Kernel Problems randomly restarting MacMini Late 2012 I have a MacMini (late 2012) running the latest Yosemite version 10.10.4 and I get ocasional random restarts. Sometimes they occur right after I login from one of these restarts, other times it is stable for quite a while (can be hours or days) and then restarts again.

I have unplugged all external peripherals (Firewire HDD and Thunderbolt HDD) but I am still using dual-monitors: one direct HDMI and the other using mini display to HDMI adaptor.

The only modifications I made was to replace the original internal HDD which was very slow (5,400 rpm) to a Crucial SSD 512GB and I replaced the RAM to by Crucial 2x8GB DDR3 - 1600 as well which I believe they are both highly recommended and compatible with Mac machines. The SSD model is Crucial_CT512MX100SSD1. Could it be something related to the hardware replacement?

The two last kernel errors are here: http://d.pr/n/128a5/b5RQaBL8 and http://d.pr/n/1hF51/3BiwFQ6N

I am up to reinstall the whole OSX from scratch if I need to. This was the only way I found to solve a Divx codec issue in the past in a different machine after exhausting all possible

Any help on this is highly appreciated.

Many thanks to all.

If your issue appeared with 10.10.3, I am 98% certain it is a bug in OS X Yosemite, introduced with the 10.10.3 update and related to Intel HD 4000 GPUs. Welcome aboard. The kernel panics are totally erratic, some users have also graphics glitches. The only common feature is having a Intel HD 4000 GPU.

On MacBook Pros with dual GPU you can avoid the problem by disabling Automatic Graphics Switching (System Preferences > Energy Saver).

Please contribute to the thread in the apple discussion forum and file a bug report (with link to the thread).


In iPad Pages, how to make the text in a cell of a table vertical? In iPad pages, how to make text in a cell of a table vertical?
The information on the Internet is not sufficient. They point to part that can’t be find on iPad Pages, or maybe I cannot find.

Vertical text in a table cell is currently not possible to set on Pages for iOS, iPadOS or web, only on macOS.
You can provide feedback to Apple at https://www.apple.com/feedback/pages-ios-ipados.html.


Create and set environment variable in MacOSX I want to set some environment variables in my Mac.

I was hoping to do that by creating a small bash script file inside paths.d
and then restart my machine.

Is this the correct way to add environment variable?

In general, there is no one environment on macOS. Not all programs and not even all command line utilities respect the same common environment space.

On OS X - the launch daemon has been around and it spins up a sandboxed / isolated state for each app and each process, so you would edit into the preference / database entry for each process the variables it needs.

The current implementation would be to make a defaults write to write whatever values you want to your "global environment" and than have each program read those preferences as part of their startup or refresh script.

I would encourage you to ask a follow on question since no one really wants to sign variables, they want to write variables so some programs can do something with them. Let's dive into what one or three programs would read what specific variable to do some thing and explore if you are stuck with making a modification to each one or could set up some sort of shared database or call to make those changes effective.


Is it possible to only see contacts with phone numbers? I recently started syncing my iPad and iPhone with iCloud. I selected to merge my contact list into iCloud from both devices. The problem is that, while I use my iPad for my email, I don't use it at all on my iPhone. Now, if I want to call a contact, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack.

I need a way to only view phone numbers, not email address-only contacts.

I know that Android has the option to only view contacts with phone numbers (well, at least in CyanogenMod). I'd like to know if I can do the same thing on the iPhone? I am not using a Mac, and certainly don't have OS X Lion, so I'm only using iCloud on my iPad and iPhone.

The native Contacts and Phone apps do not support this in iOS. As a workaround, you could use a third party contacts manager which supports smart groups, creating “Has a phone number” and “Has an email address” groups and working from these. Note that the contact lookup sheets shown by other apps (like, say, Mail) are provided by the native app and thus will not show your new groups.

A free example of such an app for the iPhone would be Tacts – searching for “smart groups” on the App Store should get you more.


Help with a HD reformat and Mountain Lion reinstall due to unknown type of hack, Malware, etc So, I needed to reformat the HD in my mid 2011 Mac Mini (done) and plan to reinstall Mountain Lion on it.  I created an SDXC install disk to do this.  I'm curious to know if the disk2 partition with the Mac OS X Base System that appears in Disk Utility (as well as any other hidden partition) is the original boot partition from the previous installation of Mountain Lion carried over or is it all new from the install disk I created?

Here is why I ask...I had a nasty and reappearing hack, Trojan, Bot, or Malware of some sort that I want to make sure there are no remnants of when I do this install again.  Over the course of almost three months, I have done this process twice, as have the folks at the Genius bar, and it keeps coming back.  What ever it is, also appeared on my iMac (running Snow Leopard), but I did not have any luck after wiping and reinstalling the OS from the CD, twice as well.  It also appeared on my Windows laptop (running Vista), which is currently sitting with the battery removed, and the iMac is unplugged, while I focus on my Mac Mini.  One note of similarity with all of this is that there was a significant amount of network activity on all of these PC's, even without an Ethernet connection/cable attached, and with the connections disabled as well, including wifi and Bluetooth.  My AEBS has also been factory reset many times.  It was thought that my iPhone was somehow providing the internet connection, which has also been wiped twice, as well as my iPad.  I do know that my network was hacked internally by my ex, who is my ex for this very reason.

The one difference with my attempt at the OS install this time is that the install disk that I am using has been reformatted and the copy of Mountain Lion I am using was created from a newly downloaded file, versus the previous disk I had made, that was accessible to my ex, and could have possibly been tampered with.  I have considered reflashing the EFI too, as I have read here that it could also be a hiding place for whatever this is, but I thought I would try this first, as I would be able to tell fairly quickly if it reappears, based on the network activity that shows up.

I hope the predicament I'm in makes some sense to those that happen to read it, because the scouring of Google, and forum after forum for answers has grown tiresome, which is why I now turn to this highly knowledgeable and collaborative community for help.  I do consider myself to be technically skilled, and have learned a lot more about this stuff than I ever wanted to know, but it is all worth it's weight in gold to me, including my new found love and appreciation using Terminal...who knew! ;-)

Let me thank you all in advance for any and all help, tips, pointers, etc. that come my way...they are all very much appreciated.  I hope that this, being my first post, is fomatted and worded in the way that is preferred by this community, and has provided enough detail, thought and questions to garner some initial input,

Merry Christmas,

Jimmy

This sort of infection is extremely rare in the OS X world. Getting reinfected over and over again is  even less likely. Not saying it's impossible, but very unlikely.

I would start by installing Little Snitch and setting it to monitor outgoing connections. Also monitor your launchd folders using http://www.circl.lu/pub/tr-08/

The first step I would recommend is changing all of your passwords and using something like 1password so your ex can't get into something again.

Marking this as a wiki so others can add suggestions since this isn't an "answer" per se.

[2013-04-14: There's also Radio Silence which is an outbound filter like Little Snitch but supposedly simpler and less "chatty".]


How to use my iMac 27" with new Mac pro I currently have a iMac (27-inch, Late 2009, Intel Core 2 Duo) which I would like to use as display for a new Mac Pro. How do I do that?

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3924?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US#4

Connect the Mac Pro to the iMac with a Thunderbolt or Mini DisplayPort cable.
Press Command-F2 on the iMac's keyboard (or Command-Fn-F2 if this doesn't work).


Manufacturer of the iPad Wi-Fi chip I'm monitoring the connected devices in my WLAN. I would like to know if it is possible that an iPad (or another Apple device) has a Wi-Fi network chip with MAC address (OUI) not from Apple, or if it is other device on my network.

All iPads I have ever seen has had their OUI listed as Apple Inc, even though the WiFi network chip is made by others. This has been true for the first generation iPad as well as the latest iPads I have seen.

Of course I cannot know if Apple has made a device with a different OUI - I doubt it though.

Note that it is possible to change a MAC address in software. This means that devices from other vendors can "masquerade" as Apple devices, and vice versa.


iPhone Not Charging When Plugged In? My device is simply not charging while connected to my Windows 8 system. I've heard of my friends having this issue too. There is no connection issue, my computer recognizes it is plugged in, but I don't think it knows what it is and it clearly doesn't allow for charging.

What could be causing this?

Try steps at http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1476

not all ports on PCs have enough power for especially Ipads.   Try USB port at back of PC (ones directly connected to motherboard, instead of front ports or keyboard ports.   Front ones frequently have lower power delivery specs than back ones.


MacBook stuck on black loading screen Today my MacBook Pro 2013 crashed so I hard reset it.

Since then it boots to a black loading screen with the Apple logo and a loading bar in the middle. The loading bar progresses to around 60% then stops.

I can't boot into recovery or safe mode and I've tried the usual troubleshooting steps to no avail.

I'm at a loss because I can't even boot to internet recovery (it loads initially but then restarts).

Do you have any advice on what I can try next?

Edit: I'm not sure if this is related but the display also stopped working, I can only see the loading bar by plugging in an external monitor through the HDMI port.

Edit 2: I can boot into single user mode run fsck -yf but this reports that Macintosh HD is OK

When you don't get to a blue screen in the boot process, you can assume an OS reinstall should fix it. Your fsck results reinforce that as next step.

I would boot to Internet recovery and download the OS installer of choice if your Mac supports that.

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH22136

When that is done, next is

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH21900

That article has the reinstall steps linked at the bottom.


disable brightness and volume change overlay mojave I followed this answer and (after disabling SIP) ran

sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.OSDUIHelper\
  Disabled -bool YES

But it doesn't seem to have done anything, I still get the brightness pop up when I use the brightness keys to change screen brightness.

I am in macOS Mojave 10.14.4.

Two things could prevent the writing of the preference. If SIP isn’t verified to be disabled, that’s a blocker. Also, if you don’t see the preference set after a restart, there’s an issue with the defaults write command.

Is SIP disabled?

To be able to run that command you must first disable System Integrity Protection. That answer links to it here: Configuring System Integrity Protection.

If it's enabled you won't be able successfully run the defaults write ... command.

Example

$ csrutil status
System Integrity Protection status: enabled.

