Ran export TMPDIR=~/tmp/ and it broke my node app, can I revert the tmp folder to the default folder? Hey I ran export TMPDIR=~/tmp/ and it changed my temp folder. I was trying to get a Go backend working and an article suggested it. I was a little trigger happy and now this is causing issues with a once working Node app I have.

The node app is now saying:

  Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, mkdtemp
  '/Users/myName/tmp/puppeteer_dev_chrome_profile-VYUdd3'

Is there a way to revert the temp var back and fix this problem. Where do env vars live on a mac. I also updated my mac from Mojave to Catalina during this process. Not sure if that has something to do with it too.

Any help would be appreciated.

TMPDIR needs to point to an existing, user-writable directory. So setting it to ~/tmp is fine as long as ~/tmp actually exists.

By default it points to /var/folders/_d/_SOMERANDOMLOOKINGSTRING/T/ to ensure that every user has their private temp folder. If for whatever reason you loose the definition you can run find /var/folders/_d -user $(whoami) -type d -maxdepth 1 to check that it still exists, and then do

export TMPDIR="$(find /var/folders/_d -user $(whoami) -type d -maxdepth 1)"

to set it back.

In case it doesn't exist any more (which is unlikely as it is protected by SIP), either reboot to have it recreated or run (all three lines)

export TMPDIR=/tmp
export TMPDIR="$(mktemp -d)"
chmod 700 "${TMPDIR}"

to create and assign a new temp folder.


Forcing an app to clean itself? I've been swiping around the home screen on my iPhone when I see the text under the Facebook logo switch to cleaning..., but it's nothing that I made it do, is there any way to tell an app to clean itself?

I found this OS X Daily article that should answer your question.

Basically, when storage is low, iOS detects apps that take up a lot of space with old caches and temporary files and automatically delete them. It's perfectly normal. The user can't force iOS to clean apps, though.


First Sync my iPad. Warn to have my iPad data deleted. Is it real? I want to sync the apps of my iPad on my iMac. iTunes warns me about the loss of the data stored on my iPad. Is this real? Can I make a backup of my iPad, Sync the Apps and then get my data back on my iPad?

Have you authorized your iMac with the iTunes account(s) that is linked to data on the iPad? If no, do it by going to Menubar > Store > Authorize This Computer. It should allow you to sync without the data loss warning.


Can I use Time Machine to Mirror two Macs? Sooo.  I have a guy retiring soon, and it looks like I get to take over his mac.  I made a critical error in updating to Catalina, and lost use of alot of the apps we use here at work.  Could I restore Mac 1 (My mac) using the Time Machine set up for Mac 2 (The retiree's mac). Thinking we could use it to get Mac 1 prepared for another trainee in a week or so.

Migration Assistant can 'copy' one machine to another.  I would ask your IT department first as this can really muck up management and other things.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204350


RAM Usage on Macbook My Macbook has 4GB RAM. Lately it often starts swapping, which is obviously not so great.

Firefox usually takes a huge amount (~ 1GB) which is kind of to be expected. Nevertheless, after booting it up (no applications running so far) the memory baseline is already at ~ 1.5 GB. So although I am quite conservative with not running too many applications at once, 4 GB seem not to suffice.

Are these numbers to be expected nowadays?
I have always upgraded my Late-2008 MacBook to the most recent version of OS X. Could it be that I experience some kind of bloat / fragmentation that is related to this?

Are these numbers to be expected nowadays?

Every new OS needs more RAM on its own than the older ones. That's because developers are always adding new features, which means they will need more RAM.

So yes, 1.5 GB RAM only for the system is absolutely normal, Windows 10 for example even needs 2 GB.

  I have always upgraded my Late 2008 Notebook to the most recent OS X version. Could it be that I experience some kind of bloat / fragmentation that is related to this?

I don't think that the updates themselves are causing problems, but simply the newer systems aren't designed to run with only 4GB of RAM, which means that you have to think about always updating to the latest OS.

Of course it will run, but maybe it needs to much resources if you want to run many programs at the same time.


Color problem in Terminal (Mojave) I'm using macOS Mojave 10.14.5 and I'm having color problems when accessing a CentOS workstation.

Initially, after connecting via ssh, I would obtain the following welcome message:

Then I added the following commands to the bash file:

export LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8
export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8

and I commented the following line in /etc/ssh/ssh_config:

# SendEnv LANG LC_*

After all this the welcome message I get is without errors but still distorted:

What i should get is the following (i got it using iTerm2 3.2.9):

How can I fix the colors? The command that prints "virgo-cluster" is:

figlet -f slant virgo-cluster | lolcat -t

I believe the odd behavior is due to the fact that Terminal.app does not support True Color (16 million colors), while iTerm2 3.2.9 does. Here the result of a test code from here:

the top panel is from Terminal while the bottom one is from iTerm.


128K Mac without signatures inside I have a 128K Mac with an odd thing about it.  It has no signatures inside the case.  Every other 128K and even most 512Ks that I've seen have all the team signatures inside but, this one has doesn't. I'm pretty sure the rear shell hasn't been replaced.

Has anyone else ever seen a 128K without any signatures in it?

It appears that the signatures were only on the initial run of the 128K Macs.

I dug this up from DigiBarn Weird Stuff

  These signatures were molded into the case and included here
  (gradually disappearing) for several generations of Macs through to
  the SE

And from the Obsolete Computer Museum..

  The first Macs had only 128k RAM and used single-sided, 400k floppy
  drives. The signatures of the original Mac designers are molded into
  the inside back of the case.

It's possible that this may be a latter generation 128K Mac without the signatures.

You also say that you're "pretty sure" the rear shell hasn't been replaced.  However, you didn't say that you were certain.  It's entirely possible it was replaced for service at some point.


Completely erased my Leopard machine from another computer, how do I install an OS on it? I started up my computer in Target Disk Mode and erased it from a friends Mac thinking that I could then install Mountain Lion without installing Snow Leopard. Do I have any way of getting my machine to work again?

It currently powers on and display a blinking folder with a question mark.

What can I do to install an OS?

I have a Mountain Lion install disk which gets spit out.

I also made an Ubuntu disk as per instructions on their site, but that gets spit out as well.

Any help?

When you turn on the computer, put the disc in the drive with one hand, and hold down the option key with the other.  This forces the Mac to look for ANY bootable media.  If nothing comes up, the hard drive is blank (as you suspect), and the ROM drive can't read the disc you are putting in (or the ROM drive has failed).  You can try creating a Mountain Lion USB key.  Incidentally, what Mac are you putting this disc in?  A Mac Book Pro, an iMac?  What generation?  What CPU is in it?


How to properly backup OS X Server (Mavericks) I've been reading various articles from a Google Search on this topic and it seems there is no clear solution as many debate what works/doesn't work. I'm hoping to get a definitive answer here.

I have a Mac Mini running 10.9.2 with Server App installed. I run the following services on it: Caching, DHCP, DNS, File Sharing, Open Directory, Profile Manager, Software Updates, Time Machine, Websites, VPN, and Xcode.

I'd like to use Time Machine, but read it won't backup Open Directory. Carbon Copy also states it will not backup OD. I'd like to be able to restore my entire system from a disk image if possible if something were to go wrong.

What solution(s) do any of you OS X Sys Admins perform to accomplish this? Also, is there a way to automate creating an archive of Open Directory?

I use Carbon Copy Cloner (actually Super Duper - but same idea) to back up my system drive to another drive.

Additionally, I have another CPU which acts as an Open Directory Replica in case the first one goes down.
(granted, this means you need 2 CPUs - so it's not the cheapest solution!)

You can find some more info about OD Replica here:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/12/a-power-users-guide-to-os-x-server-mavericks-edition/2/


Use Launchpad while downloading from AppStore I am just getting set up with my first mac. The current annoyance is that I am downloading xcode from AppStore (2.5 GB!!), and every app in the Launchpad is hidden - there is just the downloading progress of xcode.

Do I really have to wait an hour while the download finishes, until I can launch anything not already in the dock?? I cant believe that!

(OSX Yosemite)

You can open Finder and go to your Applications folder to access all your apps.


What is the name of this button? I've been calling it the "keyboard dismissal button," but I'd like to know if it has an actual name.

Turn on voice over in accessibility and when you click it it will speak what it is called.

It's called "hide keyboard" using voiceover, but it could be called something different within apple, because what voiceover reads could be a label set just for voiceover.


Does iMessage need wifi I'm concerned about it and I really want to use it. I haven't used it and I need some tips so someone please tell me if it needs wifi.

No - iMessage works over any viable network connection.

Assuming you are on an iPod touch, since WiFi is your only viable network, then it follows you need WiFi, but it's not a limitation of iMessage as much as it is of your hardware. iMessage works fine over ethernet, cellular data equally as well as WiFi.


My MacBook was stolen: can the thief access my files without my account password? My computer is set up to require a login after its been put to sleep and it has a fairly complex password, so I'm not worried about anyone guessing it. The MacBook was stolen, and I'm wondering if there's a way for that person to access my files, or will they just have to wipe the drive (hopefully).

I'm sorry your MacBook was stolen.  That really sucks.

Sadly, there are numerous ways to read the data ranging from removing the drive or placing the Mac in target mode. Your password only protects things when the mac is booted into your unmodified OS.

To answer your question, Physical access is total access.

It would be trivial for someone to boot using a Linux LiveCD and mount your drive, thus accessing your files.  All they'd have to do to get past your sleep/password would be to hard power down the system.

Additionally, from the link above:

  Mac OS X: Single User Mode

  To boot a Mac into “Single User mode”, simply boot the computer and press Apple + S when blue first
   shows up on the screen. Next, mount the harddrive, and either dump the
   password and crack it with a tool like John the Ripper, or simply
   overwrite the root password:

# /sbin/mount -wu /
# /sbin/SystemStarter
To dump the existing root password:
# nidump passwd
To create a new root password:
# passwd root


Unable to remove images from iphone 6 My Iphone storage is almost full, so I am trying to copy and remove images from my iphone to pc with itunes. For some reason I am not able to do that and the reverse is happening.
Images from my laptop is copied to my iphone.

How should I fix that?

iTunes won't actually transfer pictures from your iPhone to your laptop. To do that, you will need to use the built-in Windows Image Capture program. It should open as an option when you plug your iPhone into your computer. After starting the program you can import the pictures from your iPhone.

