Best option for connecting MacBook Pro with USB-C to monitor with DisplayPort and HDMI? I have a Dell U2715H monitor connected to Thunderbolt port on my 2013 MacBook Pro using a Mini DisplayPort cable. With the new MacBook Pro with USB-C port I'm wondering what the best option would be to connect the monitor. It has both DisplayPort and HDMI ports.

If I purchased the Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter could I then plug the Mini DisplayPort cable into the Thunderbolt 2 end? Would that work?

Alternatively I presume I could get the USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter which contains an HDMI port and then purchase a seperate HDMI cable.

Assuming both solutions would work and ignoring cost is one solution superior?

I would go for USB-C to DisplayPort directly. That would be one relatively inexpensive ($20 to $40 US prices) cable to do the job. Since your display won't charge the MacBook and do video over a single USB-C cable and you have several ports (display side and Mac side) - a dedicated cable would be my choice.

I like the USB-C to HDMI adapter you mentioned for my MacBook since there is only one port and charging plus USB is needed, but on the MacBook Pro you have several ports and can use one per display without too much hassle. It will work for you, though - just not my first choice.

Apple even recommends against using the adapter you mention for bridging between a Mini DisplayPort device and thunderbolt 3.
- https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204154

  Note that although it uses a Mini DisplayPort connector, the Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter doesn't support connections to Mini DisplayPort displays.

If you only want two external displays, both 13 inch models of MacBook Pro are suitable. You'll need the 15 inch models to support 4 displays. That might be a non-issue if you only have one Dell display to connect.


App for "Minds of Modern Mathematics" doesn't work? I don't know how to send IBM a message to let them know to please fix this problem at the Apple App Store, but I have left a message at the ratings section of the App.

I have downloaded the free app at the Apple Store before on my iPad and it worked fine, but I lost all my data...long story... And now I want to get the app back, but I have tried four times to down load it and every time the app just displays a spinning wheel after the opening :'(

My intention is to let the Apple App Store and/or IBM know about this problem but can't find any link to report the problem.
 More details maybe found here at the Apple Support Community.

Leaving a review is generally the last way to get assistance since the developer and Apple do not reply to those - I resort to a bad/stinging review only after exhausting support from the vendor (or more than a month passes from the request for initial help or explanation.)

In all cases, Apple requires the developer to list a web site for each app. In the minds of mathematics case, since this is a free app, there doesn't appear to be a dedicated support, but if you click through to the developer site:

http://mindsofmath.com there is an about page

It has an email address, so I would start with mailing them asking how to reach the developers support. In this case, your request isn't really best asked to the developer since you are having an issue installing it. You could ask them - perhaps they need to change the devices that the app supports.

In this case, it's installation and Apple should be contacted:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201398
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204084

The second article seems to have the best info - if you can't even get that app to install - http://reportaproblem.apple.com/ which seems to work best when you reach it from the HT204084 support page.


My iPhone won't download certain free apps My App Store keeps saying this item is free in the store, that this item will be added to your purchases, and will be available even if your family sharing status changes. And it then says cancel or download.

I click download and it won't download and keeps popping up the same message over and over again. How do I make it stop? I can't download certain free apps.

Go to your iTunes account, manage your hidden and downloadable apps and unhide the app you want to download again.

Open iTunes
Select 'Store' menu option --> 'View Account'
Look in section iTunes in the Cloud
Look for subsection 'Hidden Purchases'
Click on the 'Manage' link
Press the 'Apps' button
Find the App you are trying to download from the list
Click 'Unhide'

You can now download app from App Store on your iPhone.


Save my Clash of Clans village to Game Center My son was playing Clash of Clans on my iPhone in my Game Center. I then started playing it but never saved it to my Game Center and now it says if I want to save it I  will have to go to his level. I transferred his to his iPod.

My question is how can I save mine to my Game Center now without going backwards to his village ?

I'm sorry, you can't.. Clash of Clans allows you to have 1 village per Game Center account. And they don't allow you to reset your village. The only thing you can do is creating a new Game Center account with another Apple ID..

Source Supercell Game Support


How to set MacBook Pro to turn off when closing lid? I want the shutdown feature to activate whenever I turn down the lid and close my MacBook Pro. It's a machine I use for work so I need the disk encryption to kick in every time I'm travelling with the Mac, and its easy to forget turning it off. Is there a setting somewhere that allows this, or is there an app/script I can run?

There doesn't seem to be a good way to do this as explained by @asmeurer in his answer

  a shutdown in general may require user action (e.g., from an application that doesn't use the auto save model, or from an application that is frozen or becomes frozen when the OS tries to quit it).

maybe your best bet would be an app that closes everything for you every time you close your lid. However such an app would not be that much quicker than manual shut down.


Minecraft not opening in portable drive, only opening in Applications When I try to launch Minecraft on my portable drive, I get the error message "Minecraft.app" is damaged and can't be opened. You should move it to the Bin.:

but, when I move it to /Applications and double click, it starts. You can watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/Oo4R8UthaEM

This only happens when opening Minecraft. How can I stop this? Why is this happening?

I am using MacOS Catalina 10.15.1.

I believe Minecraft was created so that it can only work when i's in applications folder because they don't want people to be able to play it on other peoples hard drives, they want them to pay money to buy it for themselves. This is just another trick they use to make themselves more money.


How do I prevent prompts to update to iOS 10 I've got an iPhone 6 that I would like to keep running iOS9 for the purpose of testing iOS applications.  Is there any way to prevent the prompts to install iOS10?

Short answer, No.
Apple really, really, really wants you to upgrade.

Longer answer...
You'd need to be able to block the domains

appldnld.apple.com
mesu.apple.com

on every WiFi access point you meet.


Check the version of an app installed on iPad Is there anyway to check the version of an app installed on a iPad without connecting back to iTunes on my desktop / laptop?

iOS provides a list with all installed Apps and their memory usage. Tapping on any App on that list will, besides giving you the option to delete it, display the name, the version, its size and how much memory it's using.

The path to access this list has changed through the iOS versions:

iOS 11: Settings / General / iPad Storage

iOS 9: Settings / General / Storage and iCloud usage / Manage Storage

iOS 8: Settings / General / Usage / Manage Storage

iOS 7: Settings / General / Usage


OSX Terminal "last" does not show more logins before todays In Mac OSX 10.12.1, using Terminal

last

does not show logins before today? I did read the earlier article and tried

sudo last

which did not reveal anything earlier.

last works in Sierra like in all older OS X systems equipped with ASL.

Here is an example of a Sierra VM (first light: installed: Sep 20, 2016):

user  ttys001                       Fri Dec  9 02:31   still logged in
user  ttys000                       Fri Dec  9 02:30   still logged in
user  console                       Fri Dec  9 02:30   still logged in
...
reboot    ~                         Wed Sep 21 00:01
user  console                       Tue Sep 20 22:18 - crash  (01:42)
reboot    ~                         Tue Sep 20 22:18
user  ttys000                       Tue Sep 20 22:08 - crash  (00:09)
_mbsetupuser  console               Tue Sep 20 22:01 - crash  (00:17)
user  console                       Tue Sep 20 22:00 - crash  (00:17)
reboot    ~                         Tue Sep 20 21:59

You can check any misbehavior of last/ASL with Terminal.app:

Open a new shell and enter sudo opensnoop -n last, then open a tab with ⌘T and enter last.

In the first tab you should get something like:

  UID    PID COMM          FD PATH
  501   7281 last           3 /dev/dtracehelper
  501   7281 last           3 /var/log/asl
  501   7281 last           4 /var/log/asl/2016.12.04.G80.asl
  501   7281 last          -1 /var/log/asl/2016.12.04.U0.asl
  501   7281 last           5 /var/log/asl/2016.12.04.U501.asl
  501   7281 last           6 /var/log/asl/2016.12.05.G80.asl
  501   7281 last          -1 /var/log/asl/2016.12.05.U0.asl
  501   7281 last           7 /var/log/asl/2016.12.05.U501.asl
  501   7281 last           8 /var/log/asl/2016.12.06.G80.asl
  501   7281 last          -1 /var/log/asl/2016.12.06.U0.asl
  501   7281 last           9 /var/log/asl/2016.12.06.U501.asl
  501   7281 last          10 /var/log/asl/2016.12.08.G80.asl
  501   7281 last          -1 /var/log/asl/2016.12.08.U0.asl
  501   7281 last          11 /var/log/asl/2016.12.08.U501.asl
  501   7281 last          12 /var/log/asl/2016.12.09.G80.asl
  501   7281 last          -1 /var/log/asl/2016.12.09.U0.asl
  501   7281 last          13 /var/log/asl/2016.12.09.U501.asl
  501   7281 last          14 /var/log/asl/BB.2017.09.30.G80.asl
  501   7281 last          15 /var/log/asl/BB.2017.10.30.G80.asl
  501   7281 last          16 /var/log/asl/BB.2017.11.30.G80.asl
  501   7281 last          17 /var/log/asl/BB.2017.12.31.G80.asl
  501   7281 last          18 /var/log/asl/Logs
  501   7281 last          18 /var/log/asl/StoreData
  501   7281 last           3 /etc/localtime
  501   7281 last           3 /usr/share/zoneinfo/UTC

which shows all files opened/read by last. Quit opensnoop by entering: ^C.

If you don't get a similar output check your ASL subsystem (e.g. asl.conf or the launch daemons com.apple.syslogd/com.apple.aslmanager)/the folder /var/log/asl and repair everything if necessary.


# of windows opened in the Dock indication? I just got a new macbook pro (used to use a dual boot linux/windows system). I'm still getting used to some of the features.

One thing I've noticed is when an application is open, it would show in the dock at the bottom of the screen and there would be a dot below the icon indicating that it is open. WHen open instances of the same app is open, there is no visible indication of how many instances are open. Is there any way to enable this? For example if I had 3 google chromes open, I'd like to be able to see in the dock that there are 3 open without having to right click on the icon. Perhaps 3 dots would show instead of one dot?

