Sign in to ** to update application for that account So I somehow grabbed my parents USB thumb drive to install Mountain Lion. Now when I want to upgrade to Mavericks, its asking me to sign into my parents icloud account.

So I rebooted, did an Internet Recovery, and it installed a clean version of Mountain Lion. It's prompting me again still.

How can I re-associate my Mac Mini to my icloud account?

these are sort of "nuke from orbit" directions; there's likely a less extreme way, but this should work:

shutdown
boot to single-user mode by holding down ⌘ command-s on boot
enter these commands at the console

fsck -fy
mount -uw /
rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
shutdown -r now

run through the Setup Assistant creating a new administrator account


Create Network option missing under Wifi for P2P ad-hoc networking (I'm a developer using Xamarin build host) My goal is to use the P2P wireless networking so the Xamarin editor can deploy on the Mac for development and testing
As of the latest version of Big Sur the option to have a P2P network seems to have been removed, which is unfortunate since while at a hotel, I can't have these two laptops directly connect to each other (P2P routing between adjacent devices isn't working) on the Hotel wifi.
Is there a Terminal option or some other idea to enable this?

Enable/tick "Show legacy networks and options" in...
System Preferences > Network > Wi-Fi > Advanced > Wi-Fi (see image below)
...for the option to "Create Network..." to re-appear in the AirPort menu item.
See also: https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/mh11937/mac
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/mchl98b9beb6/11.0/mac/11.0

PS/note: After pressing "OK", it's easy to miss the "Apply" button.


iMac disk write issues I have a problem specifically with Photoshop Elements 12 Organiser and the ability to write to the internal drive on an iMac 5k with El Capitan.  I have full read write access to the files on the disk but when I try to write the metadata to the photos I get the error "An error occurred while reading files or writing files to disc.  The disc may be full or there may be a problem with the source media".
I also have other issues accessing and erasing from SD cards.

What happens if you save your Photoshop file to a different directory or hard disk?

What are the file Permissions?
Select your file in the Finder and go to File > Show Info > Permissions

It sounds like your file or folder permission are messed up. Also, Repair Disk Permissions (Applications → Utilities → Disk Utility):


Is the Yosemite File Vault password (usually) the same as login password? So when I upgraded to Yosemite, I can remember turning on FileVault. I cannot remember the password I used. Is that password is the same as my login password for my administrator account (the only account on the computer)?

I'm nervous that I will one day have to remember that password, and if it isn't the one I'm already using, I might be in trouble. I've searched around for the answer, but I'm not finding anything. I might just not be describing the correct dialogue box.

OS X will usually attempt to sync the password if you change it, but it's possible to have them different. I have them differently right now, so that my old user password is required at the pre-boot screen, but once OS X is booted, I need to log in again with my new password.

See more info in this answer: How can I have one password for FileValue 2 (pre-boot password) and another for my user login?


Where is the clipboard stored in an iOS backup? I have a recent backup of my iPad.

Where can I find the clipboard in the backup ?

I know that the clipboard is kept between restarts. So I think — and hope — that it is stored somewhere in backups.

And there are backup viewers, like iphonebackupviewer
(haven't used) ...google for same, download trials and see what you like. But I don't see clipboard mentioned, and haven't seen it when I've viewed backups in the past.


What is the fastest iOS version for the iPhone 3GS? I upgraded my wife's iPhone 3GS to iOS 5.0.1 and now basic tasks like opening apps like Texts/Phone dialer are now slower than before. I understand the 3GS is 2 years old, but just being able to type Text messages fluidly is a super basic task that a 600Mhz processor should handle just fine (as it did on iOS 4.x and 3.x). If not, Apple shouldn't be pushing and advertising iOS 5.x for 3GS's.

Anyway, what iOS version do you recommend I revert to?

Although the iPhone is no longer jailbroken, I recall backing up the "SHSH blobs" to Cydia when it was jailbroken. So I should be able to revert to builds no longer signed by Apple.

Ok, so after some quick googling and reading some Apple forums, it looks like iCloud (in iOS 5.x) isn't ready for prime time. I've done the following and now iOS 5.x seems a lot snappier.

Disabled iCloud everywhere (Settings -> iCloud)

Disable all apps then Scroll down and hit "Storage and Backup" and disable iCloud backups. If you really want to go strong, just delete your iCloud account setting (on your phone, Settings -> iCloud -> scroll to bottom)
Disabled sending data to Apple (Settings -> General -> About -> Diagnostic & Usage -> "Don't send")
Minimized Location Services (Settings -> Location services)

I kept it ON globally, but disabled it for certain Apps
Most importantly, disabled it for "Diagnostic & Usage" as well as "Location based iAds" (Settings -> Location services -> Scroll to bottom -> System Services)
Disabled notifications for the calendar (Settings -> Notification)

I also removed notifications for many other apps that had added themselves ...
However, I suspect this is fixed in iOS 5.0.1 under their "Battery issue fixed" patch. Earlier, Calendar notifications would hang causing CPU to be stuck 100%, draining the battery and leaving little CPU for other items.

Also, there are two apps, SysStatsMon and System Status. Both are good tools to see CPU usage on your iOS device. About 5+ seconds after launching them under normal circumstances, your CPU should be in the 5-15% range.


Copy spotlight comments into a text file? Background: My parents over the years have been scanning in old photos as jpeg files. As they have been doing that they have been making notes on who/what is in the photo in the comments section of the file properties -- The spotlight comments field. (Select a file and do a get info or pres Command-I). Unbeknownst to them, this info doesn't transfer when you move the file to a thumb-stick and put it on a Windows machine OR if you back it up to something like Google Drive/Drop box etc. Over the years they have amassed possibly hundreds (possibly thousands) of photos with comments... I really wish I would have know they are doing this and stopped them. Anyway my thought is a better way of doing this would be to have a txt file with the same name as the jpeg file and put the comments in there...

So, question, does anyone know if there is a program that will help me bulk export the comments to a txt file? What about Automator? Can that automate the process of taking a bunch of jpeg files, reading the comments section of the file properties on said files, then creating individual txt files with the same name as the photo and pasting those comments into the txt file? Any tips on how to actually do this would be appreciated. I've toyed with Automator and I cant seem to figure out how to do it.

I'm dying, otherwise it's going to take many many hours... possibly weeks/months to manually correct this.

You can use mdls to list the metadata attributes for a specific file. Here's how to show the comment for an imaginary file called myPhoto.jpeg in the Pictures folder:

mdls -name kMDItemFinderComment -r ~/Pictures/myPhoto.jpeg

And here's how to find all files on the computer that have a comment:

mdfind "kMDItemFinderComment=*"

Here's how to dump all comments for all files:

mdfind "kMDItemFinderComment=*" | xargs mdls -name kMDItemFinderComment -r

And dump the names of all commented files, along with their comments, as a CSV:

mdfind "kMDItemFinderComment=*" | xargs mdls -name kMDItemFinderComment -name kMDItemFSName -r | xargs -0 -n1 echo | awk 'NR%2==1{printf "\"" $0 "\","} NR%2==0{print "\"" $0 "\""}'


Certificate Assistant swaps extension settings for CA / Users I am trying to set up a Root Certificate Authority using Keychain Access/Certificate Assistant but I am running into some trouble.

When creating the authority the assistant asks you to enter Key Usage and Extended Key usage extension settings for both the CA itself and the users of it. However, upon completion of the certificate this seems to have been swapped around. So the CA itself seems to have the settings that were entered for the users of the CA.

For demonstration purpose, I have made some screenshots of setting up a Test CA:

This setup will yield the certificate seen below:

As you can see the values for the key usage and extended key usage extensions come from the values entered for the users for this CA. While the values for the basic constraints and subject alternate name seem to be taken correctly from the values entered for the CA itself.

Now I have a few questions about this:

Is this a bug in certificate assistant and are the extensions 2 & 3 below incorrectly taken form the assistant? (If so I will have to use OpenSSL)
If not, what is the reason the certificate would show default values it uses for certificates it will issue? And in that case, does the Key Usage field at No. 1 below represent the correct values entered for the CA?
Do the user values entered for those 2 extensions affect the issued certificates in any way? (If the defaults for the issued certificate are changed). The reason I ask this is because I have read somewhere that the key usage extension sets defaults for issued certificates while the extended key usage extension sets restrictions for issued certificates.

So I've been looking into this further and from what I read here and there, I am pretty sure that it is not supposed to be doing this. I have reported this bug to apple and if I ever get an answer from them I will update this post.

If anyone with the same problem finds this post, this is the temporary solution I used:

Create the certificate authority and for any extension that gives you two screens enter the same values in both. Those should be the values you want on the certificate itself.
When done, go to ~/Library/Application Support/Certificate Authority/[ca name] and edit the template file there for the values you actually wanted to enter into the second screen of every extension.


How can I modify a backup? I'm backing up my mac from a Hard Drive that someone gave to me, but I don't have enough space on my Mac. How I can delete files that I don't need to be backed up (when I try to delete it says The operation can’t be completed because backup items can’t be modified) from the HDD so backup wont be corrupted and I can backup my Mac?

You cannot delete files from a Time Machine backup specifically, but you can exclude things from the backup...

Go to System Preferences > Time Machine
Click Options
You will be presented with a list you can add and remove folders to be excluded like this:

By removing things like Applications folders and cloud storage services like Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive you can save a lot of space.

If this still isn't working you need a bigger drive to backup to.


Mouse/Keyboard won't connect after being powered off my iMac has recently developed an odd issue:

If the mouse, or keyboard, is powered off (power button, or because I pull the batteries), and then powered on again, the device will not connect to the machine again without the whole system being power cycled.

These are:
* Magic Mouse
* Apple Wireless keyboard

On a late 2009 i7 27" imac.

Running all the latest patches.
100% battery on both devices.
No matter how many times I click the mouse, or press keys on the keyboard will it reconnect.

It had happened previously, but after a few minutes it would usually resolve itself. In the past 3 days, it's started happening even without the device being powered off -- specifically the mouse stops working, and a power cycle fixes it.

Note that plugging in another mouse/kb (microsoft ones), works fine and I can use that to shut down the machine.

