how to bind double tapping the shift key in tmux i spent some time yesterday trying to figure out how i can bind a double tap -esque key binding for tmux, and made some progress, but still incomplete.
i am hoping to maximize/minimize a pane within a tmux window by double tapping the shift key. even better if i can granularly map it to the left shift key and have double tapping the right shift key perform a different key binding.
while doing some research on how to do this i came across this unix/linux stackexchange q&a. the person who asked that question is essentially asking the same thing i am but on a gnu+linux platform and not a darwin+bsd platform ie. macos.
in that unix/linux q&a the op who provides the accepted answer recommends using xcape to map a custom binding for xterm (if i understand correctly), and i believe xcape is tied to X11 window manager, and i'm using Alacritty as my terminal emu along with Aqua as my desktop environment, so i don't believe using xcape is a viable solution on macos.  i am aware of karabiner-elements for setting custom key mappings on macos, which i have done for several keys, but i don't think i'd have to set that up (but could be wrong) as this binding is specific to my term emu.
it seems either my tmux mappings are not correct or alacritty is not passing the mapping to tmux in order to perform the mapping. this is where things get confusing for me.
a couple of things i have tried within my tmux.conf
set-option prefix2 "f11" # WORK!!!
bind-key "f11" resize-pane -Z # double tap f11 (requires holding fn key on mbp keyboard)

when i set the prefix2 with the below setting
set-option prefix2 "C-S-M"
bind C-S-M display "ctrl+shift+meta pressed"

i do not see the message flashed within my tmux status bar.
i have other key bindings in tmux that use the shift key with arrow keys, so i know it's not a problem with the shift key, so i'm confused as to which program i don't have configured properly.
i have my alacritty.yml config file hosted within my dotfiles repo, and my tmux.conf is hosted within the same repo but i have pasted the important parts above. please excuse my ignorance if i'm forgetting something trivial.

Binding C-S-M won't work for two reasons. Firstly there is no key S-M - M is already shifted. Secondly, there is are no uppercase control keys. See https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki/Modifier-Keys#limitations-of-ctrl-keys.
Your best bet for keys that the terminal cannot send are to map them to a key that the terminal can send (like F11 or C-F2) using xbindkeys or similar program.
You don't need to change prefix to make double pressing a key work, you can do it with key tables, for example something like:
bind -Tmytable F11 lsk
bind -Troot F11 switchc -Tmytable


Is it possible to merge two iTunes Store accounts so we can share apps and other purchases? My wife and I each have iTunes on our PCs.  Originally, I set these up with separate iTunes Store accounts.  I was led to believe that we ought to do this because an email address is used for the Apple ID, and we each have one.  I'm thinking now that was a mistake?

Here's the problem:
Each of us now has an iPad, and we're each buying apps on our own accounts and syncing to our own PCs.  Because of these separate accounts and iTunes PCs, I understand we're unable to share our purchases – which, AFAIK, Apple expressly permits on up to 5 associated family devices.  (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

Is it possible to merge or consolidate two different Apple iTunes Store accounts so we can share the apps and other purchases we've made?  (We are married, so legally it is community property anyway! :-)

Alternatively, is there a way we could maintain our separate accounts but still sync each others' devices in a way to get both sets of apps on each iPad?  We've already made some redundant purchases (and thus wasted some $) and I'd like to avoid that in the future, if possible!

Home sharing should allow you to see each other's libraries over your home network, and drag apps from your wife's onto yours and vice versa.  You can definitely do this despite having two accounts - my wife and I have a similar problem.  You may have to enter both passwords from time to time to authorize purchases, though.

I found some help setting this up from "Activating Home Sharing in iTunes".

I believe you can also sort hers by "items I don't have" so you can see what she might have bought of interest to you, although I'm not sure you can automatically sync them.

This SuperUser question seems to suggest that merging two accounts is not an option:
Can I merge 2 iTunes Store accounts?


Caching HDD Files on an SSD Given a system with a fast internal SSD, and a slower external HDD, is it possible to improve the HDD's performance using free space on the SSD without creating a Fusion Drive? In my case the external drive is always connected (the system needs the extra capacity).

Really I'm looking mostly to use a big chunk of space for read-caching, and maybe to buffer writes (provided the content doesn't stay there for long, and is safely written out before being unmounted).

Unfortunately the SSD isn't big enough to take the full contents of the HDD, and I'd like to avoid having to manually symlink folders, though I may do it for some temporary/cache folders where it won't matter if they're moved.

Other World Computing announced a product to do this at CES 2015: Transwarp.

From their press release:

  Utilizing any SSD as a removable, flexible cache, Transwarp magically
  brings the incredible performance of solid state drives to any
  high-capacity hard drive. Transwarp [...] is slated for release later
  this year.

  Key Features:

  Combines any SSD and HDD into an intelligent, fast volume
  Achieve the incredible speed benefits of SSDs with the capacity of traditional hard disks
  Quick and easy set-up
  Maintains all data on the HDD
  Compatible with any filesystem supported by OS X


Continue buffering paused HTML5 video in background (or unfocused) Safari tab I've been searching for a while to figure out a way to get Safari to keep loading (buffering) paused videos when the tab containing the video isn't the one I'm currently focused on.

If I go to another tab in Safari to read something while the video loads, the video stops loading. But also if I leave the tab in the front and go to another application to do something while the video is loading the video stops loading.

This definitely happens every time when I'm dealing with Vimeo. I think it happens other times, but I can't think of any places to try out. I don't use flash player, so this might only be happening with html5 video players.

I found a page that promised to help with loading background tabs, but it relates to Lion (I'm on Yosemite) and the person seems to be saying that tabs don't load at all in the background. I'm not having that problem (and unsurprisingly the solution didn't work).

I think the setting you’re looking for is Disable Hidden Page Timer Throttling, located under Debug → Miscellaneous Flags.

If you haven’t enabled the Safari Debug menu yet, triple-click the following line and paste it into a Terminal session:
defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeInternalDebugMenu 1

Now completely quit Safari, then reopen it. The Debug menu should become available.

If you’re on Safari Technology Preview, the Terminal command is:
defaults write com.apple.SafariTechnologyPreview IncludeInternalDebugMenu 1


How can I let top show in byte for memory usage on MacOS? I use below command to show memory and cpu usage on MacOS but it shows in G not byte. How can I make it show byte in the output?

$ top -l 1 -n 0
Processes: 432 total, 2 running, 430 sleeping, 2306 threads
2018/01/16 11:23:44
Load Avg: 2.54, 4.00, 5.70
CPU usage: 6.58% user, 10.63% sys, 82.78% idle
SharedLibs: 193M resident, 55M data, 24M linkedit.
MemRegions: 166609 total, 6388M resident, 85M private, 1820M shared.
PhysMem: 15G used (3079M wired), 593M unused.
VM: 3253G vsize, 1098M framework vsize, 10135734(0) swapins, 11401593(0) swapouts.
Networks: packets: 3462765/3440M in, 2340820/1677M out.
Disks: 6698979/126G read, 3697913/112G written.

Any command you enter in Terminal.app provides help with the "man" command. For a list of the options on "top" you would type in:

man top

I had a quick look through the options and I did not see anything that allowed you to change the displayed memory units. Perhaps if you had a closer look?

Wondering if there is a way to feed the output through something else that would convert to bytes. Possible but that is beyond my meagre CLI skills...


Stopping LaunchAgents and Daemons I work as admin in a college environment. One of the challenges is to stop the services installed by students with CS major. Some time back they got the admin access and installed launch agents and daemons on some systems.The students have also added some plists as com.apple.myprog.run. The problem is these are not present in the launchagents directory or in the launchdaemons directory.

So my question is how to find the path for these daemon services.Then next step is how to stop these.  Since some of these could start again and again(based on certain flags).

If you want to stop the item for this boot simply issue an unload command to launchd via launchctl. For a permanent fix add a disabled key into the plist with value true or delete/move the file to a folder where launchd will not scan it automatically.

launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.AppStoreUpdateAgent.plist

The man page for launchctl has nice documentation for controlling jobs. As for the general defeating of CS majors, you might also consider that they edited the existing apple plists to make them do something you don't expect, so it will prove to be far easier to just reinstall the OS and migrate the user data back from a backup (paying particular note to note re-install any plist files in the /System/Library, /Library space (and perhaps also audit the ~/Library of admin users). Losing admin / root against someone that knows how to change the system is basically game over and the defense (finding and disabling) the changes is very time consuming as opposed to offense (reinstalling the system from a known good source and use configuration management tools to ensure changed files are detected).


Using an Address Book custom label on a printing label I have a custom label in my Address Book cards (to indicate the name I'd like to appear on a label, e.g. The Smith Family).

I'm on Lion (so that's Address Book version 6.1 on Mac OS X 10.7.2).

When I go to print the labels, File > Print > Mailing Labels I can't change it from using the Name (Prefix - First Name - Surname).

Before I set off trying to export this to a mail merge and use a much more complicated method, is there a way of doing this within Address Book?

I found this hack which suggests adding the label as the Company Name, because that is an option to print, but some of the people have actual company names, so that isn't going to work for me.

When printing labels, I find a good technique is to make a new Address Book group. Here's a technique that might work, depending on the size of the job.

Duplicate a contact with copy/paste, and drag the copy into the label printing group. Edit the card so the name fields are blank, and set the first name to be "The Smith Family". When you're done making the label changes, select the group and bring up the printing UI, which will print the contacts in the group.

When you're done printing, delete the contacts from the label printing group, then delete the group, and your original contacts remain intact.


Change timezone in Russia 26.10.14 in mac os x 10.9.5 Maybe somebody know. How you know, 26.10.14 in Russia will change the time-zones. My mac os x (10.9.5) will automatically change time to new time-zone ? How can i check this?

If you want to check your system to change the time zone , you can run this command in terminal:

zdump -v /etc/localtime | grep 2014

If you see two lines:

/etc/localtime  Sat Oct 25 21:59:59 2014 UTC = Sun Oct 26 01:59:59 2014 MSK isdst=0
/etc/localtime  Sat Oct 25 22:00:00 2014 UTC = Sun Oct 26 01:00:00 2014 MSK isdst=0

Time zone will be changed automatically.

