How to send encrypted email using Mail app? Alice would like to send a secure (S/MIME encrypted) email to Bob. Both of them use macs and Mail app. They are both creating self-signed certificates and are able to exchange signed mails, but there seems to be no way to activate the padlock icon.

Could somebody instruct her?

Gory details of failed attempt ensue:

Alice googles, discovers she must create a self-signed certificate in KeyChain.App which she does via the wizard (Keychain access -> certificate assistant -> create certificate), taking care to:

select "S/MIME Email"
check the "let me override defaults" checkbox.
in "key usage extension", make sure 'signature' and 'certificate signing' are checked, as well as 'key encipherment' and 'data encipherment'
in "extended key usage extension", 'email protection' is already checked, but check 'any' also just in case

It may be worth noting that Alice's email appears as me@alice.com whereas the actual email address is on Gmail: alice@gmail.com. Alice has discovered the hard way that she must use alice@gmail.com in the wizard.

She restarts mail app.
Actually after reading step 3 here she restarts the machine.

She then composes an email to Bob who has done the same.

In the subject field she notices two new icons: a padlock (encrypted Y/N) and a tick (signed Y/N).

The tick is blue. So the message she sends will be signed. However the padlock is greyed out.

Now the documentation says that if:

Mail detects her certificate (which it clearly has) and
Mail also finds a certificate in her keychain for Bob (which there is, because Bob has just sent her a signed email and Mail has been smart enough to automatically add his public key to the keychain -- she can see it there)

... then she should be able to click on the padlock to encrypt her email to Bob.

But this doesn't seem to be happening.

https://www.macobserver.com/tips/quick-tip/macos-using-email-encryption-apples-mail/
^ Step 5 says that the first time she attempts to send a signed email, she should get that dialog. But she didn't.

Alice is at this point starting to contemplate landscape gardening as a possible career move.

PS possibly useful link:

Can I send encrypted e-mail using Mail and self-signed certificates?

This is how it works here, with the help of a self-signed root certificate:

Step 1: Alice creates a self-signed root certificate

In the Keychain app, select Keychain Access > Certificate Assistent > Create a Certificate Authority
Select

Identity Type: Self Signed Root CA
User Certificate: S/MIME (Email)
Let me override defaults: yes
Email from: Enter an email address for the root CA (could be Alice's)
On the next dialog, select Sign your invitation: no - optionally create a CA web site
On the next dialog, enter whatever CA data you want
On the next two dialogs, leave Key Pair Information as is
On the next dialog Key Usage Extension

Include Key Usage Extension: yes
This extension is critical: no
Select: Signature, Certificate Signing (optionally more, but not required for a root certificate)
On the next dialog, leave Key Usage Extension for the user's certificate as is
On the next dialog, optionally set Include Extended Key Usage Extension = yes, if you want to use the root CA for more than just email certificates - but always leave This extension is critical = no
On the next dialog, leave Use Basic Constraints Extension = Use this certificate as a certificate authority
On the remaining dialogs, leave selections as they are
On the last dialog Specify a Location For The Certificate, you can select System, and also select On this machine, trust certificates signed by this CA = yes

Step 2: Alice and Bob trust the the root CA

If Alice hasn't already trusted the CA certificate during the previous step, she now selects the new root CA certificate in her Keychain app and explicitly trusts the CA certificate
Alice exports the public CA certificate in .cer format and publishes it to Bob
Bob imports the public certificate and explicitly trusts this CA

Since Alice and Bob have explicitly trusted the CA, all certificates signed by this CA will be automatically trusted on their computers.

Step 3: Alice creates an email certificate for herself.

In the Keychain app, select Keychain Access > Certificate Assistent > Create a Certificate
Enter Alice's name, then select

Identity Type: Leaf
User Certificate: S/MIME (Email)
Let me override defaults: yes

Leave next dialog (serial no. etc.) as is
On the next dialog, for Email Address, enter Alice's email address this certificate is intended for, optionally fill out remaining fields as desired
On the next dialog Choose An Issuer, select the CA created in step 1
On the next dialog, keep Key Pair Information as is
On the next dialog Key Usage Extension
Include Key Usage Extension: yes
This extension is critical: yes
Select: Signature, Key Encipherment (optionally, adding Data Encipherment seems to be possible, but do not add more!)

On the next dialog, leave Key Usage Extension for the user's certificate as is

On the next dialog, optionally set Include Extended Key Usage Extension = yes, but set This extension is critical = no

Select "Email Protection*, add more if you want to use the same certificate for other purposes

On the next dialog, leave Include Basic Constraints Extension = no
On the next dialog, select Include Subject Alternate Name Extension = yes

Leave This extension is critical = no
Enter the email address (again) in the rfc822Name field. Optionally add more email addresses, separated by space, which you may want to use the certificate for

On the last dialog Specify a Location For The Certificate, you can select Login

Step 4: Alice creates a certificate for Bob

Now Alice repeats step 3 to create a certificate for Bob, then exports his certificate in .p12 format, gives it to him, and Bob imports it into his keychain.

Note: This is the easiest way to create Bob's certificate, yet not the recommended way. This is because Alice creates Bob's private key, so Bob has to trust Alice. Actually Bob would use the Certificate Assistent on his computer to Request a Certificate From a Certificate Authority.

Step 5: Alice and Bob send each other signed messages

Alice sends a signed email message to Bob, and Bob sends a signed email message to Alice. If all went well, the signatures will display as trusted because both trust the CA certificate.

Step 6: Alice and Bob can exchange encrypted email messages

Both can reply to the signed message using encryption with the reply message.


Installing ghostscript using MacPorts fails I recently upgraded MacOSX to version 10.9. Before I did that, i uninstalled all macports-packages using:

sudo port uninstall --follow-dependencies installed

Now I'm running MacPorts 2.2.1 and Xcode 5.0.2 is installed On my Computer. I'd like to install ghostscript (actually I'd like to install inkscape, but the installation of ghostscript fails) using the following command:

sudo port install ghostscript

But I receive the following error:

--->  Extracting ghostscript
Error: org.macports.extract for port ghostscript returned: command execution failed
Please see the log file for port ghostscript for details:
    /opt/local/var/macports/logs/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_print_ghostscript/ghostscript/main.log
To report a bug, follow the instructions in the guide:
    http://guide.macports.org/#project.tickets
Error: Processing of port ghostscript failed

The last lines of the log file (cat /opt/local/var/macports/logs/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_print_ghostscript/ghostscript/main.log) contain:

:debug:main Executing org.macports.main (ghostscript)
:debug:main Skipping completed org.macports.archivefetch (ghostscript)
:debug:main Skipping completed org.macports.fetch (ghostscript)
:debug:main Skipping completed org.macports.checksum (ghostscript)
:debug:extract extract phase started at Tue Dec 17 13:31:36 CET 2013
:notice:extract --->  Extracting ghostscript
:debug:extract Executing org.macports.extract (ghostscript)
:info:extract --->  Extracting ghostscript-9.10.tar.gz
:debug:extract setting option extract.args to '/opt/local/var/macports/distfiles/ghostscript/ghostscript-9.10.tar.gz'
:debug:extract Environment: CPATH='/opt/local/include' CC_PRINT_OPTIONS_FILE='/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_print_ghostscript/ghostscript/work/.CC_PRINT_OPTIONS' LIBRARY_PATH='/opt/local/lib' CC_PRINT_OPTIONS='YES' MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET='10.9'
:debug:extract Assembled command: 'cd "/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_print_ghostscript/ghostscript/work" && /usr/bin/gzip -dc '/opt/local/var/macports/distfiles/ghostscript/ghostscript-9.10.tar.gz' | /usr/bin/gnutar --no-same-owner -xf -'
:debug:extract Executing command line:  cd "/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_print_ghostscript/ghostscript/work" && /usr/bin/gzip -dc '/opt/local/var/macports/distfiles/ghostscript/ghostscript-9.10.tar.gz' | /usr/bin/gnutar --no-same-owner -xf -
:info:extract sh: /usr/bin/gnutar: No such file or directory
:info:extract gzip: error writing to output: Broken pipe
:info:extract gzip: /opt/local/var/macports/distfiles/ghostscript/ghostscript-9.10.tar.gz: uncompress failed
:info:extract Command failed:  cd "/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_print_ghostscript/ghostscript/work" && /usr/bin/gzip -dc '/opt/local/var/macports/distfiles/ghostscript/ghostscript-9.10.tar.gz' | /usr/bin/gnutar --no-same-owner -xf -
:info:extract Exit code: 127
:error:extract org.macports.extract for port ghostscript returned: command execution failed
:debug:extract Error code: NONE
:debug:extract Backtrace: command execution failed
    while executing
"$procedure $targetname"
:info:extract Warning: targets not executed for ghostscript: org.macports.activate org.macports.extract org.macports.patch org.macports.configure org.macports.build org.macports.destroot org.macports.install
:notice:extract Please see the log file for port ghostscript for details:
    /opt/local/var/macports/logs/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_print_ghostscript/ghostscript/main.log

I couldn't find out what wrong,...

The problem is that macports is trying to use /usr/bin/gnutar, but can't find it. I think this happens because your version of macports was not built for mavericks, and therefore doesn't know where the tools (such as gnutar) actually are. There are different versions of macports 2.2.1, depending on your version of OS X.

You should reinstall macports (for mavericks) from the binary here: https://distfiles.macports.org/MacPorts/MacPorts-2.2.1-10.9-Mavericks.pkg

you should probably also run xcode-select --install


Check whether macOS host is affected by serious vulnerability that enables access to the root superuser Is it correct to assume that (prior to applying Security Update 2017-001) a host running macOS 10.12.6 (Sierra, i.e. not High Sierra) is not affected by the serious vulnerability that enables access to the root superuser if the following command returns non-empty ShadowHashData?

sudo plutil -p /var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/users/root.plist

According to Apple's support document on Security Update 2017-001 macOS Sierra 10.12.6 and earlier are not affected by the vulnerability:

  Not impacted: macOS Sierra 10.12.6 and earlier

If you want to use terminal to find out if you're running 10.12.6 you may want to use the command

sw_vers -productVersion

or refer to the question How to find out Mac OS X version from Terminal? on superuser.


Macbook is connected to wifi and tethering from iPhone. Which connection is it using? When on wifi with my Macbook, sometimes I plug my phone in via USB and both connections say they are working.  How do I know which connection my Macbook is using?  Further, how do I force my Macbook to prefer the wifi connection?

I'm running Mountain Lion 10.8.4 on a Macbook Air Mid 2011, and iOS 6.0 on an iPhone 5.

