Storing files in iCloud without a copy being saved on my Mac? Is it possible to use iCloud as solely cloud storage, where files aren't synced to my Mac? I'm trying to keep a copy of my music files and some other stuff on there (I don't want to use iTunes Match, I just want to files on there) and I now have two copies of all my music on my Mac - all 35GB of it, so 70GB in total!

Has anyone else come across this or managed it?

[More information edit]

  Fortunately, there are other ways to access iCloud documents on your
  Mac. As long as you have the Documents & Data option checked in the
  iCloud pane of System Preferences, iCloud copies all the documents
  stored in your iCloud account to your Mac, so you can work with them
  offline. If you ever need to access such files, there are several ways
  to do so.

^^^ found that on MacWorld, and I'd basically like to do the reverse of that, but as they mention in the article, it was written before the WWDC keynote, and the 'Documents & Data' option doesn't seem to be there any more.

iCloud Drive is specifically to sync your data between machines, roughly similar to how Dropbox etc works.

Remove a file from one machine, it's gone from the others too.

'Documents & Data' was deprecated & is removed when you first convert your iCloud (Mavericks/iOS 7) storage to iCloud Drive.

Alternative suggestion [untested]

How about - as you don't mind having one copy locally, just not two, changing your iTunes Library location to a folder inside the iCloud hierarchy?

Move your actual 'Music' folder there & just point iTunes to it


How to transfer applescript dictation commands to another mac I have created a set of dictation commands in AppleScript. Now I want to move them to another computer. How can I do that?

The dictation commands created by Automator at do not seem to exist as files that I can find a copy. I don't know where they are.

In fact, when I open Automator I do not see the dictation commands that I have previously written.

Thanks for any help.

Custom user commands created for Enhanced Dictation, either directly in System Preferences > Accessibility > Dictation Commands or via Automator, are stored in ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.speech.recognition.AppleSpeechRecognition.CustomCommands.plist. If you haven't already custom commands on the new system, you can copy the entire file; otherwise, you'll need to manually move the entries by hand.


Can't Preview deal with many photos? I've just migrated to Mac from Windows and the adaptation process has been a bumpy ride. I now have a question regarding Preview.

I just got back from a trip and have some 3GB of photos (DNG) that I have imported into my MBP. I did not use Photos because I am a Lightroom user and I intend to keep using Lightroom in the future (I am still planning on how I will move my LR stuff from my Windows PC to the MBP).

Yesterday I wanted to show my girlfriend the pictures, so I opened all of them using Preview. The application crashed after one minute of usage. I tried again, and one more time the application crashed.

I did some googling and found a suggestion that I could go to the Library folder and trash a few Preview related files. I decided to give this idea a spin and ditched them. I fired up Preview again, used for a couple of minutes and.... it crashed.

I am now wondering if Preview isn't suitable for viewing loads of pictures, or if there is something wrong on my Mac? If not, which software do you guys use (other than Photos and LR)?

--- UPDATE

I have a MBP 2015 model running on 8GB of RAM. I didn't have any application open other than Chrome when I tried to use Preview.

To the best of my knowledge there is no documented limit to the number of photos you could open at one time using Preview. Usually, when software has no hard-coded limit, the only limitation is that created by the amount of RAM available to the application.

In the case of Preview, the more RAM available the more it can take advantage of when opening images. In addition to RAM being a factor, the number of images Preview can open at once also depends on the image format and the individual image sizes.

You don't specify how much RAM you have and what else (if anything) you were running at the time, nor do you specify the exact model of MBP etc. However, I've been using Preview for over 16 years and can attest to the fact that in some cases it's only been able to open a few hundred images, while in other cases it's been able to open 1000s.

My suggestion would be to start with only opening a hundred at a time and if it handles that without problems, double it to 200 and so on. You'll soon establish what's comfortable in your scenario.

A final word

One thing to consider also is that if you happen to have a corrupted image file then this could cause problems. I've seen Preview (and other apps) normally capable of opening a large number of files, randomly crash because one of the files you're trying to open is damaged in some way. Likewise, similar problems can be experienced if you've inadvertently selected a file that isn't supported. While these issues aren't usually a problem as Preview would just present you with an error message, it can be a problem if Preview is processing a large number of images simultaneously and is also waiting for a response from the user.


How do I install mayAVI for my python3 on macOS Sierra? I have been using matplotlib to plot 3D graphs, however I have found that matplotlib does not have a drag and rotate function for the plotted 3D graphs. I would like to install mayAVI that will enable me to do so, however I can't find any foolproof methods to install it. Could anyone guide me in the installation process? I do not use virtual environments.

I recently experienced your exact same problem (wanting to use MayaVi instead of matplotlib for 3D graphs and animations, not wanting to use virtual environments, and wanting to use MayaVi with python3). These are the direct steps I followed to start using MayaVi on my macOS Sierra 10.12.5.

(1) brew install vtk --with-python3 --without-python

This took roughly 33 minutes on my machine
From what I have read, there can only be one version/wrapper of vtk installed at a time, so since you installed vtk without the flags, you might want to run brew uninstall vtk before running this command

(2) pip3 install mayavi

Next I tried running the script from http://docs.enthought.com/mayavi/mayavi/auto/example_mlab_visual.html#example-mlab-visual to see if it would run. I took that script exactly as found, added #!/usr/bin/env python3 and ran it as ./test.py. This resulted in:

======

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "./test.py", line 6, in
    f = mlab.figure(size=(500,500))
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/mayavi/tools/figure.py", line 63, in figure
    engine = get_engine()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/mayavi/tools/engine_manager.py", line 101, in get_engine
    return self.new_engine()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/mayavi/tools/engine_manager.py", line 146, in new_engine
    check_backend()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/mayavi/tools/engine_manager.py", line 49, in check_backend
    ''')
ImportError: Could not import backend for traits

Make sure that you have either the TraitsBackendWx or the TraitsBackendQt
projects installed. If you installed Mayavi with easy_install, try
easy_install . easy_install Mayavi[app] will also work.

If you performed a source checkout, be sure to run 'python setup.py install'
in Traits, TraitsGUI, and the Traits backend of your choice.

Also make sure that either wxPython or PyQT is installed.
wxPython: http: //www.wxpython.org/
PyQT: http: //www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk/software/pyqt/intro`

=====

So after googling the above problem I came across a github issue page that said to install the following items:

(3) brew install wxpython

(4) pip3 install traitsui (this was already installed on my machine)

Next, needing to install PyQt, so I followed the directions from a stack overflow question:

(5) brew tap cartr/qt4

(6) brew tap-pin cartr/qt4

(7) brew install qt

(8) brew install pyside

This took about 11 minutes on my machine

Now I tried running the script again. This time it ran, but I got the error:

AttributeError: module 'tvtk.tools.visual' has no attribute 'color'

So I changed the import line and modified some of the lines where the boxes are made:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

from mayavi import mlab
from tvtk.tools import visual
from vtk.util import colors as color

# Create a figure
f = mlab.figure(size=(500,500))
# Tell visual to use this as the viewer.
visual.set_viewer(f)

# A silly visualization.
mlab.test_plot3d()

# Even sillier animation.
b1 = visual.box()
b2 = visual.box(x=4., color=color.red)
b3 = visual.box(x=-4, color=color.red)
b1.v = 5.0

@mlab.show
@mlab.animate(delay=250)
def anim():
    """Animate the b1 box."""
    while 1:
        b1.x = b1.x + b1.v*0.1
        if b1.x > 2.5 or b1.x < -2.5:
            b1.v = -b1.v
        yield

# Run the animation.
anim()

And I can successfully run the script!


How can I get Siri to shuffle all songs by Phish? Every time I ask Siri to "shuffle all songs by artist Phish" it shuffles all songs by "Real Big Fish" from my collection instead.

Siri seems unable to understand that "fish" and "phish" are phonetically-equivalent.

Putting aside my suspicions that Siri is secretly judging my tastes in music, how can I get Siri to play the correct artist in this specific case?

Put all your Phish in a playlist, and give it a name like 'tunesofish'. Then simply say "shuffle playlist tunesofish". Siri will open the playlist and play it shuffled.

Here, I've asked Siri to play my Comedy playlist:

This works with a smart playlist set to auto-add everything from artist "Phish":


Loaded music disappears after downloading I like to use a site that features songs from TV and movies. I have these saved to my laptop into my iTunes library.

Shortly after I place these songs in my iTunes library, they seem to disappear and I cannot find them anywhere on my laptop.

This same thing happened when I downloaded songs from a 'drop card' that I bought from a local band. I downloaded the songs into iTunes and the next day the song was displayed in my iTunes library but the computer said that it could not locate the song and did I want to look for it? Yeah, right, like I have a chance of finding it!

So where are these songs going?

Hm that sounds really weird. I can only try to give you some suggestions...

I assume you already searched in "Finder" for the missing file? What you maybe could do is to search via terminal from the root directory:

find / -name "myfile" -print

And you are sure that it is the "right" iTunes library? Maybe, it is copied to a library to an external hard drive of yours? The folder where you are copying it to is in your iTunes -> Preferences -> Advanced -> iTunes Media Folder Location
folder?


If I delete and reinstall Pages will I lose my files? I have an iPad 2 running iOS 9.3.  I have many files on Pages app.  The app locks up and will not fully load all the files.  If I delete and reinstall will I lose my files?

If they are stored in iCloud Drive or another remote storage thing they will be redownloaded when you re-setup Pages. If they are not in a Cloud storage thing, they will be deleted with the app.

Since iOS 9 is a bit old at this point, newer iOS have a files app and you should be able to store all your Pages and iWork documents in file storage as opposed to storing them in the application bundle to avoid deleting any documents when you remove the Pages app.


Is Bonjour supposed to make your home networking a lot easier? If Bonjour is installed on all PCs, Macs, is it supposed to make home networking a lot easier?  (the heaven of seeing all shared folders any where at home?)

(even the VLC Streamer on iPad claims to use Bonjour)

But now I go look for Bonjour, and Apple is saying it is a printer service:

http://support.apple.com/kb/dl999
Bonjour Print Services for Windows

In a word, yes. Printing is only part of it. http://www.apple.com/macosx/what-is-macosx/core-foundation.html gives a short description, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonjour_(software) is a much more detailed one.


