Local hostname changes every few seconds when NOT connected to a network When ever I wake my laptop, but before I am connected to a network, I receive  messages similar to the following:

This computer's local hostname
"sojourner-896.local" is already in use on
this network. The name has been changed
to "sojourner-972.local"

If I do not connect to a network and I do not click the "OK" button, the hostnames keep incrementing. If I connect to a network (either wired or wireless), the names stop incrementing.

I reset the hostname in the "Sharing" preference panel when the hostnames get in the 5,000 - 6,000 range (every 2-3 days).

Any idea what would be causing this?

I looked in the logs via the console app and found the following logs are generated every time I am disconnected from a network:

8/29/14 10:07:59.087 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Received from 127.0.0.1:5353   16 sojourner-7647.local. AAAA 0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001
8/29/14 10:07:59.087 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: ProbeCount 2; will deregister    4 sojourner-7647.local. Addr 127.0.0.1
8/29/14 10:07:59.087 PM mDNSResponder[414]: Local Hostname sojourner-7647.local already in use; will try sojourner-7743.local instead
8/29/14 10:08:00.923 PM mDNSResponder[414]: Name Conflict: Updated Local Hostname from "sojourner-7647.local" to "sojourner-7743.local"
8/29/14 10:08:00.944 PM configd[26]: setting hostname to "sojourner-7743.local"
8/29/14 10:08:02.145 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Received from 127.0.0.1:5353   16 sojourner-7743.local. AAAA 0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001
8/29/14 10:08:02.145 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Resetting to Probing:    4 sojourner-7743.local. Addr 127.0.0.1
8/29/14 10:08:02.145 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Received from 127.0.0.1:5353   16 sojourner-7743.local. AAAA 0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001
8/29/14 10:08:02.146 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Resetting to Probing:   16 sojourner-7743.local. AAAA FE80:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001
8/29/14 10:08:02.456 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Received from 127.0.0.1:5353   16 sojourner-7743.local. AAAA 0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001
8/29/14 10:08:02.457 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: ProbeCount 2; will deregister    4 sojourner-7743.local. Addr 127.0.0.1
8/29/14 10:08:02.457 PM mDNSResponder[414]: Local Hostname sojourner-7743.local already in use; will try sojourner-7765.local instead
8/29/14 10:08:04.365 PM mDNSResponder[414]: Name Conflict: Updated Local Hostname from "sojourner-7743.local" to "sojourner-7765.local"
8/29/14 10:08:04.375 PM configd[26]: setting hostname to "sojourner-7765.local"
8/29/14 10:08:04.633 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Received from 127.0.0.1:5353   22 1.0.0.127.in-addr.arpa. PTR sojourner-7743.local.
8/29/14 10:08:04.633 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Unexpected conflict discarding   22 1.0.0.127.in-addr.arpa. PTR sojourner-7765.local.
8/29/14 10:08:04.734 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Received from 127.0.0.1:5353   22 1.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.8.e.f.ip6.arpa. PTR sojourner-7743.local.
8/29/14 10:08:04.734 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Unexpected conflict discarding   22 1.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.8.E.F.ip6.arpa. PTR sojourner-7765.local.
8/29/14 10:08:05.839 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Received from 127.0.0.1:5353   16 sojourner-7765.local. AAAA 0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001
8/29/14 10:08:05.840 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Resetting to Probing:    4 sojourner-7765.local. Addr 127.0.0.1
8/29/14 10:08:05.840 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Received from 127.0.0.1:5353   16 sojourner-7765.local. AAAA 0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001
8/29/14 10:08:05.840 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Resetting to Probing:   16 sojourner-7765.local. AAAA FE80:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001
8/29/14 10:08:06.141 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Received from 127.0.0.1:5353   16 sojourner-7765.local. AAAA 0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001
8/29/14 10:08:06.141 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: ProbeCount 2; will deregister    4 sojourner-7765.local. Addr 127.0.0.1
8/29/14 10:08:06.141 PM mDNSResponder[414]: Local Hostname sojourner-7765.local already in use; will try sojourner-7802.local instead
8/29/14 10:08:08.006 PM mDNSResponder[414]: Name Conflict: Updated Local Hostname from "sojourner-7765.local" to "sojourner-7802.local"
8/29/14 10:08:08.016 PM configd[26]: setting hostname to "sojourner-7802.local"
8/29/14 10:08:08.268 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Received from 127.0.0.1:5353   22 1.0.0.127.in-addr.arpa. PTR sojourner-7765.local.
8/29/14 10:08:08.268 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Unexpected conflict discarding   22 1.0.0.127.in-addr.arpa. PTR sojourner-7802.local.
8/29/14 10:08:08.357 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Received from 127.0.0.1:5353   22 1.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.8.e.f.ip6.arpa. PTR sojourner-7765.local.
8/29/14 10:08:08.357 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Unexpected conflict discarding   22 1.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.8.E.F.ip6.arpa. PTR sojourner-7802.local.
8/29/14 10:08:09.465 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Received from 127.0.0.1:5353   16 sojourner-7802.local. AAAA 0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001
8/29/14 10:08:09.465 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Resetting to Probing:    4 sojourner-7802.local. Addr 127.0.0.1
8/29/14 10:08:09.465 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Received from 127.0.0.1:5353   16 sojourner-7802.local. AAAA 0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001
8/29/14 10:08:09.465 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Resetting to Probing:   16 sojourner-7802.local. AAAA FE80:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001
8/29/14 10:08:09.733 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Received from 127.0.0.1:5353   16 sojourner-7802.local. AAAA 0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001
8/29/14 10:08:09.733 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: ProbeCount 2; will deregister    4 sojourner-7802.local. Addr 127.0.0.1
8/29/14 10:08:09.733 PM mDNSResponder[414]: Local Hostname sojourner-7802.local already in use; will try sojourner-7837.local instead
8/29/14 10:08:11.578 PM mDNSResponder[414]: Name Conflict: Updated Local Hostname from "sojourner-7802.local" to "sojourner-7837.local"
8/29/14 10:08:11.588 PM configd[26]: setting hostname to "sojourner-7837.local"
8/29/14 10:08:11.815 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Received from 127.0.0.1:5353   22 1.0.0.127.in-addr.arpa. PTR sojourner-7802.local.
8/29/14 10:08:11.815 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Unexpected conflict discarding   22 1.0.0.127.in-addr.arpa. PTR sojourner-7837.local.
8/29/14 10:08:11.915 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Received from 127.0.0.1:5353   22 1.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.8.e.f.ip6.arpa. PTR sojourner-7802.local.
8/29/14 10:08:11.915 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Unexpected conflict discarding   22 1.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.8.E.F.ip6.arpa. PTR sojourner-7837.local.
8/29/14 10:08:12.786 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Received from 127.0.0.1:5353   16 sojourner-7837.local. AAAA 0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001
8/29/14 10:08:12.786 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Resetting to Probing:    4 sojourner-7837.local. Addr 127.0.0.1
8/29/14 10:08:12.786 PM mDNSResponder[414]: Excessive name conflicts (17) for sojourner-7837.local. (Addr); rate limiting in effect
8/29/14 10:08:12.786 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Received from 127.0.0.1:5353   16 sojourner-7837.local. AAAA 0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001
8/29/14 10:08:12.786 PM mDNSResponder[414]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Resetting to Probing:   16 sojourner-7837.local. AAAA FE80:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001
8/29/14 10:08:12.786 PM mDNSResponder[414]: Excessive name conflicts (18) for sojourner-7837.local. (AAAA); rate limiting in effect
8/29/14 10:08:14.193 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Pkt Record:        00004008    4 sojourner-7837.local. NSEC Addr
8/29/14 10:08:14.194 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Our Record 3 lost: 8323688E   16 sojourner-7837.local. AAAA FE80:0000:0000:0000:2CBE:08FF:FE8F:BCBA
8/29/14 10:08:14.497 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Pkt Record:        00004008    4 sojourner-7837.local. NSEC Addr
8/29/14 10:08:14.497 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Our Record 3 lost: 8323688E   16 sojourner-7837.local. AAAA FE80:0000:0000:0000:2CBE:08FF:FE8F:BCBA
8/29/14 10:08:14.914 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Pkt Record:        00004008    4 sojourner-7837.local. NSEC Addr
8/29/14 10:08:14.914 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Our Record 3 lost: 8323688E   16 sojourner-7837.local. AAAA FE80:0000:0000:0000:2CBE:08FF:FE8F:BCBA
8/29/14 10:08:14.914 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Pkt Record:        00004008    4 sojourner-7837.local. NSEC Addr
8/29/14 10:08:14.914 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Our Record 3 lost: 002B5510    4 sojourner-7837.local. Addr 172.20.10.2
8/29/14 10:08:14.915 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Pkt Record:        00004008    4 sojourner-7837.local. NSEC Addr
8/29/14 10:08:14.915 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Our Record 3 lost: 8323688E   16 sojourner-7837.local. AAAA FE80:0000:0000:0000:2CBE:08FF:FE8F:BCBA
8/29/14 10:08:14.915 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Pkt Record:        00004008    4 sojourner-7837.local. NSEC Addr
8/29/14 10:08:14.915 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Our Record 3 lost: 002B5510    4 sojourner-7837.local. Addr 172.20.10.2
8/29/14 10:08:15.504 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Pkt Record:        00004008    4 sojourner-7837.local. NSEC Addr
8/29/14 10:08:15.504 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Our Record 3 lost: 8323688E   16 sojourner-7837.local. AAAA FE80:0000:0000:0000:2CBE:08FF:FE8F:BCBA
8/29/14 10:08:15.504 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Pkt Record:        00004008    4 sojourner-7837.local. NSEC Addr
8/29/14 10:08:15.504 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Our Record 3 lost: 002B5510    4 sojourner-7837.local. Addr 172.20.10.2
8/29/14 10:08:15.504 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Pkt Record:        00004008    4 sojourner-7837.local. NSEC Addr
8/29/14 10:08:15.505 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Our Record 3 lost: 8323688E   16 sojourner-7837.local. AAAA FE80:0000:0000:0000:2CBE:08FF:FE8F:BCBA
8/29/14 10:08:15.505 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Pkt Record:        00004008    4 sojourner-7837.local. NSEC Addr
8/29/14 10:08:15.505 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Our Record 3 lost: 002B5510    4 sojourner-7837.local. Addr 172.20.10.2
8/29/14 10:08:15.911 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Pkt Record:        00004008    4 sojourner-7837.local. NSEC Addr
8/29/14 10:08:15.911 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Our Record 3 lost: 8323688E   16 sojourner-7837.local. AAAA FE80:0000:0000:0000:2CBE:08FF:FE8F:BCBA
8/29/14 10:08:15.911 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Pkt Record:        00004008    4 sojourner-7837.local. NSEC Addr
8/29/14 10:08:15.911 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Our Record 3 lost: 002B5510    4 sojourner-7837.local. Addr 172.20.10.2
8/29/14 10:08:15.911 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Pkt Record:        00004008    4 sojourner-7837.local. NSEC Addr
8/29/14 10:08:15.911 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Our Record 3 lost: 8323688E   16 sojourner-7837.local. AAAA FE80:0000:0000:0000:2CBE:08FF:FE8F:BCBA
8/29/14 10:08:15.911 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Pkt Record:        00004008    4 sojourner-7837.local. NSEC Addr
8/29/14 10:08:15.911 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Our Record 3 lost: 002B5510    4 sojourner-7837.local. Addr 172.20.10.2
8/29/14 10:08:16.212 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Pkt Record:        00004008    4 sojourner-7837.local. NSEC Addr
8/29/14 10:08:16.213 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Our Record 3 lost: 8323688E   16 sojourner-7837.local. AAAA FE80:0000:0000:0000:2CBE:08FF:FE8F:BCBA
8/29/14 10:08:16.213 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Pkt Record:        00004008    4 sojourner-7837.local. NSEC Addr
8/29/14 10:08:16.213 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Our Record 3 lost: 002B5510    4 sojourner-7837.local. Addr 172.20.10.2
8/29/14 10:08:16.213 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Pkt Record:        00004008    4 sojourner-7837.local. NSEC Addr
8/29/14 10:08:16.213 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Our Record 3 lost: 8323688E   16 sojourner-7837.local. AAAA FE80:0000:0000:0000:2CBE:08FF:FE8F:BCBA
8/29/14 10:08:16.213 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Pkt Record:        00004008    4 sojourner-7837.local. NSEC Addr
8/29/14 10:08:16.213 PM mDNSResponder[414]: ResolveSimultaneousProbe: 000000000000000A Our Record 3 lost: 002B5510    4 sojourner-7837.local. Addr 172.20.10.2
8/29/14 10:08:19.916 PM digest-service[701]: digest-request: init return domain: SOJOURNER-7647 server: SOJOURNER-7837 indomain was: <NULL>
8/29/14 10:08:19.937 PM digest-service[701]: digest-request: init return domain: SOJOURNER-7837 server: SOJOURNER-7837 indomain was: <NULL>