The preferred connection is shown at the top of your list.  This doesn't mean that the iPhone USB connection will never be used; but, it makes it less likely.

You can control which connection will get precedence with the gear icon at the bottom of the list window you showed, and select "Set Service Order".


My AppleScript script wont work I am a starter in AppleScript and there is an issue with my script I cant fix.

The script is:

display dialog "How long do you want the timer to go for in seconds?" default answer ""

set time to "text returned"

display dialog "Click start to start." buttons {"Start", "Cancel"}

if the answer is equal to "Start" then
    delay "time"
end if
repeat 10 times
    beep
end repeat

The error message is "error "Can’t set time to \"text returned\"." number -10006 from time" (I am making a timer)

The following example AppleScript code is just to show changes made to your code to make it flow without the obvious errors that your code has. It does not include proper error handling as would be appropriate to handle all results of the logic flow. Keep learning!

display dialog "How long do you want the timer to go for in seconds?" default answer ""

set thisLong to text returned of result

display dialog "Click start to begin." buttons {"Cancel", "Start"} default button 2

if button returned of result is "Start" then
    delay thisLong
    repeat 10 times
        beep
    end repeat
end if


What are the hours in which Apple reviews apps? What are the hours in which Apple reviews apps? I.e., 7:00 AM - 9:00 PM

There are no fixed hours for Apple's app review process. Besides notice given for closure over holiday periods (shown if relevant in iTC), Apple does not talk about the times it reviews apps.


Gain access to data of disabled iPad My iPad Pro with iOS version 11++ has been disabled and I only get a screen : "iPad is disabled. Connect to iTunes.". It need to be restored in order to function again properly but all data would be erased. How can I access the data while it is disabled ?

Do you happen to have a computer you trusted before with your Apple ID logged in? If this is the case, there's little possibility you might be able to get to your data. I have just blocked my iPhone and tried with iTunes, still could get to all data stored.

I know the answer is probably not, yet may be you previously have done a back up of this device? You'd just restore the device from it with all contents.


Is it dangerous to reinstall 10.7.4 I installed Mac OS 10.7.4 on my MBP last night, along with Safari 6. I was leery about installing Safari 6, but I figured I could cope with the changes. But, after using it for about 30 minutes I want Safari 5.1.7 back.

My "plan of attack" was to download the 5.1.7 installer, delete Safari 6, and install Safari 5.1.7. After the installer finished downloading I ran sudo rm -rf /Applications/Safari.app. As expected that deleted the application file. However, when I opened the 5.1.7 package installer I get the following error.

I decided that the best way to get Safari 5.1.7 back was to reinstall Mac OS 10.7.4. But before I run the install I have a couple of questions.

Is the "Client Combo" edition the wrong thing?
Will it attempt to install 10.7.4 incorrectly?
Is there a better way of deleting Safari 6 and installing 5.1.7?

Reinstalling the OS just for Safari seems a bit drastic. The reason it says that is probably exactly because you used rm -rf as opposed to dragging it into the trash.

In OS X there is a central registry of installed applications, and afaik when you drag an application to the trash, it is automatically removed from this registry. When you just rm -rf it will delete the files but not the entry in the registry.

So I'd try : reinstall Safari 6 normally, then drag it to the trash. This should remove it from the registry, so try to install Safari 5 afterwards.

If it still doesn't work, try using the /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister tool to manually unregister Safari.


How can I revert my etc/postfix/main.cf file? I've already lost my etc/postfix/main.cf file in Yosemite. Could someone help me to revert or give me the link to download it?

If you've manipulated your main.cf already, check your backups to recover it.

Otherwise simply copy the default file: main.cf.default:

sudo copy /etc/postfix/main.cf.default /etc/postfix/main.cf

and replace the last two lines with:

readme_directory = /usr/share/doc/postfix
inet_protocols = all
message_size_limit = 10485760
mailbox_size_limit = 0
biff = no
mynetworks = 127.0.0.0/8, [::1]/128
smtpd_client_restrictions = permit_mynetworks permit_sasl_authenticated permit
recipient_delimiter = +
tls_random_source = dev:/dev/urandom
smtpd_tls_ciphers = medium
inet_interfaces = loopback-only


Inline equation editor I am very frustrated by the equation editing capabilities of Word on the Mac (such as I have been able to discover them). While it is possible to create nice looking equations, it takes an enormous amount of clicking of the mouse.

"Back in the day" (I got my first Mac, a 512k, in 1987), you could type cmd-option-backslash, and this would get you into "inline equation editing" mode.  You could then type your equation (with intuitive words for common symbols). Klutzy, but fast. Fast forward, it seems that Word on the PC still has such a feature, although the keyboard shortcut is Alt-=

I am quite familiar with the equation typesetting available on some of the sites here on the stackexchange network, where typing something like $\sum{\frac{\alpha_i x_i}{\sqrt{\beta}}}$ will produce a nice looking equation. For people who have good keyboard skills, this is vastly better than a graphical interface.

So here is my question: does this feature (still) exist in Word for the Mac? If it does, how do I access it? If it doesn't, is there an add-in that I could use instead? Or should I just abandon using Word and write in LaTeX... I have to admit that the more Word "evolves", the less I am able to use it. It makes me feel like a dinosaur.

I did see this answer to an earlier question which goes some way to what I want - but I would very much prefer not to have to store my equations in one document, and copy/paste pictures into Word (and don't get me started on the non-intuitive way images, image placement, captions and word wrap are handled in Word...). Can't I just have it all?

Word:Mac supports linear formatting and Math AutoCorrect.  If you go to Insert -> Equation, you can start typing the way that you expect to.  For a keyboard-only experience, you could create a custom shortcut to insert an equation.


Problem with Mac HDMI - Thunderbolt display to Sony (not a cable problem) I have a 13-inch Macbook Pro with Mountain Lion installed. I bought an HDMI - Thunderbolt cable months ago in order to watch movies, TV shows and whatnot on my TV (Sony Bravia). The cable had been working out great for me since I bought it; the audio and video quality was exceptional and it gave me an almost perfect HD experience whenever I watched shows on my TV via my Macbook.

However, the last couple days I have been running into some major problems with this display connection and has left me quite confused and frustrated. Basically, the Macbook is no longer able to detect the display! I connect the TV to the laptop and ensure that the connection settings are proper (ie, I have connected to HDMI 1 and proeprly set the TV's input to HDMI 1 as well). The Macbook's screen will flash once and the TV will go from the blue "No Signal" screen to a blank black screen. Previously, this is when the extended screen from the Macbook would appear on the TV and I can drag windows onto the screen. Unfortunately, none of these occur (can neither see the computer screen on my TVnor be able to drag windows onto the extended screen).

I have tried a plethora of troubleshooting steps; I have restarted the computer many times, turned the TV off and on, tried connecting the cable at different times (when just TV is off, when just Macbook is off, etc). I have also read up endless forum posts about this issue, but have yet to found a worthy solution (sorry, to many forum posts to put on this Question. It is a simple Google search away...)

Before I beg the world for help, I would like to share one piece of pertinent information that may be helpful. I have isolated this to a Macbook problem, not a problem with the cable or TV. I connected my other laptop (a Dell XPS with Windows 7 installed) to the computer with the same HDMI - Thunderbolt cable and I was able to successfully watch a Simspons episode on the TV with top-quality audio and video.

All help is much appreciated, especially if it saves me a trip to the local Apple Store. Thank you in advance.

I solved this one!
make sure your digital tv isn't on


What options exist for ad free web browsing on iOS? In OS X I can use extensions in most browsers to block ads. This offers an distraction free browsing experience.

For example: In Safari, Chrome and Firefox I can use Adblock or Adblock Plus. Both extensions use filter lists which you can find here. You can also manually add filters and add sites on which you accept to see ads (e.g. apple.stackexchange.com).

What options exists for ad free web browsing in iOS?

Try the Diigo Webbrowser. It recently added an Ad Blocking feature that's off by default.


MacBook Pro 13in Late 2012 v.s. MacBook 12in Early 2015 I have

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012)
Processor: 2.9 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory: 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB
Storage: 768GB SSD

I mainly use it for LaTeX, Mathematica and MS Office 2016 for Mac.

I am considering purchasing

MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2015)
Processor: 1.3 GHz Intel Core M
Memory: 8GB 1600MHz DDR3
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 5300 1536 MB
Storage: 512GB SSD

or a newer one, if available.

Would it (MacBook, 12-inch) run faster than my MacBook Pro?

According to the specifications you have given, you most likely have a i7 3520M on your MBP and a Core M 5Y71 on the MacBook. If you compare the benchmarks done on the CPUs, you'll see that the i7 excels both on CPU as well as the GPU benchmarks.

Your current MBP is more powerful than the Core M MacBook that you are considering. It will be kind of a downgrade if you purchase it. Wait until WWDC 2016 to see if Apple upgrades it MacBook product line.


Segmentation fault: 11 error ( OpenCV ) I've installed OpenCV, numpy and all other required contents using brew install opencv.

Then I tried running it python >> import cv or python >> import cv2 but I get a "Segmentation fault: 11" error. Crash Log

Maybe duplicate of https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28669587/python-segmentation-fault-11-when-running-import-cv-or-import-cv2.
Did you install python through brew? If yes then there is probably crash between built-in version that ships with macOS and that installed through brew. Try using absolute path /usr/bin/python -c "import cv2" (built-in) and /usr/local/bin/python -c "import cv" (from brew). One should probably work.


Belkin Thunderbolt 2 Express Dock dual Dell U2515H setup I have a similar question as this one, except I have specific hardware that I want to connect.

I have a MacBook Pro 15" Retina Mid-2014 and a Belkin Thunderbolt 2 Express dock.
Now I want two Dell U2515H monitors and connect them to the Belkin Dock. Is this possible and what cables do I need?

If it is not possible, I need to fallback to connect just one U2515H to the dock and one to the MacBook, would that be possible?

Unless one of the displays is a Thunderbolt display, you cannot connect two displays to a Belkin Thunderbolt Dock (see this question).

As neither of your displays is using Thunderbolt, you have two options:

Connect one display to the dock and one to the MacBook Pro. One end of the cable (going into the dock or MacBook Pro) could be HDMI or Mini DisplayPort and the other end would need to be one of the monitor's connections (see below).
Connect both displays to the MacBook Pro. One end of the cable (going into the MacBook Pro) could be HDMI or Mini DisplayPort and the other end would need to be one of the monitor's connections (see below)

The Dell U2515s have a full selection of connectors - Display Port, Mini DisplayPort, HDMI, etc. so you really can choose which suits you best. It's probably easiest to buy a pair of Mini DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort cables (which will support both scenarios I described above).