Try configuring Bluetooth Preferences so that Bluetooth status shows in the menu bar.  Then you can then toggle Bluetooth Off and toggle it back On again from the menu bar after you turn on any Bluetooth accessory that doesn't connect right away for some reason.  You shouldn't need to reboot your Mac.


How to daisy chain 2 Thunderbolt devices on 1 Thunderbolt port? On an iMac with 1 Thunderbolt port, how to have an external monitor and an external HDD work?

I can't use the USB port because it's 2.0, it will be too slow (the external HDD is a SSD).

I understand the display needs to go last, because it's actually mini-displayport. But what about the HDD? I can't find a single external HDD that has 2 Thunderbolt ports (one IN, one OUT).

So how are you supposed to daisy chain things?

The Belkin Silver F4U055WW Thunderbolt Express Dock has only 2 Thunderbolt ports. Your answer does not address the problem. I have an OWC dock that is similar, 2 Thunderbolt ports. On both docks, one of the 2 ports is used to connect to the computer - leaving you with 1!

I don't get it. Just have to wait for hardware developers I suppose...

alphajolt

You can use an external Thunderbolt express dock. I use a thunderbolt dock for daisy chaining. It allows me to connect up to 5 thunderbolt devices.

It offers the following benefits:

One cable provides access to 8 ports
Daisy-chain up to 5 Thunderbolt devices
Cable-management channel

It's compatible with the following devices:

MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, and iMac

This is what I use for daisy chaining my thunderbolt devices.

Here's a link to New Egg so you can see the full details of the device and reviews:

Belkin Thunderbolt Thunderbolt Express Dock (NewEgg)


What is the Headset icon on apps in dock on iPad? I use ipad occasionally but today I came across a new "icon", which I have never seen before.

I have not connected any headphones to the iPad. So, what is the little "headset" icon on top of the app icon in the dock?
iPadOS: 14

I was just wondering the same. According to 3 Reddit threads this is a Siri App Suggestion based on having used the suggested app with headphones.
These are the threads:
https://old.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/bbjz1d/what_does_the_headphones_symbol_mean/
https://old.reddit.com/r/ipad/comments/78j9k6/headphone_icon_in_docks_recent_apps/
https://old.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/74b74u/weird_dock_bug_when_using_headphone_jack_in_ios_11/


Audio doesn't work in OSX but the start-up chime does I have a MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2010 MacBookPro6,1 ) that the audio stopped working on.

The audio jack has a red light on in it. In Sys Pref, under Sound, in the Output tab, only Optical digital-out port is listed.

I have reset the PRAM and Reinstalled the OS. Why? Because when the mac is restarted, I can hear the start-up chime. So I know the audio does in fact work. Alternatively, I can plug up some headphones to the jack and it works fine. I have read where you can try to keep plugging a headphone jack into the cable in hopes of hitting the "switch" inside; did it for an hour. No luck.

Anyone have any suggestions before I buy a replacement logic board off eBay and replace it?

I love having a 17-inch MBP and do not want to downgrade to a new 15.

The red light in your audio out jack indicates that it is active. That is why you do not hear anything on the speakers.

Your analog/digital switch in the port is stuck -- the red light is the digital audio signal.

Try to plug the headphone in, this time wiggling it from side to side while it's plugged in.

Alternatively try cleaning the audio plug:

Try inserting a cocktail stirrer or a toothpick and jiggle it around in the audio output port and the internal speakers should come to life.

If you have a compressed air can use it. that seems to work best.

There is a switch inside that has to be tripped.


How to share an Image using Airdrop from iPad mini to MacBook I am using an iPad Mini with iOS 7.1 , I want to share an image file using airdrop feature from my iPad mini to MacBook . But iPad mini is not detecting MacBook on Airdrop. How can I share file to and from iPad mini to MacBook using Airdrop??

AirDrop through iOS and OSX isn't supported yet.
(source: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5887?viewlocale=en_EN&locale=en_EN)


iOS 9 call log/recent calls doesn't show blue number to identify which number is referenced I work for a marketing company and we use iPhones.

Lots of contacts have more than a phone number saved in their business card as mobile, main, home, private ecc.

In iOS 9, in the recent calls log, can not see anymore the phone number coloured in blue as to show which number called (mobile, main, home, private, etc); a big issue if the contact has more than 2 numbers saved in his BC.

Missed calls show in red, but also don't specifically identify which phone number.

Would like to know if its just me or is something common that happen to you guys as well.

I believe I found the answer (from someone else) and would like to post it in case someone else will be interested.

--//--

It's no longer blued. It just shows the label under the name or number.


iPhone won’t update nor install new apps On my iPhone 5, I now have accrued 59 apps that need to update. I click on update and they all turn over to swirling circles and that's as far as it gets. Plus, I've just found out I can't install previously installed apps nor any new apps. I have tons of free space, no restrictions are set. Yes, I've restarted the phone. What else should I try?

I seem to recall having a similar situation a couple years ago. I don't recall the exact steps I took to correct, but I would start by logging out of the App Store on the device and then logging back in.

If that does not work, log out again, and then reset (not just restart) aspects of the device, then log back into the App Store. You didn't say what version of iOS you're running so you may have to poke around the settings a bit as Apple has changed how you do resets and what is affected. Make sure you have a back up of the phone first. With some of the new iOS versions, you can reset network settings before resetting all settings. I don't recall having to erase all data, so I believe you can skip that one. Again, please make sure you have a current backup!

With the iPhone5, if I recall correctly, you can press and hold both the power and home screen buttons for a few seconds which will also cause a reset.

After you try each step, I suggest just trying to download one or two updates at a time to make sure that will work. And I suggest being on a wireless network you have tested.

HTH,


iCloud Apple ID uses old defunct email After updating my iPod I'm asked to enter the password for the iCloud account, which has an Apple ID which uses an older email which no longer exists. I don't remember the old password.

Is there a way to update to my current Apple ID? I don't have access to the old email for verification.

If it's not possible I could live without it as I don't really use iCloud.

AppleID is tied to purchases though. Are you using a NEW AppleID for the iPod? If so, use THAT login for iCloud. If not, just create a new ID with an email account you currently use. You'll lose access to purchases from the old ID, and any documents saved in the cloud though.


Failing OS X Lion installation (in loop, no control) I've been trying to upgrade my OS to Lion (still old, I know). The installation failed because "recovery system can't be created". So I backed up everything, and installed Lion on an external drive. From there, pressing cmd+R upon start (a feature available for only Lion and above), I was able to use Disk Utility to erase/reformat my normal HD. After that, I tried reinstalling Lion on my normal HD, with the external drive attached. This time the installation progressed quite far, almost to the end, but eventually it failed for the same reason as before ("recovery system can't be created").

My problem now is that every time I restart my computer, with or without the external drive (with Lion) attached, the installation of Lion on my normal HD resumes automatically, failing every time. I cannot even use cmd+R anymore. I am stuck, with no access to anything. I do not have the 10.6 installation DVD that came with my purchase years ago, so unfortunately that is presently not an option.

How should I proceed?

You should be able to boot to your external Lion disk by holding option/alt at startup to bring up the boot selector, and then selecting your external disk. Once booted, I would then proceed to erase the internal disk with Disk Utility and create a single partition, selecting GPT as the partition type and Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as the format type. If you want to be really thorough select the zero-fill option when erasing the drive, it may help if you still have issues with creating the recovery partition as it will check every sector on the drive and reallocate any it finds to be unreliable.

While you're at it, make sure the SMART status of your drive is okay - it's not a guarantee your drive doesn't have any physical issues but it's a useful warning of impending failure.


Why will iPad not find my home Wi-Fi network but works with others? My iPad 2 has a hard time locating our Wi-Fi network at home. About once a day it will find it and connect but only for an hour or so. It's not like I'm getting a "can't connect error", it just doesn't see the network. It seems to have no problem connecting to networks outside the house (coffee shops etc). Also, all of our other devices have no problem connecting to our home Wi-Fi.

I had the same problem with my iPhone a fews ago. Please reboot the router first. If this didn't work, then reset the router to factory resettings.


Where is the AirPlay menu bar app? Apple hardware requirements state that AirPlay is not supported on my 2010 Macbook pro.

However, I can use AirPlay to stream music/movies from iTunes to my Apple TV (4th gen), as well as YouTube videos on Safari.

So why can't I get a menu bar app? AirPlay clearly is supported.

AirPlay is supported, extending or mirroring your Mac's desktop over AirPlay is not supported. As far as I know, the only way to stream from the menu bar is to stream system audio by Option-clicking the sound/volume icon. i think video streaming is still per-app if you can't do AirPlay desktop mirroring/extending.


International Power Converter I am going out of th country in a few weeks, and I am planning on taking my Macbook. I have a power adapter for the country I'm visiting, but it was bought for a PC. Will it work on a Mac?

You don't need a power converter, as Apple power supplies will all take 100-240V at 50 or 60 Hz, so a simple mechanical adaptor will do. Having said that, anything that will work with a PC power supply should also work with a Mac.


Music Home Sharing not visible in iOS 10 How do I access Home Sharing for Music in iOS10? I'd like to stream music from my Mac iTunes Library.

When I go to the Music app, there are no contents:

Home Sharing is active in iTunes on my Mac serving the audio. I can see the Library contents using the Remote app, and I can also access the Mac Library from another Mac.

Home Sharing is active on my iPhone, I'm logged into my Apple ID in my iOS Settings > Music.

Has this feature been removed, or is there something I'm missing here? This Apple support page, last updated May 2016, says it should be possible in what appears to be iOS 9.

I hadn't actually opened the Music app since I upgraded to iOS 10, but I did so to see what I could find for this question. On the main screen, I immediately have a Home Sharing option, and tapping on it goes to a screen with my computer's name. See screenshot below.

I'd suggest logging out of Home Sharing on your iPhone, waiting 15 minutes, and logging back in. Also make sure you're running the latest version of iTunes (12.1.5.21 as of this writing).


AppleScript to Rename File Names Can anybody help me with the following issue.   I'd like an AppleScript that will rename files like these by removing the leading numbers and underscore.
So file names like these:

5111632_The Secret_ Dare to Dream.mp4
5099299_Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1.mp4
5099287_Basic Instinct.mp4
5099283_Before I Go to Sleep.mp4

would turn into:

The Secret_ Dare to Dream.mp4
Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1.mp4
Basic Instinct.mp4
Before I Go to Sleep.mp4

I'm going to run it in one folder using Hazel.

