select the firmware file you downloaded in step 1 and you’re good to go.

The restoration process won’t take that long and iTunes will throw you a prompt when things are complete.


What should I look for when buying an SSD for an iMac? I have an iMac 5k, late 2015, with a Fusion Drive consisting of a 2TB hard disc and a 128GB SSD. I want to upgrade the SSD by buying a third-party one.

What specs should the third-party SSD have to fit in and work with the iMac? NVMe? PCIe? mSATA? M2?

There are two parts to this: it needs to have the right physical connector that fits into the Mac motherboard, and it needs to speak a protocol the Mac speaks. What are the requirements for each?

If I choose an SSD that speaks the SATA protocol, will it still work with my Mac, or must I get a PCIe one? I'm not worried about a slight difference in speed, since both are much faster than a spinning hard disc.

Your model iMac has a Serial ATA (6 Gb/s) connector for a 2.5" hard drive and a PCIe connector (PCIe 2.0 x4 NVMexpress interface) for the SSD.

For best compatibility I suggest you purchase your SSD from a reputable retailer. For example, the following are some well-regarded sites:

Mac Sales
Simply Mac
RAM City
Macfixit

By buying from a reputable store you'll be sure to get an SSD fit for purpose, regardless of manufacturer. Being reputable means they're only going to sell something that works and they'll stand behind the product they sell, regardless of the brand.

Also, many sites offer an easy interface to ensure you select the right SSD for your particular Mac.


Can iPhone back up to iTunes over Wi-Fi automatically? I know that my iPhone 8 can back itself up to iTunes over Wi-Fi. It has successfully done so whenever I've manually hit the button in iTunes to back it up immediately.
In iTunes the iPhone is set to "back up to this computer automatically". It is not clear to me when this automatically happens in the case where I mainly connect the iPhone to iTunes via Wi-Fi. I don't think I've ever had a backup happen automatically -- not over Wi-Fi nor when connecting over USB.
What I can't figure out by searching is whether a Wi-Fi backup to iTunes  can be done automatically. Is it even supposed to be able to do this?
These are additional questions that have come up that might help you understand where I'm standing:

Does an automatic synchronization imply a backup?
If so, does Synchronize automatically when this iPhone is connected apply to iPhones connected to iTunes over Wi-Fi?
Is it possible to back up automatically over Wi-Fi at all?
If so, will it only happen if Wi-Fi sync is enabled?
If it's possible, then how regularly is this done? In other words, at what point can I tell for sure that something is wrong if no backup has been done?

I'm not necessary trying to find answers to all of these questions. They're just different facets of what I'm asking.

Details

macOS 10.14

iOS 13

Devices are not prevented from synchronizing automatically in iTunes
settings.

After consulting with Apple it turns out that

Automatic sync should happen every time the phone plugs into the computer while iTunes is running
None of my the iTunes installations did this on macOS or Windows, which is an error
To work around this required manually syncing a folder with a photo in it to the phone, on both windows and macOS separately. After that automatic sync starts working.

From inspection I can conclude that:

Yes
Yes, when plugged into charger
Yes
Haven’t tried yet. Probably, since backup seems to be included as a step in the syncing process.
Backup should happen within a few seconds of plugging in the charger, five hours from the last backup the same day. Should probably happen every time, regardless of interval.


Why is Preview printing blurry text when there is colour in a document? When printing a colour document using Preview, some of the text is blurry. There are no problems printing the same document from Adobe Acrobat. Below is a scan of the Preview printout. There is no such blurriness to the Adobe Acrobat printout.

This problem has been niggling me for a good few years, with many different documents. It's certainly not isolated to one singular printer, or version of Preview or OS X.

Why does this happen, and how can I fix it?

Notes:

the colour spaces in the original PDF are sRGB and gray.
as per the comments, I have used Acrobat to convert the page to a 1200 DPI, CMYK-format TIFF file. Printing this with Preview, all of the text is blurry (because the printer is using more than just black ink), but printing from Adobe Illustrator is perfectly sharp.
I expect that the problem is to do with colour-space conversions. But why Preview is printing some parts of the text as "true black" is beyond me. The fact that these regions are bounded by coloured parts of the document seems to stink of incompetent programming.

I printed and then scanned the test document using my Canon MX850 (an ink jet printer with scanner, about 6 years old).