I re-enabled the network around second 10:08:14.

The actual process which was changing the hostname is configd. The man page for configd states that

The configd daemon is responsible for many configuration aspects of the
local system. configd maintains data reflecting the desired and current
state of the system, provides notifications to applications when this data
changes, and hosts a number of configuration agents in the form of loadable
bundles.

and

At the present time, the majority of the configuration agents (or bundles)
hosted by configd are used to establish and maintain the network
configuration.

The man pages lists the following related files:

 /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist
 /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/NetworkInterfaces.plist
 /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/VirtualNetworkInterfaces.plist

The file preferences.plist appears to have the network preferences as specified by the Network preference panel in System Preference.  I made a backup, deleted it, killed configd, and performed a low level reboot:

cd /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/
cp preferences.plist ~/Desktop/preferences.plist
sudo rm -f preferences.plist
sudo killall configd
sudo killall configd
sudo reboot

After the system rebooted, the system no longer changed the host name every few seconds when NOT connected to a network.


Forgot password to FileVault. Still got access to the machine I just realized, that few months ago I converted my disk to FileVault. I am afraid of loosing access to my data. I still have access to the machine: login, password, administrator account.

Is there something I can do to protect myself against loosing data? Like burning the key-cd in Windows?

The only things that can decrypt a FileVault volume are

the passwords to your user accounts that you gave access during FileVault setup, and
the recovery key (24 characters) that you received (and should have written down) during FileVault setup.

If you no longer have the recovery key, and you're concerned about forgetting/losing your account password, you can go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > FileVault and click Enable Users... to allow more user accounts to decrypt the volume.

Alternatively, if you don't want other accounts to have that ability, you can disable and then re-enable FileVault to get a new recovery key (but that may take a long time).


Apple iPhone 4 flash memory I read that flash memory has a certain amount of read and write operations which can render it unusable after it has exceeded the threshhold.

Is this something to be concerned about with regards to the Flash memory used in my iPhone, or is there a way to mitigate any ill effects of using it too much?

From the Wikipedia-page:

  Most flash devices are designed for about 100,000 - 1,000,000 write
  operations (or "write cycles").

As you can read, the typical NAND flash has 100k+ write cycles, so I won't worry about that. Besides, I'm sure Apple has figured out some kind of system to increase this number by making iOS "drive-smart", meaning they've optimized the way iOS is reading/writing data to the flash in order to extend his life-cycle.
Like XAleXOwnZX said in his comment, the NAND flash memory will survive most iPhone life spans.

And another fact, it will take you about 140 years to wear out the same flash location. Most of the time, the data stays in the cache rather then it will be written on the flash memory.

I hope this answer comforts your concerns :)

EDIT: I've found what kind of flash is used in an iPhone 4. It's Samsung K9PFG08 flash memory and this blogpost tells you more about the typical reading and writing data and kind of confirms my findings above.


MacBook Pro early 2011 hangs at “white screen” I tried the following, but at each one except the single user mode, it is stuck on the white screen. This problem occurred after I shut down the MacBook Pro using power button after the screen froze

I tried booting from external USB, CMD+R, CMD+OPTION+R, OPTION,

While it is stuck at white screen it overheats, and sometimes restarts

I cannot reinstall MacOS or enter recovery or internet recovery or even erase the hard disk because it always ets stuck at the white screen.

Is there any way to fix it using terminal at single user mode?

Unfortunately it is almost certainly the discrete GPU on the main logic board that is failing here, not some kind of OS issue. This symptom is the most common way this issue presents in the 2011 models, especially considering the fact that your machine isn't able to boot to recovery, but does not display any boot error messages (like the ? folder or prohibitory symbol).

The 2011 MacBook Pros had a repair extension program from Apple for this issue free of charge for a couple years. Unfortunately, it ended a while ago.

You can salvage the data in target disk mode https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201462 if you have another mac to connect yours to. You could also just remove the hard drive and connect it to another computer with an enclosure to recover data if that's what you need from it.

I know that there are definitely repair shops that do component level repairs on the failing GPU, but it would not be free. That said, Apple no longer fixes the 2011 models at all, even if you were to pay, so an independent repair shop would be your best bet anyway if you really wanted to get this computer fixed.


Can't get iTunes music library to replicate on iPhone 6+ Have researched this and no fixes have helped.  I have songs on my iPhone 6+ that I do not want on it, and I have completely deleted those songs from my iTunes music library.  So when I then sync iTunes to my iPhone, those unwanted songs still remain on my iPhone. Shouldn't the syncing effectively "overwrite" the library that's on my iPhone?  (this is also happening with my iPad) Appreciate suggestions - thanks!

Syncing doesn't actually overwrite the iPhone music library, for whatever reason. Try turning Music sync off entirely (plug-in iPhone, select it in iTunes, go to the Music tab and uncheck the main box), sync, and then turn it back on and sync again. This should cause all of the unwanted songs to be removed.


How does the defaults domain ‘Network’ work? (/Network/Library/Preferences/) How does the Network preference/defaults domain work on Mac OS? I see it referenced in a lot of Apple documentation, but I don’t understand this particular preference domain.

I get the user defaults in ~/Library/Preferences, and the administrator-provided defaults in /Library/Preferences. But the Network domain puzzles me.

  The preferences system stores preference data in files located in the Library/Preferences folder in the appropriate file-system domain. For example, if the preference applies to a single user, the file is written to the Library/Preferences folder in the user’s home directory. If the preference applies to all users on a network, it goes in /Network/Library/Preferences. (source)

Can anyone reference some use-case based documentation? or explain how it works?

Will other Macs on the same network magically start respecting the Network preferences?

The network library is intended for client computers bound to a network domain server.  A domain server acts as a central repository for configuration information -- mostly user accounts, but also (among other things) mount records.  Mount records tell the client computers to automatically mount a certain file server share point automatically.  If you use this to tell all the clients to mount a particular share point on /Network/Library, then you can put Preferences, Fonts, etc folders inside that share point and they'll be automatically available on all clients in the network domain.

This used to be a common way to manage network clients in NextStep (the predecessor of OS X), but is very rarely used in OS X.  There are better ways to do most thing now, like putting managed preference settings directly in the network domain.  At this point, the network library is more of a historical artifact than anything else...


How can I resize a partition with Disk Utility? I have 2 partitions, I reduced the size of one and want to expand the other to fill the now available space.

How do I expand the Lion Partition into the empty grey space beneath Macintosh HD partition?

You can't change where each partition starts (i.e. where the top of it is in the partition diagram), only where it ends.  But in your case, since you have a free block as large as the partition you want to change, you can work around it (warning, this is untested under Lion, so make sure you have a good backup first):

Create a new volume in the blank space between your two existing partitions. Give it a distinctive name (you won't want to mix it up with either of your current partitions).
Boot from the Lion restore partition (boot with the option key held down, and select Recovery HD from the icon list and then click on the arrow under it).
Run Disk Utility.
Select one of the volumes in the sidebar, then the Restore tab on the right.
Drag Lion Partition into the Source field, and the new blank partition into the Destination field. Do not get them backwards!
Click Restore, and wait for it to clone the partition's contents.
Quit Disk Utility, then choose Startup Disk from the Apple menu.
Select the new partition (it may be difficult to tell it from the original, as they're now both named "Lion Partition").
Reboot, and verify that everything is working right before proceeding.
Run Disk Utility, delete the original Lion Partition and expand the new one into the newly freed space.


