Do network operations complete if you tap the lock button? If an iPhone app is in the middle of a network operation (e.g., downloading email in Mail,  loading a web page in Safari, posting a photo in Path, upgrading apps via the App store) and I tap the lock button to blank the screen, will the network operation complete? Or will it suspend the operation and only resume it when I tap the lock button again?

More generally, what happens to a running app when I tap the lock button?

The button on top is not a power button.  It's a lock button which informs the OS to turn off the display to save power and to prevent accidental touch input, but the rest of the device keeps running.  Apps continue to run for a short while after the display and touchscreen is powered off, from a few seconds for most apps, to several minutes, and even longer for a few specific types of apps, such as background music players and VOIP apps under iOS 4 and newer.  Some GPS logging apps can also continue to run in the background as well.

Some newer networking apps request a few minute to complete operations in the background, but not all older apps could or did.  So it depends on the iOS version, the particular app and version of that app.


Yosemite DNS "cannot resolve host" I am not able to get my MacBook Air to resolve any hosts.

I've tried reinstalling Yosemite from recovery, unloading and reloading the mDNSResponder to no avail. An nslookup of www.google.com using 8.8.8.8 resolves correctly. I've tried different WiFi networks and disabling and re-enabling the WiFi. I don't know what else to try. I did an ifconfig and it did not show any name severs

Usually it is recommended to use public DNS servers like Google 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 in situation like this.

You can delete any other DNS in your syst pref Networks- DNS or make sure the Google is at the top of the list.

If you want to get in to the DNS then use a little app called namebench which will analyze and recommend to you the best (fastest) DNS server. I have used the namebench and followed its recommendation and yes, my loading of the web pages is faster.


RAM upgrade – iMac Mid 2011 I’ve got an iMac Mid 2011 with 4GB RAM preinstalled (2 x 2GB) and want to upgrade to 12GB.
Is it ok to add a single 8GB RAM or is it better to add 2 x 4GB?

Single DIMMs might not be supported, depending on the model of iMac you have. According to this Apple KB:

  Additional notes i5 and i7 Quad Core iMac computers come with both top memory slots populated. These computers will not start up if only
  a single DIMM is installed in any bottom slot; these computers should
  operate normally with a single DIMM installed in any top slot. Core
  Duo iMac computers should operate normally with a single DIMM
  installed in any slot, top or bottom. ("Top" and "bottom" slots refer
  to the orientation of the slots in the pictures below. "Top" refers to
  the slots closest to the display; "bottom" refers to the slots closest
  to the stand)

As a side note, 8GB DIMMS are not officially supported - only 2 or 4 GB SO-DIMMs. However, according to this OWC page, 8GB DIMMs do work (4 x 8GB).


iPad volume isn't working My nan's iPad volume isn't working. She asked me why and I'm not sure why it could be as the volume is turned up and she can hear her music but she goes on to Snapchat and she can't hear anything but when she uses her headset she can hear.

Can she change the volume with the buttons on the side?

If so, it should have to do with the other side button (which is set to either rotation lock or mute/unmute ringtone in the settings app) being set to mute/unmute ringtone and being switched to mute. Try flipping that button, it should fix it :).

If not, I have no idea or advice.


How to turn off iPhone 5 Edge/GPRS? My friend has just got an iPhone 5 for the first time and she is having problem with turning off the EDGE/GPRS connection.

She would turn off 3G connection in the setting but there seems to be nowhere to turn off EDGE or GPRS.

go to :

Settings
General
Cellular

Set cellular data to OFF


Applescript or Shell rename a file? The following is the code I have, however, it doesn't let me choose the extension I want to save it as. How can I save the file as a ".plist" ?

do shell script "echo '{ Filter = { Bundles = ( \"'" & proj & "'\" ); }; }' >> ~/Desktop/gametocheat/" & proj & " "

You need to use a tool that can write a plist such as defaults.

defaults write ~/Desktop/gametocheat/my.cheat.preference '{ "Filter" = { "Bundles" = (foo); }; }';


iMac randomly logging out (High Sierra and Mojave) For the last month or so, my mac has been randomly logging out overnight. When I come back in the morning, it's at the login screen and all my applications need to restart. I know it's not a full reboot because my uptime steadily increases and when I run last reboot or last shutdown they are days ago.
I've tried examining the logs, and it looks like perhaps com.apple.WindowServer is crashing. I'm not sure if that's a consistent symptom though (or why it would crash, and only overnight - never while I'm actively working).
Running on an iMac, using macOS Mojave (although also happened on High Sierra).
Logs: https://pastebin.com/1nnZPNcC
Of note, the point where the logout happens starts with:

Oct 18 05:26:02 Christophers-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.WindowServer[99537]): Service exited due to SIGABRT
Oct 18 05:26:02 Christophers-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.ViewBridgeAuxiliary[98359]): Service exited with abnormal code: 2
Oct 18 05:26:04 Christophers-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.ViewBridgeAuxiliary): Service only ran for 1 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 9 seconds.
Oct 18 05:26:04 Christophers-iMac sessionlogoutd[98360]: DEAD_PROCESS: 99533 console

TLDR: In my case, SwitchResX seems to be the culprit. Didn't look for a workaround yet.

I just experienced the same logout, with similar logs:

Jun  2 15:21:55 Trema syslogd[48]: ASL Sender Statistics
Jun  2 15:24:07 Trema com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.quicklook[8406]): Endpoint has been activated through legacy launch(3) APIs. Please switch to XPC or bootstrap_check_in(): com.apple.quicklook
Jun  2 15:24:35 Trema com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.WindowServer[205]): Service exited due to SIGABRT
Jun  2 15:24:35 Trema VDCAssistant[203]: BUG in libdispatch client: mach_recv, monitored resource vanished before the source cancel handler was invoked { 0x7fb4e8c0b840[source], ident: 6191 / 0x182f, handler: 0x107f6fa6c }
Jun  2 15:24:35 Trema com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.ViewBridgeAuxiliary[8527]): Service exited with abnormal code: 2
Jun  2 15:24:35 Trema com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.ViewBridgeAuxiliary): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.
Jun  2 15:24:35 Trema sessionlogoutd[8526]: DEAD_PROCESS: 102 console
Jun  2 15:24:35 Trema com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.UserEventAgent-Aqua[606]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by UserEventAgent[606]
Jun  2 15:24:35 Trema com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.WebKit.WebContent.BE261D11-9005-48E6-9B64-31D068C12BB4[4827]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1
Jun  2 15:24:35 Trema com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.WebKit.WebContent.5B14717F-EC42-44AC-BE76-917F52D439A9[4829]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1
Jun  2 15:24:35 Trema com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.adobe.GC.AGM[1366]): Service exited with abnormal code: 15
Jun  2 15:24:35 Trema com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.Dock.agent[662]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1

As suggested by @Ruskes, I ran the command sudo log show --start "2020-06-02 15:24:00" --info --debug --signpost and saw these interesting lines:

2020-06-02 15:24:34.477103+0200 0x4a3      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (AppleIntelFramebufferAzul) Unsupported Extended capabilities type: 0x100
2020-06-02 15:24:34.477135+0200 0x4a3      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (AppleIntelFramebufferAzul) Currently unsupported feature requested
2020-06-02 15:24:34.477171+0200 0x4a3      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (AppleIntelFramebufferAzul) Currently unsupported feature requested
2020-06-02 15:24:34.477203+0200 0x4a3      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (AppleIntelFramebufferAzul) Currently unsupported feature requested
2020-06-02 15:24:34.477238+0200 0x4a3      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (AppleIntelFramebufferAzul) Currently unsupported feature requested
2020-06-02 15:24:34.477272+0200 0x4a3      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (AppleIntelFramebufferAzul) Currently unsupported feature requested
2020-06-02 15:24:34.477300+0200 0x4a3      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (AppleIntelFramebufferAzul) Currently unsupported feature requested
2020-06-02 15:24:34.480826+0200 0x4a3      Error       0x0                  205    7    WindowServer: (CoreDisplay) [com.apple.CoreDisplay:default] [ERROR] - Driver bug - rowBytes too small. Display 0x1c81a9e2, ioModeID 0x80005000, ioModeDepth 0x0, bytePerRow = 32, width = 1, bitsPerPixel = 32, minRowBytes = 7680 stored width = 1920. Forcing minRowBytes (possibly still wrong).
2020-06-02 15:24:34.480844+0200 0x4a3      Error       0x0                  205    7    WindowServer: (CoreDisplay) [com.apple.CoreDisplay:default] [ERROR] - Driver bug - rowBytes too small. Display 0x1c81a9e2, ioModeID 0x80005001, ioModeDepth 0x0, bytePerRow = 32, width = 1, bitsPerPixel = 32, minRowBytes = 4096 stored width = 1024. Forcing minRowBytes (possibly still wrong).
2020-06-02 15:24:34.480858+0200 0x4a3      Error       0x0                  205    7    WindowServer: (CoreDisplay) [com.apple.CoreDisplay:default] [ERROR] - Driver bug - rowBytes too small. Display 0x1c81a9e2, ioModeID 0x80005002, ioModeDepth 0x0, bytePerRow = 32, width = 1, bitsPerPixel = 32, minRowBytes = 4096 stored width = 1024. Forcing minRowBytes (possibly still wrong).
2020-06-02 15:24:34.480872+0200 0x4a3      Error       0x0                  205    7    WindowServer: (CoreDisplay) [com.apple.CoreDisplay:default] [ERROR] - Driver bug - rowBytes too small. Display 0x1c81a9e2, ioModeID 0x80005003, ioModeDepth 0x0, bytePerRow = 32, width = 1, bitsPerPixel = 32, minRowBytes = 3200 stored width = 800. Forcing minRowBytes (possibly still wrong).
2020-06-02 15:24:34.480886+0200 0x4a3      Error       0x0                  205    7    WindowServer: (CoreDisplay) [com.apple.CoreDisplay:default] [ERROR] - Driver bug - rowBytes too small. Display 0x1c81a9e2, ioModeID 0x80005004, ioModeDepth 0x0, bytePerRow = 32, width = 1, bitsPerPixel = 32, minRowBytes = 3200 stored width = 800. Forcing minRowBytes (possibly still wrong).
2020-06-02 15:24:34.480900+0200 0x4a3      Error       0x0                  205    7    WindowServer: (CoreDisplay) [com.apple.CoreDisplay:default] [ERROR] - Driver bug - rowBytes too small. Display 0x1c81a9e2, ioModeID 0x80005005, ioModeDepth 0x0, bytePerRow = 32, width = 1, bitsPerPixel = 32, minRowBytes = 2560 stored width = 640. Forcing minRowBytes (possibly still wrong).
2020-06-02 15:24:34.480913+0200 0x4a3      Error       0x0                  205    7    WindowServer: (CoreDisplay) [com.apple.CoreDisplay:default] [ERROR] - Driver bug - rowBytes too small. Display 0x1c81a9e2, ioModeID 0x80005006, ioModeDepth 0x0, bytePerRow = 32, width = 1, bitsPerPixel = 32, minRowBytes = 2560 stored width = 640. Forcing minRowBytes (possibly still wrong).