It's not perfect, but I don't see the issues (blurry text between the yellow boxes, purple stripes) that I see in your Ricoh version.

So I'd guess that the problem is the Ricoh drivers.

OS X 10.9.5
Printed using Preview 7.0 (826.4)
Printer is Canon MX850
Printed using default settings (Print Quality: Standard)
Scanned at 300dpi.


iPhone calendar showing Chinese months Some things are in English and other are (I’m guessing) in Chinese.

How do I change my language settings to English.

You have an alternate calendar turned on, in this case Chinese.

To turn this off:

Open the Settings app
Scroll down and tap Calendar
Tap Alternate Calendars
Tap Off


Is there any good alternative to winrar archiving utility for mac with ability to browse files before extracting them? I have so far tried Keka and Unarchiver, but they both don't allow browsing the archive content. They simply extract everything contained in the archive which is not a desirable behaviour.

Is there any free (or cheap) alternative to winrar for osx?

I know you said free.. but The Archive Browser is great and will allow you to preview the items before extracting. In my opinion, this is worth the $3.99.


Is it possible to create an icon on home screen to a specific note? I'd like to to add an icon to my homescreen that takes me directly to a specific note. What I was thinking was doing it by having a bookmark in safari that triggers that note, and adding a shortcut to that bookmark to my homescreen. This would open safari, then open notes, to that note, similar to how an iTunes link in Safari opens the app store or iTunes app. Is this possible or is there an alternate solution?

is there a syntax like apps//notes.app/noteid or something to accomplish this?

iPhone 4
iOS 4.2

Why I want it: I use a specific note frequently and I'd like quick access to that one, without opening notes, scrolling to, and selecting it.

Unfortunately there's no url scheme for the Notes app, so there's no way to jump to a specific one.

There are two good sites for finding iOS app url schemes, handleOpenURL and the iPhone URL Schemes page on Akosma's wiki. The former has many more urls, but the latter occasionally has something the other doesn't.

A quick search in handleOpenURL for "text" and for "note" only shows one app that appears that it can do what you want (which doesn't mean it's the only app that does so, just that it's the only one listed in the site), though even then I'm not certain you'll be able to create the shortcut by hand.

I'm completely unfamiliar with the app and have no idea whether it's worthwhile, but I figure it's worth passing on: Notebooks for iPhone.


Spotlight search not including Applications in the result [MacOS Mojave] Problem:  apps not being included in the result. None of the apps show up.
Expected behavior: FaceTime App included a top hit.

Tried re-indexing by adding and then removing from Privacy tab in spotlight settings. No change.
Rebooted multiple times. No change.

followed the suggestions in this two links as well. No change.

Spotlight search stopped suggesting my frequently-used app

Single application not showing up in Spotlight

Sys info :

I ran sudo mdutil -E /Applications and it worked for me on Big Sur


How can I change multiple line code indentation in Textmate? When I use textmate, I select multiple lines and I press TAB, I would like to change the indentation of my code, rather than deleting it.

Is there a way to change this functionality?


Unopened .mac box - any value? I found an unopened .mac box. It's still in its plastic wrap, so the subscription code has not been used. Is this of any value or should it simply be thrown away?

Apple takes applications for refunds for MobileMe boxes. I don't know if they would give a refund for .Mac or not, but it's worth trying.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4445


New Finder window opens maximized every time For some reason, now every time I start Finder or ask for a new window, it occupies my entire screen (note this is not full screen mode, it is just normal screen mode but the Finder is resized maximally to fit the entire visible area, except the bar at the top).

I tried resizing this Finder window and closing, then restarting but end up getting a new Finder window that is resized occupying my entire workspace.

Any idea how to troubleshoot this?

Running Yosemite latest on MBP retina 13.

Open a new window, resize it, then immediately close it. That tells Finder to remember the new size for all new windows. No need to throw away all of your preferences just to change one.


Best OS X TODO app that can be synced with Android? Which is the best OS X "TO DO"-app that I can sync my Android device with?

I recommend Wunderlist. It has apps for Mac OSX, Windows, iPhone, iPad and yes Android. It can sync all between these different platforms. By the way it's free.


OS X El Capitan won't work and is not recognized on UniBeast I have been trying to download the new version of El Capitan and use UniBeast to create a bootable USB. However, every time I download El Capitan from the App Store, it takes 2 hours to download the 6 GB content.