The Applescript-native way to rename files is:
tell application "Finder"
    set theFile to (choose file)
    set name of theFile to "Yay"
end tell

If you wanted to rename every file in a folder, I'd put the files into a list and use a Repeat block on each one:
tell application "Finder"
    set theFolder to (choose folder)
    set folderContents to every item of theFolder
    repeat with theFile in folderContents
        set name of theFile to "Yay"
    end repeat
end tell

(This code won't actually run as-is because you can't have two files named "Yay", but the first does get renamed, and you get the idea.)
This is closer to what you want to do, but we're not quite there—you want to get the current file's name, make some changes to it, and save the new name.
There's a subroutine I found years ago somewhere (I can't seem to find the source now) which will get everything to the right of a certain character, such as an underscore. This makes it easy to do exactly what you want. The full, final code is:
tell application "Finder"
    set theFolder to (choose folder)
    set folderContents to every item of theFolder
    repeat with theFile in folderContents
        set oldName to name of theFile
        set newName to my rightString(oldName, "_")
        set name of theFile to newName
    end repeat
end tell

on rightString(str, del)
    local str, del, oldTIDs
    set oldTIDs to AppleScript's text item delimiters
    try
        set str to str as string
        if str does not contain del then return str
        set AppleScript's text item delimiters to del
        set str to str's text items 2 thru -1 as string
        set AppleScript's text item delimiters to oldTIDs
        return str
    on error eMsg number eNum
        set AppleScript's text item delimiters to oldTIDs
        error "Can't rightString: " & eMsg number eNum
    end try
end rightString


Seagate External HD (GoFlex) Crashes Macs Situation: My most important external Hard drive is crashing my computers. It had my time machine backups and random files stored. I've tried it on my iMac and Macbook Pro. It may be worth noting I installed Parallels recently.

Does anyone have any ideas or solutions? I was about to open it up. The fact that it shuts the computers down makes me think it isn't necessarily a read/write failure?

Specs:

Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 9ZF2N5-502

iMac
3.4GHz Intel Core i7
4GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Software  OS X 10.8.5 (12F2560)

Tried so far:
-Using the closest port to the power.
-Changing USB cables

I had this problem on many Mac OS X and OS X versions with different external hardware devices (even iPhone!). Installing the last version of OS X was the only working solution.
Even with upgrading the OS X, problems remain.


System event key codes not working on thunderbolt display My AppleScript works when I am just using my MacBook Pro Retina, however if i have my Thunderbolt Display attached the script does not work.

Here is the script which works perfectly on just the laptop:

######## turn screen bright
repeat 25 times
    tell application "System Events"
        key code 113
    end tell
end repeat

Terminal will display this if i am running on the Thunderbolt Display:

^[[28~^[[28~^{{ (repeats)

Does any one know the key code to adjust brightness on the Thunderbolt Display or where I may find it?

Thanks in advance

Did you try key code 113 using control down? Pressing the brightness keys while holding control normally changes the brightness of a Thunderbolt Display, but I don't know if it works with keys like F15.

You can also use brightness.c to change the brightness of different displays:

do shell script "~/bin/brightness -d 1 0.0"


How to prevent an encrypted APFS volume from automatically mounting? I tried adding the following line to /etc/fstab, but it doesn't work:

UUID=FF9DBDC4-F77F-3F72-A6C2-26676F39B7CE none apfs rw,noauto

I confirmed that it does work with unencrypted APFS volumes.

For encrypted HFS+ volumes you have to add the password to the keychain, but this workaround doesn't seem to work with encrypted APFS.

Indeed that is the case, even in Mojave (Beta 2).

I have a solution which is quite a hack, but it works. It consists in creating a login script that unmounts the disk using diskutil after a delay.

Create login script

Putting it in home folder for simplicity

nano ~/unmountDisk.sh

put the following in it (replace Macintosh\ HD with the disk name you want to unmount, if needed)

#!/bin/bash
sleep 20  # don't do it immediately, wait until it is mounted
diskutil unmount Macintosh\ HD

save (ctrl-x then y, enter). Then make executable

chmod a+x ~/unmountDisk.sh

Create launchd agent

nano ~/Library/LaunchAgents/my.username.unmountDisk.plist

put the following in it (note: replace username with your username, especially after /Users/)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>my.username.unmountDisk</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array><string>/Users/username/unmountDisk.sh</string></array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Finally, enable it

launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/my.username.unmountDisk.plist

This should get the disk auto-unmounted shortly after login. If it doesn't work, maybe increase the delay (it was 20 seconds in the example). You can check if it works by opening Finder immediately after logging in; you should see the disk unmounting itself after a few seconds.

Make disk-read only

I also noticed that fstab can make the disk read only (could be done as well, for safety).

sudo vifs

then press G o and paste

LABEL=Macintosh\040HD none apfs ro


Why does GarageBand have the older window control buttons? This isn't a huge deal, but it is kind of bugging me since I actually like the smaller ones that were introduced in Lion better than the bigger ones. In all other apps, the "traffic light" window controls look like:

But, in GarageBand, it looks like the old ones in Snow Leopard and older:

Does anyone know why it is like this? Did Apple purposely design them to be like this when they made GarageBand? I mean, it's not a big deal once again, but it kinda bugs me since I'm used to the smaller, more refined window controls.

Garageband probably draws its own window. I'll try to explain:

You see, when creating an app, you can use a stock window which the OS provides, and automatically comes with all the functionality of a window, or you can "draw" your own custom window, in which case you need to code everything yourself, and provide the button images.

Garageband's window is different from the "stock windows": it has that wooden left and right borders, which require the buttons to be pushed to the right. That means they probably draw their own window, which allows this level of customization. The garageband app has bitmaps for the buttons and draws them itself, instead of "asking the OS to do it".

Other apps simply call for the "stock window". If the OS changes this "template", all the windows that rely on it automatically change.

Other apps might use custom windows too, but embed bitmaps for different visual versions of OSes. Nevertheless, this is a lot of work for minor details and not all developers do it.

I guess this will be addressed in a future version of Garageband. It's not a big deal as you say, so perhaps not soon, but yeah, I would also prefer the app to be more consistent to the OS.

Hope it helps!


Applescript Command as Specified User to Delete All Files in a Particular Folder I am looking at using the POSIX path to delete the contents of a particular folder on users computers but it must be performed as a particular user.

I can deploy the script silently from my side using LanRev (Absolute Manage) so the user won't see the password.

In my scenario below, I am trying to execute the script specifying the user as "secretAdmin" and the password will be "secretPass123".

The system would be deleting the contents of the folder ~/Library/Keychains/

tell application "Finder"
    delete (every item of folder "$HOME/Library/Keychains") with user secretAdmin password secretPass123
end tell

Unfortunately this doesn't work. There are different system setups with the $HOME directory being located across different volumes and thus it's always best to use the current user ~/ or $HOME POSIX path instead - unless there is another method that I have overlooked.

Unfortunately, this code results in errors, and I have become sloppy with my AppleScript over the past 2 years not keeping its practice up to scratch.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

You can reference the files like this:

set myPath to (path to library folder from user domain as text) & "Keychains"
tell application "Finder" to get files of folder myPath


Is there an Alfred Workflow to install and view Alfred workflows? I want a workflow like the cask / brew workflow for Alfred workflows. Does this already exists?

e.g. auto completion, viewing and installing and removing right from alfred instead of searching google to find and install and the preferences to remove.

There are websites like http://alfredworkflow.com and Packal which have hundreds of available workflows which you can download for free.

There is Workflow Searcher Alfred Workflow which lets you find and install alfred workflows available on http://www.alfredworkflow.com/ from within Alfred itself. which you can download from here

There is also awm (Alfred Workflow Manager) which lets you find and install workflow found on Packal using the terminal. It requires you to have node and the node package manager npm installed.


Cannot mount remote USB drive over network after installing network switch My previous home network setup was MBP into the single GbE port on my wireless router, a Mac mini into the 10/100 port. Both talked perfectly to each other - both are running 10.15.7
The Mac mini has an external USB drive called Media 2, and I could mount and use it over the network via the MBP.
Today I installed a GbE switch so that both Macs can talk to the GbE port on the router, and now I can't mount the Media 2 drive on the MBP any more. Everything else works, it's just that external USB drive that I can't mount on the MBP over the network.
I get this box every time:

I can connect to the Mac mini using screen sharing and access Media 2 on the MBP that way. While I'm screen sharing the mini via the MBP, I can copy from Media 2 to the MBP. I just can't mount Media 2 directly on the MBP.
I've Googled around, and the most common solutions - restart the Finder or log out/back in - haven't worked.
Any suggestions gratefully received!

It fixed itself after 3 days. Seemingly it was a permissions issue that coincided with my adding the switch, but I have no idea how or why it suddenly decided to start mounting normally again.


In iMovie, is there any way to apply a PIP dissolve at the end but not at the beginning? I am using picture-in-picture in an iMovie and it works great except that I can't seem to figure out if there is a way I can have a different transition into the PIP versus out of it at the end.

There seems to only be one selection where I can choice time and transition (like dissolve) and it applies that to both the beginning and end.

Is there any way to have a different transition in versus out of a picture in picture in iMovie?

Yes. On iMovie 10.1.2 for macOS, all you need to do is hold the option key while dragging one of the picture-in-picture fade markers. Here's a video demo:

(Note: Press image for full size.)


Open website without actually opening it in browser from terminal Is it possible to open a website from terminal without it actually opening a new tab?

eg: open https://www.google.co.uk/ would open a new tab in the default application and go to that website.

I just want a command which mimics that call to the website but not open a tab or show anything.

Reason behind this is that I'm trying to call a command on a website, but don't want anything to pop up, I just want it to call the command.

You can use curl

curl https://www.google.co.uk/

and if you don't want the output

curl --silent https://www.google.co.uk/ > /dev/null


Will HomeKit remote access still work if I add a VPN to my Apple TV? I've currently got a great little HomeKit setup in my home which works perfectly even when I'm out of the house. I understand that HomeKit makes use of the Apple TV as a hub to enable remote access to my home.