Here is Apple's official documentation on importing photos: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201302

These steps may be more concise:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/photography/best-ways-get-photos-iphone/


Restoring an SD card using a multi-partitioned DMG I have a linux distribution that I installed on an SD card. After the lengthy installation was finished I created a DMG backup of all the partitions using the Mac's built in disk utility. The recovery image is currently 865.5MB large and seems to contain the correct information.

I am currently attempting to restore this image onto another SD card to ensure the recovery process will work appropriately. To perform this action I went into disk utility under the restore tab and entering the appropriate fields. I selected the DMG recovery file as source while selecting the SD card bay as the destination. All seemed to be working since disk manager prompted me if it was alright to fully erase the SD card as well as my root password for permissions. However, my victory was short lived as it promptly showed me this error: Recovery Error: Could not validate source - Invalid argument. I guessed that the source was incorrect, so I tried opening the DMG and providing the virtual drive as the source. However the same error persists.

Since this card contains three partitions with one being a blessed bootable partition, I would like to see if there are any ways to get my Mac to generate these for me. Since disk-utility archived the full SD card with partitions, I would assume is has a way to recover it going the other way.

Full logs from Disk Utility:

2013-01-23 19:02:27 -0500: Restore Disk
2013-01-23 19:02:27 -0500:  Source: “Raspbian.dmg”
2013-01-23 19:02:27 -0500:  Destination: “APPLE SD Card Reader Media”
2013-01-23 19:02:27 -0500:  Erase Destination: Yes
2013-01-23 19:02:27 -0500:  Erase “APPLE SD Card Reader Media” and copy the contents of “Raspbian.dmg” to it.
2013-01-23 19:02:27 -0500:
2013-01-23 19:02:27 -0500: Starting Restore…
2013-01-23 19:02:27 -0500: Validating target...
2013-01-23 19:02:27 -0500: done
2013-01-23 19:02:27 -0500: Validating source...
2013-01-23 19:02:27 -0500: Could not detect format of volume on device ""
2013-01-23 19:02:27 -0500: Could not validate source - Invalid argument
2013-01-23 19:02:27 -0500: Could not validate source - Invalid argument
2013-01-23 19:02:27 -0500:

Use the dd command-line tool.

Mount the SD
Use "Disk Utility":  Select the top level of the SD
card and "Get Info".  Note the "Disk Identifier" (example disk13)
Unmount all of the volume on the SD, if they are mounted, but do NOT removed the SD card.  This is important because the dd will fail if it detects any mounted volumes.

In the Terminal:

If you are not in an Admin account, use "su (admin account name)" to gain admin authority
sudo dd if=/path/to/DMG/file of=/dev/(disk identifier from above) bs=16k

Then wait a long time for the operation to complete.  In a 4 GB copy I performed recently to a CF card, it took 21 minutes to finish.

You will eventually get 3 lines stating records in & out and bytes copied.  Example:

243528+1 records in
243528+1 records out
3989970432 bytes transferred in 1278.252950 secs (3121425 bytes/sec)

In my case I have been copying .img files to CF cards, hopefully it works just as well for DMG's


How can I mount an SMB share from the command line? I would like to mount an SMB network share from the command line (terminal); how would I go about that?

I am using Mac OS X 10.6.4.

You could easily achieve this using mount_smbfs (which is, actually, a wrapper for mount -t smbfs) :

mount_smbfs //user@SERVER/folder ./mntpoint

Optionally, add the workgroup :

mount_smbfs -W workgroup //user@SERVER/folder ./mntpoint

You could, of course, change the ./mntpoint (for something like /Volumes/smb).

After doing this, simply go to ./mntpoint to browse your data.

To unmount, using the following command :

umount ./mntpoint


Turn on camera light but not camera Is it possible to turn on the light that indicates that the camera (on a MacBook) is on without turning on the camera? (Then it could be used as an indicator for something else.)

A couple years ago there was rumours about malware being able to run the camera without having the light on.  Both LED and Camera are driven by the Apple SMC (System Management Controller) and are linked together far below OSX user level.

Since then Apple most probably have put extra efforts to avoid usage of one without the other.


How to quick reply with Google Hangouts on iOS 10? On iOS 9 I would utilize the quick reply functionality to reply to Google Hangout messages. However, since upgrading to iOS 10 I am no longer able to use quick reply as a swipe left on a Hangout notification only gives the option to clear.

Is there an iOS 10 setting that I need to enable for Hangouts to be able to quick reply? Or is this something that Google needs to change with Hangouts to accommodate iOS 10's new notification APIs?

This is a change that Google needs to make for their apps.  It's not something that Apple can fix inside the Google app.

Google might've moved this function or made it a 3D Touch feature, I don't know.


How to install OS X Mavericks in VirtualBox? I have been trying to use Hackboot to install OSX Mavericks in VirtualBox, and using an ISO image created by following the steps at How to create bootable ISO for OS X Mavericks

The steps I have taken:

Attach HackBoot1.iso, disable EFI for the VirtualBox guest and boot up
Hackboot starts up. Attach the OS X Mavericks bootable ISO image
Hackboot complains

Can't find /mach_kernel

Booting up directly from the ISO with EFI enabled also fails.

How can I install OS X Mavericks using either Hackboot, or to boot up directly from the ISO image?

If your host system is OS X, you can follow the instructions on: http://ntk.me/2012/09/07/os-x-on-os-x/

Requirement:
- Install OS X.app purchased in Mac App Store
- iesd

VirtualBox Settings:
- Operating System Version: Mac OS X (64 bit)
- Base Memory: 2048 MB (larger is better)
- Enable EFI

In the lastest VirtualBox, all the default settings work well. Some people encountered black screen upon booting the virtual machine. They reported that changing the default chipset ICH9 to PIIX3 fixes this issue.

Prepare Install Disk

gem install iesd

iESD requires ruby-1.9.2 or later.
Yosemite & Mavericks:
The the new InstallESD.dmg is not bootable. Therefore, we need to create a bootable install disk with BaseSystem.dmg.

iesd -i /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app -o Mavericks.dmg -t BaseSystem

All Macs using Intel Haswell CPU (Macs after 2013) need to fake their CPU as Ivy Bridge in order to boot the virtual machine. Thank @danmccombs for this tip.

VBoxManage modifyvm <vmname> --cpuidset 00000001 000306a9 00020800 80000201 178bfbff

On Mac Pro Early 2009 and other Macs that have ECC memory, AppleTyMCEDriver.kext will cause a kernel panic during the boot. Thus we need to remove it.

iesd -i /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app -o Mavericks.dmg -t BaseSystem --uninstall-extension AppleTyMCEDriver.kext

Mountain Lion & Lion:
The lastest VirtualBox does not require modifying InstallESD.dmg any more.
However, if your virtual machine was freezed during the boot process due to AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext, you need to install NullCPUPowerManagement.kext.

iesd -i /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mountain\ Lion.app -o Mountain\ Lion.dmg --install-extension NullCPUPowerManagement.kext

The install process is same as normal OS X install on Mac


how can i change the apple id on App Store? On my 2009 MacBook, my friend signed into his Apple ID to check it. Now, I can't sign back into mine to download things.

Does anyone know how to get my Apple ID to sign me back in?

In the Mac App Store, go to the Store menu -> Sign Out. This will allow you to sign out of the store.

Note, if he made any purchases during that time, downloaded any apps and/or accepted the updates for the iWork/iLife applications, they may b tied to their AppleID and won't process under yours.


How to avoid macOS for keep asking for the passphrase for key ~/.ssh/id_rsa while remotely operating via ssh? If I remotely log on to a Mac via SSH and then use it to access another machine (such as doing a git pull) via SSH, it will keep asking me for the passphrase for key ~/.ssh/id_rsa.

If I operate on the same Mac locally using the very same user (let's say admin) it will not ask me for the passphrase if I added UseKeychain yes in the remote Mac's ~/.ssh/config (I also added the same setting for the local Mac btw).

You need to use ssh-agent to manage your passphrase.

This assumes you have already generated SSH keys to log into your host(s).  If not, see How to SSH in one line for a primer on how to do this.

Next add your key to the agent

ssh-add

If it requires a passphrase, it will ask for it.  Now, every time you SSH to your remote Mac, it won't ask you for the passphrase until you kill the (local) Terminal session.  If you start a new one, it will ask once then remember it for the duration of that Terminal session.

Can you get around having to enter a passphrase at all?  Yes...

Don't put one in.  It's asking because you created a key file with a passphrase.
hard code it into a script (not advisable)

As for going from one Mac, to another and finally out to another server (i.e. GitHub), you will need to enable (set to "yes") ForwardAgent in both your ssh_config and sshd_config.  See this article for more info.


Shortcut to take screenshot and save to specific folder Is there any way I can get a specific keyboard shortcut to take a screenshot and save it to a particular folder ?
The use case is quite simple: I listen to radio frequently and take screenshots of the songs I like. The screenshots go to my Desktop though. I would like to use a different shortcut than cmd + Maj + 4 so that when triggered the screenshots default to another folder.

With native macOS You can only change the default save location for all screenshots to one location. The screenshot commands can't be split to have some screenshot commands go to one location, whilst other commands go to another location.
If your Mac is running Mojave or later, you can easily change the default screenshot location in the Options menu in the Screenshot app.
More information about Screenshots and the Screenshot app can be found at this Apple Support document. It is possible to customize the default macOS Shortcuts to key sequences you want to use, but you can't associate individual keystrokes with different save locations.


Why is my App Updates linked to my wife's AppleID? I can't change it I recently purchased a mac pro w Yosemite.  I left my wife set herself up as an additional user, which later I removed.  Now 3 apps (numbers, Keynote and Pages) which need to be updated are listed under her apple ID and requires her password.  Being my laptop, I want to correct this and use my ID.

Unfortunately the OS doesn't allow me to delete them. When I tried to re-purchase them, it only allows me to update the apps, and then shows my wife's ID and wants her password. I can use her password but would rather correct the problem.

if she 'bought' them, even on 'your' machine, they are tied to her Apple ID. You would need to re-purchase under your own ID.

App Store purchases are not tied to a machine, they are tied to an ID

… or set up Family Sharing, which would allow you both to download/use any app purchased under that share, without impinging on general privacy.


How can I reset my user account password on OS X? My MacBook keeps saying that my password is wrong. I haven't changed it in a year. I have tried to reboot it, but I have no idea how to do it. I have my laptop in recovery mode.