Discrete GPU throttles after rMBP (late 2016) has been on for a while I'm running the High Sierra (developer) beta build 17A315i on my late 2016 Macbook Pro with Radeon 455 GPU.

After a while, the discrete GPU's performance decreases significantly. The openCL score on Geekbench goes to 13k from 40k and FPS dips in all games. It seems that it is not using it's full potential since the fans do not really ramp up. Only a restart fixes the problem temporarily for a few hours before it goes back down even if I close all other applications. The intel GPU is unaffected.

Can anyone identify what I can try? No one has reported that it's the bug in the beta. What can I do to solve this issue? I've reset the NVRAM and SMC already, which didn't work.

Our work lab Mac typically run very well for a week to a month between reboots. On high Sierra, since the initial build - we are seeing stability degrade from hours to days instead of weeks.

If you can report your details - tests, scripts, sample files or apps - to Apple, you'll likely get some sort of explanation or learn when it’s fixed. In fairness, this isn’t unusual for beta and for new system chipsets and both of these are in play. Also, most of our apps are absolutely not ready yet and the filesystem is also still being tuned, tweaked and functions rolled out.


Replacing my RAM / New memory sticks I bought some new Memory Sticks and i want to know on which part they go on. I have a image too. Can someone help me out? This is my Old Mac i used to use and now i bought a Snow leopard installation disc and i want to add new RAM to my old mac. Can someone just show me where the memory goes?

I think this is it:

I'd go to iFixit for complete instructions on RAM removal and installation.

You will need to remove the old RAM first unless there is an open slot available.

If you haven't already, you should most definitely follow procedures to minimize ESD to keep from damaging the RAM and other components inside.


MacBook Pro instability over the last few months I have a Mid-2012 MacBook Pro. The last few months my MBP has been very unstable. I must have performed a clean install roughly around 15 times.
Everything works well right after a fresh install, however, give it a day or two, and it's unstable again. I don't really keep a lot of data on it, just use it mostly for browsing.

The problems I encounter are stalling, the beachball spinning while I am browsing or typing. A lot of times the beachball just doesn't stop spinning or stalls itself. At this point everything else stops functioning hence forcing me to perform a hard boot.

I upgraded to High Sierra yesterday, and had to do a clean install again today. Before performing the clean install, I tried rebooting in Safe Mode, didn't work. Even if I did manage to log in to the user account, nothing was loading.

I've performed the disk utility check and all seems fine. At least that's what I think. What am I supposed to be looking for after performing the disk utility check? It doesn't show up with any errors.

All seems to be working fine with the guest account. However in order to be entirely sure about the guest account, I would have to use it for an extended period of time. I suspect my iCloud account might be corrupted.

Is it possible for a corrupted iCloud account to cause such instabilities with Mac?

i hate this beachball, but you can do some things, first is to start with cmd+r and go to terminal and write     csrutil disable and reboot. now your sip is disabled and you should  enable it in the same way when your finished with this steps:

Go to About this    mac under the apple in the upper left and click
on More info
Click on system report
make a note of what it says after Model Identifier

go to your masterdrive–System-Library–Extensions–
IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext-Contents–Plugins–ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin.kext–
Contents–Resources – find the name from step 3 and move it to a
folder that you can find again if needed.

Now reboot and check, if your mac is running better. you can also    check in disk utility the kerneltask before and after youremoved the    file. dont forget to enable your sip now.
what is about your cpu    temperatur or fan, to high? you can solve this
only by disconnect you    battery and powersupply. Now hold down the
on/off button for min 5    better 10 seconds. Rebuild your batterie
and reboot. Next thing is pr    ram reset, start while holding
cmd+option+p+r, wait until you hear    the loud mac startup sound
and release then the mac start up again.    clear cache by start
while holding shift, log in and reboot.  that    should make a hugh
    difference like before. you can run from time to    time in terminal
    sudo purge   to clear your used ram. cheers**


Is bash in OSX case-insensitive? Are bash commands on OSX case insensitive? I type "which TR" and it shows /usr/bin/TR, though there is no such binary there. Same thing for other binaries, when capitalized. Or is Terminal.app maybe doing this translation? How do I turn this off?

This is actually a feature of the filesystem of your disk, not bash or Terminal.app.

HFS+ (the Mac filesystem) is usually configured to be case insensitive but case preserving. This means that the file system will consider foo and FoO to be the same, but when you create a new file it will remember which letters where capitalized and which were not.

When you format a disk with HFS+ you can chose whether the file system should case sensitive or not. If you chose to format with UFS (Unix FileSystem) it is always case sensitive, AFAIK.

To check whether a disk is case sensitive, run:

 diskutil info <device>

For example:

 diskutil info disk0s2

Look for the Name: line. If it reads something like Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled) it means that it is case-sensitive. If it just reads Mac OS Extended (without the Case-sensitive) then it is only case preserving but not case sensitive.


What is the best torrent client for OSX? What is the best torrent client for OSX ?

utorrent, Transmission, Vuze or ....

?

Transmission is light and captures the OS X essence. I have been using it for years with no issues. Plus, it's free and open source.


How to copy files to an SD Card without macOS metadata files? I regularly copy firmware for a 3D printer to SD cards. I format the drive and copy the same set of files to each SD card, and the macOS metadata specific files always go with it (.fseventsd,.spotlight-V100, etc).

Is there a way in macOS or with 3rd party software that I can format the drive and copy the file system over without those files? I plan to do this for about 20 SD cards at a time so a single click or easily repeatable option is preferable.

I'm using Mojave if that makes a difference.

These days most systems ought to be smart enough to simply ignore them if they don't know what they are.

macOS will put those 3 files [& more in some circumstances] on every disk it ever sees, whether you want it to or not. There is, as far as I'm aware, no way to prevent this - all you can do is try to delete them right before ejecting the disk.

There's a bash script on Superuser - How do I keep Mac OS X from saving hidden files on my flash drive?
 which would appear to do this, though idk how many times you are going to have to authorise the sudo command; hopefully once per session not once per disk.

Personally, I invested in the paid alternative, BlueHarvest, which does the same thing in a 'set & forget' manner & is customisable for different drive types & purposes..

  Built-in support for deleting: .DS_Store, ._AppleDouble, .apdisk, .AppleDouble (folders via smb), .com.apple.timemachine.donotpresent, .fseventsd, .Spotlight-V100, .TemporaryItems, .VolumeIcon.icns, $Recycle.bin, Desktop.ini, Icon?, Thumbs.db


Folder in iCloud that stores files only in cloud but doesn't sync with Mac I'm new to the ecosystem with my new MacBook Pro and I have a question about iCloud storage. I don't have a large SSD so I hope to use my iCloud for files, that's why I subscribed to some storage too. However now I see that all my files that are in cloud are also on my Mac. Some of them I need but my question is wheter it is possible to create a folder in the iCloud that uploads the files and then remove them from the computer?

It is possible to manage this - basically you have two options:
1) Let macOS handle this automatically
You enable this from System Preferences by clicking Apple ID, iCloud and then ensure that Optimise Mac Storage is checked.
This ensures that everything is stored in iCloud Drive, and as much as possible is also stored on the Mac. However as available space becomes low, the system might delete files from the Mac so that they're only stored in iCloud.
In this case you have no control over which files and folders macOS keeps on the computer and which are only available in iCloud.
2) Handle it manually yourself
In the Finder open iCloud and right-click the folder and select Remove Download. This removes the folder's contents on your Mac, but keeps it in iCloud Drive.


Weird name in iMessage when I copy messages I just copied a text I got in messages and for some reason it shows my name as Pumpkin Squealer De Luz Do You See:

555-555-5555
    Sorry Jake. Will be back to you later today with someone to come out.
Pumpkin Squealer De Luz Do You See:
    Ok sounds good!

How in the world is this happening? Is there somewhere that your username gets set? Makes no sense

There are two possible reasons for this – Both which are caused by a friends most likely playing a prank on you – : Your name is incorrect on your contact, or your nickname is incorrect on your contact. I will be assuming your on an iPhone and not a Mac. If I have assumed incorrectly just comment and I'll change my answer although the steps are basically identical.

Change Your Name

Open Contacts and select the first contact labeled with "My Card"

Select Edit in the upper right hand corner

Delete the name listed in First Name and Last Name (Pumpkin Squealer De Luz Do You See) and replace it with your real name

Change Your Nickname (If available)

Method 1:

Steps 1 & 2 from "Change Your Name"
Change the Nickname (Most likely 3rd option) or remove it completely

Method 2: (How your friend probably did it)

Ask Siri "Call Me [Insert Nickname Here]"

This will change your nickname.

Prevent this in the Future

I know your probably asking Wait...? I have a password on my phone how did my friend get in?. Great question! Although you have a password, Siri, by default, is enabled on the lock screen giving the lots of power including changing your nickname, sending texts, reading emails (from third party apps), etc. Assuming that this was the way they did it you can turn off Siri from lock screen by going to Settings>Touch ID & PasscodeSiri.


External Harddrive Permissions Changed / No Access my external harddrive permissions have suddenly changed.  I am getting mount errors in Disk Utility when I try to verify the disk.  When I Get Info for the drive in question, it states that I have "NO ACCESS", along with SYSTEM, ADMIN, and EVERYONE.  There is an EVERYONE at the top that has "custom access."  If I try to edit or add permisions for myself, it won't let me.

Last login: Tue Sep  1 16:17:55 on ttys000
Laurens-MacBook-Pro:~ LCLindley$ ls -AOel /Volumes
total 24
-rw-r--r--@ 1 LCLindley  admin  - 6148 Sep  1 16:28 .DS_Store
d--x--x--x+ 3 root       admin  -  102 Sep  1 12:12 Little Travel Buddy
 0: group:everyone inherited deny add_file,add_subdirectory,directory_inherit
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root       admin  -    1 Aug 21 10:26 Macintosh HD -> /
Laurens-MacBook-Pro:~ LCLindley$

I've found a bit of steps that may be helpful in this situation, but I'm hesitant to go screwing around in there without sepcifics to my situation/drive.  I downloaded Batchmod to try to fix it that way, but I can't see the drive in question in the files window and I can't seem to name it correctly to help it find it.  Thanks in advance for the help!  Cheers, L

Please don't use any apps to do this, just open the terminal.