[...]

2020-06-02 15:24:35.254853+0200 0x4a3      Default     0x0                  205    7    WindowServer: (CoreDisplay) [com.apple.CoreDisplay:default] [WARN] - description_for_mode_number: Illegal mode number -1 for display 003f003f
2020-06-02 15:24:35.255600+0200 0x269      Default     0x0                  102    5    loginwindow: [com.apple.loginwindow.logging:Standard] -[LoginApp windowServerExited] | enter
2020-06-02 15:24:35.255630+0200 0x4c6      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (AppleIntelFramebufferAzul) Transitioning wsaa from 1->0
2020-06-02 15:24:35.255684+0200 0x269      Default     0x0                  102    5    loginwindow: [com.apple.loginwindow.logging:LWError] -[LoginApp windowServerExited] | ERROR | Window Server exited, closing down the session immediately
2020-06-02 15:24:35.255886+0200 0xd90d     Default     0x0                  664    0    SystemUIServer: (HIToolbox) HIToolbox: received notification of WindowServer event port death.
2020-06-02 15:24:35.255930+0200 0xd90d     Default     0x0                  664    0    SystemUIServer: (HIToolbox) port matched the WindowServer port created in BindCGSToRunLoop
2020-06-02 15:24:35.256039+0200 0x269      Default     0x0                  102    5    loginwindow: [com.apple.loginwindow.logging:Standard] -[SessionLogoutManager startDirectLogout:reason:] | Enter, logoutType: Logout,  directLogoutReason:WindowServerExited
2020-06-02 15:24:35.256041+0200 0x269      Default     0x0                  102    5    loginwindow: [com.apple.loginwindow.logging:Standard] -[SessionLogoutManager startDirectLogout:reason:] | Window server exit, calling doDirectLogoutFinalItemsBeforeSessionLogoutd
2020-06-02 15:24:35.256050+0200 0xd906     Default     0x0                  661    0    talagent: (HIToolbox) HIToolbox: received notification of WindowServer event port death.
2020-06-02 15:24:35.256096+0200 0xd906     Default     0x0                  661    0    talagent: (HIToolbox) port matched the WindowServer port created in BindCGSToRunLoop
2020-06-02 15:24:35.256113+0200 0xd7fe     Default     0x0                  624    0    Google Chrome: (HIToolbox) HIToolbox: received notification of WindowServer event port death.
2020-06-02 15:24:35.256124+0200 0x269      Default     0x0                  102    5    loginwindow: [com.apple.loginwindow.logging:Standard] -[SessionLogoutManager doDirectLogoutFinalItemsBeforeSessionLogoutd] | enter
2020-06-02 15:24:35.256154+0200 0xd7fe     Default     0x0                  624    0    Google Chrome: (HIToolbox) port matched the WindowServer port created in BindCGSToRunLoop
2020-06-02 15:24:35.256200+0200 0x65e31    Default     0x0                  8184   0    ProtonMail Bridge: (HIToolbox) HIToolbox: received notification of WindowServer event port death.
2020-06-02 15:24:35.256214+0200 0x269      Default     0x0                  102    5    loginwindow: [com.apple.loginwindow.logging:Standard] -[SessionLogoutManager doCommonFinalItems] | enter
2020-06-02 15:24:35.256216+0200 0x269      Signpost    0x0                  102    0    [spid excl, process, event] loginwindow: [com.apple.loginwindow.logging:performance_instrumentation] Dock_Dies

I have two external displays, and use SwitchResX to adjust one screen's display to force a retina-like 1440p density over 1080p (connected by HDMI), and another screen (through VGA-MiniDisplay adapter) is simply at 1080p.

The first errors in the detailed logs seems related to SwitchResX's custom resolutions (note the 1920, 1024, 800…), as it registers potentially unsupported resolutions.

For now, I deduce that this triggers WindowServer failure, then logouts, but didn't find a workaround yet.

Any input appreciated!


Is it possible to do a factory reset of iPhone 5 and keep iOS 6? I have an iPhone 5 that is currently running iOS 6. I do not want to update the phone to iOS 8, but would like to back up the phone's texts, reset the phone, and restore the texts onto the phone.

I don't want to restore the phone from a full backup since I only want to restore texts and contacts, nothing else on the phone. Is it possible to use iTunes to do this without updating the operating system and if so is there anything I should watch out for? Otherwise, is there some other third party application that I could use instead?

You cannot reset your phone, or it will need you to change to latest iOS 8. Apple doesn't sign old iOS versions which means it's impossible to restore an old iOS version.
If you want to just wipe the texts and contacts, that's an easier task.

If you have ever synced your iPhone with iTunes, you just need to sync it in the following fashion:

if you usually sync the contacts and texts, you could uncheck the contacts and texts sync and erase those manually.
if you don't usually use iTunes, or need a faster approach to delete everything, I'd recommend using iTools PC/Mac app. (Just Google it).

Finally, you should use a blank space wipe tool (such as Battery Doctor) to assure that no erased data remains on the device.


Upgrading SSD on 2015 MacBook Pro I'm about to buy a 15" Macbook Pro with 512 GB SSD. Does anyone know if it is possible to upgrade the SSD after I have bought it?

Is it possible?

Yes.

The question is can you get a drive to upgrade to?

Apple uses a "proprietary PCIe 2.0 x4" interface for their storage.  There are SSDs out there that match the specs (like this Samsung on Amazon), but for some reason they are not compatible

So, bottom line....

Yes, you can upgrade it, but only with a genuine Apple SSD (at this point).  Your best bet is to get the most you can afford now because there is zero cost savings plus the added headache of disassembly/reassembly.  IMO, it just isn't worth it.


Hardware issue on iMac, flashing question mark I have an iMac 2008/2009 issue and recently the computer would not boot and I would get a flashing question mark. Ran through all the usual steps, try boot in safe mode, flash RAM,  try single user for fdisk, put in OS disk and boot from CD, etc... No dice.

Replaced the hard drive and put the OS disc in the system, press and hold option. (holding C didn't work) I can see the OS disk but when I click on it the system will act like it is going to run and then freeze. The best I got was the OS X disc that changed the screen to dark grey and told be the system had to restart.

Purchased a usb mount for an external hard drive. Was able to mount the old hard drive to a laptop and run disk utility. Everything checked out.

At this point I am pretty sure it isn't the hard drive.

Any other hard ware items this can point too? My iMAC can also "see" the hard drive (and the recovery partition) when connected via the USB and I hold "option" on start up. But it crashes when trying to boot from either.

I am going to take out and re-install the RAM for giggles but I am not sure what else to do.

Ideas are welcome.

If you see a folder with a question mark appear instead of the Apple logo, it means your Mac couldn't find a local or network-based startup disk. This can happen if the disk selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences isn't available. Wait a few seconds to see if your Mac is able to locate the startup disk you specified.

If you still see a question mark after waiting a few seconds, use Startup Manager to start up your Mac, then select your startup disk from System Preferences.

If a question mark appears after you install a software update, select your startup disk again using macOS Recovery (Power off Mac, then power it on while holding Command+R until you see the Apple logo).

Reference: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204156


App Store and Mavericks I run 10.8.5 on one of my Macs, because some of the software I use doesn't seem to get on well with Mavericks.

Is there any way of stopping App Store from repeatedly asking me to update to Mavericks? In general I appreciate the update suggestions from App Store, but not this one.

You could purchase (for want of a better word) Mavericks from the app store, and just pause the download, or let it download and then bin the installer (you can get it back later).


After Updating Mac to 10.13.5 Guest User Account Appeared? After updating to 10.13.5 i have disabled guest user earlier . It reappeared again is it normal or some malware there ?

The Guest User must be enabled [& will do so automatically] if Find My Mac is enabled.

From the Users & Groups pref pane Help file

  Guest access works with the Find My Mac feature of iCloud to help you find your Mac if you lose it. You can locate your Mac if someone finds it, logs in as a guest, and then uses Safari to access the Internet. See Use Find My Mac.


Checking if a driver is loaded for a device I'm trying to get a Hauppauge Nova-T USB dongle working under OS X El Capitan. I found an unofficial driver installer and a program to watch television using this dongle, but the program is not detecting it.

In Windows, I know I can go to Device Manager to check if a driver has been loaded for a certain device. How can I verify if a driver was loaded? I've already verified that the dongle was detected using ioreg -p IOUSB:

+-o Nova-T Stick@14100000  <class AppleUSBDevice, id 0x10001c71e, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (12 ms), retain 11>

List all loaded drivers:

sudo kextstat

You may also use it with grep like sudo kextstat |grep defyne


Sync iPhone Without Charging Title says it all. Is there a way to sync an iPhone with iTunes (tethered) without charging it concurrently?

An answer below indicated that this was possible by either modifying or purchasing a modified sync cable. If anyone knows how to do either one, please feel free to answer.

It will likely depend on the pins you are using on the iPhone end. A modified cable should be able to cut the charge sense portion of the signal (or otherwise manipulate the call for charge signal) while allowing the sync portion of the USB signal to pass.


Can I use both Mac mini display ports at the same time and which adapters do I need? If I have two DVI monitors that are exactly alike, could I connect them both to the same Mac mini and extend the desktop using both displays? Can I use both the HDMI and Thunderbolt ports at the same time, and if so, what adapters do I need?

Presumably, there is such a thing as a HDMI to DVI adapter, but what about Thunderbolt? I see that the connector of the Mini Display port to DVI adapter has the same shape as the Thunderbolt port, but will the Mini Display port to DVI adapter work? Thanks for the advice.

You can indeed use both the HDMI and Thunderbolt ports to drive two separate monitors with a Mac Mini.

Any Mac with a Thunderbolt port can use any mini Displayport display, cable or adapter, so you're correct that the mDP to DVI adapter is what you need1. If you have a display that requires dual-link DVI (typically only monitors with resolutions higher than 1920x1200), you'll need an active mDP to dual-link DVI adapter.