Apple only provides Mission Control (ctrl↑) and Application Windows (formerly Exposé: ctrl↓) for window management. Yes, this was (and still is) my least favorite change after switching to macOS.

Under  → System Preferences → Dock, you may also uncheck Minimize windows into application icon to avoid “losing” minimized windows, but this can quickly clutter your Dock.


flickring 1.5” or 2” column in screen of 17" macbook pro early 2011 I am using it by mid 2012.

I was sitting out door for 2hrs at evening and keep working with mac book; and at middle of the screen around 1.5" or 2" starts flickering. Sometime it stops flickering and back to normal. I did clear PRAM and NVRAM by pressing option+command+R+P.

What is the problem? and what is solution for it?

Is that OSX problem or hardware problem or bad graphics?

I think there's a replacement program for your model:
http://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro-videoissues/

Here are the affected models:

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011)
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2012)
MacBook Pro (17-inch Early 2011)
MacBook Pro (17-inch Late 2011)
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15 inch, Early 2013)

I wish 13-inch mid-2012 was included as well, because I have a similar issue.


Can I prevent an app from overriding a system default keyboard shortcut? Sometimes I find that an app has it's own keyboard shortcut which overrides a MacOS default shortcut.

For example Airmail assigns ⌘← to hiding your message panel, I would much rather have this shortcut remain as the MacOS default (which moves your cursor to the start of the line). All the other shortcuts are fine, I'd just want to disable this one.

Is there a way to turn off a specific app shortcut so it reverts to the MacOS standard action?

If the app has a menu entry for the command, yes.

System Prefs > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts

Add an entry for your app & the menu command you want rid of.
Set the shortcut to be something useless & hard to hit by mistake...
This will give you your system shortcut back.

Example from another answer of mine, showing how to remove 'Hide Finder' - https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/177138/85275


Can't access old iTunes purchases after changing email address I made my account around 2006, and have changed my email address a couple of times. Now I can't download past purchases or even listen to the songs I purchased without my iPad prompting me to enter my old address and password for those songs.

When I went onto the Apple website and put "forgot password" for my "old accounts", of course it told me that those accounts did not exist. Of course they didn't, because they were never separate accounts like Apple claims.

What can I do about this?

This sounds like something is broken on the iTunes side - you can indeed change your email address and it's all still tied to the same Apple "account", meaning all your old purchases should still be there.

The very first thing you should do is contact iTunes support and explain what happened. Chances are high they'll be able to correct whatever's happened.


Can I output 1080p at 240hz from my 2017 MacBook Pro 13inch with Touch Bar I just bought an Acer XB252Q gaming monitor that has 1080p 240hz.

I was wondering if I can output 1080p at 240hz with my 2017 MacBook Pro 13" with Touch Bar using a display port cable?

I ask because on HDMI it only outputs 1080p at 60hz.

Unfortunately, no.

Because your MacBook only has USB-C Thunderbolt, you will need a USB-C Thunderbolt to DisplayPort adapter. This Apple USB-C to DisplayPort adapter states that it can provide up to 60hz. This Apple article covers connecting UHD monitors with your Mac and states (paraphrased):

  The MacBook Pro (2016 and later) can support these resolutions and refresh rates over HDMI 1.4b when using the USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter with macOS Sierra 10.12 or later:
  Up to 1080p at 60Hz
  3840 x 2160 at 30Hz

Allan is correct, you will probably want an active Thunderbolt to Displayport adapter. I forget USB-C and Thunderbolt are not interchangeable terms.


Change the App Store country to India? I am in China and bought an iPhone 4s here. It has been updated to iOS 8.1.2 . I want to change the App Store country from China to India.

How do I do this?

Make sure that you have an apple id located in India (address). When you log in to the app store, you probably get a message that the app is going to load another store. When this is done, you're in the appstore for India.


How to install OS X Mountain Lion without an Internet connection I wish to upgrade my MacBook Pro's hard disk to Solid State Drive, and that requires an installation of OS X on the SSD drive before I can replace the hard drive.

The typical installation instructions are:

Create a bootable partition on the SSD
Hook up the SSD via an external adapter (for example, USB), boot up the MacBook Pro and start the recovery process.
Select the SSD drive as the drive for OS X to be installed.
Agree to the license agreement, log on using Apple ID (if required) and let "Install OS X" app download a copy of the OS over the Internet before installing it to the SSD
etc, etc, etc

The issue is without a very fast Internet connection, the installation process will take a very long time.

Are there any alternatives such as pre-downloading a copy of OS X, or cloning the content of the drive?

You can use Lion DiskMaker (which works for Mountain Lion as well) to make a bootable USB stick. This requires downloading the Mountain Lion installer, and a USB stick larger than 8GB. You can also burn a single layer DVD of the installer if you so desire (and, obviously, if you have an optical drive)


Apache not running correctly after upgrading to High Sierra I have an apache web server running on my mac.  Since upgrading to macOS High Sierra, if I connect to localhost or 10.0.0.7 in Safari (or any other web browser) I get the message "Safari can't open the page "localhost" because Safari can't connect to the server "localhost".

I can confirm apache is running.  If I run apachectl configtest I get "Syntax OK".

If I type httpd -v I get

Server version: Apache/2.4.28 (Unix)
Server built:   Oct 19 2017 09:26:34

I have tried restarting apache and this has no effect.  Does anyone have any idea how I can get it working?  All my web files are stored in /Library/WebServer/Documents.

Attached is a copy of my httpd.conf.

Take a look at your hosts file, you should have entries in there for your localhost and local configuration. The hosts file is in /etc, so the best way to open it is by using Terminal and this (read-only) command:

open -a TextEdit /etc/hosts

You should see an one or all of these for localhost there like:

127.0.0.1   localhost
::1         localhost
fe80::1%lo0 localhost

127.0.0.1 is your machine (aka localhost).

You can add other IP addresses from your local network to route domain names to a local development folder to the hosts file. For example, mine has custom entries from old projects like:

10.0.10.111     teambox.dongguk.ac.kr

To make changes to the hosts file, you'll need to use:

sudo open -a TextEdit /etc/hosts

Enter your user account password when prompted.

Here is a full article on making edits to your hosts file: The Mac Hosts File: How to Modify /etc/hosts in OS X with TextEdit


2016 Macbook keyboard key barely working I have a new Macbook 2016 and the space bar has been acting up. If I smash it down hard enough I can get the space character to appear but that's not very practical.

I read the Macbook marketing page (https://www.apple.com/macbook/design/) to confirm that they did change the design (since the keys feel noticeably different from years past). It seems to have had to opposite consequence from their intention in that the edge of my spacebar (right where my right thumb sits) doesn't really work but the middle is fine.

I tried to blow into the keyboard and I also turned the laptop upside down and pressed the keys to maybe get rid of any crumbs.

Are there any solutions to this? Should I risk taking the space bar off and checking out their new 'butterfly' design to see if I can fix it?

That is obviously a hardware issue on your specific device (maybe some other devices of the same series are concerned).

The best thing to do is to contact the Apple assistance (online or via a physical Apple Store) and see what they can do.

If you take the space bar off, you'll probably lose your warranty.


Events or Albums in Photos for OSX I have upgraded OSX Yosemite and now have Photos instead of iPhoto.  I have a question regarding usage of Events and Albums.

Say I go to the Zoo with my family, take some pictures and then import into Photos. Is that an Event or an Album? I always used Events with iPhoto, but now it seems as though it should be albums.

I've found that turning on the sidebar has helped me adjust to Photos much more quickly.

Every import dumps photos into the All Photos album as well as the "Last Import" view. You have to create each album by choice and there are now no events that you can control directly.

You can choose the "summarize photos" option or uncheck it to get more or less detail when browsing by time, but Photos makes decisions based on the date metadata with each image.

Collections seem to replace events, but again - they are generated algorithmically and not something you can edit. Best case, change the metadata and export the original photos you wish to "edit or change" and then delete them. By re-importing the original images, you can perhaps influence the collection and ordering by algorithm, but the algorithms themselves remain the same.


Mac keeps on asking for password to delete files I have renamed my Mac username from root login.  It was done successfully and I can see the new name of my home directory but certain folders in Mac HD have a red dot with a - symbol.

I tried to change permissions using Get Info and added my user name after which I can view the files but when I try to delete the files it keeps on asking for my password.

How do I resolve this?

You "changed" the root username?

Can you elaborate on the process you use? I suspect you created a new account and then copy and pasted the files from the previous directory, roots home directory, to your new user. If this is the case you will likely need to use Terminal (Applications/Utilities/Terminal) to restore the permissions on them as root is probably still the owner. Assuming your username is bob execute the following commands in terminal.

Change the owner of the files to your user:
sudo chown -R username:staff /Users/bob

Change the permissions of your home drive to 600. (Owner read/write, everybody else denied):sudo chmod -R 600 /Users/bob

Let us know how you go or if you need more detailed instruction.

If you have a copy of the OSX DVD I believe there is a utility on it to repair home drive permissions but I can't remember it offhand, sorry.


Can I put PC hardware in a MacBook Pro case? I would like a MacBook Pro, but they are so dang expensive!!! I already have a pretty nice Samsung Series 3 64-bit, and I have considered Hackintosh. Hackintosh however, does not include that slick outer shell, Force Touch Trackpad, and gorgeous Retina display. My possible solution: A pc with a mac barebone and hackintosh!!!!

If I purchase a replacement bottom shell, top case (includes trackpad keyboard, and mic), and a complete display for Macbook Pro 13 in Retina Display 2012 (Model # A1502) the total cost would be around $458.52- that's saving me a whopping $741!!!

Can I put my PC components into it, assuming they are the same type, the replacement components, then install Hackintosh and work???

The main worry here is if the logic board has to be genuine apple vs my current pc one fitting, this mainly being because a replacement logic board at used to its crappiest state is $436.46

(sorry if i went overboard w/ the bold)

The answer is simply No. Most Apple hardwares are custom designed for specific MBP. You cannot replace them with normal PC parts as they are generic. The PC parts are not custom designed. They are made to fit a wide range of common PC laptops.