Try taking ownership first:

sudo chown -R LCLindley.admin /Volumes/Little\ Travel\ Buddy

then try fixing permissions so you can actually read and write it:

sudo chmod -R 755 /Volumes/Little\ Travel\ Buddy


Is there a way to upload a folder from the Files app into a computer on the local network? Is there a way to upload a folder from the Files app into a computer on the local network? The only solution I have found is to start an SFTP server on the computer, and use the app Secure Shellfish to expose that SFTP directory in the Files app. This solution is, unfortunately, very slow (maxes out at 9 MB/s in a network that can handle 70 MB/s).
PS: SMB barely even works, and is the slowest option ever.

FE File Explorer can do this:

FE File Explorer is a powerful file manager app on your iPhone and iPad. It can access not only local files, but also files on your computer and NAS. Stream movies and music to your iPhone/iPad. Directly view and manage documents, photos, files on your computers and cloud without downloading to your iPhone/iPad.

Add the remote computer's server (I recommend a WebDAV server)
Now add the directories from the Files app you need
You can copy stuff between these "remotes" now. Take care not to background the app while the file transfers are ongoing, as iOS sucks and closes all background apps.

I achieved ~63 MB/s using this method.


How can I avoid accidental right-clicks now that the Macbook trackpad is so big? I just bought a summer-2018 Macbook Pro, with a very big trackpad.

The result is that I frequently experience accidental right-clicks when I click but one of my other fingers is touching the trackpad.

Is there a way to change the area where it is possible to double click or do something else to avoid this hyper-sensitivity?

It is especially a problem in Photoshop where I frequently get secondary menus when I just want to move something.

I don't know if it has always existed, but in OS X Mojave there is a trackpad setting that solved this problem for me:

Changing Secondary Click to Bottom Right Corner means that clicking with two fingers no longer works.

It makes the trackpad function more like a traditional trackpad with a right button below it.


How to remove default open application I have downloaded file darwin_amd64 and occasionally chosen Text Edit as its default application. Now I cannot install it cause it always opens as text file.

If it is an executable, open Terminal.app, drag and drop the  file in the window and hit enter.
To change the default opener, right click on the file > get info > open with.


Copying web page content in Safari to HTML Is there an easier way to copy and paste website content in HTML?

What I want to copy looks like this:

Product Information:

Length: S / M / L

Material: Polyester and Elasthane

Brand: Roxana Exclusive

Style: Basque

But when I paste it into my content box it looks like this:

Product Information
Length:
S / M / L
Material:
Polyester and Elasthane
Brand:
Roxana Exclusive
Style:
Basque

Then I need to edit it in an HTML editor to rearrange it.

Is there an app or plugin that will turn the text of the page into HTML so it looks right when I copy it into my content box (if that makes any sense)?

Try View->View Source. If the web site does not use too much javascript the data you want will be visible inside HTML markup.


How can I add a universal keybinding for a program? I want to add a key binding that allows me to use it even when the application is not in the foreground. Specifically how would I add play/skip/previous key bindings to Spotify?

I'm not looking for the media key bindings. They can stay as is. I would like to add custom ones with keys of my choosing.

This can be answered by this other question. Basically, you're going to want to create an Automator action and assign it a global shortcut using the Keyboard preferences panel.

Edit: @bmike , the dupe you referenced didn't answer his question. The one I linked to does.


Contact sync woes with Google I'm struggling to come up with a rational scheme for managing sync between my mac laptop, my iphone, and google. My corporate center is google apps, so I need to start with contacts from there. However, somehow, I constantly end up with some sync process creating extra copies of my contacts.

I do not have any contact syncing enabled in itunes.

One possible source of distress is that I have two different google accounts: personal and business. The personal account is set to sync contacts via an 'Account' of type 'Exchange', the work ones come in via a card-dav account (I think, the phone doesn't actually tell you what these things are once they exist).

You can easily find out where the duplicate contacts come from by going to your Contacts app on your iPhone and tapping on Groups. Then uncheck your Exchange account and see whether the duplicates persist.

If you are sure that there are no common shared contacts between your personal and your business accounts (Exchange vs CardDAV), I would suppose the duplication comes at the Mac sync stage.

See this for difference between syncing with CardDAV and Exchange.

It is true, however, that once shown on your iPhone, you cannot tell the difference between the two just by looking at the contact entry.


Is there a way to display how much of the hard drive's read/write capacity is being used? I am interested in understanding how much of my 7200 rpm hard drive's capacity is being used, because sometimes performance is very slow and choppy.

The Disk tab in Activity Monitor gives information about Data read/sec and Data written/sec – but is there a way to display such information relative to what it's capable of, e.g. a percentage measure.

Maybe there is a separate utility that could assist with this? Or perhaps, for technical reasons, this is not the way you measure drive performance?

You're reading exactly what you want. A percentage throughput would not give you more information, just less accurate information as to the state of your I/O. Your drive should be pushing about 150MB/s at the most (Spinny disks aren't too fast in general, and worse when mostly used).

I am interested in helping with your main issue of slow and choppy HDD performance. If this is a MacBook or MacBook Pro unibody non-retina, you may have a degraded SATA cable. My first one went out after 2.5yrs in a 2012 MBP. A friends' went bad after five years in her 2010 MBP. It's very common across the support forums too. If you feel data access has gotten slower, or you've started having issues with freezing, spinning beach balls, and/or crashes and reboots, swap the cable before the drive, or both together. Not changing the cable led to my frustration over the slowness of two day shipping twice too often now.


How do I clear recent emoji in iOS 8.3? Before 8.3, I was able to clear recently used emoji by clicking on Settings->Reset->Reset Keyboard Dictionary.  Now, that does not work.

My recent emoji screen is littered with accidentally typed ones and such. It seems though that you can place your favorites on the first column by re-selecting them from their original lists (screens), but that does not seem to work well, and it is not as useful as being able to clear the entire list of recently used emojis.

So I figured out in iOS 8.3 when you reset your keyboard it doesn't clear your recently used emojis. But it replaces them with random emojis.

Then try typing an emoji. Now it should be first in your recently used. So just pretend the default emojis aren't there.


WindowServer is eating lots of CPU, can't work out why 2019 16" MBP running 10.15.4. WindowServer is eating a lot of CPU, idling at 10-20%-ish even with nothing much running. Fans are constantly going because of it.

I've disabled transparency and stopped (virtual) screens having their own spaces (as recommended elsewhere), to no avail. Also tried killing random things to see if anything sorts it out - no luck.

Running log stream --predicate '(process == "WindowServer")' --debug I can see it's dumping the following into its debug logs very frequently, 10+ times per second, which seems like it may be related:

2020-05-06 23:54:23.680073+0100 0x4e7      Debug       0x0                  228    0    WindowServer: (CoreDisplay) [com.apple.CoreDisplay:default] [DEBUG] - On display 0x2b287853, surface is not detached, CoreDisplay is detached (0x00000000), DetachCode = 0

Any ideas what's going on?

Edit: as someone asked: The screens I was referring to are virtual screens. I do have an external monitor, but this still happens with it detached.

I have DELL UP3216Q external monitor. I had the same problem with "surface is not detached, CoreDisplay is detached" errors being spammed when I run log stream --predicate '(process == "WindowServer")' --debug. I'm using the external monitor with the Mac lid closed.

The errors stopped when I changed System Preferences >  Displays > Display scaling settings so that scaling is not maximum on the external monitor. If I change the scaling back to maximum (more space) the errors start again on logging mode.

WindowServer CPU use was reduced slightly, but it is still around 30 %. Atleast the fan stopped spinning so fast.


Why does the OS X Software Update check take so long? Why does it take so long for Software Update in OS X to tell me that I'm up to date? I'm currently running 10.7.2, but this has been the case for all versions of OS X I've run. I just performed a check, and it took three minutes to return.

I can't think of any reason why it should take so long. Isn't it a fairly quick lookup of applications and versions?

By contrast, the same function in the iOS/iTunes Store and Mac App Store takes almost no time.

Mac OS X keeps a list of all installed packages in /var/log/receipts.

When software update is run it checks for updates for every (or perhaps only Apple) package individually by sending a HTTP request with a signature of the package to Apple's servers and waiting for a reply. This is necessary because of the wide variety of configurations possible for any system.

On my Snow Leopard system running software update sent ~322 HTTP requests to Apple's servers.

So basically it is just looking up if there are any updates, but because of the sheer number of separate and sometimes optional (Java, X11, printer drivers, etc.) packages, combined with the fact that it's sending each request separately, it can take awhile.


Apple Maps Won't Navigate (Sporadic Problem) Has anyone else ever had this problem? It seems to happen randomly.

I do on-site repair work, always going to a different location. So I use my navigation almost daily. I just use regular old Apple Maps. Sometimes I type in an address, sometimes I tell siri. Occasionally I send the maps over from my home computer (which may be one of the triggers of this, I'll need to do more testing).

So normally you pick your address, you hit "GO" and you're off with maps and verbal turn-by-turn directions. When this no-navigating problem happens, you hit GO, and you get a map, but it's as if you haven't actually picked your router. Yet somehow you get sort of an overview summary of the 'steps' of your directions, but it doesn't read them to you, or indicate turns coming up. Yet it knows exactly where you are. You can have your waypoint drive right down the route tracking you, and theres a blue route line, but they aren't "linked". It's extremely annoying. There doesn't seem to be a way to KICK it into navigating. The day I took the screen shot below, I was repeatedly cancelling navigation, and reinitializing my route, but it kept getting stuck and not giving me directions.

Does anyone else ever have this problem on their iPhone? My phone is an iPhone 8 running the newest iOS. I've had this problem in the past on my 6S too.

This happens whenever the "From" location is a fixed address, rather than "Current location". Even if that address is your current location when you start, Maps will be in a different mode, as you have discovered.

To switch from the static navigation mode to turn-by-turn mode:

Tap End.
Choose those directions again.
Don't tap Go yet. Tap the blue text after "From".
Replace the text there with "Current location" and tap Route.
Now tap Go.

Routes with a fixed start address would probably be from Apple Maps on your Mac, which doesn't offer turn-by-turn directions. If you want to remove these from your history on your iPhone, swipe left on those items in the list.