For the HDMI port, HDMI to DVI adapters are readily available (HDMI is essentially a superset of DVI with a different connector). Note that the HDMI port is limited to monitors with 1920x1200 or lower resolution.

1 Note that the reverse is not true - Thunderbolt monitors can't be used with mDP equipped Macs.


How to prevent Safari 6.0.2 unexpected crashes in Mountain Lion? A few users from a website I've designed are complaining about Safari 6.0.2 on their Macs (Mountain Lion, mostly) crashing unexpectedly. In a recent case, a user recorded this screencast using no browser extensions, nor any other tabs: it took only a few seconds for Safari to crash (here's the crash report). A quick Google search will reveal loads of similar cases, but none of them seems to provide enough information on the issue, or any potential solution at all. Any idea on what's causing this or how to avoid it? My intention is to prevent Safari 6.0.2 from crashing, as soon as possible.

Open the Terminal app (found in /Applications/Utilties/).
Copy the following as one line (from “curl” through “.pkg”) and paste it into the Terminal window after the “$ ” prompt:

curl -O http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/37/23/041-5058/lr5tynbldi18zcrqo8a8uq88 rnjushqliu/Safari6Lion.pkg

then hit return.

You should see it count down the time. When it stops, look in your home folder (the one with the little house and your user name) for “Safari6Lion.pkg”. Double-click to launch the installer.

Here is an alternative solution that seems to be working for several users, especially those who have somehow managed to install more than one WebKit framework:

Open Finder and navigate to:
/System/Library/StagedFrameworks/Safari/ Drag WebKit.framework to
the trash
Run software update and install Safari > do not launch safari after
    it is installed
Restart computer
Launch Safari

Let's try!


Finder not showing Windows server networks We have a network with 40 machines and all of our machines are showing in Finder except for our Windows Server 2011 which is not showing under network computers in Finder.

I can connect using Go -> Connection to server -> smb://ipaddress but I'm wondering if there is a way to get it to also show as a machine in the list.

Have you added each Mac to the Windows workgroup?

System Preferences > Network
Select the relevant network interface from the sidebar (Ethernet, Wifi etc)
Click 'Advanced'
Click 'WINS'
Enter the name of the Windows workgroup in 'Workgroup:'
Click the + button and enter the IP address of your Windows server in place of 0.0.0.0
Click 'OK' and 'Apply'


Special Characters Suddenly Won't Insert I've frequently used Special Characters, accessed with Command ⌘+Option ⌥+T, and have been able to insert characters into text fields by double-clicking them. However, this has stopped working. I can still bring up the Special Characters window and navigate through it, but double-clicking an entry only adds it to the Recently Used section - it doesn't actually insert them into the focused text field. The window also seems to act as if it's not in focus, as the various UI elements inside the window are highlighted with grey rather than blue. Clicking inside the window does not focus it, and clicking on the title bar only focuses the title bar, and not the rest of the window, as can be seen below:

Do any of you have an idea as to what might be the cause of this? As far as I'm aware I haven't changed anything between when it worked and when it stopped working.

I had this exact same issue, and user Tom Gewecke's advice seems to have fixed it for me. I simply removed two plist files in ~/Library/Preferences, and then rebooted. The files were com.apple.CharacterPicker.plist and com.apple.CharacterPaletteIM.plist. I don't know which of those files had the issue, but after removing them and rebooting they've regenerated, and everything's good again.

If you're comfortable with Terminal

You probably know how to move files around, just move these two somewhere else, or rename them:

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.CharacterPaletteIM.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.CharacterPicker.plist

If you just want something you can copy and paste, here you go:

mv ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.CharacterPaletteIM.plist{,-backup}
mv ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.CharacterPicker.plist{,-backup}

Reboot after this, and fingers crossed, it will work for you again.

If you're not so comfortable with Terminal

Open up a Finder window and press Shift ⌘ G (Shift Command G), then type ~/Library/Preferences/, and press Enter. There will be many files in that folder, you're looking for the ones called com.apple.CharacterPaletteIM.plist and com.apple.CharacterPicker.plist. When you find them, you can probably just remove them, but it's always a good idea to back them up. Just move them to another folder or something.

When you've done that, reboot your computer, and see if the Special Characters window works again.


MacBook Misidentifies Physical Layout of Built-in Keyboard I have a really strange problem with my sister's MacBook Pro (Mid 2012, running El Capitan): it is incorrectly identifying the physical layout of the built-in keyboard. It isn't just a matter of mapping the buttons to characters incorrectly; the diagram shown in "Keyboard Viewer" actually shows more physical buttons than exist on the keyboard.
Note: see the update at the end for the current status.
The physical keyboard appears to be the correct US English version, and it is called "U.S." in the "Input Sources" preferences pane — but here's a screenshot of what Keyboard Viewer thinks it physically looks like:

The problems become more obvious with Shift pressed:

Thanks to Wikipedia-ing (and a helpful clue from the yen symbol), I think this is showing the Japanese Industrial Standard layout, but I don't actually read any East Asian alphabets, so I'm less than 100% confident.
My goal is to get the layout recognized as standard US QWERTY, either (preferably) by actually getting OS X to believe it is one, or by re-mapping the keys it believes it has. I've read Create and use your own input source, but so far without success. I think my issue may be that the characters it wants to map from are the Japanese(?) ones rather than the ASCII ones.
Interestingly, I tried booting from a Ubuntu USB, and it recognized the keyboard with no problems. On the other hand, the layout was still incorrect when I booted from the OS X recovery partition.
Any advice on how to correct this would be very greatly appreciated!

Update 1:
Inspired by Tom Gewecke's answer below, I tried re-setting the SMC, which has changed things. Probably the fastest way to describe it is with two new screenshots (taken with the "U.S." input source):

With no keys pressed:
With Shift pressed:

As you can see, it's not Japanese anymore, but it also still doesn't match the layout of the physical keyboard. In Keyboard Viewer:

The diagram shows a key with § and ± to the left of the 1/!
key. but the actual keyboard has a key marked `/~. When I press this key, Keyboard Viewer shows it as a press to the `/~ key between the z and left shift keys (there is no physical key between z and shift.
The diagram shows a vertical return/enter key and an extra \/| key at the right-hand side of the home row, between '/" and enter. The actual keyboard has a horizontal enter on the home row and has the \/| key as the last key on the QWERTY row, to the right of ]/}. Again, Keyboard Viewer shows a press of the physical \/| as a press of its misplaced key.

So, for practical purposes, this is a huge improvement, since the physical keys now all do what their keycaps say they do. On the other hand, something is clearly still wrong, since Keyboard viewer still has keys in the wrong place, keys that are the wrong shape, and one key in it's diagram (the §/± key) that isn't mapped to any to any physical key on the keyboard.
Update 2:
I've tried resetting the SMC a number of times; the resulting layout is always either JIS or ISO, but never ANSI, and I've yet to find any pattern that would allow me to predict which the result will be. More concerningly, even when I get an ISO layout by resetting the SMC, it will  revert to a JIS layout at some arbitrary point while using the system.
Update 3:
After a long delay, I recently gained access to this machine again. Following up on dan's comment, the keyboard is indeed showing the USB "product id" 0x0264, which appears to be the JIS variant for the MacbookPro10,1 (this model). Here's a screenshot:

You machine is mistaking the Keyboard Type.  See if this helps:

http://m10lmac.blogspot.com/2009/12/fixing-keyboard-type-problems.html

If nothing else works, try this Karabiner fix:

Change Mac Keyboard Identifier after keyboard replacement


Apple keeps asking me to accept the new iCloud terms and conditions A pop-up will appear on my phone asking me to accept the new terms and conditions. To turn off these notifications, I need to turn off iCloud. Unfortunately, when I go into my settings to turn off iCloud, it requires me to accept the new terms and conditions in order to even turn off iCloud!

Does anyone know another way around this? Thanks.

You could call apple care to turn off icloud for you. This would take a couple of hours to accomplish so I suggest you accept the  T&C and than log out from icloud via 'settings > icloud' like @Buscar said.


Size in bytes is significantly less ( half the size) then size in MB in get info window In the get info window it says 387,037,139 bytes which is 387 MB whereas the size on disk is 716.9MB which is 716,900,000 bytes.

du -sh paramgen  result (in MiB) 684M    paramgen

Why is there such a large difference?

387,037,139 bytes is the sum of the file lengths in bytes. A file however uses whole blocks on disk, hence even a one byte file takes one block. On the partition on which I tested this, a block is 4K. The “on disk” value is the number of blocks times the block size.

The difference between 684 and 716.9 is a factor of 1.024*1,024, that is the difference between the two possible meanings of megabyte.


All applications cannot open unless Internet is off I'm running macOS Catalina 10.15.7 and today I have a problem with starting up programs.
If I try to open any application from the Dock, it'll bounce forever, and in some cases freeze the screen entirely. On the other hand, if I turn my Wi-Fi off, everything opens instantly. So the only way I was able to type this message was to turn my Wi-Fi off, open Google Chrome, and turn the Wi-Fi back on. This is completely reproducible, I have basically a clean install of the OS, and doing the typical things like clearing PRAM didn't change anything.
The issue is very closely tied to having Internet. For example, if I have Wifi on but the internet is not working, then everything opens fine too.
I strongly suspect that macOS is doing something dumb, like waiting for a response from a slow server before allowing an application to open, possibly as part of its mandatory notarization. Mathematica is infamous for doing something very similar, but there's an option you can select to keep it from trying. Is there something similar for macOS?
This is indeed a widespread issue, currently climbing up on HN.

This issue has now been resolved by Apple. The original post is preserved below.

As of 8 pm UTC, Apple's notary service is having 'performance' issues according to Apple's status page, which may be slow enough performance to cause timeouts or simply lock macOS trying to communicate with the service.

Developer ID Notary Service - Performance
Today, 8:00 PM - ongoing
Some users are affected
Users may be experiencing issues with the service. We are working to resolve the problem.