You can manually update time zones:
You can find time preferences on the Mac OS on the two files: /etc/localtime and /usr/share/icu/icudtXXX.dat.

Settings for console time are stored on the /etc/localtime.

For other programms - on the /usr/share/icu/icudtXXX.dat

Update /etc/localtime:

download last tzdata on the [iana][1]
extract: tar xzf ./tzdata2011l.tar.gz
apply: sudo zic europe
check: zdump -v /etc/localtime | grep 2014

If all ok, you see something like this:

/etc/localtime  Sat Oct 25 21:59:59 2014 UTC = Sun Oct 26 01:59:59 2014 MSK isdst=0
/etc/localtime  Sat Oct 25 22:00:00 2014 UTC = Sun Oct 26 01:00:00 2014 MSK isdst=0

Update /usr/share/icu/icudtXXX.dat - you can compile icudtXXX.dat or download it.

Compile:

Download [source][2]
Extract: `tar xzf ICU-400.42.tar.gz && cd ICU-400.42/icuSources`
Copy actual tzdata to the sources: `cp ~/tzdata2011l.tar.gz ./tools/tzcode/`
compile: `./runConfigureICU MacOSX --with-data-packaging=archive && gmake`
Backup origin tzdata: `cp /usr/share/icu/icudt40l.dat ~`
Install new: `sudo install -o root -g wheel -m 0644 -Sp data/out/icudt40l.dat /usr/share/icu/icudt40l.dat`
reboot


Unable to install Eclipse for all users I would like to set up Eclipse to run for all users of a Mac running OS X 10.9.4 (Mavericks).  I logged in to the administrator account (User) and did the following:

I installed the latest version of the JDK (jdk-7u67-macosx-x64.dmg).
I downloaded the tarball of the latest version of Eclipse standard Luna.
I double-clicked on the tarball (eclipse-standard-luna-R-macosx-cocoa-x86_64.tar.gz) to uncompress/unzip it.
I dragged the created eclipse folder into Macintosh HD/Applications.
I double-clicked on the Eclipse Application in the eclipse folder and launched Eclipse.

The problem occurs when I log out of the administrator account and in to an ordinary user account.  When I double-click on the Eclipse Application, I get this error:

  You can't open the application "Eclipse" because it is not supported
  on this type of Mac.

I don't think this is the real reason.  I am able to run Eclipse as an ordinary user if, as that user, I uncompress that same tarball and launch its Eclipse application.

Back to the version I installed as User, if I try running Applications/eclipse from the command line as an ordinary user, I get this error:

-bash: ./eclipse: Permission denied

Digging through, looking for a permissions problem, I found:

-rwxr-x---@ 1 user  staff  34608 Jun 12 01:08 /Applications/eclipse/Eclipse.app/Contents/MacOS/eclipse

After chmod'ing this file to 755, I can get Eclipse to run for ordinary users if they double-click on the link /Applications/eclipse/eclipse in the Finder.  This seems like a hack, though, and lacks robustness.  Specifically, I'd like to get the Eclipse Application working so it can appear in the dock.  If I launch via the eclipse link /Applications/eclipse/eclipse and then right-click on the Eclipse icon in the dock and save it, I cannot launch with it later, or I get the same error as above:

  You can't open the application "Eclipse" because it is not supported
  on this type of Mac.

What is the right fix?

I fixed the problem with:

chgrp -R everyone /Applications/eclipse

A way to preempt the problem, for anyone doing a new installation, is to do the following before unzipping the tarball:

newgrp everyone


Keyboard shortcut for show window.(opposite function of Command-H) If I press Command-H, an activated window disappear. How can I make it appear with shortcuts?

You can simply use the task switcher ( ⌘ cmd + ⇥ tab ) to bring the application back into focus and display it normally.


Forgot iCloud password I forgot my password for my icloud account. When I try to recover it form iforgot.apple.com it gives me 2 options:

1- Send an e-mail to my recover e-mail address.
2- Answer the security questions

The problem is:

2- Doesn't accept my birthday (I think I made a mistake while registering)
1- It says that the e-mail will be sent to my old me.com account, which doesn't exist anymore and redirects to icloud (because of iCloud update).

Please help me. Is there any other possibility except calling apple-support.

Get a new Apple ID,go to: Settings ICloud and then tap your Apple ID and then tap Sign Out then enter your new Apple ID

P.S. U can't use same Apple ID from the one that u don't remember password from.


Is there a way to differentiate in iOS mail notifications by account? Specifically, the notification (both unlocked & locked screen) in iOS. I have setup two mail accounts (iCloud and another server). When I receive a new message, the notification shows the sender, subject and the first row of the message’s body.

Is it possible to show the account where the mail was received?

That is not possible using the default Mail app. It only allows you to differentiate between VIPs and regular senders (by placing a ☆ next to VIPs).

If you want to differentiate which account received an email within a notification, you would need to use a separate app for one of your accounts. You will then get separate notification settings for that app, and a different notification icon as well.


How to auto-lock MacBook when inactive (without enabling screensaver) It is super easy to automatically lock a MacBook after a few minutes of inactivity, but this requires enabling a screensaver.

https://www.google.com/search?q=auto+lock+macbook

However, this method is frustrating, because launching any screensaver appears to take the focus away from the currently active application.

This means if I'm running Chrome, for example, and the screensaver is triggered, I will have to type in my password, and then click anywhere on the screen before I can interact with the Chrome app. If I wanted to open a new tab (CMD+T), pressing these keys on the keyboard does nothing until after I've clicked to regain focus.

Say I have a full-screen terminal window open. After logging back into in, the terminal will not accept any keyboard input until I click somewhere on the screen with the mouse.

Really annoying.

How to get around this?

Automatically locking the computer WITHOUT spawning a screensaver seems like it would work, because locking the computer manually doesn't produce the issue. How to auto-lock without a screensaver?

You could try doing this:

Turn screensaver off → System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver (Screen Saver tab) > Start after: never (bottom left).
Make sure the mac will go to sleep automatically → System Preferences > Energy Saver → Turn display off after.... Both computer sleep and dispay sleep will lock it.

  For the mac to auto lock you of course need System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General (1st tab) > Require password ____ after sleep or screen saver begins (checkbox) to be checked.

I didn't do very extensive testing, but after putting the mac to sleep or just the display and then unlocking the mac, it seems to let me write in the Chrome textarea... just with a little delay, but like you said screensaver doesn't. I don't know if the delay could be due to some of my third party applications, because oddly enough I can start writing immediately and it takes in a few letters, but then stops and after like a second I can start writing again. So I'm thinking it could be an app stealing the focus for a second there...

I use Unlox and I noticed that when it locks my mac even with the screensaver locking, I can start writing just like with sleep. Unlox can lock the computer with or without the screensaver. The main point of unlox is that you can walk away from your computer with your iphone in your pocket and it gets locked when you get far enough (adjustable) and unlocks when you get close enough (adjustable).

I guess I could also add that before I used unlox, I used to use Alfred to lock my computer manually, which has the system commands to put displays to sleep: sleepdisplays, or to put the whole computer to sleep: sleep and also screensaver, or to just lock the scren: lock. I think you can use these commands with the free version of Alfred.


Stream from Mac to Samsung UN32J5205AFXZA Environment

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011) OS X 10.10.5
Samsung TV UN32J5205AFXZA
Both devices working on a 1,000 Mbps home network

Problem

I am trying to stream video from the Mac to the TV but have not been successful yet.

Attempts

My first attempt used VLC (version 2.2.1) on the Mac to stream a video to the TV. I followed these instructions. Then on the TV, according to the user manual, I should go to Network > Multimedia Device Settings and see the Mac listed there. The list is empty though. The video being streamed is in .mp4 format. According to the TV user manual, that format is supported.

Questions

How do I make VLC stream video to the TV?
If VLC cannot do it, which other free options can?

Thanks for all the recommendations and troubleshooting tips. Eventually I ended up using Universal Media Server. It's been working well so far, and it's free.


Big Sur 11.2.2: Operation not permitted although Iterm and Terminal have Full disk access On Big Sur 11.2.2, Iterm and terminal are both granted "Full disk access" in system preferences > security & privacy > privacy
I tried to install a third party app using
sudo wget https://github.com/Battleman/zoomdl/releases/latest/download/zoomdl -O /usr/bin/zoomdl

But I got the error
/usr/bin/zoomdl: Operation not permitted

I also downloaded the repo locally and granted full disk access to the zoomdl executable but got same error
What should I do?

You are supposed to install third party software to /usr/local/bin. This is the default used by most Unix installers and build systems.
(Alternative directories in the root for example under /opt can be used if you have fu;ll control of how the software is built)
The folder /usr/bin is protected by SIP as it contains software supplied by Apple as part of macOS (In Big Sur this is even more difficult if at all possible to alter)


What is the best practice for creating a daemon with launchd that runs at lower than default priority I have a daemon I would like have to parallelize up to the number of cores on a user's machine, but I don't want it interfering with foreground tasks.  Traditionally, in unix, I would just run this daemon at nice=1, e.g.

nohup nice -n 1 MyDaemon &

The Apple launchd plist documentation features several items that speak to priority issues, but they're vaguely defined, specifically,

ProcessType=Background
LowPriorityIO=true
Nice=N

Is there someplace where the exact behavior of ProcessType=Background is defined?  It would seem that it may be "smarter" than just setting Nice and LowPriorityIO.

Summarized from man launchd.plist:

LowPriorityBackgroundIO: Specifies whether the kernel should consider this daemon to be low priority when doing file system I/O when the process is throttled with Darwin-background classification.

ProcessType: This optional key describes, at a high level, the intended purpose of the job.  The system will apply resource limits based on what kind of job it is.  If left unspecified, the system will apply light resource limits to the job, throttling its CPU usage and I/O bandwidth.

ProcessType=Background: Background jobs are generally processes that do work that was not directly requested by the user.  The resource limits applied to the Background are intended to prevent them from disrupting the user experience.


Can I buy iOS apps on a computer, and then gift them to the end user? In my organization we have different employees who use iPhone in their work. Sometimes they need to buy applications.