See Apple document HT204154 for a general discussion of Thunderbolt ports and displays.


changing the meta key in emacs I am running emacs 24.3 through the terminal on OS X 10.8.4. I would like to modify the meta-key which is currently set to be the ESC key. I have successfully changed the meta-key from ESC to option/alt however I am interested in remapping the meta-key to be the left-shift key. As I never use the left-shift key, I wouldn't mind remapping it permanently for all applications on my machine.

How can I change the meta-key in emacs running from the terminal to any other key?
Specifically, I would like to change the meta-key to left-shift as this would be really close to where my fingers are usually placed.
Can this be configured through emacs via emacs-lisp? Or, must this be configured through OS X settings such as how I changed the caps-lock key?

All help is greatly appreciated!

EDIT: How can I do this both on my mac and when I connect remotely?

Meta key problems with emacs seem to be very common, especially on OSX where alt/option is used to input special characters by default.

If you are using AquamacsEmacs[Aquamacs Homepage] or CarbonEmacsPackage, you may be able to set the modifier keys within your .emacs or other preferences file.

Specifically to map shift to meta, I'd try this (Note: this is untested):

(setq mac-shift-modifier 'meta)

If that doesn't work, there may not be an easy way to remap shift in this fashion.  You may need to look into the define-key function in emacs lisp.

Otherwise, if you're using emacs via the terminal, from homebrew, or some port of xemacs with XQuartz, you might want to look into using xmodmap


Piping multiple commands I would like to run the following command and pipe stout of both to TextEdit:

pmset -g; echo; pmset -g assertions | open -f -a TextEdit

This doesn't work, it only executes the latter:

How?

Aahhh, bash redirection :-

( pmset -g && echo && pmset -g assertions ) | open -f -a TextEdit

That runs your commands as a single bash command (that's the effect of &&) in a sub-shell (which is what wrapping it in the () does) and redirects the output of the sub-shell into TextEdit for you. You technically don't have to use && instead of ; but the effect of changing it is that if any of the commands fail it will stop the entire chain at that point.

Note: In your example all the commands are being run (as you can prove by just running pmset -g; echo; pmset -g assertions at the command line), it's just that you are applying the pipe to only the last one. That's why it needs to be run in a subshell.

Note: that you could replace the | character with > and send the output to a file if you wish.


How to disable local news texts to iphone My iPhone 6 receives text messages of local news stories, from a local news source.

I can't discover how to unsubscribe from these messages. How is it done?

This is my first iOS device.

You would need to contact whoever is sending them to you, and request that they stop. Generally replying with the word "STOP" will unsubscribe you.

This is not specific to Apple devices.


adjust battery-warning-level of magic mouse How can I adjust the level at which Mac OS warns me about the battery of my magic mouse?
I always have a lack of batteries, so I would prefer if the battery warning comes up at 15 or 20%, so I could work the rest of the day with the almost empty batteries and put them in the charger before I go to sleep.

Right now, if the warning occurs in the morning I have a problem.
I tried to steal the batteries out of my girlfriends camera or her wireless keyboard, but she does karate and defends her batteries.
Buying another set is not an option.

A way to get the battery level via applescript, shellscript, automator, whatever would be applicable too.

This thread has some scripts that can help you.

It seems that you wrap the results of this shell snippet in a nice AppleScript:

ioreg -c BNBMouseDevice | grep BatteryPercent


Pillars of Eternity: Better to buy from Mac App Store or from Steam? I haven't played a video game on my computer in over a decade and I'm unfamiliar with modern technologies. If I want to buy Pillars of Eternity, am I better off getting it through the mac app store or through Steam?

Steam. With steam, you'll be able to play it on Windows too, should you ever have the need. The same can't be said for the MAS, which only offers the Mac version. It's a nice bit of future-proofing, incase you ever get a Windows PC in the future. To put it simply, you get more for your money.


External Drive doesn't want to live in sidebar I have a remote hard drive (afp/smb) that won't live in the finder sidebar. Actually I have two, and one simply will not live in the finder sidebar. Everything else seems to function normally, including drive access to both drives. I am running mavericks, and mavericks server for the hard drives. How can I get both drives to live in the finder sidebar?

Resetting the PRAM fixed my issue.

Restart holding option+command+p+r. Hold down the keys until you hear the 2nd startup chime.

https://discussions.apple.com/message/19207534#19207534


Auto sync local files to remote Are there any OSX tools that can watch for file changes in a directory then sync (SFTP) those changes to a remote server?

Basically I want to edit files locally (whatever files, whatever program) and have them automatically upload to the server.

Rsync can't watch a directory for changes on it's own, and I can't seem to get lyncd to run on osx, due to no inotify tool.

Any ideas?

I'm only aware of proprietary systems like DropBox.

But it seems like this could be done fairly easily, using kqueue to detect file changes, and running rsync a few seconds later.


Reinstall Safari version 5 Apologies in advance if any of the details seem incorrect, I am helping my friends dad and am not a mac user myself.

Background to problem:

His System: Mac OS X v10.5.8

Original Browser: Safari v5

Recently he has been unable to access some websites and was informed by one company that he needed to update his browser.

He downloaded Safari v7.0.4 to find that it could not be used with leopard.

to quote

  The main problem is, that in the process of downloading v7, v5 was deleted & now I have no access to any website.

  I have dumped v7 to 'trash' but still cannot retrieve v5.

I checked the compatibility and it looks like he needs to go back to Safari 5.0.6 (I'll worry about OS update later)

Whats are my options to get Safari 5 working again on his machine?

Also is there any way for me to remote to his machine without him having a browser?

Thanks

Joe

With you not having a Mac and with him having such an old OS, you probably aren't going to be able to remote in.

That said, even without a browser he should still be able to download Safari v5.0.6 which is the latest version supported by his OS.

Type the following commands into Terminal exactly as they appear, pressing Return after each one, and he should end up with Safari in his Downloads folder.

cd ~/Downloads
curl -O http://supportdownload.apple.com/download.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/Mac_OS_X/downloads/041-5122.20110720.2HQcx/Safari5.0.6Leopard.dmg

(That's a capital O in the curl command.) It reports its size as 52.2 MB.

There is one big caveat, though - depending on what the Safari v7 installer did to his system, it may not work to reinstall v5, in which case he may need to reinstall the OS.


iOS 8 iPhone Cellular Calls on iPad/Mac with 2 iPhones sharing same iCloud account With the iOS 8 Continuity features you can make and receive phone calls on your iPad or Mac using your iPhone, provided they're all on the same WiFi network and using the same iCloud account.

However, my wife and I both use the same iCloud account and we both have an iPhone. It's the same iCloud account that's configured on the iPad (and on my Mac). In the settings for FaceTime both on iPad and on the Mac, under the heading iPhone Cellular Calls it says These calls will use the caller ID +xxx xxx xxx xxx, and the number is my wife's cell phone number, not mine.

In the situation I'm in (2 iPhones using the same iCloud account in the same house), how can I tell FaceTime which iPhone it should use for the continuity calling feature?

Apart from the caller ID issue, I can't make calls from my iPad or Mac using my iPhone (when my wife's phone is out of the house). It says "iPhone Not Available. Your iPhone and Mac must be on the same Wi-Fi network". However, if I receive a call on my iPhone it appears fine on both iPad and Mac.

Ok, figured it out myself. My first problem was that for some reason my phone hadn't activated properly with iMessage / FaceTime (my phone number was unchecked in the You can be reached by FaceTime At section in FaceTime settings). That required switching off FaceTime and iMessage and switching them back on again after a short wait so that they could activate properly, which they did.

Once that was done, my FaceTime settings (on my iPhone) had a new option: iPhone Mobile Calls:

My wife's phone also has that setting. Choosing which phone is used is just a question of only having this setting enabled on one phone at a time. I assume (all though I haven't tried it) that if both phones are enabled in this way, FaceTime on iPad or Mac gives you the choice of which phone/number to use. It wasn't giving me a choice earlier because there was only one phone enabled.


How to turn on the volume of ipod touch with a broken volume button? My ipod touch's volume button on the side to increase the volume doesn't work, no matter how hard I press it against something. The volume down button works.

The music player's sound is at the max, but the device uses another volume that's very low in volume. I can tell when I plug it into a wall, the beep sound is not very audible.

How can I increase the same volume these buttons work on?

You can change the alerts volume in the Settings App.

Open the Settings App.
Go to the Sounds section (typically the top of the second group of settings).
Change the slider under Ringer and Alerts to your desired volume.


I have 2 mailboxes in mail, but only 1 combined inbox I have created two mailboxes in USX mail, but for both of them, I get different sent, spam & trash boxes. But I only have one inbox for both of these mailboxes. Here's a  picture so you really understand what I mean.

Click the little disclosure triangle beside "Inbox" and Mail will show you the separate Inboxes.


Late 2013 Macbook Pro OS X 10.9.3 Maverick In sound preferences the only input device available is "internal mic". I have Audacity as well as Garage Band and I.Movie loaded. Mini jack works fine  as o/p but will not "see" any line level feeds (standard stereo jacks used). Also tried usb - no joy there.
Is there any inexpensive software around which will "wake up" the line - level input?

Macbooks don't use standard stereo trs jacks, they use '4 ring' jacks. Anything else is likely to just not make a firm connection - see MacBook owners frustrated by new audio jacks

You didn't give enough info re your USB attempts for me to guess. Edit your question to provide more info & I'll see if I can modify this answer.


How can I get rid of this Symantec-related error message in console? I was forced by my company to un-install Synamtec Antivirus on a machine running OS X 10.6.8.  Unfortunately, the person who uninstalled Symantec didn't know how to thoroughly get rid of the program.  As a result, this error message pops up in the console about every 10 seconds:

4/8/14 6:09:30 PM   com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[351]  (com.nds.pcshow) Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
4/8/14 6:09:40 PM   com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[351]  (com.symantec.quickmenu.application[554]) posix_spawn("/Library/Application Support/Symantec/SymQuickMenu/SymQuickMenu.app/Contents/MacOS/SymQuickMenu", ...): No such file or directory
4/8/14 6:09:40 PM   com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[351]  (com.symantec.quickmenu.application[554]) Exited with exit code: 1
4/8/14 6:09:40 PM   com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[351]  (com.symantec.quickmenu.application) Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
4/8/14 6:09:40 PM   com.nds.pcshow[555] sh: /Users/dcjones3/Library/NDSPCShowServer/NDSPCShowServer.bundle/Contents/Resources/launch.sh: No such file or directory
4/8/14 6:09:40 PM   com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[351]  (com.nds.pcshow[555]) Exited with exit code: 127

What can I do to get rid of these error messages?