You'll get a failure message like this:

$ sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.OSDUIHelper \
     Disabled -bool YES
2019-04-19 16:53:21.310 defaults[92957:2162882] Could not write domain /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.OSDUIHelper; exiting

To disable/enable SIP:

  To enable or disable System Integrity Protection, you must boot to
  Recovery OS and run the csrutil(1) command from the Terminal.

  Boot to Recovery OS by restarting your machine and holding down the Command and R keys at startup.
  Launch Terminal from the Utilities menu.
  Enter the following command:

$ csrutil enable

But I have SIP disabled

If you've confirmed that SIP is disabled then you could use opensnoop to debug what's going on to gain additional insight as to why your write command is failing.

For example, in one terminal run this command to snoop:

$ sudo opensnoop -ve |& less

And in another window try running your defaults write ... command:

$ sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.OSDUIHelper  Disabled -bool YES
2019-04-19 17:23:53.712 defaults[94310:2174907] Could not write domain /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.OSDUIHelper; exiting


How to keep two Macs in sync? Possible Duplicate:
  Completely synchronise multiple Macs

I've got a MacBook Pro and a Mac Mini, and I want to keep them in sync: all files and folders, all settings, all everything.

Here's what I know won't work: Dropbox, iCloud.

Here's what I know might work: install Mountain Lion Server on the Mac Mini as my "main" computer in an admin account, then use that to create a separate network account / portable home directory / mobile users / something like that, then make that account the default one on my MacBook Pro.

The problem is that I have absolutely no clue how to do this and I'd like to get some help.

I'm aware that I may have to use a few different things to do the full sync - like setting up OS X server to do most of the work, but still using Dropbox for certain files and something like Chronosync for others.

Please tell me where to start.

Have you tried Carbon Copy Cloner (http://www.bombich.com)? it has a sync feature that may help you.


2010 Macbook Pro gets prohibitory sign after update I have a 2010 Macbook Pro running the latest version of El Capitan.
I recently did an update and ever since then when I boot up I get a prohibitory symbol. I tried reinstalling El Capitan using a USB drive, but once it reboots it tries to go through the installation process again. When I take the USB stick out it gives me the prohibitory symbol.
I tried to restore to a time machine backup from a time capsule using two different dates.
The first restore attempt was to a date when I first installed El Capitan. That resulted in it saying there was already a corrupted version of the OS and it couldn't restore. So I formatted the hard drive and tried again, it resulted in a prohibitory symbol.
The second restore attempt was to a date right before I installed El Capitan and was on I think Mountain Lion. That resulted in a file showing a question mark in the middle.
What should I try next?

Edit: I installed an SSD in this two months ago and the S.M.A.R.T. settings are fine.

It was a bad sata cable according to the genius bar. They switched it out and it now works!


My Mac is beeping 3 times every couple of seconds when it starts Here is what happens, I have 5-10 seconds to do stuff on my computer, then it turns off, turns back on again and attempts to load or something, then turns off. then eventually after enough on and offs, it goes to a white screen and beeps 3 times every couple of seconds, I searched it up, and it definitely doesn’t beep every 5 seconds but a little less than that. This only stops when I press the power button.

Note that I don’t know much of my computer, and I haven’t tampered with anything on the inside or inserted anything into the disc slot or anything. But from what I remember it is osX

That does sound like "Three successive tones, then a five-second pause (repeating)", which according to Apple, suggests that the RAM has not passed an integrity check.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202768

You mention a disk slot, so it's likely quite an old Mac. The last models with optical drives were c. 2012, I think.

Either way, it's a hardware problem that needs hand-on, physical inspection by someone competent. See if there's a local guy who does Apple repair work. (The Apple Store may say it's too old, but it's worth a try.)

It may just need the existing RAM to be reseated or replaced. Or it may be a problem with the main circuitry: in which case it's time to go shopping.


Selling a MacBook Pro with preinstalled OSX and transferring the license I have a MacBook Pro mid 2010 and have since upgraded all the way to Mavericks. I am now selling the device and the online restore option requests my apple ID. Using that, I've installed a clean Mavericks for the buyer.

I think this is the nicest thing for the buyer, but I'm not sure what the consequences are, so I'd have a couple of questions for you guys:

With the system I've updated, will the buyer be asked for his apple ID and will that replace mine?
If that's not the case, will he be able to do updates without having the password to my account?
Can I change the Apple ID that owns mavericks to him, even if I have to gift him Mavericks?
Is there a better way to do all this?

Thanks!

With the system I've updated, will the buyer be asked for his apple ID and will that replace mine?

When they first use the system and create a User ID etc, they will be asked for an Apple ID (which is not entirely mandatory) and it will have no knowledge of you as the previous owner, nor will it care what ID is used.

If that's not the case, will he be able to do updates without having the password to my account?

Updates will be possible without having any knowledge of the ID that originally purchased it

Can I change the Apple ID that owns mavericks to him, even if I have to gift him Mavericks?

No, purchases via the Mac App Store are tied to your ID, and cannot be transferred.  Also, you cannot gift a free app.

Is there a better way to do all this?

Not really, you should just advise the purchaser to "buy" (It's free, so no cost) a copy of Mavericks against his own ID, such that it can be used for restores etc in future and to ensure that he owns a copy legitimately.  He should be able to purchase it on a machine that is already running it, simply by logging into the App store with an ID that has not already purchased it.  It may kick off a pointless download which can be cancelled, but it will get him square from a licensing terms perspective, and from a safety/recoverability perspective.


Installing Windows 10 on iMac 27" (2017) Mojave, 3TB I'm trying to install Windows on my Mac. I had no problems before, or on my older iMac/Macbook, with installing Windows on a Mac.

I decided to detach my Fusion Drive, so I ended up with a 3TB HDD and a 128gb SSD. That gave me more flexibility. The 3TB HDD is is formatted with APFS. In Recovery mode, I split the drive in 2 partitions. 750GB for Windows and 2250 for Mac Data.

Made a Windows Bootable USB with UNetbootin. With a downloaded Windows from the Microsoft.com website.

Before I booted into the Windows-USB, I detached every single USB-port on my mac, even Ethernet. (I've been there)

In the Windows installation, when checking which partition you want to use it says; "We couldn't create a new partition.."

I tried this many times, everytime I changed something. Maybe it worked. But no. This is what I've tried so far.

Delete partition, Windows installer made a new partition of the unallocated space. Didn't work, same error.
Opening cmd, using diskpart. Tried to delete the partition, create new one an format in ntfs - and try again. Still no luck. Had also difficulties with formatting only the partition on the HDD. But when I (accidentally) formatted it, it formatted the complete drive. But still didn't work afterwards.

Use another USB-stick, 3.0/2.0, USB-port
Tried another Windows installation
Reset NVRAM and PRAM

I have no idea what to do anymore. I hope that here's a wizard who can tell me what to do!

Thanks for your time!

If the second partition on HDD is for Mac data, you could attempt to install Windows 10 by allocating the entire HDD to Windows. After you have finished installing Windows, you could then shrink the Windows volume and create a partition for the Mac data.


How to find all the available tools in mac terminal? I am trying to setup a bunch of development projects in my Mac. I have to run various tools like python, ruby, scala, groovy etc.
To see if a tool is available I use options like

ruby --version.

Instead I would like to see all the list of tools available in Mac terminal via a single command. What is the command/options for it?

The easiest is simply to open the Terminal and then press the TAB key twice. You'll be asked if you want to see all possibilities - reply "y" and you'll get the full list.


Program my Logitech M545 Mouse for Mac I am currently using Logitech M545 Mouse, which has two side buttons for convenient operations under Windows.

In windows, one button is for displaying the desktop, and the other is for Start button. I find it really convenient. Logitech claims that one may program the uses of the two buttons for personal use.

Now, I am using it together with my MBPR late 2013, and the two buttons do not work any more. Is it possible to program it so that one button is still for displaying the desktop, and the other open the Application Center?

Mac-compatible Logitech mouses come with a preference pane to program their features.  Or (even if not Mac-compatible) try a third-party mouse-button utility, like SteerMouse, $20.

edit
Here is the post about using the Logitech M325 on Mac.  Maybe that will work in other cases, too.


how to rotate the orientation of my monitor in OSX 10.8? My girlfriend just bought a great monitor (EIZO CG223W) for her macbook, which you can rotate 90º in portrait mode.
The screens didn't flip along, and I couldn't find a setting in the system preferences.
I remember (in pre 10.8) there used to be a setting in the screen panel, but it's vanished.## Heading ##

After some research i found this blog, which perfectly detailed explains how to get this hidden setting:

Open the system preferences
Hold down the command and option keys while clicking the display
icon
Next locate the screen adjustments on the external monitor and you
will notice now there is an option called "Rotation".
Choose 90 Degrees and now your monitor is in portrait mode.

Thanks roadzy and OSXdaily!


iPod Classic Playlist To Shuffle Through Tracks I Want to Listen To? I have some smart playlists defined thus:

designed with the goal of being able to shuffle through all my podcasts and various other audio that I want to listen to.

This works splendidly in iTunes.

However, when it syncs over to my 160 GB iPod Classic and I try to play the Playlist, instead of the 112 or so tracks that are currently in that Playlist showing up, only about 28 show up.

What's interesting is that the Playlist's count is correct before you start playing a track, and it does in fact contain all the right songs. I can select any one of my Podcasts, but I can't have them play continuously and I can't shuffle them. Selecting any track other than a Podcast will shuffle through the remainder of my non-podcast material.

Now I found one link awhile ago that told me that the problem was the Playlist being defined to include tracks whose Media Kind is Podcast. That apparently confuses the iPod classic. So I changed from doing that to using the Genre trick. That at least made the tracks show up. But it didn't make them shuffleable.

At this poin, I've discovered that I can play the Playlist straight through, but I can't shuffle it. As long as the iPod shuffle setting is set to none, the playlist when I try to play it will report 112 songs and will play them straight through. But this isn't what I want, I want it to randomly play through it.

So, is this possible to do?

You must have tracks where the Skip when Shuffling tag is set. Look for some of the tracks that won't play, then select on in iTunes, press Command-I, and look on the Options tab.

Podcasts have this set by default.