The MacBook restarts and everything, but when I open it in the App Store, it gives me the option of downloading it again, as if I never downloaded it. The UniBeast can't find the El Capitan either.

The officially supported way to create a USB OS X Installer, for OS X Mavericks and later, is to use createinstallmedia from within the downloaded installer application bundle.

Have a look at: Create a bootable installer for OS X

The following is from the link above:

  Use the 'createinstallmedia' command in Terminal

  Download the OS X installer from the Mac App Store. Quit the installer if it opens automatically after downloading. The installer
  will be in your Applications folder.
  Mount your USB flash drive or other volume. You could also use a secondary internal partition.
  Open the Terminal app, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
  Use the createinstallmedia command in Terminal to create the bootable installer. Examples of this command are in the next section.
  For detailed usage instructions, make sure that the appropriate
  Install OS X app is in your Applications folder, then enter one of the
  following paths in Terminal:

  Path for El Capitan:

/Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia

  Examples

  This is the basic syntax of the command. Replace volumepath with
  the path to your USB flash drive or other volume, and replace
  installerpath with the path to the Install OS X app.

createinstallmedia --volume volumepath --applicationpath installerpath

  The following examples assume that the OS X installer is in your
  Applications folder and the name of your USB flash drive or other
  volume is MyVolume:

  Example for El Capitan:

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

Note: You can substitute Mavericks or Yosemite for El\ Capitan in the above command examples.


How to remove Trovi malware from Safari? I am pretty much 100% certain that I have somehow gotten a virus installed into my Safari.

My homepage and default search engine changes to "Trovi" every time I restart Safari no matter how many times I reset it.

My first thought was to remove all extensions but there weren't any in the extensions folder! However, when I opened the Extensions.plist file, it shows over 368 extensions under Apple-hosted Updates List. Does anybody know where I can find these extensions and delete them? Here are some example extensions in that list:

RedMorph-Browser-Controller.safariextz
pogo_1.0.safariextz
IsItWorthMyTime.safariextz
siulykantraste_1.0.3_6.safariextz

I can't seem to locate these files on my Mac. Any help is appreciated.

ALSO: I would like input on this. While the virus was infecting my computer, I noticed that I thought the dot characters that hide the password I type in to unlock my computer looked bigger than normal. Then after the restore to Time Machine backup, I can confirm that the dots that hide my password to login to my computer are smaller again. Could it be that whatever kind of virus that I stupidly got on my computer was monitoring my login password???

Before killing false culprits at random with a great chance to damage your working environment, I suggest you to first attack your original problem.

Download a correct malware hunter:
Malwarebytes.

Disclaimer: I don't work for them, they have a free version.

I tested it on many versions of OSX (Mavericks, Yosemite...) and found and fixed some well hidden crapwares left undetected by leader commercial anti-virus.

Warning: There are a lot of bad and good methods to get rid of Trovi found on the web. Avoid to download from unchecked sources, as you wouldn't drink from any found bottle.

I didn't test the following, but trust its author since many years.
I advise you to apply the receipe from Linc Davis:

How to remove Trovi from Safari


MBP 13 early 2015, but battery was manufactured at November 2016. Why? Is it suspicious that my battery was manufactured November 2016? I have checked it with "Battery Health 2". The MBP 13, 2015 is from early 2015. And battery is from late 2016.

Update

I have started with this question: Check whether a MacBook is new or not

I didn't want to ask other questions in comment, that's why I've created this one.

Update 2

This is the information I've got with serial number:

Model:  - MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015)

Codename:   - No codename assigned.

Build Country:  - This unit was built in China.

Build Year: - We could not verify the build year of this unit.

Build Week  - Week 24 (June) or week 51 (December).

Production Nr.: - This unit was number 333 to be built that week.

No, I do not believe this is suspicious. The early-2015 model 13" MBP is still a current model. So, unless you actually bought the MBP before November 2016, this is not at all suspicious.

To put your mind at ease you can check your MBP's serial number at a number of sites to retrieve the manufacturing date amongst other info. You can access one such site here.

[EDIT]

In response to question update.

The fact your serial number search shows it was built in either Week 24 (June) or week 51 (December) backs up my assertion. This is a new MBP built in December 2016 (after the manufacture of your battery and before you purchased it).