Choose from list apple script service execution from Safari opens Firefox to display the dialog with list Im trying to use following Apple Script to display a choose from list and perform certain actions based on the choice of selection:
on run {input, parameters}
    set selT to "42"
    set selectedOption to choose from list {"Safari", "Chrome", "Firefox"} with prompt "Search with:" without multiple selections allowed and empty selection allowed

    global urlToOpen
    set urlToOpen to "na"
    if selectedOption is not false and length of selectedOption is not 0 then
        set urlToOpen to "https://duckduckgo.com/?q=" & selT
    end if

    if ((urlToOpen as string) is not equal to "na") then
        tell application "System Events"
            tell (first application process whose frontmost is true)
                set theActiveApp to name of it
             end tell
        end tell
        activate me

        display dialog theActiveApp

        if theActiveApp is "Safari" then
            tell application "Safari"
                tell window 1
                    set current tab to (make new tab with properties {URL:urlToOpen})
                end tell
            end tell
        else if theActiveApp is "firefox" then
            tell application "firefox"
                open location urlToOpen
            end tell
        else if theActiveApp is "Google Chrome" then
            tell application "Google Chrome"
                open location urlToOpen
            end tell
        end if

     end if
end run

But, whats happening is; when the Automator service runs, it opens Firefox to display the list of options. It would be a great help to understand this behavior, because Firefox not being the default browser and it is waste of CPU resource to open it.

Firefox is likely opening because the script includes:
tell application "firefox"
    …
end tell

Based on your description, these lines require AppleScript to launch Firefox to determine if the script is correct – even if the involved lines are never run. Firefox needs to be launched for AppleScript to obtain the application's scripting language support.
The other browsers implement AppleScript using a more modern approach. They provide their language support through an embedded Scripting Definition file (SDEF) within the application bundle.
open a URL on macOS
You can avoid this behaviour by using the macOS open command line tool and passing the desired browser's bundle identifier with the URL to open.
This removes the need to write browser specific sections of AppleScript.
Be sure to quote the arguments:
try
    set myURL to "https://duckduckgo.com/?q=" & "42"
    set bundleID to "com.apple.safari"
    do shell script "/usr/bin/open -b " & quoted form of bundleID & " " & quoted form of myURL
on error (e)
    display dialog e
end try

Calling open without a bundle ID will open the URL in the default browser.
Open URL with Safari
 /usr/bin/open -b com.apple.Safari 'https://dssw.co.uk'

Open URL with Chrome
 /usr/bin/open -b com.google.chrome 'https://miln.eu/apps'

Open URL with Firefox
 /usr/bin/open -b org.mozilla.firefox 'https://indie.miln.eu'

| and Error Checking
You could surround the application names with | to defer script error checking from compile time to runtime. See user3439894's answer for this approach.


Offloaded app is not reinstalling i need help please..
Few days ago i offloaded an app and i tried to reinstall it again because i need the data on it. But it says that the app is no longer on the apple store! And it shows only one option.. it’s to delete the application.

But seriously i need the data on it and i dont know what I might do until I hear back from Apple support.

I have an iphone 7 and Icontacted the Apple services and they told me to search for the app developer because they cant do anything for this issue unless it’s released again on the Apple store.

I can’t find the app anymore, neither the developer. And i need the data :( the app is called “calculator+”. It’s for keeping photos, videos and documents secretly.

Could anyone help me with that please?

You can try and get the data from a backup or use it on an older device.
From this Apple Discussion:

If the app was deleted from the App Store and you were restoring an iCloud backup, whatever you saw was a glitch and the app was not going to download no matter what you saw. If the app is no longer available, it can not download again from the App Store.
When you restore an iCloud backup, the apps download from your purchases in iTunes, not from the iCloud back up itself.


iPhone 6 charging problem I'm trying to plug my phone in to charge it tonight for the first time and when I plug it in a bell just keeps ringing continuously and won't allow me to charge it. Any ideas?

Sounds like a bad cable / USB adapter / power outlet. Maybe lint on the Lightning socket.

Does the battery icon alternate between charging / standby or anything else on the screen change with the tempo of the sounds?

Three things are needed to charge:

USB power adapter
USB to lightning cable
Phone internals / charge circuitry working correctly

It's probably easiest to plug the cable and phone into any other USB charger or USB hub or USB computer. If the problem follows the cable or the phone - you'll need a different phone or a different cable to know what's faulty.

Worst case, put the phone in airplane mode (or power it off) and you'll hardly lose any change over night. It won't top off, but you can take it to another charger/cable in the morning or find another phone to test with your charger and cable.


iTerm2: Saving Global Shortcut Keys In iTerm2, I can define "Global Shortcut Keys", which is great. I can also "Load Presets" within this view. But how can I save "Global Shortcut Keys"?

I don't see an option to do this anywhere:

.

You can save different settings by going to the Profile Tab and creating a new Profile. It will have a tab at the right for setting key settings, and you can select/deselect that profile to enable your customized tabs.

If you want/need to edit the mappings en-masse, there is a file called PresetKeyMappings.plist inside the Resources folder in the app. (Right click on app, choose "Show Package Contents".)

Within the Profiles tab, there is also a pop-up menu at the bottom for bulk copying presets from a given profile. (Selected in the image...)


Is there any way to print directly from my iPad to my wifi-connected printer? I am happy to purchase an app, but the only printing app I'm aware of seems to just let your ipad connect to a computer that is connected to the printer and effectively print through it.

I'm looking to print from my ipad without the use of another computer.   Both the ipad and the printer are on the same wifi network (which is how I print from our laptops).

EDIT:  In my specific case, the printer is a Canon MP990.


Yosemite (10.10) Finder Freezes in Column View In Yosemite (present in 10.10.0 and 10.10.1) Finder regularly and repeatedly (not just randomly) freezes when in column view.

I always use column view by default, so it happens often. It seems to happen when you click on certain file types-- I suspect the "preview" in the right-hand-most pane is causing the problem.

It seems to be related to certain file types (but I haven't figured out which ones yet)
If a specific file type causes a freeze, it always does
If a specific file type doesn't cause a freeze, it never does

For example, if I click on a "zip" file, it successfully generates a "preview" in the right-hand-most pane. Always works. PDF and TXT also work fine.

However, if I click on a ".epub" or ".mobi" file, it always beachballs or freezes Finder. There are other file extensions that also cause freezing, most "non-common" ones seem to do it.

Anyone else experiencing this? Workarounds or fixes?

I was able to resolve my own issue, after finding Quicklook crashing finder in Mavericks:

  Rename/remove the com.apple.quicklook.ui.helper folder in ~/Library/Containers. Logout/in or reboot, and the problem is resolved for me.


How to disable fullscreen system location notifications? I keep getting a disruptive full screen pop up about once a day about Google Maps using location in the background... to save my parking spot, remember restaurants, figure out when I met someone and save travel destinations seamlessly.

"Google" has used your location 4 times in the background over the past 3 days. Do you want to continue to allow background location use?

How do I stop these intrusive notifications which are a poor use of my time to deal with.

Unfortunately, you currently cannot turn these off. It may be helpful to send feedback to Apple concerning this.

If you really want to stop them, you could go to Privacy > Location Services and disable location services on your devices. You could also go application by application on this list and change all apps that have the permission set to "Always" and change them to "While Using", but you likely have a reason to have them set to always to begin with.


What has changed in iOS 4.2? iOS 4.2 has just been released, and I am wondering what exactly has changed? Can I assume that the changes are different for the iPhone, iPod, and iPad?

There were quite a few changes.

The biggest is that this is the first version of iOS 4 for the iPad, which brings multitasking, folders, unified inbox, air print, air play, and more.

This is also the unifying iOS so that the iPad and iPhone and iPod Touch are running the same OS now.

You can find an entire list at http://www.apple.com/ios/


Ethernet network connection lost after locking or after Screen Saver activation I have configured the Hot Corners as shortcuts for "Put Display to Sleep" and "Start Screen Saver".

Both work as expected, but when the monitor stops, the Ethernet connection is lost and I'm forced to disconnect and reconnect the Ethernet adaptor from the laptop.

How can I solve this frustrating inconvenience?

It seems that you can stop this behavior by preventing your machine from sleeping after screen lock:

Open System Preferences / Energy Saver
Under Power Adapter, check Prevent computer from sleeping automatically when the display is off

Now my Ethernet connection stays connected!


27" iMac (fall of 2010) won't shut down Whenever I try to shut down my iMac (3.2 GHz Intel Core i3, running 10.7.3), it closes out all programs, goes to the gray screen with the spinning ball and just hangs there.  This occurs in restart or shut down mode.  Any thoughts?

Zap the PRAM and reset the CMS

A small amount of your computer’s memory, called “parameter random-access memory” or PRAM, stores certain settings in a location that OS X can access quickly. The particular settings that are stored depend on your type of Mac and the types of devices connected to it. The settings include your designated startup disk, display resolution, speaker volume, and other information.

Shut down the computer.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command ⌘, option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Immediately press and hold Command+option+P+R. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears. Continue holding the keys down until the computer restarts, and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.

Resetting PRAM may change some system settings and preferences. Use System Preferences to restore your settings.

How to Reset Your Mac's SMC

The method for resetting your Mac's SMC depends on the type of Mac you have. All SMC reset instructions require shutting down your Mac first. If your Mac fails to shut down, try pressing and holding the power button until the Mac shuts down, which usually takes 10 seconds or so.

Mac portables with user-removable batteries (MacBook and most MacBook Pros):

Shut down your Mac.
Disconnect your Mac portable from its MagSafe connector.
Remove the battery.
Press and hold the power button for at least 5 seconds.
Release the power button.
Re-install the battery.
Reconnect the MagSafe connector.
Turn your Mac on.

Mac portables with non-user-removable batteries (MacBook Air and some late 2009 MacBook Pro models):

Shut down your Mac.
Connect the MagSafe power adapter to your Mac and to a power outlet.
On the built-in keyboard (this will not work from an external keyboard), simultaneously press and hold the shift+control+option+power button. Release all keys at the same time.
Press the power button to start your Mac.
Mac desktops (Mac Pro, iMac, Mac mini):
Shut down your Mac.
Unplug your Mac's power cord.
Press and hold the Mac's power button for 15 seconds.
9 .Release the power button.
Reconnect your Mac's power cord.
Wait five seconds.
Start your Mac by pressing the power button.

Alternative SMC reset for Mac Pro: If you have a Mac Pro that isn't responding to the normal SMC reset as described above, you can force a manual SMC reset by using the SMC reset button located on the Mac Pro's motherboard.