A plausible way of resetting the password of your login on your OS X is to:

Go to Single-user mode (CMD  + S on boot)
Type: /sbin/mount -uw / and press Enter
Type rm /var/db/.applesetupdone and press Enter
Type reboot and press Enter.

On boot, you will be prompted to setup like if your mac was new. Don't panic, as your data is not lost (I would backup just in case though). Skip all unnecessary options, and later you will be prompted to create a new admin account.

Once your setup finishes, from the new account, go to System Preferences > Users and Groups, click on your previous username and click Reset Password. Now type in the new password and login as your old account.


VPN and insecure WiFi on iPad I have a question about VPN Access on my iPad. After every time I lock it for more than 15 minutes, when I return to using my iPad, it reconnects to WiFi but doesn't re-establish the VPN connection automatically - I have to do it manually. This means my iPad is connected to insecure WiFi, so it's possible that some application can send secure data in background over the insecure connection.

How can I avoid my data being sent over an insecure connection?

I'm not aware of a jailbreak that forces only a VPN and the core OS has no provision to only route traffic through a VPN.

The OS needs to contact an insecure network and send traffic in order to establish a VPN connection. For the time the device is connected to the network and not having built a secure tunnel - you are vulnerable to network sniffing. Even once you have a VPN - the traffic can still be sniffed and recorded for later analysis, but the encryption/obfuscation makes it harder to tell what data is being transmitted and to what servers you are communicating since all traffic goes to the VPN server.

In short, you need to be vigilant to ensure the VPN reconnects. If you make sure that your iOS device does not auto-join these untrusted WiFi hotspots, you will have to manually re-join if it drops so that you can manually fire up the VPN again and the device will not inadvertently re-join and put your traffic and data at risk.


Syncing contacts from iCloud to Gmail not working I am trying to export my contacts from iCloud to Gmail but it is not functioning.

I keep on pressing export option but nothing is coming out. Is there any other way to sync my contacts to Gmail or to any other phone?

If you are on mac.

Sync your icloud contact with your mac. Then connect your gmail account to your mac (enable contact). Finally launch Contacts App then drag and drop contacts from iCloud group to Gmail group


Change background based on location/wifi? Does anyone know if an application that can change the background of the desktop to a different set of images based on your location?

I am thinking about writing an AppleScript to do this, but if someone knows an application / script that already does this that would be great?

I want it to check every time I login to the computer and it would be great if it could do the 1 hour rotation that I currently have, but otherwise a random image from a folder each time I login would be fine too.

Anything involving location-aware contexts can be done with Marco Polo.


Deleted all partitions from Mac mini except Boot Camp, now can't reinstall OS X I have a Mac Mini without DVD drive (2010), and I used Boot Camp to install Windows 8.

Everything worked but after I played in Windows with the partitions (I wanted to expand the partition of the Mac). I made mistake and deleted every partition (even Recovery HD) except from my Boot Camp partition. Since then, my Mac mini only boots into Windows. I can't install OS X now.

I took from my friend an OS X Install DVD and Application Install DVD (he also has a Mac mini). Then I took my PC's external USB DVD drive and connected to Mac mini, inserted the OS X install disk and powered on. During the power on I held the ⌘C button and I saw HDD "BOOTCAMP" and CD "OS X INSTALL" so I selected the CD but after that I only see the gray screen with an Apple logo.

How can I install OS X again on my Mac?

Try Internet Recovery. Boot with ⌘⌥R until you get a spinning globe, then follow the instructions.

You'll need to have been fully up-to-date with Firmware updates though.


Uploading images from a Mac to an iPad How do I upload my photos from my iMac to an iPad 3? My operating system is OS X 10.9.5

Connect your iPad to your Mac. Open iTunes, select the iPad on the top and on the left you will find a photos menu where you can select what you'd like to sync.

Alternatively, you can use iCloud Photos, which would have to be enabled on both your iMac and your iPad, which will then sync photos over the cloud (via your internet connection). However, if you have a lot of photos, you'd might have to buy additional space on iCloud.


What's the difference between "transmit rate" and "link speed"? On my MacBook Pro, System Information (or airport or option-clicking on the wifi status icon) reports a "transmit rate" of 176

while Networt Utility reports a "link speed" of 289

What's the difference between these two parameters?

You already see the answer in your screen shot.

The maximum possible rate is 289.

The current transmit rate is 176.


How to check my iOS-backup password When backing up iOS devices to the mac, encrypted backups are possible. Is there a way to test my password, which I think is correct, without trying to restore some iPad from this backup?
I want to make sure that I not only have my iPad backed-up, but also make sure that I remember the password correctly.
I would prefer not to "pretend" I want to change my password, just to check if my password works.
Any Ideas?
I am on macos Catalina and iPadOS 14.3.

If you saved it in keychain, it will auto-fill in the Change Password dialog.
If so, it's listed in keychain as "iOS Backup", where you can open the plaintext version to see.

If not, then I think you'll have to try changing it to see if you remembered it correctly. I don't know if it will allow changing to the same password - never tested that.


Disable App Nap via Javascript/HTML Is there a message that could be sent in a way that at least Safari, if not other browsers, understands that tells Mavericks not to engage App Nap? I have an HTML5 pseudo-MIDI rendering app (i.e., sends individual notes out as mp3 audio) which plays back fine on Safari so long as it's in the foreground, but when focus is lost Safari/OS X does not send back sufficient calling information to play the notes at their appropriate times.  What I'd love is something like:

if (window.disallowAppNap !== undefined) {
    window.disallowAppNap = true;
}
this.playScore(callbacks = {end: function() {
        if (window.disallowAppNap !== undefined) {
           window.disallowAppNap = false;
        }
    } }
);

From a web search, it seems that the answer to this is "Nope," but maybe someone on the OS X or Safari dev. team will see this and think, "that's a great idea!" I've looked through the Web Audio API but can't see anything connecting to App Nap.

Nope, not currently. JavaScript/HTML can't directly control App Nap in Safari or any other browser on OS X.


Configuring OS X Firewall to enable SSH/SCP only on the local subnet? We would like to configure OS X to only allow Remote File Sharing (SCP) from a specific range of internal IP addresses. That way they only accessible when the user is connected via the VPN.

What's the preferred method? Doesn't seem to be doable via the Security & Privacy tab.

IceFloor is a frontend/GUI for the system firewall pf and should be able to be configured to do just what you want.
http://www.hanynet.com/icefloor/


Install an older iOS beta prerelease My phone was running iOS 9 beta 3 last night when my last backup happened. Today Apple gave me a new phone but when I got home I realized that my version of iOS is iOS 9 beta 4 and my backup will not restaure... Argh.

How can I get iOS 9 beta 3 on this new phone?

You can always restore a backup of an older version of iOS onto a newer version of iOS, just not vice versa.

If you really want to install an older pre-release version of iOS, then you can if you still have the IPSW. Apple doesn't stop signing pre-release versions like this so you should still be able to install an older version through iTunes.


Outlook Display Change in High Sierra When I click on an incoming message instead of enlarging to fill the screen as always has been the case, I now get a postcard sized enlargement of the message superimposed atop the Message List and the Preview Screen.  How do I change the setting so a click on the message will go directly to enlarging the message to fill the screen?

Open your message app and click on the Window menu item. Near the top of the menu is a setting for Zoom. Click on this and leave it. Whenever you open a message it should open in full screen. To turn zoom off, click on the option again. Once you've clicked zoom it will be remembered if you quit messages and start again.


Repeat a 3 second loop 10x in a 30 second video I have a short sequence loop in Motion 5. The file loops for 3 seconds, but my video is 30 seconds in length.

I want to repeat the short sequence file 10 times, so it fits the 30 seconds.

The only way I found to do this is to stretch it, but then it plays 10x slower.
I don't want the speed to be slower. I am just trying to keep the loop on repeat for 30 seconds on normal speed, but there is no button for repeat to do this. Maybe it is hidden somewhere and I cannot find it.

Copy and paste the three second clip ten times in a row. The fastest way to do this is with keyboard shortcuts and the insertion point moves along as you paste.


Make iTunes handle albums with different artists I'm a big fan of ocremix.org and I have quite a few tracks from that community. However, when looking at my music in Album view, it seems to be fairly arbitrary as to how it combines artist and album name when creating its groupings.

Is there a way to force iTunes to combine all songs with the same album name into the same album in album view, regardless of the artist? Ideally I'd like to have a single ocremix.org album which I could open up and sort by artist.

Also, ocremix.org has a convention when multiple artists are participating in a single track to list them all out, separated by commas. Can iTunes handle this in some way?

Select all the files you want to combine, make a right click and select "Information", go to tab "Options" and set "part of a compilation" to yes...


Transferring photo libraries? I have two macs, one with Mountain Lion and one with Mavericks. Do I need to put Mavericks on the other computer to be able to properly transfer the photo libraries?

The version of your operating system is not important here. You need to be careful of the version of your iPhoto.

Old iPhoto library can be updated by newer iPhotos. But newer iPhoto library cannot be opened by old iPhotos. So if your target mac has an up-to-date iPhoto, you can copy it directly.


MacBook admin account password reset using Apple ID does not work I talked to Apple support and they were not able to figure this out. MacBook 13 Retina Early 2015 with latest 10.11 El Capitan updates.

I changed my admin MacBook user password, tested the new password by locking/unlocking and then putting it and myself to sleep. The next day the password did not work.

I then used the Apple ID to reset the password. My disk was encrypted with FileVault so some of the other options were not viable.

After entering my Apple ID with password, it shows a window and says:

Recovering file vault key

This passes, flicks up a brief window about Finding a recovery, but it is so fast I can't read it all and then lands me on a page with:

Reset Password Completed

Your user account password has been reset. You may reboot and sign in using your new password.

The problem is I never got to enter a new password. No password was emailed and no password reset is offered on reboot.

Apple Support's last suggestion was to reformat the MacBook.

I continued trying various themes of changing the password using my Apple ID. I noticed sometimes after turning off wifi and only using ethernet via thunderbolt, I sometimes get an option to enter a new password. It tells me the "Password Reset Completed", however, this new password I entered still does not work after reboot.

I also tried logging onto the Apple ID management and enabling two factor authentication. The two factor auth works, but any new MacBook user passwords don't work (if I am lucky enough to make it to that screen).

The MacBook shows as logged in on the Apple ID management site and the iCloud site. I tried removing the device (I believe this logs my account out of the device). After changing the password again with Apple ID, it still does not work.

Side note: I also tried to turn on the guest user after I made my initial password change. The guest user is not available at the login screen, only my admin user. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but thought I would mention it.