Symantec provides a utility for uninstall

Removing all Norton programs for Mac by using the RemoveSymantecMacFiles removal utility

Alternative Uninstall Methods

A bom file is a "B ill   O f   M aterials" receipt that includes a list of every file installed and the install locations. If your software was installed using an installer, chances are good that a bom receipt was also installed.

You should be able to find Symantec's bom file by opening /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app, and typing the command

  ls /private/var/db/receipts/ |more

and looking for a file with a name that includes "symantec," something like "com.norton.symantec.bom" or try this command instead

 ls /private/var/db/receipts/ |grep symantec

You can view the file, and get the list and locations of all files installed with the Symantec installer with the lsbom command like so (once you have the correct name of the bom file -- I am just guessing):

 lsbom /private/var/db/receipts/com.norton.symantec.bom

And you can then remove the files listed there by location manually one by one.

another way to uninstall

You are welcome to use my uninstaller script. The script will place all files installed into the user's Trash. Once you have installed the script's dependencies, xcode, macports, and rmtrash, you can use the script by copying it into a text file and saving it as "installer" somewhere in your $PATH, such as /usr/local/bin/ , and applying the command

 chmod +x /usr/local/bin/installer

Here is the uninstaller script:

 #!/bin/bash
 #uninstaller /private/var/db/receipts/com.url.name.of.app.bom
 #uninstall os x application installed with installer -pkg
 #using (user) provided bom receipt
 #place all installed files and directories in user's Trash

 lsbom="/usr/bin/lsbom"
 cd="/usr/bin/cd"
 sudo="/usr/bin/sudo"
 xargs="/usr/bin/xargs"
 rmtrash="/opt/local/bin/rmtrash"

 lsbom -fls "$1" | (cd /; sudo xargs rmtrash -u $USER)
 exit

Installing MacPorts and rmtrash is simple enough once xcode (for Mavericks 10.9 xcode_5.1.1.dmg) is installed. Install xcode, and then enter these commands in Terminal.app :

 curl -Ok https://distfiles.macports.org/MacPorts/MacPorts-2.2.1.tar.bz2
 tar xf MacPorts-2.2.1.tar.bz2
 cd MacPorts-2.2.1
 ./configure
 make
 sudo make install #not war!
 cd ..
 rm -rf Macports-*
 sudo /opt/local/bin/port -v selfupdate
 export PATH=$HOME/macports/bin:$HOME/macports/sbin:$PATH
 export MANPATH=$HOME/macports/share/man:$MANPATH
 sudo port -vsc install rmtrash
 diskutil quiet repairPermissions /

MacPorts is worth getting to know as it is a mature package manager for OS X that maintains thousands of open source software commands, utilities, and applications, such as ClamAV for example, the finest antivirus software ever developed for *nix-based operating systems like Mac OS X. Apple even includes ClamAV with the Server versions of Mac OS X.

 port install -vsc clamav

Originally developed for scanning email for mail servers, it is unmatched antivirus. ClamAV has a pdf user manual.


Retrieving music from an old account I bought music from iTunes with my credit card, but it was my son’s iTunes account.  We shared a pc at that time. Can I retrieve my music and put it into my iTunes account?

No. Purchases are final. What you could do is see if family sharing allows you to share purchases across accounts.


Is it possible to master a DVD with 720HD high-definition video? Just bought DVD-Creator from the App store; big disappointment. Took an uncompressed 11 minute QuickTime 720HD 6.2GB file down to a 721MB VIDEO_TS when it burned the DVD. In other words, it chucked 88% of the info and looks lousy. Unacceptable.

I'm running Snow Leopard, so Anamorphisizer is out. myDVDEdit 1.5(55) doesn't perform as advertised in changing from iDVD's 4:3 only-output into 16:9.

So how can I get high quality 720HD onto a DVD from Final Express 4.0.1 using OS 10.6.8? (Lion has a known incompatibility with my 2010 MBP with its NVIDIA GeFORCE GT 300M)

with advanced appreciation…

(also, tags don't exist for DVD-Creator, Anamorphisizer, NVIDIA, & myDVDEDit; would someone please consider adding them. I'll probably be dead long before I get to 300 posts)!

No, there is simply no way to encode HD resolution video onto a DVD. This is a common misconception. The DVD video format does not support HD resolution. DVD players cannot reproduce 720HD video.

If you want HD on a disk, that is what Blu-ray disks and Blu-ray console players are for.

There was once a format called HD-DVD, but it is no longer supported by anybody and standard DVD players will not play back an HD-DVD at the intended resolution.

720HD is 1280 x 720 pixels per frame.

The highest resolution that the DVD format can support is 720 x 480 pixels per frame for NTSC (or 720 x 576 pixels per frame for PAL), which is at best only 37.5% of the resolution of 720HD.


Flashing icons (crashing gui) in OSX Yosemite Since yesterday the icons on the top-right of my macbook (yosemite) are constantly flashing. Looking at system.log it seems like the gui is crashing and restarting every second. Here is a copy of the crash report.

This started happening quite suddenly, I didn't perform any system changed. The only thing I did recently is install a printer driver, but I doubt that that is related.

Jeroens-MBP:log jeroen$ tail -fn0 system.log
Jan 18 11:44:35 Jeroens-MBP Spotlight[341]: spot: agent checkin
Jan 18 11:44:35 Jeroens-MBP SystemUIServer[549]: Cannot find executable for CFBundle 0x7f8441e06120 </System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Clock.menu> (not loaded)
Jan 18 11:44:35 Jeroens-MBP SystemUIServer[549]: Cannot find executable for CFBundle 0x7f8441d0a530 </System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Volume.menu> (not loaded)
Jan 18 11:44:35 Jeroens-MBP backupd[136]: Property list invalid for format: 200 (property lists cannot contain NULL)
Jan 18 11:44:35 Jeroens-MBP SystemUIServer[549]: *** WARNING: Method convertRectToBase: in class NSView is deprecated on 10.7 and later. It should not be used in new applications.
Jan 18 11:44:35 Jeroens-MBP SystemUIServer[549]: *** WARNING: Method convertRectFromBase: in class NSView is deprecated on 10.7 and later. It should not be used in new applications.
Jan 18 11:44:37 Jeroens-MBP com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.ReportCrash[552]): Endpoint has been activated through legacy launch(3) APIs. Please switch to XPC or bootstrap_check_in(): com.apple.ReportCrash
Jan 18 11:44:38 Jeroens-MBP com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.SystemUIServer.agent[549]): Service exited due to signal: Segmentation fault: 11
Jan 18 11:44:38 Jeroens-MBP com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.SystemUIServer.agent): Service only ran for 2 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 8 seconds.
Jan 18 11:44:38 Jeroens-MBP ReportCrash[552]: Saved crash report for SystemUIServer[549] version 1.7 (410) to /Users/jeroen/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/SystemUIServer_2015-01-18-114438_Jeroens-MacBook-Pro.crash
Jan 18 11:44:38 Jeroens-MBP ReportCrash[552]: Removing excessive log: file:///Users/jeroen/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/SystemUIServer_2015-01-18-114110_Jeroens-MacBook-Pro.crash

With Problem (no icons showing)

as it should be (all showing)

Tracking your problem in Crash report it shows

Thread 8 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: ICANotificationPrivateQueue
0   libobjc.A.dylib                 0x00007fff91893acf objc_release + 15
1   libobjc.A.dylib                 0x00007fff9189291f (anonymous namespace)::AutoreleasePoolPage::pop(void*) + 575
2   com.apple.CoreFoundation        0x00007fff95cb6272 _CFAutoreleasePoolPop + 50

So one of the existing icons is making problems, my hint is the Volume or the Clock.

One way to find out is to trash them one by one (hold cmd and pull it to the desk top). No worry they can be easily restored from here /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu extras.


How to send a template message in iMessages on iOS? I receive multiple questions a day on my iPhone and need to send the same reply to them. If my phone is on and open and I read the text, is there a way to send the same reply with out having to type it out?

You could experiment with using the Text Replacement function in Settings > General > Keyboard. While in iMessage, type the shortcut to spool out the replacement text. It was able to hold quite a lot of text to spool, too.


How to find a systems file on Mac The answer to a previous question (that I share) suggested going to this file ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Preferences.  How does one find that.  I don't know what ~/ references and the Library files that I find on my hard drive do not have a Container subfile

If you hold down the Option key, your Library folder (~/Library), which is normally hidden, will show up under the Finders Go menu. Just selected it (Go -> Library) and you will be there in the Finder.


Wireless keyboard on iPad2 I finally got my wireless keyboard for my iPad and I'm quite disappointed. Beside the media controls the whole stuff from the dock-keyboard doesn't work on the wireless one. What's even worse is that I have to disconnect the keyboard when I take the iPad away from the desk and go to the balcony. Is there any way to get the soft-keypad back, when the wireless keyboard is connected without going to the keyboard and pressing the eject-key?

Go to Settings -> General -> Bluetooth and switch bluetooth off.


Transferring Catalina system drive to older Mac — possible? I have have been running Catalina on my long-in-the-tooth Mid-2012 13" MBP. As I'm now getting a new work MBP, I wanted to give my wife this MBP, and take hers (pre-2012, and therefore can't install Mojave or Catalina in its current state). However... I still need a machine to do occasional freelance work on... so I was wondering, could I install my system HD in my wife's older MBP, and have it "just work"? Like, would it successfully boot into Catalina? Or would it balk at the older hardware on boot? Or some other kind of non-/semi-functioning? (I'd like a canonical answer, but personal experiences are also really helpful.)

In the past, you could quite simply move a boot drive from one Mac to another & have it work as though nothing had changed. The only proviso was that both machines were of an age to know what each OS is, not too new, not too old.
I've been doing this with Macs for decades.

If the 'jump' between OSes would have required a firmware update, that may be a stumbling block, however, if the Mac you want to transfer the drive to cannot run the OS on the drive, then this simply will not work at all.


iPhoto app deleted but the photos are still showing in Media files I have deleted the iPhoto app, because I no longer use it. However, the photos (all 2000 of them) are still accessible when I try to insert media on Pages or Evernote or Keynote. I want to permanently delete all the photos from iPhoto. How can I do this? I'm running OS X 10.9.2 on my MacBook.