How to force macbook reconnect to best wifi after sleep? With Android 5.0 wifi hotspot no longer disables on inactivity. So I often stuck with a problem: I work at park with my macbook connected to android phone wifi, after some time a close macbook and go home, I open macbook - and it reconnects to phone wifi as "last used", not to my home network. Each time i forgot to disable hotspot on my phone I get huge bills for mobile internet :(. Is it any way to force macbook to connect "best" wifi after sleep, not the "last used one"?

"Don't remember networks" and "don't save passwords" doesn't help - it still connects to last wifi network used.

Where is no way I know to make android wifi turn off after inactivity, such option was removed in Android 5.0

I'm using Macbook 12" with latest OSX 10.11

Go into System Preferences-> Network. Select Wi-Fi and click "Advanced" change the order of preferred networks so that your home network is listed before your Android hotspot's.


How can I use one of the documents preview icon as the parent folder's icon in OS X? I organize my e-books and the supporting files in each folder. Is there any easy way to assign the parent folder's icon as the preview of the PDF file?

As far as I know, it's not possible to do so dynamically.

What you can do is change the icon manually (but then you have to do it for each folder of course...).

Open your icon with Preview. Then copy the image by using the build in copy/paste functionality. Select the whole image with cmd+ A and copy it with cmd+ C.

Then open the 'Info' window (right-click and Get Info) of the folder and select the icon on the upper left corner. If you paste cmd+V the image, you'll see the folder icon got replaced by the image.

And of course, there is an app for that.


Finder image icons don't display at size 16x16 but load fine at 20x20 pixels Why would Finder image icons (in column view, list view and icon view in a Finder window) not display an image's content, when no custom icon has been applied.  The files are image files (PNG, JPG, TIFF, PSD, etc.) and only the smallest size is affected.

In column view at text size 12 only the generic jpg, or png icon shows, but not the image content itself.  If I change the text size (in view options) to 13, the icons slightly increase in size and laod and display correctly.

In icon view the same happens with the icons set to 16x16.  As soon as I drag the slider to 20x20, or above all icons show correctly.
List view also displays the generic icons, unless the larger icon size is chosen.

I've tried removing the Finder preferences:

  ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist

I've also tried resetting the icon services cache here:

  /Library/Caches/com.apple.iconservices.store

...and removing those found here:

sudo find /private/var/folders/ -name com.apple.iconservices

Permissions (ls -alOe@) on the /private/var/folders/... (found above) also look the same as on clean, bare-bone installations, where the icons are shown correctly, even when only 16x16 pixels.

In column view as example, if left on text size 13 through a reboot, most icons also show after reducing the size of the text to 12, but turning off "Show icon preview" in the view options and on again, leaves the text size 12 icons generic again, while increasing the size to 13 straight away loads the previews.

Why would 20x20 pixel icons load without issues after every restart and 16x16 just sit there?  Are they different caches and/or mechanisms?

Running macOS Sierra 10.12.4 on a Retina MacBook Pro11,3 (mid 2014), 2.5GHz, 16 GB RAM, 500.28 GB Apple SSD, Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB VRAM / NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2048 MB VRAM. - Resolution: 2880x1800 set to "Default for Display".  No external monitor (or other devices for that matter) is attached.

The issue persists over various updates and even running the Installer Assistant (aka Full Installer) over the installation.
It also exhibits the same behaviour in safe mode, but a second (new) user has no such issues.  The Desktop (outside a Finder window) also has no issues displaying 16x16 icons.

My main interest here is not so much the troubleshooting (since the installation in question is quite dirty and it will be down to me to find the problem), but to understand the mechanism that causes the difference in behaviour between loading the smallest icon size and all other sizes above.

You can modify the minimum thumbnail size in the info.plist (in .../DropboxQL.qlgenerator/Contents/):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    ...
    <key>QLSupportsConcurrentRequests</key>
    <false/>
    <key>QLThumbnailMinimumSize</key>
    <real>17</real>
</dict>
</plist>

After editing in a smaller size in the plist and a reboot, you will get a preview for 16x16 pixel icons in the Finder again.

The DropboxQL.qlgenerator usually is located in /Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/Resources/

Also check for older DropboxQL.qlgenerator in other places and either remove them or also modify the Info.plist.

The priority order from first to least seems to be:

app embedded qlgenerators
~/Library/QuickLook/
/Library/QuickLook/
/System/Library/QuickLook/


AppStore credit card authorization fail I purchased an app 5 days ago and the the amount was debited in my account but my purchase history shows

  We were unable to authorize your credit card for this purchase. Please update your billing info.

What do i need to do?

Update your billing info? :-)

https://reportaproblem.apple.com/

Usually this happens if the credit card check fails. To fix, log into your account in iTunes and either update the credit card details or add a new one:

open iTunes
go to the iTunes store (Shift-Cmd-H)
click on your Apple ID at top left and select "Account"
Billing info should be the second line in the overview, select "Edit" at the right


macOS Catalina does not allow incoming connections from local network. Firewall is down I starting facing this issue some days ago. Even when the firewall is down, I can't reach my mac from my local network. Ping is not responding neither. Some test I've done:
From my console
nrossi@~$ netstat -an | grep 8080
tcp46      0      0  *.8080                 *.*                    LISTEN

nrossi@~$ sudo /usr/libexec/ApplicationFirewall/socketfilterfw --getglobalstate
Firewall is disabled. (State = 0)

nrossi@~$ ifconfig | grep "inet " | grep -Fv 127.0.0.1 | awk '{print $2}'
10.1.2.123

nrossi@~$ curl -I 10.1.2.123:8080
HTTP/1.1 200
Content-Type: text/html;charset=UTF-8
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2021 13:06:46 GMT

From other computers
nrossi@~$ curl -I 10.1.2.123:8080
curl: (7) Failed to connect to 10.1.2.123 port 8080: Operation timed out

nrossi@~$ ping 10.1.2.123
PING 10.1.2.123 (10.1.2.123): 56 data bytes
Request timeout for icmp_seq 0

Any help ?

I've finally found the solution to this issue. First of all I listed the macos extensions:
$ kextstat | grep -v com.apple

Index Refs Address            Size       Wired      Name (Version) UUID <Linked Against>
  115    0 0xffffff7f83ef2000 0x29000    0x29000    com.intel.kext.intelhaxm (7.5.1) D0CC7B8F-1F62-33B1-BE6B-B5573D2A607B <8 6 5 3 1>
  176    0 0xffffff7f846db000 0x31000    0x31000    com.checkpoint.cpfw (1.0) A38506C9-F70F-356C-9AF5-67B70391CF36 <6 5 3 1>

The checkpoint extensions was my first candidate to remove. So I run the uninstaller:
$ cd /Library/Application\ Support/Checkpoint/Endpoint\ Security
$ sudo ./uninstall

Everything is working fine now.


Time machine "Don't use" option on disk select I had time-machine set up to backup to a disk over a network (SMB mount) and all worked fine.  I then had some problems with the backup file (became inexplicably locked) and while I was trying to figure that out I clicked on the "Don't use" option in the disk select panel (big mistake as it turns out).  The disk disappeared from the list of those available.  I subsequently fixed the problem with the backup file.  I can now mount it and time machine can see it under "browse other disks".  Is there any way I can "undo" the "Don't use" option to make the disk visible again for use as backup?  I can't delete/re-install the remote disk so it would need to be something local.  Does anybody know where the flag that prevents that disk being displayed is located?  (I am running Mavericks on an imac).

An excellent question. There may be a file on your backup drive called .com.apple.timemachine.donotpresent. Remove it, if it's there, and that should solve your problem. The file is invisible, so you'll have to use Terminal's rm to remove it.

However, with SMB, Time Machine doesn't support it natively, so you may have to run this command in Terminal for the drives to appear. Be sure to restart System Preferences.

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1 && killall Finder


What will happen to iChat in Lion once Messages beta expired? Messages will replace iChat on OS X Lion when installed but it will expire at some point in the future.

What will happen to my Lion's iChat application when Messages expire? Will I be able to use/reinstall iChat again?

...
So there really isn’t a Messages.app. It’s still iChat.app but with some magic causing the Finder to show it as Messages. [...] [T]he magic is in the Bundle name entry in the Info.plist file in /Applications/iChat.app/Contents
...
Why did Apple choose to do it this way? My guess is that Apple wanted Messages to inherit all your old iChat settings so you wouldn’t have to redo everything. Also, because Messages is in beta, Apple wanted you to have an easy way to uninstall Messages and go back to iChat as if you never left. I’m not sure this shallow rebranding was the best way to achieve these goals, but it does seem minimally disruptive.
...

For the complete information I will point you to Dr. Drang post that answers this question, and more, about iChat/Messages.


iphone 4 ios 9 wifi connection used please advise if there is a possibility to view list of wifi connections an Iphone has used in few months time

Also advise if any possibility to check deleted call history of calls made through whatsapp and facetime on iphone

You can not view a list of wifi networks you have connected to on an iPhone.

The closest thing to this is that if:

Your iPhone uses the iCloud keychain.
You have a mac that uses the same AppleID and also uses the iCloud keychain.

Then both of your devices will share the list of known networks and passwords. However you can 'forget' any wifi network which will delete it from the list and you can not know which of the networks was accessed when or from which of the devices.

If you delete your call history then it is deleted forever. This goes the same for Whatsapp or facetime.

If you have old complete backups of the phone made after the calls were made but after they were deleted then you can use that to get the history.


softwareupdate grep Script Help Using High Sierra I have this set as a cronjob to run once a day.

I've been struggling to work out how to get grep to find the string in the output. Am fairly new to bash scripting.

Any advice on where I went wrong, and examples are appreciated!

#!/bin/bash

printf '\e[2t'

check=$(softwareupdate -l)

sleep 5

echo $check

if [ fgrep "No new software" <<< $check ]
then
say "Peter, You are up to date"
else
say "Peter, you have updates"
fi

softwareupdate prints No new software available. on stderr, not on stdout, so it will never get assigned to check. The quick fix is to run

check=$(softwareupdate -l 2>&1)

This will redirect stderr (file descriptor 2) to stdout (file descriptor 1).

Also your if statement is wrong, the [ is a command, not just syntax. So you can simply run

if fgrep "No new software" <<< $check; then

for this.

