French canadian keyboard layout Is there a way to configure my keyboard layout in Lion to match the Windows "Français (Canada)" (or French (Canada) if you prefer!) layout?

Currently, I use the french canadian layout from Mac OS on my MacBook Pro. It's not the same as the Windows one. For instance, the pipe "|" on my macbookpro is something like "Command" + "-", and on my windows machine is mapped to the left of "1".

I do not wish to make my MBP a Windows machine or anything like that, just that I'm used to that keyboard layout for many years while programming and it's hard to switch!

You can use Ukelele to create your own keyboard layouts, or (more realistically) edit a copy of an existing one.


prevent second hard-drive from spinning up after standby I have a MacBook Pro with two harddrives, an SSD in the main slot and a larger, normal drive in place of the superdrive.

Because of power consumption and noise I managed to get my Mac to not automatically start and mount the second harddrive when booting up, but it still spins up the drive when waking up from hibernation / standby / sleep (don't know the correct terminology here).

Is there a way to prevent this? I have a script that ejects the disk, causing it to spin down. I guess I am looking for a postWakeup-hook of some sort to run it when the laptop wakes up.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Running your script on wake up, with Power Manager, or using SleepWatcher, for instance, should do the trick.

There are, actually, different sleep modes, and knowing exactly which one you are using may help too, as Sleeping your Mac should not use the Hard Drive, the second disk should stay idle. Here is a brief explanation of what happens with each sleeping mode.


Rename terminal tab to host alias in ssh config I am new to using Mac (Mac Pro, OS X 10.8.4) and I connect to many remote hosts using ssh. I have created aliases in .ssh/config file and would like to have the host alias as the name of the tab in terminal.

Can someone please advise on how it can be done?

Thanks much.

EDIT: On Yosemite (OS X 10.10) use this instead:

function ssh ()
{
     servername=$(echo $@ | sed -E 's|([- a-zA-Z0-9:/]+)( *[^@ ]*@)([^@ ]*)|\3|')
     echo -ne "\033]0;${servername}\007";
     /usr/bin/ssh $@
}

Note that the function expects username and server name to be specified as user@server (you can use the server IP address too: user@a.b.c.d, the tab name will be set to a.b.c.d). Other combinations like -l user server won't work properly.

You can unset the function with:

unset -f ssh

You can create a function named ssh that sets the terminal tab name and then invokes /usr/sbin/ssh:

function ssh ()
{
    servername=$(echo $@ | sed 's|\([- a-zA-Z0-9:/]\+\) *\([^-]\+@\)*\([-a-zA-Z0-9.]\+\)|\3|' | awk '{print $1}');
    echo -ne "\033]0;${servername}\007";
    /usr/bin/ssh $@
}

servername=$(echo $@ ...

The first line extracts the server name from the arguments passed to ssh. I tested it against several possible ssh invocations with and without arguments but can't promise it's bullet proof.
echo -ne "\033]0;${servername}\007";

The second line is where the magic happens.
\033]0;<name>\007 is a ESCAPE sequence that sets the terminal tab name. See this Wikipedia article for more information - this particular escape code is listed in the non-CSI codes section.
/usr/bin/ssh $@

Start /usr/bin/ssh with arguments provided.

Add the function to your ~/.bashrc file (if you don't use bash modify it to match your shell syntax and add it to your shell's startup file) so that it's always accessible.

Note that it will also set the terminal tab name when executing a remote command:

ssh user@server command

for example:

ssh jaume@myserver ls -l /


Is it possible to identify what the parent program/app is from a running process? I'm able to find processes using top or ps. That's no problem.

Sometimes I find that some processes are taking up a lot of memory or cpu and I'm trying to identify what the root program is.

For instance, the process sort sometimes just ends up taking 2-3 gigs of memory over like 4 hours. I'd like to know what program initiated the sort process so I can try and fix it.

ps has an option to access the PPID/parent PID of a process:

$ ps aux -o ppid
USER               PID  %CPU %MEM      VSZ    RSS   TT  STAT STARTED      TIME COMMAND           PPID
admin            65694  10.9  0.1  4385132  13340   ??  UN    9:32PM   0:00.07 /System/Library/     1

PPID is the last column in this case.

(Or use Activity Monitor by selecting View -> All Processes, Hierarchically)


Memory tester for Snow Leopard Can somebody suggest a memory tester for Snow Leopard (10.8)?

Command line or other doesn't matter, ideally something that doesn't have to be installed though (doesn't change the machine) and just runs from the downloads folder or even an USB stick.

Memtest, a relatively inexpensive app @ $1.39, worked for me on several Macs recently, and I've been using it for more than a decade. Found one bad RAM carrier just last week. YMMV. Now runs in 64bit.


How to make tap click faster? The response of simple tap click on track pad is incredibly slow (like 1 s), (meanwhile usual click seems to be faster).
Same for "right button"-click - tap with two fingers.
How can I speed up the tapping response?

Try this.
Go to System Preference > Mouse & Trackpad > Trackpad Options and disable dragging


How do I stop Facebook iPhone app from notifications every time a friend does something? I see the "Manage Push Notifications" option in the app's settings, but there are only four choices for the notifications you can toggle on and off: "Close friends list activity," "Group posts and comments," "Tags you in a post" and "Mentions you in a comment."

My problem is that I'm getting notifications every time friends (usually close friends, not always!) post anything on their profile. I'm also getting notifications when someone leaves a comment on a post after I do (regardless of whose post it is). I don't see options to turn these things on and off but they're driving me crazy!

Found it-- turns out there's a whole DIFFERENT set of notification prefs in the Settings app. (What a crappy app!) So I can turn them off there...


Problems creating a Live USB for OS X from Linux Fedora 25 I've been considering to move from OS X to Linux, because I want to have full control over the source code of the os and the apps I use, and Linux and open-source software allows me that in general, without having to go against the EULA.

Bearing this in mind, I installed Fedora 25 on my Mac. I created a Live USB, with the given app for OS X, which I used to boot. I had no problems doing so, but after a while I started feeling like the os was not only comprising my hardware stability, but also there were a few tiny little bugs, which I didn't want to mess around. Furthermore, two days after installing the os, I had problems with the boot loader, and I had to format the computer again. Furthermore, I don't have graphics acceleration in my graphics card, and the Planet CCRMA repositories, which were the main reason why I moved to fedora 25, don't seem to work on my install.

Bearing all of this in mind, I want to know how can I move back to OS X, creating an OS X installer thumb drive straight in Linux. I tried doing so throughout three possible ways:

I tried to run createinstallmedia from the installaton disk, which didn't work out (I currently have a hard drive in the place of the dvd drive) - the command for doing so doesn't run in Linux, because it cannot run the specific binaries.
I tried to create an install media with sudo dd if=x of=y, straight after using dmg2iso command but it turned out not to work, simply because this has to be done using the predeceasing bash utility.
Finally, I tried to use an app called UNetbootin, but for some reason, it doesn't recognize the USB disk I need to use as a target, making it worthless (probably the software is needing some maintainance to work fine on Fedora 25)

thanks to klanomath, i realized that there was a much simpler way to fix this issue. it basically consists of: pressing alt command r in boot, to enter internet recovery. please notice that this will only work in macintosh computers released after 2010-2011. after doing so, the computer will connect to the internet and you will be able to download the stock version of your os from the cloud. after doing so, install it, then boot into the os. if it is like a really old version, you can boot into recovery mode (now installed). and download the latest version. if this procedure doesn't work, you can also download the latest version of macosx, and using createinstallmedia command in installation media, and install the latest version of osx


With multiple monitors, can I pick which one an application will load on? In Spaces it's possible to specify which space a given application will open on -- for example, my web browser always opens on Space 1 and iTunes on Space 3.  Is something similar possible with multiple monitors, so that whichever space I'm on a certain application will always open on the second monitor?  For even more control, can I specify that it will always open on Monitor 2 of Space 4?

Not with the default Apple Spaces.

There is an alternative, though. CocoaBots makes a small app called Hyperspaces which builds upon the default Spaces and adds a bunch of cool features. Multi-monitor support is coming to their next release.

http://thecocoabots.com/blog/post/148/hyperspaces-104-and-the-road-to-11/


What's the password to the System keychain? Some background:

I first got a Macbook Pro, 1, from my work. It was connected to the company AD. Since I had admin rights on this machine and didn't like having different AD policies forced upon me I reinstalled it to get a plain Mac OS X, free from any AD connections. 1 was then involved in an accident including water and broke. I then got a replacement Macbook, 2, which I reinstalled to get out of the AD like I did with 1. I then and transferred all data using Migration Assistant (the harddrive of 1 was not broken, however, the file system needed extensive repair).

So far, I didn't have any problems with my System Keychain. However, I then got rid of 2, after doing a Time Machine backup of it, and got a third Macbook, 3, which I wanted to do a clean install on.

Now when I try to read some wifi-passwords stored in the System keychain for 1 and 2 (by browsing to it on 1's old hard drive/the Time Machine backup of 2) on 3 I get an error message that the password I enter is incorrect. I am as sure as you could possibly be that I know the password to the account I had on 1 and 2 (I use the same password on 3) but obviously this is not the correct password to unlock the System keychain.