Does Time Machine also restore files from older backups not present in newer ones? I am wanting to re-format and start anew with my time machine backup, but I am unsure if restoring a folder restores all copies of files across backups, or only copies found in the most recent backup. Ex: If I have files AB in backup 1, files ABC in backup 2, and files BC in the most recent backup, when I use the "restore to..." function and restore a backup folder to my user folder, does it restore ABC? I've browsed Pondini's webpage and several posts here and elsewhere, and haven't seen this specifically addressed. I'm not so much worried about different versions of a given file, but am seeking a "flattened" restoration of files that have been since deleted along with more recent files, all of which should be present in various backups but that are not all present in any one given backup.

Thanks!

Doing a full restore from Time Machine will restore exactly one snapshot (usually the most recent one), without any files/folders only available in other/older versions. Which actually kind of makes sense if you consider that TM also backups OS files etc where you don't what to have a flattening effect with files from previous versions.

You can recover files only available in older snapshots through the Time Machine interface from Finder though.


Audio device on iOS 4? I was looking for /dev/dsp or /dev/audio through terminal but I couldn't find either of the two. Is there any audio device on iOS 4 (specifically iPhone 4) for input or output?

The only exposed API to use the audio hardware under iOS is the RemoteIO Audio Unit API.  The driver for the audio input/output hardware does not seem to be exposed via a *nix device on Mac OS X, or in its iDevice derivatives.


Windows 10 and High Sierra upgrade problems This is more weird than most things.

I have an iMac 2009 and had Windows 10 installed alongside macOS 10.12.6, I ran all the updates and then tried to apply High Sierra.

It fails with "firmware error" which is connected to the EFI/UEFI and Windows 10.

Only macOS boots, so that is fine for now.

I want to reinstall Windows 10 but do not have the activation key, where might it be stored on my iMac?

There are photo's etc on Windows 10 partition that I can access using a DVD with KNOPPIX on.  It will mount the partition read only, and before I delete or damage anything I would like to extract the Windows 10 activation key from a non working Windows 10 install.

As macOS is POSIX compliant would (I thought I would ask first) this work?

And to get the actual key

sudo cat /sys/firmware/acpi/tables/MSDM | strings | tail -n 1

Any help or suggestions please.

Windows 10 doesn't store the activation key in any useable form, it also changes with each major Win10 update.
It's hashed from your machine's hardware, unless you have an actual 'paper' license with an installation serial number on it.

See MS KB - Find your Windows product key & Activation in Windows 10


Icon export @x ratio from iPhone 5 to 6+? If I’m designing icons/images in native iPhone 5 resolution, what @x multiple do I need to export them at for iPhone 6+? Just use @2x? That’s too big right? Example: an icon is 44px x 44px. If I export at @2x it’s 88px. That’s too large for 6+ right? What’s the right multiple or ratio from 5 to 6+.

In the past, from non-retina to retina the ratio was just doubled. So an icon of 22px would be 44px. Very annoying for Apple to do this... :/

Thank you!

Ricardo is correct in his answer of @3x, but I'll take a shot at answering your question as well.

If you're working from Retina resolution assets already, the upscale factor would be an additional 1.5x for the iPhone 6 Plus.

For example, your 88px by 88px Retina icon would have to be up-scaled to a resolution one and a half times that amount for the iPhone Six Plus: 88*1.5=132 .


Apple Script Calendar permissions with a locked screen at my work machine I've written an AppleScript that writes an reminder email for our group meeting. It is triggered by an event in Calender through Open Application at time of event and then reaccesses another Calendar in the Calendar app to get the next meeting date. At the end it sends an email with both event dates. And everything works fine when I'm at the machine and the screen isn't locked.

But when the screen is locked, the app asks for permission to access the Calendar (which it does not when the screen isn't locked) and if I don't grant it, nothing happens of course.

And if I then unlock the screen and go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy I see an app with a cryptic name (i.e. 737C530B-...D34B47.app) under the Calendar permissions tab. So this must be some kind of hashed name of my original app that I want to execute.

So, my question now is:  how can I permanently app my own AppleScript .app to the Calendar permission s.t. I don't have to grant them every time? Or how to I avoid this whole permission shizzle once and for all?

Edit: Here's the code snippet of the call to Calendar:

-- Date
set theMeetingDate to ((current date) + 1 * days + 3 * hours)

-- Get next meeting date
tell application "Calendar"
tell calendar "Reminder"
    set theNextMeetingDate to (start date of (first event whose start date ≥ theMeetingDate)) + 1 * days + 3 * hours
end tell
end tell

Thanks a lot for your help!

Cheers,

P

This link might help. Scroll down to the section to codesign your app.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5914


How can I get my email messages to sync between my iPhone, iPad, and PC? I have iCloud set up on all three devices, but email messages deleted on one device don't also get deleted on other two devices. How do I fix this?

I haven't seen iCloud fail like this other than when there is an outage for the server hosting my mail. You could check for this by disabling mail on all devices and then re-enabling it so that whatever is present on the iCloud mail server syncs down to each device in turn. You might also power off each device when iCloud mail is off to ensure any cleanup scripts run at boot to clear any caches, but I've not seen this to be needed in experience so far.

Worst case, you would need to open a ticket with iCloud support if the things you can control (like enabling / disabling / rebooting and if needed, restoring the devices) fails to remedy this sync issue.


Will a thief be able to access the data on my iPad 2 by bypassing the passcode? Recently, my iPad 2 was stolen. It was protected by a lock screen passcode.

Can the person who stole it access my data even if they don't know the passcode?

If I understand correctly, the only possibility is to restore a previous backup, so I guess the thief is out of luck. Is this correct?

Sadly yes, the thief can access your data. All bets are off when they have physical access to your device.

The easiest way for the less scrupulous to gain access to your data is to back up the device through their iTunes via a traditional sync. Once done, they can access that back up with a variety of third party utilities, like iPhone Backup Extractor. They can gain access to your entire profile's contents, like you Address Book entries, pictures, and even your messages.

The process is outline here. This particular place talks of restoring it to another device, but with programs like iPhone Backup Extractor, that is not necessary, as you can pull the data right from the backup.

If you've got access to iCloud, I would strongly suggest a remote wipe of the device. Failing that, pray the thief isn't concerned with your data and just wants the lucrative device for their own use (which is usually the case).


What are the software differences between a standard and plus version of an iPhone? (e.g. 7 vs 7+) Apple is pretty good at documenting the hardware differences between iPhone models such as the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus.

However, I know there are software differences as well that don't seem to be documented. When making my decision to purchase one over the other, I want to consider these differences as well.

iPhone X Plus vs. iPhone X features:

Horizontal rotation on home screen, which can speed up folder browsing.
Uses regular horizontal size class when device is rotated to landscape orientation. This allows apps such as Notes to display the list of notes on the left hand side and the note details on the right-hand side in a split pane view.

iPhone 7 Plus vs. iPhone 7 features:

Bokeh effect as @tetsujin mentioned.


How to apply the parameters of view to all the directories? I know how to setup the mode of the view for a directory: sorting, the size of icons, etc... However, this gets applied only to the current directory. Whereas I want to apply them to all the directories. How can I do this?

When you're in a directory press command+J to see the View options.

Now go about setting the view options exactly how you'd like them to be. Once completed, click on the Use as Defaults button at bottom centre of the View options window. This will set your configuration as the default for all directories.


Screen brightness on Macbook Air June 2012 running Windows 7 Pro x64 Adjusting the screen brightness on my Macbook Air (June 2012) isn't working in Windows 7 Pro x64.

I saw some comments online saying there's a regedit I can do to enable brightness, but that didn't work because this model doesn't use nVidia, it has an intel HD 4000 graphics chip as far as I know...

I tried to install the HD 4000 driver from intel but now my laptop just boots to a black screen, but I'm confident I can fix that issue when I get home.

I'm wondering if anyone here is successfully running win7x64 on their June 2012 macbook air's? So far only the screen brightness is an issue albeit a pretty annoying one for a laptop. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks a lot guys!

The 64x support is terrible for this macbook air. If anyone else runs into this issue be ready to either struggle with power and display issues daily or just go to windows 7 x86. I dealt with the problems for about a month before switching, I'm much happier now.


After resetting iPhone, does Find My iPhone remain activated? Suppose the following scenario.

iPhone is disabled and the "Continue with iTunes" message is shown. The passcode has been forgotten.
iPhone restored via recovery mode using iTunes.
iPhone is restarted. Activation steps are followed.
Connected to Wi-Fi and SIM card install message is shown.

Is the Find My iPhone feature still ON in iPhone?

In iOS 7, Apple introduced a new feature called Activation Lock.

Activation Lock prevents someone from stealing your phone because they can't restore it and use it without your Apple ID and password.

So yes, Find My iPhone is still on because activation lock is still on. Find my iPhone can only be turned off by going to settings > iCloud > Find My iPhone, then flipping the switch and entering your Apple ID password.

You should need your password to activate the iPhone.


No calendar subscriptions showing up on iCloud.com I have a number of calendars on the Calendar app on my MacBook Pro (OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2): along with the three standard iCloud calendars (Calendar, Home, Work) I have 7 subscriptions. I have tried a number of things, but it seems none of my calendars except the three standard ones want to appear on iCloud.com. Is this an irreparable bug with the Apple software/servers, or is there something I can do to fix this issue here?

Note: It's odd that the calendars and indeed the list of iCloud subscriptions still seems to sync fine with my iPhone. It's just that none of them display on iCloud.com for whatever reason!

This is likely because iCloud.com only has iCloud calendars. Chances are all the rest of your calendars are not iCloud. Honestly, I wouldn't see it as a bug, but something that they haven't added into the online portal. If you click the Settings icon and select Preferences in iCloud.com/#calendar it will not give you an option to add outside calendars.

They will still show up on your phone because it is tied in with your email. If you go to the email account that you are subscribed with, you should see Calendars set to "On".