But if you don't need the value of $check later on you can put all this in one line and just run

if softwareupdate -l 2>&1 | fgrep -q "No new software"; then


How does GPRS icon look like in iOS 11? (screenshot) How does GPRS icon look like on iPhone with iOS 11? I would like to see some screenshot of it.

You can find the GPRS icon (and the other status icons and symbols) from iOS 11 here:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207354

The GPRS icon is not a graphic icon, but rather the text "GPRS" in a specific font.


In which .plist is the underscan setting stored? I'm trying to write a script which changes the underscan value on my Mac mini, but I haven't found the .plist file containing the setting.

Does anyone know where the underscan setting is saved?

I found the settings file by using the terminal command opensnoop to monitor all files accessed by any programm and found that the file that stores the underscan setting is here:

/var/db/.com.apple.iokit.graphics


Graphical man pages viewer in Terminal.app There is a feature in terminal to view man-page of selected string in external window with ⌃⌘? shortcut.

But it has a priority to display preinstalled man pages. So for example I've installed gnu coreutils with homebrew and have edited man-pages search path. And if I do man ls in console I get man-page from gnu coreutils but help menu action gives me bsd man-page.

Is it possible to fix man-pages search path for it?

Instead of that you can use Dash. It is an application for having and reading different programming languages docsets offline. It also has the ability to read the man pages available on your system.


Add builds for different targets I already have a released build for iOS 9+ devices. Now I want to release a new version for only ARKit devices that requires arm64 too. But my build doesn't pass a verification in XCode for itunesconnect release. It shows an error that I can't change target devices range for already released bundleID. But if I change bundleID in XCode it will be another application. I want to provide an update only for ARKit enablers, how can I do it?

You can't have separate builds with the same BundleID shipped to the AppStore. If you really want to have "Something special" for devices that are ARKit capable - Use some kind of checks during the app launch. Here's the quote from Apple

  Important
  All ARKit configurations require an iOS device with an A9 or later processor. If your app otherwise supports other devices and offers augmented reality as a secondary feature, use this property to determine whether to offer AR-based features to the user.
  If your app requires ARKit for its core functionality, use the arkit key in the UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities section of your app's Info.plist to make your app available only on devices that support ARKit.

So you can use ARConfiguration.isSupported to check the device capabilities in the runtime. If It's not supported fallback to the "Old" implementation.

In order to compile the code for targets < 11 you can mark methods or even classes with @available(iOS 11.0, *) like so:

@available(iOS 11.0, *)
func doSomeARStuff() {
    if ARConfiguration.isSupported { print("Supported") }
}

In order to call those methods using your existing code do it like:

if #available(iOS 11.0, *) {
    doSomeARStuff()
} else {
    // Fallback on earlier versions
}


How to set the screen brighness keys to affect the external monitor? I mean instead of affecting the brightness of the built in display of a Macbook.

Unless it's an external Apple monitor or built-in screen (i.e. on MacBook or iMac), the brightness of the monitor itself cannot be controlled from the keyboard. There is software available to control what the computer is outputting, therefore adjusting the brightness before it ever reaches the monitor, but there is no way to adjust settings on the monitor itself.


Why is my new mid-2011 Air dropping wifi signal which old 2008 MacBook can hold? And is this related to my complete machine failures? I'm on my third mid-2011 MacBook Air in less than a month and this weird wifi problem may be related to the sudden, black screen bricklike nature of its predecessors.

The Air works fine when in the same large living room as the NexusLink 5631 router, but when I go into adjacent rooms, including, irritatingly, the one where my desk is, it repeatedly loses and regains its wifi signal. (Sites don't load in the browser, it stops being able to play music to the speakers in the living room, it stops being able to find the Time Machine backup drive in the living room, etc.)

My several year old MacBook does not have this problem and we haven't changed the router setup. This lost wifi signal problem is purely an issue with the Air.

The first two Airs I had suffered catastrophic failures. The pattern I can reconstruct is that at after getting them and using Time Machine to restore them to have all my old files, I had put them on my desk in the other room and put them to sleep in there overnight for the first time. In the morning they would not start, would not even display any error. The folks at the Genius Bar couldn't figure out what was wrong with them (as far as I know could get no response from them at all) and so exchanged them for new machines.

When Airs #1 and #2 failed they had been connected to
1) a power supply that was connected to a power strip plugged into an outlet;
2) an external Nocent LCD monitor LM965WA with their lids up, displays unmirrored;
3) a powered Aquagate Monospace USB 2.0 7 port hub;
4) through the hub, a powered down HP Deskjet 920C printer; a powered up Brother HL2140 laser printer; and a Fitbit base station.

They had been connected to Time Machine on a Drobo in the other room, adding to the same history as previous machines.

Note that all of the above had been used without issue, apart from dropping wifi signal, prior to the overnight machine deaths. Also note that the old MacBook performed great for months and months in this setup.

With Air #3, we got a lot more cautious.
We started a new sparsebundle to give it its own Time Machine history, on the principle that perhaps a history going back to 2008 was too much for it to handle over the air.
I have successfully put Air #3 to sleep overnight in the living room (where the router is) plugged into a new power cable.
I have also done so in the other room on my desk, also with new cable, using the same power outlet, but not going through the surge suppressor.

Air #3 has the same wifi dropping problem as the prior two Airs, so I'm wondering if this is an issue I'd have with any new machine or if I have received three defective machines.

My QA process to see if Air #3 will die overnight like it's pals is going to involve step by step letting it sleep overnight reintroducing one at a time the elements above, postponing the surge suppressor and Fitbit to last in the process.

However, it is unclear if the wifi issue is a cause of the failure (hard to see quite how when the machine is asleep and not trying to connect to, say, do an enormous Time Machine backup) or merely a coincidentally occurring problem.

Troubleshooting suggestions or pointers to others with either of these problems would be gratefully received!

Is your old MacBook (the one which doesn't drop connection) running Lion or a previous OSX release?

The reason why I'm asking this is that I suspect it might be an issue with Lion, and not with the Air.

I have an early 2009 17" MacBook Pro that never dropped Wifi while at home, ever. Since upgrading to Lion 1 week ago, I lost Wifi 3 or 4 times, but only for a short period (it automatically reconnects after a few seconds).

I am confident that it's not a router failure, as one of the time my MBP dropped wifi I was downloading a file on my wife's iMac (over Wifi) and it didn't drop.

Fwiw, my router is a 2nd-gen (dual-band) Time Capsule.


How do I turn off sound effects? iOS emits a variety of unnecessary sound effects in response to user interaction, e.g.:

Connect a power source.
Take a photo.
Capture a screenshot.
Authorize an App Store purchase.

How do I disable them?
What I’ve tried:

Since every other operating system I’ve used has a simple setting for this—

macOS: System Preferences → Sound → Play user interface sound effects
Windows: Control Panel → Sound → Sounds → No Sounds
Ubuntu: System Settings → Sound → Sound Effects → Mute
Android: Settings → Sound → Other sounds → …

—I expected that iOS would have one too. I looked around in Settings → Sounds & Haptics but couldn’t find it.

Physically switching the iPhone’s ring/silent switch to silent does successfully mute sound effects, but this has the undesirable side effect of stopping my phone from ringing.
I have no problem with the phone making noise when it needs my attention; it’s the redundant, often skeuomorphic sounds that I’m asking about disabling.

I conclude that this is not possible in iOS.


Macports Python IDLE 3.4 not opening Per earlier articles (especially Python IDLE from MacPorts can't start), I've attempted to get my Python version 3.4 to work from the Macports IDLE.app but to no avail. I've already tried the usual double clicking as well as running through the terminal, and I have the appropriate py34-tkinter port installed.

Whenever I try to run it (either by double-clicking or by running $ idle3.4 from the terminal) the icon bounces in the dock for a split second and then disappears. Running from the terminal gets me:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/opt/local/bin/idle3.4", line 5, in <module>
main()
  File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.4/lib/python3.4/idlelib/PyShell.py", line 1532, in main
root = Tk(className="Idle")
  File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.4/lib/python3.4/tkinter/__init__.py", line 1856, in __init__
self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
_tkinter.TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable`

I'm trying to set up my system to run NLTK if that helps, and I have OS X El Capitan. I'm new to posting so I apologize if this is out of place or I've left out relevant details.

Thanks, in advance, for the help!

Macports version of IDLE needs X11 to be installed on the computer

Check you've X11 installed and if not download and install it here - https://www.xquartz.org/

If installed check it is version 2.7.9 .. if not update it using the link above

If it is installed and up to date and IDLE still gives the above error run the following command in a terminal window to get X11 to autolaunch
     launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchAgents/org.macosforge.xquartz.startx.plist


Has Apple added universal TRIM support with OS 10.8.4? I used to enable TRIM using 3rd party software, and I had to do it all the time Apple released a minor upgrade. Recently I installed OS X 10.8.3 on a SSD and when I was ready to install the SSD in a new MBP, 10.8.4 came out. I installed the SSD in the laptop and upgraded to 10.8.4.  To my surprise TRIM was enabled.

Anybody else with the same experience? My SSD is a 512 GB Samsung.

I can confirm that in my case installing OSX 10.8.4 on a new SSD I had to enable TRIM with TRIM Enabler.

When I first ran TRIM enabler the application displayed that TRIM was not enabled.

How did you determine that TRIM was enabled?


TextMate launch configuration Is it possible to configure TextMate to launch the program I am currently writing (using the Command+R shortcut) with some command line parameters?

What language are you writing the program in? I'll use Python as an example.

Go to Bundles menu > Edit Bundles. Find and click on Python in the lefthand column. Click on Menu Actions in the middle column, then Run Script in the righthand column.

At the bottom of the window you will see the script that is run each time you use ⌘+R. Look for the line that begins with TextMate::Executor.run.

Right now, it appears for me as this:

TextMate::Executor.run(ENV["TM_PYTHON"] || "python", "-u", ENV["TM_FILEPATH"], :create_error_pipe => true, :use_hashbang => !ENV.has_key?('TM_PYTHON')) do |str, type|

Change it to this:

TextMate::Executor.run(ENV["TM_PYTHON"] || "python", "-u", ENV["TM_FILEPATH"], :create_error_pipe => true, :script_args => ["-arg1", "-arg2"], :use_hashbang => !ENV.has_key?('TM_PYTHON')) do |str, type|

Note the addition of :script_args => ["-arg1", "-arg2"]. Change the arguments in the parentheses to the arguments you want passed.