If I open my user keychain from 2 (from the Time Machine backup) I can unlock it using the password I used on my account on 2 (and 1 and 3). However, if I open the user keychain from 1's old harddrive I can't unlock it using the account password I used on 1. 1's water accident led to a lot of write errors on the harddrive and a lot of orphaned files but since all 1's keychains have worked on 2 I don't think the keychain files were affected.

So my question is something like: how does the OS unlock the System keychain after I login using my account password? Where does the OS find the password for the System keychain? In my user keychain? Apparantly, using the Migrations Assistant, iunlocking System is a non issue, while when I copy the keychain files manually something that is required is not transfered.

A final note: when I got 1 it probably came with some default password. It was 3 years ago so I don't remember. Can that be relevant here? Since I did a clean install (IIRC) I would be surprised but I guess there are different ways to reinstall a computer and I don't remember exactly how I did.

The login (user account) password isn't stored in keychain access, but keychain access automatically adopts the user account password as the keychain access password by default.

So, your password for keychain access is most likely the same as the login password.

There is no default password in mac, the user creates one on install. If your mac was provided already installed, there was likely an assigned password created by the admin, perhaps associated with AD. If you reinstalled OSX, it would not have wiped the password, but if you formatted the harddrive, then reinstalled OSX, you would have created a new password.


how to change the day output from 2 days to lets say 50 days I read this:
See website visit time in Safari history

In this article, there is something like this

 sqlite3 ~/Library/Safari/History.db 'select visit_time,title from history_visits order by visit_time desc;' \
     | while read i; do d="${i%%.*}"; echo "$(date -r $((d+978307200))) | ${i#*|}"; done \
     | head -n 30

My question:
how could I extend this script from 2 days to 50 days
thanks for answering

There is nothing in the one-liner which limits by days. If you want to see all visited pages, remove the trailing \  | head -n 30 (which currently cuts off the output after 30 lines).

If you still don't see more than two days, check the history settings in Safari.


Is Photo compression-ratio for JPEG exports too high? Despite selecting the High option when exporting JPEG images from Photo, I am finding the file size at destination is around 3MB - 60% smaller than when I exported the same images from iPhoto with the High option. Image size is unaffected. If Photo is compressing JPEG images more during export than iPhoto, I fear the image quality is also being reduced. Is this correct?

There is a possibility that Photo is actually extra-compressing images at the import stage, not during export. Or both!

You can export unmodified original photos from the Photos.app from File > Export > Export Unmodified Original.

You can also select a higher resolution when exporting from File > Export > Export or cmd + ⇧+ E; and select "Maximum" from the drop down menu.
I suspect it is still recompressed, so it is expectable that the image will be smaller.

Also, check this question and answers.


How do I restore unresponsive ipad? The problem is that I can't turn it off. I don't think the power button is okay, it only locks and unlocks the screen but does not shut the device off. My ipad however, I think, is also broken, i can't use it, nothing is responsive, the screen is empty, only the wallpaper is on there. The assistive touch is pretty much the only thing that is responding, with the volumes plus the notification center. But that's it. Even the lock screen button from the assistive touch doesn't respond when I hold it to shut the device off. What am I gonna do?

since assistive touch is still working you can shut down the iPad through that.

Locate your “Assistive Icon” and tap on it
An option of ‘Device’ will appear along with other options.
Tap on ‘Device’
You will see ‘Lock Screen’ icon. Press and Hold this option for a while.
After a few seconds, the power off screen will be displayed.
Slide it to switch off your iPad.

When it is off you will need to plug it into a charger to turn it on again or plug it into itunes to restore it


Apple Watch 6 blood oxygen measurement said I had hypoxia when I in reality was fine. How to know if reading is taken in optimal conditions? TL;DR: How can I know if the SpO2 reading is in fact taken in optimal conditions ?

I wanted a new watch for exercise tracking, so I looked at Apple Watch 6. I was also excited about this SpO2 feature that the Apple Watch 6 has, even if I really don't need it. This feature is the main new feature that they are marketing their watch with. Just check out their web page and it is basically the headline for the watch. Also, in these covid themes, this is suiting, right ? So I bought the watch, and I know that this is not for "medical use". I am 35 years old and fit, I am very healthy and I exercise almost every day, and there is nothing wrong with me as I know. I tried the feature, and it always read between 87 - 91, suggesting that I might be hypoxic. Or in these times, considering my good health, that I might have COVID-19. I knew that this is probably not accurate, but what if the watch is right ? I developed a concern over a few hours, and I went out late at night to a pharmacy and bought a 100 euro medical grade pulse oximeter (SpO2). In that way, I could know for sure if I had to see a doctor to check if I have an unknown heart or lung issue, and yes, I could sleep at night if the oximeter says so! And guess what! My SpO2 is at 99%, steadily. Perfect! I kept taking readings with the SpO2 meter on my finger at the same time as with the watch, and the watch said that I had hypoxia almost all the time, while the SpO2 meter said I had 99% SpO2. I tried different tightnesses of the strap (tight, loose, in between), and I put the watch at different positions on my wrists, and further up on my forearm to get a larger contact surface, all kinds of things I tried. My pulse was between 60 - 90 bpm, and I was in room temperature, and had normal body temperature. However, sometimes the watch said I had 100%. And the next reading showed for example 90%.
So, basically, this gave me a lot of unnecessary concern. Apple customer service said that "well, it is not intended for medical use, so there is nothing we can do". I went through (spent 3 hours) everything with customer service, the HW diagnostics and the watch is perfectly fine, and there is nothing more they can do. They claim that erroneous reading might be because you are moving your arm or something like that a little bit. But how can you know ? Am I supposed to assume that low readings are because of the watch not touching the skin in the exact right way in optimal conditions ? How can I know if the reading is in fact taken in optimal conditions ?
What if someone is sick with COVID-19 and have hypoxia without knowing it, and the watch shows 100% ? Maybe that will make them delay their visit to the doctor and get worse ? Of course they might be aware that it is not a "medical device", but still, it can affect their perception and decision. And what is the point having such a feature if it doesn't work ?
In my case, I wasted 100 euros, hours of my time, and as I see it now, money on a watch. I want to return it because of this, but I can't because I bought it in a third party store. Apple basically says that it is my problem. It is not intended for medical use, and if someone has a concern, they should see a doctor. Well, it did indeed gave me concern, and for nothing. If it was not for the watch, I would not waste money on an oximeter or consulting a doctor - for nothing! What is the point with that ? I am sitting there with a watch with a main feature that doesn't work, and that tries to give me anxiety, and it is my problem.
But - worse, is that people might get erroneous assurances for their SpO2 levels. That could be in the worst case fatal in the time of COVID-19.

As much as I understand your frustration, Apple mentions the limits in the small print at the bottom of https://www.apple.com/watch/:

Blood Oxygen app measurements are not intended for medical use, including self-diagnosis or consultation with a doctor, and are only designed for general fitness and wellness purposes.


Is the logo on the back of the iPhone 5S a mirror like on the iPhone 4S? I have my iPhone 4S, and the logo on the back is like a mirror. (I like it because if I get an eyelash stuck in my eye, I can use it to look into my eye up close and get it out.) Is the logo on the back of the (silver) iPhone 5S a mirror as well?

As you can see in this video : Yes it's the case on all 3 models.

With the iPhone 5, it's was only the case with the white model.


Custom group in characters viewer I am trying to start with Gitmoji and so far it takes me some time to find the appropriate emoji in the Characters viewer on macOS. Is it possible to define custom group of characters? There is already Emoji, Arrows, Bullets/Stars. I am looking for a way how to add my own. I am not interested into workarounds like using Favorites group

The easiest way is to use each of the gitmoji emoji a bunch of times and then they will be in your frequently used list in the Emoji & Symbols picker.

The categories/groups are defined by Unicode as ranges of the character set. I am not aware that it is possible to define your own. There are no clues in CharacterPicker.framework.

You could also setup keyboard text replacements so you can type :apple: and it will be automatically replaced with . I use Alfred to do this, but you could use System Preferences > Keyboard > Text to do it.

You could also try Dash, a document viewer/browser, that can be configured to show a Gitmoji cheat sheet. I have assigned a custom keyboard shortcut for Dash to appear.


Is there a hack for "Save As..." command? The only thing I like about Microsoft's implementation of the Common User Architecture is the Save As... feature, which makes it easy to use cloud storage, local backups, etc. I know, I know, you can always use "Duplicate" and "Move" the copy. That takes considerably longer than "Save As...". It's a real workflow-disrupter.
In recent version of macOS, this functionality has likely disappeared. Is there an easy way to get it back (or to add it to the menu again)?

With the File menu open, press and hold the Option key to get the Save As... command.

Update: Some new users of macOS may be concerned about the discoverability of the command, as it is not visible by default in the Pages menu bar. And most users aren't aware that the Option modifier key can alter the behavior of commands.
An alternate discovery approach that new users can take to discover a command is to go to the Help menu and search for the desired command. A match, if available, would be highlighted, along with its keyboard shortcut, even if it is not directly available in the app menu. The same is illustrated below for Save As... command in Pages for macOS.

The trick works in any native macOS app.