Shut down your Mac.
Unplug the Mac's power cord.
Open the Mac Pro's side access panel.
Just below the Drive 4 sled and adjacent to the top PCI-e slot is a small button labeled SMC. Press and hold this button for 10 seconds.
Close the Mac Pro's side door.
Reconnect your Mac's power cord.
Wait five seconds.
Start your Mac by pressing the power button.


Screen sharing default observer mode I have several .vncloc files what contains lines such:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>URL</key>
    <string>vnc://10.10.10.11</string>
</dict>
</plist>

e.g., double click on the file starts the Screen Sharing.app, and connect to the defined vnc URL.

By default it connects in control mode and I need switch manually to the observer mode.

It is possible to add something to the .vncloc file, to connect in the observer mode by default?

.vncloc files are simply URL pointers to the vnc:// URI scheme. This scheme is not standard and currently does not have a way to delineate the mode of the screen share.


Which Mac mini with 3 USB controllers can be used for high bandwidth USB traffic? I'm currently looking for a Mac mini for development.  I will need to connect 3 Kinect sensors to a computer for an installation. The form factor the Mac mini is ideal, but the main limitation is the number of USB controllers. The Kinect sensors use a lot of bandwidth and each sensor requires a separate USB controller.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the latest Mac mini seems to have only two USB controllers wired to 4 USB ports. Looking on Wikipedia, I see there was a model with 3 USB controllers:

  The Mac Mini 2009 model gave access to 3 different USB busses on the back. Port 2 shares a USB bus with the IR connection. Ports 1+5 and 3+4 are each on their own USB bus. So it should be possible to get a throughput of 3x480=1440 Mbit/s.

My question mainly is: which is the newest Mac mini that has 3 USB busses?
Also, with the new one is there any decent way to expand that somehow?

It seems that those after 2009 (which reverted to 4 USB ports instead of 5), only have 2 buses. The 2009 models are likely the only models with 3 USB buses.

If you get one of the newer ones with Thunderbolt, it's possible to connect to a Thunderbolt Display which would add a third hub. I don't know of any devices off-hand that will give you just another USB hub via Thunderbolt, but if they're not out there already, they're bound to show up.


macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 empty trash sound playing repeatedly I am trying to figure out how to convert a piece of sheet music to XML file for a student. I heard about Pizzicato app for macOS. I downloaded it, and then attempted to use it (couldn't figure it out). When I closed Pizzicato app, (it was using Terminal.app) and then deleted it, it kept making the trash can sound over and over again.

Did I mess something up by not following a procedure correctly? I don't know anything about Unix/macOS, other than it's reference in Jurassic Park ;) This is a brand new MacBook and I'm nervous something's awry. I restarted it right after it started making the sound and it did it well, and it feels like all the programs are running OK.

Should I take it in to have someone look at it?

If you are able to perform all your other tasks normally just like before and no longer hear the trash sound, you should be fine and there should be nothing to worry about.

Do test that the other audio is playing fine. You can also attempt to create a temporary file/folder, move it to trash and empty it to ensure that the sound plays only once.

Since restarting your computer has fixed the issue, it was most likely due to some bug in macOS High Sierra.

In cases like this, restarting is the first resort towards fixing.


iPod Nano 6th Generation stuck power button I heard that you can start the iPod Nano using the volume keys in lieu of the stuck power key. Is this true? Any other way around the stuck power button?

Yes there is. Plug it into your computer or a power source. It will power up; unplug it  and you can start the music or audiobook or whathave you. When you want to stop, you can pull out the headphone which shuts it down. To restart, you'll have to do the same and it won't start at the point where you stopped. I know it isn't great, but it is something. I will eventually take it apart and try to do the repair that is posted on the internet.


How can I bring back my world clock widget? I love my world clock widget, but today I don't see it. How can I bring it back?

Go to System Preferences → Extensions and click on ‘Today’ to see the World Clock widget.  Make sure it has a check next to it.  When you go back to Notification Center, you should see the clock.

I've had problems where some of my widgets would disappear for no obvious reason.  I don't know why this happens but I always end up going back to Extensions to add them back.


Apple Keyboard may be broken.. Any way to be sure? Well, I "cleaned" my Apple keyboard (2010 model). I used a wet rag to clean the well-used keys. It looks great but it doesn't work. I hate to toss it if I can fix it. Is it possible that I've pressed a combination that has deactivated the keyboard?

I am traveling but have the kb with me. Is there any kind of hardware test I can perform. I know the device has power as I can plug in a mouse to the USB port and the mouse works.

Thanks for any tips.

Once a keyboard trace has been damaged by water, it's practically impossible to fix them.  You're better off buying a new keyboard.

It's not the best news, but once a keyboard has been damaged by liquid, there's very little chance they will work again.

For cleaning your keyboard, I'd recommend isopropyl alcohol pads.


Shadows on the top of my iPhone turn the screen off (iOS 10, 6+) Ever since upgrading to iOS 10, my iPhone 6+ has decided that whenever a shadow is cast near the top of phone, the screen needs to turn off.

This was a great feature that Apple first used only in the Phone all the way back in the original iPhone - it disables the screen when you hold it to your ear, thus conserving power and preventing accidental touches from your ear.

In iOS 10, Apple seems to have made the astoundingly poor decision to make this behavior occur always. Anytime I try to interact with the top of my phone - pull down notification center, switch to a prior app, or use the nav bar in an app - I have to be super careful. Move your finger just a few mm too high and the whole screen shuts off for a few seconds.

How do I disable this? I assumed it had something to do with Siri, so I completely disabled Siri. Nope - same behavior as before. Does anyone know how to actually fix this?

Restarting my phone (turning it off & back on) appears to have fixed this.

I'm guessing the Phone app was hanging in the background or had failed to end a call properly or something.


Dell Color Laser 1320c with Mac OS 10.15 Catalina: Filter failed After upgrading to Mac OS 10.15 Catalina, trying to print with a Dell Color Laser 1320c leads to the error message: Filter failed (German: Filter fehlgeschlagen).

This fixes the "Filter failed" (German: "Filter fehlgeschlagen") error with Dell Color Laser 1320c printers under Mac OS 10.15 Catalina by leveraging the Fuji Xerox C525A printer driver which is similar to the native Dell driver.

Download the driver: http://onlinesupport.fujixerox.com/processDriverForm.do;jsessionid=EFF824E51694F73EAFA2D75F3E85546F.worker4?ctry_code=KR&lang_code=en&d_lang=en&corp_pid=DPC525A&rts=null&model=DocuPrint+C525A&type_id=2&oslist=Mac+OS+X+10.13&lang_list=en

Open the .dmg file, then open the .pkg file (via right click > open)

Finish the setup guide

Click on the Apple Menu in the upper left-hand corner of your screen and select System Preferences... click on Printers & Scanners.

Unlock the window using the lock icon in the lower left corner if necessary

Click on the + sign to add a printer

Connect your Dell via USB and turn it on

It should soon appear in the list. Select it.

Change the driver

Finish the setup. In order to be able to print using the paper try, please apply the following setting: "500 sheet feeder"

When you print something for the first time, you'll need to set the correct paper source. -Click the "Show Details" button on the print dialog screen. -In the "layout" pulldown select "Full Zerox Features" --Select "Paper source: Tray 1 (500 sheets)" :

After that, you can save the current settings as a reusable preset. (You might need to Google how to do that). :)


Arrow sign on macOS Menu bar What is this arrow mark on the Menu bar? I am using macOS 10.12.4.
It shows up for few seconds and disappears automatically.

What you're seeing is the Location Services indicator.

This will appear whenever an app is currently using Location Services.

It's not just an indicator, you can also click it to see which apps are using Location Services.

For more information refer to About Location Services.


What happens to 32-bit apps on a device after an iOS 11 update? I have several dozen 32-bit apps on my iPhone.  What happens to them after I update the device to iOS 11?

Is there any way to save these 32-bit apps off of the device? (for use with a spare iPhone 5, for instance)

The data and application are both left intact. If you try to tap on those apps, it takes you to the settings / App Store to contact the developer and explaining the app will not run.

You can pre check on iOS 10 in the settings app.

General > About > Applications


Replacing HDD on iMac G3 I bought a used iMac G3 recently and I am trying to get it at max performance. Atm I am at the phase of replacing the HDD.
I read on some places that 7200 RPM drives may have overheat problems in the G3 is that true? I probably wont be stressing the drive too much since most files come from network but its good to know. Also what type of drive do I need ? The ones I am considering have :

EIDE ATA100

IDE Fast Ultra DMA ATA/133

Both are 7200 rpm refubrished drives at 80 gb and 2mb catche.
Is one of those better choice ?

As an alternative if 7200 rpm is not good idea/ interfaces not compatible i got this :

ATA/133 HDD Hard Drive IDE

Thanks and hope I didnt put too many questions there ^^.

The iMacs range from supporting EIDE ATA-3 to Ultra ATA as noted in EveryMac.com under the "Int. HD Interface:" section for each iMac, but the good news is that they are all backwards compatible.

Fortunately, the technology itself is pretty easy to use, even if the labels given to it often stink. So one useful way of dealing with all the standards and labels is simply to ignore them! Look past the hype, and focus on what the drive's actual capabilities are. If you want to really understand what a drive can do and what it supports, you should look at its specification sheet and see what features and transfer modes it is designed to use. Ignore labels like "EIDE" or "Ultra ATA/whatever" and find out what modes and functions the drive supports. Getting the real scoop on the drive means you don't need to worry about the pretty stickers slapped all over the box, or whatever the manufacturer is trying to claim.

One thing you need to be aware of is the 128GB size limitation. Your iMacs IDE controller can not address more than 128GB of a given disk.
Also overheating issue is probably not an issue? Eg if you go though OWC's MyOWC upgrade guide for any of the G3 iMacs even the oldest, they are recommending a 120GB 7200RPM drive as a replacement.  The best way to be sure would be to figure out the power requirement specs for that original drive and see how they match up, and use that to pick a new one.
Also there is some discussion on newer 7200 RPM drives producing less heat than the early on 7200RPM drives 7200 rpm Drive Doesn't Overheat My G3 iMac

Three or four years ago I installed a 7200 RPM hard drive in a 500 MHz G3 iMac (Summer 2000). I lent it to a friend, who ran it round the clock for weeks on end. Never had heat issues. It runs Tiger well enough for basic Internet, email, word processing, and old versions of iTunes and iPhoto. A fast hard drive and 1 GB of RAM really did a lot for it. The drive is an 80 GB Samsung. It is out of production, but Western Digital still makes 3.5" ATA-100 hard drives. Any modern one-platter hard drive will probably run cooler than the iMac's original hard drive.