This confirms there is absolutely nothing suspicious about your MBP.


Where is the date and time preference data saved on Mac? I need to check programmatically whether Set Date and Time automatically is checked or not on a Mac System Preferences.

I didn't find any .plist file that contained this information, can anybody tell me where I can find this information?

I don't know of a purely programmatic way of getting it, but the systemsetup command can do it:

$ systemsetup -getusingnetworktime
Network Time: On


Booted external drive running 10.8.5 on new mac mini got "no entry sign", tried on late 2012 Mac Mini booted fine - why? I've got a 500 GB HDD in a late 2012 Mac Mini. I'm in the process of upgrading it to a 1 TB hybrid (fusion) drive.

The original 500gb drive was running OSX 10.8.5 and I copied the drive in its entirety using Carbon Copy Cloner to the 1 TB drive.

I had the 1 TB drive in an enclosure and wanted to test if it would boot so I plugged it into a nearby machine (as the late 2012 Mac Mini wasn't reassembled yet). The nearby machine was a current version Mac Mini purchased about 3 months ago running OSX 10.11.

When I booted into the external drive by holding down the option key I got a grey error screen with a no entry logo (see image below).

Slightly panicked, I reassembled the late 2012 Mac Mini and tried to boot the external 1 TB drive. This time it worked.

Was the issue with the 1 TB drive and / or that the OS didn't copy properly via Carbon Copy Cloner, and I just got lucky when I booted it on the late 2012 Mac Mini?

Or is it an issue to do with the new Mac Mini not booting a 10.8.5 OS?

(Just want to be sure because if it's an issue with the drive or copy of the data I've put on there I want to rectify it now, before I start using this drive in production.)

No Mac will boot to an OS older than itself, with very few exceptions, such as machines released right on the cusp of a new OS release.

The drivers for it simply weren't yet invented.


How to change volume of "say" in AppleScript? Here is a line from my AppleScript that speaks the selected text:

set this_say_Pid to do shell script "LANG=en_US.UTF-8 pbpaste -Prefer txt | say > /dev/null 2>&1 & echo $!"

I would like the speaking volume to be much lower. I would prefer not to accomplish this by decreasing my overall system volume.

I can successfully decrease the volume of say in Terminal with the following code:

say "[[volm 0.35]] This is a sentence"

But, when I insert [[volm 0.35]] in my do shell script string, the volume does not change.

Since you are piping the output of the pbpaste command directly to say command, then e.g. [[volm 0.35]] would need to be a part of what's on the clipboard as e.g. [[volm 0.35]] must precede the content of what was actually going to be said.

I'd try using the following in place of what you are using:

set howLoudAndWhatToSay to "[[volm 0.35]] \"" & (get the clipboard as string) & "\""

set this_say_Pid to do shell script "say " & howLoudAndWhatToSay & " > /dev/null 2>&1 & echo $!"

Update: If you want to stick with using pbpaste, then this example command should work:

set this_say_Pid to (do shell script "echo \"[[volm 0.35]] $(LANG=en_US.UTF-8 pbpaste -Prefer txt)\" | say > /dev/null 2>&1 & echo $!")

Note the primary differences between the command within the do shell script "..." command in your question and my answer.

echo \"[[volm 0.35]] is added in front of LANG=... and note the space after ]].
The LANG=en_US.UTF-8 pbpaste -Prefer txt is now enclosed in $(...) which is using Command Substitution to, in essence, concatenate what gets echoed to the pipe ahead of the say command.
As well as a matching closing literal double-quote \", before the pipe to say,  to go with the one in echo \"[[volm 0.35]].  It did work in limited testing without the use of the opening and closing double-quotes however it's probably better to encase it in the double-quotes to account for something the shell might try to unnecessarily expand.

That said, on my system using 0.35 for the value in [[volm 0.35]] didn't work well in that is was difficult to perceive the difference in volume from my normal setting. However using 0.3 in [[volm 0.3]] the difference was notable. (This is one of the reasons why I used "e.g. [[volm 0.35]]" in my opening sentence.)


How can I get iTunes to automatically refresh the media library? Most of the media players that have a "media library" functionality usually self-refresh the library when files are added or removed. As I share the media library with other media players (I use iTunes only to copy music on the iPod), I would like iTunes to automatically refresh when I add, remove, or rearrange audio tracks in the file system. How can I get iTunes to do this?