Currently lots of people are installing the just-released macOS Big Sur and putting a lot of stress on Apple's servers, which may have been the cause of this issue.
Catalina's Gatekeeper verifies notarisation on every app when launching the app. This process requires confirmation from Apple before launching the app.
People on slow network connections have suffered from slow app launch since this was introduced. With Apple's servers slow due to the stress caused by everyone updating, the slowness has been moved to Apple's side, but it's still present, and exaggerated for most people.
With the notary service having issues, macOS is unable to contact this service. Since macOS detects a network connection, it keeps trying to communicate with the notary service, rather than giving up as it does when not connected to a network at all. When not connected to the network, macOS defers the check to next time the network is available and may still show a warning when launching apps.
A workaround is to disable AMFI (Apple Mobile File Integrity). This should be considered a last resort, as this disables a key security check on macOS. First, disable System Integrity Protection (csrutil disable from Recovery) to be able to set NVRAM values, then run
sudo nvram boot-args="amfi_get_out_of_my_way=0x1"

Don't forget to set this back at some point. Reset NVRAM by holding cmd+alt+P+R on boot until the second chime (or just that key with boot-args="") and re-enable SIP.


Is there any way to prevent an pop-up on any third-party apps on macOS (11.0.1)? After I bought an M1 MacBook and install iCleanmemory which I had used on other macs, I found that whenever the memory reaches a threshold, the pop-up shows up and I am forced to click OK to erase it.
This has not happened in my previous macs and there seems no setting on the app's preferences section to change the behavior. I'm not even sure why this happens, but anyway since it is so tedious to click it I would like to know if there is any way to prevent the pop-up on iCleanmemory, or more broadly, on any apps using system-level setting.

What you're calling "pop-up" are Notifications. They can be controlled for all apps that offer them in the Notifications Preference Pane of System Preferences.


El Capitan Safari Can't open localhost but 127.0.0.1 works 127.0.0.1   localhost
 255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
 ::1             localhost

This is my /etc/hosts configuration. I can use ip address 127.0.0.1 to open a loopback, but 'localhost' fails....
I have read these two posts:El Capitan Safari Can't open localhost
and
El Capitan Safari Can't open localhost, but none of the cases fits my problem.

The error message I got from Safari is

  Safari can’t open the page “localhost” because the server unexpectedly dropped the connection. This sometimes occurs when the server is busy. Wait for a few minutes, and then try again.

I also tried the localhost on Chrome, it gave me similar message...
Is there something wrong with setting alias?

After reading this post
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20345132/127-0-0-1-is-working-but-localhost-not-working

I figured it out that I only need to comment out ::1  localhost
then everything works fine


How to downgrade EFI firmware back to version 1.6 I'm trying to get a SATA III hard drive to work in my MacbookPro5,1. I think I've finally figured out that if I downgrade the EFI firmware to version 1.6, my computer will negotiate the link at SATA 1 speeds and the drive will work correctly. However, the instructions all point to a file that doesn't exist anymore. See this answer for the instructions where the file doesn't exist anymore.

Does anybody have a copy of the file aluminum.macbook.pro.recovery.dmg?

I finally managed to successfully downgrade the EFI firmware to version 1.6. Unfortunately that didn't make my hard drive work. However I'm going to reproduce my steps here so that the whole world can know what it takes:

Download the EFI firmware update package from Apple. Here is the link I used for firmware version 1.6 for my late-2008 MacbookPro5,1: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL746

WARNING! If you use the wrong firmware for you computer, bad things will almost certainly happen. This isn't my experience but it would probably brick your computer, meaning it will change from being a computer that can compute things to being a brick that just sits there. You have been warned!

The EFI firmware update 1.6 comes as a .pkg file. Since it won't extract for you unless your computer needs the update, you will have to extract it yourself. The best way I found to do this is with the app unpkg. When you extract the contents using unpkg you will end up with a folder "MacBookProFirmwareUpdate/Applications". Move the app "MacBookProFirmwareUpdate/Applications/Utilities/MacBook Pro EFI Update.app" to "/Applications/Utilities/" (where your calculator app etc. are located).
Now comes the magical part: open a terminal window and run the following command (all one line):

  /usr/sbin/bless -mount / -firmware "/Applications/Utilities/MacBook
  Pro EFI Firmware
  Update.app/Contents/Resources/MBP51_0074_01B_LOCKED.scap" --recovery
  --verbose

WARNING: This bypasses ALL of the safety checks built into the app. You are responsible for making sure your computer is connected to a reliable power source and that the update will not be interrupted. You are responsible for making sure this firmware will work on your computer. I am not responsible for you turning your computer into something else not a computer anymore.
Note: This command is for version 1.6. For another version you would need to change the file name to whatever it is in the package you downloaded from Apple.
The --verbose option should let you know about any errors.
This would only work for me on an internal hard drive, because an external drive "wasn't acceptable for a recovery drive" or whatever. Removing the --recovery option makes the next step not happen.

Restart your computer. I heard an angry beep and then there was a gray Apple screen with a progress bar. That's a good thing. If you don't get that then something went wrong.
Your EFI firmware should be flashed! Launch "System Information.app" to check that "Boot ROM Installed" sort of matches the name of the .scap file used above. For version 1.6 this is "MBP51.0074.B01".

In order to get to this point I had to disassemble the firmware update app downloaded in step 1 to get the command in step 3. I think it was the --recovery part that made it finally work, but I also did a couple of other things with unknown effect:

During step 2 there is also a file "MacBookProFirmwareUpdate/System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.updater.macbookpro.efi.plist" which I extracted to the corresponding locstion.
After step 3 I also ran the following AppleScript:

  tell application "System Events"

    make new login item at end of login items with properties {path:"/Applications/Utilities/MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update.app/Contents/Resources/MBP51_0074_01B_LOCKED.scap"}

  end tell


How to manage Apps without wiping out your iPhone App data? I want one to do one simple task: Manage my iPhone 4 apps using the iTunes interface on my laptop. I've done it before, but now there's a problem.

When I go to the Apps section on iTunes, the apps are all faded out and I can't get access to move Apps around. If I click on the Sync Apps button, I get this message:

"Are you sure you want to sync Apps? All existing apps and their data on the iPhone "[iPhone name]" will be replaced with apps from this iTunes library."

I don't want to wipe my iPhone Apps, I simply want to move Apps around like I used to. I can't say I trust that this iTunes library has all of the Apps correctly. I've run a sync in the past and it deleted Apps I already had installed before.

It sounds as though your iPhone and/or iTunes aren’t synced to each other. Unfortunately, for you to manage the apps on the iPhone from iTunes, the iPhone needs to be synced to iTunes. So you’ll have to go through this procedure at least once, and replace what’s on the iPhone w/ what’s in iTunes.

No way around that, but thankfully, any apps you’ve purchased are free to you to download again, so if there are any that are missing in iTunes, just download them again.

But yes, if any of the apps aren’t in iTunes, and you’ve got data stored in those apps, that data will be lost.


How to play an mp3 on an iPhone without installing anything? How can I play an mp3 on an iPhone 7 (iOS 14) without installing a third party mp3 player?

It can be played from inside of the Files app


What features from Lion will be lost when upgrading to Mountain Lion? I know Mountain Lion has some cool new features that Lion did not have, but will it overwrite any of Lion's functionality?

Of course.  In adding features, the behavior of previous features changes, not always for the better.

If you find features that were present in Lion but missing in Mountain Lion, please edit this answer to add your contributions to this list.

Mountain Lion drops support for some models of Macs supported by Lion.
Clicking the top right corner no longer triggers Spotlight (Spotlight's menubar icon is still present, adjacent to the new Notification Center icon).
The battery indicator in the menubar will no longer offer to show the remaining time.
X11.app is included, but that app alone no longer provides X11 functionality. When the user first runs X11.app – or an app that requires X11 – a dialogue guides the user to Apple's article HT5293 about XQuartz, which provides the functionality.
Mail.app and Safari.app drop support for RSS Feeds.


How to export Moom settings (especially keyboard shortcuts) to external file? I'm working on some shell scripts to customize OS X to my preferences just by calling one script.

From a lot of native OS X options, script is going to easily import some predefined settings form 3rd party apps if possible.

My question is about Moom. I cannot spot any option to export existing settings (especially keyboard shortcuts) into non-encoded file.

Calling:

$ sudo find -x / -name "Moom"

gives nothing more than:

/Applications/Moom.app/Contents/MacOS/Moom

You can find Moom app preferences on the following file:

~/Library/Preferences/com.manytricks.Moom.plist

That file is not in clear text. But you can use plutil to convert and read it in the following way:

plutil -convert xml1 -o - com.manytricks.Moom.plist


Getting Yosemite instead of El Capitan I purchased a Macbook Air 10.11.2 El Capitan back in February 2016. I didn't install any upgrades because I'm satisfied with El Capitan.

When I started having problems earlier this year (2017), I decided to make a clean reinstall of El Capitan.  The only option left for me was to download it through Internet recovery so I waited until it finished downloading.

After downloading, it came up with the Recovery mode.  I erased the Mac partition and reinstalled OSX.  It appears to be different, instead of having El Capitan it gives me the Yosemite version.  That's unacceptable to me.  I purchased my mac that came with El Capitan but the downloaded version is Yosemite (which I think I was scammed by the store seller).

Is this something normal or something I have to complain about back to the store?  Also, Yosemite is giving me an error upon entering my Apple ID, it says that the item is temporarily unavailable.

What should I do now?  I need help,  and I would appreciate it much.  Thanks!

I think You should make clean install of El Capitan from USB. You were not scammed, don't worry. I was in the same situation.
It can be done under one condition - You've updated somewhere in the past to the El Capitan and You can see it in Purchased section in AppStore.
That's nothing complicated, first make sure that You have downloaded El Capitan from AppStore. Than You should make bootable El Capitan USB and clean-install it on Your Mac. Follow these steps on this site:

http://www.macworld.com/article/2981585/operating-systems/how-to-make-a-bootable-os-x-10-11-el-capitan-installer-drive.html


Can I mount an encrypted image BEFORE Finder loads? I have most of my ~ folder on an encrypted sparse bundle disk image.
I have it set to automount via Prefs>Users, but it loads AFTER Finder, so my Desktop is blank unless I force-relaunch Finder.

Is there any way (via command line, I'm guessing) to get the OS to mount this disk image FIRST upon logging in, before anything else gets launched, including the Finder?

Mounting the sparsebundle can be accomplished via command line using the 'hdiutil' command. You can also create a shell script that will perform this action. This script assumes that the image is located at /Users/somebody/Image.sparsebundle, and that the passphrase used to encrypt the image is "testpass"):

#!/bin/bash
#
# This script mounts the disk image at /Users/somebody/Image.sparsebundle
#
echo -n testpass | hdiutil mount /Users/somebody/Image.sparsebundle

After creating that script in some text-editor, you can change the permissions of the file to allow it to be executed. Assuming that this script was created at /Users/somebody/MountSparsebundle, you can use Terminal to make it executable:

chmod 755 /Users/somebody/MountSparsebundle

Once you've made the file executable, you should be able to run the command using the Terminal. In Terminal, type the full path of the script to execute it:

/Users/somebody/MountSparsebundle

The script should run, and cause the sparsebundle to mount. Note that you will want to unmount that sparsebundle before running the script (to confirm that it is mounting when you use the script).