Is it possible to bypass the login password? A friend tells me that on OSX, bypassing password and getting into user's files is very easy (especially when hard disk not encrypted, but protected with user's login password). He tells me this is how it would be done:

shut down the mac
hold Cmd+s
boot up the mac
that is all you need for basic root access
mount -w /
to get basic read/write

I can't believe it would be that easy. Is he talkin cr*p or what?

I just did it on my MacBook Air with macOS Sierra 10.12.3 (latest macOS as of 02/2017) and that is indeed actually how it can be done.

As Tetsujin wisely points out, if you have the machine in your hands, then no OS is immune to a simple 'read the disk' attack - unless the drive itself is encrypted.

Of note Cmd+s invokes "Single User Mode" and there are other ways to bypass the login requirement, such as booting into local or internet "Recovery Mode" or booting the drive in "Target Mode". To avoid abuse of these options, you could also use a Firmware Lock. Per the article about "Recovery Mode":

  Enable a Firmware Password to Lock Down Your Mac’s Hardware Even with
  FileVault enabled, someone with access to your Mac could still wipe it
  from recovery mode and set it up as a new system. A firmware password
  can protect against this.

  This will also help if you don’t want to use FileVault encryption for
  some reason, but do want to prevent people from changing your password
  and accessing your files. A firmware password also prevents people
  from booting your Mac from other devices — like USB drives or external
  hard drives — and accessing your files if they’re not encrypted.
  Someone could still rip the hard drive out of your Mac and access its
  files on another device if you just use a firmware password without
  encryption, however.

  If you set a firmware password, you’ll need to enter it before booting
  into recovery mode or holding the Option key to boot from a different
  device. Just powering on your Mac normally without doing anything
  special won’t require the password, so it isn’t too much additional
  hassle.

Also of note, per this answer, the impact to performance from activating FileVault on computers using SSD drives is negligible. The only difference the user will likely notice is the need to enter a password prior to booting... and remembering where you stored your "recovery key" should you ever need it.


iPhone 4S/IOS6 - battery drain after the camera usage I just discovered that my iPhone4S/IOS6 battery drains too fast after I use the camera. So:

After the fresh restart the phone lasts 3 days - when not taking photos or videos.
Even if I take one photo (and of course, stop the camera app) the phone will drain the battery in 1 day.

The GPS (triangle icon) disappears after I stop the camera app.

I tested the above several times - enough take one photo (or short video) and the phone draining the battery in 1 day. When I restart the phone after taking photos, the phone will continue okay and lasts 3 days.

Are there any hints about this specific battery-drain problem? (I have already read the general battery hints.)

I don't think its the GPS, do you have Photo stream turned on?  That will upload your pictures to iCloud.  One thing you can do is check usage to see what is doing on after you take pictures.  Is my iPhone 5S draining battery too fast (and is it due to process mediaServerD?) has good information in the OP about checking what is using your battery.


will jailbreak cause any damage to the device Is it possible to cause any damage to the hardware due to jailbreak? Also, will it void the warranty attached to the device?

During the process of jail-breaking an iDevice, there can be complications.  It can sometimes render the device unusable or it can brick the device.

The device being unusable is usually fixable by simply putting the phone in DFU mode and restoring the software back onto the device.  This would cause your device to lose its information such as contacts, emails, photos, apps, app information.  This is usually recoverable because we usually have a back up.

When a device is bricked, it will not function. Your iDevice will not turn on, as if the device has no battery at all or will just sit at the Apple Logo and keep restarting.  This is the worst case scenario.  Sometimes, a brick device can be restored.  This is very very rare occurrence though and never usually happens.

If my iDevice is not working, you take it to the Genius Bar.  Make an appointment and see a Genius.  Now, if you take a jailbroken iDevice to a Genius, they can not service them in their current condition.

Example: I have a battery issue where the battery only lasts half an hour, I take it to the Genius Bar and tell them that this is happening, I am under warranty.  They will look over your device and inspect it to see if something else could be causing the issue before replacement.  They see it is jailbroken.  Usually they will tell you that reason this could be happening is because it is jailbroken.  You did something to the iDevice that you "weren't" supposed to, so it is technically your fault.  Every time this happens though, they will tell you to just go home and restore it back to normal.  Removing the Jailbreak might fix the issue, if it doesn't, bring it back un-jailbroken and they will replace it.

This is just a small example of one of the things that would cause you to go to the Genius Bar to have service done.  But it shows that if your device can be looked through and they can tell it is jailbroken because they can see the software that is on it is obviously jailbroken, they can not act on their warranty until the jailbreak is removed.

This being said, if your device is bricked or you device is at a point where your device can't be powered on or they can not turn it on to see it is jailbroken, then they will assume positive intent and replace it under warranty if it possible about 80% of the time. (Physically Damaged Items are Replaced for a Fee).  This is never a sure fire thing but just optimistic and don't say that you have ever jailbroken your device if they ask.

So, if you are going to try and jailbreak your iDevice, the best thing you can do is learn as much as possible about it before hand.  Know the risks that come with it.  Always have a back up of your information.  Don't update to the newest version of iOS if you are on an older version because it will remove the jailbreak.  And if you are having issues with your iDevice and it might need to be replaced, simply remove the jailbreak before hand, see if that fixes the issue, if not, then take it in.  As long as it is under warranty and it isn't jailbroken, you should be fine, or as long as they can't tell it is jailbroken (IE it won't boot and you obviously didn't smash it or disassemble it and it is totally obvious that you did)

I hope that this helps clear some things up about jail-breaking and helps you out.


Extracting text notes from an iOS 5 backup file? So, I have backuped my ipod touch ios 5, and downgraded to iOS 4.1 (the only with SHSH available)

Now i can't restore my backup to iOS 4...

I am only interested to my notes, do I have anyway to extract them from my backup? (itunes, windows)

Ok I did it with iPhone Back Extractor. Lucky me the first note was that I needed

Download the free edition here: http://www.iphonebackupextractor.com/free-download/

It will locate automatically your backup folder otherwise you can select it manually, then select what you want to extract.

So, download the app, run it and then select your backup, if it has not been already found by the application itself. Then, the simplest way is to click the blue number next to 'Notes' in the available data section. You can also extract your Notes to .HTML format using the 'Extract' menu and choosing 'Notes as HTML'. You can do that for contacts, photos, calendar, location data, call history and so on.


Macbook does not wake up properly after several hours of sleep When I close my MacBook Pro in the evening, and then open it in the morning, the display is illuminated and the apple is bright but nothing is happening. So I need to push the power button to restart it. When it restarts, Google Chrome crashes and virtualenv is logged out.

I thought that the problem is with hibernation so I set the hibernation to 0 in pmset. My current pmset parameters are as follows:

 standbydelay         10800
 standby              1
 womp                 1
 halfdim              1
 hibernatefile        /var/vm/sleepimage
 powernap             1
 gpuswitch            2
 networkoversleep     0
 disksleep            10
 sleep                1
 autopoweroffdelay    86400
 hibernatemode        0
 autopoweroff         1
 ttyskeepawake        1
 displaysleep         10
 acwake               0
 lidwake              1

2018-10-05 12:50:03 -0700 Assertion status system-wide: BackgroundTask 0 ApplePushServiceTask 0 UserIsActive 1

PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep 0 PreventSystemSleep 0 ExternalMedia 0 PreventUserIdleSystemSleep 0 NetworkClientActive 0

Listed by owning process: pid 94(hidd): [0x0000000e00098030] 00:00:00

UserIsActive named:"com.apple.iohideventsystem.queue.tickle.4294968174.3" Timeout will fire in 600 secs Action=TimeoutActionRelease pid 188(mds_stores): [0x00000115000b80fd] 00:00:00

BackgroundTask named: "com.apple.metadata.mds_stores.power"

Kernel Assertions: 0x100=MAGICWAKE id=503 level=255 0x100=MAGICWAKE mod=31.12.1969, 16:00 description=en0 owner=en0

Idle sleep preventers: IODisplayWrangler

If I close the lid shortly everything is okay. Any ideas on what is going on?

Recommend to evaluate the Sleep mode.

Run pmset -g assertions in terminal and post the output.

Usually you can see there who is acting up and not letting your mac sleep.

The message Kernel Assertions: 0x100=MAGICWAKE id=503 level=255 0x100=MAGICWAKE says it.

Also the ExternalMedia is set to wake it up over your USBbluetooth. connection.

So you have a device (BT keyboard) that does that.

As for why:

You BT track pad wakes up (do you have a Cat?) other BT devices interference, low battery... see this for more.

To test do "Allow Bluetooth devices to wake this computer" OFF.

If you have the Magicwake app installed, remove it.


Strange graphics behaviour after rm -rf / I've received sudo rm -rf on my machine (MacBook Pro 2017 13", Sierra). As it's expected, most of applications disappeared or stopped working.

I had to reinstall MacOS completely from the recovery partition, and it helped, but since then I have some strange graphic bugs in some applications. Mostly, games -- Steam and League of Legends. In Steam, I lack some elements of user interface -- please glance at the screenshot (it's supposed to show login and password input bars and some buttons). League of Legends manages to start up pre-game screens, but when the game begins it crashes with those things in logs:

LeagueofLegends[82544:636494] Error loading //System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileAsset.framework/MobileAsset:  dlopen(//System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileAsset.framework/MobileAsset, 265): no suitable image found.  Did find:
//System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileAsset.framework/MobileAsset: mach-o, but wrong architecture
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileAsset.framework/Versions/A/MobileAsset: mach-o, but wrong architecture
Killed: 9

Could anyone please assist me? Any assumption of what could I loose with rm -rf that causes such behaviour AND is not fixed by system reinstallation, and how to restore it, would be greatly appreciated. I even tried upgrading to High Sierra, no difference. Before the sudo rm -rf both applications worked fine.