How to add localised holidays to iCal How can I add a localised holiday calendar to iCal? I would like to add all public holidays to iCal/iCloud, how to best do this?

(Personally I'm after the Norwegian and Australian Holidays, but I'm after a general answer.)

Apple has many calendars you can add: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/calendars/


Is it possible to change an adult account to a child one? My son's Apple ID has his birthday entered, cough accidentally cough, incorrectly, so it appears that he is 28, when he's actually <13 (it was created when <13 accounts weren't possible).

With iCloud Family Sharing, this is problematic.  I'd really like to use this, but an adult gets to purchase items without asking permission, so he needs to be a child first.

Attempting to change his birthday in the security settings in desktop Safari gives a "this cannot be changed at this time" error, and attempting to do so in the Settings app in iOS gives a "permission from a parent or guardian is required to create an Apple ID for a child of a young age" error.

Is there any way that I can correct the year of his birth?  (It would be nice to not have to create an entirely new Apple ID).

I had the same issue, I added my kids to Family Sharing but they showed up as adults (and so could make purchases without my permission). Fortunately you can easily change it.

If you go to https://appleid.apple.com and login using their account details, in the Password and Security section, you can change the year of their birth. 1/1/2001 works fine, I think the key is that they need to be over 13 to change from Adult to Child account. I left my kids' birthdays with the correct day and month but used 2001.

Going back to the iCloud section on my phone, it shows my kids as "Age 13".


How to do a screen capture from iPad 3? I need to record me using an iPad while I am drawing on it (with Penultimate). I usually use ScreenFlow to record onscreen actions on my desktop Mac, so I need a way to display iPad on my Mac. Is there a way to do screen sharing? Or, I suppose I could do a screen capture right from my iPad. Any suggestions? Thanks,

UPDATE: One solution for 10.7.3 and iPad 3 is Reflection + ScreenFlow, no cords:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22358199/testRef2/index.html

Tricky one, but you can rig up a solution - I'm not sure about the final quality though.

First, you need to allow your iPad to use AirPlay Mirroring with your iMac as the target device.

To do this, you need to use a program like AirServer ($15 for a single user license) or Reflector ($15 again, but has a trial at least) or AirMac (Free, but not as fully featured) or AirPlayer (Similarly beta).  Mountain Lion will have this feature built in, potentially.

When this installed, check you can get it to work - so ensure the iPad and iMac are on the same wireless network, and turn on Airplay Mirroring, pointing it at the correct host:

You should get a window displaying the contents on your Mac.  Note, than even if you are using the top of the line iMac, the resolution of the iPad will still be too large to view without scaling, so expect some downscaling, either by the airplay protocol or the receiving app anyway, simply to ensure it fits on your screen.  Given a choice, a neat halving to get the original 1024x768 resolution should suffice.  The method of doing this will be different depending on which app you end up using.

Once you have a window running with out iPad screen in it, you can capture it with Quicktime.  I note that you already use ScreenFlow (which I missed at first), so you can do this your own way, but for everyone else you can do it with build in tools like Quicktime.  I am going to assume you are on Lion.  Open up Quicktime Player, and go File > New Screen Recording  Hit the big red recording button, and you get the message Click to record the full screen.  Drag to record part of the screen  Drag a neat square over your Airplay receiving window, adjusting as required to get a neat fit, then hit the record button in the middle, and do your stuff.

CAVEAT: Lots of things can affect quality using this method.  Your wireless network may be slow, resulting in dropped frames or lag when recording.  Your computer may be slow, or busy, resulting in dropped frames etc etc etc.  Quicktime (if you use it) is already by definition recording a compressed video, not raw, and it's using an image source on your screen that is already displaying a video that has been compressed down from Retina resolution to something saner for desktop use.  This method works, but the resulting video quality can vary wildly depending on your setup.  You can mitigate to an extent with thoughtful configuration of your network and so on, or by using more expensive screen capture solutions that record raw etc, that but is up to you to decide how much quality you need.  As it stands, the test video I put up was more than sufficient to be perfectly pleasant on YouTube.

  Now, time to own up, I cannot get it to work with the free versions on
  offer, but I have in the past, so I'm throwing the solution up anyway,
  in case it's just me being stupid.

I have used the trial version (limited to 10 minutes) of Reflector though, and created the following video as an example, proving it can be done, but you may need to cough up for paid software to do so:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1fyp8QzWeg

EDIT: Since this answer was accepted, many of the software solutions listed have included screen recording directly within the airdisplay software, negating the need to arrange a separate quicktime screen recording, and potentially improving quality.


What's the difference between the 3 "Apple Keynotes" podcasts? I want to download a keynote for offline viewing, but I'm not sure how to decide between the three different podcasts:

Apple Keynotes
Apple Keynotes (HD)
Apple Keynotes (1080p)

I'm assuming that HD and 1080p are higher quality, and therefore take more space. Which one is higher quality?

In order of increasing quality & size: Regular, HD, 1080p.

iMore forums:

  Normally when a video is referred to as HD. They are talking about
  720p. Which is a slightly lower quality compared to 1080p and if they
  say FHD (Full HD) they are talking about 1080p. I cant give you the
  exact space you need to store the videos since they can vary in
  length. But it could be over 1GB depending on the length.


Unable to get iOS 9.3 update OTA iOS 9.3 was released yesterday, so I wanted it on my iPhone 5s. However when I try to open Settings → General → Software Update, it pops up with a message:

  Unable to Check for Update, an error occurred while checking for a software update.

I tried several things found on the internet like resetting the network settings, changing the DNS, switching to cellular network, but I am still getting the same error.

How can I download iOS 9.3 OTA?

Usually the first 24 hours are the hardest. Since the servers are busy pushing out the update for millions of devices.

If it doesn't work after that, you might have to go for the update via iTunes.


Failure to lock on IOS 9.3 Ever since I installed IoS 9.3 on my iPad 2, the passcode lock doesn't work unless Require Passcode is set to Immediately. Specifically, whether I let the screen go dark after the Auto-Lock time, or close the cover, if Require Passcode is set to something else, I never get a passcode prompt, while if it's set to Immediate, I do. Has anyone else seen this?

You might try to hold home and lock buttons for a while until the device reboots the OS. This startup will require a little longer because it will be deeper than normal restart.

iOS 9.3 has brought many bugs, this should be one of them. I believe for now you should lock it with code time set to "immediately" (for safety reasons), make a YouTube video to explain the issue (I did a similar thing for a buggy update of PlayStation Vita, and it got fixed), report it to Apple and wait for 9.3.1 to come out.


Search a folder that is excluded from Spotlight I have excluded a folder from Spotlight, because this folder has a lot of files so it often fills up the results, no matter what I'm searching for.

However, sometimes I still want to search this folder. So, I tried opening the folder in Finder, then searching using the box in the top-right corner of the window, then selecting Search: "Folder_name" to limit the results to just that folder.

This method does not show any results, however. I assume it's because the folder is excluded from Spotlight search. So, is there any way that I can perform a manual search on the folder still, whenever necessary?

If you're happy with the terminal you can use the find command.

Something like opening Terminal in Utilities.

cd <folder name>
find . -name <whatever you're searching for>

Once found you can open it up with open

So, I can do something like:

alex@smiley:~|⇒  cd Desktop
alex@smiley:~/Desktop|⇒  find . -name Mac*
./Mac Pro.spx
alex@smiley:~/Desktop|⇒  open Mac\ Pro.spx

Notice that I used the * as a wildcard to match all files starting with Mac


Changing settings on iPad Pro selfie camera? (2018 11 inch model) Apparently the selfie camera (FaceTime HD) can operate in both 30 FPS and 60 FPS modes. I haven’t found a way to change it. Is there one?

To adjust the refresh rate and resolution of the selfie camera, you also have to adjust the video recording options of the main shooter too. Apple does not let you change the settings independently of one another.

Go to: Settings>Camera>Record Video> “1080p at 60FPS” or “1080p at 30FPS”.

You should see the results immediately in the viewfinder.


How to remove iCloud alert badge from macOS settings icon How can I get rid of this annoying red badge on the Settings icon? I want to see such a badge when there is an update available, not for making me use iCloud if I don't want or need it.

Did you try to sign out from iCloud an the App Store and rebooting your Mac?
This solved the problem for many people I know...

I hope this helps!!


Apple Loops Copyright Let's say I used some Apple Loops in a 5 min contest video that's being sold to the contest host (So he can show a reference for this years contest). Might be uploaded on youtube + their site..

I have two apple loops and one of my own samples playing on and off, but the Apple Loops have more playtime and they're at a low volume when people speak and such which is for the most part of the video. They fade out come in again etc.

These two audio files (Apple Loops) including my own, still in the original form/format from Apple and I have only mixed them and arranged in one track.

Other than that, no further self compositions were added.
And if it makes any difference my own sample is played in the middle, so one Apple Loop in the beginning section and one at the end section.

Is this to repackage them as music beds (Illegal)?
Or is the "soundtrack" original (Am I cleared)?