Any ideas would be great if I could avoid a reinstall.

Strange... If you wait long enough at the EFI Login Window does the text at the bottom change to say something about restarting into Recovery to reset your password? If so, hold down the power button to shut down then hold it down again to startup in Recovery. Once the Password Reset Utility loads you can choose the My keyboard isn’t working when typing my password to log in option to disable FileVault. It will ask for a password, so not sure it'll work.


How can I get Apple Mail to pick the correct From: address? I own a mid-2010 MacBook Pro running Lion (I know -- but don't want to upgrade!)  When I am responding to an email, just below the 'Subject' line there is a field called 'From' followed by two separate drop down boxes.  The first comes up automatically with the correct email I am using for that particular gmail account, but as of about a month ago, the second box comes up with my husband's gmail address rather than mine.  I have to manually change it (or else responses go to my husband).  If I delay in sending my email (for which I've manually changed the second box) I can literally watch it default back to my husband's email address.  It is maddening!

Don't know if this is related or not, but at about the same time, I began having problems with my gmail accounts being listed as 'offline' even though I'm able to send and receive messages.

Any help welcome!

The box below the Subject line is called the Mail Box.

It is like the Post office name.

It is used to select from which email account you want to send it.

The first box is From, the second is the Account from which to be send.

You can change it here:

When you open new email window you ca also change the settings here:

For the From field, and choose which account to use.


Photos (OS X Yosemite / El Capitan) – show original in Finder? I would have expected to be able to right-click (secondary click) on a thumbnail of a picture and have the contextual menu give me the option to show the original picture document in Finder... but it's not there and I can't find it anywhere.

I couldn't stand iPhoto, but at least it would allow you to access the original file directly in Finder.
I understand why the Apple want to restrict direct access to the originals (stops users from moving files and screwing up their library), but what if I want to do something other than email or post the picture to social media?

EDIT: I know I can just "Show Package Contents" or use the terminal to access ~/Pictures/Photos Library and hunt through the folder structure manually, but it's painfully inefficient considering all the sub folders

It may be a (deliberately) missing feature, but if anyone knows any way of jumping directly to the original instead of copying or exporting it, that would be great to know.

UPDATE: I have got used to the way Photos works by now. Basically the thing to do is just to relax, let it manage your collection and only export what you need to as a copy, which you can later add back into Photos when you are finished with it. It is certainly a deliberate design choice by Apple, not a mistake.

Photos expects you to export unmodified originals as copies, to preserve the integrity of the internal file management and for collection protection in the same way a database works – it's central to keeping the iCloud storage of your photo collection synced, stable, and functional.

Once you have exported a photo, you can then use mdls and mdfind to see what the "copy" looks like and where the original was stored.

In my case, they are all in ~/Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibrary/Masters/2015/04/08 and such stored by year, month and date for my US locale computer. You'll only have to do this exercise a few times to nail down the internal storage for each time Apple chooses to change it going forward.


Why BlueTooth is activated after updating the iOS? I noticed something while updating the iOS. After finishing the updating, I always find that BlueTooth is on and activated.

Any idea why Apple is doing that?

Apple turns on Bluetooth because of iBeacon. Also, as previously mentioned by @Andrew Larsson, AirDrop is also a major reason. See here for more details: https://www.yahoo.com/tech/this-is-why-apple-enables-bluetooth-every-time-you-80079149965.html

A quick Google search reveals many interesting results: https://www.google.com/#q=why+is+bluetooth+enabled+after+updating


Can one fully remove certain applications from OS X? I've owned and used Mac's since System 7, and, in all this time, I'm very comfortable having my Mac's configured as I want them to operate.

Certain things I've never used, and in addition to them taking up space, I don't even want them to open.

One app in particular, Mail.

Don't like it, never will.

On those few occasions where I've to 'email someone, this application will open, which means I gotta close it, and, send out the email the way I do.

Is it possible to remove Mail, as well as any of the default applications which come with OS X, or, if this isn't possible, is there a way to prevent Mail from even opening as an option?

If you use any third party email app, you can configure in settings to open that email whenever you click an email link in any other app. To do so, you need to go to general settings of that very third party app and find the option that is usually listed as "Use (app name) as default mail client".

For instance, I'm using Nylas N1 and wehen you open the app and go under "preferences">"general">Workspace and check "Use Nylas as my default mail client".

If you tell me what app you are using as your default email client, I could help you find how to enable it, but it shouldn't be too much difference with any app.

As for removing systems build in apps: On OS X 10.10 Yosemite and earlier, it was possible to open a terminal window and issue commands to delete these system apps, which are located in the
/Applications folder. For example, running the following command in a terminal window would delete the built-in Chess app. Be very careful when typing the following command:

sudo rm -rf /Applications/Chess.app

As of Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan, System Integrity Protection protects these applications and other system files from being modified. This prevents you from deleting them, and it also ensures malware can’t modify these applications and infect them. If you actually did want to remove any of these built-in apps from your Mac, you’d have to disable System Integrity Protection first. I don’t recommend that. However, you can re-enable SIP afterwards and your Mac won’t mind that you’ve deleted Chess.app and other built-in system apps.

Really, I recommend you, don’t do this. Mac OS X may automatically reinstall these applications in the future when you update the system, anyway. They don’t take up much space, and Apple provides no way to get them back beyond reinstalling OS X on your Mac.

This doesn’t actually erase an application’s preferences. Erase an application and it will leave preference files left over in your Library folders. Most of the time, these files will use very little space and won’t cause a problem. The preferences will still be available on your Mac, too — this is convenient if you’re uninstalling an app only to replace it with a newer version of the same app.

Hope this helps.


What's in the "Other" category on my iPad? When I sync my iPad, iTunes tells me that Video accounts for so many gigabytes of space, Photos another portion, etc. etc.  But iTunes also tells me that a whopping 5.5 GB is being used by "Other".  What could this possibly be?  If it's not video, audio, photos, apps, or books, what's left taking up that amount of space?  I don't have that many contacts...

Of course, you don't know specifically what is and isn't on my iPad.  But any thoughts as to what this could be?  I'd like to reclaim some of that space if I can.

The stuff in the Other category is typically documents that have been deleted on the iPad, and also documents that are in use by various apps (for example, PDF documents that are in use by GoodReader, or docs from the iWork programs). Sometimes these documents are available via the Apps tab in iTunes, other times not; it depends on the program. For example, Documents to Go and GoodReader can manage their own documents outside of iTunes using Dropbox.

Deleted documents should be cleared out when you sync with iTunes. Sometimes, due to a known iTunes bug, the Other category won't shrink as expected.

There's more at these Apple Discussions threads:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=12908823&#12908823
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2715603


Macbook pro reboot questions i went to use my macbook pro and it appeared with a blinking question mark i got past that page to the OS X Utilities but how do i reboot it without losing everything i have? I don't have a disc or a time machine backup.

OK, blinking ? mark means it lost your boot sector.

Sometimes that can be easy repaired by using the OS X restore function.

Press and hold cmd+r during the start up to get in to the recovery mode.

Pending your computer type and age it might have it already on your hard disk and it will use it to repair your OS X without impacting your personal files.


Does the Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter work with 2048x1152 resolution? I'm thinking of buying the new Macbook Air and I was wondering whether the Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter will work with my 23" Samsung LCD with a 2048 x 1152 resolution.

http://www.apple.com/macbookair/specs.html

  Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native
  resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on an
  external display, both at millions of colors

I don't think the adapter has any impact on what resolutions are supported.


Completely removing old version of MS Office I have been migrating my account from Mac to Mac for years now. Every time a new Office version is out, I'd install it (X, 2004, 2008, and now 2011) and remove the old one after some time.

Every time, I removed the older version by trashing its folder in /Applications. Now, I get worried that I left tons of support files and stuff in various Library folders. The reason I realized that is that, this morning, Office offered me to update “Open XML File Format Converter”, which I think is now a remnant of the past (and is not part of Office 2011 any more).

So, how can I remove old Office support files and directories, without hurting my current install of Office 2011? Where should I look?

In general, when removing Office (or any application that comes with an uninstaller), it's advisable to use the uninstaller for the application, instead of just dragging things into the Trash. The best way to get a clean system would be to remove the old version completely, then install the new version. However, this is not an option for you any more, due to already having trashed (some of) the old files.

The files installed with every Office version are recorded in /var/db/receipts, in files starting with com.microsoft.office.*. There's a lot of those files, as Office comes in parts (Excel, Word, Proofing Tools, etc.) and also one for each update installed. The versions numbers in there are the "raw" office versions:

14: Office for Mac 2011
12: Office 2008 for Mac
11: Office 2004 for Mac
10: Office v. X

However it's not as simple as removing all files referenced by older packages, as some of them will be shared between them and doing so may leave your current Office install in a damaged state. Therefore the cleanest way to really remove all Office junk would be to:

Uninstall what you can, using the uninstaller supplied (Microsoft Office Setup Assistant)
Remove the package receipts and the files they reference (but carefully, as many of them will reference system directories that should not be deleted unless empty). DesInstaller does this, but it hasn't been updated in a long time and I'm not sure if it still works on Lion.
Remove any leftovers, using either a cleaning tool such as CleanMyMac or the already mentioned AppCleaner, which work by looking for identifiers such as the com.apple.microsoft.office described earlier, or simply using mdfind or locate on the command line.
Reinstall Office for Mac 2011 - and before doing the next upgrade, use the uninstaller.


How to find out process owner of unidentified windows? I have an odd error that I have not been able to associate with an application or PID properly.

In Windows, there is Process Explorer with the very handy target function that allows you to click it and then select a window to find the owner process:

Is there a way to do something similar in OS X that will allow me to find a seemingly orphaned window's owner such as this:

I have terminated every single process that can be terminated with the window manager running in OS X and yet I can still not isolate the owner.

Download and install Xcode.
When installed open Xcode.
In the menubar go to Xcode > open Developer tool > Accessibility inspector
In the Access..Inspector menu go to Inspection > Enable point to inspect
Click on anything to see the result

It does not give you the process name, but it does give you the parent's application name


Macbook Pro file mods When I run ls -l there are files listed with @ file mod for some folders:

drwxr-xr-x   5 root  admin      170 Sep  4 13:51 Users
drwxrwxrwt@  3 root  admin      102 Sep  5 09:02 Volumes

I realized that the folders with @ sign can not be displayed in Finder.
Can somebody tell me what is the @ sign for and how i can remove it?