After verifying that the script is working, you can create a LaunchDaemon that will be responsible for mounting this sparsebundle on boot. The LaunchDaemon configuration file should be installed in /Library/LaunchDaemons, which will cause it to be loaded before the loginwindow. Here's an example of a launchd configuration file that runs a script located at /Users/somebody called "MountSparsebundle":

<?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>Disabled</key>
    <true/>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.example.mountsparsebundle</string>
    <key>Program</key>
    <string>/Users/somebody/MountSparsebundle</string>
</dict>
</plist>

The last step that you'd need to take would be to configure the launchd system to load that launch daemon at boot. This can be accomplished using launchctl (Assuming that the file in the previous step was saved to "/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.example.mountsparsebundle.plist"):

sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.example.mountsparsebundle.plist

Alternately, you can use a LoginHook, which will suspend launching of the Finder until the login script exits. Although Apple does not recommend LoginHooks, they can be used to accomplish what you're trying to do. You can setup the script mentioned above as a login hook using the defaults command:

sudo defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook /Users/somebody/MountSparsebundle

Note: LoginHooks are run as root, which is something of a security risk...However, this will also allow you to examine the current user that's logging in (as part of the script), and perform actions based on the user credentials. Here's a modified script that shows an example of how to parse the username that is logging in (which is passed to the script as argument $1):

#!/bin/bash
#
# This script mounts the disk image at /Users/somebody/Image.sparsebundle
#
if [ "$1" == "somebody" ]; then
    echo -n testpass | hdiutil mount /Users/somebody/Image.sparsebundle
fi


Mac mini running Catalina has no sound input I have my Blue Snowball plugged directly into a USB on the back of my Mac Mini. The light indicating power to my mic is showing. I didn't find any input devices in preferences, even the built-in mic. I did an NVRAM reset and nothing happened. I tried going into safe mode and creating another administrator account to find a sound input device, that didn't work.

Apple Menu > System Preferences > Sound is the place to look for Input Sources:

I've selected the Internal Microphone in the screenshot below for legibility. To use the Snowball mic (an amazing mic, BTW,) just select it. You can adjust the input volume, too.


Apache VirtualDocumentRoot, MAMP, .local domain & xip.io? I have a problem making xip.io works. I have set up my machine to use virtualhosts with MAMP .local domain name.

this is my httpd-vhosts.conf file:

NameVirtualHost *:80
UseCanonicalName Off

<VirtualHost *:80>
    VirtualDocumentRoot /Users/<myusername>/Sites/%-1/%-2+/build
    <Directory "/Users/<myusername>/Sites">
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
        AllowOverride All
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

When I try to access for example http://project.local.<my local ip>.xip.io it doesn't work while http://project.local works. How can I fix this?

Also, I have read that the .local domain on Mac can cause some problems, is this true?

I use MAMP Pro and the file httpd-vhosts.conf does not contain this setting, but in the app I have this:

The host is http://plugins.dev and if my memory serves me well, it's all that's needed to have it working.


Using cat output in osascript in terminal I want to display a notification using osascript in terminal, but the text I want to display is stored in a text file. How can I display that text in the notification?

Basically you need to read the file content into a variable first. There are several ways to do this, one is

text=$(< TEXTFILE)
osascript ... "$text"


Possible to independently use Macbook Pro and external monitor? Guess I'm getting old and set in my ways using Spaces and Expose on my Macbook Pro.  I like my hotspots as they are and flip through the four screens with ease (option-arrow).  My work recently bought me an external monitor which I'd like to try and incorporate into my daily activities.  So, in my ideal world, I'd love to do the following:

Detach the displays in System Preferences -> Displays -> Arrangement so that the only way to move between monitors is by clicking/dragging via Spaces (where all eight screens show). I'd also want the monitor that I'm not working in to be unaffected by my movement through Spaces in the other.

Is this, or something similar, possible?  Thanks so much for any help!

Mel

I have not seen this.  Two things I have tried that help me, however, are:
Pin windows that you want on the side monitor to all spaces
I've often treated my second monitor as more a static workspace that doesn't change no matter what space I'm in.  You can do this by
System Preferences --> Expose and Spaces --> Spaces -->
Click "+" under Application Assignments, and add the applications you want to stay on the second monitor to "Every Space".
Run a virtual machine in the second window
Using VMWare I sometimes run Windows or Lion on the second monitor in full screen.  Add that virtual machine to "Every Space" as described above, and then within that machine I can use spaces and have it run independently of the primary workspace.
Neither method gives you exactly what you want, but they provide a few other options you might try that will still give your working style a boost.


Bootcamp assistant won't let me increase the Windows partition I'm trying to install Windows 7 on my Mac. The Bootcamp Assistant won't let me increase the Windows partiton's size above ~45 GB. I've got 200 GB free out of 500 GB on my SSD.

I run Disk Repair, but that didn't help. Do I have to buy iDefrag and defrag my disk, or are there other options (besides reinstalling OS X from a backup)?

I think alimack is right, has to do with contiguous space.  I resolved without purchasing idefrag.   Heres how.  In my case I had a 250gb drive and was only using about 50gb.   Boot camp was only allowing me to create a 125gb partition for windows.   I accepted that and partitioned the drive in boot camp. Before installing windows I rebooted the Mac OS, went into Disk Utilities and then deleted the windows partition.  Now start again and run bootcamp and you will find a lot more space is available for your windows partition.


Get data off iPhone without iTunes sync or WiFi or cellular network? I water-damaged my iPhone 4s.

Net result is that the phone powers up normally (mostly) when connected to a wall charger. I can see my old home screen, pictures, etc.

When connected to a computer for USB-charging, it shuts down soon after the Apple logo pops up.

So connecting to a computer does not work. Unless there is a way to wall-charge and USB-sync at the same time?

WiFi does not work. The WiFi settings slider is greyed out.

  http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4859
  iCloud automatically backs up the most important data on your device
  running iOS 5 or later. It will run on a daily basis as long as your device:

  is connected to Internet over Wi-Fi
  is connected to a power source
  has the screen locked

Apparently you cannot do an iCloud backup over mobile data, so that is out as well.

Just called Sprint... cannot activate the phone without either syncing or with WiFi. So out of luck for the cell connection too?

So, the question is, is there any way for me to do an iCloud backup of this iPhone?

Is there a way for me to manually back up things like pictures without WiFi or iTunes sync or the cellular connection?

So if I understand it correctly, it's not available in your LAN, cannot directly connect to a computer using USB, is unable to make a bluetooth connection and cannot connect via the cellular network either? Is there any interface that is working, other than the touchscreen?

Do you have any experience with opening up iPhones? It is not particularly difficult if you're careful and precise, and excellent guides can be found on ifixit.com. If you have another iPhone available (that is no longer under waranty, as opening it up voids that), you could consider 'borrowing' one of the interfaces from the other phone. If you have the parts available, I recommend attempting to replace the WiFi antenna.

Alternatively, you could attempt to insert another battery and hope it lives off the donor long enough to connect via usb without needing the wall charge.

Either way, as you say it's water damage, it could do wonders to open it up and let it dry or acitvely dry it yourself - bowls of rice have done miracles. This strongly depends on how long it's been since bathing time.


Dock won't position on the bottom How do I get the Dock to go to the bottom on my Mac Pro with Yosemite?  It will go on either side, but not the bottom.  It goes on the bottom on my Macbook Pro, but not the Mac Pro.

You could try to restart your Dock by opening Terminal app in your Utilites folder and running the following command:

killall Dock


Call blocking for iPhone? How do I block unwanted callers without jailbreaking?

A new feature of iOS 7 is call blocking and it allows the device to block calls apart from the previous solutions that involved jailbreaking or having the carrier block calls for you.

Go to recent calls within the phone app. Tap on the "i" to the far right of the number you wish to block. On this info page, scroll down. At the bottom of the page, tap "Block this Caller". Confirm on the warning message.

From the settings app, use iMessage and FaceTime preferences to manage the block list.

This list blocks calls, messages and FaceTime calls (audio and video) from that contact. Combined with a blocked contact as Loïc Wolff has proposed, you have a neat solution for dispatching unwanted calls on an ongoing basis.


Network Ports Used To Print (Network LPD Printing) I have been experimenting with an application that listens to network ports below 1024.

I discovered that when that application is running, an attempt to print to a network printer (set up to print using LPD) will get stuck at "Printing - Connecting to printer". To be clear, the client is running the test application listening to sockets below 1024 and can't send print jobs to an LPD-enabled print server.

I've tried configuring the test application to not listen to ports 631 and 515, but still the print job gets stuck. Killing the test application allows printing to work fine.

My question is: when trying to print to a network print server using LPD, what ports below 1024 have a printing-related process connect to them? I want to "whitelist" them from the test application so printing works while the test application runs.

This is being done on OS X 10.10.3

You will want to try excluding ports TCP 721-731 as these tend to be the source ports for printing. TCP 515 is the listening port for LPD jobs.

Source (in the FAQ/questions section at the bottom)


error code 4SNS/1/40000000:VDOR-17.546 i have some questions about my
Macbook pro late 2011 nacOS High Sierra
8 gb ram with 750 gb HDD
Q1: my mac performance slow, i do a test and got 2 codes 4SNS/1/40000000: VD0R-17.552, 4SNS/1/40000000: VD0R-17.546what does means these codes?
Q2: why performance slow? do i need to renew window or anything else to make performance well.
Q3: my 60W Magsafe adaptor not working correctly, so i bought another Magsafe adaptor that is 80W,will it harm to my macbook battery or there is no problem with it.
60W output voltage 16.5
80W output voltage 18.5
thanks Regards

Using data from https://logi.wiki/index.php/Apple_Hardware_Test_(AHT)_and_Apple_Diagnostics_(AD)_Codes & other similar resources, I can see that 4SNS is a sensor error, then VD0R V for voltage, D for direct current, but I don't know which component might be 0R.
I'd say you need a repair shop.
The answers to your other questions will depend on the results of that investigation. On a 10-year-old Macbook I'd be more inclined to think the battery was failing than the charger.