I put a 120 GB 7200 rpm Seagate hard drive in my 600 MHz iMac and ran it 24 hours a day for years with no overheating. One time I left home for two weeks during September in Texas with the air conditioning off the entire time while I was away. There was a hot spell while I was gone. When I got home the house, was 95 degrees. I'm sure it got hotter than that while I was gone. The little iMac ran perfectly the entire time.
Today's 7200 rpm hard drives have better bearings, use less energy, make less noise, last longer, and make less heat that the old, slow hard drives that came with the G3 iMac. I say put a 7200 rpm hard drive in it and don't worry about it. Expect to see a small performance increase as a result.


Virtual Machine support for DirectX 11 (Windows 10) hosted on OS X does anyone know if there is currently any virtualisation software that supports creating a Windows 10 virtual machine with support to DirectX 11?

From what I have found online, bootcamp supports this, but this wouldn't be a solution for me (it will need you to exit OS X and restart to use windows).

The most popular tools VMWare Fusion (v8) and Parallels (v11) only support up to DirectX 10

Is there any other alternative around that does support DirectX 11 now?

Update: As of November 2016, Parallels v12 still doesn't support DirectX 11 (only 10.1).

Update: Parallels has released v13 in August 2017, and surprise, surprise! DirectX 11 is not supported yet... as expected

Answer: Not likely to happen.

After years of pestering, January 2018 Parallels posted a formal statement and explanation regarding DirectX 11:

http://blog.parallels.com/2017/12/04/directx-and-parallels-desktop-13/

  Why isn’t DirectX 11 supported in Parallels Desktop?

  One of the mandatory DX11 features is called “compute shaders.” The
  name “shaders” usually refers to graphical functions that calculate
  the appropriate color and brightness for an image, but “compute
  shaders” are quite different. Compute shaders help the programmer to
  more easily take full advantage of the many processors on today’s
  graphics cards, primarily by broadening shader capabilities beyond
  pure graphics to more general calculations, which can be done on a
  graphics chip.

  Parallels implements DirectX emulation by translating it to the
  equivalent OpenGL function, since OpenGL is implemented in the macOS®.
  Unfortunately, the version of OpenGL in the macOS does not have
  compute shaders. There is nothing for Parallels Desktop to map DirectX
  shaders to in the OpenGL framework in the macOS.

  The macOS does support another style of compute shaders in the OpenCL
  framework. (Don’t let the similarity in the names “OpenGL” and
  “OpenCL” make you think they’re similar. They aren’t. In fact, they
  are competing “standards.”) Unfortunately, however, OpenCL on Mac
  isn’t as robust and doesn’t cooperate well with OpenGL.

  Besides compute shaders, there are other features missing in OpenGL on
  macOS, which means there are additional “feature parity holes” with
  DirectX. There’s simply not enough functionality to translate DX11 to
  in the functions available in the macOS.

  Apple® started pushing its own Metal API recently, which is universal
  for Mac computers. Only time will tell if Metal will give the
  Parallels Desktop programmers what they need to support DirectX 11.
  Stay tuned, but don’t get your hopes up for any major change in the
  near future....


Bidirectional sync between Outlook and iPhone? I use an iPhone 4S with iTunes 11 on Windows 7. I still haven't found a way to change the syncing direction with Outlook: The first time I used sync, I checked the option "Sync from Outlook to iPhone" (contacts, calendar), and now I'd like to sync both ways. But it seems to be impossible!

iOS is designed to sync media with iTunes while syncing mail and other information through online servers. Based on what I know, syncing your iPhone with Outlook means that iTunes reads your email account information (server names, login credentials, etc.) from Outlook, and configures your iPhone to access the same email accounts.

From this point, you can keep Outlook and iPhone "synchronized" by allowing them to continue accessing the same centralized email account(s). The email server behaves as the master copy, and both clients access it and retrieve the data.

You may need to configure your email server to allow IMAP or Exchange access in order to see the behavior you want. This will depend on your email provider.


Can someone describe the purpose of OSX root level folders in laymen's terms? Simple and concise documentation on the OSX folder hierarchy is sparse. I'm looking for a simple description of each - what are the functions of each?

/private
/var
/usr
/tmp
/etc
/bin
/sbin
/fseventsd

I don't plan to modify them in any way, I just want to understand the FS hierarchy.

It's a bit messy, and there is a degree of cross-overs, but the quick tour, without really going into the subfolders of these:

/etc, /tmp and /var are just symbolic links to subfolders in /private.

/etc generally contains configuration files.

/tmp is for temporary files used by running processes (also see /var/tmp)

/var is also used for somewhat temporary files used by running processes, but these tend to be less temporary and more often preserved between runs - e.g. logfiles which are usually in /var/log.

/usr contains binaries (executables) and developer-related files for core unix/BSD utilities. Things the user installs themselves should end up in /usr/local.

/bin also contains binaries but they tend to be more OS-fundamental than those in /usr - such as cp, cat, bash.

/sbin is as above but focused on routine administrative tasks such as mount and shutdown.  The s=system/superuser, usually you need root/superuser rights to use these commands.

/.fseventsd is used by the OS to log file-system change events (such as folder creation) so that interested parties can be notified when the filesystem changes.

However, to run the risk of saying what you didn't want me to say - most of these are of little interest, and if you were to use any, you'd be most likely to be in /usr/local, /var/log or /tmp.

Additional information with a focus on the common Unix structure can be found on Wikipedia (Unix File System).


How can I completely remove Apple's Java 6 and make Oracle's Java 7 default for everything? I would like to completely remove Apple's Java 6 and make Oracle's Java 7 default for every program.
For example, with Eclipse I had to fiddle with eclipse.ini to specify JAVA_HOME for Java 7, and the same for TunnelBear. No luck for Aptana, though (it still wants Apple's Java)
Is there a way to make Oracle's Java default in terms of PATH?

Download and install the latest Java Development Kit (JDK) from Oracle, which will place it in /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_11.jdk (or whatever the latest version is). Now, start Terminal.app, and enter the following commands:

cd /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines (change to the proper directory)
sudo mv 1.6.0.jdk backup.1.6.0.jdk (keep the old JDK around, just in case - you will need to have an administrator password to do this)
sudo ln -s /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_11.jdk 1.6.0.jdk (link your new JDK installation to where applications expect the old one to be)

Keep in mind that with any further jdk updates, you'll need to update the symlink to the new directory:

sudo rm /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk && sudo ln -s /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/new_jdk_version /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk


Can I stream audio running OSX 10.6.8 I have an old MacBook Pro running 10.6.8 and would like to stream my MP3 itunes library. Streaming my pictures would also be nice but not as important.

I am under the impression that to use the apple TV I would need OSX 10.8 is this correct?

I use to use Soundbridge M400PX with a PC but this does not work with the Mac

You may want to review what Apple describes here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5404

Also, there is a decent tutorial here: http://computers.tutsplus.com/tutorials/five-ways-to-airplay-from-your-mac-to-your-television--mac-52157

But as you'll notice, it's more about the hardware.  You'll need an intel based Mac that was manufactured mid-2011 (early-2011 for MacBook Pro) or later.


Enable sudo without a password on MacOS My Problem

I would like to be able to run sudo commands on MacOS Sierra 10.12 without having to type a password.

What have I tried

I've read the following:

Why does sudo ask for a password in terminal?
allow sudo to another user without password
Use sudo Without a Password on Your Mac

And changed the relevant part of my /etc/sudoers file to:

root ALL=(ALL) ALL
%admin  ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL
%wheel ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL
%wheel ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL
%sudo   ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL
adamatan ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

My local user id (whoami) is adamatan.

I'm still being asked to type a password every few minutes when calling sudo. Any idea what's wrong?

Open a terminal, run sudo visudo

Edit the line:

%admin ALL=(ALL) ALL

To say:

%admin ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

Now, you should now be able to run sudo without password.


Does Mac OS X's bash read scripts for all users (tab-completion scripts) from /opt/local/etc/bash_completion.d path? I stumbled upon some instructions in the book "Pro Git"

It suggests:

Download this file :
https://github.com/git/git/blob/master/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash

  If you use the Bash shell, Git comes with a nice auto-completion
  script you can enable. Download it directly from the Git source code
  at
  https://github.com/git/git/blob/master/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash
  . Copy this file to your home directory, and add this to your
  .bashrc file:

    source ~/git-completion.bash

Source https://github.com/progit/progit/blame/master/en/02-git-basics/01-chapter2.markdown#L1115

(putting this line in .bashrc will not work in Mac OS X systems which I discussed here: Why doesn't Mac OS X source ~/.bashrc?)
Put this file git-completion.bash ( in
    /opt/local/etc/bash_completion.d if you want bash completion
    (for the git command) to work on all user accounts.  (As if bash reads all the scripts in
/opt/local/etc/bash_completion.d)

  If you want to set up Git to automatically have Bash shell completion
  for all users, copy this script to the
  /opt/local/etc/bash_completion.d directory on Mac systems or to the
  /etc/bash_completion.d/ directory on Linux systems. This is a
  directory of scripts that Bash will automatically load to provide
  shell completions.

Source :
https://github.com/progit/progit/blame/master/en/02-git-basics/01-chapter2.markdown#L1119

I found out that Mac OS's bash DOES NOT read scripts inside /opt/local/etc/bash_completion.d.  I put the file there (I created all the folders, because they didn't exist) :

And git completion doesn't work on any account.

Does Mac OS X's bash read scripts for all users from /opt/local/etc/bash_completion.d ?

Is the "Pro Git" book wrong ? Can I report it on their Github page ?

Or am I wrong ?

Bash only reads scripts by default in your home directory, or if they are missing in /etc. See Bash's documentation. If using OSX's Terminal.app then by default it reads ~/.bash_profile.

This is true of all bash on Linux or other OSes.

To read from another directory e.g. /opt/local/etc/bash_completion.d you have to edit your start up files to source (i.e. include) the files from there

The instructions for the script do not mention /opt/local/... which is a non standard location on any Unix. (by non-standard it is allowed to be used by third party packages but not defined what should be in there) They say

  Copy this file to somewhere (e.g. ~/.git-completion.sh).
  Add the following line to your .bashrc/.zshrc:

source ~/.git-completion.sh

  Consider changing your PS1 to also show the current branch,
   see git-prompt.sh for details.