What you call a “design” flaw, is not such thing. It’s a design decision made by the iTunes team. Although iTunes lets you “manually manage your library”, it’s never intended to let you move things around in the filesystem, add, remove or modify files.

The premise for iTunes happiness is that you always add the items to the library and modify things from within iTunes. You have the choice to let iTunes “organize” the library (which will copy the media to the iTunes library folder and organize it there as he wants) or you can leave it wherever you originally had it, but iTunes doesn’t “read” or “monitor" the filesystem for changes. It knows things changed when the library.xml is changed, and the only application that does that is iTunes itself.

Is this the best way?

Yes and no, it has advantages, but a lot of people miss the “Winamp-like” ease of use and it’s understandable. On the other hand, it simplifies a lot of things for a lot of people. It has decently worked for quite a few years now.

But that’s the topic for another discussion. :)


Device Enrollment works for desktop but fails for iOS devices I've been doing a ton of reading, and even found this question ( Device enrollment fails, error: server certificate is invalid ) and followed the instructions.

I first installed my Godaddy certificate in my Server.app
Then I enabled Wiki and Profile Manager, configuring the certificate and all that jazz.

When the invalid certificate error came up, I did some digging, and found the above thread.

I went and installed the intermediary certificate but didn't bother replacing the gd certificate, since it was already installed.
I rebooted the server for safe measure, and tried again.

Problem is, I'm still getting the same darn error... what could be up?

FYI: Here's the article regarding installing certs from Godaddy.

to allow the enrollment, I went to the Hardware and then select settings tab. there I went to custom SSL and then make sure that the certificate that was recognized by apple is selected for the web then it work...


Compressing iTunes Library Like most of you I have a very large iTunes Library with a lot of video content; I was wondering if it is possible to save the video content in compressed form(since space is always an issue) but still keep your contents available in you iTunes Library; preferably iTunes does the archiving & unarchiving automatically.

I know that having to unarchive a movie before watching it must sound a bit tedious but considering that a lot of time might pass between watches I think it is worth it.

The problem with files like MP3 or AAC is that they are actually already compressed.  The MP3 and AAC codecs have advanced compression schemes designed specifically for audio.  You'll find that doing additional layers of compression on these types of files will make very little difference in disk space usage and will probably not make it worth your trouble.

EDIT: Sorry I got confused.  The OP asked about video, but the same applies.  Video content is compressed and you'll get very little benefit from further compression.  It's really not worth messing with.


How to start my personal Zoom room using Siri on macOS? I want to be able to say. . .

Hey Siri, open my Zoom room

. . . and have it open my personal Zoom room on my Mac. How can I achieve this? macOS doesn’t yet have Siri Shortcuts.

Solution: Use a script saved an application
Siri on macOS doesn’t support third-party integration yet, but it can launch applications—thus, we can save an AppleScript as an application and have Siri activate it.
Steps

Open Script Editor.

Create a new document and type in the following:
tell application "zoom.us" to activate

tell application "System Events"
    tell process "zoom.us"

        set StartMeeting to menu item "Start Meeting" of menu "zoom.us" of menu bar 0

        repeat while not enabled of StartMeeting
            delay 0.25
        end repeat

        click StartMeeting

    end tell
end tell

The repeat while not enabled section makes the AppleScript wait until Zoom has finished launching before trying to open your Zoom room. Otherwise, it won’t work.

Save it, and in the save dialog, call the script “My Room Zoom”, save it to the /Applications folder, and set the file format to “Application”

Done!

Now you can say “Hey Siri, open my Zoom Room” and Siri will interpret your command as “launch the application called ‘My Room Room.’”
This application will launch Zoom if it isn’t already running and then start a meeting with your default settings.
Note that the first time you launch the application, it will ask for some permissions on Catalina, and you’ll have to go into System Preferences > Security and Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility and tick the box for “My Zoom Room.”
Bonus: Create a global keyboard shortcut

Open Automator

Create a new document of type “Quick Action” (formerly called Services)

Drag in a “Run AppleScript” action and type in:
on run
    tell application "My Zoom Room" to activate
end run

Adjust the Quick Action image and colour if you want, and save it as “Open my Zoom Room.”
It should look something like this:

Now open up System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts. Go to “Services” and scroll until you see “Open my Zoom room.” Click to set a shortcut. I use Cmd-Ctrl-Opt-Z.