Wallpaper Identification: Where can I find a better version of this? (Please forgive me + nuke from orbit of these kinds of questions aren't allowed here. Don't know where else to ask.)

I'm trying to find a higher-res version of this specific wallpaper:

The site where I got the iPhone version did not deal with iPad wallpapers, so I didn't have an option there. Nor did it list an author for me to track down. I've tried Google image search for similar images and just plain browsing a ton of other sites, but I can't find anything.

Thanks!

That's actually Tiger's (Mac OSX 10.4) default wallpaper.

I found one easily on Google searching Tiger default wallpaper : http://www.journaldulapin.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Aqua-Blue-10.4.jpg

It might just need a little rotation :)


How can I resize my Lion partition to fill up the unused space on the drive? My MacBook (Late 2007) has an 80GB hard drive. I used to have a 15GB Boot Camp partition, and deleted it at some point -- but I forgot to resize my Snow Leopard partition to fill the 15GB of free space at the end of the drive.

Since then I installed Lion. When I start from the recovery partition and try to resize it, Disk Utility fails with the error: Couldn't unmount disk.

I'm guessing this is happening because the 500mb recovery partition (which I booted from) is in the way. Here's what I get when I run diskutil list:

/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *80.0 GB    disk0
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            65.3 GB    disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3

How can I move the Recovery HD partition to the end of the drive so I can resize my main system partition and get that 15GB of space back?

My suggestion

Don't try to resize from the Recovery partition. Boot into the normal partition and resize from there.

Background

diskutil list is misleading you. It is not the position of the recovery partition which is your problem.

I had a very similar setup, and here is the output of diskutil list for me:

  #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            423.6 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
   4:                  Apple_HFS Temp Partition Test ... 74.8 GB    disk0s4
   5:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             792.2 MB   disk0s5

Partitions 4 and 5 had a dev version of Lion on them. I have just used Disk utility to delete partitions 4 and 5 and resize partition 2 to fill the space.

This worked - Disk Utility resized the main drive with no problem. So what have I done which is different to you? Well, I resized the main partition from booting into the main partition not the Recovery Partiion. You can resize a partition that you have booted from in Disk Utility.

It makes sense that the recovery partition would "get in the way" if you have booted from it, so I suspect that above suggestion might work for you.


How do I delete photos in photo albums without using iTunes? I have bought a used iPod which the previous owner had loaded photo albums on. I do not have iTunes and it will not let me delete the photos/photo albums without it.

How do I delete the photo albums that are on this device?

One approach would be to wipe the iPod (Touch, I assume?). Obviously doing so will erase all of those photos, any music, you have on the device, as well as all of your apps.

You do this by going to Settings -> General -> Reset -> Erase All Content and Settings.

If it is a new enough device to have iCloud backup, you could always disable photos, before wiping the device, and then restore using the iCloud backup. However, if you have photos on the device that you want saved, this approach will not work.


Is it possible to use an animated image for the user picture? So I dragged my .gif onto he default globe, and it shows the popup allowing me to edit the dimensions of my image. While I am zooming in/out, it is still animating. I was overjoyed at this, thinking that if the image animates in the edit panel, then it will animate on the login screen.

Nope.

Even if I re-open the image edit dialog, it still shows the animation, but it will not animate no matter what. Is there any way to get this working in the OS, or maybe a program that can do it?

This is currently not possible. You can provide feedback to Apple here:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html


Can I choose which mail accounts go to Notification Center on iOS 5 We have a number of email accounts set up in Mail on our family iPad1, only a couple of which are mine. I have the iPad the most (and utilize it's deeper features most), and want to start benefiting more from Notifications Center. At this point, when I open up notification center it lists all new messages for all of the accounts stored on the iPad, which is distracting for me. I just want to see my new messages at a glance.

I've set just my accounts to fetch automatically every 15 minutes, but as soon as I've opened the mail app, then all of the other unread messages populate in the notification list. Is there any way to control which accounts get sent to Notification center?

I'm imagining no, but maybe someone has an idea.

Unfortunately, the Mail configuration in Notification Center does not currently allow for the selection of individual email accounts (assuming that your device isn't jailbroken).


Podcasts Playing Too Fast My Podcasts are playing too fast. I have searched the web and there should be a 1x button close to the rewind button, but I do not see it. (See Attached Screenshot). I have a Iphone 5s running IOS 10. How can I slow down the play speed?

To see the 1x button you need to be in the Podcasts app and viewing the main screen of the podcast you're playing.

Here are the steps using the same podcast in your screenshot:

STEP 1

STEP 2

STEP 3


unable to pair my 2014 Muse headband to my 2015 macbook pro On macOS 10.13.6, when I select to bluetooth pair my Muse 2014 headband, I see this ...

Notice that the device is showing up but the "connect" button does not appear next to it. I am uncertain what this means.

This means that your Mac has remembered you connecting to it before but it is currently not in range. Try restarting the device or bringing it closer.

The Bluetooth is working as connect appears on the other device.


Cursor freezes for a split second around every 10 seconds My cursor on my Mac (running the latest version of El Capitan) has been freezing for a split second around every 10 seconds – it then reappears in the place it should've been if it hadn't disappeared.

I've tried using a different mouse – still occurs. And have done a PRAM reset.

Anyone have a clue of what could fix this?

I've had something like this issue (with the mouse freezing momentarily every few seconds), and it was related to my second screen. If I left this second screen turned off after waking the Mac from sleep (or from having the laptop lid closed), this issue happened every time

Also had an issue with it even when the screen was on; it usually cleared after I unplugged and replugged the second screen cable.


Turned off everything in folder /LaunchDeamons with launchctl; can’t boot now—how to recover? In an effort to shut down the httpd server, I was going to execute this command:

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.httpd.plist

Instead this was executed:

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons

The result was that my MacBook just stopped completely and can’t boot. Is it possible to revert it with the following command?

sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/

But I don’t know what was on and off.

So I need help. How do I restore it? I tried to alt-boot, got into Mountain Lion's recovery options and reinstalled the system, but with the same result. Is the terminal in the recovery tool to any help?

Is this setting saved in a file I can restore from Time Machine?

You should be able to fix this in single-user mode. Restart the Mac while holding the Command and S keys; it'll start into a full-screen command-line environment, with none of the usual daemons even trying to run. As usual, the first two things to do in single-user more are to check/repair and mount the startup volume. To check/repair it, run the command /sbin/fsck -fy and wait for it to finish. If it prints " The volume was modified ", run it again and keep running it until it finishes with "** The volume  appears to be OK." Once the startup volume is OK, mount it with /sbin/mount -uw /

Once that's done, run the command:

rm /var/db/launchd.db/com.apple.launchd/overrides.plist

(Note: type this command very carefully. If you thought the damage from mistyping that launchctl command was bad, you haven't seen what a garbled version of this command could do!)

Finally, run the command reboot and the system should restart normally, with all of the system LaunchDaemons set back to their default states.


iPhone 4 camera roll "time created" information I recently took a photo with my iPhone 4 and soon after e-mailed it to someone. When I downloaded my photos to my computer I noticed that the "time created" information showed a time that was after I had e-mailed the photo. How is that possible?

Time created means time transferred to your computer. It is the time when the photo landed to whichever folder you downloaded it to, on your computer.

So if you transferred the photo on Monday 1st August 2015, then that is the Date Created shown.

Try downloading an mp3 file from the internet to your computer. You will see that the Date Created is the date that the file enters your computer. While the date of its creation was (obviously) earlier.


Looking for a monitor for my 2012 model iMac I know there are many of these types of questions, but the answers for the later models do not directly help with the newer iMac model that just came out in December 2012. I'm having a HUGE issue finding a second 24" monitor that my iMac doesn't have to calibrate and give me multiple blue screens once turning that second monitor on.

I've looked at this question and it's answers
iMac second monitor alternative

and a few more however I'm looking for an answer, hopfeully from another newer iMac owner.

There was a Gateway monitor on sale through the holidays however it gave me that unwanted 5 seconds of blue screen on my iMAc when I turned it o (every single time). So I took it back and I've used 2 older monitors from Asus (unfortunately, not my own but from friends) and they work no problem. So I set out to buy an Asus. However this Asus monitor I have hooked up to it now is worse and give me multiple blue screens that last longer than the first once it's turned on.

Is there an individual that has faced this before with their new 2012 iMac and did you find a monitor that just turned on normally (with no blue screen interruptions)?
I'm not looking for the cinema display, I'm not looking for that at this moment (although it is in my wish list for the end of the year, but after purchasing this new iMac and can't afford that right now. I'm just looking for an overall decent monitor I can work on when it comes to text documents, videos & surfing.)

I appreciate any help and hope that this is a valid question.

I have recently added an LG FlatIron IPS234V LED monitor, 1920 x 1080, to my 2011 iMac, that I purchased from NewEgg for about $160.  It connects to the ThunderBolt port through a DVI cable and a MiniDisplayPort to DVI adapter, both from Monoprice, for about $16.

After inserting the MiniDisplayPort adapter in the port, and turning the monitor on, the image appears without any changes to the iMac display.  I am quite pleased with the combo so far, at what seems a reasonable cost. Windows can be dragged from one screen to the other.

I cannot say how this combo would work with a 2012 iMac.  The additional display space remains active even if the monitor is turned off, until the cable is disconnected from the ThunderBolt port.  This is disruptive for remote control, so I try to disconnect the cable before I leave the system.

I have seen the blue screens when I change the display resolution on either screen, but not otherwise.


Any way to "right-click->open" application using application launcher or AppleScript? I'm an avid launch service (Quicksilver/Launchbar) user, and have been frequently stymied by Gatekeeper… The default "Open" actions behave like double-clicking an application package, which is insufficient for triggering the dialogue for circumventing Gatekeeper. I used to get around this by asking the respective launcher to "Reveal" the app, and then right clicked it from Finder.

I recently installed Path Finder 6 on my machine to replace Finder/TotalFinder. The problem is, there isn't a way to trigger the "open" right-click action from Path Finder that allows one to circumvent the Gatekeeper block for unsigned applications… So now I have to "Reveal" from QS, and then "Show in Finder" from Path Finder. The ideal situation would just be to figure out exactly what command is being called when you right-click->Open, and implement that as an action in QS or Launchbar… an Apple- or shell-script would be ideal, but I can't figure out what the system command is for that higher level "Open".

Any experience with this out there?