Deleting the App doesn't delete the Library, you need to do that separately.
Default location is at: ~/Pictures/iPhoto Library

Note: The "~" (tilde), in the pathname above, is your Home Folder.


27" iMac won't stay asleep My 27" iMac wakes up from sleep randomly, even though I went through the "energy saver" preference pane, and bluetooth is only active for my mouse and keyboard.

What could be causing this?

In /Applications/Utilities/ run Terminal.app, then type this command:

syslog |grep -i "Wake reason"

What do you see?

The codes listed here might give you a clue as to what is going on: http://osxdaily.com/2010/07/17/why-mac-wakes-from-sleep/


Why does Safari display the letter combination 'fi' as 'if'? I just came across a curious display error and was wondering what may cause it.
In Safari the following webpage Cross-Country Skating: shows a strange behaviour.

But the source code does not show this error:
... America’s Bill Koch first observed ...
... climaxing in a telegenic finish ...

Neither does Google Chrome:

Can anyone explain this behaviour?

System:
MacBook Air (MacBookAir3,1)
Intel Core 2 Duo; 1,6 GHz
OS X 10.11.2 (15C50)
Safari Version 9.0.2 (11601.3.9)

This is probably a problem with Safari font rendering engine with Merriweather Sans font. It has something to do with ligature I suppose. You can check typecast.com and see that when You insert fi it automatically is changed to if as You type.


Does booting a 2015 iMac from an external disk require "touching" the internal disk? The hard drive (a Fusion Drive) on my 2015 iMac has become badly corrupted, possibly getting into that state via some incompatible ram that had previous been installed in it. (The ram was removed and the computer is in its stock configuration now.) The computer won't boot past the login screen or boot into recovery mode without a kernel panic.

When I took it into have it examined by an authorized repair shop, the tech told me that because the kernel panic prevented booting into recovery mode or target disk mode, that the hard drive needed to be replaced. When I asked whether the drive could be wiped, she said no and that it was impossible without cracking open the computer.

Is this true? In a standard Windows/Linux based Intel architecture PC, any drive can simply be ignored at the bios level. Does corruption of the internal hard drive in an iMac really prevent any possible boot attempt via an external drive?

No, corruption like what you described here (i.e. non-hardware failure of the disk drive) does not prevent boot attempts on an external drive.

In fact you do not even need an external drive. You can just start up the iMac in Internet Recovery Mode to reformat your internal disk and reinstall macOS. You do that by holding down Command+Option+R when powering on your iMac (hold it until you see a spinning globe saying Starting Internet Recovery).


iPhone 4S message to enter password for CalDAV My iPhone is asking me to enter the password for the CalDav account "Yahoo".  What does this mean?  Do I have to do it? Can I stop it from asking for it?

From what I've seen, often when it asks for a password, the original one was entered incorrectly - something very easy to do on an iPhone. First, try entering the password to see if it goes away. Chances are, it is probably not syncing with your Yahoo calendar and won't unless the password problem is corrected.

You can also go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars, and select the account named "Yahoo", and turn off the calendar for that account if you do not wish to have it in the Calendar app.

If you currently are receiving mail to that Yahoo account (if there is one associated with it) on your phone, then it may be a different problem.


Sort load of login items I have about 20 login items in my profile, and I often can use Alfred from the very beginning stage of the system start, but sometimes not. Will be great if I can say the system to load Alfred first and then the others.

Is there anyway of doing this?

Modern OS X installations start the items simultaneously, independent of their visible order, and also use additional mechanisms such as Resume and invisible launch entries which have influence on the start sequence during the login phase.

From: http://www.bresink.com/osx/0TinkerTool/history.html

See:

How do I change the order in which login items execute under OS X 10.8.2?
How to control order of startup items for users at login?


Is there a way to reveal an item in the Finder from Launchpad? Sometimes I will see something that does not really belong in Launchpad—a readme, for instance—and I'd like to see it to move it. Sure, I can close Launchpad, open the Applications folder, and hunt for it there (perhaps in subfolders), but it seems to me that there ought to be an easier way. Is there? I can't seem to find one. Right-clicking, sadly, seems to do nothing.

I'm not trying to delete items that are in Launchpad from my drive; I just want to see them in the Finder, so that I can move them around or perform other operations on them..

The answer to the question is No, there's no way to reveal an item in the Finder from Launchpad.
However, there is a relatively easy way to remove items from the Launchpad, which is what I really wanted to do, and it does not require moving the item out of the Applications folder: Launchpad Manager. It's an inexpensive utility that helps you manage your Launchpad, and, crucially, remove any items you'd like from it.


How to activate iAd Network in iTunes Connect? I want to activate iAd Network in iTunes Connect but with no success, iAd network is still in "Contracts In Process".

I've entered contact informations, Bank Info is alreday entered for paid apps and Tax Info I don't have since I'm from Croatia.

Here is ss of "Contracts":

And when I go to setup "Bank Info" I see next:

.. so this means that I don't need to do anything here.

And when I go to "Tax Info" I see next:

.. so that also means that I don't have do anything here because I'm from Croatia and that step applys to Canada and US.

What do I need to activate the iAd Network?

You need to fill out the US tax forms -- take a look at your screenshot: Note that U.S. tax forms are required for everyone.


How do you change which program Google Chrome invokes on a Mac? I am not sure if this is handled differently on a Mac or on a PC. If I click on some links on Google Chrome, it automatically starts an app. This is probably is some setting inside of Google Chrome instead of on the Mac, because if it is a different user profile on the same Google Chrome, it'd ask what to do.
How'd you change which default program to use or unset it so it'd ask you every time?

When a HTTPS site tries to open a URL scheme that Chrome itself cannot handle (and doesn't have special modals like tel:), Chrome prompts to always let a site handle that scheme.

Checking the box will mean that type of link will always open with that app.
There is an open bug regarding the inability to reverse this decision with plenty of discussion.

Issue 982341: No obvious way to undo "Always open these types of links" decision for External Protocols.

Chromium has a CL to add scheme settings but without any approvals:

https://chromium-review.googlesource.com/c/chromium/src/+/2204825

Per {protocol,site} external protocol prompt exemptions were added to
Chrome in M84. This is a simple implementation of proposed settings UI
to clear the relevasnt stored prefs data.

You can disable sites from becoming handlers using the option at chrome://settings/handlers, but that is only an on or off choice for the entire scheme handling system.


How much will adding an extra hard drive to my MacBook Pro affect battery performance? I have a current MacBook Pro 15" i7 2.2Ghz with a 500GB 7200RPM (default) hard drive.

I am thinking of replacing both the current hard drive and the superdrive with two Seagate Momentus Hybrid 500 GB drives and placing them in RAID0 for optimal performance.

Now, I don't think performance will be a problem, but how about battery life? Are there any examples of users who already have done similar things and noticed the effect on battery life?

Having a second hard drive will certainly decrease battery life by a noticeable amount. Behind the CPU and LCD, the hard drive is the largest drain on battery.

A word of caution: RAID 0 is almost never a good idea, unless you'll be doing backups constantly and don't mind being totally down if a drive fails. You'll get better performance from an SSD and you'll be able to keep your optical drive.


Turning Off Keyboard's lights while in Bootcamp's Windows 8 When I start Win8 (installed with bootcamp) the keyboard lights are always on. How do I disable this?

Is there a possible way to never ever let them turn on again? (Besides opening the hardware and cutting off the wires).

I have looked in power settings but didn't found anything helpful.

The best way I found is to go into the power plan settings and go into advanced settings then under display disable adaptive brightness.


Receive StackExchange notifications Is there a way to receive notifications from StackExchange sites in the Notification Center in OSX?

I'm not sure why MacLemon didn't post SENotifier as a proper answer, but that's your best choice right now. Version 1.1 added the ability to send notifications about your Stack Exchange to Notification Centre.

  SENotifier is a Mac OS X app that shows the current contents of your
  Stack Exchange inbox in the menu bar and was inspired by Gmail
  Notifier.

  I created this app so the inbox notifier would be visible all the
  time, instead of only when a Stack Exchange page was loaded in the
  browser.

  This app uses the new Stack Exchange API v2.0 with authentication, so
  it can get the current contents of your inbox.


What are the default permissions on the Applications folder in OS X supposed to be? I was trying to run VirtualBox on OS X when I got the error:

Failed to open a session for the virtual machine tinyXP.
Failed to load VMMR0.r0 (VERR_SUPLIB_WORLD_WRITABLE).
Unknown error creating VM (VERR_SUPLIB_WORLD_WRITABLE).

According to this article http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/8410, it is because the permissions on my /Applications folder are too broad. I checked, and I was actually very surprised to learn that the folder was in fact world-readable / world-writable.

drwxrwxrwx+ 164 root  admin      5576 Jun 26 22:27 Applications

So before I go changing them, I'm wondering if that is normal or if somehow they got changed?

That is not normal - I have

drwxrwxr-x+ 73 root     admin         2482 24 Jun 09:28 Applications/

There is a option in Disk Utility.app to repair permissions which should change the Applications directory and others back.


Make all fonts larger on the Macbook Air 11" or 13" Instead of getting a Macbook Pro 13" or 15", I was thinking of getting the Macbook Air 13" or 11", but checking the machines at Apple store, it turns out the density of pixels of the screen of the Macbook Air 11" or 13" is larger, so the font appears more "dense", and therefore smaller.

It turns out that the Macbook Pro 13" has smaller pixel density, and the 15" model has even smaller density, so they can have larger fonts, without needing to squint the eyes. The 17" model also has high font density as well.

If I want to get the Macbook Air 13", is there a way under Lion to make all the fonts larger (the webpage, the menu bar, all apps), without changing the resolution of the machine to something not the native resolution? (Native resolution is optimal on each machine.)

The short answer is without deep hacking, no, you cannot make fonts larger in all applications and in the menu bar but not change from the native resolution.

Many applications do have zoom features (including Safari, Finder, Address Book, Mail, etc.), but the way to make text larger in each app is, unfortunately, different from app to app.


Making Hidden Apps Appear Faded Whilst Sitting On The Dock? Sometimes it can be quite difficult for me to tell which of my apps are hidden on the dock and which are not. Is it possible to make those Apps which I have hidden (either by terminal command or otherwise) to appear as those they have faded into the background whilst sitting on the dock ie to have lowered or reduced opacity.