In order to make that process smoother, I (as an administrator here) would like to be able to have one account that buys the apps and then sends them with the "gift" function.

I would also like to be able to do so on a computer, and not on an iPhone, for convenience reasons, sometimes we need to buy quite a few apps here.

Is that possible? When I go to https://apps.apple.com/ it only says "This app is available only on the App Store for iPhone and iPad."

Thanks!

You can’t gift iOS apps from your computer. You can do simply from an iPhone or iPad that supports iOS.

However, another alternative that you can use is:

Apple Business Manager and MDM Tool.

Once you purchase the license for the app/tool, you can push it for the user from MDM Tool which will synchronize with ABM. ABM is free but should be associated with the company with valid registration from the Apple support team and you need to purchase the MDM tool for it. You can deploy on-premises or in the cloud. This is a solution for big corporate companies who want to have a proper inventory of their Apple Devices too.

Just a reference to show you how ABM Apps distribution looks like:

Note: The above solution is expensive and needs a proper plan. So an easy way to gift will be to use one iOS device quickly and push it as a gift for a desired user once you purchase it. Check this detail: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201783


Use mnemonics/menu-shortcut keys with Windows apps running on Mac I installed Crossover and then EditPlus. The app starts up great:  but the feature I was most interested in - mnemonics - is not working. They should be activated by hitting option + < Key> but instead European characters are placed in the editor panel.

Has anyone figured out how to do mnemonics for Windows Apps?   iirc the same thing happened with linux apps accessed via XWindows.

I asked in support from Crossover and the answer is:

Use Command + letter

This does work. There is a separate problem then is that the movement keys using Command such as

Commandright arrow   for End

do not work. But I'll handle that separately.


How do I make windows save their position on screen after re-attaching a display? When I attach a second monitor to my MacBook, I drag many windows onto it.  When I detach the monitor, all the windows move back onto my MacBook's display.  How can I make it so that when I re-attach the monitor, all the windows automatically move back to their position on the second monitor again?

I use my personal MacBook at work where I have the extra monitor.  But this means I need to detach and re-attach the monitor every day.  I have many windows I leave open from the previous day's work, so this is a real pain.

I know about an app called Forget-Me-Not, which is almost exactly what I want.  But I need something that works on OS X 10.5.

Any chance of you upgrading to 10.6? If so, you could use Stay from Cordless Dog.


Use iMessage on Mac without signing into iCloud in System Preferences? I would like to use my iMac without iCloud syncing and backup turned on.
The only app that I do use between my iPhone and iMac is Apple Messages with family.
Before I begin toggling switches on my iMac, thought I would ask:

Can I sign into Messages with my Apple ID (Preferences > Accounts) while not signing in System Preferences > iCloud?
Would Messages be enabled?

You can sign into Messages separately to iCloud through Messages → Preferences → Accounts as you mention. You won't be able to use Messages in iCloud unless you also sign into iCloud.


Connecting a 2009 Macbook to a TV with video and sound output I would like to connect my late 2009 white Macbook to my TV, with support for video and sound.

I thought I could use the Mini DisplayPort for that purpose, but unfortunately, Apple's website says that:

  These Apple computers supply only video signals over Mini DisplayPort:

  (...)
  MacBook (Late 2009)

I found this product from another question on Stack, but considering the price and the negative comments of that product, I'm wondering if there are cheaper/better solutions?

My TV is a recent Samsung TV with classic ports (USB, HDMI...).

The product you are considering retails for $69.99, Amazon is showing me one for $50 + shipping. This type of equipment is generally very sensitive to movement, easy to damage and easy to get annoyed with. Consider the manufacturing cost of that product, against how much you will pay. It seems the markup outweighs the value.

Have you considered Apple TV? You get a dedicated, more reliable, better device for $100, and it takes up less room than a MacBook combined with a cable adapter that looks like a homemade incendiary device.

Verdict: Buy an Apple TV.


How to make a MacBook look like an iPhone to a gateway I'm aware it sounds fishy, but I swear it's not. If someone can reword the title, please do so. I'm in a dire situation where I bought a costly time limited WiFi access on my iPhone.

I stupidly presumed that the Hotspot the iPhone can produce, would allow my MacBook go online too. Of course that was wrong, as the Hotspot uses mobile data.

So I thought I can make my MacBook to look like an iPhone to the network as I received no password and I think no cookies are involved, as I can go online in every browser or app. I've tried to set the MAC address of the values of the iPhone (the WiFi, not the Bluetooth ones) and change the MacBook's name to iPhone (in the file sharing prefs, not sure if I should look somewhere else).

Is there something more I could do?

I could solve it, I used this command to change my MAC address:

sudo ifconfig en0 ether XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

But it should have been en1 for WiFi :)

Sorry I forgot my login


HDMI audio doesn't work through DisplayPort adapter on OS X but works on boot camped Win 7 I recently purchased this Dynex DisplayPort to HDMI adapter with the understanding that it would support audio out.

However, it only works on my boot camped Windows 7 install that way. Video and audio passed to the TV with no issues. On the other hand, I only get video passed when booted into OS X.

I have already tinkered with the sound configuration numerous times in an effort to get it to work. Googling turned up the fact that some adapters do not support passing audio through from the DisplayPort. I believe this is not the case since it works on Windows with no issues. I have also ensured that all updates have been installed. Still no dice.

Any ideas on how I can get the audio passed through to the TV?

Hold down the option key and click on the volume icon in the menu bar. What does the menu say for Output Device? If your adapter doesn't appear, here's what you can do: Open /Applications/Utilities/Audio MIDI Setup. See if your adapter appears in the list to the left. If it does, play with the Configure Device and Configure Speakers options (accessed by the gear button).


What do I do if Time Machine says "Waiting" to view a particular backup? I have this happening on a Yosemite machine with a backup residing on another Yosemite machine.

Other backups further forward in time work fine. My desire is to delete this backup, but I can't because as long as it says "Waiting" there's no "Delete backup" option.

You can delete a backup via the sudo tmutil delete command. You'll need administrative privileges to do this:

Open Terminal
Type in sudo tmutil delete (including end space, but don't press enter yet!)
Go to Finder, open your TM Drive, and open the Backups.backupdb folder
Open your Machine
You'll need to find the folder containing the backup you want to delete.
Drag and drop the folder containing the backup you want to delete into Terminal.
Your Terminal should say sudo tmutil delete /Volumes/TM\ Drive/Backups.backupdb/Mac/2014... (backslashes are included before spaces)
Now press enter. You'll need to type you user password (it won't be displayed).


Can we hide Photos/Videos on iPhone 6s and higher? I want to hide photos and videos on my iPhone 6s. Can I do that directly or I need any apps for that?

Starting with iOS 8, you can hide a photo or video from the Photos app by opening it, then tapping the Share Sheet (box with upward arrow). On the bottom row of share actions, tap Hide.

You can select multiple photos and hide them in a single stroke this way.

This will hide the photo or video from Moments, Collections and Years, but not from Albums. Starting with iOS 11, hidden photos will no longer appear in automatic albums such as Bursts and Selfies.


Where can you find out to whom a given Mac is registered? Is there a place in the OS that we can see to which person the OS is registered to?

The registration information that you enter when you setup OS X is stored in a hidden plist file in the system.

That data is stored the file /var/db/.AppleSetupDone if you run the following command in terminal you should be able to see that information:

sudo cat /var/db/.AppleSetupDone

This will show you the information entered. You will need to modify this information with a plist editor. For warranty claims Apple will know who registered the machine for AppleCare.


How do I reset the "@" for directories on a MacBook Pro? drwx------@ 23 johnc  staff     736 Mar 30 14:31 Downloads

I used to be allowed to ls -al the contents of my Downloads directory in my $home directory.

$ ls -l
ls: .: Operation not permitted

You can clear the extended attributes with

xattr -c ~/Downloads

but you might want to inspect the extended attributes first to see what it is you're  actually clearing (xattr ~/Downloads).


QuickTime Player: How to Reduce Playback Speed? In QuickTime Player, I'd like to play the video back at slower than real-time speeds. I see that it's possible to play back at faster than real time speeds -- by pressing the option key and clicking the Fast Forward and Rewind buttons. How can I play video at slower speeds?

I'm running QuickTime player 10.4 on OSX 10.11.x

Slow Motion Forward: Hold K+L together (this gives you audio) or hold right-arrow.
Slow Motion Reverse: Hold J+K together (this gives you audio) or hold left-arrow.


MacBook Pro 15" 2011 display problem at loading I have a problem with my display, at loading time I can't see Apple logo and when I press option bottom to change the booting device I can not see any thing except a dark screen and my Mac comes out all thing is fine and I have no problem.

This could be related to the PRAM which stores startup disk and monitor depth settings.

  Resetting PRAM and NVRAM

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


Is there a command to remove previously installed package? I have installed a .pkg package with the installer command. But there are problem with that installation. Now I want to remove it. Is there a standard way to do it with command line interface?

Note: I have no access to the GUI interface of the machine.

You can use pkgUtil for it.

$ pkgutil --pkgs # list all installed packages
$ pkgutil --files the-package-name.pkg # list installed files

After visually inspecting the list of files you can do something like the following:

I leave this up to you as modifying files with root user maybe a bit risky

$ pkgutil --pkg-info the-package-name.pkg # check the location
$ cd / # assuming the package is rooted at /...
$ pkgutil --only-files --files the-package-name.pkg | tr '\n' '\0' | xargs -o -n 1 -0 sudo rm -i

To remove directories as well as files, list the directories from the package using:

$ pkgutil --only-dirs --files the-package-name.pkg

The following command could be used to attempt removal of each directory, although be aware that when System Integrity Protection is active, there are some file paths that not even the root user may modify. Nevertheless — and needless to say — extreme care should always be taken when removing files with root privileges.

$ pkgutil --only-dirs --files the-package-name.pkg | tr '\n' '\0' | xargs -o -n 1 -0 sudo rm -ir

Once you’ve uninstalled the files, you can remove the receipt with:

$ sudo pkgutil --forget the-package-name.pkg

For more details, see the pkgutil main page.