Done!
You can now press Cmd-Ctrl-Opt-Z anytime anywhere to launch your personal Zoom room, regardless of whether Zoom was already running or not.


Is there a way to group iCloud calendars so I can turn on/off several at once? For instance, I'm subscribed to 3 different sports teams calendar. Which is nice for me knowing when games are, but can be cluttering when I'm working. Now I know this is only 3 calendars so it's not a big deal to just uncheck them. But say I wanna add more.

Is there a way I can create a "sports" group or something and add them all in. I believe this feature used to exist, but now I'm on Yosemite and don't see anything like it.

If I understand you correctly, then here is the way to merge multiple Sports Events calendars in to your iCAL (calendar) on your Mac.

First choose which ones (one by one) and use download -Save to your Mac.

Once you have them all downloaded, Open your iCal (Calendar) on your Mac.

Under File choose Import.

Locate the downloaded file and click Import. Repeat for other events calendars.

In my test the result is as follows.


Is there an iOS 13 patch to fix the WebKit exploit fixed in 14.4.2? https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidphelan/2021/03/26/apple-releases-ios-1442-unexpected-update-with-urgent-security-fix/
Background information: iOS 14.4.2 fixes a bad WebKit flaw that's being actively exploited.
Is there an update to fix this exploit for iOS 13?

Apple only provide security updates for older iOS versions for devices that cannot be updated to the current iOS.
If your device is capable of running the current iOS, then your security update is in that latest update. No device is 'stuck' at iOS 13, so there will be no fix for that. The only way to get the security fix is to update to iOS 14.4.2
The last generation of devices, 'stuck' on iOS 12, received that security update in 12.5.2 yesterday.


Configure the OS X Server from .pkg postinstall script I make a .pkg-installer for a product that extends the Apache server in OS X.

From the postinstall script in the .pkg I'm currently able to configure the default setup of Yosemite and El Capitan, by adding a product.conf file in the /etc/apache2/other folder.

To load the new configuration I simply do the following from the postinstall script:

launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.httpd.plist #if not loaded
apachectl stop #if already started
apachectl start

Installing the OS X Server changes the way Apache is configured, so the above approach fails.
So, how can I configure the OS X Server from my postinstall script to do the same?

The automating of server.app components is quite trivial since you can use serveradmin to do the heavy lifting.

  sudo serveradmin start web;

Asking a service to start if it's already running is harmless/idempotent.

To fork between the Apache configured by the Server.app and the "normal state" do the following:

if serverinfo -q --software; then
   cp product.conf /Library/Server/Web/Config/apache2/other
   serveradmin stop web
   serveradmin start web
else
   cp product.conf /etc/apache2/other
   launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.httpd.plist
   apachectl stop #if already started
   apachectl start
fi


An Automator workflow for extracting text as speech from PDF files I get PDFs to revise course content which I want to convert to MP3 files and take with me as spoken audio.

Automator offers 'text to speech' conversion and it's great. When I try and build a workflow around it, seemingly everything happens except what I need.

I want, as a folder action:

To extract the text from a PDF dropped on the relevant folder
To get this text turned into spoken audio
To provide details for iTunes
Import this into a playlist of my choosing

I currently have variations on this sequence, which does not work:

Extract PDF Text, save
Convert text to Audio, save
Import Audio
Give iTunes info
Add title to PlayList

Currently the PDF text gets extracted, doesn't end up where I expect, and the script then seems to hang on generating the audio. Simple TextEdit documents work fine.

What's wrong?

(This question is a continuation of one I asked yesterday: here)

While Automator is pretty useful, I personally find the Terminal / command line a nice place to solve problems like this.

The basic idea is still using the steps you describe, but doing all the work from the command line. I researched a useful PDF-to-Text converter, and I found PDFminer quite useful. If you can get it to run, half of your work is done!

pip install pdfminer

Step one and two, then can be solved with this one-liner in Terminal:

pdf2txt.py example.pdf | say -v Daniel -o example.aiff

Still missing is the addition of metadata — what do you need here: Title / Album / "Artist"?

In a final step, you would add the file to a certain iTunes playlist. Depending on your ideal workflow, one then could build a little LaunchAgent that monitors a folder for new files...