The reason is my case-sensitive system disk partition. Even though it's officially supported, some applications tend to forget it and hope the partition is case-insensitive.
For most applications (including Steam and League of Legends) appropriate solution is to

Create new case-insensitive partition, name it somehow, e.g. CaseNoSense

Transfer your application from /Applications/theapp.app to /Volumes/CaseNoSense/theapp.app

Move your application support folder to this partition: mv "~/Application Support" "/Volumes/CaseNoSense/"

Create symbolic link for the application support folder: ln -s "/Volumes/CaseNoSense/Application Support" "~/Application Support"

[Optional]  Create symbolik link for the application: ln -s "/Volumes/CaseNoSense/theapp.app" "/Applications/theapp.app"
Now start the application, it might work as intended.


How do I reset Screen Recording permission on macOS Catalina? I'm using macOS Catalina and I want to use screen sharing in Slack. But when the permission prompt came up I accidentally clicked Deny because it was the default option.

Now I can't get the prompt to come up again. How can I reset permissions so that the prompt comes up again?

You need to use tccutil to manage the privacy database -- this involves opening the Terminal and using the command line! If you know the bundle ID of the app you're trying to use, you can use this command:

tccutil reset ScreenCapture [com.WHATEVERBUNDLE.YOURAPPID]

Here are some examples for common applications:

tccutil reset ScreenCapture com.apple.Safari Safari
tccutil reset ScreenCapture org.mozilla.firefox Mozilla Firefox
tccutil reset ScreenCapture com.google.Chrome Google Chrome
tccutil reset ScreenCapture com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX QuickTime Player

If you're trying to use screencapture on the command line, your terminal application needs to be granted permission.

tccutil reset ScreenCapture com.apple.Terminal Terminal
tccutil reset ScreenCapture com.googlecode.iterm2 iTerm 2

If you don't know the app bundle ID, then you can just clear and reset the privacy settings for ScreenCapture for all applications. Note that this will remove all entries from the list of apps allowed to do Screen Recording, and you'll have to re-add them individually.

tccutil reset ScreenCapture

Once you've reset the privacy permissions, you must quit your application before the change will take effect. Then you can restart your app and try screen recording again, and the prompt should reappear.

Help, it's still not working!

Make sure that System Integrity Protection is enabled, otherwise these commands won't work correctly. To check, you can run csrutil status and it should say System Integrity Protection status: enabled.

You can also try creating a new user account with admin privileges and setting up the Screen Recording permissions in that account. That sometimes helps to put the TCC database back in a good state. This seems to be useful in some cases where the prompt window just isn't shown at all.


Problem loading images from googleusercontent Recently switched from Chrome to Firefox Quantum and noticed that images from *.googleusercontent.com aren't loading because "The connection used to fetch the resource was not secure"

If I attempt to load the image directly, Firefox gives "Unable to connect" and checking site info it shows that the "Connection is not secure"

Tried to fix the problem in Firefox by restarting in Safe-Mode and also "Refresh Firefox", unfortunately problem still exists.

Safari has the same problem (insecure connection). Everything works fine in Chrome.

Version details

Firefox: v65.0.1 (and previously v63.0.3)
Safari: v12.0.2
Chrome: v70.0.3538.110
MacOS: Mojave v10.14.2

On whim, decided to check my /etc/hosts file and noticed I had the following entry: 127.0.0.1 googlehosted.l.googleusercontent.com

After removing it, the images now load as expected.

Interesting that Chrome still worked despite that entry..


How can I get my iOS app approved and avoid the 30% Apple Store Fees? I have a SaaS system that is a web app. I also have a simplified lightweight version that is a mobile app. Users must have a main account on the web app before they can use the mobile app. That being said I'd like to offer the iOS app in the Apple store but I do not want to pay Apple 30% of my subscription fees since most traffic will be coming from my website anyway.

I understand that I cannot link to my website inside the iOS app and tell users to "Buy Now" in order to use the IOS app. I'm wondering how exactly I should handle it in order to:

Get my app approved and into the store and allow people who install the app know that they need to go to my website to register in order to use the app.
Do I just put a login screen on the app and then text below it that says "An account is required to use the app. Visit our website to register”

Alternatively, can I put an actual link there as long as it's not to a shopping cart page? Such as "An account is required to use the app. Visit www.example.com to register.”

I'd love to hear from those experience with getting apps published bot circumventing the 30% payments to Apple.

Speaking from some experience -- Apple is pretty strict about this requirement, and will not look kindly on attempts to circumvent it.

  Do I just put a login screen on the app and then text below it that says "An account is required to use the app. Visit our website to register”

Apple will probably object to the language "visit our website to register", and may additionally reject your application because it is nonfunctional without an account.

Apple has been known to make some exceptions -- for example, Netflix requires a login and has no in-app signup. This is likely to be a special case, though; it's unlikely that you'll be able to have the same rules applied to your app.

  Alternatively, can I put an actual link there as long as it's not to a shopping cart page? Such as "An account is required to use the app. Visit www.example.com to register.”

No. Any link which can be followed to a signup page -- even if it's a circuitous path, e.g. a link to a terms-of-service page which links to a support page which links to your home page which links to a signup page -- may be used as grounds to reject your app.


compile error:  is not implemented When I compile a open source program called gate with "make" I have this error message:

  error <atomic> is not implemented

I must add that I know this program and I compiled it several times previously with no problem

My setup looks like:

sudo xcode-select --install
which gcc
gcc --version

I run on yosemite 10.10.5, xcode 7.1.1 and I tried several compilations with clang and gcc

Looking at the question, the edits and the comments, it's becoming clear that the setup of your compiler chain and the headers is probably the cause. You could keep trying to add things, but I would take a different tack:

Make a full backup of the Mac - one that you are serious about using if you wipe the machine and run a test compile of the program and then restore either the full backup or files you need selectively from the backup.
Remove Xcode and remove all the compilers you have downloaded and installed.
Install a tool to assist with the maintenance and installation of the compiler and the need header library files for the latest c++ standard.

The tool I use is homebrew, so you can install it per https://brew.sh

brew update
brew doctor - and be sure you follow any of the advice in the doctor or post here for advice
brew install gcc

Here is the test program I used for a "minimal test case"

#include<atomic>
#include<iostream>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
    cout << "Hello World" << endl;
}

Before using the "brew" version of gcc, I get what I presume is the same error as you:

mac:Desktop me$ /usr/bin/gcc gate\ test.cpp
In file included from gate test.cpp:1:
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/../include/c++/v1/atomic:543:2: error: <atomic> is not implemented
#error <atomic> is not implemented
 ^
1 error generated.
mac:Desktop me$ which gcc
/usr/bin/gcc

But if I compile it using the "brew installed gcc", I'm getting a very nice detailed message

mac:Desktop me$ g++-5 gate\ test.cpp
In file included from /usr/local/Cellar/gcc/5.2.0/include/c++/5.2.0/atomic:38:0,
                 from gate test.cpp:1:
/usr/local/Cellar/gcc/5.2.0/include/c++/5.2.0/bits/c++0x_warning.h:32:2: error: #error This file requires compiler and library support for the ISO C++ 2011 standard. This support is currently experimental, and must be enabled with the -std=c++11 or -std=gnu++11 compiler options.
 #error This file requires compiler and library support for the \
  ^
mac:Desktop me$ g++-5 gate\ test.cpp -std=c++11

TLDR;

pointing your compiler to g++5
delete other compilers as needed (including Xcode possibly)
adding the compile option -std=c++11


Errors while trying to install "wireless" with pip I have been trying to install "wireless" with pip but I keep getting errors.

sudo pip install wireless
The directory '/Users/student/Library/Caches/pip/http' or its parent directory is not owned by the current user and the cache has been disabled. Please check the permissions and owner of that directory. If executing pip with sudo, you may want sudo's -H flag.
The directory '/Users/student/Library/Caches/pip' or its parent directory is not owned by the current user and caching wheels has been disabled. check the permissions and owner of that directory. If executing pip with sudo, you may want sudo's -H flag.
Collecting wireless
/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip/_vendor/requests/packages/urllib3/util/ssl_.py:318: SNIMissingWarning: An HTTPS request has been made, but the SNI (Subject Name Indication) extension to TLS is not available on this platform. This may cause the server to present an incorrect TLS certificate, which can cause validation failures. You can upgrade to a newer version of Python to solve this. For more information, see https://urllib3.readthedocs.io/en/latest/security.html#snimissingwarning.
  SNIMissingWarning
/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip/_vendor/requests/packages/urllib3/util/ssl_.py:122: InsecurePlatformWarning: A true SSLContext object is not available. This prevents urllib3 from configuring SSL appropriately and may cause certain SSL connections to fail. You can upgrade to a newer version of Python to solve this. For more information, see https://urllib3.readthedocs.io/en/latest/security.html#insecureplatformwarning.
  InsecurePlatformWarning
  Downloading wireless-0.3.2.tar.gz
Exception:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip/basecommand.py", line 215, in main
    status = self.run(options, args)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip/commands/install.py", line 324, in run
    requirement_set.prepare_files(finder)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip/req/req_set.py", line 380, in prepare_files
    ignore_dependencies=self.ignore_dependencies))
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip/req/req_set.py", line 634, in _prepare_file
    abstract_dist.prep_for_dist()
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip/req/req_set.py", line 129, in prep_for_dist
    self.req_to_install.run_egg_info()
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip/req/req_install.py", line 412, in run_egg_info
    self.setup_py, self.name,
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip/req/req_install.py", line 387, in setup_py
    import setuptools  # noqa
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/setuptools/__init__.py", line 12, in <module>
    import setuptools.version
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/setuptools/version.py", line 1, in <module>
    import pkg_resources
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 72, in <module>
    import packaging.requirements
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/packaging/requirements.py", line 59, in <module>
    MARKER_EXPR = originalTextFor(MARKER_EXPR())("marker")
TypeError: __call__() takes exactly 2 arguments (1 given)
/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip/_vendor/requests/packages/urllib3/util/ssl_.py:122: InsecurePlatformWarning: A true SSLContext object is not available. This prevents urllib3 from configuring SSL appropriately and may cause certain SSL connections to fail. You can upgrade to a newer version of Python to solve this. For more information, see https://urllib3.readthedocs.io/en/latest/security.html#insecureplatformwarning.
  InsecurePlatformWarning

One proper way to install pip and wireless in a dual Python environment (i.e. stock OS X Python 2.7 and brew's Python 3.6.1) is the get-pip.py method outlined here: How do I use pip 3 with Python 3.4?.

curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py -o get-pip.py
sudo python get-pip.py
sudo ln -s /usr/local/bin/pip2.7 /usr/local/bin/pip2 #usually not necessary because pip2 already exists
sudo python3 get-pip.py

Then depending where you want to install wireless either

sudo pip2 install wireless #installs to /Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/wireless

or

sudo pip3 install wireless #installs to /usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/wireless

or both.