Smart Mailbox Folder not displaying mail I've got two smart mailboxes named NEW eric@ and NEW ericgorr@ which contain only new message for corresponding email accounts. I have placed these two smart mailboxes into a smart mailbox folder named Personal. When I select Personal, I see that it will show me the new messages contained in the smart mailboxes it contains as shown in the image:

So far, so good. However, I created another smart mailbox folder called Personal 2. When I move the smart mailbox NEW eric@ into Personal 2 and select Personal 2, no messages are displayed as shown in the image:

Anyone know why? Any know what can be done to fix this?

The update (released today) for Mountain Lion, version 10.8.5, is supposed to, among other things:

  Fix an issue that may prevent Mail from displaying messages.

I'd be curious to see, since this issue was never solved, if this update resolves it.


how to have holidays of different countries shown on OS X default app? I have US holidays and in the settings there is Chinese calendar too. But I want to have holidays of a few different countries included in the calendar simultaneously. Is there a way to do this?

Apple has a website with all supported calendars.  You can download and install dozens of different types of calendars on your Mac.

Simply find the calendar you want to use, download it, and then install it into your calendar. If you sync your calendar with iCloud, these dates will also be added there.  If you don't know how to do that, see this Apple Support site for directions on how to add calendars.

If you have any iOS calendars that sync to this calendar, they will also be updated with the new dates.


Can outlook365 for mac be installed and connect to an email server via a script? Back in the old days of windows we would use 'roaming profiles' which were very buggy and unreliable but would autoconfigure some network shares and outlook so they could start using any computer. Thankfully we no longer use roaming profiles, or windows - but want to steal some of it's functionality for use on a mac.
I have created a script which (after they login to a share that only they use) connects their required shares, does some shortcuts etc but I would like to configure their outlook365 so they can start using their outlook instantly.
Is there any method that can autoconfigure outlook for me?

Absolutely. Mac administrators script this all the time. Microsoft has employees that are on the mac admin slack and publicly provides training documentation on the preferences that the Outlook app and office suite have for easing on boarding.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ESX5td0y0OP3jdzZ-C2SItm-TUi-iA_bcHCBvaoCumw/edit#gid=0
https://macadmins.software

If that’s too dry or verbose, you can start with a much nicer package of 25 pages of wiki goodness on setting up Outlook.

https://github.com/talkingmoose/Outlook-Exchange-Setup-5/wiki

I would start small and then iterate, solve little problems first and then get more complete over time as you can save time based on how many machines you are setting up. Also remember, at some point, no automation will save you time if you spend more time learning than just setting up a handful of Macs but conversely, no amount of time will be wasted if you can never set things up manually. You’ll always come out ahead in that case.
This is a well established script and you might be able to adopt someone else’s solution with just a few hours or reading or even less if you already script on macOS.


Can I install an App that is not available in my country's iTunes appstore? I want to download and install an app on my iPhone, that is available in the US iTunes App Store - but not in my country's iTunes App Store.

Is that possible without creating a US iTunes account or jailbreaking my phone?

A common way to work around the cross-border restrictions of the iTunes store is by using pre-paid iTunes cards. These are often available on eBay and you can redeem them in the iTunes store for the country of origin (assuming you want US items, you need to buy a pre-paid card from the US.)


How to mass remove known Wi-Fi Preferred Networks in OS X? In my list of Wi-Fi Preferred Networks I'm able to remove them 1 by 1, but that takes forever. Is there any way to select all the Network Names I want to remove and delete them at the same time?

You can multi-select & delete from
System Prefs > Network > WiFI > Advanced…
 Shift ⇧  or  Cmd ⌘  Click to select multiples, then hit the —  button underneath.

Note that this will also clear the same settings from any linked iDevice.


Phone calls on iPhone doesn't ring on Bluetooth headphones I recently started using Bluetooth headphones. Today I received my first phone call since I started using the Bluetooth headphones, and to my surprise my iPhone rang out loud instead of playing the ringtone into the headphones I had connected.

I'd like my iPhone to be silent for the people around me, and only ring into my headphones. How can I do that? I'm using an iPhone XR with iOS 13.3.1 and Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700.

I'm puzzled that this was my experience, because somebody else said their experience was that incoming calls ring on the Bluetooth headphones.

When a pair of headphones are connected to an iPhone (whether wired or wireless), it's normal for the ring to be played both on the iPhone, as well as in the connected headphones. This is by design.

If you are not hearing the ringtone play via your Bluetooth headphones, make sure they are connected (not just paired) to your iPhone when you receive the call.

If you wish your iPhone to not ring when around people, and want the ringtone to play just via the Bluetooth headphones:

Make sure your iPhone is set to silent mode by using the Ring/Silent switch on the left side of your iPhone.
Make sure your Bluetooth headphones are connected to your iPhone. To ensure if the headphones are indeed connected, go to Settings app → Bluetooth, and check if your headphone listed under My Devices shows Connected in front of it. If it shows Not Connected instead, turn on your Bluetooth headphones and tap on it's entry here on your iPhone.

From the Apple Support document:

How to put your iPhone on vibrate, ring, or silent mode:

  Put your iPhone in Ring/Silent mode

  When your iPhone is set to ring, ringtones, alerts, and sounds play through your iPhone speakers.

  When your iPhone is set to silent, you won't hear ringtones or alerts, but other sounds will play through your iPhone speakers and your iPhone will vibrate.

  These settings affect only your iPhone speaker. If you use a headset, sounds play through your headset, even if your iPhone is on silent.


Is there an app that lets me use an iPhone as a mouse? I'm looking for an app which enables me to physically maneuver my iPhone on the desk to control my Mac's cursor. (I am not looking for a "remote trackpad" app—there are dozens of those.)

I did a great deal of searching and found nothing. Is this even possible? If so, is there an app in existence which provides this functionality?

To the best of my knowledge, the answer is no.  Of course, without trying out every single mouse app in the App Store, I can't be 100% certain.

I can tell you that I've been a long time user of Mobile Mouse.  They have about the best mouse/remote control app I've found.  They put a lot of effort into trying to get the app to work like a real mouse, and eventually decided that it couldn't be done, at least not with an acceptable level of performance (see FAQ #6).  They decided on the "air mouse" mode instead, and though it doesn't work like a real mouse, it does work very well for what it is.

Best of luck in your search, and of course if you do find such an app, please let us know!


Working with 16:9 footage in FCE 4 I have 16:9 footage that I am working with in FCE 4. When I drop the footage into a sequence, the viewing area is 4:3. Then when I export it, I export it as 16:9, and it looks like stretched 4:3. Help! How do I fix this problem? Is there a setting that I need to change? I have already tried changing both the video clip settings and the sequence settings to anamorphic. That didn't help; it looked like stretched 4:3.

You are looking for Anamorphic.

To make a sequence anamorphic, right click on it and select Item Properties... In the resulting window, check Anamorphic (or the space where the check should be).

To permanently change this setting for all future sequences, select DV-NTSC Anamorphic under Final Cut Express > Easy Setup...


Xcode 6.0.1 CTRL-Drag from view to source code not working I'm following a tutorial and when I CTRL-drag from the view to the source code in Xcode nothing happens. I get the blue line but when I drop it in the source code I don't get the menu where I can choose options. Please see screenshots:

When I CTRL-drag the label DSA from the view to the source file on the right side of the editor and drop right after @interface nothing happens.
I'm using latest XCode 6.0.1.

I'm supposed to get a menu like the screenshot below (grabbed from the tutorial book)

Resolved. Had to associate a class to xib file as per screenshot below:


Pair bluetooth keyboard when not logged in I have a brand new Bluetooth keyboard (replacing an old one I spilt coffee on) and I would like to pair it with my iMac.

Trouble is, I can't log in to the iMac because the keyboard is not paired.

How do I resolve this chicken-and-egg situation? (I don't have any other keyboards to hand.)

Here is a solution as noted here: How to unpair keyboard without original computer

Their solution was to:

Disconnected everything USB, etc. from the computer.
Restart the iMac while putting the new/different keyboard into discovery mode, and wait for the iMac to detect it.

  The deal is you have to unplug ALL USB devices, have your wireless keyboard and mouse turned on, and restart. The system sees that there are no input devices and searches for them. Then asks you to type a passcode and hit return.


Does the 2011 Mac Mini work with dual monitors? I want to start development on Mac, and from what I read around, everyone suggests the current Mac Mini. So my question is, does the hardware support dual monitors out of the box?

If not, what should I purchase to get a dual monitor setup working?

Yes, I too am a developer using a mid-2011 Mac Mini (with AMD Radeon GPU) connected to two Samsung displays

one display connected using HDMI cable which comes with the Mac Mini, and
another display connected using an Apple DisplayPort to VGA cable which I
had to buy separately.


Where are the images for the Messages.app status bubbles located on filesystem? I'm assuming Messages.app uses images for their status bubbles like other graphics in the app. Here are the bubbles I'm talking about:

If my assumption is correct, then where are they located on the filesystem? I'm trying to find the images to use them as a resource for a local app I'm creating. I'm on 10.10.1 if that matters.

Path is: /Applications/Messages.app/Contents/Resources/

Open up Applications
Right-click on Messages
Click Show Package Contents
Double-click on Resources

However, rather than taking Apple's graphics, you're better off creating your own. Can't be too tough to create two circles with borders. Preview will do it for you in 5 mins.


How do I connect my Mid-2010 iMac to my Late 2015 Macbook Pro I mistook the mini Display Port (mDP) behind my iMac to mean it was a Thunderbolt port. The ⌘ Command F2 does not work when both ends are Thunderbolt for my setup.

Please suggest what cables to buy.

Edit: This is 27 inch iMac
 Model Identifier: iMac11,3

If you are using a 27 inch iMac (Mid 2010) then you need a mini DisplayPort to mini DisplayPort cable.

According to Apple's Support Page, Use your iMac as a display with Target Display Mode, you can accomplish this with the cable referenced above, but only with a 27" iMac if you are using the Mid 2010 model.


"No definition found" I recently restored my iPhone 5 from backup, and noticed that my dictionary always gives the message "No definition found" (although this could have started earlier and I just didn't notice until now). I tried selecting Manage from the bottom left of the empty dictionary message, then deleting and re-adding a dictionary; however, I still get the same message.