You can find other options to be used with TextMate::Executor.run in the source file on GitHub.


What are the alternatives to Activity Monitor that will summarize cpu time over time? Activity monitor is not always good if you want to see what is keeping your computer busy for a period of time.

For example if you have gcc executed hundred of times it will take a lot of CPU power but the overall CPU time consumed by gcc will not appear. I'm looking for a solution that is able to count and summarize application usage so I can know that how the cpu was used.

I'm a huge fan of Bjango's iStat menus, which allows one to conveniently place various monitors (CPU, disk usage, network up & down, battery, memory, temperature sensors...) up in the menu bar.  Each one can be pulled down like a menu for additional details.  It's a $16 app.  You can try before you buy.

Edit:  it looks like they have released another monitoring application called MiStat that is a separate app instead of living in the menu bar.  This allows them to place it in the Mac App Store.  It's available for a $4.99.

Edit: I'm sorry, I must have not read your question carefully enough before I posted.  I do not know of any GUI tool that is able to aggregate CPU time being consumed by several similar processes as you describe.   The best idea that I can think of would be to write a script that wraps the top or ps commands and adds up processes that match a regular expression.   This strikes me as a market opportunity for a nice utility.   Could you describe a little more of how you would like such a thing to behave?


In which countries can I use 3G service with a Wi-Fi + 3G model of the iPad 2 that was purchased in the U.S.? If I purchase a Wi-Fi + 3G model of the iPad 2 in the U.S., can I use the 3G service outside of the U.S.? If so, in which countries and how would I go about doing so? For what it's worth, I am specifically interested in using the iPad 2 in Japan.

My question is related to Will an iPad 2 3G from UK work on a Poland's (or another country's) 3G network? I was a bit troubled by the following quote in the answer.

  The broader situation is that the only problematic (less interoperable) 3G iPad is the Verizon-specific model sold in the USA

Does this mean that any iPad 2 purchased in the U.S. is incompatible with 3G service abroad?

A GSM iPad should work in any country where GSM carriers operate and offer data plans.

mobileworldlive.com is a great resource. They have a list which is up-to-date with live and planned availability as well as supported frequencies.

Of course you can use your iPad in any country where your carrier has roaming agreements. But at a very high rate. And you might have to call your carrier in advance to activate the option. But this will cost you much more than getting your data access from a local carrier.

If you chose to get your data access from a local carrier here are a few things to consider:

The carrier will not necessarily offer a micro SIM. In that case you will have to trim the sim to the right dimensions yourself.
You will have to setup the APN settings yourself on most networks.
Internet access could mean something else than data plan. Beware of obsolete offers with WAP or very limited access.
Some carriers will have better coverage than others. Check the coverage of each carrier before committing.
Some carriers will not sell prepaid data.
In some countries there could be restrictions for foreigners or non residents and you might have to get your SIM from someone who can buy it for you.

  Does this mean that any iPad 2 purchased in the U.S. is incompatible with 3G service abroad?

No. The GSM version (AT&T) will work in most countries. The same cannot be said of the CDMA version (Verizon).

Wikipedia tels us the iPad supports UMTS / HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz) GSM / EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)

Two networks are referenced as providing support for GSM based 3G in japan :

NTT DOCOMO, INC. (DOCOMO) 3G on 2100 MHz
SOFTBANK MOBILE Corp. (SoftBank) 3G 2100 MHz

Note: I would recommend a 3rd party solution if you go abroad for a short period of time. There are mobile WiFi modems like the huawei-mifi-e585 that could offer a better alternative if you need internet access on more than one device at a time.


Why there is a black spot in the display of my iMac? Yesterday I was working on a project in Adobe illustrator, that project had various white spaces it was then when I noticed a black spot/smudge in the lower corner of the display of my iMac. I thought it must be a dust particle on the outer glass screen of the iMac so I used a microfibre cloth to remove it which eventually failed cause it was then when I realised there is huge black smudge in the actual display of the iMac which is inside the outer glass screen

Gotcha! the black spot is actually dead pixels. I had an Apple Engineer to diagnose the display who said this is an obvious thing to happen and it doesn't happens because of daily usage. So I asked him why does this happens, he said that Apple has the tendency to reuse old and thrown out refurbished, recycled displays which is why sometimes these displays fitted into a brand new $1000 iMac shows these black spots/smudges specially in areas where the speakers are located!


How do I remove a device from a free (un-enrolled) team provisioning profile? I'm writing a React Native app for iOS and Android. After building the project through Xcode onto three different (physical) devices, the product owner wanted a version for testing on his personal iPhone as well. Now, when building to his device, Xcode simply spits out a few red lines, which seem to occur from the same error:

  Unable to add device (device-name-here) because the team has already
  reached the maximum number of iPhone devices.

Then something about that the build can't commence, because the device is not registered in the team profile etc.

I realize I'm using a free provisioning profile, but I was not warned about the device limitation beforehand, which makes me think I can change which devices are connected to the profile somehow. Am I misunderstanding something? Or how do I go about doing this?

As of now, I won't have access to an enrolled developer account, so I'm having to make do with a free one. This is my first time working with Apple software, coming from a long streak of Android development and open source software.

The free developer program has a 3 device limit. To increase the number of devices, you'll need to purchase a membership, which will increase the limit to 100. You can only reset your list of registered devices on your annual renewal cycle.


Time Machine External Drive What factors are important when selecting an external hard drive for time machine backups?

Make sure the drive is from a reputable supplier.  I've used Western Digital external drives without a problem.

When you get the drive it will most likely be formatted in NTFS format (for Windows), so when you plug it in, you will need to open Disk Utility and repartition it as HFS+

A Firewire 800 drive is fastest, although since the backups are incremental and happen in the background (with only the changed bits/files going across), I believe the cost/benefit factor is weighted towards getting a cheaper but higher capacity USB 2.0 drive.  That's just my opinion.


How to Combine iTunes accounts We have two Mac computers running iTunes, mine and hers.

I sync my peripherals to my MacBook Air and my iTunes account, while she syncs her peripherals with our home iMac. Historically, we each maintained separate Apple IDs and iTunes accounts.

My computer belongs to my former company and is going away, so going forward, "sharing" will not be an option.

How do I move my music over to the family iMac?
How do I avoid creating duplicates on the family iMac?
Is there a way to eliminate multiple duplicates? (the one at a time fix will take forever)
Is there any other advice?

Ideally you create an additional user account for yourself on the family Mac. Of course this will lead to having two copies of specific tracks and apps on the disk but overall it's much easier to handle than trying to combine two accounts (or handle two Apple IDs/ITS accounts from within one iTunes configuration).

For additional information concerning the migration see

iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer
How can I switch the computer I sync my iPhone with and keep my apps?


Where are screen recording saved in macOS Mojave by default? I made a screen recording as mentioned in this Apple's support article. Can someone let me know where are the screen recordings are saved after pressing "Done" and with what name it is saved?

Press Shift-Cmd-5 again to bring up the onscreen controls
Click on Options
Currently defined target for recordings is displayed on the top of the Options menu


Where is the F13 button on my MacBook Pro? I was looking through the System Preferences for Mission Control in OS X Lion (10.7). One of the options had F13 in it but I couldn't find it anywhere.

Where is it?

MacBook's don't have the extended keyboard which contains the additional 7 function keys (F13-F19). They're only on Apple's full size ( with numeric keys) keyboard as presented on this photo:


Unable to mount read-write in OS Catalina 10.15.4 in Single User Mode The command /sbin/mount -uw / no longer works after I upgraded to Catalina. I've read that this is due to Apple. Is there a new solution to mount to read and write through Single User Mode?

Catalina uses a new split-volume system for its file system, where system files are stored on a read-only volume, and user-modifiable parts of the filesystem are stored in a separate "Data" volume that's normally mounted read-write (see this article for more info). But in single-user mode they're both mounted read-only.

If you just need write access to the normally-writable parts of the filesystem, you just have to update the mount point for that volume:

mount -uw /System/Volumes/Data

If you need write access to the normally-read-only volume, things are more complicated. You'll need to:

Restart in Recovery mode and then either make your modifications there and call it a day, or...
Open Terminal (under the Utilities menu in Recovery), run csrutil enable --without fs (see my answer here)
Restart in single-user mode
Run mount -uw / and maybe also mount -uw /System/Volumes/Data
Do your modifications
Finally, restart back to Recovery and run csrutil enable to get the normal system protections back.


Sim free vs Verizon iphone I'm looking at the new iPhone SE and was wondering if you're going to pay in full for the phone ($499) is the sim free phone different than the Verizon carrier specific one? I read somewhere the sim free had 1 extra band (so maybe that is better if you want the flexibility to change carriers later)?  Verizon is my current carrier, and I'll start the phone there but could see moving somewhere later if the deals are worthwhile. Once I put a Verizon sim (which the Apple Store will give you for free) in the sim free one, is it the same as the Verizon specific one (and conversely if I get the Verizon specific phone and take out the sim for another can it go to any GSM network)?

The only difference is cost.
Now that we've moved into a contract-free phone era, service providers, like Verizon, will offer to let you make a payment plan instead of paying for the phone upfront. In the end, the cost is the same as the SIM-Free version, but the Verizon version only works on Verizon until they unlock it.
Conclusion: Verizon iPhones are physically the same as SIM-Free iPhones, but Verizon has more control over the Verizon model.

Bonus note:
If you are considering getting an iPhone and are on AT&T or T-Mobile, the SIM-Free version will be a better deal because only the SIM-Free, Verizon, and Sprint models support CDMA, which is needed for those networks.


video player that remembers where you left? Is there a video player that remembers where you left on each video?
Pretty much like listening to podcasts in iTunes, but with videos.

Take a look at MPlayerX. I love it. Not only does it remember video location, but also has seamless fast-forward to the next episode of a season.


Something is messing with my disk permissions, which breaks a lot of file-related stuff. Can I find out what is causing this? This has been happening for months, and I have no idea what's causing it.