I'm considering purchasing an ExpressVPN subscription as I live abroad and would like a reliable way of accessing TV shows without having to constantly find new VPNs. I understand that ExpressVPN is unlike many other VPNs as it provides the option to add a VPN directly to the Apple TV as per these instructions.

However, before jumping at the opportunity and shelling out a rather steep price every month, I thought it best to check the consequences of such a move.

My question is: Will my HomeKit functionality stay the same with a VPN on the Apple TV?

In other words, will I still be able to remote access my home kit devices while I'm out? If not, what are the limitations and are there any mitigations? If so, would there be any other unforeseen consequences of adding a VPN?

Your VPN connection isn't really a factor since all the of the synchronization is done via iCloud.

To simplify this a bit, consider that to remotely control your HomeKit (via the HomeKit hub), your devices must be signed into iCloud with your AppleID.  When you're away from home, you're on a different network and control your HomeKit devices.

A VPN is nothing more than a secure way of connecting a computer on one network to another so that it you're actually on that network (i.e. you're in Paris, France, but you VPN into a network in New York).

So, whether you're on a remote network or on a remote network but connected to a VPN, so long as you can sync with iCloud, you can control HomeKit devices.


How to make bash (Terminal.app) remember history of previous sessions? In my computer at work, my bash shell remembers history from previous sessions, even if I just opened a new terminal.
In my computer at home, this doesn't happen.
I have the same OS 10.6.8 in both machines and I don't have any history related setting in .bash_profile.
How could I set this up on my home computer so it remembers history across sessions?

You'll need to tell bash where to keep your history file, and how many lines to keep:

# Set the location of your HISTFILE
echo "export HISTFILE=/Users/<USERNAME>/.bash_history" >> ~/.bash_profile

# Number of lines to keep (1000 in this example)
echo "export HISTFILESIZE=1000" >> ~/.bash_profile

# Set how many commands to keep in the current session history list
echo "export HISTSIZE=80" >> ~/.bash_profile

# Ignore commands that start with a space
echo "export HISTIGNORE=\"&:[ ]*:exit\"" >> ~/.bash_profile


How to undo a Time Machine restore? I just attempted to restore a folder from TimeMachine.  I was expecting that TM would ask me where to put the restored folder (as it has done in the past, IIRC), but this time it didn't, and instead overwrote the folder1.

This is definitely not what I wanted.

Is it possible to undo the TM restore?

1Bizarrely enough, TM noticed that one subfolder already existed, and asked whether it should overwrite it, keep the latest version, or keep both.  What's bizarre about this is that only one subfolder was selected for such special treatment, out of dozens of subfolders for which it would have been equally applicable.

Two things might work in your case:

Power off the Mac and hope an unerase utility can recover the files before they get overwritten (assuming the restore didn't write over the existing files on disk).
Delete the folder and try again from a different Time Machine snapshot.


PC-like keyboard emulation on Mac OS X 10.6.3 I got myself a Mac Mini and started using it with a PC keyboard as I don't have the time to learn Apple keyboard shortcuts at the moment.

I was wondering if there is some kind of keyboard emulator that will make Home, End, ^→, and ^← work as they do in Windows.

The quick answer is "no".  Each application is going to have its own set of keystrokes to perform certain actions, and most of those are built around the OSX standard way of doing things.  For example, in Firefox Command+1 will always be the option for the first tab, even if you find some way of doing what you want.  Command+Tab will not cycle through individual windows, only applications, etc.

You can try some of the "shortcuts" listed in this similar question, or this similar answer, but this is basically adding training wheels, and is not likely to work with every application.

For the long run, your best bet is to ditch the PC keyboard (not that it makes any difference, except what logo is on the Command key) and start learning.  After a week or two of using OSX every day, you'll probably find that your level of comfort with your new OS has skyrocketed, and you're using command+v to paste without thinking about it.


Can't share my card with family members, have to buy everything twice I am a "family organizer". The card is set to be shared with the members of the family.

Yet everybody has to use my account. Just tried it with my wife, urged her to login as herself (App Store asked her for the credit card). Then she deleted Keynote that was purchased on mine account, clicked Buy and my card was billed additional $20.

What is going on here? I have a big family I don't want everybody to use my account.

I have the latest everything. The family is set up, we are exchanging photos and videos since it was released. Shared payment method is set up as well and yet it charged me again.

You shouldn't need to pay for other family members to download the app, provided you all are running the latest iOS software (I'm not sure if it requires iOS 9), iCloud Sharing should allow purchases to be shared between six family members. See http://www.apple.com/icloud/family-sharing/ for information and https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201088 for help setting it up.

You can go to the receipt Apple will send you for the $20 Keynote purchase, and there will be a link in there to report a problem, and you can indicate you did not mean to purchase. It will hopefully result in a refund.


Double Whatsapp Backup in iCloud I am not sure if this is the case, but when you do iCloud Backup of your phone, it will backup Whatsapp. ( I am unsure if this include the Photos and Video )

Then Whatsapp itself has backup option to backup itself in iCloud Drive Backup.

Is that a double Backup? Because i see 2.1GB inside the iCloud Backup, and then 1.7Gb inside document and settings.

Yes, if you have device backup and WhatsApp chat backup turned on, you will indeed be making two backups for WhatsApp. In my case, this means 2 x 1.5GB.

The following unofficial info should help you make a decision on whether to keep both, or turn one of them off. Disclosure, this is not my info, I did find it elsewhere:

  The iCloud backup and having the device backup does duplicate data.
  Backing up the phone will back up whatsapp, so if you restored to a
  new phone even without enabling the inbuilt backup your data would be
  there.

  If you enable the whatsapp iCloud backup you are able to restore your
  data to a new phone, without performing a full iCloud restore.
  Personally I would keep the in built whatsapp backup enabled and
  untick it from the complete iPhone backup. I swap my backup often
  between my two phones using just the built in whatsapp feature,
  without restoring etc.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/3pz8hh/how_does_the_whatsapp_app_backup_work/


How to start a terminal from a recovery USB flash drive On Mavericks I want to start the terminal when using my Live-USB.

A bash shell is available in Maverick's Recovery Mode from the menubar under Utilities:

If you suspect that the internal recovery disk is compromised and cannot boot into it with Command+r, you could try booting into the "internet recovery mode" with Command+Option+r. It might take a minute or two to load the Terminal option.


How to use find and replace to replace a character with new line I have a document, I wants to use the find and replace to convert any period (.) into a new line. I can't seems to of that, in Microsoft word you can input ^ CTRL+p into the replace field. But how do you do it on apps like Pages or TextEdit?

You can click on the magnifying glass icon and choose Insert Pattern or press ⌃ CTRL+⌥ ALT+⌘ CMD+P

Then pick Line Break


Disable workspace switch when opening a new window of a program already opened in another workspace When I want to open a new window of a program already opened in another workspace the opened window gets automatically focused in the other workspace. Thats annoying because I always have to get back to the previous workspace and use the context menu in Dock to force a new window. How is it possible to turn that off? I am using OS X Mountain Lion.

You can do this by turning off the "When switching to an application, switch to a space with open windows for the application" checkbox in Mission Control preferences.

However, this will mean that when you toggle to a different application, with Cmd+Tab or another mechanism, you'll stay in the same workspace. This may or many not be convenient for your workflow.


Adding tags to files in OS X: How to use, where are tags stored, and will they work on a network? I've heard it is possible to add tags to a file's meta data in OS X, and have Spotlight search through such tags.

In a nutshell, how would one access this feature in Finder – not Spotlight (Command+Space) – but the adding of tags themselves?
Where are these tags stored?  Do they go in .DS_Store (I tend to delete those!) or elsewhere in the filesystem?
Does this tagging mechanism work on removable drives?  What are the requirements?
Does this tagging mechanism work over a network share?  I have some Windows SMB network shares at home that I frequently store files on.  Would it work on those or is another configuration required?
Aside from Spotlight, are there any command-line tools for searching through or accessing the tag data for files?

Thank you!

In a nutshell, how would one access this feature in Finder – not Spotlight (Command+Space) – but the adding of tags themselves?

From Finder, highlight a file and hit Cmd-I (or right click and select Get Info) to bring up the File Info Dialog for the file. In this dialog, the Spotlight Comments field is where you add tag data. Just add text to this field to "tag" the file.

Here's a good article on how to become a meta-data wizard in OS X:
https://gigaom.com/2007/02/01/using-metadata-effectively-in-os-x/

If was tagging that screen capture, I might use the following in the comments box:

customer-name presentation product-name

So that I could find that screen shot by the customer, or by the fact that it's being used in a presentation, or by the name of the product I'm showing them.

  Where are these tags stored? Do they go in .DS_Store (I tend to delete those!) or elsewhere in the filesystem?

Yes, they're stored in the .DS_Store files you see in each folder. These files are read by Finder. The information is also stored in Extended Attributes (EAs) on the files themselves. Spotlight will prefer to read the data from EAs. EAs are a feature of the HFS+ filesystem, so remote filesystems might not necessarily have EAs available on files. In these cases, .DS_Store files are the fallback. Spotlight would also have a tag <-> file mapping section in its database but that's only accessible to Spotlight.

  Does this tagging mechanism work on removable drives? What are the requirements?

Generally: yes. You can add tags to files and folders on removable drives and remote shares. Unless you've turned off .DS_Store creation on remote shares, OS X will just add these files and keep the meta-data there for you.

  Does this tagging mechanism work over a network share? I have some Windows SMB network shares at home that I frequently store files on. Would it work on those or is another configuration required?

Yes, see above. If you didn't want OS X to do this, run:

defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores true

And then restart Finder.

  Aside from Spotlight, are there any command-line tools for searching through or accessing the tag data for files?

Lots!

Here's a list of 7 file-tagging applications for OS X: http://mac.appstorm.net/roundups/utilities-roundups/7-file-tagging-applications-for-os-x/

I personally love and use LaunchBar which is like Spotlight on steroids.


What geographic location is shown in the macOS High Sierra default desktop image? Looks like Convict Lake, just off US395 in Mono County...but I'm guessing.