You can use the following Terminal command:

defaults write com.apple.Dock showhidden -bool YES && killall -HUP Dock

This can be undone with…

defaults delete com.apple.Dock showhidden && killall -HUP Dock


Can homebrew and RVM agree on a $PATH? I'm trying to install Yeoman.io and part of it requires Homebrew to be installed. I am on Mountain Lion (10.8) and things seemed to install correctly except when I run $ homebrew doctor it complains with the following message:

Warning: Homebrew's sbin was not found in your path.
Consider amending your PATH variable so it contains:
/usr/local/sbin

Here is what my ~/.bashrc looks like:

#PATH=$PATH:$HOME/.rvm/bin # Add RVM to PATH for scripting
setenv PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:$HOME/.rvm/bin:$PATH

and my .bash_profile looks like:

[ -s "$HOME/.rvm/scripts/rvm" ]] && source "$HOME/.rvm/scripts/rvm"

I use RVM so it's written in its own stuff in case that affects the homebrew installation.

Your path (as shown) doesn't contain /usr/local/sbin. Add that in the line where you set the path. Also, bash doesn't use setenv; just use PATH=....


How to transfer contacts from iPhone to PC? I have contacts on my iPhone 5 that I wish to transfer to my PC. I know how to transfer photos from iPhone to PC, but I don't know how to do the same for contacts. How can I transfer contacts?

You can use one of the free apps (e.g. My Contacts Backup) on the AppStore to export all of your contacts and Mail it to your e-Mail account or save it to Dropbox etc.

Another way is, if you have your Contacts on iCloud. SignIn on icloud.com navigate to Contacts - Press cmd+A or ctrl+A on Windows. The in the corner left ist a Gear Symbol - and select Export vCard


Which upgrades to my iMac 2011 will improve performance the most? I have started a job that will require processing of large datasets using python and ArcMap (separately and in conjunction with ArcMap).  I have a 2011 27" iMac with the 3.1 Mhz i5 (3rd generation I believe) quad core processor, 20 GB of ram, and 1TB 5400 rpm hard drive.  I believe this machine could handle the work load adequately as is, but this is a part-time gig and I want to maximize my efficiency with respect to computing power and impress my employers.  I don't want to buy a new computer right now (maybe in two years or so), for two reasons: 1) funds are currently limited, and 2) I think with the right upgrades, in the right order, with a focus on increasing speed and then storage, I could use this machine for the next 2-3 years.

Where should I focus first?  I see the options as:

Replace the pair of 2 GB ram modules with a pair of 8 GB ram modules to max out my ram at 32 GB.
Add in a secondary hard drive in the form of an SSD, to store applications and important inputs to different processing steps.
Replace the 1 TB hard drive with a faster and larger regular hard drive.  This limits the need to transfer to/from externals through the USB 2.0 ports.

Obviously all three options could be pursued, but is there some efficient order that gives me the greatest returns up front, allowing me to stop upgrading when the iMac seems solidly up to the task?

You are the best person to answer that.

Use the Activity monitor and take a look at RAM and HD current usage.

That will tell you what you need most. Usually the more RAM the better, that in turn also removes some load from the HD, but a fasted SSD could help in the initial step of loading the app in to the RAM.

So if you open and close lost of apps and save lots of stuff a faster SSD will help. If you initially open lots of apps, but then just use them, without need to constantly access the HD (SSD) then RAM size matters. See it this way: RAM is the supper fast (temporary) storage between the CPU and the Hard Drive. Without improvement in HD (SSD) the boot up and the shut down will not be faster, but during the normal usage with large RAM you will benefit.


can i turn off ask to buy for my 13 year old daughter? Apple tells me it is mandatory for "under 13".  Yet I cannot seem to turn it off. Does this mean she is only free from "ask to buy" when she turns 14? To me, "under 13" means 12 or lower.

Did you create an account for your daughter in the 'Family Sharing' settings on iCloud?
There, you'll have the possibility to change some settings for her account.


Can we partially jaibreak our iOS devices for enterprise management? We manage a large number of iOS devices in an enterprise environment and are finding Apple's management utilities lacking. I wonder if there are any options for jailbreaking which do not entail completely opening the system up.

I have no intention of thwarting the code-signing system and having to deal with the complications that raises, or installing unauthorized apps; my thoughts are merely that our administration options would be greater if we were able to access the system partition so we could manage plist files through ssh or another tool.

Is this possible? Or is access to these setting files intrinsically linked to the code-signing system for apps?

Old question, and I'm sure you have answered yourself already, but I'll mention the Apple iOS management tool "Apple Configurator" (didn't find a good link for a tutorial).

It looks like you can lock down a few things.

One interest for "home use": it's the only way to lock down device pairing. Lets say someone wants the info on your iOS device. If it's unlocked for any reason, you just plug it into some device with iTunes, say "Trust" and now you have iTunes-level file system access (which is a lot).

LATE EDIT: Apple has mostly filled the “iTunes hole” in recent iterations of iOS. You need a password to pair the phone now, and iOS 11.4 seems to want a password every 7 days (much like TouchID requires a password after a bit of time).


How do I get Web Sharing back on Mountain Lion? Possible Duplicate:
  Enabling Apache in Mac OS X Mountaion Lion

Like the title says but with a twist.

I DO NOT want to use localhost, but my internal IP instead so I don't want to use all the tutorials I have seen to restart/configure Apache from the command line to get localhost working. Reason:

I need the IP to test through multiple devices on my network. With localhost, this is just not possible per every device.

Thanks,

Marco

You could look into using MAMP, as it's just as easy as Web Sharing was before.


Replace keyboard shortcut for ⌥ + d I want to replace the keyboard shortcut for
⌥Option  + d = ∂
with
⌥Option  + d = ð

How can I do that?

Create a plain text file with this in it (in TextEdit, use Format > Make Plain Text):

{
    "~d" = ("insertText:", "ð");
}

Call it DefaultKeyBinding.dict (make sure to uncheck “When no extension is provided, use .txt”), and save it in ~/Library/KeyBindings/. (You can press Command ⌘+Shift ⇧+G and paste that path.)

The "~d" means Option-D, and the ("insertText:", "ð") means it will insert a ð character instead of ∂.

You will have to restart your applications in order for this setting to take effect.


How do you change the size of the images sent from an iPhone using MMS? I have an iPhone 4, my wife has a jailbroken iPhone 3G on Simple Mobile (T-Mobile's network).
She's able to send and receive MMS messages, but images that are taken on my iPhone are flagged as too large and she receives a message that she has received an image from me but it has been blocked due to size.

Older phones and other limited plans have this implementation, so this question should be useful to others.

Is there a way to change the size of images when sending them via MMS like you can when emailing a picture on the iPhone?

If not, how can I work around this?

One option is to add your wife's MMS e-mail address to her contact card and use that e-mail address to e-mail the picture to her phone.  When you send an image via e-mail, the iPhone will ask you what size you want to send (how much compression you want to do to the image). Choosing SMALL may allow it to go through.
Here are a list of some SMS/MMS gateways that allow you to send a SMS/MMS via e-mail address:  List of SMS Gateways

You could also try using the free Adobe Photoshop Express app in the iTunes App Store to crop the image and save as a new image then try sending the smaller sized (both in dimensions and in bytes) image. A bit of a hassle, but the Messaging app does not have any built-in selectors for specifying the size.


How can I change the URL of a networked Time Machine backup The network configuration in my house has changed (new router), so my Linux server (where my networked Time Machine folder is housed) has changed.

'tmutil destinationinfo' yields:

> ==================================================
Name          : 500GB External
Kind          : Local
ID            : DF1F27B7-137D-4AE1-9BAE-CD4B603B74FC
====================================================
Name          : TimeMachine
Kind          : Network
URL           : afp://tmuser@192.168.0.12/TimeMachine
Mount Point   : /Volumes/TimeMachine-1
ID            : 2F2F2AC7-C4E5-4F2A-9E7F-8642D6BB441B

How can I change the 192.168.0.12 to something else without Time Machine thinking that it's a completely new backup target (and not realizing that the existing backup is ours)?

Just add the destination as a new disk in the Time Machine System Preferences GUI. It is smart enough to figure it out since there are identity tokens stored on the Mac and on the Time Machine destination.

It might warn you that the "identity" of the new location has changes and you have to approve before continuing to back up.

Time Machine can handle many destinations from one Mac and just picks up from where it left off for the last backup at that specific destination.

Worst case, you have to manually inherit the backup after associating with the new share. See the tmutil manual page for details if needed.


Is there away to move between workspaces using trackpad? I want to move to other workspaces using trackpad. How can I do that?

The best "vanilla" solution I'm aware of is the following:

Go to System Preferences > Exposé & Spaces (Exposé tab) > Active Screen Corners and set one up as "Spaces".

Then when you quickly move your mouse into that corner it will bring up all available workspaces, and you can click the one you want.


File Permissions borked after "Repair File Permissions" Yesterday, I did a "Repair File Permissions" on the main drive in my MacBook Pro (running Mac OS X 10.7.2) (I was trying to fix an iMovie issue, and found this recommendation online). Ever since then, I've had permissions-related problems. I can't delete anything without being prompted for my password, and every file I try to edit is "locked," and won't save the changes. Pretty much every file I've "Get Info"-ed, has the permissions shown here:

I think the important part here is that it says "You have custom access." As you can see, I should have write-access, but for some reason, I'm limited by that top "everyone." If I change that from "Custom" to "Read & Write," the message changes to "You can read and write," and I can edit the file but I can't do this to every file for the rest of forever.

What's the best way to fix this situation?

EDIT: I re-ran the permissions repair, and that didn't fix things. Here's what I'm seeming, specifically:

When I try to delete files anywhere in my home directory, I'm prompted for a password.
I've tried editing files anywhere in my home directory, and the changes can never be saved, because the file is locked. I've seen this in Byword.app, Preview.app, Pages.app, and TextEdit.app. When I try to save, I'll get a dialog saying "The document 'doc-name' could not be saved. The file is locked. Do you want to save your changes anyway? [Save Anyway] [Cancel]" If I choose [Save Anyway], I get a second dialog saying "You don't have permission to save the file."  I was able to edit and save a file in MacVim.app that TextEdit.app declared I didn't have permission to save.
I have three folders in my home folder that are aliased to folders on another drive. As far as I can tell, everything is fine on that drive. It's just the main, start-up drive that's having this issue.

Permissions repair only affects folders and packages installed by apple and during software updates and it leaves most user folders alone.

You should be able to run it again to fix anything not correct. If there are still issues, you likely have a user definition corruption issue and might have to attack that head on. Which specific app it folder has these issues? Edit your question and this can also be edited once more detail is provided.