The license for GarageBand (accessible from About Garageband) states:

  H. GarageBand Features and Support. Except as otherwise provided, you
  may use the Apple and third party audio loop content ("Audio
  Content"), contained in or otherwise included with the Apple Software,
  on a royalty-free basis, to create your own original soundtracks for
  your video and audio projects. You may broadcast and/or distribute
  your own soundtracks that were created using the Audio Content,
  however, individual samples, sound ￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼ sets or audio loops
  may not be commercially or otherwise distributed on a standalone
  basis, nor may they be repackaged in whole or in part as audio
  samples, sound libraries, sound effects or music beds.

If you include these loops in a larger work (i.e. you mix them in and they don't simply stand alone as a single sound), then you can sell or re-distribute that work under the terms of your license to those sounds.  You cannot distribute the loops themselves on their own as you would then be reselling / repackaging the  Apple loops.

If you were to create a composition that contained solely a single Apple loop, and tried to distribute that, it would not be allowed by the license.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201808


On my Macbook Pro, iTunes keeps giving me a "sign in to the iTunes Store" popup (over 50 times). I use iTunes just to back up my daughter's iPhone. I do not want to give it my Apple ID. When I start the program, I get a whack-a-mole series of popups. I have to click "cancel" many, many times before I can do anything with the program. The number of times seems to increase with every OS update.

How do I stop this? Clicking "cancel" once would be tolerable. Dozens of times? That's ridiculous.

This is not a complete answer, but it does help.

In Preferences, disable any options that require access to the internet. That includes: General > Grid view download badges and untick General > Automatically retrieve CD track names from the internet; all options in Downloads and Store; and untick Advanced > Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows.

After disabling all of these, the number of times the popup appears may fall from dozens and dozens to just 3.


Battery drains a lot after iOS11 update My iPhone 7 used to consume 3-4%  of battery in standby mode but after upgrading, it is consuming 40-45%  of battery in 10 hours of standby mode. What shall I do?

You are not alone (https://duckduckgo.com/?q=ios11+drains+battery), and usually this happens with all major iOS upgrades. Besides following the usual steps to reduce battery usage the probably only course of action is to wait for iOS updates.


Floating virtual keyboard iOS This happens every now and then. Just this time rebooting my iPad doesn't solve it.

Any idea what caused this? Unfortunately I'm on the go and this makes safari practically unusable.

This is not a bug, it's a feature

Just long click on the bottom right key of the keyboard, when the menu pops up, click Dock.

You can enable that by dragging up the keyboard with this key. Also, you can dock him back by dragging it to the bottom of the screen.

FYI, you can also split the keyboard, making it easier to type while holding the iPad.


MacBook Pro Mid 2012 Windows 8 install on SSD I am trying to install Windows 8, efi, on my SSD. I am getting the error code:

 0xC0000005 "Windows installation encountered an unexpected error. Verify that the installation sources are accesible, and restart the installation everytime"

I have tried all the solutions on this thread:  which is basically try formatting exfat, then installing; the setup stops at 89% in step2 and gives the above error. I also tried the procedure here:  I get the error code above in step1 of the install.

diskutil list:

/dev/disk0
  #                  TYPE NAME                  SIZE    IDENTIFIER
  0 GUID_partition_scheme                     *250.1 GB disk0
  1                   EFI NO NAME              209.7 MB disk0sl
  2    Microsoft Reserved                      134.2 MB disk0s2
  3  Microsoft Basic Data Windows              249.1 GB disk0s3
/dev/diskl
  #                  TYPE NAME                  SIZE    IDENTIFIER
  0 GUID_partition_scheme                     *500.1 GB diskl
  1                   EFI EFI                  209.7 MB disklsl
  2     Apple_CoreStorage                      77.7 GB  diskls2
  3            Apple_Boot Recovery HD          650.0 MB diskls3
  4 DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC       314.6 MB diskls4
  5                   EFI NO NAME              104.9 MB diskls5
  6 DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC       314.6 MB diskls6
  7                   EFI NO NAME              104.9 MB diskls7
/dev/disk2
  #:                 TYPE NAME                  SIZE    IDENTIFIER
  0:            Apple_HFS Untitled        *77.3 GB      disk2
                          Logical Volume  on diskls2
                          46DF977A-1EE0-4AC9-B400-EF63F6190E87
                          Unencrypted

diskutil cs list:

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group C0048D6F-43CA-4B3C-8D5F-D17CC77DCA92
    =========================================================
    Name:           Untitled
    Status:         Online
    Size:           77695913984 B (77.7 GB)
    Free Space:     0 B (0 B)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume 393E8C61-3969-4BBD-8224-35BA98978AA8
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:      0
    |   Disk:       diskls2
    |   Status:     Online
    |   Size:       77695913984 B (77.7 GB)
    |
    +-> Logical Volume Family 83CBFA4C-FCF0-49CB-812A-7945C8D102B6
        ----------------------------------------------------------
        Encryption Status:      Unlocked
        Encryption Type:        None
        Conversion Status:      NoConversion
        Conversion Direction:   -none-
        Has Encrypted Extents:  No
        Fully Secure:           No
        Passphrase Required:    No
        |
        +-> Logical Volume 46DF977A-1EE0-4AC9-B400-EF63F6190E87
            -------------------------------------------------------
            Disk:                   disk2
            Status:                 Online
            Size (Total):           77343592448 B (77.3 GB)
            Conversion Progress:    -none-
            Revertible:             Yes (no decryption required)
            LV Name:                Untitled
            Volume Name:            Untitled
            Content Hint:           Apple_HFS

Any help would be appreciated.

Sorry, I don't have a solution. I do have more questions.

You seem to be trying very hard to use the GUID partition table to boot Windows. Most Windows users just rely on the MBR in the hybrid partition table. Why do you feel you need to make the extra effort? What do you hope to gain?

Is your Mac a MacBookPro9,2 (13-inch), MacBook9,1 (15-inch) or MacBookPro10,1 (Retina)?

Do know if your firmware is up to date? See EFI and SMC firmware updates for Intel-based Macs.

I assume you are booting from a flash drive to install windows. How did you create the flash drive? Did you need to modify the Boot Camp Assistant?

Could you post the output from the following commands? The commands do not alter anything.

sudo fdisk /dev/disk0
sudo fdisk /dev/disk1

Which Windows: 8 or 8.1? 64 bit or 32 bit? Full or upgrade version?

OS X is Yosemite?

You are using Core Storage. Would you be opposed to not using it. I don't know what good Core Storage is unless you have a Fusion Drive.

Have you configured the OS X Disk Utility application to display hidden partitions? If not, see View & Mount Hidden Partitions in Mac OS X. I do not want you to mount the hidden partitions, just make them visible.

You say you want to install on disk 0. You seem to have collected some partitions on disk 1. Do you need help removing them?

Finally, you may discover you can not install Windows because you removed the DVD drive.


Why does iTunes always lose my iPod's sync settings? I have my iPod set up to only sync certain playlists, so that I don't fill up the whole thing. However, iTunes keeps on losing my sync settings for my iPod across syncs. It doesn't remember any of the settings I set at all and I have to go back and check all the playlist again...etc. How can I fix this, as it is really annoying (and a big hassle)? I've tried restoring the iPod, repairing permissions. There are two other devices synced to my iTunes, an iPod nano, and an iPad.

Update: The recent update to iTunes (10.6.3) doesn't seem to fix this issue.

It seems like the problem was when I enabled disk use in my iPod's settings:

Unchecking this box seems to have fixed this issue. I haven't had a problem since.


How to pass keyboard hotkeys from VMWare Windows VM back to OSX host? I'm running VMWare 5 on a MacBook Pro, and I'd like to be able to send certain combinations of keys out to OSX while working in my Windows VM.  I've set up a couple Automator scripts that do Play/Pause/Next on my Google Music tab in Chrome when I hit Ctrl-Cmd-Z, Ctrl-Cmd-X, and so on.  They work great while I'm using any other OSX app, but VMWare traps the keys and routes them to Windows, so that they no longer function as global hotkeys.

Is there a way to fix this?  I see options to map certain keys on the Mac keyboard to others in Windows, but no way to do the reverse.

That's easy.

Disable the Auto Capture Keyboard.


How are System Preferences categorized in Catalina? Starting with macOS 10.15 Catalina, the contents of System Preferences are divided into two categories. This is a change from 10.14 Mojave in which the panels are divided into four rows.

What is the logic that determines how the panels are divided up in Catalina? There is no name that appears for the category, so I'm not sure what is common between the various panels that make up a category group.

According to /System/Applications/System Preferences.app/Contents/Resources/NSPrefPaneGroupsBanner.xml, there appear to be 3 primary categories now:

__banner - Apple ID and Family Sharing pref panes
personal - the set of pref panes from General to Security
hardware - the set of pref panes from Software Update to Startup Disk (or more, depending on your hardware)

Two further categories are listed in the file:

net - empty, unclear what pref panes would go here
addons - this category is historically used for user-added PrefPanes, and presumably remains so in Catalina


A Space just for an App Is there a way (perhaps using a third-party app) to make one of my Spaces permanently locked to a single app (in this case, TextEdit)?

I want to have all my TextEdit windows and nothing else in one Space, at all times.  I never want TextEdit to open windows anywhere besides my TextEdit-dedicated Space.