Why is Dropbox erring on startup? I opened up Dropbox and received this error:

I am on an Intel i5 MBP running 10.6.8. Dropbox is version 1.1.45.

Console log:

11/1/11 9:54:56 AM  [0x0-0x156156].com.getdropbox.dropbox[2434] 'import site' failed; use -v for traceback
11/1/11 9:54:56 AM  [0x0-0x156156].com.getdropbox.dropbox[2434] Traceback (most recent call last):
11/1/11 9:54:56 AM  [0x0-0x156156].com.getdropbox.dropbox[2434]   File "Resources/__boot__.py", line 103, in <module>
11/1/11 9:54:56 AM  [0x0-0x156156].com.getdropbox.dropbox[2434]   File "Resources/__boot__.py", line 101, in _argv_emulation
11/1/11 9:54:56 AM  [0x0-0x156156].com.getdropbox.dropbox[2434]   File "Resources/__boot__.py", line 7, in _get_argvemulator
11/1/11 9:54:56 AM  [0x0-0x156156].com.getdropbox.dropbox[2434] zipimport.ZipImportError: can't decompress data; zlib not available
11/1/11 9:54:56 AM  Dropbox[2434]   Dropbox Error
11/1/11 9:54:56 AM  Dropbox[2434]   Dropbox Error An unexpected error has occurred during execution of the main script
ZipImportError: can't decompress data; zlib not available
11/1/11 9:54:58 AM  com.apple.launchd.peruser.504[607]  ([0x0-0x156156].com.getdropbox.dropbox[2434]) Exited with exit code: 255

Google showed that it is the case with 10.3 while Dropbox only support 10.4 and upwards.

Judging by the screenshot it is not your case so there is either a problem with zlib on your system or with permissions. Then either Disk Utility or booting from install disk and repair user permissions might help.

If nothing above try to remove Dropbox with a cleaner app and install anew.


MacBook Pro 10-15s delay on power button I have very weird problem. When I want to power on my macbook pro after I press the button I need to wait 10-15s to see Apple Logo icon. It is so frustrating every time I need to restart my mac I need to wait 10-15s on black screen and later everything is working perfect. I have read questions on official apple website and they suggest that in this kind of problem I need to reset PRAM, SMC and select bootable disk to MacOS. After that I am still getting this problem.
I have done a clean instalation too and I am still getting this problem. Thanks for any help
Macbook PRO 2018 15,1 and I am running on latest Catalina

I recently had this exact same issue. Hardware test said I had no issues. After about another two weeks of use, my internal ssd went dead, and i had to replace it. After replacement, all is speedy again. So if its not a corrupt efi or boot partition, i would suspect you might have a failing hard drive.


How do I show the total ratio on uTorrent on a mac? I wanted to view my total download/upload ratio on uTorrent (v1.8.4) of all the torrents I've downloaded/shared. Where can I view this information?

uTorrent all-time statistics are not available in the Mac version at the time of writing. If you want to raise the issue with the developers, the Feature Request area on the uTorrent forum seems to be a good place to post a request.


How can I change the calendar that an event, added from Mail, is attached to? When I double-click an attachment from Mail.app and it gets imported into the Calendar app, I am unable to change the Calendar that the event is in:

However, items that are created from within the application themselves can be changed without issue:

I am also unable to edit them or add notes as well.

Furthermore, these events were previously not syncing and now appear to be—although the app on my phone has to be open for syncing to occur. (At least, it doesn't seem like they are there. i.e. I don't get notifications unless I go and check my calendar.)

I have already:

Ensured that the email addresses are attached to my contact (the "Me" one).
Tried deactivating and re-syncing iCloud.

This might be the combination of a couple of different issues, but I guess the big question is, why can't I edit or move these events?

You should be able to change the calendar it's in, so I don't understand why you can't do that, but I have encountered events I could not edit before & for me, it turned out to be the fact that the event was owned by someone else (even though I imported it on my personal calendar).

I found out that by opening up the .ics file in Text Edit.app and removing the lines which signify ownership before importing, I could edit the event just fine in the Calendar app. Just removed entries containing ORGANIZER, UID:, ATTENDEE, and/or PARTSTAT.  Save and then double-click the edited file.

I created a folder action for it, so all I have to do is drop the .ics file in the folder to import an editable event.


What is a good indestructible iPad case for toddlers? Does anyone know of any iPad cases that are so indestructible, that you would entrust a 3-year-old with an iPad?

Check out OtterBox's Defender product line. I don't own any of their products, but I've heard from others that they're close to indestructible.

More details & reviews:

Tough Guys Rock the OtterBox (OtterBox Blog)
OtterBox Releases Heavy Duty Defender iPad Case (CrunchGear)
OtterBox's Defender Case puts your iPad in a Batman Suit (ZDNet)
Otterbox Defender iPad case review: Best rugged case money can buy (Mobile Magazine)
OtterBox Defender for iPad: When You Need Fully Body Protection (Gear Diary)


Is WiFi calling supported on ios 8 on iPhone 5? I have an iPhone 5, and I don't have good reception at home, so I was hoping to use wifi calling after upgrading to ios 8, but I can't find an option to enable it.  BTW I'm with T-Mobile carrier.

As of right now, it is only available on 5c, 5s, and 6.

Whether or not this is intentional is unsure since t-mobile themselves thought it would be available for the 5 as well.  We will have to wait for some kind of update for iPhone 5


Is there a good syslog viewer for mac? I have many devices from which I want to get logs using a syslog server hosted on my iMac.

To get in touch with logs and analyse them, I am looking for a good syslog viewer for mac which have the following functionalities :

color log by level
stats & graphs
send mail and alert

I tried the common logs viewers (console, SU => https://superuser.com/questions/320575/mac-os-x-logfile-viewer) but the two last functionalities I look for are not supported by them. It exists loggly.com but only on cloud version and logmx but which exist only in free version without stats.

Has someone any idea of a good syslog viewer (opensource / free if possible) which had these functions for mac ?

At last, one developer is making both tools you seek.

Howard Oakley has beta versions of his programs at https://eclecticlight.co/downloads/ and blogs regularly about how to use these and explore the new log archive formats on macOS / iOS / tvOS / watchOS

His downloads page has two apps of interest (use the left downloads link as the product versions below are beta and may not be current in a day or week):

Consolation - an alternative console browser
Woodpile - a tool to count / bin / analyze patterns of logging

If you picked one blog post of his to look at regarding logging, I would start here:

https://eclecticlight.co/2017/11/22/the-unified-log-in-high-sierra-10-13-1/


MacBook Pro 2016 Left Click lag in games? I've recently purchased a 2016 13-inch MacBook Pro w/ Touch Bar and I've noticed something incredibly strange when playing games. Left-clicking with any pointer (either the trackpad or mouse) results in a noticeable delay in a game's response. So far, I've noticed it while playing League of Legends, Borderlands 2, and Mark of the Ninja.

In the case of League, left clicking doesn't cause the game to freeze up, but rather the game does not register the left click unless the click is held down for a longer time. This is true for both a mouse and the trackpad.

For BL2, left clicking anywhere, either in the menus or in the 3D environment , will result in a slight delay before the click is registered, but will then visually lock up cursor movement. Objects in the 3D environment still move at full FPS, but the player First Person camera will briefly freeze, then cut to where it WOULD be if the freeze never occurred. In this way, left-clicking doesn't freeze the game per say, but rather freezes movement of the game camera briefly.

Mark of the Ninja has an issue similar to League, where left clicking is not registered unless the click is held down.

From these three scenarios, I am led to believe that the issue does not lie exclusively with the trackpad or mouse (since the problem occurs with both input mechanisms). I also believe that the problem exists outside of Steam (which was used to play both BL2 and MotN) since LoL was affected. I have tried adjusting double-click speed in Trackpad and Mouse settings, which did not help. I also tried turning off Force-Click and Three-Finger Drag for the trackpad, which also did not help.

The problem seems only to occur in games; navigating around the Desktop and Finder is speedy and responsive.

Has anyone else had this issue and/or knows how to fix it? I am running MacOS Sierra 10.12.5.

I found the solution after a long time searching....

As it turns out, a third party app called "Magnet" was causing the delay. Many other games have had similar issues due to this app running in the background.


Undelivered SMS is read in an automated voice A work colleague sent me an SMS that I didn't get. Instead an automated voice keeps calling my number and starts reading this message out to me when I answer.

Is this a feature of the iPhone, and if so, how do I turn it off?
I called my service provider but they couldn't do anything.

This call has now been coming every 30 minutes for the last couple of hours and it is really starting to annoy me.

I have set the General/Accessibility/VoiceOver to Off so it's not that.

My carrier, Virgin Mobile, has (had?) a service that would read SMS messages out as a phone call if it believed the destination number was not an SMS-capable cellular phone.

Your colleague's carrier may be doing the same thing.  If you have yet to listen to the entire message, I recommend doing so and seeing if there is an acknowledgement at the end of the call (e.g. "press pound to acknowledge"), which may stop the call.

I bet your problem lies with your colleague's carrier, though.  It is unlikely that either your phone or your own carrier can do much (though the latter may be able to help you block the incoming call.)


Do not show refit menu on boot (only with option key) Is it possible to configure rEFIt so that the menu does not automatically show on my macbook when booting? I would like it to boot straight to OSX and only show the menu when I hold the option key, similar to how it worked before I installed rEFIt.

I am using:
MBP 10.6.8, rEFIt 0.14

I suppose the smallest timeout possible (1 sec) would be a kind of solution, although not exactly what you wanted.

If you have another OS installed on the internal HDD that can be booted by the stock Mac bootloader, you could install refit to the corresponding partition and bless the OS X partition. Thus, when you need refit/ind, you hold the alt key during boot and select the partition where it's installed.


Cannot sync photos from photos app to iphone using iTunes When I navigate to photos from my phone settings in iTunes, I am not able to select the photos.app from the "copy photos from" dropdown.
My Photo Library exist in the Pictures directory and it is set as a system photos library.
My photo library is not corrupt. The access level is not restricted.
I have my iCloud photos option disabled.
I am running Mojave 10.14.6
How do I sync my photos app library to my iPhone through iTunes?