Does anyone know where the fall mountain scene with the lake was photographed?

According to this person, it's in North Lake in Bishop, CA.


How to access a launch daemon's values/ system defaults value So I am trying to silence the "Your Disk is Almost Full" notification from a mac running Mojave, as right now it pops up way too frequently and it is so annoying.

I followed all answers from this thread but none of them work with Mojave.

However, I made some progress as @kenorb's answer includes this command:

grep -A6 debugLog <(strings $(find /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks -name diskspaced -print -quit))

which does give some insight into how things have changed, as when I run a modified version of it, I get this:

MacBook-Pro-7:~ QH$ grep -A15 debugLog <(strings $(find /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks -name diskspaced -print -quit))

debugLog (BOOL) - log additional debug information. Default: NO
Commands:
removeAllNotifications - Removes all scheduled and delivered user notificiations.
removeAllNotifications
com.apple.diskspaced
_mbsetupuser
Ignoring low disk notification during migration.
event
low_disk
STORAGE_CRITICALLY_LOW
STORAGE_CRITICALLY_LOW_INFO
volumeURL
Low space alert: %@ free on '%@'
Unknown command
peer error: %s
unexpected peer event
--
debugLog
systemUpdateDate
com.apple.updatesettings
Interval since system update :%f
alloc
init
lowSpaceTimer
invalidate
setLowSpaceTimer:
_centerForIdentifier:type:
deliveredNotifications
countByEnumeratingWithState:objects:count:
removeDeliveredNotification:
scheduledNotifications
removeScheduledNotification:
count

Now I don't understand much about that command or macOS daemons at all, but it seems to me that the lowSpaceTimer or setLowSpaceTimer: might be the key to fixing things. If I can get access to one of them, and set the timer to be something high enough, I will finally get some closure on that annoying pop up. The thing is... I have no idea how to access it.

I've tried:

defaults read lowSpaceTimer

defaults read com.apple.diskspaced lowSpaceTimer

defaults read com.apple.diskspaced (this outputs the minFreeSpace k-v entry I wrote while trying to get it to work, but does nothing to help things as minFreeSpace is obsolete)

Right now the popup shows up once every 6 minutes and it's driving me insane when I try to get work done.

It's most likely not the answer that you're looking for, but suddenly I discovered a simple and trivial thing - "do not disturb" mode silences that notification, along with all the others of course...

I know that it's not a proper solution, but I'll stick with it by now.
How could I've been so blind :D


How to switch dictation language in Yosemite using a voice command? I write in both English and French, and quite often I need to switch between them. I'd like to know if I can achieve this using a voice command?

I am not aware of any keyboard shortcut to do so but as a pis aller you can create a Sikuli script that switches from  English to French, and another one that switches from French to English, then bind those two scripts to a voice command.


Macbook Air - Deleting large files but not getting back the space I'm running 10.6.8 on my Macbook Air. I have been archiving lots of large files to an external drive, but after doing so, my computer doesn't recognize that the files/data are gone. Even after a restart.

I've tried to use iBoost-up to clean things up, and restarted again but my computer acts like I haven't cleared up any space when in fact I have removed close to a dozen gigabytes. I never used Time Machine, the files are archived off my drive. I want the space I freed up to display, but it doesn't!

Does anyone know why?

Deleting file from Finder moves them to the Trash for recovery.  They're still on your disks taking up space. So you can either empty the Trash in Finder or use rm from terminal to immediately and permanently delete the files.


Create random playlist of albums not recently played? Is there a way to create a smart playlist that consists of random albums and when I sync my iPod touch, will remove the music I just heard and replace it with new randomly chosen albums?

If not, is there anything close?  I'd like to play music in album order, hear complete albums and hear music I have not heard recently.

I'm on Windows, so Mac plugins wouldn't work.


How Google puts unwanted apps on our Macs? I cannot find in my memory a situation when I was installing anything from Google except from Google Chrome (that is my main browser).

Recently I saw on my Mac an app titled Google Search.app.

(Above screenshot taken from Launchpad)

Tiny (87 KB) but in my case definitely unwanted. I see that the only thing it does when opened is open Chrome with a new tab which has google.com for its url.

This makes no sense to me. Also this app is not stored in my home directory /Users/slick/Applications/Chrome Apps. Rather, it is stored in /Applications. Will definitely land into the Trash.

Question: How it was installed without my permission (if I'm a root on my own computer)? How should I stop this in future?

The "apps" come bundled with Chrome. These aren't actual apps, just links to Google services that are wrapped to look like a standard app (think of the as the OS equivalent of browser bookmarks to Google sites). You can safely delete them, but they will likely reappear should you re/install Chrome.


iOS 10 speed dial - too fast for systems to recognize! iOS 10 had one surprise feature: The speed dial for adding a conference code to a call now dials much more rapidly.

In general, I appreciate this, but it has resulted in the code frequently being misparsed by the phone service, which means I have to dial the conference code manually; I usually don't have it at my fingertips, which results in a net slowdown for dialing in to (unfortunately frequent) phone calls!

Our firm uses Global ReadyConnect.

Has anyone else experienced this or found a solution?  I'd love to have it work just a bit slower, or worst case back to the pre-iOS10 speed.

I noticed this also and appreciate speed but I haven't had a problem with it being too fast. Have you tried adding commas in between each digit in the conference code? That may work for your particular use case.

For example

1(555)123-4567,,,1,2,3,4,5,6,#


In the Notes app (iOS 12.4), how to remove "All on my iPhone", "Notes", and "Recently Deleted" folders In the Notes app, which I am using offline, say I write a note and I put it in a folder I create called "Ool's Folder". Say I then delete the note and create another one.

At this point, I have four (!) folders showing, namely "All on My iPhone", "Notes", "Ool's Folder", and "Recently Deleted".

How can I get only a single folder showing, namely "Ool's Folder". I have tried the method of swiping left to delete, but this only works on "Ool's Folder" and not on any of three folders that I would actually like to delete.

As long as there are notes in Recently Deleted, the folder will be there.

There's nothing much you can do about system folders. I tend to ignore them unless required. Or not make a folder at all. This keeps everything simplified(relatively).


Copy files from a hard drive onto an iMac? I had an old Mac 5.1 that now, sadly, broke down. Now I still have the SSD, can I completely copy everything (including OS etc.) onto the new iMac I bought? I have an USB/Hard Drive connector.
I also don't want to completely replace the new SSD in my new iMac, because it has more capacity.

You have different options:

Use Migration Assistant and select the option to transfer from a Mac, Time Machine backup, or startup disk. This method is probably most convenient, however, as noted in a comment by user Tetsujin: "[...] unless you migrate as the very first step in setting up a new machine, you will end up with two accounts - the one you just set up & the migrated one. It is possible (if irritating) to merge them, but if the new machine is still pretty much a blank canvas, it could be simpler overall to nuke it & start over."
Boot the old SSD from the USB enclosure by pressing alt during boot and selecting it. Then use a software such as Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! to copy the entire partition.
Alternatively, you could also use Disk Utility instead of Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! as described e.g. here (edited from the source):

  Launch Disk Utility
  In the sidebar, select the volume to which you want to copy/clone data. The volume you select will be the destination drive for the Restore operation.
  Select Restore from Disk Utility’s Edit menu.
  A sheet will drop down, asking you to select from a drop-down menu the source device to use for the Restore process. The sheet will also warn you that the volume you selected as the destination will be erased, and its data will be replaced with data from the source volume.
  Use the drop-down menu next to the "Restore from" text to select a source volume, and then click the Restore button.
  The Restore process will begin. A new drop-down sheet will display a status bar indicating how far along in the Restore process you are.


Converting publisher files for use on Mac I have Microsoft publisher files on a windows computer.  I recently purchased a macbook air, and would like to move these files to my new computer.  How do I do that?

LibreOffice 4.0 and later can open publisher files.


Is there a way to hide some events from an Outlook calendar? I have an Outlook calendar synced to my iPhone which has a lot of "reminders" that I don't really want to see on my actual calendar.  How can I hide some of these items from my iPhone, without deleting them entirely from Outlook?

You can move those items you don't want to view in your phone into a new 'reminders' calendar, then disable that in your phone, however this has the shortcoming that other staff in our org do not see the free/busy information of that 'reminders' calendar. If I could fix that problem this would work for me.

related question: https://superuser.com/questions/636605/how-do-i-share-free-busy-info-from-an-outlook-subcalendar


Destroying iPad Mini 1 I would like to know how long an iPad Mini would need to stay in water in a way that it is never ever usable again. I know this is a bit unusual, but I'd really like to get rid of the old device and I'm also curious what it would take to destroy the device. I've already had my device a day ago for about 22 hours in the water, but I can still use the device without any major problems. In fact, this post was written on it.

So would anyone know how long it would take to completely destroy the device?

Proven method is to use a hammer as practiced by Hillary Clinton.

Not even FBI could crack those devices.

Leaving it in water will not destroy the memory chips (they are sealed).


Is it possible to see a who has purchased an app in the iTunes Connect financial report? Our company requires to book every sale we make in our SAP system against a customer name. So when we publish the apps under our developer license, we will need the information of each customer who bought the app.

Is there a way Apple will give me detailed information?

No. The only way to get the name of someone who's purchased your app is to request it from the user when they open the app.


Applications/Xcode vs Developer/Applications/Xcode I have OSX 10.8 with Xcode 4.6.3 installed (it shows under App Store). When I Spotlight-search "xcode" I see two results: Xcode – Mac & Xcode – Developer.

The first launches as expected, but with the second I get the following warning: "This installation of Xcode 4.2 requires Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. Install a version of the Xcode Tools that supports Mac OS X 10.8." and it quits instantly. Same if I try to launch via finder at Developer/Applications/Xcode.

I find this confusing - why does the app show twice and is there a way of removing the non-functioning version?

To further complicate matters, I have a folder Developer-3.2.4 containing this version of Xcode which also shows in Spotlight results - I followed a tutorial to keep an older version of Xcode when the buggy new version 4 was released. I assume I can safely delete that now?

You seem to have upgraded your system with older versions of Xcode present on it and missed uninstalling Xcode 4.2 while installing Xcode 4.3.