The @ sign means that the files have extended attributes. What you noticed was the extended attribute com.apple.FinderInfo, which can be modified to have Finder hide the file.

Using ls -@, you can see the extended attributes of the file.

This is what shows up when I run ls -dl@ Library when my Library folder is hidden:

drwx------@ 54 me  staff  1836 Aug 31 11:16 Library
     com.apple.FinderInfo   32

and when it is showing (a setting in Show View Options in Finder on your home directory):

drwx------+ 54 me  staff  1836 Aug 31 11:16 Library

The com.apple.FinderInfo   32  means that the file is hidden. (32 is just the bit  they chose to represent it, 1<<5. This is called a bitmask.)

You can hide and show files with chflags hidden and chflags nohidden, enabling and disabling that bit of com.apple.FinderInfo.


How to delete Grammarly extension from Safari? When I try to delete Grammarly extension from Safari, it says:

The “Grammarly for Safari” extension is part of the “Grammarly for Safari” application.
To uninstall “Grammarly for Safari”, you must remove the “Grammarly for Safari” application.

And when I try to delete it from the Finder, it says:

The item “Grammarly for Safari” can’t be moved to the Trash because some of its extensions are in use.

How do I break this deadlock?
MacOS: High Seirra 10.13.6; Safari: 12.0.3; Grammarly: 9.4

After some trying, I figured it out.

Close all the apps that might be using Grammarly and delete it from finder.

No need to remove the extension from Safari after that.


Numbers: Is it possible to import animated gifs? I wanted to know if there is any chance to run an animated gif or somekind of video within a numbers table?

Yes on macOS you can add movies and animated gifs into a Numbers table. By simply drag and drop movies and/or animated gifs into Numbers.

I dropped it next to the table. After it was imported I positioned it on top of the right cell. Not in the cell but on top of the cell.


Macbook pro 2017 non touchbar replace ssd my ssd for a macbook pro 2017 non touch bar is dead, so i want to replace the ssd. Is this ssd is a good choice ? Or anyone can recommend me another ssd which fits ?Picture

No. That's an SATA 2.5" disk. You need Apple's proprietary 12+16 pin SSD module, Generation 5.
See this page for an extensive coverage of Apple's SSD modules, including those in your Mac.
https://beetstech.com/blog/apple-proprietary-ssd-ultimate-guide-to-specs-and-upgrades
You either need a second-hand Apple OEM part, or a third-party new one, such as OWC's Aura range or Transcend's JetDrive 820.


Is it possible to use my own mp3s and Apple/iCloud Music Library simultaneously? Ever since I've begun using Apple Music I feel as if I'm either only able to listen to my own music (mp3s synced to my iPhone) by having iCloud Music Library disabled, or listen to Apple Music by leaving it enabled (and not being able to access my own music). For example, if I sync all my music from iTunes to my phone and then go into Airplane Mode, the majority of it disappears.

Is there a way to have both my own mp3s and Apple Music at the same time? It seems absurd that you have to pick one or the other.

Thanks for any help.

I've just discovered a Mac app, WALTR 2, that I've used to successfully (and very easily) copy some mp3s to my iPhone over Wi-Fi, and they now appear in my iTunes library as local files, with all the correct metadata and album art. iCloud Music still enabled the whole time.

(I am in no way affiliated with WALTR 2, just was having the same problem as you and wanted to recommend an app that works for me.)


How to take screenshot from iPhone using command line I'm used to taking screenshots from android devices using the adb command line. Is there a way to do the same with the iphone?

Tha's very easy
1. Choose the screen from that you want to make a Screenshot
2. Pressing the home and the sleep/wake buttons together


Issues with 2nd gen iPod touch I have a 2nd gen iPod touch (bought around 3 years back)...Off late, I am facing some issues with it; Date/Time gets reset on a few ocassions even though I charge it regularly (mostly seems to be a battery issue)

But the major issue is with AppStore downloads. Most of the apps just do not download. After I enter my username/password, it shows the icon with Waiting for long time, but the download never starts. I know a few might be bcoz of compatibilty issues, But this happens for almost 90% of my app downloads.

Please let me know if it is time to get a new iPod touch OR if the issue can be rectified with some minor corrections. Thank you.

First, you may try to restart it. Hold Power button for that.

Second, if this will not help try restore your iPod.
For this connect it to iTunes, choose Backup from iPod contextual menu and then press Restore. This way you will be able to rectify software problems.

Then you may try to restore iPod in Recovery mode.

If it will not help then it is either network issue or you do try to install iOS4+ only apps.

More on restore process.


Free screen capture tool that has decent annotation I'm looking for a free screen capture tool that has decent annotation.  I want to be able to do the following:

Highlight an area
Dim everything but the selected area
Draw arrows
Blur selected areas

I just downloaded the Snagit Beta for Mac, free for now, I'm sure it will cost when it comes out of beta.  So far it has everything I was asking for except the dimming feature.  It has a few other nice features as well.


Display seconds in addition to hours and minutes on the Clock How would I go about getting the clock on my iPhone to display the seconds beside the minutes?

I have looked at Settings → General → Date & Time, but it only allows me to choose a Time Zone, Set the clock automatically or toggle 24-Hour Time.

Is there anything I can do to cause the clock to display seconds in addition to minutes and hours?

If you look at the icon for the Clock app on your home screen it has a second hand. For most cases this is sufficient for me.


Access path of open file I have a file open in, say, a pdf viewer (or some other application). I want to get the path of the open file as text.

A simple approach to know the files location is to chose "Save As" - the dialogue comes up with the files current location selected.
For pasting a path into such a dialogue, I can do cmd-shift-G, but the text box that appears contains the most recent path used this way (not the current files path).

Is there a way to access the path (as text) of a file open in an application?

You can create small Apple Script and save it as an app.

on open {dropped_item}
    tell application "Finder" to set the clipboard to the POSIX path of the dropped_item
end open

Place this app on the Dock (easier to use). Then inside your pdf viewer you have small file icon on the top title bar -> drag it on top of the newly created app. With this, file path will be copied to the pasteboard.


Is there a way to "uncheck" songs on my iphone? I have many audiobooks in my itunes, some of which are in their appropriate place, but some of which are categorized as songs. I've moved them all to playlists and unchecked them in itunes so that they do not play on my computer, but they still appear in my songs on the iphone, so that when I shuffle my songs, I often get random book chapters. It's not a huge deal (I just skip them), but it is annoying, especially when I'm driving. Can anyone help?

Select an Audiobook file in your library that has been categorised as a song.
Right click on it and select “Get Info.”
Open the Options tab.
In the “Media Kind” field, select Audiobook.

These files will no longer appear in the Music library. To see them again, open the Books library.


Large Library/Containers directory The directory ~/Library/Containers has a size 39GB on my system. This is huge. I guess that the directory contains some files created by running various apps. So the more applications I use, the more is being stored within the directory. It thus seems to be a cache-like directory. Can I safely just delete it?

PS. It turned out that the majority of the space (37GB of 39GB) was taken up by files from a single app:  CamWiz Webcam Recorder. But still, 2 GB are in the other directories and files, so I should be able to do a cleanup and delete most if not all of the files there.

Go to ~/Library/Containers/ and type du -h command. Now you will be more able to see which folder/file is taking most of the space in the system. My main culprit was Docker.


Get unlock passcode of a jailbroken iPad/iPhone using TransLock Bruteforce Tool I have a jailbroken iPad 3 that I haven't touched in a couple of years, and forgot the 4-digit passcode. The MacBook Pro that I used to backup and sync the iPad recently crashed. So, I cannot connect and restore the iPad without losing my precious data; particularly a book's manuscript that I was partially writing in Notes.

After 9 failed attempts, I am down to my last attempt before the iPad is locked. I've tried numerous applications to try and backup the iPad in DFU/Restore mode to no avail.

Then I came across: Majd Alfhaily's post http://blog.alfhaily.me/2015/03/bruteforce/ where he was able to accomplish the exact task that I am trying to do using his TransLock Brutefore tool. I tried to replicate his work, but my programming skills are limited. I got as far as downloading his libTransLock file on my GitHub...(https://github.com/freemanrepo/libTransLock).

Does anyone know how to compile or execute his work? Has anyone else been successful at bypassing the passcode on a jailbroken iPad/ iPhone using TransLock or another tool? Any comments or advice would be greatly appreciated.

libTransLock is a tweak you'll need to compile with Theos and install on the device.

Install Theos.
Clone libTransLock to a folder on your computer.
Connect your jailbroken device with USB.
Run make package install in the cloned folder.
SSH into your jailbroken device.
Run tail -f /var/log/syslog on your device to watch the syslog. You should see lines like

Testing : 0000
Testing : 0001
⋮
Password is : 1234

That's the password!
Once you're back in, uninstall the tweak in Cydia.


How do I seamlessly share a window from Mac OS X El Capitan to Windows 10? Is there a way for me (as not an enterprise) to seamlessly share/remote access one window on my Mac from my Windows PC? I know Citrix has a version of this, but I'm not able to get their enterprise software.
Edit:
What I want to do is having remote access from a Windows machine on the same network as the Mac machine. But the remote access shouldn't be just a full screen remote as VNC or TeamViewer. I want to share/remote into just one application which I have on my Mac.

I think that 'seamlessly share/remote access on window on my Mac' would benefit from some clarification about specific user scenario (is somebody at remote machine etc).
There is professional grade TeamViewer which is free for personal use which includes option to share whole screen or specific application window.
There is possibility to use Microsoft Teams to share from chat or meeting desktop, window or file.


Helping to manage my amazon ec2 servers on my ipad I am looking for apps that would help me to manage my amazon EC2 servers on an iPad. Are there any apps like that?

I've used Cloud Services Manager to monitor and control my EC2, EBS and S3 instances and storage. Works okay. I wouldn't say it was wonderful, but it'll do in a pinch. If you're used to Elastic Fox you may find it a bit disappointing. Not quite as nice as EF.

More often than not I just use Panic's Prompt ssh client for iOS. It's quite good as ssh clients go and I'll use it to gain access to a known-good instance from which I can then run my own boto-enabled inspection tools or any of the standard EC2 command line utilities.

Between those two I can usually handle most of my EC2 issues from an iOS device.


How can I Create a Recovery Partition on a Newly Installed SSD? I have a late-2011 15" MacBook Pro.

I have just had my spinning hard drive swapped out with an SSD. The new drive does not have a recovery partition. Can I create one? If so, how?