In 10.7 and up, you can assign apps to Desktops. To assign an app, Control+click the app's Dock icon, navigate to Options and then choose to assign it either to All Desktops, This Desktop or None.

All Desktops assigns the app to be open on whatever Desktop you switch to. If you have it open on Desktop 1, and switch to Desktop 2, it will appear to not have moved.

This Desktop assigns the app to a specific Desktop, and force it to always open there. This is the option I would try to accomplish your goal.

None is the default setting, and leaves the app unbound by any Desktop-specific rules.


iMac 5K Bootcamp Black Screen when playing I have an iMac 5k late-2014 with R9 M295x GPU, I'm using the graphic drivers from bootcampdrivers.com, as the default ones don't work with newer games like Forza Horizon 3... However, whenever the game is using much power, the iMac screen goes black, the fan speeds all the way up and after about 10-15 seconds it stops and the windows Login screen appears (no complete shutdown, only sleep mode), Applications and Games are still open but the network connection was gone (disconnected from online matches)... I had a freeze problem with macOS before but a complete formation of the Fusion Drive fixed this... If it isn't caused by the drivers, what could this be? GPU overheating, CPU or RAM not working correctly? GPU reaches about 110° max while playing. Thanks for your help!

By the sounds of it your iMac is overhheating.

A temperature of 110° is too much so your graphics card stops processing for some time in order to prevent any lasting damage to it. As it is only your GPU restarting and throttling, your applications are still open.

As the iMac is an all-in-one, some airflow and heat capacity drawbacks have to be taken.

In order to prevent this from happening you could do the following:

decrease the graphics settings
open your iMac and clean the air intakes and outlets to improve ariflow

But remember. The iMac was not designed for gaming on windows, so your experience will never be perfect. Drivers that have been tinkered with might work but should not be considered reliable.


Why do I have Apple certificates in my keychain? Today, i looked over my keychain and was surprised to find out that i have several apple certificates as part of it. I wonder .. what is the significance of them and how could i have possibly gotten them? (I am not a registered apple developer)

OS X ships with at least two apple root CA and several intermediate certificates installed.  They are used to verify things like software updates.

You can find them published on apple.com at the url below.

https://www.apple.com/certificateauthority/


Is it safe to use the 12W iPad 4th gen power adapter for earlier iPads and iPhones? The older iPads have 10W power adapter (charger), and the iPhones supposed use only 5W chargers.

But the iPad 4th gen, probably due to the larger power consumption, uses a 12W power adapter / charger.

Is this charger safe to use with the older iPads and iPhones.  Will it overcharge or overheat or damage the battery?  A more serious worry is that if it overheats, then can the battery explode?

Yes. The wattage ratings are maximum and all iOS devices will only pull the current they need to charge.

Should a device or an adapter get too hot to operate safely, they will shut off.


Is it possible to Bootcamp Windows 8.1 using USB on Late 2011 MBP? I've been having a very difficult time trying to get Windows 8.1 running alongside OS X Yosemite and it's starting to become a real pain. I initially attempted to burn the Windows 8.1 ISO onto several DVDs, with all attempts falling short resulting in "Burn failed due to a medium write error".

So I read up on how to burn the ISO onto a USB via Bootcamp Assistant, and apparently this model doesn't allow for it. I tried to use some of the work arounds which only caused errors and the software failing to run. I then got the ISO burned via Rufus and installed rEFInd which showed the USB as a Windows disk. Selecting it just caused a "No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key" screen and now I'm completely out of ideas.

So, what can I do at this point? I've just used up the last DVD trying to burn with the same error.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Here are the steps I use to install Windows without needing to burn to a DVD or flash drive. Keep in mind that the final product will NOT be a virtual machine:

Install VirtualBox from http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/4.3.28/VirtualBox-4.3.28-100309-OSX.dmg. Make sure it installs the command line tools.
Once installed, open it and create a new VM by clicking "New" on the top left.
Select the type to be "Microsoft Windows", and select the version as "Windows 8.1 (64 bit)", then give it a name of your choosing. Click "Continue"
Click continue again (it won't matter how much RAM you give it for this process).
Select "Do not add a virtual hard drive". We will be creating one on our own for our purposes. Click "Create", then "Continue".
Now we have to open the Terminal. Type the following command: diskutil list. From the list of disks, make a note of the disk identifier in the last column that belongs to the 30GB partition you created for Windows. We will need this in the next step
Run the command sudo chown $USER /dev/disk#s#. Replace disk#s# with the identifier from earlier. Enter your password and push return. Also run sudo chown $USER /dev/disk#s1. Use the same identifier, but replace the last number with a 1. Also run sudo chown $USER /dev/disk# using the first half of your identifier (minus the s# part).
Unmount the disk by typing diskutil unmount /dev/disk#s# again, using your identifier.
Now we have to create the disk for the VM to use for installation. Run the command VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename ~/RawWinDisk.vmdk -rawdisk /dev/disk# -partitions 1,#. Replace "disk#" with the appropriate first half of the identifier from earlier, and replace the second # sign with the last number in your identifier.
Unmount the disk again diskutil unmount /dev/disk#s#, using your identifier.
Now you should have a ".vmdk" file in your home folder. Go back into VirtualBox, select the VM you created, and click "Settings". Select the "Storage" tab, click on the "SATA" controller and click the second "+" sign directly to right of the controller (the hover text is "Add Hard Disk).
(Note: Due to a fairly old bug, you can't command+tab away from the selection window we're about to create without VirtualBox bugging out and requiring a restart of the app. Try to complete this in one step) Click "Choose existing disk", and navigate to the VMDK we just created, which should be in your home folder. Click it and select "Open". Now you should see the newly added disk just below the "SATA" controller.
Click on "Empty" just below the "IDE" controller, check "Live CD/DVD", and click the little CD icon next to "IDE Secondary".
(Note: The same bug applies here. Try to do this in one step.) Click "Choose a virtual CD/DVD disk file...", navigate to your ISO, and open it.
Start the VM and install windows on the 30G partition.
When the installation is done and you're logged in, shut down Windows and you should see the disk created by Windows appear on the desktop. You can get the Boot Camp drivers for your laptop from https://support.apple.com/downloads/DL1720/en_US/BootCamp5.1.5621.zip. Put this on a flash drive formatted as ExFAT or FAT so Windows can read it.
You should now be able to reboot into Windows by holding alt down, or selecting the disk in Startup Disk preferences.

This is a long process, but I believe I've covered all the steps involved... Let me know if anything goes wrong!


Send clicks to multiple windows / spaces Is there a way to duplicate or send clicks to multiple (specific) windows or spaces?

For instance, an AutoHotkey script would look like the following to make three different clicks in three different windows.

f2::
MouseGetPos, xpos, ypos
ControlClick, x%xpos% y%ypos%, WindowA
ControlClick, x%xpos% y%ypos%, WindowB
ControlClick, x%xpos% y%ypos%, WindowC

On Windows I'd accomplish this through AutoHotkey, but that's not an option for MacOS. Is there macOS software that could replicate any of this functionality?

The built in Automator app is the solution I'd try first.

The simplest thing that could work is the "watch me" and record function.
Automator is free and a first-party tool that ships with the OS

This function knows about windows that are open and mouse events, so simply could click the three times in the three locations you wish.

One nice feature past the one that is you can speed up or slow down the actions 10x so you can be careful and precise when recording and then have the replay be faster, for instance.


Localhost refuses to connect after upgrading to Sierra OS I have downloaded and installed apache, php, phpmyadmin, mysql via macports. Everything was working fine before upgrading to macOS Sierra.

After the upgrade whenever I try to access localhost I get the following error message: "This site can't be reached, localhost refused to connect."

This is happening although my settings in the apache http.conf file remain the same.

I am also providing the content of the hosts file

127.0.0.1       localhost
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1             localhost

Any advice?

After updating to macOS Sierra, Apache httpd moves the old httpd.conf to httpd.conf.pre-update and place the new one. In order to work the localhost work please try the below procedure:

cd /etc/apache2/
sudo mv httpd.conf httpd.conf-afterupdate
sudo mv httpd.conf.pre-update httpd.conf
sudo apachectl configtest
sudo apachectl restart

Then test:

curl -I -L localhost


MacBook Pro 13" (2018) cannot drive 4k display @ 60Hz from right-hand USB-C ports I have a new MacBook Pro 13" (mid-2018 Touch Bar). I'm connecting an LG 27UD88 external display directly via the supplied USB-C cable, which is also used to provide power to the laptop plus allows the display to act as a hub for USB-A devices.

The screen achieves 4K @ 60Hz via the USB-C ports on the left-hand side of the laptop. However, when I connect it via either of the ports on the right-hand side, it maxes out at 30Hz.

I have tried resetting the PRAM/NVRAM and SMC, and tried the cable in different orientations.

When I option-click Scaling in Display Prefs, the refresh rate is limited to 30Hz with the right-hand ports.

I have found other questions which describe 60Hz/4K issues with dongles (1, 2, 3), and mention of this left-hand/right-hand disparity on Reddit, but there is nothing concrete about whether this is a universal issue.

My question is: is this a fault with this particular unit, or is this a known limitation of all 2018 13" MacBook Pros?