You could create an Automator service with a Run Shell Script action like this:

for f; do
  q=$(xattr -p com.apple.quarantine "$f" 2> /dev/null)
  if [[ $q ]]; then
    xattr -d com.apple.quarantine "$f"
    open "$f"
    xattr -w com.apple.quarantine "$q" "$f"
  else
    open "$f"
  fi
done

Set the input type to files or folders (just folders doesn't seem to include application bundles) and set "pass input" to "as arguments".

Or in Alfred 2 you could add a File Action trigger and connect it to a Run Script action like this:

f="{query}"
q=$(xattr -p com.apple.quarantine "$f" 2> /dev/null)
if [[ $q ]]; then
  xattr -d com.apple.quarantine "$f"
  open "$f"
  xattr -w com.apple.quarantine "$q" "$f"
else
  open "$f"
fi

If you want to keep Gatekeeper enabled but make it ignore some applications, just run something like xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/SomeApp.app.


iPad mini: Download images from webpage preserving file name One of my hopes in getting a tablet was convenient webcomic reading. However, I am also in the habit of archiving my favorite webcomics. And for that purpose the file name is pretty important.

Sadly I found that when saving images from webpages the iPad has a total disregard for original file names. It just calls them IMG_0001 etc.

While I can preserve file names using the Download Lite app, it comes at the cost of many conveniences such as Chrome's tab synchronization.

Is it possible to make iOS preserve file names when saving images to the gallery?

Also: No jail breaking. If I have to tinker around to that degree anyway, I'd rather stay with Android.

Some partial solution's I found since:

Using an alternate browser that supports file downloading. Or mercury browser, which doesn't ask for a file name when saving images, but preserves the original file name and is a full alternative browser with features missing from both safari and chrome such as fullscreen and text zooming (though the latter is served by bookmarklets in safari and chrome). Update: "Documents by Readdle" is another viable option; Most notably it provides a "Save As" style dialogue when downloading files or images, which allows changing the file name right away.
Chrome download enabler. Sadly, this is a jailbreak tweak, so I didn't try it, but it would give the advantage of having downloads in the same browser that also syncs tabs and bookmarks with the desktop.


Can I link a new Macbook to an old Macbook? I just got a Macbook Pro Retina 15". It is sweet.

My old Macbook Pro, which I got in like 2007, can't run anything higher than OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard). My new Macbook runs 10.8.2 (Mountain Lion).

Is there a relatively simple way to use my old computer with my new one, perhaps as an extra screen?

Apple portables doesn't support this kind of behavior as described on their support page. So unfortunately that isn't an option.


Is the macbook retina's soldered RAM in any way faster than typical RAM? You would think it would make some kind of difference...

Not really. Access times might be faster by a handful of picoseconds, since the electrical impulses would travel a slightly shorter distance by taking away the circuitry in the socket. However that distance is dwarfed by the variance in placement of the RAM on the logic board — sometimes it's closer to the CPU, sometimes farther away.

The predominant factors for speed of RAM are the clock speed and bit width, not the physical layout.


Snow Leopard cannot find my LaCie Network Space 2 when it's connected through USB. I have a LaCie Network Space 2 (and I wish I had bought a WD instead) which is connected to my iMac with USB. I have used it before through LAN, but I've moved my Mac to another room and now I connected it with USB as that transfers faster. The problem is that the disk doesn't show up in the Finder, not even in Disk Utilities. I've been fighting with this for a few hours now, but I couldn't find anything :(

Windows, however can find it.

What can be wrong?

I'm using Snow Leopard.

Same thing happened to me couple of times. I powered the HDD on/off couple of times and then restarted the Mac before it reappeared again on Finder.


Can we submit new TestFlight "pre-release" build while previous build is "In Review" (for beta review)? We submitted our app for beta review so that we can start using "External Testers" and go beyond the 25 person limit for Internal Testers. But while we are waiting for beta review to finish (currently "In Review") we need to keep testing internally and send out new builds.

What doesn't work: While we were in review for one build, I tried changing the version to 1.0.1 (from 1.0) and updating the build #, and submitting a new build. That basically killed off the review process for the previous build and I had to re-submit for Beta Review for the new one.

Is there any solution?

No - you'll jam up the review if you don't let the first review complete once it is "In Review". Most of this is covered in the FAQ on iTunes Connect under Resources and Help.

The solution is to dig into the documentation (there's a video explaining the entire test flight process) and/or call Apple Developer support if you can't find the documentation on the web site.

I used to know where the link to support was on developer.apple.com, but Apple recently re-jiggered things on the developer web site and it's not where I expected. I suppose you need to log in to iTunes Connect and get help there on the contact us page.

The main solution I've discovered is to be patient and not try to game the system by submitting a second build if the first is taking a while.

If your build was "In Review" see if you can call and have them resume that review with the original build. Getting that first review is crucial for having subsequent reviews go faster as they can refer to their internal testing notes and just look over what changed, spot check things rather than do all the work for an initial build.


Changing dev environment to Homebrew I'm a new mac user and I'm going to start using Homebrew to build my environment. My current environment I've installed piece by piece. What I want to check is what to make sure I do, so I don't get conflicts and i'm not running a load of software that I don't need.

Is this just a case of through the terminal uninstalling, apache, php, mysql etc and clearing out my usr/local/ folder and starting with homebrew?

You can leave your existing installations in place for the time being.  Homebrew will error if it has to overwrite an existing file in the process of installing a package.


What is the difference between the iPad Mini model numbers A1454 and A1455? Apple lists the iPad mini models on the Identifying iPad models web page and lists two cellular models:

A1454 on the iPad mini Wi-Fi + Cellular
A1455 on the iPad mini Wi-Fi + Cellular (MM)

I can't seem to find a mapping between these models and the iPads for sale by Apple since they list the intended carrier and a different part number like MD534LL/A. Apple has a nice LTE page for iPhones, but I can't find the iPad page.

In the US, the Black 16 GB iPad Mini (2012) has the following parts for our three cellular carriers:

AT&T - MD534LL/A
Sprint - ME215LL/A
Verizon - MD540LL/A

None of the Apple LTE articles seem to be updated yet for the 4th Generation iPad with LTE or the iPad Mini with LTE so I'm stumped at the moment. What is the difference between the Cellular A1454 model and the Cellular (MM) A1455 model?

The comparable page you're looking for is: http://www.apple.com/ipad/LTE/. A1454 is used for AT&T and similar Canadian networks only, while Sprint, Verizon and overseas carriers use A1455.

All bands are also listed on the specs page:

Model A1454

GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)
LTE (Bands 4 and 17)

Model A1455

CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1900, 2100 MHz)
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)
LTE (Bands 1, 3, 5, 13, 25)


Where are my iPhone Messages notifications? Recently I've noticed that I have no notifications (no badge, no bubbles) for SMS/iMessage in my iPhone. I have the following settings:

Notifications: allow, show in notification centre, sounds - note, badge app icon, show on lock screen;
Messages: iMessage, text message forwarding - my iPad, my MacBook - all off, send and receive - my phone and email;
Do not disturb - off.

For me this looks like a serious bug (in 9.3.5?) or a security issue, but since I've checked text message forwarding I don't know how it could be.

What else to check or how to fix this?

Often a hard reset of the device will fix problems. Powering off and back on doesn't do the same thing as it does for a computer - it's more akin to hibernate mode in that its drawing no power, but nothing (RAM etc) is cleared.

To do a hard reset, on iPhone 6s and below, press and hold Sleep and Home until the Apple logo appears. On iPhone 7 and higher, press and hold Volume Down and Home.


Will OSX Lion support filevault encryption on bootcamp partitions? I'm thinking of migrating to bootcamp (from Parallels for speed), but need encryption. Apple has said Lion will have "whole disk" 128-bit encryption - any guesses on whether this includes bootcamp partitions?

Personally I think it is unlikely, as Windows would need some way to decyrpt the drive, or the operating system would need to unlock the drive before Windows itself booted.

There are some screenshots of the process, and it looks like when they said whole disk they meant not just user home folders, but applications and root folders as well.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/02/28/inside_mac_os_x_10_7_lion_file_vault_full_disk_encryption_and_cloud_key_storage.html


iOS application that allows search in Word documents? I have a huge .doc (Microsoft Word) file (several megabytes) and I need to search it on my iPhone. I have tried like 5 different editors and readers to no avail.

Is there any application that allows searching in .doc files?

The app "Documents" referred to above is a good option. It searches inside the documents whether the files are PDF, docx, etc… It sports a clean interface and plenty of remote connection options. And not to mention, it's free with no ads!

Give it a go and see if it fits your needs.


Disabling Notification Center pull-down (or re-enabling Safari swipe action) This is a bit of a nit-picky thing, but it's annoyed me ever since I upgraded to iOS 5.  I use my iPhone quite a bit for web surfing, and would often use the swipe action to return back to the top (and address bar) of a long web page.  However, now I'm constantly pulling down the notification center pull-down when all I want to do is return to the top of the page.  Is there any way to disable or change the swipe-to-pull-down notification center?  At least in Safari?  Or is it gone for good now....

To return to the top of a long web page, just tap the Status Bar (at the top that also display the current time and battery status) instead of swiping. It works in many other apps too.


brew doctor warning about Python config scripts Can someone please explain what I should do about the following warning from Homebrew:

Warning: "config" scripts exist outside your system or Homebrew directories.
`./configure` scripts often look for *-config scripts to determine if software packages are installed, and what additional flags to use when compiling and linking.

Having additional scripts in your path can confuse software installed via Homebrew if the config script overrides a system or Homebrew provided script of the same name. We found the following "config" scripts:

/opt/local/bin/python-config
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin/python-config
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin/python2-config
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin/python2.7-config

Aren't these the original Python config files installed by OS X? If so, surely I shouldn't delete them? Are python-config and Python2-config required if I only use Python 2.7? Should I change my $PATH which is:

Oliviers-iMac:~$ echo $PATH
/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin:/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/opt/X11/bin:/usr/local/MacGPG2/bin

UPDATE:  I successfully uninstalled Macports and removed /opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbinfrom my $PATH, but I'm still getting the following warning:

Warning: "config" scripts exist outside your system or Homebrew directories. `./configure` scripts often look for *-config scripts to determine if software packages are installed, and what additional flags to use when compiling and linking.

Having additional scripts in your path can confuse software installed via Homebrew if the config script overrides a system or Homebrew provided script of the same name. We found the following "config" scripts:

/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin/python-config
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin/python2-config
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin/python2.7-config

How do I fix this? Thank you in advance.

The main thing it to be sure your chosen version of python is first in the path as we transition away from python 2 on macOS.