Can I save some steps when burning same playlist over and over? iMac OSX 10.8.5

I am often producing demo CDs for a musician.

The steps are

insert blank
scroll to playlist
right click and choose burn
click ok
wait for jingle - this scrolls to the playable CD
click eject

repeat

I would like to

scroll to playlist ONCE
right click and choose burn
get prompted for disks until I am done and click cancel

Is there a setting I did not find? I am not interested in 3rd party software - just wondering if there is a setting I overlooked or perhaps some way of automating this.

You should consider buying Toast from Roxio there's a light version on the AppStore that still allows you to choose the numbers of copies...


Transfer student Apple Care to another user I was wondering, if I purchased Apple Care as a student can I transfer it to someone else when I sell the device(s)? I've found a similar question on here but it didn't address specifically Apple Care purchased as a student.

Also if it is possible, how do you do this?

Yes, you can transfer AppleCare to another person subject the terms and conditions in the location you live.  Whether this is a student-purchase or not doesn't make a difference.

You didn't mention the country you live so I'll assume you're in the US for this info.  (you'll need to look-up the T&C's for your own country if not in the US).

Here's a snippet from Apple's AppleCare T&C for a Mac.  It tells you how to transfer the AppleCare to someone else.:

  10. Transfer of Plan.

  Subject to the restrictions set forth below, you may make a one-time
  permanent transfer of all of your rights under the Plan to another
  party, provided that: (a) you transfer to the other party the original
  proof of purchase, the Plan's Confirmation, the Plan’s printed
  materials and this service contract; (b) you notify Apple of the
  transfer by sending, faxing or e-mailing notice of transfer to Apple
  Inc., ATTN: Agreement Administration, MS: 217-AC, 2511 Laguna Blvd,
  Elk Grove, CA 95758, U.S., fax number 916-405-4175 or
  agmts_transfer@apple.com, respectively, and (c) the other party
  accepts the terms of this service contract. When notifying Apple of
  the transfer, you must provide the Plan Agreement Number, the serial
  number of the Covered Equipment, and the name, address, telephone
  number and email address of the new owner.

Make sure you follow a, b, and c to correctly perform the transfer.  Keep a record of what you send to Apple and how they respond back to you.


Mac App Store thinks I don't have any apps installed Okay, I have the weirdest problem. All the apps in my 'Purchases' tab show either 'Install' or 'Download', most of the apps I currently have installed, but non the less it doesn't recognise them. This holds true for brand new apps (installed yesterday) and ones I've had since I installed ML. I'd really like to get the apps recognised, so that I can get updates for them.

I've scoured the internet far and wide and haven't even been able to find any similar problems.

I really wish someone has an answer :)

Update:
Deleting and reinstalling an app has no effect. It shows installed at first, but switching tabs and coming back to 'Purchases' renders it back to 'Install'.

Update:
`CKSoftwareMap: updateRequestBodyData:includeInstalledApps:includeBundledApps:conditionally:hadUnadoptedApps:waitUntilMapIsLoaded: timed out waiting for mdSemaphore``

This is the "culprit" from Console.app and seems to be dependent on Spotlight indexes. Still don't know what corrupts my spotlight indexes...

You'll want to focus on problems with either Spotlight finding the apps or perhaps an overall disk structure failure.

Spotlight: How to re-index folders or volumes - HT2409
Spotlight indexes wrong HD
Using Disk Utility to verify or repair disks - HT1782

Unless you are going in and systematically modifying each app's receipt, the App Store should find apps using spotlight and correctly reflect the status assuming both the disk doesn't need repair and the spotlight index is current.


How to see count of unread emails from the Mail app in the Mac OS menu bar? What's the best way to see the count of unread emails from the Mail app in the Mac OS menu bar? (Bonus points if I can use it to open the Mail app as well.)

I don't really use the Dock, and I've gotten used to apps like Airmail and Fantastical that use the Mac OS menu bar to show information, like e.g. the count of unread emails.

The best I could find after a quick search was https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/22042/mail-unread-menu (from this thread), which looks like it hasn't been updated in ~6 years and might not work without also installing the MailPluginFix plugin. Is that really the best way to do this?

I'm using Mojave.

So I can't live without the mail count in the menu bar. I was using mail unread menu for a while until it wasn't compatible anymore, I then used Dockstar which wasn't updated anymore either.
I finally found my gem, and finally could update to Mojave.
It is MBI, you have to compile it yourself with xcode, but it works as advertised!


YouTube videos play back at unwatchably fast rate with Safari on the latest Big Sur beta... anyone else? I have trouble.  When I try to play YouTube videos, they play super fast.  I'd include a video of the problem but it would be too large.  Suffice it to say that a 24 minute video finishes in less than 5 seconds when I hit the Play button.  This is new with Big Sur.  I just installed beta 9 last night.  I have turned off all extensions, deleted my history, restarted Safari, all to no avail.  The problem happens with Chrome too so might be a QuickTime problem or something underlying.

This is a commonly reported bug that occurs 'sometimes'. Another solution, short of rebooting, is to kill the coreaudiod process.
You can do this in Activity Monitor, or in the Terminal with sudo killall coreaudiod
https://9to5mac.com/2019/07/29/macos-fast-video-playback-bug-fix-coreaudiod-video/


Is it possible to toggle the trackball as a scroll wheel using Karabiner? Is it possible to configure Karabiner (formerly keyremap4macbook) such that clicking the 3rd or 4th mouse button (on a trackball mouse) will toggle using the pointer to scroll?

Ideally I would like to be able to click the 3rd mouse button, after which moving the trackball will scroll (a webpage or whatever else is on screen), and will return to moving the cursor after the 3rd mouse button is pressed a second time.

I know it is possible to use the trackball as a scroll wheel while a key or mouse button is held down (see this answer), but that is not what I'm looking for.  Thanks!

Edit: This is basically a request for a Mac version of the accepted answer to Remedy for a no scroll wheel trackball? which is only applicable to Linux.

Try putting this into your private.xml file.  Select the top option (Toggle CursorMove -> ScrollWheel) in Preferences/Key Change tab and this will toggle the option below (using simultaneous press of trackball LEFT/RIGHT buttons).  You could use KeyToKey instead of SimultaneousKeyPresses if you just want to use a single trackball button press.

<vkopenurldef>
    <name>KeyCode::VK_OPEN_URL_SHELL_toggle_cursormove_scrollwheel</name>
    <url type="shell">
        <![CDATA[    /Applications/Karabiner.app/Contents/Library/bin/karabiner toggle private.pointing_relative_none_to_scroll    ]]>
    </url>
</vkopenurldef>

<item>
    <name>Toggle CursorMove -> ScrollWheel</name>
    <identifier>private.toggle_cursormove_scrollwheel</identifier>
    <autogen>
        __SimultaneousKeyPresses__
        PointingButton::RIGHT, PointingButton::LEFT,
        KeyCode::VK_OPEN_URL_SHELL_toggle_cursormove_scrollwheel,
    </autogen>
</item>

<item>
    <name>CursorMove -> ScrollWheel</name>
    <identifier>private.pointing_relative_none_to_scroll</identifier>
    <autogen>__PointingRelativeToScroll__ PointingButton::NONE</autogen>
</item>


Starting `pf` Firewall at System Startup I have a particular machine that I keep buttoned down very tight. Only a few specific ports/protocols are allowed. I have a pretty basic set of rules that work very well.
While working on a different problem, I realized I could add a few more rules and button things down even tighter by specifying specific ports on specific network interfaces. So for example, on one network interface, only access to 80 & 443 are allowed, no mail or vpn access to that interface.
So here is what one of the old rules looked like:
pass in quick proto tcp from any to any port { 80 443 } keep state

And this is what one of the new rules looks like:
pass in quick proto tcp from any to en1 port { 80 443 } keep state

The difference is subtle but I'm specifying a specific network interface, not just in to 'any'. This particular server has three connections to the internet.
The problem is... pf will no longer start up right at boot with these new rules. When I specify the interface, my pf startup script fails to start pf. And I have to do it manually through the terminal.
At first glance, the problem seems like my script is probably just trying to use network interfaces that aren't up yet. But I'm already waiting for them to come up. Here is my pf startup script, it has been working perfectly for years, until this rule change.
#!/bin/bash
ipconfig waitall
/sbin/pfctl -e -f /etc/pf.conf

With the new rules, nothing gets loaded at system startup when this runs. But if I run the same pfctl command once the system is up, it loads the rules and starts the firewall just fine.
I modified my script to save multiple copies of ifconfig so I could see how the status of the two interfaces en0 and en1 progress. Before the ipconfig waitall command, they are there with no IPs. After the command, they still have no ips and they show up as 'inactive'. Over the next few seconds, the various IPs start to load up. But the two interfaces show up the whole time.
So the easy patch solution would be to just run ipconfig waitall followed by sleep 6 and call it a day. But I'd rather learn exactly what is causing the hangup so I can wait for that exact 'thing' to be ready, instead of leaving the firewall completely open for 6 seconds. It is a high traffic server and gets lots of hack/ddos attempts so every second may count.