An Apple Support discussion, iPhone 5, my 'define' word feature no longer is an option. How can I get it back?, suggests the following:

  Go to Settings > General > International > Language
  Change the language to one of Apples supported languages like Spanish.
  Go to your notepad, type "test", press hold, select the word, and click the "define" that now appears.
  This will tell you there is no current dictionary, and prompt for one to be downloaded.
  Assure you are on a stable Wi-Fi network, and hit download.
  Once complete, go back to your language settings and switch back to your native language.
  Enjoy your dictionary feature without having to "reset" your phone.


kernel_task takes a lot of memory My kernel_task takes 71.2G VIRT and 2386M RES (in htop screen). I'd like to understand what takes so much resource. But I don't understand what is wrong based on the output of sudo zprint -t https://pastebin.com/hWSRmn0N. Could anybody take a look what is wrong? Thanks.

It is normal for kernel_task to show those values. This is not something that is a "problem" in any sense, or makes your system slow or anything like that.

The 71.2 GB of virtual memory is indeed virtual - so it doesn't (necessarily) have anything to do with actual memory being used. Your computer most probably has a 64-bit CPU capable of adressing huge amounts of virtual memory.

Usually Intel-based computer have operating systems that limit actual virtual memory usage to either 48 bits or 57 bits. In your case the 71.2 GB of virtual corresponds to just over 36 bits. I.e. it is really nothing - about 0.02% percent of the virtual memory available to the system.


"Remove personal information" default save in Office for Mac 2011? Is anyone aware of a way of setting Office for Mac 2011 to automatically use the "remove personal information" option on every save?

The best way I can see of doing this is to modify or create a new blank template with the setting baked in.

File -> New From Template -> Blank
Document
Make Privacy changes as
before
Save as Word Template (This will normally appear under my Templates, but I presume you could overwrite the existing Blank template, wherever it is located).
Then when creating a new document, use the new template you created.

Jonathan


location of new Icons to the desktop All new icons are now piling on top of one another on top of my Hardrive icon.  How do I fix this? I did not see a similar question when I googled it.

Control click on the desktop away from any icon and select Clean Up By and choose one of the options. This will test that the desktop file is viable.

If it isn't you can delete it or run Disk Utility to repair the volume

Open terminal and type

rm ~/Desktop/.DS_Store

Then try to move icons or clean up again. You can then choose to keep things arranged or use clean up periodically or arrange them by hand.


Unlink iPhone from a computer and switch to another I've just run into quite a big problem. I bought an iPhone, and the person who had bought it from the store for me had, being a nice person, helped me charge it.

Unfortunately, this meant that the iPhone is now synced to the PC that she has and not my MacBook Pro.

Is there any way to change this?

Thanks in advance.

If any apps or music came preloaded on the phone, make sure you have copies in your iTunes library before starting.

Plug in the iPhone and start syncing as you normally would.  iTunes will ask whether you'd like to wipe the phone and sync with this computer instead.  Just say yes.


Incorrect Date and Time in Max OS Lion upon reboot When I boot the Lion OS the date setting is correct but the time is not.

The way I correct this is by selecting 'Open Date and Time Preferences', check the 'Set Date and Time Automatically' checkbox and select my region. The correct date and time is set.

The only problem is that when I restart my Mac the time setting has changed and is incorrect again, even through my region is still selected. I repeat the process above upon each reboot to rectify.

I reboot often as I am using Bootcamp 3.2 to run Windows 7.

Does anyone know why the time is changing and how I can fix the problem permanently?

Yes, Windows and Mac OS calculate time in a different way, and so clash when dual-booting. The bootcamp drivers should include a little file called Appletime.exe which is supposed to fix any time sync issues between Windows and Mac OS.

If this file is not present or not running, you can manually install it from here: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Enhancements/Clocks-Time-Management/AppleTimeFix.shtml


Can't add a printer on Mavericks I'm trying to use an Epson Workforce 840 over Wifi with Mac OS X 10.9. This Mac has never used the printer before.

I've tried going through the usual steps but it's not working. My Mac sees the printer over Wifi, and I select it. But the response is that "The software for this printer is currently unavailable. Please contact the printer’s manufacturer for the latest software."

Then I go to Epson, and they just tell me to do the same thing I just did.

If I try to add the printer in System Preferences, it also sees the printer over Wifi, but I get the same result. If I click the "Add Printer..." button, choosing "auto select" for the driver produces a message reading "Software for this printer isn't available from Apple. Contact the printer's manufacturer for the latest software."

Lather, rinse, repeat.

But: I have two Macs running Mavericks, and one of them can use the printer. The one where it works "inherited" its printer driver from Mac OS X 10.8, I believe. The one where it doesn't work has never used this printer before.

How do I break this loop and get the printer working?

I eventually found Apple's instructions for how to reset the Mac OS X printing system. Once I did that, the usual automatic download worked.


LCD Display not working, always white and random bars I have a MacBook Pro 13-inch, late 2011 which some time ago started suffering this [1] issue and I was wondering if do someone know how to ensure if the fault comes from the LCD cable or the LCD display?

I've tried disassembling the MacBook to check for cable connections, I even tried removing the LCD display and attaching an external one via thunderbolt to HDMI connector and it worked fine on the external display. In fact attaching an external display i'ts the way I've worked around the problem.

Also I've tried resetting SMC, NRAM and PRAM without  luck.

In case i would need to replace the LCD display, I also would like to know which ones would fit better on the MacBook. I mean, over the years Apple improved LCD display by providing better image resolution and lowering power consumption so i would like to know which technical data should i look for in order to know if the new LCD Display would work on my MacBook while checking for those improvements

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOgS0RNFk30

Edit 2018.04.28

I know that's an old post but i would like to share this [1] video I've just uploaded about that old Macbook Pro Late 2011 which is suffering screen glitches. While disassembling the screen I noticed touching a sensor on the display electronic board "fixed" the issue.

In the video, what' i'm touching is the cable which connects the screen to the display logic board. So the issue seems to be in the wire or the socket which interconnects the screen to the display logic board located on the bottom of the screen.

Just in case it helps someone to identify the issue.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlmsRSH_Azk

Have you tried messing around with the lvds connector? (i mean simply disconnecting it and reconnecting again) I'd try that. Also, hot boot or cold boot?

As for the lcd I'd just replace it with the one made specifically for your model, connectors might be diff. like the camera connector, wifi antenna etc. - a lot of catches in general. I guess you could try getting a retina display for your model, retina and non-retina come in the same case

Also, try searching for some louis rossman video on youtube about a problem similar to yours, he's a saint.


iCloud Two Factor Authorisation doesn't show code on trusted devices I activated the Two Factor Authorisation at iCloud. Now, when I try to sign in at some Apple Service, I am getting the a message that a message was sent to my trusted devices with a code I have to enter.

But, nothing happened. Never. I have to click on "Try again" and choose "Send Message to PHONE_NUMBER"

After that, a message with the code gets send to my iPhone, I type in the number and it works.

But, nowhere the code is getting displayed. Neither on my Mac or my iPhone. It just works via Message.

There are a view things you should check:

1) Are both devices marked as 'trusted' in icloud.com (login, go to settings and see 'my devices'.

2) You have to be signed in with both devices with your iCloud account. Did you check both are correctly activated.


Setup a password. But now when entering the password it says wrong password I just bought a MacBook Air 11 inch, mid 2013 edition. When I started my MBA to go through the initial setup assistant, the voice over feature was on. So I learned how to go through with that but I was just entering my time zone when I got bored and put my MBA in sleep mode. When I opened it it asked me for my password. When I enter the password, it keeps saying it is wrong password. I think I was by able to finish the whole setup assistant also. I am very new to Mac. I have no idea how things are done.

Have you tried just pressing the return key when asked for a password? If there is no password set, OS X will still ask for a password to do some things, but still let you progress by pressing the return key without typing in the password.


The Boot Camp USB drivers paradox I have following problem: I have Boot Camp Windows 7 on my MacBook Pro (OS X 10.10.2). I observed, that I couldn't connect USB flash drives to that Windows system, so I installed all Boot Camp drivers from the Boot Camp Assistant. I copied them to a USB flash drive and installed them on the Windows 7 partition. The problem was, that when I connected a USB flash drive to my Windows 7 partition, it was recognized as Generic USB. I actually couldn't eject it anymore. I read somewhere that this error was caused due to a version of the Intel USB driver i had installed earlier. That's why I deleted the Intel USB driver in the control panel. Now I can't seem to connect USB flash drives at all. I tried to drag the drivers to the Windows 7 partition via VMware, but it didn't work. When I double-click on setup.exe, it won't start.

I have access to following programs or systems: VMware Fusion, Boot Camp Assistant, Windows 7, OS X partition.

How can I install the Intel USB drivers since I can't use an USB on my MacBook?

You could upload the drivers to a service such as Dropbox...


How can I make the trackpad (not mouse) significantly faster? Context

I run a three screen setup and it takes forever to get from side to side when using the trackpad even when set to max in settings. I'm looking for (and thought I had found) a solution that will allow me to set the trackpad tracking speed as arbitrarily high as I want.

What I've Done So Far

I've already tried the solution laid out here. The problem is that no matter how high I set the number when running defaults write -g com.apple.trackpad.scaling x the sensitivity still isn't high enough for me.

At first I thought this might mean that there is another limit imposed besides the one dictated by the GUI. Proceeding on this hypothesis (and the assumption that if Apple throttled the trackpad they would do the same to the mouse) I ran defaults write -g com.apple.mouse.scaling 1000 (note the 'mouse' instead of 'trackpad').

Result: My mouse is now so sensitive that if my cursor happens to land where I intend I can only ascribe it to the will of God.

Remaining Problem

No matter how high I set the number for the trackpad, one motion across its surface isn't enough to get from the left edge of my first monitor to the right edge of my third. Note: The goal here is not to set the trackpad speed and mouse speed separately (as in the question marked as duplicate). I simply wanted to indicate that the analogous steps that work for a mouse do not work for a trackpad. In addition, the selected answer in the duplicate provides a dead link (so not much help).