Update: I have found that it is able to drive another 4K display at 60Hz from the right-hand ports, via a USB-C to DisplayPort cable. I'm wondering if the problem above is associated with the fact that the laptop is also drawing power and USB hub functionality from the LG display.

In 2016 and 2017, the left-hand Thunderbolt ports were higher bandwidth than the right-hand ones, and this would be expected behaviour. For 2018 models, all 4 ports should have the same performance.

So is it possible that you have a 2017 model without knowing it? If not, then I think this is unexpected behaviour.


Old iPhone 4S won't accept my Apple ID when trying to reset it for a trade-in. Why? I recently deactivated my old iPhone 4S after buying a new phone. I want to trade it in, so I'm trying to reset it, but it won't accept my Apple ID.

Is it because it's been deactivated? How can I wipe it?

Sign into wifi and then try again! Had this problem for forever and the idea of turning on my wifi to verify my apple ID popped into my head and it worked! Best of luck.


Setting bash script to be automatically started When my Mac starts I want to automatically start a batch script called run.sh in the folder myfolder. When I start Automater I only find options for AppleScript and JavaScript.

Create your shell script as run.sh in your $HOME/myfolder folder.
Paste the following one-line script into Script Editor:

do shell script "$HOME/myfolder/run.sh"

Then save it as an application.
Finally, add the application to your login items.

For login item, you can check this page: https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/open-items-automatically-when-you-log-in-mh15189/mac


How do I get the Shortcuts app in iOS 12? I recently upgraded my iPhone 5s and iPad mini 4 to iOS 12. I came across Shortcuts app for iOS 12 in this review article.

I think Shortcuts app is pretty interesting and would like to give it a try. However, I was not able to find the app on my iPhone and iPad. I thought it will come installed as part of iOS 12 like Stocks and Tips apps.

In the App Store app, I can see all the other apps published by Apple, but Shortcuts app was not in the list. Even searching for Shortcuts on the App Store doesn't show the app.

How can I get the app? Is it available for my iPhone and iPad, or are they too old to run the app?

Shortcuts app is available for all the devices running iOS 12. You can use this App Store link to access the app.

Open this answer directly on your iPhone/iPad and tap on the link above to directly open the App Store page of the Shortcuts app and download it. Alternatively, open the link in Safari for macOS and AirDrop it to your iPhone/iPad. This will directly open the App Store page for the app where can download it.

Your devices aren't too old to run the app. There is no special device capabilities required for running the app. The app is supported on all the devices capable of running iOS 12. (For iPhones that goes as far back as iPhone 5s.)

Shortcuts used to be a 3rd party app called Workflow before Apple acquired the app and hired the development team. You can learn more about the app here.

Apple has shared a pretty in-depth user guide explaining how to use this big step forward for iOS - the features are baked deeply into iOS and 3rd party developers can write extensions that let shortcuts and Siri reach into those apps and do work and automation.

Shortcuts User Guide


Access iCloud on my Mac without my phone? I left my phone at home, I'm on my Mac. I go to icloud.com. It tells me to enter the code sent to my devices. Normally a code pops up on my Mac but it's not this time.

How do I access icloud on my mac without my phone?

System preferences → iCloud → account details → security → get a verification code:  for Mojave

System Preferences → Apple ID → Password & Security → Get a verification code: for Catalina


Is it "mandatory" to partition a hard disk for use with Mac OS? I have bad blocks on the internal Hitachi hard disk in my 2009 era MacBook PRO. I am reformatting the disk with the zero-out option to remap those blocks, but when it comes time to restore the contents of the drive I am wondering whether it's really necessary to partition the disk given that I have no need for more than 1 partition. Please advise.

If you zero out the drive, it means that you've completely erased the drive, partition map and all. The partition map tells the OS how a drive and its' space is used, and in order to use one to install and OS to or store data on, it needs at least 1 partition. If you've used OS X's built in Disk Utility "Erase" function, it asks for a new name to rewrite the new partition as, which means you shouldn't need to partition further. Additional partitions are useful if you ever plan on dual booting or want to keep certain data in a separate area of the drive.

Also on the note of wiping a drive in an attempt to get it working after it has bad blocks. It is generally not a good idea to do since it means that for one reason or another the data there has gotten corrupted. It could have been particulate or dust on the platter, a head crash, driverboard failure, or any number of things. Once a drive is found to have bad blocks at all, I would advise backing up or recovering as much data as possible and replacing it as soon as possible.


how do i erase all info on macbook air while still keeping microsoft word I received a  macbook with unwanted materials on it and i would like to start anew, but i need Microsoft Word for college. I am to afraid to try anything in fear of erasing the program. Please help.

Your best bet for a clean slate would be to wipe the drive and reinstall OS X. However, if you really need to keep Microsoft Word you might want to try other options.

For data that the old owner did not delete, you can create yourself an account on the machine (Administrator) and delete their account.

Then, using Disk Utility, you can "erase free space" to actually delete the data.

As for the rest of the stuff on the drive, such as installed applications that you don't want, you will need to manually remove these from /Applications. I suggest that you don't simply delete the .app files from that directory, but run them through a 3rd party uninstaller such as AppCleaner.

This is a lot less "clean" than reinstalling OS X, but it does what you want.


Install 10.6 over 10.5 on iMac Currently my iMac has 10.5.8 Mac Os X installed.

I want to install 10.6.6 over 10.5.8 (iMac (intel Dual core)).

Do I have to do the following ??

Visit Apple Store.
Buy 10.6 OS X for USD $29.00
Simply insert installation disk in the computer and follow and execute install instructions.
All the existing applications (including FinalCutExpress) will continue to work as usual.

Please confirm.

Thanks..

To offer you a different point of view: I assume you're going to have a Backup of your system before performing such a drastic operation.

If you do have a backup, I strongly advice you to install Snow Leopard from scratch and then, using migration assistant, transfer your data from your backup (Time Machine or clone).

I have upgraded seven machines from Leopard to Snow Leopard. Three with the method you describe and four with a fresh install.

I had problems with two of the upgraded machines (that eventually had to be reinstalled) and zero problems with the fresh installs.

That's my experience and ymmv, but bear in mind that the changes to the underlying system between Leopard and Snow Leopard justify a fresh start :)

You can always try the upgrade, but always have a backup, there are a lot of things that -depending upon your system- can fail.


Seagate 4TB, 3,5" / SATA III (ST4000DM000) and SK-3500 Super-S Combo I bought a 4TB 3.5", SATA III Seagate Desktop HD and put it into a SK-3500 Super-S Combo. My iMac (late 2009) did, however, not detect the HD when I connect it. Since I cannot see it, I am unable to format it. The HD is also not shown in the Terminal after df -h. When I type diskutil list, however, I get the following from Terminal:

0:                                                   *4.1 GB     disk1

After diskutil list the HD is now shown in "Disc Utilities" but featured as "non-writeable" and I cannot create a partition or format it. Not sure why but I suspect that the problem could be the SK-3500 enclosure and I should try another enclosure.

If you have any ideas what else I could try (aside from trying another enclosure), I would appreciate any input very much.

The Datastore SK-3500 Super-S Combo enclosure only supports HDDs up to 2 TB. I will now either buy a Synology DS412+ or LMP DataTower 430.


What specifications does my iPhone 5c require to charge? I'm looking into portable battery packs and I was looking into the electrical specifications of the pack. This got be thinking what current and voltage does my 5c need to charge?

It does not matter. As long as it is 5 Volts DC. The iPhone will choose the current by itself. I use generic 5V buck converters, like this one, to charge from my solar system.


How to prevent MacVim from inheriting .profile as if it was Bash itself? I have this guard in my .profile:

if [ -n "$BASH_VERSION" ]; then
    if [ -f "$HOME/.bashrc" ]; then
        . "$HOME/.bashrc"
    fi

    if [ -f "$HOME/.bash_aliases" ]; then
        . "$HOME/.bash_aliases"
    fi
fi

Still, I have verified the check is passing for MacVim started from Finder, not only from bash terminal, and .bashrc contains terminal related script that seems to make MacVim not work as expected when started by double click, so I must have this check failing for non-terminal executions. I'm not sure whether this affects MacVim only or just any application. I was expecting $BASH_VERSION empty for anything started from Finder.

Any tips?

There is a preference in MacVim to do this.

defaults write org.vim.MacVim MMLoginShell 0


How do I disable "rich links" in Messages in Sierra? I don't want every link I send through iMessage to be accessed and embedded inline. I can't find a preference setting or defaults key to turn this off.

In this example image, I would want the YouTube link to be sent as a bare link, not a movie + screenshot:

That can't be disabled, it's part of iMessages.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206894


To how many bluetooth receptors can I send sound from my MacBook? I have two 2.1 surrounds system at home and I would like to pair both with my MacBook via bluetooth to play at the same time. Is that possible? In that case, what should I look for?

I did a little research and found that a mac can pair up to 7 devices (in the link that follow this message). But it doesn't answer my question. http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3887#howmany

Some idea? Thanks in advance!

I have used aggregation to play sound via Bluetooth and wired audio at the same time. I originally used soundflower. But you can use apples AudioMIDI app which does the same thing.

Apple have instruction here.