Xcode from version 4.3 onwards installs under /Applications. Only versions older than this (like your Xcode 4.2) install under /Developer. If you do not plan to boot OS X Lion from another disk/partition and use Xcode 4.2, you can safely uninstall it (do not just delete the folder from Finder).

To uninstall Xcode 4.2:

Open Terminal (Applications->Utilities->Terminal.app)
Type the command sudo /Developer/Library/uninstall-devtools --mode=all

To uninstall your Xcode 3.2.4 under /Developer-3.2.4:

Open Terminal (Applications->Utilities->Terminal.app)
Type the command sudo /Developer-3.2.4/Library/uninstall-devtools --mode=all

Reference:
How to remove Xcode from your Mac


Date calculation in AppleScript. Week numbers and their start date I want to write an AppleScript that creates projects in OmniFocus where their defer date and due date is set to any weeks' start and end day.

The result should look like this:

weeknumber: day1. month1. year1 - day2. month2. year2

Where weeknumber is replaced with a weeks' week number. day1, month1 and year1 take weeknumbers' week number and parse it to that days' date. So for week number 09 in 2016 that would be 29. 02. 2016. The first week ends (day2 and so forth) end on 06. 02. 2016. So the result for the first week of 2016 would look like this:

09: 29. 02. 2016 - 06. 02. 2016

From the shell it is possible to get the last day of a month like so:

date -v 1d -v 3m -v 16y -v -1d +'%V: %d. %m. %Y'
09: 29. 02. 2016

In AppleScript you can turn any string, e.g.  returned from a shell script (date) into a date object with the syntax:

set lastDayShell to do shell script "date -v 1d -v 3m -v 16y -v -1d +'%V: %d. %m. %Y'"
set lastDay to date lastDayShell

The command to add a new project to OmniFocus is this:

tell application "OmniFocus"
    tell default document
        set weekNumbers to folder "Week Numbers"
        tell weekNumbers
            set project1 to make new project with properties {name:"09: 29. 02. 2016", defer date:firstDay, due date:lastDay, singleton action holder:true}
        end tell
    end tell
end tel

I know all of that. I just can't find a resource that says how to get the first and last day of any week. I want to set the defer date of any weeks' start to the first of the week, and the due date to the last day.

Thanks to @ryan-m's comment I found a solution. Turns out date(1) is actually really cool. Its ability to do "adjustments" were the answer.

You can tell date to simply "go to" a specific day by using -v. You can then use plus and minus to "adjust" that date in another -v. So for instance:

date -v 1w -v 16y

Will go to the first month of 2016. (Or a date that contains that date)

With an adjustment we can walk through dates:

date -v +1w -v +0d -v 16y
date -v +1w -v +6d -v 16y

This goes to the first week of 2016. The second command goes from the beginning of that first week 6 days ahead. This is the 10th of January 2016. -v +2w would be the second week, and so forth. It's apparent which part can be automated here.

Everything that +'string' at the end does is it formats the date you're at in the way you want it displayed. I use this in my script to make a date-string that AppleScript's date command understands. Please don't confuse the shell command date(1) with the AppleScript date command.

This is the script I ended up with, by the way:

repeat with weekNumber from 1 to 52
    set weekStartShell to (do shell script "date -v +" & weekNumber & "w -v +0d -v 16y +'%d. %m. %Y'")
    set weekStart to date weekStartShell
    set weekEndShell to do shell script "date -v +" & weekNumber & "w -v +6d -v 16y +'%d. %m. %Y'"
    set weekEnd to date (weekEndShell & " 23:59:59")
    set projectName to (("CW" & weekNumber & ": " & weekStartShell & " - " & weekEndShell) as string)

    tell application "OmniFocus"
        tell folder "Day Projects" of default document
            set projectWeek to make new project with properties {name:projectName, defer date:weekStart, due date:weekEnd, singleton action holder:true}

        end tell
    end tell

end repeat

Note that in order to use AppleScript's set var to date "date-string" you have to give it a string in your locale. In Europe the string is 01. 02. 2016 23:59:59. In America this probably is something like 2016/02/01 23:59:59. You need to modify these in the variables in the script. (+'%Y/%m/%d' at the end)


Is Voice Control still present in Siri supported devices? I had an iPod touch two years ago, and it had voice control features for simple things like "next song", or "what time is it".

Is this functionality still present in the current version of iPhone, or has it been replaced by Siri (which does not work off-line)?

Voice Control is still available on the iPhone 4S, unless you have enabled Siri in the iPhone preferences (listed under the General menu).

If Siri is disabled, holding the Home button will still launch the "classic" voice control, which does work offline, and also supports a whole lot more languages than Siri currently does.


Can I safely charge a Galaxy S9 with a USB-C MacBook Pro charger? I have a Galaxy S9+ (with "fast charging"), which requires a USB-C charger. I also have a MacBook Pro with a USB-C charger.

I am curious whether I can (safely) charge my Galaxy S9+ with my MacBook charger. The phone shows that it is charging, and very fast actually.

However, I am not sure whether the charger has too much power and would negatively impact the battery on a short time (perhaps get too hot or even cause physical damage/explode) or long-term (decreased battery health).

All devices (Phones) are 5 Volt technology.

How fast it charges depends on....

Can the charger provide the power the battery is asking for.

Battery is a SMART battery type (it has a chip build in) so it will regulate the charging process safely.


How can I copy a selection of files from multiple folders into multiple folders? I am developing an Android-app in OS X, and want to use some third-party icons. I have downloaded and extracted the icons into this folder structure:

drawable-mdpi

ic_icon1.png
...

drawable-hdpi

ic_icon1.png
...

drawable-xhdpi

ic_icon1.png
...

drawable-xxhdpi

ic_icon1.png
...

I want to copy the files named ic_icon1.png from each directory into my own folder structure with the same folders, ignoring the rest of the icons in the source folders. How can I accomplish this using Finder or Terminal?

You can use gcp from homebrew for this. Install gcp with

brew install coreutils

Then You can make something like this:

gcp --parents drawable*/ic_icon1.png /path/to/output/dir

This will copy all ic_icon1.png preserving directory tree.

From man gcp:

   --parents
          use full source file name under DIRECTORY


Make the green full screen window icon on Yosemite maximize windows On Mac OS X Yosemite the green icon in every window:

is by default used to make the application full screen.

How do I make it work the same way as in previous versions of Mac OS X, i.e. to maximize the window?

As the below mentioned solution is application-based (i.e. only works for apps like Google Chrome), another way to approach this problem is to ignore the maximize button entirely and to install the open source app spectacle which offers the keyboard shortcut:

⌘ + ⌥ + F

It also has some other nice features, too. And it works for all apps.

In order to maximize the window so that it fills the visible window content, use:

⌥ + Click on green icon

In order to maximize the window both in width and height to the current desktop for applications like Google Chrome use:

⌥ + ⇧ + Click on green icon

You notice the change of behaviour of the button in the way it changes its content from two the arrows to a plus sign.


Recording iPad Video Output on Mac I'd like to record video output from my iPad on my Mac.  I know there is a VGA output adapter for the iPad.  What hardware and software do I need on the Mac side?

Details:

I have a two-year-old iMac and year-old MacBook.  I can use either one for the recording.
I will be recording an iPad app that has support for video output (it's an app I'm developing myself)
I don't care much about what the final video format is.  Ideally, QuickTime, but really anything displayable on a Mac is fine.

Alternatively, if there is a much easier/cheaper way to record on a Windows box rather than Mac, I could do that too.

There's a guide here you might find helpful. The guide suggests using the iPad VGA connector and a VGA to USB converter. The suggested converter is a bit steep at $299, but you might be able to find a cheaper alternative.


How to log login and logout on Mavericks? I would like to know when I logged in and out on my mac.

Is it possible?

Open up a terminal and enter the command: last

chris@chriss-mbp-2:~/Documents/dev/git/$ last

    chris     ttys005                   Sun Dec 22 01:51 - 02:57  (01:06)
    chris     ttys005                   Sun Dec 22 01:50 - 01:51  (00:00)
    chris     ttys004                   Sat Dec 21 13:32 - 19:53 (1+06:20)
    chris     ttys003                   Sat Dec 21 13:32   still logged in
    chris     ttys002                   Sat Dec 21 13:32   still logged in
    chris     ttys001                   Sat Dec 21 13:32   still logged in
    chris     ttys000                   Sat Dec 21 13:32   still logged in
    chris     console                   Sat Dec 21 13:32   still logged in
    reboot    ~                         Sat Dec 21 13:32
    shutdown  ~                         Sat Dec 21 13:32

Further details about last can be found in the man pages here.


How do I rebuild my HDD/SSD from scratch without Time Machine on MacBook Pro? Ok let me try and sketch the situation;

Hardware
MacBook Pro 17 inch (Early 2011), 1x 750 GB HDD + 1x 140 GB SSD

OS
Lion

Just after I purchased my MacBook Pro I swapped the 750 GB drive for the 140 GB SSD and that worked well for a while. Obviously this setup was a bit limited in terms of drive space especially since I started using the machine privately and for work through the use of Parallels virtual machines. I removed the optical drive and installed the old 750 GB drive to provide the additional space.

Now here is where it gets a bit messy. Because I wanted to use this machine for work, I decided it would be a good idea to turn on drive encryption (for the 750 GB HDD but not the SSD) using Lion which was easy. But then, a while later and in my infinite wisdom, I moved the /Users directory from the SSD to the HD and that's where the trouble began.

Now I want to make a clean start and copy all data to my 1TB USB 2.0 and then rebuild the entire machine using the Lion recovery flash drive which I already have.

My plan was as follows:

Boot OS X into Recovery Mode
Log in as test user (that I won't need after cleanup)
Open Terminal
su to root
rsync -avz /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD /Volumes/1TBHD/Backup_MacHD
rsync -avz /Volumes/Data /Volumes/1TBHD/Backup_DATA
Disk Utility --> Format HDD --> Format SSD
Reinstall OS
Reboot to newly installed OS
Try and piece it back together using data from /Volumes/1TBHD

I got as far as 6 but when I checked user and group ownership I already noticed some discrepancies... not a great start as I had thought that rsync -avz as root would certainly preserve that sort of stuff.