My laptop is well backed up with Time Machine. I also have a license for SuperDuper, and so can create a bootable external hard drive to boot from if I need to. I don't mind having to wipe my drive completely in order to set it up properly.

Reinstall OS X using the Internet Recovery option (hold Command+R during boot).

During the reinstall, OS X will create a local Recovery HD. You also won't need to backup your data as it will simply reinstall the core operating system without touching your existing content.


If I delete an episode from my iPhone, will it still be available on iTunes? I want to delete an episode from my iPhone so I can watch a different episode (because I took up so much space with music and such).  If I do, it won't permanently delete, will it?   Will it still be on the iTunes account, but not on this device?

It depends on two things:

If you have a computer or another device set to automatically download purchases, you will have that copy as long as it is online and the download completes successfully.
If your account is in a country that allows TV eposides to be re-downloaded (usually called iTunes in the cloud) you could re-download the episode later as long as the studio doesn't withdraw it from sale or download.


AppleScript : Set do script result as variable I would like to get the result of this search and display the result in a notification or safari popup.

" set result to do shell script "curl https://www.binlist.net/json/" & cc without altering line endings" only have as a result the same value of the main query

-- Web site https://www.binlist.net
-- Get https://www.binlist.net/json/431940
set cc to the clipboard
set finalresult to do shell script "curl https://www.binlist.net/json/" & cc without altering line endings
set the clipboard to finalresult

display notification "result is " & finalresult

The result won't display as a notification so for now, its only set as clipboard
Also the result is really raw can I clean that somehow ?

{\"bin\":\"431940\",\"brand\":\"VISA\",\"sub_brand\":\"\",\"country_code\":\"IE\",\"country_name\":\"Ireland\",\"bank\":\"BANK OF IRELAND\",\"card_type\":\"DEBIT\",\"card_category\":\"\",\"latitude\":\"53\",\"longitude\":\"-8\",\"query_time\":\"1.370709ms\"}""

Thanks.

You want the brand and the country_name from the JSON data, you can use a JSON parser.

Here is an example of parsing JSON in python

-- Get https://www.binlist.net/json/431940
set cc to the clipboard as string
set finalresult to do shell script "curl https://www.binlist.net/json/" & cc & "  |  /usr/bin/python -c 'import json, sys; obj=json.load(sys.stdin); print obj[\"brand\"],obj[\"country_name\"]' "
display notification "Result is " & finalresult --> "Result is VISA Ireland"


Poor sluggish performance after upgrading to Yosemite I am facing very sluggish performance in my MacBook Pro after I upgraded it to Yosemite. Mine is 8GB, i7 mid 2012 system.

Usually I find my unused RAM <25MB even if I work in terminal, say around 8 Safari tabs open (excluded fb) and some light-weight programming editor open.

I remember I never faced such sluggish performance in Mavericks or Mountain Lion.
I have closed all unwanted graphical effects, but still no improvement on performance.

Any suggestions?

Below is the screenshot of my activity monitor:

Please note my Preview was closed while I took this shot; which is in a way super weird.

CPU usage:

Beginning with Mavericks, Apple began using a different way of utilizing RAM called memory compression. That is why the used is so high.

Wikipedia Virtual Memory Compression

Two things you can do are to remove the contents of the saved application state folder in your user library and remove the swap files in the /var/vm/ folder at the root of your drive. Once these have been removed, restart your computer. Let me know what you got going on after that!


Opening MacWrite documents I have some old documents that were created with MacWrite (I think it was MacWrite Pro). Is there any software that will run on a modern system that can read these files?

Alternately, is the file format documented somewhere so that I can write my own program to translate the files?

MacWrite II (ver 1.1v3) runs in Sheepshaver ... I don't have MacWrite Pro in there, so that maybe means I tried it and it didn't run.


permanently stop iPhone text messages from appearing on my iMac How do I permanently stop iPhone text messages from appearing on my iMac. I don't want to send/receive/view messages on my computer. I only want to use my phone for sending/receiving/viewing messages. Also, I'm hoping the fix doesn't require constant maintenance. I've gotten advice for this before, but the fix has to be repeated every time I restart my computer.

To disable Text Message Forwarding:

On your iPhone, open the Settings app, then tap on Messages, then Text Message Forwarding.
Tap on the on/off button across from your Mac's name to disable.


OSX Stuck - Window manager is responsive, but can't create any process Shortly (seconds) after booting, the OS (10.6.8) becomes unresponsive. Not a single process can be created, but the window manager is responsive - I can switch focus between existing windows and some already loaded programs - e.g. Terminal, Finder, etc but I cannot run any new processes - opening a browser, or even executing "ls" from command prompt yields no results.

There are no obvious CPU hogs - I managed to quickly run "top -u" with no high CPU util at the point it gets stuck (at one point the top utility stops refreshing, I suspect it spawns a new process for each refresh).

Any clues appreciated.

After trial and error, the correct answer proved to be such: disable IPv6.
The OSX machine started to freeze when I switched internet connection and WiFi router.


Can I decrypt a dm-crypt filesystem on OS X? I've been an Ubuntu user for years, and I just got my first Mac. One thing I haven't yet figured out is how to decrypt my encrypted filesystem on which I store my SSH and GPG keys on my flash drive. I used this guide in the past to set it up, and have just been running the shell script to decrypt and mount it since then.

However, I cannot figure out how to decrypt it on OS X. Running brew install cryptsetup doesn't work.

You may try OSXCrypt which is a kernel extension and a command line utility that allows the creation, manipulation and attaching of a TrueCrypt-compatible volumes.

See also ext4fuse or fuse4x (via brew).

Or try to install a tiny linux distro (e.g. Ubuntu) in a virtual machine (e.g. VirtualBox) and then install/configure cryptsetup.

I don't know if hdiutil can handle it, but here is an example:

sudo hdiutil attach -stdinpass -encryption AES-256 /dev/disk1s1

To check how your hardrive is encrypted, try the following command:

sudo cat /dev/disk1s1 | strings -3 | head

See also:

Password Cracking AES-256 DMGs and Epic Self-Pwnage


Has anyone else been able to find out why Back to my Mac isn't working in Yosemite? After upgrading to Yosemite, I can no longer see my other computers that I was able to access with Back to my Mac, under previous OS X versions (while I am away from home - usually accessing my home computer(s) from work).

As each one was upgraded to Yosemite (10.10), each one in turn "disappeared" from being accessible by Back to my Mac. I'm pretty sure its the O/S, but the question is - why?

I didn't change anything, they just don't appear in Finder anymore, but my computers still on Mavericks do appear.  There's also an issue with the local screen sharing, as shortcuts that were created and working under 10.9, are no longer working in 10.10.  I am forced to open Finder and connect that way.  I re-saved the shortcut from screen sharing, but it still doesn't work.

I have the Airport Extreme 802.11ac, firmware 7.7.3

I have tried the Apple suggested steps with no success.

I'd love to hear from others who can verify this, and perhaps know what Apple changed that broke this for me.

Ok, just found this…. Hope this works.
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH18990?viewlocale=en_US


My home folder opens up Photo Booth when clicked on For some reason when the icon for the home folder is clicked it opens up photo booth. I changed what application it uses and the finder stays open.

I tried fixing permissions and checking the hard drive in the recovery boot to no avail. Any suggestions?

Figured it out. The home folder somehow got changed to type "package." I figured out how to change it back to folder and it's opening up in the Finder again.


How to get automator to trigger folder action when file is downloaded by Google Drive Sync I have an Apple Automator Folder Action that takes files placed in a "Process" folder, makes a copy of them, modifies the contents and then places them in a "Modified" folder. It works just as expected when I use finder to put files in the "Process" folder, but I also need it to process files when Google Drive Sync downloads a file into the "Process" folder as well. When I tried using Google Sync to download in files the Folder Action never got triggered. It didn't seem to matter how many files got downloaded in by Google Drive Sync it didn't trigger the Folder Action. I know the script is working because if I then added a file to the folder manually with Finder it would run the Folder Action on all the files in the folder even the ones that Google Sync added. For some reason the downloading of the file into the folder by Google Sync just isn't triggering the Folder Action.
Is there a way to set this up so that when Google Drive Sync finishes downloading the a file into the folder it also triggers the Folder Action I created?

I just tested this process and it works for me.  First I would not have Google Drive sync files directly into your “Process Folder”.  Let Backup and Sync download and sync everything to and from the Google Dive folder on your computer.
To do this, quit the Backup and Sync app. Then go to Finder and temporarily move the current folder it is synching to, to a different location. Then launch Backup and Sync app and in your menu bar Click —> Backup and Sync and then Locate. Find your Google Drive folder and click Open.
After that is all set up and working correctly, go back and move that folder that you temporally moved, back to its original location.
Next, we will create a Folder Action to attach to your Google Drive folder.  Now, when files are added to that Google Drive folder and after they are finished synching, the Folder Action will move the synched files to your “Process Folder”.  Once that happens, those files should trigger your already existing Folder Action attached to the “Process Folder”.

After inserting the path to your “Process” Folder (between the quote marks in this line)…
property processFolder : alias ""
Save this following AppleScript code in Script Editor.app to your /Users/YOUR_SHORT_NAME/Library/Workflows/Applications/Folder Actions.  folder
property processFolder : alias "" — insert path to your “Process” Folder

on adding folder items to theFolder after receiving theNewItems
    --  Called After Items Have Been Added To A Folder
    --
    --  theFolder is a reference to the modified folder
    --  theNewItems is a list of references to the items added to the folder
    repeat with thisItem in theNewItems
        tell application "Finder"
            (move thisItem to moveToFolder) as alias
        end tell
    end repeat
end adding folder items to

if you don’t know how to properly get the path to your “Process” folder, run this following one line of code in a separate document. It will let you choose the “Process” Folder and the correct path will be stored in your clipboard. Then you can paste that (between the quote marks in this line)…
property processFolder : alias ""
set the clipboard to (choose folder) as text

Now all you need to do is go to Finder and right click on the Google Drive Folder and select Services/Folder Actions Setup… and attach the Folder Action script you just created


Is SDHC Card compatible with a MBP mid-2009? I have a Mac Book Pro, mid-2009 model that has a SD card slot.
I just bought a SD Card from SanDisk, 8gb, SDHC.

When I insert the SD card in the slot, it is recognized by the MBP: I have a new icon on the desktop, NO NAME, and the disk utility tool shows me the information related to the disk and displays a correct volume size (around 7.95Gb).