How to combine multiple audio interfaces by creating an aggregate device

Which basically shows you how to create a single output selection that sends the output to more than one device.

I am unable to test this against multiple Bluetooth devices but think if there is any way to do it then this would be it.


iPhone 6 low on storage and becoming non-functional I have a 64gb iPhone 6. I've been butting up to my local storage limit for a while now but yesterday all my photos disappeared and most of not all of the apps on the phone no longer open. I've deleted several very large apps, but every time I do the available storage only goes up temporarily before getting very low again. I've been able to open a couple apps now but still no photos (the app never even opens). I've tried syncing to computer but it doesn't recognize any photos on the device. This happened once this summer but only lasted for a few hours. This is well past the 24 hour mark. I would prefer to back up the photos before going the nuclear option of restoring it. Any ideas of what I could try would be appreciated?

I am assuming here that you have synced your phone to a Mac or PC and continue to do so? If so and you have the options in iTunes checked to sync photos (on a Mac it would be photos.app and on Windows it is usually a folder in your Pictures folder) you should be able to verify that they are on your computer.

Once you have found your missing photos and verified all you need is safely on your computer I would do a wipe and restore. That cleans out temporary/cached files and files left over from deleted apps and the like. To be safe I would make another backup of your phone on your local computer. And I would password protect the backup so it preserves any passwords saved on your phone. Once that is done...

On the phone it is in Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content And Settings.

Erase the phone and then restore it from the backup you just made. That, in itself, may clear enough space on your phone to help the issue. If not you may have to remove some apps, music or photos to clear more space.


Free Audio Book (m4a) creator for Mac? Is there any free and easy to use audiobook creator for Mac?

I need something that could create a .m4b audio book from several .mp3 files and eventually audio tracks. Also possibility to create chapters is important.

As far as I know (correct me), just setting the type to audio book for an audio file does not enable all the audiobook features in iTunes.

Do recommend only solutions that are working in Lion, for example the Audiobook Maker doesn't work because it contains some PPC apps inside.

I’m sorry; I don’t know any free apps, but I can suggest two paid apps, if that’s any use.

There’s an app called Audiobook Wizard that I used a year or so ago, under Snow Leopard, that seemed reasonably fast and easy to use.

However, it’s a paid app ($4.99) offered through the Mac App Store: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/audiobook-wizard/id460967298?mt=12. This is apparently Lion compatible and a decent audiobook editor. I haven’t tested this version though.

The developer also offers a free version, which can be downloaded from his site: http://www.audiobookwizard.com/. This only supports Snow Leopard and below, because it has PowerPC components, but you might like to download it to get a feel for the app.

There’s also Audiobook Builder. Again, this is a paid app ($5.99) in the Mac App Store: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/audiobook-builder/id406226796?mt=12. I haven’t used this before, and I’m not sure if it’s Lion compatible. A cursory search of the forums on the developer’s website doesn’t find any problems, so it might be ok. Might be worth trying; not sure.

You’re right about .m4a and .m4b files. This isn’t so much a problem with iTunes, as the file types. .m4b files have the capacity to “bookmark” parts of the file that .m4a doesn’t. From the Wikipedia page on MPEG-4 Part 14:

  Audio book and podcast files, which also contain metadata including chapter markers, images, and hyperlinks, can use the extension .m4a, but more commonly use the .m4b extension. An .m4a audio file cannot "bookmark" (remember the last listening spot), whereas .m4b extension files can.


How can I fix a missing color in emacs? I used homebrew to install emacs, replacing an older version of unknown provenance. At startup emacs complains Unable to load color "dark cyan" and some text in my elisp files is invisible: I see (require '   ) instead of (require 'foo).

There don't seem to be any references to dark cyan in my .emacs.d/ files, so I think dark cyan must be part of the default scheme. How can I fix this?

After banging my head against the wall for a while, I found http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.macintosh.osx/6639

  Delete this file:

  ~/Library/Colors/Emacs.clr

  and dark cyan should come back.

So I quit emacs, moved that file to ~/Library/Colors/Emacs.clr-, started emacs again... and it worked. I hope this fix is useful to someone else.


New iPad camera button I am trying to draw a button in my iOS app which would look exactly like a button in camera App of the new iPad (like on this image)
Since I don't have the new iPad, I can't check it by my own. But what I want to know is, how does this button look like if the background is dark, and if it is some complicated image behind, not just smooth blurred single color as on their screenshot. If somebody has the screenshots of camera app when background is not so ideal, I would appreciate if you share them. Or maybe somebody has values of colors, gradients, sizes, which are used in this button, then it would also be great to see.

Thank you.

It's a semi-transparent image. Here's two quick grabs.

Noisy background:

Black background:

These images were takes from a third generation iPad running iOS 5.1 (9B176)


Weird Safari behaviour! Today safari (v11.1) on Mac HighSierra 10.13.4, started to behave like crazy. For some reasons this is the resolution I get everytime I open the browser. Looks a kind of mobile resolution. I restarted, erased the history, changed from view --> font in, font out, but  nothing happens.

Here a screenshot:

What should I do? Now I am writing from Chrome.

I checked develop → User Agent and check if it's set to default. When I switch to some options, it reloads correctly and then goes back to the same view.


Installing Visual Studios using Bootcamp Assistant I have recently installed Windows 7 on my Mac using Bootcamp Assistant. I have partitioned a decent amount of memory for it. Now I am trying to install Visual Studios 2010 Express on the Windows partition.

Should I be able to install software after booting up in Windows, because that did not work? So I burned a Visual Studios 2010 Express to a DVD on OSX and then booted up Windows, then tried to install from the DVD but that didn't work either.

All I know is that Bootcamp Assistant has something to do with installing extra software on Windows. But I'm not sure how. I have read the Bootcamp Assistant Guide but that is only a guide to installing Windows.

Any searches I do on Google are for using Virtual Box or say that Bootcamp is a good option for this or that, but does not explain how to do it.  In a nutshell can I use Bootcamp Assistant to install Visual Studios? If so, how? If not, what are my other options?

BootCamp Assistant is only for installing the OS, or burning the drivers CD used to help you complete the installation of drivers for your particular hardware.

Once you have a working Windows 7 install, Bootcamp just provides the facility to boot between the two OS, Windows and OS X.

In this case, you have successfully completed the install of Windows 7, but you are having issues installing VS2010.

Whatever the install issues with VS2010 Express are they are unlikely to be related to the fact that Windows is running on a Mac, and more than likely to be install pre-requisites, such as service pack level, etc.

Without further information its unlikely that we would be able to determine what the issue is, or if it is in any way related to being run under Bootcamp.  Have a look to see what the install.log said.


Using 'kMDItemContentModificationDate' in 'do Shell Script' I want to find files modified on a specific date. It is not important what time of day they were modified. I tried the following and got an empty list (no error):

set theFolder to (choose folder)
set folderPOSIX to quoted form of POSIX path of theFolder
set modList to paragraphs of (do shell script "mdfind -onlyin " & folderPOSIX & " 'kMDItemContentModificationDate = 2015-01-15 00:00:00 -0400'")

If I understand this correctly, I am asking for files in a specific folder (directory) which were modified on Jan 15, 2015. If I did this right (apparently not), it should find at least one file that was modified on that date, because I can see in the window of the folder I chose that there is a file modified on Jan 15.

Also, not sure what the -0400 part is for. Is there some way that I can get the files for Jan 15, regardless of the time of day they were modified.

Came up with this solution with help of above script which works just fine:

set downloadPath to path to downloads folder from user domain as string
set posixPath to quoted form of POSIX path of downloadPath

--Date to search for:
set dateStart to text returned of (display dialog "Enter search date in form 'MM/DD/YYYY'" default answer "02/03/2015")
--date "Tuesday, February 3, 2015 12:00:00 AM"
set dateStart to date dateStart
--End date (Midnight on next day)
set dateEnd to (dateStart + 24 * 60 * 60 * 1)
--date "Wednesday, February 4, 2015 12:00:00 AM"

--Begin search to now in days (rounded)
set startRound to round ((current date) - dateStart) / 86400
--End search to now in days (rounded)
set endRound to round ((current date) - dateEnd) / 86400
--Search Item
set SearchItem to "."

set theFiles to (do shell script "mdfind -onlyin " & posixPath & " 'kMDItemDisplayName == \"*" & SearchItem & "*\"&& kMDItemContentModificationDate >= $time.today(-" & startRound & ") && kMDItemContentModificationDate <= $time.today(-" & endRound & ")'")


Yosemite Safari Favicon Anyone know of a way to make Safari show favicons in Yosemite? I was using Glims under Mavericks but that no longer works.  I tend to have lots of tabs open and sometimes it's easier to find the proper tab by the favicon rather than the text.

As of Safari 8, favicons no longer show up on the tab bar, to my disappointment.

One solution is to use SafariStand & EasySIMBL. Once installed (see instructions on the SafariStand site), open the SafariStand settings and check "Show Icon on Tab Bar". This will return favicons to the tabs.


How can I review custom privileges? The Get Info box for an external hard drive shows "Custom" under Privileges in section Sharing & Permissions. Interestingly this is for groups with these names

com.apple.sharepoint.group.6
com.apple.sharepoint.group.5

I have no idea how they were created, let alone what they are. Are these groups created as a result of any known process and what are these "Custom" privileges?