Something on my Mac keeps mucking with disk permissions, and it seems like a trivial set of stuff

Java-related library files and the Applet plugin
Core Graphics headers
Some network headers, like a few files in the arpanet group
My hosts file (in this case, I know that the thing touching the hosts file is the Gasmask application)

However, whatever it is that is doing this, it completely wrenches up a lot of file-related actions.  The two most high-profile issues:

Archive Utility becomes unusable; it hangs indefinitely and I have to force-quit.  3rd party archive utilities like The Unarchiver don't experience this issue, so I've switched to using The Unarchiver.
The most annoying one is that the "Reveal In Finder" action in Alfred doesn't work.  I use this functionality all the time and it constantly stops working.

If there are other issues, I haven't directly noticed them, but I'm sure there are other things I can't find.  Whenever one of these things starts to happen, I run a permission repair, and everything goes back to normal for a little while, then one day *bang* it starts again.

Has anybody else experienced something similar, or does anybody know if there's a way that I can track specific files' permissions modifications so I can see exactly what the culprit is?  I have a great deal of software installed via homebrew and non-MAS avenues so I think it'd be pretty complicated to track it down exactly, any tips are greatly welcomed.

I don't know if the permission issues are related, but revealing files in Finder not working and Archive Utility stopping to respond are both symptoms of the Apple Events bug that was introduced in 10.8.2.

I don't know if it was fixed in 10.8.3, but when that starts happening, you can terminate appleeventsd from Activity Monitor or with sudo killall -9 appleventsd (without -9 other processes stop responding for some reason). The issue will probably return within a few hours or days though.


All HTTP requests get ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED, HTTPS works - How to troubleshoot? Trying to open a http website on any web browser (event telnet) gives a ‘ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED’ or ‘connection timed out’.

However, the same sites can be opened using https. I tried doing a traceroute and it works fine.

I am new to OS X but have experience with Linux. How do I go about troubleshooting this issue?

Update

I think I've tracked down the culprit to a rule in pf (firewall).

The result of sudo pfctl -s nat is:

No ALTQ support in kernel
ALTQ related functions disabled
rdr pass inet proto tcp from 192.168.0.101 to any port = 80 -> 127.0.0.1 port 9882

192.168.0.101 is the current ip address of the computer.

I tried to remove the rule with sudo pfctl -F all, but it is back after a few seconds. I didn't find the rule in the default configurations (/etc/pf.conf). And disabling pf with sudo pfctl -d has no effect on it.

Is this a malware issue?

You are probably victim of an adware: OSX/Pirrit. Please read the linked analysis.

To remove the adware save the following shell script as remove-adware.sh (e.g. on your Desktop) and execute it as root:

echo "*** Osx.Pirit Removal script, Amit Serper, @0xamit ***"
echo "*** BEFORE YOU RUN THIS SCRIPT, STOP! I CAN'T TAKE ANY RESPONSIBILITY ON ANY DAMAGES HAPPENING TO YOUR MACHINE. YOU ARE THE MASTER OF YOUR OWN FATE"
echo "*** Before running this script check that you are indeed infected with osx.pirrit. TERMINATE THIS SCRIPT BY HITTING CTRL+C AND RUNNING THE FOLLOWING COMMAND:"
echo "$ dscl . -list /Users UniqueID | grep 401"
echo "If this command has an output then continue running this script. Else DONT"
echo "Press any key to continue running this script, remember - I am not responsible for any unfortunate outcomes"
read

echo "[*] Getting net_pref name"
netPrefFileName=$(sudo defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.common.plist net_pref)

echo "[*] Netperf name is:"
echo $netPrefFileName

echo "[*] Getting appname from com.common.plist"
appName=$(sudo defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.common.plist name)
echo $appName

echo "[*] Stopping and removing LaunchDaemon"
sudo launchctl unload -w "/Library/LaunchDaemons/"$netPrefFileName
sudo killall $appName

sudo rm "/Library/LaunchDaemons/"$netPrefFileName

echo "[*] Removing injector"
sudo rm -r "/Library/"$appName
echo "[*] Removing malicious pf configs made by Pirrit"
sudo rm /etc/change_net_settings.sh

sudo pfctl -evf /etc/pf.conf

servicePrefFileName=$(sudo defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.common.plist service_pref)
echo “[*] Net pref file name:”
echo $netPrefFileName

appName=$(sudo defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.common.plist name)
echo “[*] App name is:”
echo $appName

echo “[*] Removing LaunchDaemon”
sudo launchctl unload -w "/Library/LaunchDaemons/"$servicePrefFileName
echo [*] Killing app and osascript”
sudo killall $appName
sudo killall osascript

echo “[*] Cleaning up…”
sudo rm "/Library/LaunchDaemons/"$servicePrefFileName

sudo rm -r "/Library/"$appName

echo “[*] Removing pirrit launching script”
sudo rm /etc/run_app.sh

echo “Script finished”

Make it executable:

chmod +x ~/Desktop/remove-adware.sh

change your working directory:

cd ~/Desktop

and execute it. Read the intro of the script thoroughly (especially the advice to run dscl . -list /Users UniqueID | grep 401 before continuing:

sudo ./remove-adware.sh


Should there be a problem making a Time Machine Backup with a sparse disk image containing a bootable installer on my current drive and volume? I am trying to make a virtual machine using VirtualBox. I have been following the comment David Anderson made for me here on this post (his comment I am talking about is at the bottom): Install macOS Sierra on VirtualBox?
I have gotten to his step #3 and finished it. I am now at step 4, but I haven't started step 4.
Before I finished this process I thought it might be a good idea to make a time machine backup of my drive in case I do anything wrong, also I haven't made a backup in about 150 days.
I'm just wondering if making a Time Machine backup with a sparse disk image containing a bootable installer will be a problem for the Time machine backup?
These are my computer specs in case they are needed for reference:
Macbook Pro mid-2014,
Running macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 (natively)

I would absolutely encourage you to stop and make a Time Machine backup. There’s no harm in trying to manually twiddle things, but wouldn’t it be better to make your first backup in 150 days to an actual drive that’s connected?
You won’t run into issues with installers being downloaded - those are just are large files that get saved one time and then don’t change in the next hour’s backup.


Does Mail.app send or can request read receipts? I was wondering whether Mail.app is able to send read receipts (or maybe it does silently?) or create emails that require those?

I know such a feature is available in Outlook.

I tested this using Mail on Snow Leopard connected to Exchange 2005.

There is no ability to set a request to receive read receipts.

Reading an email sent from Outlook in Windows to mail on Snow Leopard with a read recipt requested, does not send a read receipt.

Lion may vary.


App Store Review Guidelines 3.1.1 - Allow users to convert their virtual currency to USD? So I know that I can use real money (ex. USD) to buy in app purchases that reward me with virtual currency - let's say "gold."

But is the opposite true? As a developer, can I allow my users to sell their gold back to me for a USD reward?

In particular, the following bullet point:

  Apps may use in-app purchase currencies to enable customers to “tip” digital content providers in the app.

Seems to hint at that kind of transaction, but I don't know if my scenario falls under that description.

For a full scenario, consider the following:

Alice writes a blog post. She wants to put a paywall on it so she gets paid a small amount before anyone can read it. Alice charges 50 gold for anyone to read her blog post.

Bob sees her blog post on his feed. He goes to the in app store to purchase some gold, let's say 100 for $1.99. He then spends 50 gold to unlock the blog post.

Alice receives 50 gold from 30 different people, netting her 1500 gold. She then goes to my website and initiates a withdrawal. Alice makes, let's say, $10 from her 1500 gold and her balance is reset.

Can an app that does this make it past App Store review? Is it totally legal or do I have to follow some other regulations in the U.S. (other than the usual PCI-DSS, etc)?

I don't see anything in the guidelines that would prevent you from making such an app. However, it is always best to check with Apple as they are the ones making the final decision.

There's no need for you to actually implement this as "buying back gold". You can just let users buy an in-app purchase that is "gold", that they can use to tip the content providers.

Then on your web site you can make a section where content providers can login to see how many times they have been tipped. This doesn't need to have anything to do with "gold" or in-app purchases or anything like that.

As you write that the withdrawal (payout) is made through your own web site, and not the app, this sounds perfectly doable.

As for legal issues, you need to contact a lawyer in your area. Laws are different in various countries, states, etc. and could depend on how you have incorporated, and other details. In particular you would probably want to ensure that everything is setup correctly in terms of taxing.


I am seeking a SCP/SFTP client for iOS devices There are clients for telnet and SSH but I couldn't find any app including SCP. Is there any?

I use a combination of two apps to administer local servers without internet access. There might be a good scp/sftp app I don't know - but AirSharing does file serving so well that I just turn it on then ssh into the server. From there, I sftp/curl the files I need back from the iOS file server.

Prompt - a great ssh app by Panic.
Air Sharing Pro - a file server that supports webdav/sftp/curl/http


Power adapter connection issues Lately, my Magsafe power adapter has not been connecting properly:

The wires are not worn out as I take good care of them
The issue happens when I try to connect my power adapter to my computer
The LED does not come on and the MacBook does not get charged. I have to unplug and plug the power adapter several times until I can get a connection.
The cord and computer intake seem clean and no pins are pushed down

What can I do?

Even if there isn't any obvious cable damage or bulging, the adapter could be failing. If the adapter is not one of the newer L-Shape Magsafe plugs, the need for a SMC firmware update is moot, but it's helpful to have the system up to date regardless.

Have you confirmed if a second, known-good adapter works on your Mac?

Updated: An SMC reset can also correct magsafe LED issues. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964


Connecting USB-C iPad Pro to Xcode and USB Peripheral I am trying to connect my third generation iPad Pro to my Mac through USB to communicate with Xcode (I am aware network debugging is an option but I am looking for a wired solution) while also having a MIDI device plugged into the iPad Pro. I have tried this with the Apple USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter (A1621) but it appears that the USB-C port on the adapter is only for power delivery. Does anyone have any experience with other USB-C hubs that can do this or is this a limitation of the hardware of the iPad Pro?

Does anyone have any experience with other USB-C hubs that can do this or is this a limitation of the hardware of the iPad Pro?