In the Disk Utility Tool, when I click on disk verification, I get the following information:

Vérification du volume « NO NAME »Vérification du système de fichiers** /dev/disk1s1
** Phase 1 - Preparing FAT
** Phase 2 - Checking Directories
** Phase 3 - Checking for Orphan Clusters
Free space in FSInfo block (-1) not correct (242303)
Fix? no
0 files, 7753696 KiB free (242303 clusters)

Unfortunately, the Disk Utility Tool does not allow me to format the SD card.

The purpose of this SD Card is to use it to boot a Raspberry Pi. So I downloaded their utility SDFormatter. This utility recognizes the SD Card, but when I try to format it, it tells me that it is write protected.

Of course, the physical lock on the SD card itself is on the correct position!

So my question: is my old MBP compatible with this kind of SD Card?

Thanks.

It finally seems that my MBP is incompatible with this SD card format or size.

I bought a multi-cards reader, and it works.

Note that the exact same behavior on a 2010 MBP.


Backup software for backing up specific files only I need some backup software for just backing up files of a particular type or a smart folder. In this case I need to backup all my video. Is there a free backup software available that will accomplish this for me?

Your Mac has batteries already included. The only drawback (for some people) than it is command line (Terminal.app) solution.

The following shell script can do the job

case $# in
    (2) SRC="$1"; DEST="$2";;
    (*) echo "Usage: $0 source destination"; exit 1;;
esac

cd "$SRC" || exit 2
find . -type f -print0 | grep -ziv 'cpan' | grep -ziE '.(avi|mov|mp4)$' | rsync -n -av0 --files-from=- ./ "$DEST"

Save it into some file (e.g. mybackup.sh) and run from the terminal: sh ./mybackup.sh /path/to/the/source /path/to/the/dest, e.g.:

sh ./mybackup.sh ~/Downloads /Volumes/your_usb_hdd_name/path

Run the scipt and if you satisfiled with the result (will print out what will backing up), remove the '-n'. (The '-n' mean dry run)

rsync can do network backup to, or is possible emulate the TimeMachne functionality too, (incremental backup), etc - rsync is extremely powerful.

If you interested, can learn more with man rsync from the Terminal.

Ps:
Or, it is not enough simply select in finder's search "All Movies" and simple drag&drop to result into the destination?


How to connect an iPad Air to a Panasonic TV? Is there a way to stream TV from my iPad to my Panasonic TV?

I am a relatively new iPad user with little expertise.

Although the OP's question is a bit light on detail, (what model of Panasonic TV?) this is general information on how to stream video from an iOS device, including the iPad Air, to a television equipped with an HDMI input.
Required is a Wireless Network that one has access to.  Also, the TV must have an Airplay capable device attached via HDMI that is capable of receiving streaming video from the iOS device.  For example a second generation Apple TV or newer.
Connect to the Apple TV using AirPlay.
According to Apple:

AirPlay is compatible with the second-generation Apple TV or later. AirPlay Mirroring is available with iPhone 4s or later, iPad Pro, iPad Air or later, iPad 2 or later, iPad mini or later, and iPod touch (5th generation or later).

Use AirPlay to wirelessly stream content from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
With AirPlay, you can stream music, photos, and videos to your Apple TV, or stream music to your AirPort Express or AirPlay-enabled speakers. And with AirPlay Mirroring, you can display your iOS screen on your Apple TV.
Get started
To use AirPlay, you need one of these devices:

iPhone 4 or later. iPhone 4s or later for AirPlay Mirroring.
iPad, iPad mini. iPad 2 or later for AirPlay Mirroring.
iPod touch (4th generation or later). iPod touch (5th generation or later) for AirPlay Mirroring.

You can stream content to these devices:

For photos and videos: Apple TV (2nd generation or later).
For music: Apple TV, AirPort Express, or AirPlay-enabled speakers.

If you want to stream iTunes Store content, you also need an Internet connection.
Use AirPlay

Connect your iOS device and your AirPlay device to the same Wi-Fi network.
On your iOS device, swipe up from the bottom of your screen to open Control Center.
Tap AirPlay.
Tap the name of the device you want to stream content to. You'll see a picture of a TV screen or speaker next to each device, so you know what type of content you can stream. On iPad, you might need to scroll to see all of the available devices.

When you choose an AirPlay device, audio or video from your iOS device will play on your AirPlay-enabled speakers or on the TV that's connected to your Apple TV.
If you turn on Mirroring, you'll see your entire iOS screen on the TV that's connected to your Apple TV. Your TV will use the orientation and aspect ratio of your device. If you want the image from your device to fill your TV screen, you might need to to adjust your TV's aspect ratio or zoom settings.


MacBook Air 13 2015 screen glitches The screen shows inverted colors, noise in some parts. Can someone please tell me what to do?

Go to a certified Apple Support Provider (Apple Store or similar)

The will be able to repair your computer.


What do circles in dock right-click menu mean? For some apps, I see this on right-click:

The checkmark: the top window.

The diamond: the minimized window/s.

The circles: what do they mean? Do they have a general meaning across different apps?

Those are buffers which have unsaved changes. I don't use BBEdit, but that is how SublimeText and Word do it. It's probably an attribute which OSX reads and uses automatically. Another signal for this state is a white dot inside the red close dot of the window.


Wiping a Macbook 2.1 clean So I am trying to wipe an old Macbook clean before giving it away to charity or recycling but I am having some issues.
For my PCs I have used DBAN successfully and I was hoping to use it here as well.
But Macbook refuses to boot from my DBAN Usb drive! When i restart and hold the "alt" button I get into the "boot menu" but I can only choose from my standard HD. Any suggestions?

The old MacBook 2,1 (White 2008) could only boot from the CD/DVD drive.  Since you didn't mention that you could see the recovery partition (where you can access Disk Utility), we have to assume it's not there.

If you want to properly wipe it to ensure that all private data has been removed, do the following:

Remove the HDD from the MacBook and connect to another computer via USB to SATA adapter
Wipe with DBAN or do a Secure Erase with Disk Utility
Reinstall OS X

You could try to "hack" together a solution to get your USB to boot with rEFInd, but the work to put in to get a USB drive bootable is (IMO) a large expenditure of time just to wipe a drive.


Perform two keystrokes successively in AppleScript I want to perform two keystrokes in AppleScript, successively.
The script should perform Command+Shift+J and after that Command+W in the application Google Chrome.

Can this be done with AppleScript?

Try using a script like this:

activate application "Google Chrome"
tell application "System Events"

    keystroke "j" using {shift down, command down}
    delay 1
    keystroke "w" using command down
    delay 1

end tell


Can I print lists from the Reminders app? I would like to print out the lists and tasks that I maintain in the Reminders app.

I can copy the text or take screenshots and paste them to a program like Word, but… Is there an easier approach?

You can achieve this using AppleScript on your Mac. Press ⌘ cmd space and enter Script Editor. Create a new script with the following code in it:

set _body to ""
tell application "Reminders"
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "\n"
    set _body to (name of reminders in list "Tasks" whose completed is false) as string
end tell

set _output to "Macintosh HD:Users:YourName:Desktop:List.txt"
try
    set _reference to open for access file _output with write permission
    write _body to _reference
    close access _reference
on error
    try
        close access file _output
    end try
end try

Replace Tasks with the name of the list you want to print, Macintosh HD with the name of your startup drive, and YourName with your username.

This will place a file named List.txt on your desktop with all those reminders ready to print.


iDevice as a Macbook remote control (remote desktop) Is there any software application that allows iPhone or iPod Touch to be used as an advanced remote control for a Macbook Pro?

I have heard good things of these two apps, although I have not used them personally:

Real VNC
iTeleport

Hope this helps.


I can see another computer's shared iTunes library even though they are not sharing their library For some reason, from my own iTunes library on my Mac, I can see another computer's (running Windows 7) iTunes shared library, even though they are not sharing their library (via Preferences -> Sharing).

I myself have shared my own iTunes library, and they can see it just fine. But I should not be able to see the other person's library when they are not sharing it. I checked the preferences myself.

Also, my own iTunes is logged into my iTunes account, while the other computer is not logged in to any iTunes account.

Why is the other computer's iTunes library visible to my own iTunes?

are you guys on the same network. If so its possible that everyone on that network can access the everyone's shared library without any permissions as iTunes looks at them as home network.
If you change network sharing type to public places ... Then this should not happen .


Calendar.app stuck on iCloud sync My dad1 recently switched to Mavericks. With it came the loss of calendar synchronisation with his iPhone through iTunes.

I thus added his iCloud account to his Internet Accounts system preference pane for it to sync.

Here is how I proceeded to the best of my recollection:

Quit Calendar.app
Launched System Preferences.app and went to the Internet Accounts pref pane
Added his iCloud account to the list
Quit System Preferences.app
Launched Calendar.app again

Calendar.app then displayed a dialog saying it was syncing. For hours, perhaps even days. It still does so every time it is launched, rendering the app unusable. Right now, he makes do with his phone but it’s an uncomfortable situation.

The message reads (approximate translation):

  Moving calendars to the

(yep, nothing after the “the”).

I tried removing the account from the System Preferences and moving ~/Library/Calendars out of ~/Library/ but to no avail.

Any other suggestion?

Unfortunately, this means I don’t have first-hand access to his computer.

Uncheck the calendar in system preferences -> Accounts (or delete the whole account, I don't think it makes a difference).

Then delete files associated with the Calendar
~/Library/Calendars
~/Library/Caches
~/Library/SavedApplicationState/com.apple.iCal.savedState

Reboot
Open calendar, check if it opens normally.
If it does, quit calendar, add the account (or tick for calendar syncing) again, and reopen calendar.

Perhaps use something like Remote Desktop, VNC or TeamViewer if you don't have physical access to the computer.


Cannot see the new SSD drive after installation in a mid 2011 iMac I followed this video instruction https://youtu.be/eFHvIrdm9So to add a second, SSD harddisk (OWC brand) to a mid 2011 iMac.

After the installation is complete I rebooted the machine and tried to install using a usb thumbdrive with High Sierra installation image.

The usb thumbdrive is prepared by running the following command:

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyThumbDrive

However after the reboot, the drive is not visible in the disk utility.

Reboot again and use the original harddisk. The SSD is still not visible.

How can I fix it?