You shouldn't have to create your own plist to enable the pf firewall on boot especially since you're using the default rule set.  You just need to enable it.  This will launch at the "correct time" when all of your interfaces are configured and up.
Step 1:  Edit the Apple supplied plist
The file you're looking for is  /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.pfctl.plist.
Change the Disabled key from "true" to "false".  Here's what it should look like:
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Disabled</key>
    <false/>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.apple.pfctl</string>
    <key>WorkingDirectory</key>
    <string>/var/run</string>
    <key>Program</key>
    <string>/sbin/pfctl</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>pfctl</string>
        <string>-f</string>
        <string>/etc/pf.conf</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Step 2:  Load (or reload) the plist with launchctl
% sudo launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.pfctl.plist

Step 3:  Firewall should be enabled upon boot.

My recommendation...
You should not expose the Mac (or any server) directly to the Internet but instead, it should be behind a firewall box/appliance!
Don't get me wrong - I am a huge fan of pf.  You should still enable the pf firewall on the Mac.   However, if what you're saying is correct that even for a couple seconds you get slammed with DDoS attacks, the (Mac) server shouldn't be dealing with them; your firewall should.  In fact, you should have a proper pfSense firewall in front of this server.  By having a separate firewall, the Mac will always be protected regardless of its status (i.e. an inadvertent rule change mistakenly opens it up).
You also gain the advantage of being able to run packages like pfBlocker-NG on the appliance (will drop connections from known bad actors based on black/white lists) giving you a higher level of protection.  Having it on the appliance frees up your Mac from having to handle those processes.


What is Tanium spyware, what information does it collect, and how to disable it? a company put some spyware on a brand new laptop that is causing the battery life to be about half that of a 3-year old Macbook Pro. I need to disable this junkware/spyware temporarily. Is there a good way to do that? What is it (Tanium) recording anyway? Cheers.

Mr. Google sends you to the Tanium website, where you will find Tanium is a systems management tool for enterprises. If you want to disable it, you'll probably need to contact the IT department that put it on the machine in the first place. The software is put on to enforce company policy and allow the IT department to monitor and control the laptop. An off-switch that is easy to activate tends to defeat the purpose of the software.


How to replace an MP3 or M4A in iTunes with a higher quality file, without having to re-do playlists containing the track? I have in my iTunes library some songs that, years ago, I ripped from CDs at bit rates of only 128kbps.  Storage is cheap now and I'd like to replace those songs with higher-quality versions (e.g. 320kbps for the MP3s.)

I do intend to re-rip some of my source material (the music I listen to most often) at the higher bit rate.  I don't use iTunes itself for my ripping; I use another ripping tool.

Is there a way in iTunes for me to replace the lower bit rate version of a track with the new higher bit rate version, without having to re-add the track to playlists already containing it?  Could I just slip in the new version of the MP3 (assuming same name) with a filesystem copy, or is that liable to cause problems in iTunes?  How can I avoid having to manually copy metadata or manage playlists affected?

p.s. I already know about iTunes Match.  Please assume (for the purpose of this question) that I'm not interested in the automatic upgrading it can provide. Looking for a solution that will work without Match, or when Match can't upgrade a track.  Thanks.

You can just replace the file in the filesystem.

Unfortunately, iTunes is too clever for it's own boots and registers for Finder events. So renaming a file in Finder will update it's location in iTunes if iTunes is open!

So here's one way I've tried that works.

Quit iTunes (actually quit, not just close window);
Locate the file in Finder:

This could be done in iTunes (before quitting) by right-clicking and choosing Show in Finder;

Replace the file in Finder with one with the exact same filename;
Open iTunes

iTunes will then use this file when you attempt to play it. Note: if any of the ID3 tags differ they will be updated in iTunes too (which is probably what you want). This means if you replace it with a file with the same file name but with less information in the metadata, you'll have less information in the iTunes browser.


leap year determination macOS 10.15.4 and Calendar.app 11.0 display February 2020 with 28 days, indicating 2020 is not a leap year. Here's a screenshot, showing January and February 2020; note that February 29 is greyed in the February space, indicating that 29 is not a February day:

On the other hand, the month display shows a 29-day February:

Many online sources say 2020 is indeed a leap year. For example, this Microsoft page contains this procedure for determining leap years:

  How to determine whether a year is a leap year

  To determine whether a year is a leap year, follow these steps:

    If the year is evenly divisible by 4, go to step 2. Otherwise, go to step 5.
    If the year is evenly divisible by 100, go to step 3. Otherwise, go to step 4.
    If the year is evenly divisible by 400, go to step 4. Otherwise, go to step 5.
    The year is a leap year (it has 366 days).
    The year is not a leap year (it has 365 days).

Applying this, 2020 is determined to be a leap year, and would have a 29-day February.

Who's right? Maybe this is just a bug in the year calendar display.

This is a very easy mistake to make when bold text, dim text collide with a reasonable assumption about something as familiar as a calendar. We train ourselves to expect Sunday first or Monday first.

In this case the solution is to get a screen shot and review the actual data, not what we think we are seeing. I say we since I’ve been in the same situation as OP.

In the images, it’s clear that February 29 was drawn and that there’s no leap year error on Catalina here in the Gregorian calendar setting.


Can't install El Capitan update 10.11.3 because can't restart normally I've got the typical problem that OSX can't shutdown/restart normally. I'm on El Capitan but it happened in the past with Mavericks etc. Don't know why they can't fix this...

Anyway, now I want to install El Capitan update 10.11.3, the final step is it wants to restart the system.

I click the 'restart' button but the restart fails.

I can hard boot by holding down the power button... but then the update doesn't finish its install - it still says I need to restart if I go into App Store.

Restart or shutdown from the Apple menu don't work.

I tried a shutdown -r now from Terminal... this successfully restarts but the update still 'needs restart' when I go back in after booting.

MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2012)
El Capitan 10.11.2

I was able to complete the update by:

hard shutdown (hold down power button)
boot into safe mode (hold down shift when powering on)
open App Store and click Restart for the uncompleted update

was then able to restart successfully from safe mode, completing the update


What can I, as a user, do about offensive reviews in App Store? While browsing iOS App Store, I happened upon an app review filled with an antisemitic rant (the reviewer was complaining about the impact of micro transactions on the game by calling developers “greedy Jews”). The review is older than a year, so, if the developer ever reads reviews, they already saw it, so I doubt me writing another review notifying the developer would have any effect. Anyway I don’t know whether developers can remove reviews they don’t like.

My main question is, can I, being a user and not a developer, somehow notify Apple to take down that review?

There is a direct way of reporting these concerns, although Apple does not make it obvious how to do it, unfortunately.

Go to the review in question and press & hold (long press) on it, and you will see this pop-up:

Tap on "Report a Concern" and it will bring up this window:

"It contains offensive material" seems like an appropriate choice.

You will be given a text box to explain why you think it is offensive.

Can't say that anything will actually happen with it, but I'd wager it's the best chance you have of getting someone's attention.


Unable to save hosts file after adding websites to block. I'm unable to save hosts file after adding websites to block,as well as unable to flush cache.  I am not a techie, just researching on the web, and trying to follow directions for terminal and Text Edit.
Did the problem start here (this is how text edit opened):

  Host Database

  localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
  when the system is booting.  Do not change this entry.

  127.0.0.1    localhost

  255.255.255.255   broadcasthost

  ::1   localhost

It lacked a computer name (I don't have one; this is evident in the System Preferences > Internet and Network Sharing > Computer Name field being empty.) and the  "fe80::1%lo0     localhost" line.

"Couldn't Save The file 'hosts' is read=only. Attempt to overwrite?" > Click  "Overwrite" > "Couldn't Save Couldn’t save document as “hosts” in folder “etc”.

This is a PowerPC G4 running Tiger (OSX 10.4.11).

This specific request "I want to block sites and need to edit /private/etc/hosts" requires you to know how to edit a normally hidden system configuration file. Your information on an older processor and OS are excellent, but in this case all OS X work the same for modifying the unix host file.

This error is intentional and by design, since making this file easy to modify means that you could easily break the computer from working (and also this file is very desirable for malware or trojan/virus software to attack - imagine if your banking website was directed to another site to harvest your user and password before sending that information to your real bank as part of a "man in the middle" attack.)

Most people use a terminal based editor since it's easily to use the sudo command to temporarily edit the file with root permissions - taking care not to undo the protections that make this not writable by any users directly.

Mac OS X Server: How to edit configuration files

As always, be sure you know how to correct a change like this - the normal Time Machine backup should preserve this file if you know how to to navigate to the /private/etc folder using Finder Go -> Go to Folder... keyboard shortcut before entering Time Machine.


Slow High Sierra after restore from Time Capsule So I had a hard drive (SSD) failure some time ago (it lasted 5 years of intense use, so I kinda expected that to happen).
Luckily I had my Time Capsule running all the time, so it was a no brainer to buy a new SSD for my Macbook Air and restore it.

However after restore I found out that my laptop wasn't quite as fast as it used to be, moreover I'd get frequent freezes & beach-balling that would last up to 20 seconds. Needless to say, I was quite concerned - I was running many system diagnostics, tried cleaning it up, did SMC & PRAM reset, but nothing seemed to help much.

What was the issue?

It turned out that my system restored in the old "MacOS Extended" file system. You can check yours by right-clicking your hard drive in Finder sidebar pane and choosing "Get Info". The correct entry for High Sierra should be APFS, like on the picture below:

So in case your restore left you with an older file system, you need to reinstall MacOS from the App Store. Unluckily I don't remember the exact details how I made the installer go through the installation again, but I managed to do this by finding the installer in Applications folder - without starting from the recovery partition (which would probably try to clean install my OS).
I hope that helps someone!