It's a limitation of the hardware in the iPad Pro because all USB-C ports act this way.  USB is a host/device (or master/slave) protocol and so there needs to be some means to enforce this.  This used to be done with the use of cables that had an "A" connector for the host and a "B" connector for the device.  USB-C is a dual-role connector and this makes defining the operation of a USB-C hub difficult.  USB-C also allows for "power only" ports which complicates this further.
The way host/device is enforced with USB-C is by having no hubs.  Connecting a hub to a host is easy since it's going to have only USB-A and a power only USB-C.  Once in a while I will see a hub with two USB-C ports, one for data only and the other for power only, and these tend to confuse or frustrate people should something be plugged into the wrong port.  No damage is done if the two ports are confused, things just won't work.  Without designating which USB-C port serves which role, and labeling them as such, the operation of the hub cannot be defined in a predictable manner.
If you do see a hub or dock with more than two USB-C ports then this is violating the USB spec or it is a Thunderbolt dock.  Thunderbolt defines the function of a USB-C hub, but the iPad Pro doesn't support Thunderbolt.  Yet.


There is a bluetooth audio delay on my Mid 2014 Mac on Mojave Whenever I connect my bluetooth earbuds to my Mac, there is a noticeable audio lag when watching videos. How do I solve this. I use my earbuds with my Android phone and they work perfectly.

Allegedly, Tooth Fairy cures all manner of Bluetooth woes.


Outlook 2011 doesn't show flagged messages I have Outlook 2011 installed (owa access) if a flag an e-mail to follow up, it doesn't appear in the smart-folder flagged mail. I tried rebuilding the database, delete and recreate my account nothing works. The Filter in the Smart-Folder is set to Follow Up Flag -> Not Completed any suggestions?

For anyone facing the same issue, don't put your outlook user data folder into the privacy settings of spotlight. If you do that, you can't search outlook anymore...


Why won't my macbook pro wake up when docked? I got a HengeDock for Christmas.  When I close my Macbook Pro and dock it to the external monitor, mouse, and keyboard, it will not wake up.  I move the mouse around and type on the keyboard, but it stays asleep.  Is this because I have a non-Apple monitor (I have a Sumsung -- highly rated by Consumer Reports).  Is something set incorrectly in my preferences?

According to Apple's kbase article HT3131, your machine must be plugged into power for clamshell mode to work.


Uninstall OSX-gcc-installer without first installing Xcode Is there a way that I can uninstall osx-gcc-installer without first having to install Xcode, then run sudo /Developer/Library/uninstall-devtools —mode=all ?

I installed it on Mountain Lion, and I want to get rid of it so my CLI tools will work to install Octopress.

Is there a script or command that will help me totally remove osx-gcc-installer from my system?

From what I'm seeing in the developer's scripts here, it looks like he is recommending that you install Xcode over the top of his "osx-gcc-installer" to be able to uninstall...At that point, you can run the uninstall-devtools script...

From the developer:

  If something doesn't work as expected, feel free to install Xcode over this installation.

  Once installed, you can remove Xcode completely with the following:

sudo /Developer/Library/uninstall-devtools -mode=all

Alternately, you can copy and paste the actual script content into a blank text document (maybe named "uninstall-devtools"), make it editable (chmod 755 uninstall-devtools), and then execute it (sudo ./uninstall-devtools -mode=all):

#!/usr/bin/perl
####################################################################################################
#
# Copyright (c) 2002-2011 Apple, Inc.
# Xcode 4.2
#
# NAME
#     uninstall-devtools -- Meta-script for running the various devtools uninstaller scripts.
#
# SYNOPSIS
#     sudo /Developer/Library/uninstall-devtools --mode=all
#     sudo /Developer/Library/uninstall-devtools --mode=xcodedir
#     sudo /Developer/Library/uninstall-devtools --mode=unixdev
#     sudo /Developer/Library/uninstall-devtools --mode=systemsupport
#
# Where the specified 'mode' value invokes the following devtools uninstaller scripts:
#
#     all:
#         /Library/Developer/Shared/uninstall-devtools
#         /Library/Developer/4.2/uninstall-devtools
#         /Developer/Library/uninstall-developer-folder
#
#     xcodedir:
#         /Developer/Library/uninstall-developer-folder
#
#     unixdev:
#         /Library/Developer/Shared/uninstall-devtools
#
#     systemsupport:
#         /Library/Developer/Shared/uninstall-devtools
#         /Library/Developer/4.2/uninstall-devtools
#
# The default value for 'mode' is 'all'.
#
# DESCRIPTION
#     This command runs the appropriate devtools uninstaller scripts according to the usage
#     specified on the command line.
####################################################################################################

my $do_nothing     = 0;
my $verbose        = 0;
my $warning        = 0;
my $debug          = 0;
my $help           = 0;
my $mode           = '';

get_options(
    'do-nothing' => \$do_nothing,
    'verbose' => \$verbose,
    'warning' => \$warning,
    'debug' => \$debug,
    'help' => \$help,
    'mode' => \$mode,
);

####################################################################################################

if ($help == 1) {
    print("Usage: $0 --mode=<all|xcodedir|unixdev|systemsupport>\n");
print <<"END";
This is a meta-script which invokes one or more of the devtools
uninstaller scripts, depending on which mode you select.

The recognized modes are:
all:
    /Library/Developer/Shared/uninstall-devtools
    /Library/Developer/4.2/uninstall-devtools
    /Developer/Library/uninstall-developer-folder

xcodedir:
    /Developer/Library/uninstall-developer-folder

unixdev:
    /Library/Developer/Shared/uninstall-devtools

systemsupport:
    /Library/Developer/Shared/uninstall-devtools
    /Library/Developer/4.2/uninstall-devtools

The default value for 'mode' is 'all'.
END
    exit(0);
}

####################################################################################################
# Determine if we are authorized to uninstall the devtools packages.
####################################################################################################

$| = 1;
if (($do_nothing == 0) && ($< != 0)) {
    die("ERROR: Must be run with root permissions -- prefix command with 'sudo'.\n");
}

####################################################################################################

my $uninstaller_script = $0;
my ($uninstaller_dir,$uninstaller_script_basename) = parse_name($uninstaller_script);
if ($uninstaller_dir eq '.') {
    die("ERROR: Must change to another directory before running this script, since the current directory is about to be deleted.\n");
}
my ($developer_dir,$developer_dir_basename) = parse_name($uninstaller_dir);

####################################################################################################

my @flags = ();
if ($do_nothing == 1) {
    push(@flags,'--do-nothing');
}
if ($verbose == 1) {
    push(@flags,'--verbose');
}
if ($warning == 1) {
    push(@flags,'--warning');
}
if ($debug == 1) {
    push(@flags,'--debug');
}

if (($mode eq '') || ($mode eq 'all')) {
    run_uninstaller_script("/Library/Developer/4.2/uninstall-devtools",\@flags);
    run_uninstaller_script("/Library/Developer/Shared/uninstall-devtools",\@flags);
    run_uninstaller_script("$developer_dir/Library/uninstall-developer-folder",\@flags);
} elsif ($mode eq 'xcodedir') {
    run_uninstaller_script("$developer_dir/Library/uninstall-developer-folder",\@flags);
} elsif ($mode eq 'unixdev') {
    run_uninstaller_script("/Library/Developer/Shared/uninstall-devtools",\@flags);
} elsif ($mode eq 'systemsupport') {
    run_uninstaller_script("/Library/Developer/4.2/uninstall-devtools",\@flags);
    run_uninstaller_script("/Library/Developer/Shared/uninstall-devtools",\@flags);
} else {
    die("Usage: $0 --mode=<all|xcodedir|shared|systemsupport>\n");
}
print("IMPORTANT: If you are going to install a previous version of the Developer Tools, be sure to restart the machine after installing.\n");

####################################################################################################

sub get_options {
    while (@_) {
    my $option_name = shift(@_);
    my $option_pointer = shift(@_);

    foreach my $arg (@ARGV) {
        if ($arg =~ /^--$option_name/) {
        my ($arg_name,$arg_value) = split(/=/,$arg);
                $arg_value = 1 if (!$arg_value);
        $$option_pointer = $arg_value;
        }
    }
    }
}

####################################################################################################

sub parse_name {
   my $name = shift;
   my ($dir_name,$base_name) = ($name =~ m{^(.*/)?(.*)}s);
   $dir_name =~ s|(.*)/$|$1|s;
   return ($dir_name,$base_name);
}

####################################################################################################

sub run_uninstaller_script {
    my $script = shift;
    my $flagsref = shift;

    if (-x $script) {
        my @args = ();
        push(@args,$script);
        foreach my $flag (@$flagsref) {
            push(@args,$flag);
        }

        system({$args[0]} @args);
    }
}

####################################################################################################


Safest way to activate a "backup" iPhone, to be kept on a lower version of iOS I have a Jailbroken iPhone 6S on iOS 12.1.1, and I am really, really happy with my current setup. I want to stay on this version of iOS for as long as I possibly can—several years at minimum.

I have taken the somewhat drastic step of purchasing a "backup" iPhone SE from Apple, which I will keep on (the lowest possible version of) iOS 12, in case anything happens to my primary iPhone.

I've heard stories of Apple not allowing activation on iPhones with too old a firmware, so I assume I should activate my new SE as soon as it arrives. If I use my primary phone's SIM card to activate the SE, is there any chance of my primary phone becoming deactivated? Are there any other risks I should be aware of?

Don't worry , you can use the SIM card to activate the iPhone SE.

You can always make backup copies, regardless of the iOS version you have. An important fact is that in order to restore an old version, the version you are going to restore must still be signed by Apple. Normally they leave the 2 most recent versions available, in these moments iOS 12.2 and iOS 12.1.5.

You do not have to worry, they will not remove the Jailbreak or anything like that by activating another iPhone.


MacBook: Prevent mouse from switching to external monitor placed above main display So I got an external monitor witch is positioned above my MacBook. Sometimes I want to use the Menu bar of my MacBook, and I often move my mouse too quickly and it goes to the secondary monitor.

Is there a button I can press to prevent my mouse from going to my secondary monitor, but instead trigger the menu bar to pop up in fullscreen mode?