I find out the following solution at the end

1) Run PRAM by holding Option+Command+P+R at boot

2) Boot into macOS from  the original harddisk

3) A message should appear and say there is an uninitialised harddisk

4) Use the disk utility to format the harddisk. In my case since the OS is still at Sierra, only HFS+ options are available.

5) Reboot and select the usb installation image of High Sierra

6) The SSD drive is now visible to the installer. Proceed with installation.


MacBookPro10,1 had problems booting, now some system images are pink and fuzzy A friend just recently bought a MacBookPro10,1 (MacBook Pro Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2012) off of craigslist, it all checked out and worked fine until we erased the hard drive and reinstalled Mavericks (downloaded Mavericks from AppStore on my computer and used DiskMaker X v3.0.4 to create a bootable usb).

It would go through first stage of install (copying files), but after reboot it would hang on the Apple logo plus spinning gear thing. We figured out it would only boot in Safe Mode.

After a few hours of reinstalling and resetting stuff like NVRAM/PRAM and trying to get into AHT(unsuccessfully) and a bunch of other things, it finally would boot normally(without Safe Mode or any other keys pressed on boot).

It was very exciting, except on further use, some of the system images would come up odd colors and distorted/noisy. And it even freezes sometimes.

I guess it might be a graphics issue(?), but what would cause only some images to be like this? Is it still recoverable? Has anyone else had similar issues?

I really appreciate any help in advance! Thanks!

It sounds like your USB did not contain the clean bootable version.

I would suggest you start over and follow the procedure from Apple.

You can get a copy of 10.9.5 from here or from Apple Store.

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1761

Make sure the USB is single partition and minimal 8 Gig. (no other partitions on that disk)


Updating a MacPro from Snow Leopard to Mavericks I have Snow Leopard installed on an old MacPro. I want to upgrade to Mavericks.  When I go to AppStore-->Mavericks and click on the download button nothing happens.  Do I need to install the intermediate releases (Lion and Mountain Lion - I think).  If so, what is the process?

If the Mac Pro is old enough, then it cannot be upgraded beyond Lion.  Check the listed requirements... My old Mac Pro 1,1 was in this category.

See the chart at the bottom, "latest supported OS" HERE


High Sierra: WindowManager and kernel_task - Now you see it, now you don't! I have long had issues with both Window Manager and kernel_task taking up seemingly inordinate amounts of resources on my systems going back in the OS release cycle for as long as I can remember, but since I had my MacBook Pro 13" i7 back from the shop with a new SSD, screen, and battery, I did a restore from TM and updated it to 10.13.3 and I actually don't even see either WindowManager nor kernel_task running at all! I will add the this machine has performed better than it ever has, this is likely attributed that to the fact that its puffy batteries were replaced. Who knows what impact those things were having besides warping the chassis.

As I mentioned in another post, on my i7 Mini, suddenly had performance issues while running Sierra for a machine that hitherto been a wonderful machine for the 5 years she's been running without hardly ever a beachball. Honestly, it's been faster than even the newer MacBook Pro 15" 2015 I was issued at work- even though its still the 2012 version. (It was the highest end CPU chipset available - 2.3 GHz - and I maxed out RAM to 16 GB and swapped in a fast SSD with a dual disk kit so it was even at baseline a fantastic machine for the price.)

Unfortunately, as I reported in that other post, it suddenly started suffering from the notorious kernel bloat issue where those familiar processes became the machine's sole purpose as they were generally up top of the proc table as I have seen it on many other troubled Macs in the past. I was downright emotional about it and I received some great suggestions as to how I might resolve it, but since the machine had been upgraded so many times (it literally has not gotten a fresh install since Mountain Lion, yet no performance issues until just now, oddly) I opted for a full install. It was due. I had my installation checklist well defined along with settings (I just need to Automate it next!) so the mini is now running on what is effectively a fresh install of High Sierra. While right off performance is so much better, once I installed Chrome and it synced up with my Google account, crazy things happened and I am now picking its mess off so I can start fresh. Dunno if its an bad extension or what, but its a sloppy mess.

The bigger mystery is that I still see WindowManager now kernel_task near the top of my process table frequently, and though my machine is not limping like it was before, the mystery continues: why are they not even visible on my rebuilt MBP? Is there something hiding those processes when in fact they really are running? It doesn't seem like it as resource usage remains very low. The fact both machines are running the same version of High Sierra I simply don't get how they could be so different. They have practically flip-flopped in their behavior. Even without Chrome my mini gets slammed by the evil duo (WindowManager nor kernel_task) like by Safari. It's a mess!

Signed,
Confused in California

No, there's nothing specifically hiding those processes in Activity Monitor or top.

If you're using Activity Monitor, make sure that on both machines you select the menu View and then "All processes". If you select only to your own processes, you won't be seeing for example kernel_task anymore.


Bash - moved /Users/me to /usr/local/me - how to move it back and not break anything? I was trying to set up Tomcat to use with Java, and somehow moved /Users/me to /usr/local/me.    When I try to open any icons on desktop, they do not open, but everything that was already open still functions / saves fine (at least it seems).

My question: How can i move (user) tori  from usr/local/tori  back to Users/tori where it belongs, without breaking anything?   (I've had enough "fun" for the week).

Everything that follows is just context to how I got there and may well be irrelevant for answering, I am including it in case it is relevant. Thank you so much!!

Current situation:

When I start a new terminal session, I get:

No home directory: /Users/tori
mkdir: //.bash_sessions: Permission denied
touch: //.bash_sessions/817C7D82-8749-4B96-9AC6-CAA07F9CE1B0.historynew: No such file or directory

$USER  / who / w / whoami   output: tori, the right user at least.

$ finger tori  Outputs: .. Directory: /Users/tori  (note: there is not a Users/tori  when I cd into Users).

Commands I ran leading up to current situation:

$ sudo ln -s /Applications/tomcat-apache-9.0.30
--- I did enter password. I realize I did not put the desired name of the link after this, doubt this caused the error.

$ sudo chown -R tori /Applications/tomcat-apache-9.0.30
--- I was NOT prompted to enter password

$ sudo chmod +x /Applications/tomcat-apache-9.0.30/bin/*.sh I was NOT prompted to enter password

$ sudo chmod +x ./bin/*.sh + I did enter password.   Is to make all .sh files executable.  I was trying to execute  bin/catalina.sh start (and variants thereof) to start Tomcat server (I didn't get it to start yet).

$ bin/catalina.sh start    Output:
bin/catalina.sh: /bin/sh^M: bad interpreter: No such file or directory

$ sed -i -e 's/\r$//' catalina.sh Attempt to fix ^M errors (I tried to brew install dos2unix and got errors).

$ sudo chown -R $USER ~/.bash_sessions; chmod 700 ~/.bash_sessions

Output:

chown: //.bash_sessions: No such file or directory
chmod: //.bash_sessions: No such file or directory

EDIT

output of ls -la /usr/local/tori ,as suggested:

total 960
drwxr-xr-x+  66 tori  staff    2244 Dec 24 20:39 .
drwxr-xr-x   16 root  wheel     544 Dec 24 20:57 ..
-r--------    1 tori  staff       7 Nov 17  2017 .CFUserTextEncoding
-rw-r--r--@   1 tori  staff   18436 Dec 29 17:20 .DS_Store
drwx------@   3 tori  staff     102 May  5  2018 Applications
drwx------+  44 tori  staff    1496 Dec 24 21:01 Desktop

First: nothing in the commands you listed should have moved your home directory (unless there's something even weirder than carriage returns in catalina.sh?), so I'd run some additional checks to makes sure that's what actually happened before trying to fix it based on that assumption. First, run ls -lae /usr/local/tori and verify its output. You should see your regular home directory contents (including Desktop, Documents, etc, and probably a bunch of dotfiles). Make sure they're all owned by your account. Make sure the "." entry (the directory itself) is also owned by you. (The parent directory, "..", might be owned by root or something; that's ok.) Some of the standard subfolders should have an ACL like "0: group:everyone deny delete" on them. (So should the directory itself, but if it had you wouldn't have been able to do this, so it must not be there.)

If things aren't all there, aren't owned by you, or anything else looks weird, stop and investigate further before proceeding.

If that looks ok, and /Users/tori doesn't exist, then you should be able to fix it with:

sudo mv /usr/local/tori /Users/tori

Note: in your question, you used a number of absolute-looking paths without the leading "/" (e.g. usr/local/tori instead of /usr/local/tori). The difference matters; if you use a path that doesn't start with "/" (or "~"), it'll be resolved relative to your current location, which might not be what you expect.

Also, since we don't know what caused this, I'd take a really close look at the catalina.sh script, to make sure this doesn't happen again. And make sure you have a good backup of your system, in case things do go sideways again.


Does secure erase through Terminal affect old user accounts? I had some problems with an old user account on a Macbook Pro with SSD, and I wanted to start fresh. I am not sure if I deleted the account, but I think I did reinstall the OS through I think internet recovery mode. The old account is not present in Users & Groups.

I did

My-MacBook-Pro-2:Desktop accoutname$ sudo diskutil secureErase
freespace 0 /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD

and the following is the response I got from Terminal:

Started erase on disk1 Macintosh HD
Creating a temporary file
Securely erasing a file
Creating a secondary temporary file
Mounting disk
Finished erase on disk1 Macintosh HD

In Disk Utility there are two Macintosh HD's shown, the top one with '0 Bytes Available' and the bottom indented one with 180 GB available. Did both of these HD's with the same name get erased by my Terminal command?

FileVault is enabled on the current account but not sure if it was on the old account. Either way I know FileVault isn't totally foolproof (https://www.blackbagtech.com/blog/2017/07/13/macquisition-best-just-got-better/), and since I'm not 100% sure how the old account was deleted, I just wanted to ask if my current method through Terminal makes the data on the old account non recoverable? Any other steps I should take?

Everything you describe seems to be just fine. To be totally sure I would re-enable FileVault and then cycle the keys (boot to recovery HD and erase the FV volume.) That ensures that each "block" is cryptographically scrubbed before you then re-introduce a new OS and then turn on FileVault2.

The main lesson to keep in mind is with SSD - be sure to enable FileVault before you put anything secure on the drive. That way when SSD swaps in new "excess capacity" blocks to replace others - you don't get old plain text data restored or have plain text data taken "offline" only to be possibly be put into service after you do the "wipe".

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH22241

The key phrase is:

  Note: With a solid-state drive (SSD), secure erase options are not available in Disk Utility. For more security, consider turning on FileVault encryption when you start using your SSD drive.