Why does my iTerm2 launch with an X in it's path? After upgrading to El Capitan, then working on installing Rails, my iTerm2 shell now opens with x >, instead of just >.

Can someone please explain why this is happening, and help me figure out how to return it to it's normal home?

You have shell integration installed and the last command executed failed:

Example:

DoesNotExist cmd does not exist, thus an error 127:

  Command status

  The mark on a command line will turn red if a command fails. You can right click the mark to view its return code.

Re: https://iterm2.com/shell_integration.html


Target Display iMac steals Thunderbolt when I unplug and won't give it back I'm using a 27" iMac in Target Display Mode, daisy-chained though a Thunderbolt display on my MacBook Pro. Both are running Yosemite.

MBP-->TBDisplay-->iMac  (normal operation)

Typically I come into the office in the morning, connect my laptop to the Thunderbolt, then power on the iMac and switch to Target Display Mode. My laptop is now happily running two external displays:

However, when I unplug my laptop to go to a meeting, the iMac grabs the Thunderbolt as a second display. I don't really care about this for now...

MBP-X-TBdisplay<--iMac (not a problem)

but when I plug the laptop back in and switch the iMac back to Target Display Mode, the Thunderbolt becomes the iMac's only display, and now the laptop only has a single external display.

MBP--xTBdisplay<==>iMac (problem with TBdisplay not showing MBP)

Is there any way of preventing the iMac from grabbing the Thunderbolt, or forcing it to relinquish it when I return, short of disconnecting and reconnecting the cable (really don't want to do this, the cable is flaky enough already) or rebooting the iMac? Even putting it to sleep doesn't seem to cut it.

A DisplayPort KVM would probably work. Have you tried using a DisplayPort cable instead of a thunderbolt one between the iMac and the Thunderbolt Display? It might be cheaper than a KVM which would guarantee you can switch inputs without the iMac taking control of the attached display.


How to restore from Time Machine backup I have two Macbooks. The second one I did a refresh install from a Time Machine backup and kept it backed up for several weeks on that computer.

I'm going back to the first computer and would like to restore it to the state of the second computer.

How do I do this?

Follow these instructions on your first computer:

  Make sure that your Time Machine backup disk is connected and turned on, then turn on your Mac. [...] [O]pen Migration Assistant, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder. Click Continue in the first Migration Assistant window, then continue to step 2.
  When you're asked how you want to transfer your information, select the option to transfer from a Mac, Time Machine backup, or startup disk. Then click Continue.
  Select your Time Machine backup, then click Continue.
  If you're asked to choose from a list of backups organized by date and time, choose a backup and click Continue.
  Select the information to transfer, then click Continue to start the transfer.


How can I scale a 4K external monitor to have a comfortable amount of space I'm using a 13inch touch-bar MacBook pro with a Samsung U28E590 4k monitor.

I'm very happy with the resolution on the MacBook's screen and everything is a comfortable size. However on the monitor the "default for display" (which says "looks like 1920x1080) makes everything huge and sacrifices the amount of space on the screen.

If I go into display preferences and choose the middle option (3008x1692) this is a good size, but it has a noticeably bad effect on performance - window switching, resizing etc is jerkier and slower.

The setting I currently have it on is "more space" (3180x2160) which doesn't suffer the performance issues but makes everything tiny. I have to zoom in on any applications I use in this monitor (mostly terminal and text editors).

Is there a nicer solution to having a comfortable resolution on a screen like this without sacrificing performance?

Using Retina mode on a 4k display is a performance demanding task - especially for that 13" MacBook Pro. When you choose "odd" resolutions like that, the operating system will have to render in really high resolutions and down-sample to get an output suitable for your monitor.

What you could do instead was to install SwitchResX, Display Menu or similar apps that allows you to configure the monitor to your liking. I would recommend trying to disable Retina mode and simply use a high resolution with the monitor (not 3840x2160, but something smaller).

If you disable Retina mode, the performance demands are considerably less.


Command+C (copy) not working in Finder (Sierra) I just update from El Capitan to Sierra on my iMac, and the Cmd+C shortcut stopped working in Finder.

This means I cannot copy files nor filenames.

I tried both Cmd keys, neither works.

Command+V works, and copying via mouse (right click, select copy) works.

It all worked perfectly up until yesterday, before the upgrade!

I already rebooted my iMac.

Any ideas?

The problem was in Office: mac 2011.
Total shut-down and switch-on TWICE solved the problem.


Where to find docs for the supported actions for `tell application` statement Where to find docs for the supported actions for tell application statement. Similar to

tell application "Finder" to close every window

How can I know that Finder is supported and also close every window is one of its actions?

I do not know of a list, per se, however AppleScript supported applications have a dictionary that you can view to see what's available to a given application, besides what available in the StandardAdditions.sdef file of Script Editor itself.

While in Script Editor press ⇧⌘L to bring up the Library, where you can double-click on Finder to review what's in its AppleScript dictionary.

The Library is also accessible from the Window menu while in Script Editor.

Finder's AppleScript dictionary:

For example, looking at the Standard Suite, not selected in the image above, you'll see many verbs that are supported, one of them being close, so:

tell application "Finder" to close every window

Will indeed close any Finder windows that are open.


How do I reinstall Bonjour Should I reinstall Bonjour after I got an message : File Problem: M DNSResponse.exe
How do I go about doing this?

This might be more relevant on superuser.com but here's the steps

Go to the Control Panel and click on Add or Remove Programs.
Select Bonjour from the list.
Click Change/Remove.
Choose Remove, then follow the onscreen instructions.
Reinstall Bonjour for Windows from the Apple website, or the media on which it was supplied to you.


I can't 'Screen Share' on my MBP with OS X Yosemite Specs:
Macbook Pro Mid 2012
OS X 10.10.4

I'm not able to Share my screen with my friends.
I want to connect with my friend's Macbook (which is not in my network, different city) for troubleshooting purposes, & so I tried Screen Sharing from Messages App:

After I click 'Ask to share screen', it does send a request to the other Mac for permission, after he click on 'Allow', nothing happens!?

[ The Screen Sharing option is turned ON & Remote Management is turned OFF, on my Mac as well as on my friend's Mac.]

How do I connect with his computer, & control it over internet,
It'll be very convenient for troubleshooting purposes.

Thanks!

If you are not connected on the same LAN segment (both computers on the same network) and you are going through a router, chances are the router's firewall is blocking the connection.

What you have to do is open/forward the ports on the router Apple screenshare  (remote desktop) uses to communicate.  The ports are:

TCP: 5900, 5988
UDP: 5900, 3283

Screen sharing behind a firewall-- What ports?

One thing that I personally like to do is test out on the same LAN segment first (behind the router firewall).  This way I know that my machine is fully functioning and the service is working properly.  This way, when trying to troubleshoot a connection issue across the router, the changes of it being my machine is greatly reduced.

You will need to edit your REMOTE router to allow incoming connections of the ports that I mentioned.  You do this by:

1)  Find out what IP address the computer is using

2)  Go into the router admin page via web browser (it will the the "router" address in your network settings.  You will need the username and password.

3)  Under Firewall, you may see an option to forward different ports.  Create entries for the ports listed above.  In each entry you should have a "source" and a "destination."  In source, leave blank for "all" and for destination, enter the IP address you got in step one.  This will forward all traffic from these ports to the computer.

4)  You should now connect over the internet.

If that doesn't work, I suggest looking into TeamViewer.  It's a third party solution, you will need the software on both machines and it is a bit slower.  However it is much easier than configuring a router.


Can I use the normal desert background image in Mojave dark mode? I like most of dark mode in Mojave, however I much prefer the light mode 'desert' image to the blue-grey one that appears in dark mode. Is there a way I can use the light mode image when I turn on dark mode?

Yes. Also you can use the dynamic mode where the image is changing according to the clock time of the macbook.
The wallpaper can be change independently on top of the mode that you are working on.


Removing Spotlight index for a no-more-existent Time Machine drive Suppose that an old full Time Machine drive is attached to a new macOS installation, and configured as the main backup storage (but no backup of the new position already begun). Spotlight started indexing the old drive, as usual.

How would I clear indexing data and related for this disk, if it has been successively erased (ExFAT) with Disk Utility?

Spotlight index for an external drive is stored on that drive, so you wiped it along with the data.


Prevent external drive from requiring ejection I have an external that is only used for time machine backups. Is there any setting that would allow the drive to be "hot swapped" (I'm assuming this isn't the correct term, but I'm unsure of a better one).
I'm fine with decreased performance since the system would, I assume, not be allowed to have a cache that would need flushed when ejecting.
In reality this is a new Samsung T7 external SSD so it is unlikely that this would ever be an issue due to the speed of the read/writes, but I just hate having OSX throw that warning at me...
Since it may be relevant I'm on Big Sur 11.2.3

I would definitely recommend still unmounting (ejecting) the drive before disconnecting it, but you can actually make it so that writes are not buffered.
You do this by changing the mount options when mounting the external drive. You want to enable the "noasync" and "sync" options. This means that both data and metadata operations happen synchronously - i.e. the operating system waits for a write operation to complete before it lets the application continue.
Note that this comes with drawbacks - and still isn't a guarantee against data loss:
The synchronous nature of things means that you will experience some slowdown in the programs writing to the disk drive. For backup purposes that probably isn't so bad. The slowdown is less severe with SSDs than with traditional hard drives, but it is still there.
The writes being synchronous also mean that they're serialized (i.e. performed in order). If you have a program that is often writing to the same location with different data (for example a program updating a counter on disk) - this could lead to more writes to the actual disk. With asynchronous writes, a newer write could cancel an older, not-yet-performed write to the same location. This effectively speeds things up and reduces the number of writes to the disk. For SSDs this is the same as reducing wear of the drive.
Finally, you're still not guaranteed against data loss yet - for two main reasons:
A write might still be taking place or about to take to place when you're disconnecting the drive. If the program doing the write is not written to be resilient against "disconnections", you might end up in a situation where the application performed only part of a scheduled number of writes - and when the data is read in again, this creates an illegal state in the program. I.e. writes A and B depend on each other, and you're not supposed to have a situation with A performed without B or vice versa.
Programs do generally not take care to avoid such situations. You'll find that sort of support in for example many database systems - even in "small" systems such as SQLite, which thankfully is being used as a backing storage for many apps today.
The second main reason is that often the drives themselves contain a write buffer. Historically, cheaper consumer drives would often just stop working the instant power is lost - and the data in the write buffer would be lost. This would effectively negate the efforts you have made to ensure the operating system does not have a data buffer.
Traditionally this would be avoided on server systems by having a disk controller with a battery backed write cache - ensuring that as long as power was restored within the next 24-48 hours, the uncompleted writes would be performed when power is restored.
On SSDs today many will come with a supercapacitor (you can think of this as a kind of self-charging battery) that ensures that the disk always have power to complete the writes in progress when power is lost. However, some do not - and consumers brands usually do not advertise whether or not they have this feature.