What I did to solve this problem is to reinstall my OS. I don't need to wipe my hard drive clean. The problem could be due to some corruption in the system files.


How can I batch zip multiple folders without _macosx files? I'm wanting to zip multiple folders at the same time, where each folder is it's own zip file. I'd like to create the zip without the _macosx or any other hidden files, and if possible have the zip file's extension changed to .cbz at the same time. That way I can just run one process on one entire folder and get them all done quickly.

I'm using Ubooquity to host my comics and it treats the files as corrupt if the _macosx file or any other hidden files are inside the zip file.

Here is an Automator Service that uses as single Run Shell Script action to handle the process.

In Automator, select: File > New > Service
Set: Service receives selected folders in Finder
Add a Run Shell Script Action

Settings: Shell: /bin/bash and Pass input: as arguments
Replace all of the default code with the code show further below.

Save the Automator Service giving it an appropriate name, e.g.: Create CBZ Zip Archive

Now in Finder, select the target folder(s) that you want an individual zip archive, with a .cbz extension for each selected folder, then right-click and select Create CBZ Zip Archive, from the services section of the context menu.

Code for Run Shell Script Action:

for d in "$@"; do
    if ! cd "$(dirname "$d")"; then exit; fi
    if ! d="$(basename "$d")"; then exit; fi
    if [[ ! -e "${d}.cbz" ]]; then
        if ! zip -r "${d}.cbz" "$d" -x \*.DS_Store \*.localized; then exit; fi
    fi
done

Notes:

As coded, it only creates the filename.cbz zip archive file if the file does not already exist.
It creates the filename.cbz zip archive file in the same folder containing the selected folder(s).
It's written in a manner that if an error occurs with any of the steps taken, it exits the script without notification. Error handling can be modified as needed/wanted.
By default, zip will not include the __MACOSX folder and if you find there are other hidden files besides .DS_Store and .localized, although you shouldn't run in to the latter in this use case, you can add additional exclusions to the zip command.
As is, the only indication the script has finished is when the Automator Service Gear Icon on the Menu bar has disappeared. Some other form(s) of completion notification can be added to the script and or the workflow of the Automator Service extended with additional actions as appropriate, needed/wanted.
As is, it's no frills, however it does what it's programed to do.


Why is my disk space shrinking? I've just got a second hand MacBook from my dad which is a 2017 version with 250GB storage. I've factory reset it so theoretically it should be a completely blank slate, but for some reason I'm losing disk space already. Every couple of minutes the available space shrinks; it seems I lose 100MG every ten minutes or so. I'm currently on 231.52GB free, and it was at least 235 a few hours ago.

I know this began as soon as the computer switched on because the first thing I did was to check the storage space and I immediately noticed that it was going down. I'm not downloading anything at all from the internet, my downloads folder is completely empty.

This is really frustrating to me, not to mention making me a bit paranoid about when it's going to stop and how much space I'll have lost when it does. The whole reason I got this Mac was for the better storage as my previous one was less than half the size (120GB) and it was causing big problems. And granted it's only small chunk of the overall storage gone so far, but I'm gonna be using a lot of big files on this machine and I need all the space I can get. Does anyone know why this is happening and how to stop it? I'm wary of even downloading anything else until I get to the root of this problem.

I think having 235GB free space on a 256GB SSD Macbook Pro is not very likely on an active system. 256GB SSD Mac normally has about 250 GB of available space. The system and pre-installed apps would easily take much more space than 15 GB.

On the other hand, mac storage reporting can dynamically change (up or down) as calculations take place. You might have been observing that going up and down in calculations.

On a fresh installed OS, much things can be going. For example, spotlight might be building an index. As you browse web-sites, Safari or Google chrome will also be building up its cache. Likewise, if you use Spotify, even it will cache the songs you are listening. Therefore, I suggest that you use the system for a while and then see if the storage calculations settle down.

When the things settle down, you can make an analysis of used space and try to see if everything is normal or not. Hope that helps.


Upgrading Mac mini (Mid 2011) RAM I've got a Mac mini (Mid 2011). It currently has 4 GB of RAM which I want to upgrade to 16 GB. I know that officially with these versions, only 8 GB is supported, but I've read from OWC Announces Industry’s First 16 GB RAM Upgrade For Latest Apple Mac Mini Models that you can actually upgrade to 16 GB.

I've found this memory, Corsair CMSX16GX3M2B1600C9 Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) 1600Mhz DDR3L 9-9-9-24 204pin 1.35V Notebook Memory, which I want to upgrade to. My concern is that it's 1600 MHz and that my Mac mini comes with 1333 MHz memory.

How can I understand what Mac memory requirements are so I can select the proper parts to expand it?

I found this site here.
It appears that your mac can only use the 1333mhz ram sticks, the 2012 models can work with the faster memory.
The site also states that 16gb is not suported but unofficial it will work anyway.

In this answer a similar question is answered, if it works it wil run at 1333mhz since your ram slots can't go any faster.
But since macs are really picky about the memory you use there is a big chance it won't work at all.


Contradictory messages about restoring to a spare device My iPhone 4S died and I need its contents (e.g. authenticator app to log in to customer systems). I have a backup from 2019/12/31 on my MacBook, so I want to restore it to an identical spare device we have around in the office. That should work, right?
However... iTunes (12.9.5.5 on macOS 10.14.6) claims

iTunes could not restore the iPhone "[name]" because the backup was not compatible with the iPhone that is being restored.
You must update the iPhone to the latest version of iOs before it can be restored from this backup.

But the iPhone says it's running iOS 7.1.2 and there isn't anything newer.
Which side is lying, and can I force the restore in some other way?

I don't think any of the sides are "lying" (i.e. being deliberately deceitful). I think the person wrong here might simply be you.

You're saying that your iPhone 4S died, and you're trying to restore to an identicate spare device. I have a suspicion that your identical spare device is not in fact identical. I think it's an iPhone 4.

The iPhone 4 cannot be updated to iOS versions newer than 7.1.2. In contrast the iPhone 4S can be updated to iOS 9.3.6.

In your case you will need to find newer hardware to restore your backup to.


Viewing and Managing iTunes Downloads I am on iTunes 12.5.1.21 on OS X El Capitan 10.11.3. I would like to know where (by default) downloads are written (I am downloading many iTunes U lectures in sequence).

Window > Activity shows me active downloads which I can pause and cancel, but that isn't exactly what I need.  I can also click the tiny arrow at the top right of the iTunes navbar that shows up when you are downloading something, but it just gives me the same tools as Window > Activity.

Two other easy options to find where an iTunes file is downloaded:

(1.) Locate the file in your libary, right-click it, select "Get Info" and go to the "File" tab to see the full path.

(2.) Locate the file in your libary, right-click it, select "Show in Finder" if, for example, you want to play the media in a different application.


I'm having trouble setting up my email for my Mac, it's version 10.7.5 I received my brother-in-law's old Mac as a gift. When we tried to switch from his email to mine, the app won't accept my password or connect online. Does anyone know to fix this? The Mac still has his name and email address as the default even though I've changed to my Apple ID and everything.

I brought the Mac to my campus tech guy, but all he could suggest was hard resetting the computer, which is something I don't want to do.
If you need anymore photos for clarity, let me know and I'll be happy to edit my question with more.

First, remove his account from the list of accounts in preferences.

Go to Mail > Preferences [command ⌘+,
Go to the Accounts tab [Looks like an @ symbol]
Select his old account
Click the Minus button at the bottom of the list to remove his account [see picture below]

Now, add your email account.  Note: Not to be confused with your Apple ID and password.  Even if your Apple ID is the same as your email, the passwords may be different.  One accesses Apple services (iCloud, iTunes etc.) the other is your email account.


Is there a way to increase the upper limit to iCloud storage space? I see here (bold my own):

With Apple One, you can choose a subscription plan that includes 50GB, 200GB or 2TB of iCloud storage. If you need more iCloud storage, you can buy more for a total of up to 4TB.

This seems to mean for people with more than 4TB of data (e.g. someone with lots of family videos, or a hobby photographer), there's simply no way to store it all in iCloud (without creating separate dummy accounts). Is there any way?
For reference, Google Drive goes up to 30TB

Before Apple One introduced 4TB iCloud storage plans, the limit was 2TB. There was no way to increase the limit past that biggest tier, and likewise now with the 4TB tier — there's no tier beyond the largest tier.
This has been a regular complaint of iCloud. The 4TB tier could have been in response to the years of asking for more than 2TB, but of course now we're in the same situation and delaying the inevitable for those of us who store a lot of data in iCloud.


How to open a file in the default application for it directly from QuickLook? Is there a way to open a file straight from QuickLook?

I have a directory containing symlinks to the PDF files I usually refer to. I cannot copy the files locally and I must use symlinks. When I need to open one of the files, I can't rely on Finder icon previews as these do not show for symlinks (I think that's absurd, don't you? Is there any reason why they would not?). Not knowing how to pick the file I am interested in, I select them all and press Option + Space. Immediately following Option + Space, I press Command + Enter and finally see them all tiled across the screen (Note: Command + Enter is not bound in Finder as far as I can see, why not allow users to press that directly?).

Once I choose the file I want, with the mouse or the arrow keys, I don't see how I could open just that file in the corresponding application (say: Adobe Reader).

That, to me, is dumbfounding. Command + O opens ALL files I selected to begin with but I think QuickLook should allow for opening the file currently being previewed with a UI element or a keystroke, shouldn’t it? It is so strange that it almost can't be, maybe I am just missing the obvious... in that case I apologise.

For the record, I am running OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8.

Quick Look windows have had a button for opening files since Lion:

They're not shown in the full screen slideshow windows though. Holding or secondary-clicking (but not control-clicking) the button shows a menu for selecting other applications.


How can I make iPhone clock alarms obey vibrate-only mode? In the Clock app, if I use a timer or alarm that goes off while my iPhone is on vibrate mode, the alarm sound still goes off.  Is there a way to make it obey the vibrate mode?  Or a way to tell it whether or not to ignore it?