How to fix a distorted "File and Folder" view after upgrading to Mountain Lion and deletng Houdini? When I had Lion, I used Houdini to show hidden files and folders. But after I upgraded my OS to Mountain Lion, it seems like Houdini is not working correctly. So I deleted Houdini.

But now it seems like my files and folders in Finder are distorted (see image below). I'm not sure if this because of Houdini or because of Mountain Lion bugs.

I already tried sort by name, it sorted at the moment. But when I reopened the same folder, the file back distorted.

How can I fix it?

The files are not "distorted"; they just are not arranged in rows. When you have the files in icon view, you can arrange them however you like.

If you want to have a particular window arranged by name, you can press ⌘J to bring up the inspector pane, then select the criteria you want to "sort by"


Script Editor crashing when running Applescript I need to extract the phone number of all the contacts in a particular group and for that I am using the following code -

on run {input, parameters}
    tell application "Contacts"
        set thePeople to every person
        repeat with i from 1 to number of items in thePeople
            set this_person to item i of thePeople
            set inGroup to name of group of this_person
            if inGroup is "Technology" then
                set x to properties of phones of this_person
            end if
        end repeat
    end tell
end run

But whenever I run the code, the script editor crashes and asks me to reopen it even though I have only one contact in that group. What's happening here?

Try:

tell application "Contacts"
    set inGroup to first group whose name = "Technology"
    set phoneProps to properties of phones of inGroup's people
end tell


Set position of icon in dock without pinning I like to organise the icons in my dock, but I do not always like to display icons for applications that are not open – quite a clutter when you're setting the position of many icons.

Is there any way to ensure that an application's icon will always be in a set position but only when the application is open?

No...   I am pretty sure you cannot do this.

Icons that are not "pinned" to the dock for easy access are populated from left to right in the order that you launch the corresponding application.

What is in the dock is specified by the dock preferences file, and by managed settings (MCX) if the machine is connected to an Open Directory server.

If an application is listed in one of these settings locations, its icon will appear in the dock, whether the application is running or not.  If it is not in one of these settings locations, the application icon _will_not_ appear in the dock until it is launched.

It is possible i suppose that there is a third party utility that is capable of what you are asking, but it is not something that the stock Dock in OS X can do.

Sorry...  It sure would be cool.

Have you thought about using auto-hide on the dock...???

Set up your icons where you want them, and then set the dock to auto-hide.  Then you don't see it at all, until you mouse over the edge of the screen...   It's not quite the same...  you would still have to deal with the clutter of icons while trying to switch programs...


Mystery application? Okay, so I was watching a WWDC video a while ago, and they were doing a demonstration on how to implement some code into your app...

And as they were demonstrating the code, the guy who was doing the demo was pulling blocks of code from a small window in the bottom right corner of the screen.

I thought that this would be a useful application to have (as I am an apple developer myself) and I thought it would save me a lot of time...

The only problem is I have no idea what this application is called and so do not have any information about it...

All I know is that the WWDC video is called "Optimize your earning power with iAd" and that the application in question is shown at 37:50 in the aforementioned video.

If someone could point me in the right direction as to where I should start my search I would be most thankful...

The little text snippet application they are using is called DemoMonkey. It's actually a sample code project on developer.apple.com from 2010.


How to create multi-field dialog box in AppleScript (to request time from user)? I have an Automator Application that I would like to ask the user to enter a time of the user's choosing.

Ideally, I would like the dialog box to have three fields:

1) Hour field

2) Minutes field

3) Period (p.m. or a.m.)

Fields one and two are enterable by the user and there is a colon in between the two fields. Field three is a simple drop-down list and the user must select one of the two options.

I would also like the AppleScript to check that whatever text is typed in the hour and minutes fields comports to the standards of time, and if it does not, then an error message is presented and the user must enter the text again. (I.e., the text entered in the first field must be a single-digit number between 1 and 12 and the text entered in the second field must be a two-digit number between 00 and 60.)

I know that all of this can be accomplished in three separate dialog boxes, but I really would prefer to have it all completed in one dialog box (for the sake of presenting the user with a convenient UI).

I am not very proficient in AppleScript, so this project is extremely ambitious for me. Can this be accomplished in AppleScript?

If this behavior is not possible AppleScript, can someone recommend a similar alternative language in which this kind of dialog box is possible?