What I am looking for is confirmation that the above is workable or even better, a more straight forward and success assured approach.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and give me your thoughts and suggestions!

If the Users directory on the SSD is the same, ie., you haven't changed files, etc., then it is still the Users directory that the OS is using. However, if you did some terminal magic to make this transition I could see where things would get a bit hairy.

I'm not as familiar with the terminal, but I can tell you what I would do in this situation. I'd clone disk images of each drive to the TB using Carbon Copy Cloner or some similar piece of software. At least as a disk image you'll maintain the integrity of the files - I'm not sure how this is effected via encryption though. It may not even work.

Ideally, you'd reinstall OS X on the SSD and then use your Terminal magic to move the Users directory to the HD - if that is still your plan - mount the disk image files and move files accordingly, this should help with permissions. Again, I'm not sure how the encryption works into this either. And I've not seen many instances where moving the Users directory didn't result in some kind of mess. If you can keep it on the drive with the system, I think that would be best.

BTW - Lion should've installed it's recovery partition locally when you did the original install.

Perhaps not much help - but some things to think about.


How do I use my Logitech G9x mouse on Mac OS X Lion? I've got Logitech G9x mouse. Gaming mouse. Great mouse.
Logitech doesn't support it under MacOS X.
Mouse works perfectly (as far as I can see ) with standard Mac OS driver. (ie right/left/middle buttons and scroll works. What doesn't work are thumb buttons. I've got used to them to go back/forward while browsing, etc.

Couple options I've tried, none helped.

Logitech Control Center (LCC v.3.5.1-28) - did not recognize mouse. Expected.
USB Overdrive - no support for OS X Lion with repots on kernel crashes from users of OS X Lion. didn't try, as it's not stable solution.
Steer Mouse didn't recognize G9x on Mac. But did recognize couple other mices I had (ie mx revolution, vx revolution)

Option left: Write own driver. How?

Did I miss anything? Any other drivers out there, I didn't find? (I found a lot of enhancers for magic mouse, or whatever it's called)

Use Better touch tool. Freeware. You can assign macros to any button with this wonderful tool.


MacBook Pro 2015 lost battery capacity I have used my new MacBook Pro Retina for a few days.

After three battery cycles, the battery lost capacity from 6960 mAh originally to 6616 mAh now.

Is it normal to lose almost 350 mAh of capacity in just two/three days?

As per this wikipedia article,

  Batteries gradually self-discharge even if not connected and
  delivering current. Li+ rechargeable batteries [like the kind in a
  MacBook] have a self-discharge rate typically stated by manufacturers
  to be 1.5-2% per month.

Basically, even if you are not charging or discharging your Mac battery at all, it will still lose 1-2% of its capacity every month (on average). You stated your battery age as 7.2 months, and your original battery capacity as 6960 mAh. (Side note: anyone else can find out their battery capacity, original capacity, and battery age with this tool.) Assuming it discharged 1% a month while in storage for 7 months, that means your battery could have lost 487 mAh while in storage. So, it is perfectly reasonable for your 7 month old battery to have lost 350mAh.

It is a little frustrating to have a somewhat old battery when you have purchased a new computer, but that's just how it goes. Li-ion batteries last well for about 4-5 years, so 7 months isn't too long on that scale. You will probably need to replace your Mac's battery (or get a new computer) in 2021. So, you have plenty of time to enjoy your new Mac before things even start to go downhill. But yes, that small battery discharge is normal; remember that it occurred over 7 months, not 3 days.


How to know whether Mac has SSD or HDD installed How do I know whether my Mac has a SSD or HDD installed without having to literally open my Mac?

PS. Is there anyway to know it from Disk Utility?

Apple Menu -> About This Mac -> System Report
Select Storage in the Hardware section
Select "Macintosh HD" on top

Alternatively you can run system_profiler SPSerialATADataType or system_profiler SPStorageDataType in Terminal which more or less gives you the same information


Is it possible to use 2 different keyboards without having to switch the layout manually? I have multiple keyboard attached to one of my macs. One is more of the gamer type the other is the usual bluetooth keyboard.

One is French (Windows AZERTY) the other one is US (Mac QWERTY).

Is it possible to use both without having to switch the layout manually every time we switch from one to the other in OS X?

I don't think this is possible, but you might have a look at the Karabiner app, which I've heard has ways of distinguishing hardware keyboards.

Manual switching is in any case very fast using the Command plus space shortcut.


Moving user account manually Had a imac 21" 2011 model high sierra with the nvidia gpu that had high casualty rate, could see from the death it was the gpu it's hd was 2tb.

Bought a mac mini 2012 Catalina 200gb ssd and 500gb hd,
of cause, I can't restore the time machine backup because of the size difference.

My goal is to get my user back with data and keychain and the works, apps do not matter. I took apart the imac and salvaged the 2tb hd and put it in an external usb3 enclosure.

Connected it to the mac mini and it see it and I see all my data on the external hd.

What does it take to restore my user account? Can I make a dir in \Users\ with my user name and mount the external volume as that and then login with the user?

I'm happy enough with keeping the data on the external hd and the os and apps on the ssd.

You could make a different account on the Mac Mini, and if you right-click on the account you created in System Preferences you get an advanced settings pane and could set the home directory to be whatever you want - ie. it could just pick up the one on the USB drive. You'd then be using your old account just like it was before, running from the external enclosure. Be warned - if that enclosed is missing when you log in macOS will create a new one in /Users on your internal drive.

However, in general, all the users settings you care about are in Library in your user's home. So, if you created a new account, and just copied Library over, you'd get the settings you care about. Then could use the docs/data on the remove drive. It wouldn't need your full drive structure - could move those docs to wherever you wanted.


Can I import photos from a locked iPhone to Mac? I recently messed up my iPhone and my screen's busted. I can't tap anything, but it'll tap randomly anywhere and everywhere. So I can't type my passcode and I'm trying to get all my photos back through iPhoto but since my phone died and I need to enter my password... I think you get the picture... Anyways, is there any way for me to get my photos back?

It will do it without unlocking, unless you've restarted the phone or entered so many incorrect passwords that the phone has locked out any further attempts.

If you've restarted it or tried too many times, then you're in about the same position as the FBI in the US right now - in short, no, you can't get it to do anything until it's unlocked.

You could try putting another identical phone side by side with it & tapping in the same place on both phones simultaneously, to see if it will accurately recognise the taps; but if that doesn't work [& be careful you don't accidentally lock out the other phone] then the only real solution is to get the screen fixed, or check your iCloud storage - see if they're all already saved online.


Plist Not Running AppleScript using launchctl I am trying to schedule my AppleScript to run on 60 second intervals that runs two shell scripts and have appeared to setup my plist correctly as two files are outputted (StandardErrorPath and StandardOutPath) after 60 seconds elapse, but I don't see the results of my shell scripts appearing like they did when I ran the script in Script Editor. To me this appears to mean that the ProgramArguments section is not loading my AppleScript. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Should I add some type of logging to my AppleScript to log to the error file in my plist?

AppleScript file (Shell script runs correctly in Script Editor and Terminal):

do shell script "cd /Users/user/Desktop/Projects/node/webmasters-cli && /Users/user/.nvm/versions/node/v4.3.2/bin/node app.js DesktopUSA"
do shell script "cd /Users/user/Desktop/Projects/node/webmasters-cli && /Users/user/.nvm/versions/node/v4.3.2/bin/node app.js DesktopAll"

plist (Located in /Users/user/Library/LaunchAgents)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.user.webmasters.daily.pull</string>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <false/>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <false/>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/Users/user/Desktop/Projects/node/webmasters-cli/daily-api-call.scpt</string>
    </array>
    <key>StartInterval</key>
    <integer>60</integer>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/webmastersDailyTest.err</string>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/webmastersDailyTest.out</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Steps to load into launchctl:

1) Changed into directory

2) ran launchctl load com.user.webmasters.daily.pull.plist

3) Checked with launchctl list. plist appeared.

4) Checked /tmp and both StandardErrorPath and StandardOutPath files are created after 60 seconds. No values within files as expected.

Try adding /usr/bin/osascript as the first ProgramArguments. This will explicitly tell launchd to use the osascript to run your script.

Direct Approach

Do you need to use AppleScript for this launchd job? If not, you could avoid a level of abstraction by calling directly to node:

<key>WorkingDirectory</key>
<string>/Users/user/Desktop/Projects/node/webmasters-cli</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
    <string>/Users/user/.nvm/versions/node/v4.3.2/bin/node</string>
    <string>app.js</string>
    <string>DesktopUSA</string>
</array>


How to subscript/superscript single character in Text Edit? I would like to know how to subscript/superscript "single" character in Text Edit.
I have followed this question: Entering superscript text (exponents) in TextEdit?, which is format-font-baseline-Subscript
but it subscripts/superscripts single line, even if I highlight single character. I tried to use different fonts, but it seems like I cannot select single character and then subscript/superscript it. Thank you for every answer.

The problem was that I had plain text turned on, instead of rich text . ( Format-Make Rich text ).
I don't know if plain text is the default option or not, but when you have plain text you can't use subscript/superscript single characters, it just applies the transformation to the whole line. Surprisingly, when you subscript something in rich text and then switch back to plain text, you get this popup:    Making a rich text document plain will lose all text styles (such as fonts and colors), images, attachments, and document properties.
I just don't get why these unsupported operations aren't greyed out when they don't work properly.


iPhone sending invitations to appointments it didn't create Ok at work I received an appointment invite from a colleague in Outlook which I accepted. This event is an out of hours social event so I thought I would forward the invitation as an iCal event to my iPhone and add it to my Gmail calendar to keep things synced up. But when adding to my calendar my phone decided to send out an invitation to everyone who was invited to the original event inviting them to this event that had just been added to my phone.

So now not only does everyone in the office have my personal email address they also have a confusing second invitation from a random Gmail account to an event they had already accepted or declined.

Is there any way I can forward calendar appointments like this without my phone emailing everyone attending?