The goal is to be able to set the trackpad speed significantly faster than allowed by the GUI in settings. I'm open to downloading a third party tool, but would prefer a command line solution (or explanation as to why the one I've tried doesn't work as expected).

I realize this is probably a pretty niche question, but your help is much appreciated.

You can set higher speeds with BetterTouchTool by enabling Advanced Settings and choosing the General tab of the Trackpad settings.


How to Open the Profile Management Window Every Time You Open Chrome? Chrome allows multiple people to use Chrome on the same computer, with each profile having its own custom bookmarks, settings, and accounts. By default, Chrome opens to the profile used the last time the browser was opened,That's not really helpful for client work.

I do not want that to happen. I want to see this screen whenever I launch Chrome

It's easy to do in Windows and Linux

How do I do it on my Mac?

Thanks User3439894 for guidance

The Command

open -a "Google Chrome" --args --profile-directory="Guest Profile"

Does work when Chrome has been Quit but I needed a command which could do the same thing in running session

open -na "Google Chrome" --args --profile-directory="Guest Profile"

the '-na' prefix opens a new session of the browser and that helps my case.


Does Notification Center have keyboard shortcuts? Are there any keyboard shortcuts for controlling Notification Center on OS X Mountain Lion? Of particular interest is a shortcut equivalent of the Click to Tweet button that appears at the top of Notification Center (when the requisite option is selected in the Notifications settings pane), but if it happens to have other shortcuts (either predefined, or definable in System Preferences - I couldn't see any) those would be useful as well.

There is a configurable keyboard shortcut to open Notification Center:

Other than that, there seems to be no way to configure any keyboard shortcuts. The closest I could get is discovering that you can set Notification Center as the action for a hot corner. If you wanted to do this when a key is pressed, you can try combining this with AppleScript (like in this post).


How to avoid iMessages services carrier charges after every restart? Everytime I restart my iPhone, I have to verify/activate my iMessage services(both FaceTime and iMessages)

I have to pay carrier charges.
I selected the option to use Apple ID to send and receive messages
I have a Sim Card Lock enabled.

Is there a list of carriers that don’t charge for activation?

Apple messaging service works with an AppleID and your iPhone mobile number. Since SMS activation is only required if you want to use your phone number with Messages / Facetime chat, removing your phone from  Messages should stop the request for repeated SMS activation.
To remove your phone number from Messages follow these steps:

On your iPhone, go to Settings > Messages > Send & Receive. Select your Apple ID and tap Sign Out.

Then go to Settings > FaceTime, select your Apple ID and tap Sign Out.

Additionally, some may require to go back to Settings > Messages > Send & Receive and  Tap “Use your Apple ID for Messages” and sign in with your Apple ID.

(Note: If Messages and / or Facetime section in settings is disabled / greyed out, go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Account Changes and tap 'Allow')
Source: Add or remove your phone number in Messages or FaceTime on all your Apple devices.
ºº(This didn't work for me on an old iPhone with an outdated version of ios and still kept asking for SMS activation. So update ios on your device if you still have issues.)

I consider this an issue with Messages / Facetime design and I would even label it a bug, even if Apple doesn't consider it so.
This issue is even more irritating for users who have to pay international rates for the SMS that Messages / Facetime wants to send to Apple for activation.
This is an Apple issue and not a carrier / cellular phone provider as this is about activation of an Apple service (iMessage / Facetime). So talking to your carrier support won't help with this.
Before you can use Messages / Facetime chatting service on your iPhone, it requires that an SMS be sent from your phone to Apple to activate it. This SMS is sent the first time you try to use Messages / Facetime or if ios thinks your Messages needs to be activated. So for me, and many others outside US, it sends a costly international SMS to Apple.
This SMS activation is required if you want someone to also be able to locate you using your mobile phone number. (Note that by Messages I mean message that is sent through iCloud and internet and not SMS, which are messages sent through your carrier network. You can always send SMS through the Messages app without requiring any such Apple activiation).
I presume that Messages / Facetime keeps asking to send SMS activation on every restart, because it probably wants to verify if you have changed your SIM card or phone number.
There is currently no known method to avoid sending this SMS to activate Messages on the iPhone. (Apple iPad and iPod Touch don't require SMS activation for using iMessage as you can only use your AppleID for Messages on these devices).
The only way to avoid paying the SMS charges is to change your plan to one that includes free SMS (but this option will work only for US citizens, as no plan I've heard of includes free international SMS!). Or to a different carrier that has an understanding with Apple to not charge for such SMS sent to Apple. (Yeah, I know both options suck).

Note: If you frequently have to restart your iPhone because the phone seems to hang or struggle, it may be time to change your iPhone's battery. As your battery becomes older, ios throttles your phone so that the battery is not strained and can give you longer battery life. But ofcourse, this means that your phone becomes slower and everything feels sluggish.
More information on this can be found here -

iPhone Battery and Performance
What is iPhone throttling and why does it happen?


Can I redeem OS X Lion on a Mac different to the intended install location? I restored my MacBook to factory settings and I bought OS X Lion because my iTunes account never had it.

However, I can't activate it because the Mac can't continue unless it has the program installed or says "you must sign in with an Apple ID that was used to purchase OS X Lion."

Can I I redeem my activation code on another Apple product that has the Mac App Store in my name? or will the program install onto that MacBook?

Yes you can. Since the redemption code is tied to an Apple ID and not a machine, you are free to redeem it on another Mac.


How do I enable Wi-Fi-only email push? Is it possible to get iOS's email push feature to work only when I'm on Wi-Fi?

As far as I know, not with the stock options. You may be able to do this on a jailbroken phone if there's a jailbreak community app for that. Short of that, you'd have to make one yourself.

Otherwise, you're down to changing these settings manually when you're away from WiFi.


location update in Single app mode I am working on an enterprise application. So from that, I am applying a profile for Single app mode that is working fine.

So my question is suppose I am allowing a calculator for Single app mode via MDM console and if my device moves from one place to another. That time, will Apple iOS allow fetching Location in the background?

docs.simplemdm.com/article/35-location-tracking based on the last question answer they are saying not possible but I did not get any official doc regarding this from Apple

discussions.apple.com

In my understanding, if you have Geo Fencing and Locating tracking enabled from your MDM, then your Single App mode or Kiosk option allows you to fetch the location from the background.

Just make sure the correct profile of MDM is installed on it with appropriate policy.


Does the Mail app store the email on the storage drive? I bought a new Macbook pro the other day and I set up my mail account on it. It started syncing mail from about two years ago. I was worried that it might be storing mails on the storage disk and since I have the 256gb SSD, I didn't want the space to be taken up by emails from ages ago. I just wanted to know whether it does store a copy of the emails on the storage drive and if so, is there any way to just let it sync emails from only the last two months or so.

Some of it will depend on the type of mail account (POP vs. IMAP) but yes, the Mail.app will store your emails from your accounts on the system drive. How much space it will consume depends on whether there were lots of large attachments to those emails. There is no way, though, to selectively on store emails from a limited timeframe - it's all-or-nothing.

As a point of reference, I have emails going back over eight years for 10 different accounts and the total size of the email and attachment storage is just over 9GB. I'm probably somewhat unusual in regard to how long I hold on to emails. But 9GB for that seems reasonable and I have no problem having those same accounts synched on my MacBook with a 250GB drive.


iTunes totally unresponsive. Wont open or close iTunes shows as running in dock but cant open or quit, force quit, or even shutdown computer.
Running OS X 10.10.3, don't know what iTunes as can't open it!

I would suggest to use the Force Quit method on a stuck process.

Hold alt+cmd+esc then select the iTunes from the list to force quit.

Now restart iTunes and see if it behaves.

Following the above use Terminal to see which processes died in the past 7 days.

ps aux | grep -w Z


Using another laptop's keyboard as Macbook Pro's input device I have my HP Spectre X360 & a Macbook Pro

The question about using HP Spectre's keyboard as an input device for the Macbook Pro. Is it possible? if yes how?

You can try Synergy: https://symless.com/synergy. I had good results with it in the past .


Is it possible to change the font of a document in Apple Pages? I have an existing documents, many paragraphs being formatted with the style "Default", which is set to the font "Yuppy SC". Is it possible to change this font?
Of course I can set a font when writing new text (using Format/Font). I can also place the cursor somewhere in a paragraph formatted with "Default", then click Inspector/Format, and change the font in the format pane which has opened on the right of the document; but this changes only the font for the paragraph I'm in.

Yes, you can change fonts. Go to 'Select All' under the Edit menu in the top menu bar. After selecting all, change the tab on the right sidebar to text and then set your new font and font size. This should change all the text in the document to your selected font.


macOS Catalina installation error I am using a 2019 MacBook Pro. I am moving from macOS 10.14.6 to macOS 10.15 Catalina.
I just finished downloading the macOS Catalina installer via Software Update System Preferences pane, but when I try to install it, I run into an error as follows:

I have also downloaded macOS Mojave security update. What can I do to resolve and install macOS Catalina?

There was a known issue with upgrading Macs with a T2 chip, such as yours, to macOS 10.15.6. Apple have yet to acknowledge the problem but have rolled out (about 3 hours ago) a new update to the software catalog that is reported to fix the problem.
Give it another try now.


Purchased apps lost after Apple ID change I received an unsolicited email from Apple telling me that my Apple ID was changed.

Before the email, my Apple ID was, let's say, 'myself'; after it is 'myself@gmail.com'.
After this change I cannot update previously purchased apps on my iPad 2 (iOS 7.0.1).
And I cannot see my old purchases in the App Store.

I can still download new apps. And I can see these new apps in my purchases.

I already tried logging out and in again in the App Store.

Does anybody know of a solution to this problem?

Many thanks

Sorry but purchases are tied to an apple id and currently Apple does not provide a way to merge Apple ID's.   However since Apple changed your id without your permission then they may help you out.  Best thing to do is call Apple and ask why the Apple ID was changed.

This comes right from Apple's faq page (http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5622) about Apple ID's:

  Apple IDs cannot be merged. You should use your preferred Apple ID
  from now on, but you can still access your purchased items such as
  music, movies, or software using your other Apple IDs.