Thank you.

It can't be done in AppleScript.

However, I did find this workaround, where text entered on each line of one field is interpreted as a separate answer:

-- multiple input dialog

on run -- example
    set {firstName, lastName} to (inputItems for {"• First Name", "• Last Name"} with title given prompt:"Enter the following items separated by a carriage return:")
    display dialog "First Name:  \"" & firstName & "\"" & return & "Last Name:  \"" & lastName & "\""
end run

to inputItems for someItems given title:theTitle, prompt:thePrompt
    (*
    displays a dialog for multiple item entry - a carriage return is used between each input item
    for each item in someItems, a line of text is displayed in the dialog and a line is reserved for the input
        the number of items returned are padded or truncated to match the number of items in someItems
    to fit the size of the dialog, items should be limited in length (~30) and number (~15)
        parameters -        someItems [list/integer]: a list or count of items to get from the dialog
                        theTitle [boolean/text]: use a default or the given dialog title
                        thePrompt [boolean/text]: use a default or the given prompt text
        returns [list]:     a list of the input items
    *)
    if thePrompt is in {true, false} then -- "with" or "without" prompt
        if thePrompt then
            set thePrompt to "Input the following items:" & return & return -- default
        else
            set thePrompt to ""
        end if
    else -- fix up the prompt a bit
        set thePrompt to thePrompt & return & return
    end if

    if theTitle is in {true, false} then if theTitle then -- "with" or "without" title
        set theTitle to "Multiple Input Dialog" -- default
    else
        set theTitle to ""
    end if

    if class of someItems is integer then -- no item list
        set {theCount, someItems} to {someItems, ""}
        if thePrompt is not "" then set thePrompt to text 1 thru -2 of thePrompt
    else
        set theCount to (count someItems)
    end if
    if theCount is less than 1 then error "inputItems handler:  empty input list"
    set {theItems, theInput} to {{}, {}}

    repeat theCount times -- set the number of lines in the input
        set the end of theInput to ""
    end repeat
    set {tempTID, AppleScript's text item delimiters} to {AppleScript's text item delimiters, return}
    set {someItems, theInput} to {someItems as text, theInput as text}
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to tempTID

    set theInput to paragraphs of text returned of (display dialog thePrompt & someItems with title theTitle default answer theInput)

    repeat with anItem from 1 to theCount -- pad/truncate entered items
        try
            set the end of theItems to (item anItem of theInput)
        on error
            set the end of theItems to ""
        end try
    end repeat
    return theItems
end inputItems


Rolling back Apple Watch G0 I have a 0th gen Apple Watch, which is getting incredibly slow these days. Is there any way I can roll this back to older WatchOS, even WatchOS 1?

No, there's no way to downgrade Apple Watch software to earlier releases.


Can I contact my friends to post reviews for my app in the App Store? I am releasing a new app to the App Store, and I think that I would be great if I can contact my friends to post reviews on the app. But Apple says that developers that attempt to fake reviews will be expelled from the Developer Program, as indicated in App Store Review Guidelines rule 3.10. However, I also saw an article on the Web that recommends the approach of contacting your friends and acquaintances to post a review on the App Store for your app (thinkapps.com/blog/launch/create-successful-app-4-ways-grow-users, in section Where to Start/Launch/Step 1). So will I be expelled from the Developer Program if I contact my friends to post reviews for my app? Thanks very much.

I think if all you're doing is telling your friends about your app and encouraging them to post honest reviews in the App Store, that's probably fine.

If, however, you were trying to get your friends who'd never even used the app to positively review it in the App Store, that would probably be considered a breach of that rule.


iPhone 4 restart when the lock button is broken My iPhone 4 suddenly just crashed and turned itself off - without any Message. I've tried to plug it in to my PC, but I can't get my iPhone to power up. The Apple logo appears for about 3 seconds, and then it disappears - it happens consistently. My lock button is also broken, so I can't reboot it.

How can I power the device up?

Plugging a phone into a computer or power source via the usb cable will power it on, even if it is off – your phone is in need of repair or replacement.

I've seen the apple logo appearing for a few seconds and then phone dying several times with dead phones. I've fixed countless phones, but I don't have a concrete answer for this problem other than it being related to the motherboard in your phone and the solution is a replacement (replacement part more than value of the phone)