Calendar alarms obey the mute switch.  Clock alarms do not.

Personally, I consider this a feature and not a bug--but I can understand why you'd at least want the option.

However, short of jailbreaking, there is currently no way to change this behavior in the Apple-provided applications.


Links in Gmail won't open in Chrome iPhone 7
iOS 10.1.1
Gmail 5.0.3
Chrome 54.0.2840.91

When trying to open a link directly within the gmail app, it opens in safari instead of chrome. This used work just fine until the latest update of gmail.

I looked in the gmail settings under google apps, to use the app instead of the browser. There is no option for Chrome where I imagine it should be.

I can't find any other option to make chrome the default browser instead of safari.

Help?

UPDATE: As of 11/26/2016, the problem seems to have been fixed. Links from my gmail app open up in chrome again.

iOS 10 isn't the problem - the "old" gmail app still opened links in chrome well after updating to iOS 10. This didn't become an issue until updating to Gmail's version 5 that this became an issue.


is QuickTime available on OSX 10.9.5? I'm using OSX 10.9.5 on my MacBook Pro now and I can't find the QuickTime app/feature anywhere. Is QuickTime only available on OSX Yosemite 10.10.3? If it is on OSX 10.9.5, where is it located? It's not one of my the apps at the bottom of screen, so where can it be?

I want to make a preview video for my app and I need QuickTime and iMovie to do it. But also, where is iMovie located?

Go to the Finder and type command+shift+a. That will get you to your applications (hence the "a"). QuickTime and iMovie should both be there.


Messages - Signs me out of facebook everytime laptop sleeps or screen turns off After turning the laptop on and logging in (into my macbook air) I am prompted for a password for facebook. I am signed onto two different gchat accounts just fine but not facebook.

Even after entering my password again I have a text sent to me from facebook saying to using a certain string of numbers as my password instead of my actual password.

I do have two step authenitcation on facebook, could that be the culprit? (although I have two step authentication for my google accounts also..)

I'm on OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Log into Facebook, click on the Gear for Preferences, then go to Account Settings, then choose Security. Under Security, you can create App Passwords, which are application specific passwords you can use where two step authentication won't work. Create a new one for Messages, then use that as your Password to log into Facebook in Messages.


Claiming an app title for your iTunes Connects account I'm setting up my iTunes Connect account and chose an app title etc.  Since I haven't released/published the app to iOS yet, can someone else set up an iTunes Connect app with the same app title and publish it? Or, once you add the app to your iTunes Connect account, do you reserve that title of the app until submission?

If you've created an app record for the app, providing an app name and SKU, then you have registered this name to that iTunes Connect account for 180 days.[1]

After 180 days, the app record is deleted. Once an app record is deleted from iTunes Connect, you can't create an app record with the same app name on that iTunes Connect account.[2]


Alternative to Quicksilver Triggers Well after using QS for quite some time, it no longer works...Even when loading it on a clean SL build with latest Apple updates.  When I set up a trigger they will only work until I reboot.  At that point none of the trigger action works.

I heavily use(d) custom triggers and I am not having any luck finding a alternative to QS with that functionality.  Do custom triggers only exist in QS or are there alternatitives?

EDIT

Just thought I would add the problem descibed with triggers is known with b58 and now with the latest b59.  So if b59 is not even on blacktree's site and only on qsapp.com (as someone posted), meaning brand new I guess the next hope is b60.  Who knows when that may be available though.

You are not alone in this problem and in fact I bought Alfred as part of addressing this problem.

It looks like there are some other users still trying to get Quicksilver working, and even though it is not really in active development, there is an article on how to download two different versions of Quicksilver, and then selectively deleting or merging files together.

Honestly, given this level of annoyance, I would go with Alfred.


Can the Date Created metadata be changed after the fact on OS X? I have a movie file. It was taken back in October but the date created is from last week. How can I change the date created information in the file?

I found the following terminal command, which allows setting the date created:

SetFile -d "10/16/2012" file


What available methods are there to boot a Macbook Pro I have a macbook pro 15" early 2011 model, which I would like to install linux on (dual boot setup). However, I don't have an optical drive for it since I replaced it with an SSD. I need some way to boot the linux installer. I have tried booting from a USB flash drive, from a partition on an external HDD connected over firewire, and even using a virtual machine (which surprisingly was the most successful attempt).

Should my computer be able to boot from some of these media I listed above, if so, are there any good resources that might show me what I was doing wrong?

I have an external optical drive that connects over USB if that helps.

Is there a way I could set up a network-boot solution? I have a mac mini running mountain lion that I can use.

I would follow these steps to get Ubuntu on a freshly erased USB drive.

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-mac-osx

No need for rEFIt or other hybrid boot tools so you can get your feet wet booting with the option key held down and choosing the USB drive. Once you have a working linux, you can easily bootstrap to other OS if they don't have instructions that are as Mac friendly as Ubuntu.


Are macOS Spotlight privacy settings shared between parallel installs? I have two independent copies of macOS Catalina installed on two different disk partitions.

Somehow, when I change Spotlight privacy settings in one of them, same settings and up applying into another system after I boot it up.

How is that possible and how can I fix it?

Adding a volume to Spotlight’s Privacy tab adds a ‘no index’ file to the root of the volume. This file will then exist for the other OS to read and be applied.

It’s not possible for one OS to index a volume and another not since the index is stored in a hidden Spotlight folder in the root of the volume, not unique to an OS.


Is there a window tiling app that snaps to other windows' edges rather than predefined screen areas? All window tiling apps I've seen are designed to make windows snap to preset screen areas, such as "the left half of the screen" or even "this size of rectangle specified with a grid." Is there one that would let me do, say, this:

Take a look at this Wiki question, and see if any of the answers meet your needs.

In particular, this one looks interesting:

Zooom/2 - "Magnetism. If you like snapping windows the the edges of the screen or other windows (as in many X window managers), you will love this."


How do I permanantly disable zoom feature when taking screenshots/screencapture (cmd+shift+4)? Recently made a jump to Mountain Lion and it appears Apple added a feature to the screenshot function (cmd+shift+4) that zooms in when it is a small screenshot. It's a pain and I want to disable it permanently. Is there any way I can do this?

Example screenshot

The screengrab taken on the “normal” unscaled display has the correct pixel dimensions along with a DPI (Dots per inch) of 72, which has been the standard DPI on Macs for a very long time. The screengrab taken on the Retina display, however, is much larger, with a proportionately higher DPI. This makes sense, due to the way OS X handles scaling on the Retina display.
So, even though the image appears “normal” size on a Retina screen, it’s actually being rendered at the higher DPI / larger size and scaled down. When the OS X screencapture utility is used to take a screen grab, it captures the image at the higher DPI and resolution. And when that image is uploaded to be viewed on the web, it is way too big.

Seems the solution is http://www.retinacapture.com/


How do I get Automator to process images using ImageMagick in a command script? I'm making an Automator workflow that uses the shell script action to process a selection of images with the imagemagick composite command. Only I'm having issues getting it going. According to the results I get when I run the workflow, everything is working however, I know it's not due to the fact that the changes I'd expect to see in the folder of images are not present. I know that the imagemagick command I'm using is correct as it works correctly from the console. (I echoed the composite command to the output & copied it into a Terminal session. Ran like a charm). BTW: The workflow's for processing a fade in on a stop motion movie I made. Yes I know I could use video tools to achieve the same thing, but the ones I have access to screw up the image quality on output.

Here's the script

imagesCount=$#
rate=$(echo "scale=2; 100/$imagesCount"|bc)
percentage=$rate
for f in "$@"; do
    fileName=${f%.*}
    composite -blend "$percentage" -size 1280x720 "$f" xc:black -alpha Set "$fileName-1.jpg"
    percentage=$(echo "scale=2; $percentage+$rate"|bc)
done

At first I thought at the cause of the problem might be spaces in the paths, but I removed this possibility by shifting the files to a path without spaces, but that had no effect.

I'm almost certain the issue is related to something in the bash command but I don't know bash at all, this is my first time writing any bash command scripts, but I am very knowledgeable in Windows console scripting and would have no trouble getting this to work there.

If the error in the script isn't obvious enough to catch, would someone propose a method to debug this so I can figure out why the images are not getting processed even though the script runs without error?

I would just do the whole thing at the command line as a shell script instead of using Automator to launch it. Put #!/bin/bash as the first line, and run it as

myscript.sh image*.png

where image*.png is your set of image files that you are apparently selecting in Automator?

If you need to run it on all files in a folder, that can be done too.

You can also test your script in automator using echo ${f%.*} instead of the commands themselves.


How to review Apple Podcasts app? Recent iPhone update also updated Podcasts app. Which is now missing lots of features and it is broken.
I found Apple Podcasts app in itunes but there is no Review tab or button. I like to write a review for apple but don't know how. How do i do that?

Podcasts is part of iOS, not on the App Store, therefore you can't review it on the App Store.

You can send feedback to Apple through Apple Feedback:

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


Is there a reader for iPhone or iPad that supports many formats? I'm looking for a reader application that can open many ebook formats, specifically I am looking for pdf, djvu, epub, fb2 and txt.

Book Reader Pro is what you are looking for. The ebook file format support is outstanding. The supported file formats are  PDF/EPUB/CHM/DJVU/FB2/CBZ and XPS.

Stanza would be another good choice but I'm not sure about it file format support.


Does the Apple Watch (new serie 1) couple with iPhone 5 iOS 9? I am running my iPhone 5 with iOS 9.  This setup is already slow and I don't want to update to iOS 10 to make it slower. I'm also considering buying the cheaper Apple Watch which needs tethering to my iPhone to access locations, etc.

Could there be any problem with an iPhone NOT running iOS 10 with an Apple Watch?

According to information I got from Apple watchOS3 requires iOS10.