The 'Personal hotspot' option is gone from my iPhone 4. Why? The 'Personal hotspot' option is gone from my iPhone 4. Why? Is there any way to get it back?

Make sure you have an APN + Username & password set under Settings > General > Network > Cellular Data Network. The bottom option "Internet Tethering" has to be filled in to enable Personal Hotspot.

Apple KB article - iOS: About cellular data network settings (viewing or editing the APN)


Sim not supported on unlocked device I have an Apple iPhone 6 A1586 from the US which was a replacement device from Apple, but the previous handset would've been locked to TMobile (always GSM and never CDMA I believe).

I've inserted a new UK (GSM) SIM into the device and it's telling me the SIM is unsupported. I've checked https://www.icloud.com/activationlock/ and this tells me the device is not locked and can be activated by a new user but I'm unable to do that.

I've wiped the phone and attempted to set it up as a new device but as soon as that new SIM goes into the phone it locks up saying "SIM not supported" but it will still work when I put the old TMobile SIM into it.

Any ideas? Am I missing something here?

You might need the carrier to unlock the device.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201328

Activation Lock in iCloud is to protect the owner of the device from theft.

SIM Lock protects the carrier revenue stream as far as I can tell. Maybe there's another legitimate use for it that I haven't considered.


Keyboard Layout in Windows 7 with VMware Fusion 5 I'm using my MacBook Pro for programming. I have a virtual Windows 7 machine running with VMware Fusion. When I switch from OS X to Windows 7, my keyboard layout changes. It's really annoying because I type lots of braces and parentheses.

I have been searching for hours and didn't find a solution to make my Mac keyboard work the same way in Windows. I've tried installing Bootcamp driver, Windows Keyboard Layout Creator, etc.

How do I get these keyboard layouts to sync up?

You don't give a lot of information about where you are based so I am making some references based on experience outside the US.

When setting up a machine here in South Africa, the system (even preconfigured ones) come with an additional keyboard layout (in our case US-International). We use US keyboard layout here. That layout causes the ' to require a double tap on the keyboard before it processes it. If we remove it so that it only has one layout and restart the machine the behaves correctly.

Check that you have the correct keyboard installed in Windows as VMWare tends to make some assumptions during VM creation.


How to enable the sound while screen recording a Zoom meeting on iPhone? I'm trying to record the screen while attending a Zoom meeting on iPhone, but the video after the recording seems to have no sound!
Before I started recording, I have turned the microphone on! But It also did not work!
How can I solve such a problem?

According to Zoom, local recording on iOS isn't supported.
Recording is only available to paid users of Zoom and only for cloud recording by the meeting organizer.


Internal Touchpad and Keyboard stop working after login I am using MacOS High Sierra 10.13.3 Macbook Air. The problem I am facing is that the internal touchpad and keyboard stop working as soon as I login. They also do not work in Safe mode. I have also tried to create another login account but the keyboard/trackpad fail to work there as well.

I have also tried SMC / PRAM reset multiple times and also reinstalled the OS from recovery mode, but again failure.

The only abnormalities that I have found are that 1) the multi touch kernel extension does not have a Plugins directory which is a different structure than all the other kext directories.

~ Fri Feb 16 20:19:11
$ ls /System/Library/Extensions/AppleUSBMultitouch.kext/Contents/
Info.plist      MacOS/          _CodeSignature/ version.plist

and 2) there is no option to disable the trackpad in the accessibility preferences pane.

Does anyone have any guesses as to what might be going on ?

It seems that somehow the bits in the registry had gotten flipped. I tried two things: 1) I changed the configuration settings and 2) I removed all bluetooth daemons

## 1
defaults write com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.trackpad USBMouseStopsTrackpad 0
defaults write com.apple.AppleMultitouchTrackpad USBMouseStopsTrackpad 0

## 2
killall blued
launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.bluetoothd.plist
launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.bluetoothaudiod.plist
launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.bluetoothReporter.plist
kextcache -system-prelinked-kernel
sudo kextcache -system-prelinked-kernel

Based on the fact that the keyboard did not work even in safe mode, it seems that the first thing worked, since the keyboard and trackpad are working now after I restarted the computer.


Downgrade El Capitan Developer Preview to Yosemite I've installed El Capitan Developer Preview .
Installation crashed at about 75% and then i could only boot in safe mode.

I wiped all the hard drive to reinstall Yosemite but it only displays 10.11 as an installation option.
However, installing it won't work either. It says this disk is locked (the one I just wiped).

Now I can not even unmount it again.

I tried in the Terminal to erase it, won't work either.

Anyone else having these issues, or has any clue how I can solve the problem (install Yosemite)?

If you're looking for a Terminal solution, you can try this:

diskutil eraseVolume free %noformat% disk0s2

or

diskutil eraseDisk free %noformat% GPT disk0

In this case, disk0 should be changed to match whatever your actual device node is. It will depend on whether you're using a USB stick to boot into recovery – in which case it's probably disk1 – or if you're actually booting off of the disk you're trying to erase.

And an important disclaimer: If you blow away your disk, you will not be able to boot into the onboard recovery mode. In fact, you probably aren't going to be able to do this without booting off of USB. I hope you have a recovery stick somewhere, or another computer from which you can make one.

It should go without saying that you will lose data if you run either one of these commands successfully.


Format Macbook 2, 1 running 10.4.1 I bought a MacBook 2, 1 at a market day and the user didn't wipe the computer.  I was wondering how to format it to basically start fresh. I’ve  tried booting to recovery mode and Command Rdoesn't seem to work.  I also tried the
advice from the following thread and it didnt seem to work either:

Clean wipe iMac running 10.4.11 OS X?

In order to “wipe” the drive and reinstall, you need the original install disks.   The Early 2008 (White) MacBook did not support internet recovery at all.

Also, the highest supported OS is 10.7.5 (Lion) so if you intend to upgrade, keep this in mind.  These install DVDs are available on the secondary market (eBay).


How do I unlock an iPhone 6? I recently bought the phone in Japan because it is way cheaper but then I am unable to use my local SIM card (Indonesia). Please anyone kindly assist and solve this (free method). Thanks in advance!

The iPhone is most likely carrier locked and unless you speak Japanese you might be out of luck. As for pricing this will depend on the carrier but have you tried different SIM cards and what country are you in?


How to delete bad entries in Mail's helpful drop-down lists? When I send an email, I type two or three letters and select the recipient's full name in the list that pops up.  A great feature.  But one day I mistyped an email address and now have several junk entries in that list.  How do I delete those?

Go ahead and complete that "bad" name, then click on the downward arrow to the right of the address.

You can also use the Previous Recipients window to clean things systematically rather than on demand when you are composing and seeing the ones you wish to prune. Once that is complete, check your contacts to make sure the bad address is not stored as a legitimate contact.


Mountain Lion Broke Firefox - Cannot Download Files Ever since upgrading to Mountain Lion I have had endless problems with Apps and firefox. My current issue is that I am unable to download files using firefox ever since the update. I get a messagebox saying the error

  /Users/username/Downloads could not be saved, because an unknown error
  occurred.

  Try saving to a different location.

Once again, the problems are not with permissions. In Firefox's preferences, on the general tab, Set Firefox to "Always ask me where to save files" under Downloads. Files will download fine, to the Downloads folder or anywhere else.


Twitter for iPhone dead after update I updated Twitter for iPhone on my second generation iPod Touch running iphone OS 3.1.2. After the update, the icon was nowhere to be seen, and I had to restart my iPod to get it back. Attempting to launch the app would get a White screen for a few seconds, and then a crash.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app, and I've had no luck. How can I get the app working again?

Twitter announced that the Twitter app is broken on 3.x.x and that a update fixing it is on its way. There's no way you can manually fix it; you just have to wait for the update. Usually a crashing issue is due to low RAM (which is fixed with a restart / reinstall) but this one is a firmware issue.


How to sync Home Videos on TV app from macOS Catalina 10.15 to iPhone? Since the update to Mac OS 10.15 (Catalina) split the iTunes app into Music, TV, and Podcasts I can no longer transfer home videos from my Mac to my iPhone.

I used to do this by:

Adding the home video to iTunes.
Dragging it to the iPhone icon that appears when the phone is connected via USB cable, and
Using 'sync'.

Although the iPhone icon appears at the same place in the TV app, I can no longer drag home videos to it. I also tried right clicking on the iPhone icon and using 'Sync' -- but the home video never syncs onto my iPhone

How do you do this transfer now?

In the absence of iTunes app in macOS Catalina, you can sync content to your iPhone using the Finder app.

The iOS device sync and backup functionality that used to be available within iTunes app in earlier versions of macOS are now available via Finder app.

For instructions, refer to this Apple support document:

Use the Finder to sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod with your computer


"To watch this video, change your restrictions in Settings.", but my restrictions are off I'm trying to launch a video from the TV app on my Apple TV, but when I click on it I get the error message "To watch this video, change your restrictions in Settings.". The problem is that my restrictions are turned off. I try to avoid going directly through the app that the video is played through because it blasts me with other videos before I can get to the one I want.

After wasting 30 minutes trying to figure this same
Issue out with my Hulu. Restrictions were all off. I was having the same issue. I determined that I have the option to save storage space on the phone turned on and then my phone will uninstall apps when they are not in use. This, my Hulu app was not downloaded on the phone. Try making sure the video app is installed on the phone and try again in the TV app.


Weird scroll behaviour in Pages 09 this really bemuses me. i'm using pages 09 (version 4.1) on osx 10.9.5. when i terminate a scroll downward, the document makes a little "jump" to the right. this is maybe hard to visualize, so i made a gif:

http://gfycat.com/ExemplaryAdoredAntelope

also notice in the gif, there's a little gray area to the right of the document: when i resize the window the document grows or shrinks accordingly (zoom is set to "Fit Width"), but the gray area stays there.

this behaviour occours with some documents/windows, but not others. i tried to close/reopen the affected windows, and even quit/restart pages, to no avail.

how can i fix/prevent/workaround this issue?

thanks

In the bottom left corner of the window, click on the zoom control and select 100% (or any fixed value).
Click again and select Fit Width.
Scroll is fixed.