May I suggest simply changing the arrangement of the screens (in the dialog seen in your screenshot, not physically).

You can either place the screen to the side, or even just place it at an offset. Say you place it as far to the right as possible (while remaining above the main screen). In that case, you could move the mouse from one screen to the other by going all the way to the right edge of the screen and up.


Will a MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010) power up in clamshell mode? Although part of my problem is covered here - Powering on while the lid is closed in clamshell mode, it alone doesn't solve my query.

I'm trying to turn my MBP into a server, and because of that I want to keep the lid closed. I'm using InsomniaX to keep it from going to sleep, which usually works for just keeping the computer awake.

I want to be able to restart my computer remotely (I already have this implemented), in its lid closed state, and have it not go to sleep after the boot.

I've heard I could connect an external monitor, but I don't exactly have one laying around to use, so is there a way to mimic one?

Is there an app to disable the sleeping that happens on a MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010) after the computer is booted up with the display shut completely?

An easy way to spoof a monitor connector is to use a VGA adapter, and connect a VGA Dummy-plug (sometimes called a "VGA Terminator").

There are a number of tutorials on how to make your own - here and here are other (though these involve soldering).

You can also buy them in DVI-A and VGA flavors.

If you want something that spoofs a DVI-D interface into thinking there is an attached monitor, it is a lot more work.


How to determine which keyboard shortcut combo is free to assign? I've already spent much more time in finding a combination that works in every app (universal) than in creating the actual service. The shortcut triggers a service for increasing or decreasing the brightness of my external monitor.

I tried a ridiculous Control + Alt + Command + F1 / F2, but it doesn't work in apps like Finder, Preview etc. It only gives an error beep. (But is it already assigned? Or its portion is assigned and gets triggered?) I haven't found anything else since.

How do I find a free keyboard shortcut combo? Otherwise there's no point in creating them.

As @Tetsujin pointed out,

  The beep doesn't mean 'oops, I've got a key conflict' it means 'the key command you just used has nothing assigned to it in this scope'.

After a restart, the (above) shortcuts worked in every app I tried.

So after tuning your keyboard shortcuts, try to close and reopen the app in which it does not get triggered (beeps) or ultimately, reboot.

Also - there's no notification if you have an existing short cut and install an app that collides with that, so you may have to just remediate when an app or shortcut collide - defining another shortcut in that app to free your preferred use.


Trying to remove Chess.app using terminal The title says it all. Can I use sudo rm -r or sudo rm -f?

There seem to be several questions hidden in your post:

You can‘t remove Chess.app (or any other of the applications installed as part of macOS) without disabling SIP.
if you are short on disk space look for things which use a lot of space, not for small applications
rm -f is used to remove several files and ignore any errors which might occur
rm -r is used to remove folders and their content (recursively)


steam and Parallels Desktop 10? I am planning on buying a Macbook Pro and Parallels Desktop 10, but I also love PC video games and I want to know if anyone knows how/if Steam games can run easily through Parallels Desktop.  Also if Steam games can run, how well does it run?  Do you think I would be better off getting Boot Camp?

Parallels is great if you don't need full speed; it's not great for gaming, but it's OK at a push.

I'd go with Boot Camp for gaming, Parallels for less-intensive work.

You can use your Boot Camp drive in Parallels too, for times you just need quick access to Windows, without needing the full-speed setup. The only proviso is that you must shut it down in Parallels each time, rather than Suspend it, or it messes up the boot partition.
You can set your prefs in Parallels to do this automatically, so you don't forget.

From comments…
Windows needs to be purchased separately, for either solution, Boot Camp or Parallels.
This excerpt from Parallels FAQ

  Pre-Sales Questions - I want to buy Parallels and need to know…

  Does Windows come pre-installed with Parallels Desktop for Mac?

  Windows is not included with your purchase of Parallels Desktop 10 for Mac. Windows can be purchased directly from Microsoft or many retail stores. For Windows 8 or 8.1, you can use either the Full Product purchased at retail, or you can purchase the Windows 8 or 8.1 OEM System Builder version (lower price) which has some limitations. Please visit KB9003 for additional information.


Is there any way to manually bless firmware when main disk is external? My iMac (mid 2010) keeps pestering me to upgrade my EFI firmware to 1.8. Sadly, no matter how many times I try to to upgrade the EFI (from the manual install, or the auto update), it does not seem to go through and asks me again at the next reboot.

The main reasons seems to be that I am running Mac OS X on a completely external disk (firewire); I am reserving the internal disk for Windows. I believe it’s the reason for my trouble since you can find many people have similar problems when they are running os x from a second internal disk (usually when they replaced a MacBook or iMac SuperDrive by an SSD drive).

Searching on the internet, I found a couple of resources that seem to indicate that manually blessing the firmware is possible. For instance this one; note their solution is for a slightly different problem, where installing Ubuntu messed up with EFI, but everything is running from the main disk.

I downloaded the firmware, extracted the relevant file (IM112_0057_01B_LOCKED.scap), and tried—unsuccessfully—to manually push the update.

I am not quite sure how bless works, nor where the efi update is supposed to live (i am surprised that it seems to live on the disk, not on the computer itself, but I could be misunderstanding the way EFI works).
I tried:

sudo bless -mount / -firmware blabla.scap
sudo bless -mount /Volumes/Main -firmware blabla.scap
etc…

No success! If anyone who better understands EFI / the bless command can help me out, I would be super grateful.

I can share the output of the --verbose command if it is helpful.

To answer some of your questions:

The firmware is stored on main board. However, when updating firmware, the EFI system partition is used as a staging area.
After serval testings, it seems that Mac only recognizes the EFI partition at primary internal disk as a staging area (note: at least not working at the optical bay of my mac or at any external drive). So, if you only got an external disk or there is no ESP in your primary internal disk, that would be mission impossible, at least not the bless command could get it done.
To solve your issue, you may try the following steps if your internal disk has a EFI system partition:

boot the machine wish macOS
use bless command to prepare firmware update, including write scap file onto ESP.
make sure the scap file is on the ESP of internal disk. otherwise create one by copying it from ESP of external disk.
restart the machine. Hopefully, the upgrade will be processed.

or

backup your Windows
install High Sierra on the internal disk so that the firmware will be upgraded to latest one, or format the internal disk as GUID partition table (so that there will be a ESP on that disk for updating firmware), then use bless command to upgrade the firmware manually. note: strong recommend with --verbose and --recovery options.
restore Windows

or

I'm not sure is your mac be able to replace the internal drive with the external drive easily. If yes, I believe the fastest way is replacing the internal drive with your external drive temporarily to get the upgrade done.


What is the best key remapper tool? I use international keyboards which have ` (~ with shift) next to Z key. I'm used to having `/~ key next to 1 (currently, this key produces § or ± with shift, which I don't use at all). My goal is to remap §/± key to `/~.

I have found several key remapping tools for Mac OS, so I want to ask which one do you have best experience with. (I use Mac OS X 10.6)

great question... I've been looking for a tool that will allow me to emulate TouchCursor for Windows on the mac for a long time.  Tried Ukelele, DoubleCommand, and some others that I can't remember right now :)  KeyRemap4Macbook seemed to be closest to what I needed, but I could never get around to configuring it how I wanted it.  Your mileage may vary.

Check out this page that gives some of the aforementioned programs and start playing :)


Apple Developer Program "Closed?" So to try and give a quick backstory, I've been learning Swift in hopes of reaching the goal of a released piece of iOS software. Now I know that you need to be a part of the developer program to do this, so I looked into it today.

What I read and clicked through so I could get to the last step possible without actually paying, and I got to a page that said "You cannot enroll in the developer program right now."

Is this a problem, or is Apple just fixing it right now?

And here's a screenshot of the page, if it helps:

.

it is possible they are updating or doing something with there servers as they say at this time .. try later


Screen brightness control (F1, F2) not working on a WASD mechanical keyboard with mac mode keys I got a WASD mechanical keyboard with mac mode keys which has the all the media shortcuts such as play, pause, volume up/down etc except for screen brightness control. Even though in System Preferences F1 and F2 are set up to control the screen brightness for my iMac, they don't work when I press them on their own or in combination with Fn/ Command/control/etc.

Is there a way that I can have keyboard shortcuts to screen brightness control?

You can use software like Karabiner (free) to remap your keyboard keys. According to their documentation, mapping function keys to brightness settings is one of the settings it comes with.

https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/


Macbook Pro late 2016 (Touchbar) / WD elements HDD not in Finder I have a Macbook Pro late 2016 with Touchbar etc. and a Western Digital Elements external HDD of 1 tb.
When I plug in my HDD it wont show up in Finder. It takes about ~20 minutes to recognise it, if it recognises it. Sometimes it does, sometimes it does not.

When I type the diskutil list

I get the following:

/dev/disk0 (internal):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                         251.0 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     314.6 MB   disk0s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage Macintosh HD            250.0 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3

/dev/disk1 (internal, virtual):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                            Macintosh HD           +249.7 GB   disk1
                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2
                                 F81477CF-32B7-44F7-A787-C280104BB711
                                 Unlocked Encrypted

/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk2
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk2s1
   2:       Microsoft Basic Data LTKort                  1000.0 GB  disk2s2

But it wont show in Finder, So I tried to eject it with: diskutil eject disk2 but it says: Volume timed out while waiting to eject

Why doesn't it show in Finder directly and what can I do about it?

Open Finder preferences and change the check box beside external disks from - to checked.


How to release mouse capture in VirtualBox? I'm on my MacbookPro and using TeamViewer for remote access to my 2k3 Server. On this server I installed VirtualBox to create a virtual machine. But now I stuck at this screen and no more can use my mouse.

How can I release the mouse capture?

You need to press "host key" which is written in right bottom corner of  VirtualBox window.

Looking at your screenshot its Right Ctrl.

Its not default Mac Command ⌘ because you are running VirtualBox on Windows host, which you are accessing using TeamViewer.

See virtualBox manual: link


Apple Developer DNS Broken I'm trying to create a developer account at developer.apple.com, but every time I click "Register", it says the server at developercms.apple.com couldn't be found. Is this happening to anyone else? How can I get past this?

This seems to have been a transient issue on Apple's end which has now been resolved.