Internet, screen and file sharing over USB between two Macs I can physically connect two Macs with a simple USB cable, easily.
How can I make actual use of this link?

USB is supposed to be used for master/slave or host/client scenarios. It is, however, the only I/O port that both my Macs have. I want to access the internet from the mobile, new MacBook via the stationary, old iMac and sometimes I may want to access files on the iMac or use its large screen in addition to the small laptop screen.

I know I can do these things using (some perhaps non-free third-party software, at least for screen sharing, and) AirPort, either by setting up a dedicated router or by running the iMac as an adhoc wifi network “server”. The latter only offers insecure WEP encryption, however, and the former is not possible in my case. Cable connections are obviously more secure and they tend to be both faster and more stable.

There are protocols for Ethernet over USB (CDC-ECM etc.) and I could probably achieve all of my goals via LAN, but I’m not sure how (well) this is supported in OS X (10.6 on the iMac, 10.10 on the MB), especially for connecting two computers instead of some gadget (or industrial machinery) to a Mac.

Best solution would be to either upgrade the iMac to 10.8+ and get WPA2 wifi sharing, or just get any cheap router.
You can't use any sort of regular USB cable for a host-to-host setup, solutions do exist but are definitely a lot more expensive, and much more fiddly software-wise, than either a cheap router or simply a thunderbolt to firewire adapter for your Macbook, which might be your best bet since Macs have native support for sharing internet over firewire.


How to view my complete purchase (just apps, not IAP stuff) history on Apple App Store? I have tried many ways but failed to view a full list of my purchase. Does any one know how I can view them all? My first purchased should happen in early 2010. Thanks very much,

The system only displays a subset of purchases at a time. You would need to download them or save your purchase emails to create a comprehensive listing of all purchases.


How can I stop com.apple.launched from attempting to start a service we uninstalled? My office used to use JungleDisk Workgroup service to exchange large files. We've moved on to a new solution and I uninstalled the client according to their instructions, but I noticed today in the Console that com.apple.launchd is trying to start JungleDisk every 10 seconds. It fails, but I can't help but think this is causing some performance issues.

Where/how do I remove a background service launch?

8/31/10 7:47:03 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.jungledisk.workgroupservice[4172]) Exited with exit code: 1
8/31/10 7:47:03 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.jungledisk.workgroupservice) Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
8/31/10 7:47:13 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.jungledisk.workgroupservice[4173]) posix_spawnp("/Applications/Jungle Disk Workgroup.app/Contents/Jungle Disk Workgroup/Jungle Disk Workgroup.app/Contents/MacOS/Jungle Disk Workgroup", ...): No such file or directory

If you want to use a software, you can try Lingon.

It allows you to manage (create, edit, delete) all the launchd items on your system.

Otherwise, if you want to go by hand, look inside the following folders :

/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchDaemons
~/Library/LaunchAgents


Changing modifier keys from the command line As a heavy Emacs user, I like to remap my Caps Lock key to function as the Ctrl key.  There is a convenient dialog in the Keyboard Preference Pane to do that.   But the problem is that this setting gets lost after someone logs into another account that hasn't this preference set.

So is there any way of doing the same as the preference pane dialog from the command line?

Changing preferences and running, defaults -currentHost read -g shows you what changes are being written. I was going to write up a short bash script to automate it, but it looks like I was beaten to the punch:

#!/bin/bash

mappingplist=com.apple.keyboard.modifiermapping

if [ $1 == "emacs" ]; then
    echo "Switching to emacs modifiers"
    defaults -currentHost write -g $mappingplist '(
                {
            HIDKeyboardModifierMappingDst = 4;
            HIDKeyboardModifierMappingSrc = 2; },
                {
            HIDKeyboardModifierMappingDst = 12;
            HIDKeyboardModifierMappingSrc = 10;
        },
                {
            HIDKeyboardModifierMappingDst = 2;
            HIDKeyboardModifierMappingSrc = 4;
        },
                {
            HIDKeyboardModifierMappingDst = 10;
            HIDKeyboardModifierMappingSrc = 12;
        })'

else
    echo "Switching to default modifiers"
    defaults -currentHost delete -g $mappingplist
fi

  The script takes one argument, if the
  argument is emacs, then it swaps
  command and control, if the argument
  is anything else it restores the
  defaults.

  http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=949280


Applescript: How to download linked files from Google Chrome page I am needing to find a way to download linked files on a webpage in Google Chrome.

I am the graphic artist at the company I work for and I have a "project brief" type form that other employees fill out when they need to request design work. In the form they can upload files that relate to the project (such as sketches, or text files). I have an Automator app that sets up the project from creating a folder system for the project to downloading the form as a pdf to downloading all attached files. However it only works in Safari and I use Chrome. So far I've gotten everything moved over and working in Chrome EXCEPT for the file downloads.

Can someone help me figure out how to do this Chrome?

Here is the "download files" script that works in Safari:
(ignore the '\' in Applescript\'s. Without them I was getting weird syntax highlighting.)

-- DOWNLOAD ATTACHED FILES
tell application "Safari"
activate

set num_links to (do JavaScript "document.links.length" in document 1)
repeat with i from 0 to num_links - 1
    tell application "Safari" to set this_link to do JavaScript "document.links[" & i & "].href" in document 1
    set {ASTID, AppleScript\'s text item delimiters} to {AppleScript\'s text item delimiters, "/"}
    set fName to last text item of this_link
    set AppleScript\'s text item delimiters to ASTID
    try
        do shell script "curl -L -o " & quoted form of (destinationFolder & fName) & space & this_link
    end try
end repeat

end tell

When I replace both instances of "Safari" with "Google Chrome" and try to run it I get a Syntax Error message that says: Expected “,” but found identifier. and has the JavaScript in the set num_links line highlighted.

I got this to compile correctly on latest OSX

-- DOWNLOAD ATTACHED FILES
tell application "Google Chrome"
    activate
    set num_links to execute front window's active tab javascript "document.links.length"
    repeat with i from 0 to num_links - 1
        tell application "Google Chrome" to set this_link to execute front window's active tab javascript "document.links[" & i & "].href"
        set {ASTID, AppleScript's text item delimiters} to {AppleScript's text item delimiters, "/"}
        set fName to last text item of this_link
        set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ASTID
        try
            do shell script "curl -L -o " & quoted form of (destinationFolder & fName) & space & this_link
        end try
    end repeat
end tell


How to use Scale Action to scale up an image in Keynote without loosing quality? If I have a really high resolution image in Keynote, and I shrink it down to start out small, and then use the scale up action (animation) to make it big the resulting image is pixelated and low quality, even if the image was scaled up to its original size (before it was scaled down).

This is the same for both vector and raster images.

Is there a way to scale up an image without losing image quality?

I found two workarounds for this, but both are a pain.

The first is to replace the scaled up image after the scale action completes. This works pretty well, but during the scale process you can see the loss of quality until the regular image replaces it.
The second is more complicated, but produces better results:

Start with small scaled version of the image (image A) where you want it. Apply any Build In animations on it.
Have a full size image (image B) with the opacity set to 0%.
Have a Scale Action on the image B setting it to the size of Image A.
Add a Opacity Action on image B to 100%.
Use a Disappear Build Out on image A.
Then use the Scale Up Action on Image B to the new size you want it to be.

This produces perfect results, but as you can see is very complicated. I created a little video to show the steps and the results.


How do install the OS on a secondary drive in a new Mac Pro? I've got a Mac Pro coming in today. I ordered it with a typical 1TB HDD in the default configuration from Apple. I purchased a Crucial 512GB SSD that I want to make my primary drive for the OS and the user data (and just use the the 1TB HDD as an additional storage disk).

So, what do I need to do to get up and running with Mountain Lion on the SSD?

For a general user adding a new drive to a running system with data, you would boot into the Recovery HD (which is just a lightly hidden bootable OS on an additional partition) during boot  by holding command+R when you hear the startup chime.

You can then use Disk Utility to partition the new drive. At that point, you could clone the system from the HDD to SSD or run the OS installer and have a clean OS on the SSD so you can choose what user accouts, user data and apps you migrate over.

In your case, there is nothing you really need on the main HDD. I would delay erasing the HDD until you get the OS running on the SSD and see that the three iLife apps are still available for redemption.

Once you redeem those Apps - they will be tied to your Apple ID whereas the OS reinstalls are tied to the CPU serial number.


How to seek to very old text messages I have a conversation that likely has tens of thousands of messages sent over the past year. I want to find texts 6 months ago in August. How can I go about getting back to August and scrolling through those messages? I have the conversation on both on my iPhone and my Messages on my Macbook.

I found 2 ways of doing that. Depending on your needs and preferences, you choose what you want.
1. The flexible way
Open the Terminal.app
And enter the following command:
sqlite3 ~/Library/Messages/chat.db

Now you are in the database of the Messages app of your mac.
Enter the following commands (but don't include the sqlite> as this one was added to this answer just to show you what you will expect at this point):
sqlite> .mode column
sqlite> .headers on
sqlite> SELECT text, datetime(date, 'unixepoch', '+31 year') AS cDate FROM message WHERE cDate >= "2016-01-12";

Replace this "2016-01-12" with the date you want to filter your messages, but keep the ""!
If you know the exact date of the message you can replace the >= with = like this:
sqlite> SELECT text, datetime(date, 'unixepoch', '+31 year') AS cDate FROM message WHERE cDate = "2016-01-12";

Or if you know a range of dates then you can also do this:
sqlite> SELECT text, datetime(date, 'unixepoch', '+31 year') AS cDate FROM message WHERE cDate >= "2015-12-10" and cDate <= "2016-01-12";

You should get your messages now filtered!
This way you can actually filter your messages in more flexible way. If you play around with the database schema, you may find a good way to filter your messages.
2. The easy way
If you want something more user-friendly then I found out that if you type this command in the Terminal.app:
open ~/Library/Messages/Archive/

Will open a folder in finder that has your messages grouped by date, which will make your life much easier, looking for your message. This has been mentioned by another user as well.
The advantage of this method, is that the messages are opened in a nice User Interface (i.e Messages) which is more readable and user-friendly.


how to add a sound notification to an app that doesn't have one? I use an app to copy and log video files that only has a silent notification and I'd like to add a sound to the notification. my thought was that maybe there is a third party app like keyboard maestro that could trigger an sound action from my app's notification, but I don't think that is possible.