What's the fastest connection speed / shortest elapsed time using Migration Assistant? When using Migration Assistant to move users, files, and folders from an old Mac to a new one, you have a few different choices, depending on the Macs involved. Presuming that both Macs have appropriate ports, which ports should be used in a real-world situation? Please do not provide quotations of theoretical port speeds; I'm looking for real-world experiences as to what will get the job done faster.

Port choices:

FireWire 400 in target disk mode
FireWire 400 to 800 in target disk mode
FireWire 800 in target disk mode
100 Megabit Ethernet to Gigabit Ethernet in the OS
Gigabit Ethernet to Gigabit Ethernet in the OS
Thunderbolt cable in target disk mode

Gigabit ethernet to gigabit ethernet. Next would be FireWire 800 to FireWire 800. Thunderbolt target disk mode is testing to be equivalent to FireWire 800 in target disk mode.

It looks like the OS can keep a gigabit link fuller than target disk mode is able, even when the target mode link has vastly higher bandwidth available.


Does the iPhone 6 "CPU-throttling" feature stop after the battery is replaced? There is recent news (acknowledged by Apple) of a feature in some software versions of iOS that reduces the current usage of the iPhone6 and 6S when the battery ages and is less able to supply current, and this makes sense. It tries to prevent the phone from suddenly shutting down when the battery can not supply the required current.

I've suffered from those shut-downs first hand by trying to get the last few weeks out of a clearly-dead battery - which is unadvisable to say the least!

Is it known for a fact if this feature reinstates the phone to original performance and speed after the battery is replaced?

It seems that the CPU throttling will stop once device's battery is replaced.
In a statment to TechCrunch, Apple says they will throttle devices "only when needed."

  Last year we released a feature for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE to smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions.

As this happens "only when needed," replacing the battery should stop CPU throttling from happening. Explaining his experience with the same issue, Forbes contributor Antony Leather says that performance did increase on his iPhone 6 after replacing the battery.

  My iPhone 6 was a prime candidate - I had actually replaced the
  battery myself a couple of years ago, but I'm a heavy user and already
  noticed its longevity had started to decrease again...

  Finally, I replaced the battery with a new one from Amazon, charged it
  to be well away from the low power mode level and re-ran the test. The
  difference was incredible. The single core score rose from 1038 to
  1562 - an increase of precisely 50%.

Check out Forbes' Boost Your iPhone Speed By 50%: How To Replace The Battery And Stop Apple Degrading Performance

Check out this excerpt from How-To Geek's You can Speed Up You Slow iPhone by Replacing the Battery, which suggests that replacing the battery will improve performance.

  If your phone is indeed slowing down as a result of poor battery health, replacing the battery will give your phone new life. Not only will you get a longer-lasting battery by replacing an old one, but your phone should jump back up to its top speed.


dsconfigad returns error "authentication server could not be contacted. (5200)", but GUI domain join works without a problem So I've built a "script", to deploy using JAMF. It is pretty much a single command.

It looks like this:

dsconfigad -add "SERVERNAME" -force -computer "COMPUTERNAME" -domain "SELECTED_OU" -username "ADMIN" -password "SOMEPASSWORD"

When run, doesn't matter if from script in Jamf, or typed manually, it failes with error:

  dsconfig: Authentication server could not be contacted. (5200)

The weirdest thing is it works immedietaly when doing it with GUI (preferences -> Users & Groups -> Login Options -> Network Account Server).

I tried to google it, but nothing seems to work (like an implication, there is some problem with time sync between server and MacOS computer). Any ideas, where to find the solution?

I have resolved this problem. I was specifying SERVERNAME in the command.

I used to enter something like: SERVER.DOMAIN.Local (as we have *.local domain). Turns out, I had to enter just DOMAIN.Local.


I need to copy a spreadsheet into mail directly edit and send I need to copy a spreadsheet into mail directly and then edit out some columns before sending (not as an attachment) what ipad spreadsheet an mail will work?

Numbers can do that.   Except the "not attachment bit', but if you select the bit that you want you can paste it directly into your E-mail.


How can I stop windows from being resized on fast-user-switch? I am on Mac OS X 10.9.5 (Mavericks). I have a late 2013 MacBook Pro running in clamshell mode with an external 27 inch Apple monitor attached to it.

I am logged in with two users, A and B. When I do a fast user switch from user A to user B, most windows that were open for user B when I last worked with that user are resized and some windows even change their position. Maximized windows are affected the most, typically they become less in height while staying the same in width. It feels as if initiating the user switch had temporarily changed the screen size or resolution, causing windows to change their size/position to adjust for the smaller screen size.

Is this a known problem of Mac OS X in general, or of running a MacBook in clamshell mode? Has anyone experienced this as well and/or knows how to fix it?

I can't remember when exactly I have noticed this problem for the first time. I am certain that it didn't exist with older versions of Mac OS X (i.e. 10.8 and older), although I must say that when I was last using Mac OS X 10.8 I also had a different MacBook and a different monitor. The general work environment MacBook/clamshell mode/external monitor has been the same for me for years.

It's a known bug of the 10.9.3 update that has been reported last May. Sadly, it has yet to be fixed.

Possible workarounds:

Hide your windows before fast user switching. The app Notes is immune to the bug, so you can switch to that app and hide all other windows from there.
Use the app stay (cost $14.99, not checked)

Another workaround that works for some people (but not for me) is to kill the dock before fast user switching. Can even be automated following these instructions.


Does Pwned DFU mode allow an iPhone 4 to install any version of iOS? Does Pwned DFU mode allow an iPhone 4 to install any version of iOS?

I have read

http://blog.nialbarker.com/824/dfu-pwned-dfu-soft-dfu-iphones-demystified
http://www.blogonerd.me/2011/02/how-to-enter-pwned-dfu-mode-and-use.html

and watched

Sn0wbreeze 6.1 / 5.1.1 Jailbreak & Hacktivate iPhone 4, 3GS, iPod Touch 4, 3 & iPad

Then I come up with a question: Since Pwned DFU mode allows the iPhone to download an customized ipsw created from sn0wbreeze, does it mean that Pwned DFU mode allow an iPhone 4 to install(upgrade or downgrade) any version of offical iOS without requiring an SHSH blob for the corresponding iOS?

A screenshot to show the ipsw difference, using iPhone 4 ipsw with sn0wbreeze Simple Mode.

You need those SHSH blobs. I've tried almost anything else available online, without success. Updating to the latest version via restore (without the blobs) is no problem ofcourse.

When you jailbreak your device it will store the SHSH blob on Cydia server, as you can fetch them from their servers with your current device UID if lost.

A SHSH blob is a small piece of data with Apple's signature connected to your device ID.
Since you can only validate iOS versions with your own device ID, there's currently no way to install previous versions without having "your" blob.

Good luck!


Hard drive always visible on desktop I have one HD named Macintosh HD.
I can’t tell when it happened, but since a few days my HD shows up on my desktop. I tried to disable it in the Finder settings, but it already is.
If I enable it I get a second icon for the same HD.

Does anyone have an idea how to fix this?

Ok, I solved it. A simple restart didn’t do the trick, but this is what worked for me:

Disconnect every external hard drive from my mac
Shut down the mac
Wait 10 seconds and start the mac


Is it possible to keep Whatsapp from saving *outgoing* sent videos to Camera Roll? When I record and send an outgoing video through Whatsapp it automatically saves a copy (duplicate) to my Camera Roll. This is a pain because I do not want them saved.
Is there a way to turn off automatic saving of outgoing video to Camera Roll?
Note: This is different than Whatsapp automatically saving incoming media to Camera Roll, which can easily be turned off in the settings.

This is not a supported feature as of March 20, 2021 per Whatsapp customer service. See screenshot.


Outlook: How to move all mail from a certain recipient into Junk How can I force Outlook to move all incoming messages with certain recipient to the Junk folder?

Open Outlook (2011) Junk > Email protection.

Add the sender manually to the list.

or simply do this and select BLOCK sender.


What are some good resources for learning Dashcode? What are some good resources for learning Dashcode? I've got plenty for XCode, but can neither find a good online Dashcode tutorial nor a book in stores. If anyone can help, please let me know.

My apologies if this is better suited for SO.

There are a bunch of resources available from the Apple Developer Site.

Here is a small list of stuff available:

Dashboard Widget Tutorial

Mobile Safari Web Application Tutorial

Starting a Project


Can you add an external fingerprint reader to a MacBook that will work like the built-in reader? I would like to use an external keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc and have my MacBook closed. The only issue is that I can no longer access the fingerprint scanner. Is there a way to use an external one? FYI, I have installed Unlox which is very useful but doesn't cover all cases where a fingerprint can be used.

Yes, I read the similar question but thought this one was different since that one referenced a 10-yr old Macbook that didn't have the Touchbar. And there are ways to solve the problem in that question.

No, there's no external fingerprint reader that works like the built-in reader. The built-in reader is not communicating directly with macOS on the main CPU, instead it communicates with a seperate kernel (still Darwin) running on a secondary ARM CPU.

As there's no way to connect an external fingerprint reader to the secondary ARM CPU, it is simply not possible for 3rd parties to create something that works exactly like the built-in reader and offers the same functionality.


I've set up iCloud music library but iMac still shows 25 G used, Why is this? I've set up iCloud music library on my iPhone, iPad and iMac. The music folder on my iMac shows about 25 gigs used. I thought the music was moved to iCloud.  What am I missing here and what should I do to free up that memory.

Over half of that 25 Gigs is 'Mobile Applications' which are apps on my iPad and iPhone. Can I delete these or move to my external drive?

It's not moved to iCloud; it's just uploaded, as a kind of backup. You can just remove the music via iTunes; it will ask you if you want to delete it from iCloud as well, or if you only want to delete the local copy.

Have you set up backup via iCloud for your iPhone and iPad? If so, you can delete the mobile applications; the apps themselves are not backed up (so they don't take iCloud storage space) but will be readily downloaded from the App Store archives when you restore a backup. (Backup via iCloud does take storage space, but for local files and settings.)

[EDIT]

Should you ever want to re-install an app to your iPhone and/or iPad that is no longer available on the App Store (or an older version of an app that's no longer available) then having a local copy is advantageous.