Until you have a broken package, this is a warning and not an error, so just post your next build error with some details and we might be able to help if you have an actual problem. Also, if you have disabled SIP and changed your base OS, maybe test a clean install onto USB external drive, validate this warning doesn’t exist when you boot to the new OS and then try migrating your data over, this could just be your system isn’t “stock” enough.


Replacing Macbook Pro SSD with Macbook Air SSD Currently I have a Macbook Pro (mid 2014) with 120GB ssd. I am planning to buy a Macbook Air (say, early 2015) with 250GB ssd and swap these drives between laptops. I know they are both PCI based, but that doesn't mean much
as the protocol could be SATA/NVM/Proprietary.

My concerns are:
1. Will it work?
2. Should I expect significant performance differences between these drives?

I checked compatible drives for both laptops on ifixit:
https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Parts/MacBook-Air-11-Inch-and-13-Inch-Mid-2013-to-Early-2015-and-MacBook-Pro-Retina-13-Inch-and-15-Inch-2015-SSD/IF188-105-5 Air

https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Parts/MacBook-Pro-13-Inch-and-15-Inch-Retina-Late-2013-Mid-2014-SSD/IF123-026 Pro

I see that Air's SSD is compatible with Air models from 2013 to 2015, but with Pro models only of 2015 -- that seems weird and I expect that it's just a misleading description. Does anyone have such (successful or not) experience?

I agree with Matthew.
MBA early 2015 connector PCLE 8GT/s
MBP mid 2014 connector PCLE 5GT/s.
I suppose it can be done, but I would not do it at all.
You have to reinstall everything including the EFi and RecoveryPartitions, otherwise it will not work at all.


Enable Internet Sharing over Bluetooth PAN I'm trying to share my MacBook Pro's internet connection with my iPad over Bluetooth. The MacBook is running Snow Leopard.

On the Sharing preference page, I can select Ethernet as the source, but when I select Bluetooth PAN (or any of the other options) for the target, nothing happens. The status next to Internet Sharing changes to Off, and I can't check the Internet Sharing option in the list on the left.

Selecting another entry from the list (like Screen Sharing) and then going back to Internet Sharing, everything is back to the initial state with a red status and the message that I need to select how to share the connection.

Is anyone familiar with this issue and can explain why this is happening and how to fix it?

Maybe you need to update Snow Leopard via combo update. It happens sometimes that an earlier version has problems with internet sharing (sometimes even an update could break it).

For example I could not establish successful Internet sharing on OS X Tiger 10.4.11, but with 10.5.8 I had the best experience.

For Snow Leopard, maybe you could try 10.6.8? 10.7.5 Internet sharing is working, although sometimes, it's not fully stable. It can be that you need to click on connected iPad/iPhone and same time on "Connect to" on established Bluetooth connection on the Mac to get it working.


Catalina Safari "Proxy Automatic Configuration" (PAC) is not used Running Catalina (10.15.6) My SOCKS5 proxy is a DynamicForwarddeclared port on a ssh session.
My pac file is ultra simple and tested good using online test tools, as well as Chrome which uses the OS's PAC setting.
To eliminate a filesystem sandbox issue, I host the PAC file using a python SimpleHTTPServer. I can see the file being downloaded when I configure it in Network prefs, as well as when I launch chrome and safari.
For some reason, Safari doesn't use my proxy. If I configure the proxy address and port directly under "Proxy" in network prefs, safari uses it fine.
Any clues or troubleshooting suggestion is welcome!

Here's what I learned:

Safari requires SOCKS localhost... not SOCK5 localhost..., but Chrome requires SOCKS5 localhost... So my pac file returns 'SOCKS5 localhost:12345;SOCKS localhost:12345'
Apps now being very sandboxed, you cannot use file:///Some/Path/proxy.pac that will be readable by all apps requiring the proxy config. World readable areas are now read-only in macOS.
If your pac file is not sensitive, save yourself the hassle of running an http server and host your file on some server somewhere. I used a gist.github.com file. Make sure you make it public and use the "raw" link to copy/paste into macOS' "Proxy Automatic configuration" URL.


How can I delete pictures on my iPad mini without them being deleted on my other devices as well? If I delete a picture on my iPad mini, it also deletes that picture on my iPhone too. I want to remove a lot of photos on my iPad mini and only my iPad mini.

Unfortunately, you can not. Because you have iCloud Photo Library turned on, all of your devices' camera rolls are identical. Apple's thing about iCloud Photo Library is that everything is perfectly in sync, there's no photo you have on one device and not the other.

You could consider turning iCloud Photo Library off and deleting all the stored photos (in Settings > iCloud > Storage > Manage Storage > iCloud Photo Library, then select Disable and Delete) but that will cause problems potentially including a loss of photos. Be sure to back up all of your photos to Google Photos/a hard drive before attempting to turn off iCloud Photo Library.

Freeing up space

My guess is that you want to delete photos from your iPad Mini to free up storage space on your iPad. You can go about this even without deleting your iCloud Photo Library.

Turning off iCloud Photo Library on only your iPad Mini:

From Apple:

  You can turn off iCloud Photo Library on a single device when you follow these steps:
  On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to Settings > iCloud > Photos and turn off iCloud Photo Library.

This will delete your photos from your iPad but not your iPhone or iCloud account.

Then, you can back up your photos with Google Photos: download the Google Photos app on your iPhone, let it back up all of your photos from your iPhone (this won't eat into your Google Drive storage space at all and is totally free), then download the Google Photos app to your iPad. Now, you can view all of your iPhone's photos right on your iPad and they won't eat into your iPad's storage space.


Setting print size preset in AppleScript I've been using Folder Actions to automate printing photos taken from OS X built-in Photo Booth software. The AppleScript I use is as follows:

on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving added_items
    try
        tell application "Canon iP2700 series"
            activate
            print added_items
            quit
        end tell
    end try
end adding folder items to

Is there anyway I can set the print job to use a preset size using AppleScript or maybe change the defaults so that AppleScript prints uses that size by default?

I've noticed that they use the size at:

System Preferences > Printers & Scanners > Default paper size

But I require the printer to print at 75x105mm which is not in any preset.

If I say anything that you already know I apologize.

It all starts with your printer capability.

Does the Canon supports that size?

Open a app like TextEdit and use the "Page Setup".

Now select your printer and select the print size if available. If not available use the Manage Custom Size and add new size (+) and the dimensions.

Example:

Set it up:

Now go to Print (in TextEdit) and select the Printer & Scanner preferences and select default size.

size


Add drop shadow to image in Keynote slide? I've seen Keynote slides with drop shadows on images.

How do I do this? I'm using Keynote 6.0.

Insert your image.
Open the Format inspector.

Click the disclosure triangle next to Shadow to open the section.
Select the type of drop shadow you wish and customise it if necessary.


How to install SSD on late 2007 MacBook Pro (15 inch) I have a slot on the left-hand side of my MacBook Pro (late 2007, NOT a unibody) and am wondering: is this slot suited for an SSD that I can simply stick in? Or would I have to install an SSD internally?

Since Yosemite needs drivers for those and it has to be signed(here is discussion of possible problems with that kind of SSD on Apple discussions) you much better off installing SSD inside the MBP in place of HDD.

Here is instruction from iFixit how to do it.


Can I use Logitech ultrathin wireless keyboard for iPad also with my MacBook? This is the product, and it links to your iPad with Bluetooth:
http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/ultrathin-keyboard-cover

The question is whether one could also use it with other Mac devices such as MacBook.

I think you can actually use it - I have it and used it at home before with different Apple devices.


How can I tell if an email from Apple is genuine? I keep getting asked to verify my identity How can I tell if an email from Apple is genuine. Have had 2 asking me to verify my identity

The from email address can be anything, so that means this can be anyone.

To tell if it is really them:

View the full header of the email. Open Mail, open the email, press Cmnd+Shift+H to view the header, look where it came from, obviously you wanna look for apple.com, anything else is most likely fake. Here is part of an example of a legitimate Apple header:

  smtp.mailfrom=new_ndt_bounces@applemusic.com; dkim=pass (identity
  alignment result is pass and alignment mode is relaxed)
  header.d=applemusic.com; x-hmca=pass header.id=new@applemusic.com

See where the link goes. Right click on their "Verify" link, paste it in a text editor and verify if you see any apple.com domains in this link, if not it is most likely fake. If it's a shortened URL, verify it first at Expand URL then check for Apple domains again.


Synchronise or share .zshrc between accounts I have a standard user account (in Mojave using zsh shell) and based on Gentoo Wiki I have added this to my .zshrc to show a prompt like [user@computer] ~ $

if [[ $UID == 0 ]]; then
   PS1="[%n@%M] %~ # "
else
   PS1="[%n@%M] %~ $ "
fi

I changed root shell to zsh with sudo chsh -s /bin/zsh but sudo su gives an incorrect (presumably default) prompt unless I re-source my .zshrc:

[hali@A1398] ~ $ sudo su
A1398# echo $PS1
%m%#
A1398# source .zshrc
[root@A1398] /Users/hali #

Based on sourcing bash profile for root users and What are the practical differences between Bash and Zsh I copied my .zshrc for root to use with cp ~/.zshrc /var/root/

Similarly I also have a hidden admin account set up according to this Apple doc and so su admin also shows its' default prompt unless I also do cp ~/.zshrc /var/admin/

If I copy both it then works as I want - the user(%n) is shown before the computer name(%M):

[hali@A1398] ~ $ sudo cp .zshrc /var/root/
[hali@A1398] ~ $ sudo cp .zshrc /var/admin/
[hali@A1398] ~ $ sudo su
[root@A1398] /Users/hali # su admin
[admin@A1398] /Users/hali $ exit
[root@A1398] /Users/hali # exit
[hali@A1398] ~ $

Is there any way to use one copy of .zshrc for these three accounts to share or somehow automatically keep them in sync as I make further changes to this file?

Use a symlink. It uses the ln command in the terminal

ln -s ~/.zshrc /var/root/.zshrc

You can replace /var/root with whatever you need to. This will create a file named .zsrhc in /var/root that is linked to the original copy in your home directory. Please note that you may need sudo before this if you do not have file permissions.


Can I use my Logitech G5 with a MacBook Pro? Just ordered a MacBook Pro. Having never had one or used one I am unsure if my mouse will work.

Can I use my Logitech G5 with a MacBook Pro?

I'm not especially familiar with that model of mouse, but almost all, if not all, peripherals like mice and keyboards will work with the Mac. Even if Mac compatibility isn't listed for the mouse, it still might work.