I am fairly "late to the game", but since no answer has been accepted yet, my input might still be useful:

the "meeting highjacking" you describe in your question is fairly well known with Exchange and the iOS calendar app; in fact it can be even worse where simply accepting an invite on your phone may make you the "owner" of the meeting; this seems to happen more often the larger the number of meeting attendees gets. This issue is so severe that in my company we discourage people from accepting meeting invites from their phones.
as for the "butchered description" you describe in your answer: this, too is a well known issue between Exchange and the iOS calendar. iOS 8.3 supposedly fixed it, but since those cut off notes do not happen all the time, we do not have enough data yet at work to say for sure.


How can I create a Lion USB recovery stick without Mac OS? I have a serious problem that I need help with.
Background
When I installed Lion, the install of a recovery partition failed. This is not good, since the offical Lion recovery disk assistant (http://support.apple.com/kb/dl1433) is only able to create a recovery USB with an existing Recovery HD on the mac.
My attempt to fix
There are many (inofficial) workarounds: Since they are all the same, I'm sure that you're familiar with it:

Open the package contents of the Lion installer from the Mac App store to get the InstallESD.dmg.

Restore the InstallESD.dmg onto the HFS+ formatted USB (GUID). I used a 8GB USB stick.
Source: create Lion install USB

This solution should be more convinient than the official soluion, since the Lion software would not have to be downloaded again.
What happened
The install USB booted fine. But the install failed. It could not even start. I got the message like: Install failed. Restart Installation.
But I did not restart immediately, since I wanted to format my whole SSD with the Disk Utiliy (which went fine). I formatted the SSD using the same Lion install USB. Having restarted the installation, I keep getting the same message! I've tried different partition layouts (always HFS+ with GUID):

only Macintosh HD partition
EFI and Macintosh HD partition
only Untiteled partition

I'm not able to install Lion! I do not have any install DVD (for any Mac OS). I only have the Lion Installer from the Mac App store with the InstallESD.dmgon a backup. Is there any way I can create a Lion Recovery Stick (with or without the dmg) on Windows or Ubuntu?

I've heard rumblings that the Lion Recovery Update will recreate the Recovery HD partition. Have not tested it myself: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1464 (For future reference, does little to help you now).

But to address your immediate problem, install Snow Leopard (using the discs that came with your Mac). Then once installed, log into the MAS and reinstall Lion.


Guest account on MAC OS X 10.5 can go to Finder and see all the files I created a new Guest Account with restrictions and parental Controls but if I am in the guest account and I go to Finder and click on All images or documents it shows all of it.....  How can I limit access to that or block it completely?

The most likely culprit is some utility or old step that was taken to change the permissions on your folders. Depending on how this happened, you may have a little or a lot of clean up, but let's verify this is what is happening:

Here are two screenshots of the default permissions for your administrator's home folder as well as the Documents folder within the home folder.

You can edit things by clicking the lock icon, entering an admin user/password and then using the +, - and gear buttons. Don't forget to apply the changes to enclosing folders. Also, getting a little help from Apple or a tech is often needed if many folders have incorrect permissions. The ~/Library and ~/Shared folders have permissions different than most as well as files that are constantly in use so try to stick with Photos or Documents until you're sure you're fixing things appropriately.


What are the implications in speed and battery life while using Filevault 2? One of the neat new (though understated) features of Lion is Whole Disk Encryption. Before  I flick the switch, I'd love to know what the performance impacts (speed and battery impacts) of switching it on.

There are some great articles with qualitative data (see below - not to mention a good Ask Different Question), however it would be great to have some quantitative (or even anecdotal) stories of people who Filevault 2 has, or hasn't worked for.

What implications have you experienced in speed and battery life using Filevault 2?

  Using FileVault 2: Performance impacts
  Once you have Filevault 2 enabled, you will not notice any performance changes. Whether it is real or a matter of perception, your files feel like they open just as fast. Your apps launch without any additional delay. Your backups via Time Machine work the same, etc.
  (themaclawyer.com)

and

  All forms of whole disk encryption benefit from the current imbalance between CPU power and disk speed. In almost all circumstances, the CPU in your Mac spends most of its time twiddling its thumbs with nothing to do. This is especially true for operations that involve a lot of disk access.

  Whole disk encryption takes advantage of this nearly omnipresent CPU cycle glut to sneak in the tiny chunks of work it requires to encrypt and decrypt data from the disk. Apple also leverages the special-purpose AES instructions and hardware on Intel's newest CPUs, further reducing the CPU overhead. The end result is that regular users will be hard-pressed to notice any reduction in performance with encryption enabled. Based on my experience with the feature in prerelease versions of Lion, I would strongly consider enabling it on any Mac laptop I plan to travel with. (Ars Technica)

Other than making sure you have power available when you turn on or off the entire disk's worth of IO to encrypt/decrypt, performance and power deltas are barely measurable.

Less than 1-2% is what I'm seeing. Other than hammering large IO benchmarks, in practice it doesn't matter one bit whether FileVault 2 is on or off for the initial build of Lion.

As long as you understand the limitations of not being able to use file recovery tools, how people can circumvent your encryption by losing control of pass phrases or keys, it seems this lunch is free (or at least on Apple's tab).


Add audio file to iPod? I have a recent iPod touch (just over 1 year old).
I have an audio file from a voice recorder I'd like to load to it. The audio is 2-1/2 hours, a voice recording, but when copied to iTunes, it shows as a song. And when the iPod is attached, via cable to the computer, there's no option to just choose individual songs. The file is too long to load to cloud. Similarly produced files were only 1-1/2 hours max, and went thru cloud just fine.

Any suggestion how to move the file to iPod?

Edit - Update - As I noted in the comment below, the 1:20 file transferred just fine. Today, I tried a file that was 1:30 (90 minutes) and it won't show as available to transfer. The simple ongoing solution, is to just break into multiple files, 80 minutes maximum. Which coincidently, lets me burn to CD if I wish.

In iTunes, click on your device. Scroll down a little and click Manually Manage Songs. Then go to music (on the side) and add your song.

If you have the iTunes sidebar enabled, you should be able to drag your song on top of your iPod, and it should sync.


Does any Mac app actually block Safari ads? Up until yesterday, I used AdBlock Plus to get rid of ads on Safari, in particular these annoying Gmail ones:

But yesterday, I installed MacOS Mojave and I guess it upgraded my Safari so that traditional extensions don't work. However, when I go to the Mac App Store, there don't seem to be any adblocking apps that users claim actually work. Do I just have to get used to seeing junk at the top of my inbox again?

Yes, you can block ads on Safari using Adblock for Safari; it's available on the App Store and compatible with macOS 10.12 or later, 64-bit processor.


What's the maximum wattage that can be used to charge AirPods - both via Lightning and wirelessly? Unlike iOS devices, I haven't been able to easily find the answer to this. Is there any official documentation from Apple or any test results that outline the maximum wattage that AirPods will accept whilst charging - both via Lightning and when charging the case wirelessly?

The AirPods charge at a maximum of 5W over Lightning or wirelessly.
Connecting the case to a faster charger (for example an Apple 18W charger) is perfectly okay, but the case still won't charger faster.


iPhone Photos stuck face analysis iPhone Photos is not finishing analysing faces. It says :

  6974 analysed photos. To finish analysing remaining photos (18002), lock your iPhone and plug it.

(Translated from French). Following these instructions doesn't help. Nor does rebooting or closing Photos and restarting it.

The device will analyse photos when the device is locked, connected to power, and crucially when it thinks the device won't be used. Plug the phone in overnight and it will analyse photos while you sleep. There currently doesn't appear to be any way to force analysing.


Ethernet, WLAN (Wi-Fi) and Siri Today I updated to macOS Sierra. Until now I disabled WLAN, because my Mac is connected via Ethernet (cable). However, Siri needs WLAN to determine where I am. Thus without WLAN, Siri cannot answer my questions e.g. about the weather. So I enabled it again.

Now my Mac is also connected via WLAN. Does this mean, net traffic now goes over the air though the Mac is connected via Ethernet? (I wouldn’t like that.)

No, not necessarily. The priority given by your Mac to the various connections are determined by the order of services listed in your Network settings. To view this:

Go to System Preferences > Network:

If your Ethernet connection is not listed above your Wi-Fi connection, you can change the order as follows:

Click on the Cog/Gear icon (on the right of the minus '-' sign at bottom left)
Select Set Service Order...
In the Service Order window that appears, click and drag the Ethernet connection so it is at the top (or at least above your Wi-Fi connection)
Click OK
Exit System Preferences

As an aside, Siri just needs to be able to access the Internet to work, it doesn't specifically require a WLAN connection to work. If you can't get it to work on Ethernet, then perhaps you should post another question about that.


Messages app stopped sending iMessages I've been having trouble sending messages (SMS and iMessage) from my Mac for a week or so now. I'm not sure if it exactly correlates with my upgrading to Sierra (10.12.1) but I have a suspicion that it's related to that.

Everything used to work flawlessly but now I can't send from my Mac. New messages that I receive appear on my Mac and iPhone (it's a 6 running 10.0.2) just fine. And new messages I send from my phone also appear on my Mac just fine too.

The below screenshot shows what happens when I click the (!) icon.

I have had a similar problem in the past when upgrading OS. The easiest way to fix it I found was to disable iMessage on the faulty machine and then re-enable it.

To do this:

Messages > Preferences > Accounts > Click your iMessage account > uncheck "enable this account" > sign out > restart Messages > sign back in.

You may need to follow the steps above to recheck the "enable this account" box.


Cannot install JDK 7 on macOS Sierra 10.12.6 I tried to install JDK 7u67 on my MacBook Pro with macOS Sierra 10.12.6, but all I get is this error message:

It does not really makes sense for me, because I already have higher version, so Java should be able to install. Has anyone faced same issue, please?

Similar to what @klanomath suggests:

Copy the pkg off the disk image so it can be edited.
Extract pkg contents in Terminal (assumes "JDK 7 Update 67.pkg" is your pkg name): pkgutil --expand JDK\ 7\ Update\ 67.pkg JDK\ 7\ Update\ 67.unpkg
Edit the Distribution file with your favorite text editor.
Change the return value of pm_install_check() to always be true.

    function pm_install_check() {
      return true;
    }

Save the Distribution file.
Back in Terminal: pkgutil --flatten  JDK\ 7\ Update\ 67.unpkg JDK\ 7\ Update\ 67.new.pkg
Run/Open the new pkg file.