Can you still make QuickTime to store temporary recordings on another drive? I need to get QuickTime Player to store its temporary files on another disk. I found an answer here, which I tried, but QuickTime Player quits with an error when I try to make a Screen Recording. I used:

$ cd ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX
$ mv Data Data.bak
$ ln -s /Volumes/'Keeper 4'/QuicktimeScratch QTData
$ ln -s QTData Data

Does this no longer work, or did I screw something up? Keeper 4 is an external HD. I tried it with and without an existing QuicktimeScratch directory.

It seems that Apple doesn't want you to do this for whatever reason, so they prevent the symbolic link hack from working at the level of the Data/ subdirectory. After fooling around with this, I found a workable solution one level up:

$ cd ~/Library/Containers/
$ mv com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX/ com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX.backup/
$ ln -s /Volumes/<NAME_OF_VOLUME>/com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX/ .

No need for a double link trick this time around.


Can a low-wattage adapter fully recharge the battery of a turned off MacBook? MacBooks come with power adapters that provide a certain wattage (for example 87 W) required to keep the computer running and charge the battery. If used with a lower-wattage power adapter (for example 61 W), there might not be enough power to keep the computer running. However, could such a lower-wattage power adapter be used to fully recharge the battery if the computer is kept turned off?

Could even a low-wattage iPhone charger be used for this, although it would probably take a long time?

Update: The question concerns newer MacBooks with USB-C chargers.

Yes, it will charge from a lower-wattage adapter so long as the computer is not burning the energy faster than the charger is providing it.

I personally have a 15" 2016 MBP. It came with an 87W adapter, which I usually leave at work. At home, I have an Anker USB-PD 60W adapter. Typically lack of wattage isn't noticeable, but on a few occasions, while running the MacBook Pro hard, I have noticed the battery is not charging, or even draining. In that case I need to calm things down or plug in the 87W adapter.*

Anything with a USB-PD charger should be able to charge the battery, even the 30W model, though in that case your MacBook Pro may need to be asleep to charge.

*Fun fact, you don't actually need to unplug the 60W adapter in this case, the computer will draw from the higher wattage adapter, and stop drawing from the lower. See this question.

Update in 2020

I've now charged on low-power chargers countless times. I've even recharged overnight with a 3A phone charger when I didn't have anything better. It takes hours but you'll have a full charge in the morning.

Theoretically, the 15" Macbook's 7.2Ah battery would charge in 4 hours assuming 60% efficiency, that the charger actually puts out a full 3 amps, and there is no usage during that time. At 2.4A, you'd be around 5 hours and so forth.


Configure Software Update to use a SOCKS5 proxy I've got a machine that doesn't have a direct connection to the internet.  I use a socks proxy to connect to the internet:

% ssh -ND 8080 gateway-machine

And I've got Firefox, etc configured to use this proxy, so I can browse the internet as normal.

How can I configure Software Update to use this proxy (or some other method) so I can get updates to this machine?

I know I can set the software update url to a non-default value, so that might help, but I'm not sure how.

Unlike Firefox, most OS X apps don't have their own proxy settings but instead respect the system-wide configuration in the Network preference pane. This is particularly true of the bundled apps like Software Update and Safari.

To do that, just open the Network pane in System Preferences, select the connection you want to configure on the left (e.g. Wi-Fi), then click Advanced... on the lower-right:

Now, click the Proxies tab. Check the "SOCKS Proxy" checkbox, and then enter the address, port, and authentication info for your proxy.

Finally, click OK to exit the Advanced modal, then click Apply.

These screenshots are from 10.8 (Mountain Lion), but it's almost the same on older versions of OS X. Which reminds me, what version of Mac OS X are you using? A Google search turned up a couple posts about Software Update not working with authenticated proxies in 10.4 and/or 10.6.


How To Disable JavaScript for a Specific Website in Safari on IOS? I don't think its possible, but hoping the knowledgeable people here will tell me otherwise. Use-case: I have a website added to my home screen from safari on IOS, and I don't want that specific site to use JavaScript. Other browsers on IOS don't (or more likely aren't allowed to) have the 'add to home screen' functionality, so there ability to selectively disable JavaScript on  a per-site basis is not relevant.

The concept of a Safari content blocker is the perfect way to set this up.

Here is one such app that is programmed to let you use the native iOS browser and selectively block JavaScript - whether it’s a named script or per site.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pro-script/id1275541103

This isn’t something that’s easy to do yourself from iOS without adding programming or a helper. Another avenue would be to install an app that is a browser, just blocks all JS so you would have to open the link first and then send it to this app.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/no-js/id1062685513


Mac Mini Insists on Shutting Down When I Unplug Mouse and Keyboard I have a Mac Mini I usually use as a server, but sometimes I need to work on it. I prefer to use my keyboard and mouse on my primary computer, a laptop. These peripherals and others are attached to a USB hub, and I would like to be able to plug this hub into the Mac when I need to do something and then put it back. I can often do this (but not always) once, but inevitably there comes a time when Mac OS thinks there is a problem when I either unplug or reiplug in the hub.

Is there any way to stop this need to reboot? I don't have room for another keyboard nor do I want to get more equipment that I will almost never use.

In support of this, next time it happens, make a note of the time you pull the plugs out, and then when you are rebooted, run the Console application, and check your logs for the same timescale.  This should provide a handy clue.

Also, do you have any other devices on your USB hub that provide any more than just mouse/keyboard services?  Any card readers, storage devices etc?  These may need umounting properly before just pulling the plug and may be a part of it if you have them.


How to update all the drivers to latest version(bootcamp) How to can I manually update all the drivers. I see my Nvidia card's support software always says new update available. Is it safe to update drivers from Nvidia site, some other sites(for other drivers) or Apple releases special type of drivers for there hardware and only those will be supported?

The important Apple drivers which Windows invariably doesn't have updates for are Facetime camera, Apple keyboard/trackpad/mouse, and the IR receiver.

Beyond these you can update any drivers that MS has to offer through Windows Update, and I've had no issues with downloading video drivers directly from nVidia. Always create a restore point so you can backtrack if you install something that doesn't work as well as it should, link to MS help page here.


Phone app uses a single contact's image for all calls Since I've updated to iOS 7, there's something that has driven me nearly insane every time I make a phone call. Every time I receive or place a call, the background image for the call (which is supposed to be the contact's image) consistently shows up the same for all calls. This would be fine if it were my wallpaper, but it's actually a picture of someone that I used for their contact photo. I've since deleted the photo from my phone and from the contact, but it still shows up for every phone call I receive.

As you can expect, this is extremely bothering. Is there any way to clear the cache that is used for contact photos on phone calls?

Try a reset all settings it worked fine for me.
Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings.

The phone will reboot and the problem will be fixed but the custom settings like wallpaper and lock screen wallpaper will be reset to iOS 7 default.


How to sync reading list from iPhone to mac without iCloud I have lots of links in safari reading list on my iPhone and I want to sync it all with safari on my mac but without using iCloud. How can i do that?

It is not possible to sync your Safari Reading List without iCloud. However iCloud is a free service, I would suggest just signing up for it.

Alternatively you could use another reading list service like Readability etc.. but they all work via a online service.


How to use iCloud Drive on iPhone and iPad? On the following screenshot from https://www.apple.com/icloud/icloud-drive/, it looks like I can use an iCloud app on iPhone and iPad.  But some webpage such as http://www.imore.com/how-set-and-use-icloud-drive-iphone-and-ipad says that there is no iCloud Drive app.

I hunted every where on the iPhone 5S and iPad Air which both have iOS 8 and has iCloud enabled, but I can't find such screen as in the screenshot below.

So how do I go to the screenshot as below?  I upload a PDF file, a picture, and an mp4 file on my Macbook using the Chrome browser on www.icloud.com, but can't access those files just like how I would use DropBox or Copy (which has 15GB free).

Those screenshots are from inside Pages, an app which contains support for iCloud Drive and allows you to select any Pages file inside any of your folders in iCloud Drive.

You can't just 'access' the files in iCloud Drive in iOS like you can on Dropbox. You need to use an app which supports that filetype and iCloud Drive to be able to open the files.


How can I convince Safari to be responsible for ttp:// URLs as well as http:// URLs? When somebody sends me a URL in an email, it is opened by Safari.

But often people make a mistake when copying the links (how I do not know) and the URL starts with ttp:// instead of http://.

Is there a way to teach Safari to feel responsible for ttp URLs as well and open them as http URLs?

You can tell Safari to open ttp URLs by adding this to ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.plist and restarting (logging out and back in isn't enough).

<dict>
    <key>LSHandlerRoleAll</key>
    <string>com.apple.Safari</string>
    <key>LSHandlerURLScheme</key>
    <string>ttp</string>
</dict>

I don't know how to redirect them to http URLs though.


Need to show my Mac desktop (no remote control, preferably free) to multiple PC clients On the PC, I used a free TightVNC server for screeencasting. Students connected to it from the class PCs with a free viewer app and saw my demonstrations in a window, but could not do anything on my desktop.

I am able to connect from a PC to macOS's built-in VNC server if I supply a password (VNC viewers may control screen with password) in System preferences. However in this case, after connecting and entering this password, I am presented with the normal Mac login screen, after which I am controlling my Mac. I need a view-only connection.

If the password box is unchecked, TightVNC Viewer fails to connect, saying No security types supported. Server sent security types, but we do not support any of theirs.

TigerVNC does not have a server for macOS, only viewer.
RealVNC is paid and seems to use the cloud to connect clients to their VNC server, which I'd rather do without, after all, we're on the same LAN in class.
VineServer (osxvnc) seems to be abandoned and anyway crashes immediately upon start.

Apple’s screen sharing is designed around security, so having multiple views in would be my last resort.

How about something like Skype for Business / MS Teams / Google Hangouts. None are truly free - you are selling access and attention to Google if you use their option and Microsoft charges for O365 to host the meeting tools. There are dozens of other collaboration tools like Slack that also enable sharing as well as the vendors like WebEx, Zoom, GoToMeeting, TeamViewer and handfuls of other startup / smaller collaboration tools.