The progit quote assumes you know bash. All it is saying is put the files from the first quote into a specific place if you want all users on the machine to use them and not in ~ where only the user installing it can see them. i.e. the point is multi user versus single user.

He also picks that path as nothing else uses it and you should not edit /etc files in OS X as Apple's OS upgrades could overwrite them so you need to choose another place. (I would have chosen something under /usr/local as there is where manually maintained scripts are meant to go).

~/.bashrc is the correct place to edit and add the source. See your other question and the bash manual for setting up ~/.bash_profile The bash suggested way is source .bashrc into .bash_profile. Note that on OS X using Terminal.app is not the one way of running shells so there can be sessions starting with .bashrc.


10.12- Screensaver question- Photos not a choice I recently updated to 10.12 - Sierra- and migrated iPhoto to Photos. In the system preferences I do not see a choice to select Photo library. In the source panel I just see National Geographic/Aerial/Cosmos/Nature patterns. I would like my photos to be my screensaver.
Any help?

I have just spotted an older (2012) answer at this link:
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20120112094116261
However it suggests clicking and holding the "Screensaver" tab, which didn't work for me.  But clicking and holding the "Source" drop-down menu button did work for me - up comes an option to use "Photos" but if you choose that, you can then choose between the "Photos" app and "iPhoto" app. This is a better solution than the one I just posted, I think.


Hard Disk Transfer to SSD - 2007 MacBook and Lion I've recently asked a question regarding fitting a Crucial 256GB SSD (Part No : CT1742109) into my 2007 MacBook (model MB061LL/A), however when researching the transfer process something isn't too clear.

I have had to replace my hard drive a couple of times since I purchased the MacBook so I know I used to boot from the DVD and re-install.  With Snow Leopard, I used to insert the disk and select 're-install from a Time Machine Backup' or something similar and it would go through the process.  Why couldn't I do this using my most recent (albeit 'Lion') backup?  I wouldn't be re-installing Snow Leopard, just merely using the DVD to access the option to re-install from backup.

A follow up question is should I stump up the extra for the data transfer kit offered or is this a waste?  Note that I do not want to replace my optical bay and I also don't want to run two HD's at once.  I would preferably like to clone the drive onto the new one.

My favorite method is to install a Recovery HD onto an external USB drive and then do a final backup to Time Machine. You can use any USB flash drive that has 1G of space and can be erased or partitioned for your Recovery HD storage.

Now you can place the new drive in your mac and install a fresh copy of Lion and play around a bit to make sure it works. Once you are happy, erase Lion and re-install a fresh copy but instead of making a new account, just migrate over from the Time Machine backup.

For advanced users, using Disk Utility or SuperDuper/CarbonCopyCloner can be fun, but even knowing how to do all that, I prefer the opportunity to test my backup since being able to restore a backup is so overlooked and catastrophic when it fails on you should you need it.

I'd say save your money on the transfer kit unless you want that anyhow. No need to move things over and in fact, it's sometimes better to let the system lay out the files in order rather than block copying the old structure on to a pristine new drive. With an SSD, access times are so fast, you may not notice, but I'd rather have one process that works either way - SSD to HD or back, larger drive to smaller, etc...


"pkd" process on El Capitan I just upgraded to OS X 10.11.2 (El Cap), and overall it seems to be working OK.

One strange thing: there's a "pkd" process which is taking ~150% CPU, all the time, even though I'm not doing anything.

(At first I thought it might have something to do with Spotlight reindexing or something, but 12 hours later it's still going.)

What is it?  Can I stop it?

The manpage says:

NAME
 pkd -- management and supervision daemon for plug-in services

SYNOPSIS
 pkd [-v]

DESCRIPTION
 pkd manages plug-ins for the PlugInKit subsystem. It is a classic launch
 agent managed by launchd.

Sounds pretty safe to kill it off, by opening a terminal and running:

launchctl stop com.apple.pluginkit.pkd

It should restart itself whenever it's required (possibly immediately).


Aperture 3 Library from pre Mavericks to Mavericks I made a backup from all my files including my Aperture library. After moving to Mavericks (clean install), there is a new Aperture version and I am not able to import my old library getting the message: Library was made with older version of Aperture, please update to newest version and try again (loosely translated from german). How should I do this now?

The answer is easy: Open the library, you will be asked to update it. Do it. Than one can import it.


Failure to Empty Trash I have an iMac20 with OS 10.6.8 and an external hard drive. It appears that recently the Trash has an large amount of items. When I try to use Secure Empty Trash it counts the number of items to be deleted, then starts the deletion process and fails after a short time.

You could try using terminal.
I suppose that you can not remove the files from external drive trash (Mac use separated trashed for each drive).

In order to remove external drive files try this:

Open Terminal
Write: cd /Volumes/{Your External Drive Name}/.Trash
Check that your files are there with: ls -la
Remove them using: sudo rm -rf ./*
It will ask your password

With that you should be able to remove your files.
You can do the same for your local drive but the .Trash folder is on your user folder instead of the drive root.


Why is is not possible mark text in my Terminal window anymore? I am an eager Terminal user on Mac OSX Yosemite. From time to time I mark text in the Terminal window to copy(right click or cmd+c) onto the clipboard.

For some reason it suddenly stopped working! I can not mark text in the terminal window anymore by clicking and dragging the mouse. I have been looking for a way to turn marking off an on(on Windows Command line tool there is such a setting for some reason), but I cannot find any option for controlling this.
Even though it is not possible to mark with the mouse, I can select "Edit"-"Mark everything"(freely translated from the Norwegian OSX version :)) from the file menubar at the top of the screen - and mark everything works fine. I can see everything marked and I can copy and paste as expected. There is however no way I can affect the marking with the mouse - after marking everything it cant be unselected with the mouse.

Does anyone have any tips for how to enable marking with clicking and dragging the mouse again?

Sometimes things go wonky in the preferences files and you need to delete them to get things working properly again. Once you restart the app, it will rebuild it's preferences.

Try this:

Quit Terminal completely and then delete this file:
(your home folder)/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Terminal.plist

Hopefully that works for you! If you can't see your library folder, follow this quick guide.


Wifi connection dropping El Capitan I have an early-2015 MBP running 10.11.3 and I keep having my internet connection drop when I am connected to certain WiFi networks. The temporary solution is to disable and then re-enable WiFi, but this gets very tiresome. It has been occurring more frequently recently (~15min → 5min).

So far, this has only happened at my home and at my cabin - it's fine on other networks.

I usually get an error in Chrome along the lines of:
This webpage is not available
DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NO_INTERNET

However, I have tried multiple different DNS configurations, so this does not appear to be the problem.

Other laptops and my Galaxy S6 connect to these routers without problem.

Any ideas?

EDIT: Just got this error result earlier:

Your computer is offline.
DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NO_INTERNET

I am also having Wi-Fi issues (for months) with MBP 2014 and I found a temporary solution to the problem. I have tracked down the problem to be or kernel or driver implementation bug with 802.11n (the important info here is the "n"). I have an Airport Express and inside the configuration for Wireless (Radio Mode) you can choose for 802.11n with 802.11b/g compatible and a lot of other options. if you have one two, before clicking the dropdown hold ALT(option) to show more options and select 802.11b/g only, if not look for this inside your router/access point. You can check what type of mode you are using holding ALT(option) and clicking on the Wi-Fi icon at the menubar (the same place as the clock), at the bottom you will see PHY Mode, and check there the mode you are connected if is 802.11n or 802.11g. You need to be using 802.11g, and see if your connection will drop.

I think this answer your question, why in some places your Wi-Fi works (using 802.11g) without a problem and others you get drop (802.11n) connections.

I am using 802.11g for a while now and no driver crash. When the driver crashes the only way to reset automatic is to restart the network interface and turn it on again, that's why the Mac do it, but when it returns the bug continues (it can't communicate to the router and no connection is made) and you have to turn Wi-Fi off and on. But it continues because there is a problem with 802.11n. So we have to wait for Apple to fix it and I have been waiting for a long time and no solution yet!

Just to add info, I have tried everything you can imagine, El Capitan fresh install, do all sort of configuration, disable energy options and etc. but nothing seemed to work for me.

Please give me a feedback if this works for you. Thanks.


MacBook Air - Upgrading from Mac OS X Lion to macOS Sierra I have a MacBook Air running Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5. I wish to upgrade it to macOS Sierra, but it requires at-least OS X Mountain Lion 10.8 which is not available anymore in the App Store.

Is there any other way to update the OS?

I figured out I can still download El Capitan so should solve the problem.


How do I reference a paragraph in Pages 5? How do I create text like "See 'paragraph' on page n"? Where paragraph could be a heading or a figure etc.

Obviously, I mean where page n is determined by Pages, as with other word processing programs.

This is currently not possible. You'll have to enter the page number manually. You can use comments to remind yourself where these occur and to update them.

You can provide feedback to Apple here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/pages.html


VeraCrypt after Sierra upgrade: mount_osxfuse: the OSXFUSE file system is not available (255) After upgrading my 2015 MBP to Sierra this past weekend, I've had a lot of issues with Samba, Veracrypt, and even VMware Fusion.

VeraCrypt will frequently give the error in the title, mount_osxfuse: the OSXFUSE file system is not available (255), when I attempt to mount a valid encrypted volume. There's nothing wrong with the volume itself, and sometimes if I reboot, I can get VeraCrypt to work properly, but it's certainly touch and go.

OSXFUSE documentation and googling hasn't suggested any fixes for this issue.

I've attempted to uninstall and reinstall OSXFUSE without any luck. Whether it works or not seems random after restarts. Obviously, restarting this often sucks. I restarted on average 3-4 times a year on Yosemite, and I've restarted about a dozen times since upgrading to Sierra dealing with these problems. I'd like to know if there's a permanent fix for this, otherwise I'll be dealing with my encrypted volumes on a Win 10 VM (when VM Fusion works, anyway...yeesh).