However, assuming you have a backup regime in place (e.g. you have Time Machine enabled) then your iTunes library should already be backed up, so in theory you'd still have local copies of your apps available (at least until they're overwritten).


Apple Music Migration What’s the most efficient way to replicate my Apple Music library on a different account?

I was thinking of creating a playlist with all my library and then sharing this playlist with the other account, however adding the tracks to the playlist seems like a very manual process and I have over 4000 tracks in my library.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Click on the first song in your library.
Scroll down and shift-click on the last song in the library.
Now everything is selected.
Two-finger tap on any of the songs to show the context menu
Select “add to playlist”.


Track pad and plug-in mouse left click not working I've searched and noticed other people having the same issue but no fixes.

Recently my trackpad stopped working which resulted in me changing it.

Worked fine for months. All of a sudden my trackpad left-click stops working and even if I plug in a mouse, it doesn't work, but the right click on the plug-in mouse works fine.

The left click works fine in Diagnostics mode, works every time. But works nowhere else.

I thought I would reinstall the OS to see if that would fix it.... but now I cannot install the OS as I get stuck on the page where you have to click the Hard drive and press next, can't seem to do that with the keyboard only.

Any suggestions? Need to work from home and can't get it working.
Model A1502 Macbook pro
Thank you.

I would recommend splitting this question in 2 since you had 2 different issues even though they are affecting each other.

First one (this post) would be to only figure out how to reinstall OS with just keyboard. Take some pictures with your phone and post them along with your question so we can help you better.
If your input hardware doesn't work even after the OS re-install, post your second question with the new post-OS-install details.

As for your hardware, have you tried using tab and shift + tab to change focus (indicated with a blue boundary) and use spacebar to select that button, while enter only works for the button filled entirely with blue colour.


WiFi monitor that is iOS compatible I am trying to find a Display that can allow my iOS, MacBook Pro to connect to it wirelessly.

I am looking for a solution with the least number of hardware components (aside from the display).

I heard of software solutions like AirDisplay, Air Parrot, Reflection but I am seeking a hardware solution (something I can take to go for a presentation)

AppleTV is compatible with iPad 2 (and newer), and with computers since 2011

More info at: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5404

You can hook up your AppleTV to any HDMI-compatible TV


Area code creating apple ID I'm trying to create a new apple ID. I live in the Netherlands but have a UK number. Every time I try to type in my number (with United Kingdom selected), it tells me "please choose an area code which matches the name of the country". My mobile phone doesn't have an area code. What do I type in this box? I've tried the first 2-3 digits of my phone number with and without +44 or 0044.

UK numbers are all 11 digits, or country code plus 10 digits, omitting the leading zero.

so either
01234 567 890
or
+44 1234 567 890
[spaces only for legibility].

UK mobiles all start with 07 [or +44 7] - so the 'area code' is 07 nnn or +44 7 nnn

Just for extra information, adding your own country code to all domestic numbers does not affect call cost whilst in that territory, these days the systems are smart enough to figure it out.

00 international designations are only for dialling from landlines which can't use the + symbol.


IOAccelSurface2 error floods console macOS 10.12 Sierra I have a MB Pro that is locking up afer about 30 minutes.
When I open console I find this message but cant figure out what is causing the problem.

  fault 12:14:37.463057 -0700 kernel IOReturn
  IOAccelSurface2::surface_unlock_options(enum eLockType, uint32_t):
  surface is not locked.

We had a user at our company that was having some performance issues on their Mac. So I connected remotely via Timbuktu and took a look at their console. I noticed a constant flood of similar errors:

fault   11:48:36.982151 -0500   kernel  IOReturn IOAccelSurface2::surface_unlock_options(enum eLockType, uint32_t): surface is not locked.

So I removed TeamViewer but the errors persisted. After spending about an hour trying to resolve the problem I discovered that the console flood was a "red herring". The flood was being triggered by Timbuktu and my remote connection to the computer. As soon as I disconnected the user told me that the console flood stopped.


How do I know which message is from which person when their initials are the same? This is a really dumb question, but unless I add a picture to a person's contact card, how am I supposed to know which person a message came from in a group thread when their initials are the same?  My mom and my sister have the same initials and I don't have pictures of them in my contact cards.  I have them each of them in a group chat in Messages.app on my iMac.  Their nicknames are shown in the "To:" at the top and in the selected conversation in the panel on the left, but when they each send messages, the message bubbles all come from a gray circle with first & last initial.  How am I supposed to know which one of them sent a message in the group chat?

Hovering only shows the time a message was sent.  I've search the menus, the preferences, and google and nothing shows me how to differentiate the two without adding a photo to their contact cards.  I've tried resizing, double-clicking the thread to open in a new window...  Is there a way to show their full or even just their first name instead of their initials where the message bubbles are?

The easiest option would be to simply add their photo to their contact card. If you don't want to add their photo for some reason, you can add any other photo to represent them.


Change to an different keyboard layout when entering passwords I've just bought the Ipad 2, all my existing passwords that I need to use (mails web services etc) are in Arabic characters.

I have added the Arabic Keyboard and am able to use it in normal text fields, but I cannot switch to it when I try to type into a password field.  If I already have the Arabic keyboard selected when typing a username, it switches back to the normal keyboard when I move to the password field.  Because of this I am unable to log into anything which uses an Arabic password.

I tried with Safari and Opera Mini browser.

Does anyone know how to fix this?

I can see that this is likely to be very restrictive until you find a solution, so I offer this workaround to ease things while other answers come in.  If you enter your password into your username field, then select it, copy it, and type over the top with your actual user name, you can then paste the password into the password field..  This is 3 extra taps overall, but will at least allow you to use your logins in the meantime.


Free or Cheaper Alternatives to Apple Remote Desktop 3 Apple Remote Desktop isn't a bad program. It's a bit overdue for an update, has some issues, but is an otherwise solid program. The big downside to ARD is the price, however.

I'm trying to find an option for teachers in primary/elementary classrooms to have all the computers in their class up on the projector (which you can do with remote desktop) but I don't want to pay the US$499 unlimited seat option (education pricing is a bit cheaper, but still too much). I'm aware you can VNC using the Finder in Snowleopard, but I'm hoping for a tidy program that can simultaneously show (view) several macs. VNC Control would be nice, but isn't necessary. Ideally (almost essential) it will use the existing screen sharing engine in Sharing.preferences.

Update
It's important that the product can show more than one screen at the same time. Logmein free is a great product but doesn't do this.

ARD is now available on the Mac App Store for only $79.99.

ARD aside, you can do pretty much anything ARD can do with Screen Sharing, File Sharing, scp, ssh and AppleScript.


Playing videos on VirtualBox Mac OS X guest on Ubuntu 13.04 as host I managed to install Mac OS X Moutain Lion as a VirtualBox guest OS on Ubuntu 13.04 as host.

I need to test a web app which plays HTML5 videos on Safari 6. Unfortunately, I can’t play any video on Moutain Lion (neither HTML5 one nor a .mp4 with Quicktime).

I guess it’s a codec or video card driver problem but I can't find a clue on how to fix this. Can anyone suggest an idea?

OS X uses QE/CI (Quartz Extreme/Core Image) for graphics acceleration. Unless you're using an actual Mac or are running a modified version of OS X directly on PC hardware, you won't get full acceleration. Furthermore, VirtualBox support for OS X is experimental and doesn't include Guest Additions.

Looking around a bit, it seems some have had success with modified SVGA drivers in VMWare. It may get you better performance overall, but it still won't enable QE/CI (and thus no video playback), and doesn't work with VirtualBox anyway.


What is a 0-size file "Icon?" in a directory? I just noticed in my ~/Copy directory there is a file named Icon? that is 0 byte.

The file is only visible by a ls command.

I'm just curious what for this file exists, does anyone know about it?

It's just an empty file. Nothing more.

Since the ~/Copy is not a standard directory, it is hard to say why is it there or why it was created.


Buying an app on two iDevices using the same account Possible Duplicate:
  If I buy an iPhone app will I have to re-purchase the app if I get a new iPhone?

This may be a duplicate of another question, but I was new to the site and I didn't check other questions. Feel free to close if this is a duplicate.

I'll proceed with my question.

Me and my brother both own an iPad, and we both wanted the same app on our respective iPads. So now if I buy an app on my iPad and give my account password to my brother, will Apple charge me again to buy the same app on my brother's iPad?

This question is an exact duplicate of this question.


How to use Jar Launcher with specified jdk version Now I have multiple jdk installed on OSX as shown below:

└─[1] <> /usr/libexec/java_home -V
Matching Java Virtual Machines (2):
    14.0.1, x86_64: "Java SE 14.0.1"    /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-14.0.1.jdk/Contents/Home
    1.8.0_241, x86_64:  "Java SE 8" /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_241.jdk/Contents/Home

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-14.0.1.jdk/Contents/Home

Then I want to double click to run a jar file directly, for instance this:

However, it warns me that this jar file is launched with JDK 14 but I want to launch it with JDK 1.8.
A solution is that run it in terminal with "java -jar" in specified jdk path,but clearly it is not elegant.
The best way is to let "Jar Launcher" use specified jdk version ,but I don't know how.

After long time efforts,I finally find the solution,that is ,to make your own Jar Launcher app:

Launch Automator to make Automator Quick Action

Select Application
Look for the Run Shell Script action with Filter Finder Items  and add it to
the right.
paste scripts here like this below:

I make some changes to make it better

export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.8`
cd "$(dirname "$@")"
java -jar "$@"

save this quick action as an app for example "open jar.app"
go to  /System/Library/CoreServices/Jar Launcher.app/Contents/Resources
and copy JarLauncher.icns

cd to "open jar.app" you just made and paste JarLauncher.icns to
"open jar.app/Contents/Resources"
edit  "open jar.app/Contents/Info.plist" and change key(AutomatorApplet to JarLauncher.icns):

    <key>CFBundleIconFile</key>
    <string>JarLauncher.icns</string>

now you can choose to open with "open jar.app" just like before.