Can anyone suggest a solution or workaround?

Go to System Preferences and there is a Notification Icon in the top row. Click on this and you'll get an image like the one shown below.

Click on your app in the left column and click the 'Play Sound for Notification' box on the right side of this pane.


Secure empty trash on external drive OSX I’ve got an internal SSD on a 2018 MBP, with these drives macOS no longer gives you the option to secure erase the trash.
I’ve connected an older HDD external drive which I wish to secure erase the trash on, how can i do this in OSX 10.13 ?

To securely “empty” the trash on an external drive you can use the rm command with the -P option which will overwrite it 3 times - similar to a DoD 3-pass overwrite.
% rm -P /Volumes/foo/bar/.Trash/*

The other option is to reinstall srm via Homebrew or Macports and use srm in place of rm
% srm  /Volumes/foo/bar/.Trash/*

You could even create an alias and put it in your .zprofile or .bash_profile depending on the shell you’re using.
alias emptytrash=‘rm -P /Volumes/foo/bar/.Trash/*’


Remove folder name from file name based on existing Apple Script so I have this apple script here that I used to insert the folder name into the front of all the files in the folder. The script is able to run through every single folder and target all the files and proved to be very useful

    set the_folder to (choose folder)
renamefilesinside(the_folder)

on renamefilesinside(next_folder)
    tell application "Finder"
        set folder_name to name of next_folder & " "
        set folder_contents to every item of next_folder
        repeat with each_item in folder_contents
            if kind of each_item is "folder" then
                my renamefilesinside(each_item)
            else
                set name of each_item to folder_name & " " & name of each_item
            end if
        end repeat
    end tell
end renamefilesinside

Source: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/275167

However, now I have removed a part of the folder names and would like a subtractive effect to be applied to the files, so the script will take the files, look at the parent folder's name, and remove the shared characters.

Unfortunately I know very little about apple scripts so I'm hoping this is an easy adjustment that someone here can make.

Thanks for any help you can give!

You can get the file name, then set the text item delimiter to the containing folder name, then put the text items of the file name into a list, which will ignore the delimiter (the folder name), then reset the text item delimiter to "" empty and coerce the name to a string. This is a VERY common Applescript trick.

set the_folder to (choose folder)
renamefilesinside(the_folder)

on renamefilesinside(next_folder)
    tell application "Finder"
        set folder_name to name of next_folder
        set folder_contents to every item of next_folder
        repeat with each_item in folder_contents
            if kind of each_item is "folder" then
                my renamefilesinside(each_item)
            else
                set n to name of each_item
                set AppleScript's text item delimiters to folder_name
                set n to text items of n
                set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
                set n to n as string
                set name of each_item to n
            end if
        end repeat
    end tell
end renamefilesinside


Is it fundamentally impossible to have passive thunderbolt to dual-link-DVI or HDMI adapter supporting 2560x1440? Is it fundamentally impossible to have a passive (NOT the expensive USB-powered active ones) thunderbolt/mini-displayport to dual-link-DVI or HDMI adapter that can support 2560x1440 external monitor?

Not only is this not impossible, but products that do this exist. DisplayPort (and therefore mini-displayport and thunderbolt) supports DVI and HDMI output over passive adapters using Dual-mode DisplayPort.  Dual-mode DisplayPort only supports single-link DVI or HDMI. Single-link DVI is limited to 1900x1200, but single-link HDMI can go up to 2560x1600@60Hz with HDMI 1.3+, and bigger on new HDMI versions. In the DisplayPort 1.1 spec, VESA introduced a spec for dual-mode DisplayPort to support HDMI 1.4 output, using "Type 2" adapters.


iPhone 6 charges extremely slow after reaching around 70% it's now been a few weeks since my iPhone 6 started charging extremely slow after reaching 70% battery life. I am aware of what slow trickle charging is, and the issue I am having is not it. After reaching around 70% my iPhone charges by 1% every 25/30 minutes and even seems to slow down towards the 80/90%. In fact when I tried to charge it to 100% it took me the whole day. I tried every suggestion I could find on the internet, including restarting, resetting, and even erasing all content and settings and restoring the device (not using a backup). I am starting to think the battery has an issue, but just a few weeks ago I had zero issues related to my battery.
Thank you in advance

It should take 4 hours to charge iOS devices with the official supplied adapter when the device is idle or powered off. Healthy batteries should reach 80% in two hours. Then two more hours for the last 20%.

If yours plateaus sooner, it’s either due to power drain of things running while it charges or a sign that the charger or battery is out of specifications.


How do I invert the colors on my iPhone? As a prank someone has inverted the colors on my iPhone. Black is white, blue is orange, etc. How do I get my phone back to normal?

Go to Settings -> General -> Accessibility and set "White on Black" to Off.


Is there a way to configure apps to download automatically similar to podcasts in iTunes? I'd like for apps to download 'free updates' whenever they are available so when I sync my phone they will already be there, similar to podcasts.

Is there a way to configure iTunes to do this automatically?

There currently isn't a way to do this. Especially with iCloud app downloading, I don't think there's any technical barrier to automatic updates. I think it's probably an intentional decision by Apple to keep app updates manual. That way, users are not surprised when an app suddenly changes UI or gains/loses features. However, I personally think the benefits of auto-updating are greater than the costs, especially for the users who never ever update apps.

I'd highly suggesting taking a trip to apple.com/feedback and submitting this as a feature request. I'd love to see this as a preference added in. Apple (surprisingly) does place a lot of stock in user feedback, so the more requests about a certain issue, the better.


Problems changing drive icon Want to change the icon of my main drive.  I have a bunch of drive icons from interfacelift.  They appear to be just .icns packed in the resource fork  (%file  returns empty, and %cat  prints nothing, which is fine, I understand why).  My understanding is the way to use these was:

open the icon file info (cmd-i)
select the icon in the upper left, copy it (cmd-c)
select the drive you want to change pull up info (cmd-i)
paste icon on top of icon on drive

Makes sense to me.  Doesn't work.  Checked from shell, .VolumeIcon.icns doesn't exist on the drive.  Any thoughts?  I feel dumb, I've done this before, can't make it work now.  (10.6.6)

Did you click on the icon to select it before pasting?  I found I needed to do that or it would ignore my paste.


Problem with "csrutil enable --without debug" on Sierra I am using a Mac on macOS Sierra 10.12.5.

I want to run the app XtraFinder which opens some additional features in Finder. I used to have it on different computer, but when I download it on this one I got this error:

So I followed this link.

When I run the csrutil enable --without debug command I got the error: "unknown command without".

Is it something that I do wrong?

You need to partially disable System Integrity Protection. I do not encourage you to disable System Integrity Protection. It makes your computer less safe.

How to partially disable System Integrity Protection

Boot to Recovery OS by restarting your machine and holding down the cmd and r keys at startup
Launch Terminal from the Utilities menu
Enter the following command: csrutil enable --without debug
Reboot your computer


How can I share my iMac's internet connection with my iPad? i have an iMac, that has internet access via cable (no WiFi).

I know, that my iMac has Wi-Fi access point.

How can I share the internet connection of iMac with iPad?

The answer you're looking for, though, is Internet Sharing:

Go into the System Preferences on your iMac
Go to Sharing, then click on Internet Sharing
In the dropdown, indicate that you want to "Share your connection from" Ethernet
Check the Airport box
You have the option to set your network name, channel, and to use WEP encryption by clicking "Airport Options".
Finally, check the box next to "Internet Sharing" on the left hand side.
At the prompt, click Start.

You should now be able to connect to the internet on your iPad by selecting the network you set up on your iMac.

USB sharing is also now easy and fast: Can I share my iMac's internet to iPhone or iPad over USB?


iPad - erase data completely I am selling my old iPad 4, in which I stored some private data. I have done erasing my iPad data and settings, is it true that all my data is really gone and completely unrecoverable?

If not, what else should I do to make sure my data is unseen by the buyer?

Data on an iOS device [3GS & later] is protected by hardware encryption.

Wiping the device using Apple's guide at What to do before selling or giving away your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch is quite sufficient.

Extract :

  If you paired an Apple Watch with your iPhone, unpair your Apple Watch.
  Back up your iOS device.
  Tap Settings > iCloud. Scroll down and tap Sign Out. In iOS 7 or earlier, tap Delete Account.
  Tap Sign Out again, then tap Delete from My iPhone and enter your password.
  Go back to Settings and tap General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings. * If you turned on Find My iPhone, you might need to enter your Apple ID and password.
  If asked for your device passcode or Restrictions passcode, enter it. Then tap Erase [device].
  Contact your carrier for help transferring service to a new owner. If you aren't using a SIM card with your device, you can contact them to get help transferring service to the new owner.

See also : Apple KB - iOS: Understanding data protection
On recent iOS the setting is under Touch ID & Passcode.


Can IPv6 be disabled on an iPad? TL;DR: Can I disable IPv6 on an iPad?

Strange issue that I've just figured out. For months I've been seeing content show up in Netflix that should be unavailable to me (I'm in Canada), or things that should be available not showing up. Sometimes I'll pause a show and when I restart it, I'll get an error that it's not available in my region!

I just realized that I'm getting my IPv6 connectivity through a Hurricane Electric tunnel, which of course is American. I'm thinking this explains a lot of the transient problems I've been having with Netflix, especially w/r/t regions. My primary device for viewing is an iPad, so I want to disable IPv6 on it.

It doesn't seem like it's possible; I can't even see what my IP is from the network settings, but thought I'd throw it out there and see if anyone know any tricks. Thanks!

No - iOS has no profile or setting to disable IPv6. Even if you jailbreak, I don't know how to set that on iOS operating systems.

Yes I am also using a Hurricane Electric tunnel for IPv6. I have similar problems with my two iMac computers. I have to set my IPv6 to "link local only". This fixed my connection problems.

This partial solution (controlling the router) only works over WiFi though - cellular data carrier routing also would need to be changed if you can't allow IPv6.