The following script from this link fixes the problem:
https://github.com/osxfuse/osxfuse/issues/315

I called this kextclean:

#!/bin/bash

function status() {
    kextstat | grep org.virtualbox.kext > /dev/null 2>&1 ;
    vbox=$((1-$?))
    kextstat | grep com.github.osxfuse > /dev/null 2>&1 ;
    fuse=$((1-$?))
}

status

if [ "$1" == "vbox" ] ; then
    if [ $vbox == 1 ] ; then
    echo "Already vbox"
    else
        sudo kextunload -b com.github.osxfuse.filesystems.osxfuse
        sudo kextutil "/Library/Application Support/VirtualBox/VBoxDrv.kext" -r "/Library/Application Support/VirtualBox"
        sudo kextutil "/Library/Application Support/VirtualBox/VBoxNetAdp.kext" -r "/Library/Application Support/VirtualBox"
        sudo kextutil "/Library/Application Support/VirtualBox/VBoxNetFlt.kext" -r "/Library/Application Support/VirtualBox"
        sudo kextutil "/Library/Application Support/VirtualBox/VBoxUSB.kext" -r "/Library/Application Support/VirtualBox"
    fi
elif [ "$1" == "fuse" ] ; then
    if [ $fuse == 1 ] ; then
    echo "Already fuse"
    else
        sudo kextunload -b org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB -b org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt -b org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp
        sudo kextunload -b org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv
        sudo kextutil /Library/Filesystems/osxfuse.fs/Contents/Extensions/10.12/osxfuse.kext
    fi
elif [ "$1" == "status" ] ; then
    echo "vbox = $vbox"
    echo "fuse = $fuse"
else
    echo "Run $0 <vbox|fuse|status>"
fi


How to receive a sound alert for e mail on iPhone 8+ I went to settings added sound I wanted The email only updates when I open folder I want an alert the same as iMessage which is when they arrive even if my phone is sleeping

Mail push/fetch is disabled in Low Power Mode, so you can't get an alert if you have that on.

To configure Mail push or fetch, go to Settings → Accounts & Passwords → Fetch New Data and set your accounts to Push (if available) or Fetch instead of Manual. Fetch is only available on power and Wi-Fi so if you do not meet this criteria it will act as Manual anyway.


Changing ownership of .cpan I'm getting back into Perl; several months ago I had to have a new hard drive installed and so had to start over again. When I try to update CPAN, I get this message:

Your configuration suggests that CPAN.pm should use a working
directory of
    /Users/lolajl/.cpan
Unfortunately we could not create the lock file
    /Users/lolajl/.cpan/.lock
due to 'Permission denied'.

Looking at /Users/lolajl directory, I'm seeing this:

drwxr-xr-x    4 lolajl  staff    136 Nov 27  2014 .config
drwxr-xr-x    8 root    staff    272 Jun 14 20:14 .cpan

When I try  to run "sudo chown root:lolajl .cpan", I get:

chown: lolajl: illegal group name

How do I get this corrected so that CPAN can run properly?

You're trying to change the ownership to owner "root" and group "lolajl", and "lolajl" isn't a legal group. Instead, try the following:

sudo chown lolajl:staff .cpan

which will change .cpan to be owned by user "lolajl" and group "staff".


Why can't I create an IMAP folder in Mail? Having used MS Outlook for a while with my IMAP account, I thought I would try out the new and improved Mail in OS X Lion. The structure of my mailbox on the left hand panel is as follows:

MAILBOXES
    INBOX
        CLIENT 1
        CLIENT 2
        CLIENT 3
            SUBFOLDER
            SUBFOLDER
            SUBFOLDER
        CLIENT 4
        CLIENT 5
        CLIENT 6
        CLIENT 7
    SENT
    TRASH

MY COMPANY NAME
    TRASH
    JUNK
    SENT

This has worked fine with Outlook, and with Outlook I am able to add extra IMAP folders (or mailboxes as Mail calls them). In Outlook I can add to the client folders, and the subfolders inside a client folder.

However, with Mail, when I add a new mailbox, it will only let me add a new folder inside one of my client folders. It will not let me add a folder to the "Client" level.

If I add a new mailbox, and try and place it at the top "Client" level, the new folder ends up going here:

MAILBOXES
    INBOX
        CLIENT 1
        CLIENT 2
        CLIENT 3
            SUBFOLDER
            SUBFOLDER
            SUBFOLDER
        CLIENT 4
        CLIENT 5
        CLIENT 6
        NEW FOLDER DOESNT APPEAR HERE
        CLIENT 7
    SENT
    TRASH

MY COMPANY NAME
    TRASH
    JUNK
    IT APPEARS HERE INSTEAD???
    SENT

It doesn't go in my inbox.

Can anyone help? This is the reason I have to use Outlook, as Mail won't let me create new IMAP folders at my "Client" this level.

Any help would be appreciated. Maybe I am looking at it from the wrong side, as I am used to Outlook.

You need to add these folders in your IMAP mail account.

If for example you are using Gmail login, and create the folders you want using the webmail settings panel.

When you next launch mail the folders will be there and you can then drag and drop emails into folders, etc.

Outlook doesnt create the folders in IMAP it creates them on the machine, so they are not true IMAP folders they are just folders in Outlook.


How do I create a permanent snapshot of a Time Machine backup I did a clean install of my Mac and continued to use my same Time Machine drive. I want to preserve the last backup before I did a clean install, but Time Machine will delete old backups as the drive gets full.

How can I copy a backup without worrying it will be deleted?

My first guess was to just perform a copy, but I'm not sure this will work due to the structure of a Time Machine backup.

I've decided to use rsync to create an archive copy. This website also mentions hard links so I believe a rsync archive will be fine.

I'm using this command:

rsync -vahW [source] [target]

This SO mentions -W is best to speed up local network copies, plus I'm doing a new copy so no need for diffing.


Implications of changed security for Apple ID? Recently, Apple logged me out of my Apple ID and made me go through a new procedure where I used my recovery key, and was asked to provide my machine login info, and my iPhone unlock code to be able to access my account. (I was also told that recovery keys were no longer usable, unless I changed setting to enable them, though it's not clear how.)
Is this part of a new Apple security policy? Does Apple now have my machine login info; my iPhone unlock code?

This isn't new. While I can't speak to the exact moment this was added, you can rest assured knowing that your passcode/password is safe. What Apple is doing here is verifying your identity by taking advantage of the fact that you use iCloud Keychain. iCloud Keychain escrow is a fairly complicated procedure, but in essence Apple never sees your passcode, it can only see that their hardware modules granted you access to your escrowed bag which proves that you know the passcode to your devices. It's a really neat solution for account verification!
For more info, see page 86 of the Apple platform security whitepaper.


Storing specific Contacts on iPhone without syncing I would like to store specific contacts on my iPhone, running iOS 7, without syncing them to any service.

I do have an Exchange account for business contacts but don't want do sync all contacts with the exchange server. I searched the web for a while but there does not seem to be any way to have local contacts. Any ideas?

Just disable the sync for iCloud and every mail account :

Settings

iCloud
Mail, Contacts, Calendar


Custom search engine in mobile Safari At the moment I am in mainland China, using an iPad set to British locale.  When I use the search field in mobile Safari, it always loads google.com.hk (not google.com or google.co.uk).

Unfortunately this version of google is often extremely slow or doesn't load at all here, most likely because of the Great Fiewall of China (clicking a search result also asks google's server first, therefore it also takes a very long time).  In contrast, google.com works fast and reliably most of the time.

Is there any way to force mobile Safari to use google.com instead of google.com.hk in iOS 6?  In iOS 5 at least it loaded google.co.uk, which also worked, but now it insists on google.com.hk, and the search settings only let me specify "Google" as search engine, but now a specific version of it.

(Note: I am new to iOS and still getting familiar with it.)

Perhaps not exactly what you were looking for, but if you load Google's main page and it redirects to your local version, you could force it to use .com just by tapping the button on the bottom of the page.


Spotify Premium account price on App Store As you may already know, Spotify started sending out emails to its customers to stop subscribing to the Premium account through iOS App Store's In-app Purchase mechanism (which costs $12.99) and subscribe using Spotify website (which costs $9.99).

The reason behind this difference is that Apple charges 30% of the purchase price as its noted here. The purchase price of Spotify Premium through App Store is $12.99. But this doesn't make sense to me. 30% of $12.99 is approximately $3.9 so Spotify will be making $9.1 instead of $9.9.

Is the 30% calculated after the developer states its intended price? i.e. Spotify says that it wants to earn $9.99 with each purchase. Apple says fine, I'll charge $12.99, have $3 (which is 30% of $9.99) for myself and you can have the remaining $9.9. (I don't believe this is the case.)

Or Spotify is actually selling its Premium account cheaper through App Store? What I mean is that in order to earn $9.99 per purchase, one should charge approximately $14.28.

Can someone please clarify the situation? Thanks.

It's a simple marketing ploy.

Apple Music is $9.99 a month

Spotify is $12.99 a month, through the Apple Store.

Spotify want to match Apple's price, but don't want to cut their revenue to 70% of $9.99, so they're offering you $9.99 direct, rather than $12.99 through Apple.

That means for every person who changes to the direct method, Spotify actually receive more than they used to through Apple.


Remove Prolog from MacOS I have a MacBookPro with macOS Sierra v.10.12.1.  I downloaded gprolog from this link and installed this using MacPorts.

Now, given that Prolog does not work like I wanted, I decided to remove it, but I don't know how.

I tried to remove it using Homebrew, running:

:~ dario$ brew remove gprolog

but this gives me

Error: No such keg: /usr/local/Cellar/gprolog

If I run gprolog command in terminal, it gives me

-bash: gprolog: command not found

The only way I have to run gprolog is writing gprolog in Spotlight and clicking on gprolog's icon.
I also tried to run which gprolog and whereis gprolog, without any results.

How can I uninstall gprolog from my Mac?

You say you installed it using MacPorts but you tried to uninstall it using Homebrew? Homebrew has no knowledge that you installed it using MacPorts. Use MacPorts to uninstall:

port uninstall gprolog

If that's not the case, you can manually remove the following files instead:


El Captain update download doesn't continue after restarting the Mac I started to download the El Capitan upgrade, but then I shut down my computer. The day after I wanted to continue the download but in App Store it shows "Waiting..." and doesn't do anything. Also when I go to the updates section, it shows the button "Download" but it's inactive. Maybe someone can help me? I tried to find the download file in some directory to delete it and start over but I couldn't find it.

In App Store, selecting Store > Check for Unfinished Downloads did work for me.