Files in Desktop cannot be edited in macOS Catalina I cannot open, change, edit, write, or read any of the files in my desktop.

I have pictures on my desktop but when I attempt to open them, this error appears: "The file “FileName” couldn’t be opened."

Same with documents and other text files.

This includes files in subdirectories underneath Desktop as well.

All the permissions of Desktop and read and write, in terminal I can move and edit text files, but I cannot do it within the UI itself.

Model Name: MacBook Pro.
Model Identifier:   MacBookPro14,1.
Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Core i5.
Processor Speed: 2.3 GHz.
macOS Catalina 10.15.1

Go to your home folder and highlight the desktop folder, then press Cmd-I. Untick the "lock" box if it is ticked.


Is there any other solution to connect to iTunes after an iOS upgrade? I have just downloaded the latest IOS upgrade on my iPhone, it is showing the connect to iTunes message, I no longer have a lap top, is there any other way to get my iPhone up and working again. Can it be connected to iPad ?

sorry, there's no other way, the phone us un-able to boot its Operating System, and as a result is falling back onto the plug into iTunes, take it to an Apple store, they are the nicest people ever, and will fix the issue, and tell you what caused it, and how to prevent it from happening again.


Why does Mac OS X requires repairing of permissions for maintenance while other OS (windows /Ubuntu) doesn't require it? Please explain briefly why repairing of permission is  one of the maintenance tool for mac os x exclusively .
Why it isn't done on windows?

Only because OS X offers a convenient way to repair permissions shouldn't be taken as an indicator that other operating systems don't need similar functionality as well. At least in the Linux world it depends on the distribution whether something similar is available and how it is run (e.g. periodically via cron).

As for the "why is this required in the first place": Software is usually not bug-free, neither are Installer applications. So permissions may get changed in unexpected ways over time. Having a function to repair them may save a lot of time wasted for hunting such issues down.


How to keep MacBooks keyboard and trackpad functionality when using Windows on Bootcamp? Before installing Windows 7, I used to work with Mac OS X on my MacBook Pro. After the installation I noticed that the functionality of the keyboard and trackpad changed. I really want to keep using Windows 7 and the default/old keyboard and trackpad functionality as in Mac OS X.

Do you have Apple's bootcamp drivers? You should be able to go into Control Panel > Bootcamp and change your keyboard/mouse settings there...


Converting WAV to MP3 using LAME and Automator I'd like to convert many WAV files to MP3 files using LAME and Automator. I need a script that I could right click a folder and convert all the WAV files inside the folder to MP3 files. I've been able to find a script to convert single file but I don't know how to modify it so I could convert many files with a single click.

I've been using script which I found here for single files. Here is a similar question but instead of using "Run Applescript" it uses "Run Shell Script". I've tried to replace LAME parameters between "do" and "done" but haven't succeeded to convert anything.

So, how could I convert folder full of WAV files to MP3 files? For me it doesn't matter is it done by using Applescript or Shell Script in Automator if both ways are possible.

Automator 'hangs' when attempting to use LAME encoder unfortunately. It's also not efficient or advisable to try and use a multi-threaded process as an Automator Service. For tasks such as this it's best to either run a simple script or use an alternate method.

The script below will encode a 20Mb .wav to .mp3 in 3 seconds! (at the highest quality settings)

file="$1"

find . -name '*.wav' -maxdepth 1 -exec /usr/local/bin/lame -V 0 -q 0 '{}' \;

for file in *.mp3
do
  mv "$file" "${file/wav./}"
done

To install, download, then open terminal:

sudo install encode-mp3 /usr/local/bin

To use, navigate into a desired conversion folder and type:

encode-mp3

This will encode your .wav files to .mp3

Convert .wav to .mp3 | LAME Encoder Shell Script
[md5: 72d4e24f14ea9139136900f2c4281a7f]

  [original]

  I just wrote a one-liner that will do this for you in Terminal, just
  cd to the directory of files you want to convert and enter:

find ./ -name "*.wav" -execdir lame -V 3 -q 0 {} \;


iCloud tabs only shows one iOS device at a time I had an iPhone and a Mac connected to an iCloud account, and I recently got an iPad. However, I noticed that I can't see all my tabs on all my devices.

It seems like iCloud thinks my iPad and iPhone are the same device:

On the Mac, I only see one iOS device at a time. If I used my iPhone last, that's what it'll show. Then if I use my iPad, the tabs list is replaced with my iPad's tabs.
On either iOS device, I can only see the Mac.

So far I have tried:

rebooting
signing in and out of iCloud
changing the names of the devices
restoring the devices from backups

Has anyone else encountered this problem?

This is caused by setting up your iPad from your iPhone’s backup.

In macOS, the file ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.Safari.*.plist holds a key named SyncedTabsDeviceUUID. The value of that string uniquely identifies your browser’s synced iCloud Tabs.

Since I have Safari Technology Preview installed, I have a second file ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.SafariTechnologyPreview.*.plist, with a different SyncedTabsDeviceUUID allowing both Safari and Safari Technology Preview to sync their tabs independently via iCloud.

When you restore a device from backup, that SyncedTabsDeviceUUID gets restored as well, leading to collisions during iCloud Tabs syncing.

If you want to get fancy, you could try backing up your iPad to iTunes, find and edit that file within your iOS backup, then restore it back to your iPad.

Or you could just setup your iPad as new and get a legitimate unique ID for it.


Can't select a disk to install High Sierra I have a mid 2010 MacBook Pro currently using MacOS X El Capitan 10.11.6. I downloaded MacOS High Sierra 10.13.4 and have the "Install MacOS High Sierra" application. My problem is that when I try to install MacOS High Sierra, the only available disk to select is "Restore Image," which "Install MacOS High Sierra" tells me is used for Time Machine backups, but it is gray and faded and I can't select it. I have FileVault turned off and "Restore Image" selected in my "Startup Disk" menu. How can I be able to select the disk and install MacOS High Sierra 10.13.4?

I think the installer is not allowing you to install because you need to FIRST update the firmware.  You do this by making a USB installer from the installer app and booting to it.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

You will need to choose HFS+ as the format and the High Sierra Installer will convert the disk to APFS (if the target drive is an SSD).


Problem setting up 2FA for the first time My devices:

iPad (iOS 10.3.1 (14E304)
MacBook Air (macOS 10.12.4 (16E195))
A ten-year-old BlackBerry that very definitely doesn't run iOS.

What works:

Apple have sent exactly one 2FA code to my phone, so I know absolutely they have got the correct phone number on their system and there is no typo there.
https://appleid.apple.com works fine, going through the login process results in a pop-up on my iPad and on my Mac showing my 6-digit verification code.
The website, the iPad, and the MacBook Air all show that both my iPad and my Mac are in my list of devices

What doesn't work:

iPad shows message (in Settings.app):

  Update Apple ID Settings
  Some account services require you to sign in again.

Pressing "Continue", entering my Apple ID password, then my device unlock code, leads to pop-over window saying:

  Approve This iPad

  Go to one of your other devices signed in to iCloud to approve this iPad.

  Waiting for approval…

And then it just sits there. Nothing else happens, no popup on any device.

Mac shows message (in Preferences.app > iCloud):

  Update Apple ID Settings
  Some account services require you to sign in again.

Pressing "Continue" (twice, because the first time shows the same message as a modal dialog), shows me a dialog for entering my Apple ID password (icon is a keyring, if that's relevant).

Entering my Apple ID password shows me "iCloud Preferences wants to make changes to your account. Type your password to allow this." (this only accepts my device account password, not that it's clear from the appearance).

Entering the password for my user account on my MacBook Air shows the following message on my MacBook Air:

  Go to one of your other devices signed in to iCloud to approve this MacBook Air.

     Waiting for approval…

And then it just sits there. Nothing else happens, no popup on any device.

Possibly relevant detail:

I have just changed my Apple ID email from a @yahoo.com domain to a @gmail.com domain.
Confirmation emails have come through just fine.
iCloud emails can be downloaded in Mail.app on the Mac (never set that email account up on the iPad)
(Edit) I have AdBlock Plus installed on both devices

I just had this same issue and tried many different things. In the end I resorted to contacting Apple who were extremely helpful. The thing to do is access another device which is logged in with the same iCloud account, and ensure that keychain is switched on. If it isn't, turn it on. From there just follow it through and if you have to reset your keychain data then do it. You'll then be able to get around the original 'Waiting for approval' issue on the initial device.


Mac Pro suffering from kernel panics almost daily After running flawlessly for 2 years, my 6 Gig Mac Pro has started to suffer a kernel panic about once a day. Nothing really has changed as far as I know. Two details, probably irrelevant, I installed Lion about a month+ ago. And I have had an Android tablet attached via USB and enabled for remote debugging.

I ran a memory diagnostic (rember) and it didn't find any problems.

This is what I find in the Kernel log just before the crash:

Sep 22 15:27:59 monster kernel[0]: (default pager): [KERNEL]: ps_select_segment - send HI_WAT_ALERT
Sep 22 15:28:00 monster kernel[0]: macx_swapon SUCCESS
Sep 22 15:28:32 monster kernel[0]: (default pager): [KERNEL]: ps_select_segment - send HI_WAT_ALERT
Sep 22 15:28:34 monster kernel[0]: macx_swapon SUCCESS

I've seen a variety of messages mentioning these errors but nothing conclusive.

If there's a hardware problem, is there a definitive diagnostic that I can run to prove or disprove it?

Any tips or troubleshooting guide will be appreciated! Thanks,

Pito

In my mind there are a couple of likely issues.  If the machine is crashing with a kernel panic I would suspect the hard drive is on it's way out.  If the machine is simply restarting without warning then I would suspect the memory.

To see if it is the memory it might be as simple as removing each stick of ram and blowing any dust off with compressed air and putting it back in.  If this doesn't resolve it, I would get a new drive and clone the system using a tool like Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper!  Boot from the new drive and see if the issues go away.

If neither work then you could try reinstalling OS X, I doubt that's the issue.  You more than likely have a failing video card or logic board if the above suggestions don't work.