What I found out is that the "Custom" privilege means that permissions have been configured in a way that are more complex than is provided and can be shown in the basic user settings of the Get Info window (namely: Read, Write, No Access).

If I query the volume in Terminal with ls -leda /Volumes/Some\ HD/ I get something like this.  Option e is to print the ACL associated with the file (or directory), if present, in long (-l) output.

drwx------+ 18 Alex  staff  680  1 Oct 18:19 /Volumes/Some\ HD/
 0: group:com.apple.sharepoint.group.6 allow search
 1: group:com.apple.sharepoint.group.5 allow search
 2: D93ABBA3-3566-4A08-878E-B2E7C575B4A6 allow list,add_file,search,add_subdirectory,delete_child,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity

I just still don't know where the com.apple.sharepoint.group users are coming from and D93ABBA3-3566-4A08-878E-B2E7C575B4A6 looks a bit cryptic if that's me.


Can you change the text background color in TextEdit The context is that I took some notes in TextEdit and copied command examples from my green-on-black Terminal window.  The text appears in the style and color of the source:

But I wanted to change it to a more readable black on yellow:

But to my amazement I can't find any way to change the background color within TextEdit.  I can change the text foreground color to black easily using ⌘T but I can't find any way to change the background color to yellow.  This is curious because obviously TextEdit can handle background colors.

I tried to change the Document color in ⌘T, but this changes the default color, that is all text except the colored text I want to change.

So, is there a way to change the text background color in TextEdit without copying the text to another application and back?  If not, what would be the simplest way?  To produce the example above I created a new profile in Terminal with a black on yellow font and copied the texts again.


Best choice for Microsoft Paint for Mac? Are there any Mac apps that are very similar to Microsoft Paint besides Paintbrush and Paint.net? I've tried those apps but found a lot of quirkiness and am looking for something more polished and user friendly.

Corel Painter & family, StudioArtist - depends what you're really after…

Add detail to your question to hone down the answers


Does anyone know what the file ~/Library/Preferences/com.npvdata.client is for? I had a heck of a time with the file ~/Library/Preferences/com.npvdata.client.  Looked like it was some kind of cryptographic key file, and when I went to edit it, not only could I not change it, but also while I was editing it the file com.npvdata.client.swp and com.npvdata.client~ showed up, even though I was editing it in vi which doesn't create backup files.  I had a really hard time deleting it, too.

I'm guessing this is part of some kind of copy protection or licensing scheme, but I'd like to know for sure where it is from, what it is for, and what danger there is, if any, of someone else getting a hold of it.

If my Googling-fu is stronger than yours, this appears to be linked to the Viscosity VPN client.
According to Viscosity technical support, Viscosity stores registration and trial information in this file, however it can be safely deleted if needed.


Asinine message preventing me from installing Xcode on 10.9.4 Every time I try to install Xcode from within the Mac App Store, I get "Download for free? This item will be added to your Purchases and will be available even if your Family Sharing Status changes".

I click Download. Then I see a spinning wheel for a second until I get the same message again until I just press 'Cancel'. It never downloads.

Does anyone know what the deal is?

I'm on a fresh install of OS X 10.9. Only thing I've done to it is sign in to the Mac App Store using my New Zealand account. I also installed and updated Office 2011. So I certainly haven't done anything unusual to this Mac!

App Store has a track record (with me at-least) of throwing, and I quote you, asinine messages at it's users. The only workaround that I know of is to download Xcode from the Apple Developer Center.


View TLS Certificate in Safari 8 / Yosemite i've installed the new OS X Yosemite recently. Now i'm trying to view the TLS Certificate and the Certificate Chain in the new Safari.
In the older versions of Safari one just had to click onto the padlock to view the connection properties.

I know, it's all possible by using another Browser, but i like the new Safari ;-)

Best regards, Jonas

The padlock should still be there

and by clicking on it, you get the certificate information as before:

Clicking on «Show Certificate» gives the details:


NMEA GPS data from mobile hotspot -> Wifi-only iPad I have a 4G mobile hotspot for when I travel on business. It makes NMEA GPS data available to connected clients.

I've been thinking about buying an iPad (first one for me). Can the wifi-only iPad use this data? For the apps that I plan to use, GPS location is desirable.

I'm trying to figure out whether I need to shell out the extra dollars for a 4G model, or purchase a Dual or Bad Elf...

You are most likely out of luck here. Essentially, you can not install any drivers on the iPad, and the handbook states on page 69 that...

  Drivers are needed to use either the "USB tethered mode" or "GPS over
  Wi-Fi" features.

This question mentions a jailbreak for iOS to use a bluetooth connection to pass GPS data into an non-3G iPad, but your hotspot does USB and WiFi only — and I personally would not advise to jailbreak for certain reasons.

The most promising approach to your question is this: If you do own/have access to an iPhone, you could try to tether the two via Personal Hotspot. The iPad might get the location from the phone — as described in this article. Let me know how this works.


Why is rename command missing from macOS? I usually rename files and directories with the mv command. I'm reading a book on bash shell that mentions the rename command. When I executed man rename a man page was shown. However, when I entered rename on bash shell, it reported:

-bash: rename: command not found

I did some research and discovered that you can install the rename command with Homebrew.

Is there any good reason not to install it with Homebrew?
Is there anything you can do with the rename command that you can't do with the mv command?

I'm also curious to know if there is a known explanation for why the rename command doesn't exist in the first place. And why is there a man page for a command that does not exist?

In the default install of macOS, rename man page is available in the section 2. As you can notice from the man page, rename is not a command but a BSD system call.

The Homebrew formula named rename is a Perl script. You should be fine with installing it. In-fact it can give you much more flexibility than plain mv command.

After you have installed rename utility via Homebrew, running man rename will show the man page for the installed utility and not the BSD system call.

  I'm also curious to know if there is a known explanation for why the command does not exist in the first place.

rename is not a standard Unix command.

  And why is there a man page for a command that does not exist?

As mentioned above, the man page present refers to the system call by the same name.


How do I move my Amazon books to new iPad If I upgrade to a new iPad will all of my Amazon content be moved over?

All Kindle content is ultimately stored in the cloud (with copies on each device). You should be able to easily download all of your content to your new iPad by logging into logging into your Amazon on a compatible app (the Kindle app is the only one I know of that does this).


Prevent services from prompting for imported keychain password on login I have a new Macbook, I exported my old Keychain and added it to my new account. I have a couple of these keychains that I've brought with me to each new machine over the years.

When I login, it asks me several times for the password to these keychains, how do I prevent this?

Note these keychains are not my login keychain.

Doesn't look like this is possible. At least according to this blog post.

Reference: Mac and iOS Keychain Tutorial: How Apple’s iCloud Keychain Works

  Note that while your login keychain is the default, it is unlocked as
  soon as you log into your Mac. You can increase security by creating a
  non-login keychain — all this requires is an additional password when
  you start up or log into your Mac

I think what you'd need to do here is likely import the copied keychain file's content to the main keychain file if that's the behavior that you want.


What is the avqmd.plist and the _avqmd record in Users/Groups Today, I was trying to fix the file permissions and ownership on an external hard drive and while I was trying to add myself as a user/owner the through the get Info window, the system presented me with an unknown to me user with the name: _avqmd.

Of course there is no indication for such user in the system preferences -> users.

But I was also able to spot a avqmd.plist file inside: /var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/users

Does anyone know what is this and from where it comes from?

You might be able to get some more details on the user by querying your directory database rather than looking at the record files on the filesystem:

dscl . -read /Users/_avqmd

Hopefully you'll find enough threads to pull on. It's not an account on any of the first few Macs I checked, but perhaps someone else has tracked it down already and has a more concrete answer.


Running Macbook with 7.3v battery & AC power adapter MacBook Pro 2013 non retina device has a defective battery which outputs only 7.3 volts. The Macbook cannot run only on the battery - it requires the AC power adapter to be plugged in to power the device.
The battery used to provide 11.1 volts but there may be fault in cells or BMS circuit which is causing it to output only 7.3 volts.

The battery gets charged normally but I don’t know if any power is consumed from the battery by the MacBook.
It’s similar to using Macbook without battery, but Macbook cpu speeds are down when only used with AC adapter. But I notice no cpu throttle when used with 7.3v battery and AC adapter.
I have also observed Frequent short freeze while working with apps.
Is it safe to use the Macbook with combination of defective battery (7.3v)and AC adapter?

If the apps are freezing then the Mac is trying to use the battery for power and failing.
Most (if not all) portable Macs use both AC and battery for short periods (like opening apps). A bad battery can cause crashes and data loss as the Mac tries to use the battery and cannot.
The CPU throttles without the battery because the Mac sees the missing battery and lowers power use. Your Mac has freezes because you exceed the AC adapter slightly. I assume a larger power demand will cause a crash.
At the very least the battery can swell and bend the Mac, and can sometimes catch fire if the defective cell cannot turn off. It would be safer to remove the battery and use on AC.
With only 3 cycles the battery looks like it was constantly full for 8 years (non-retina device) so it is time for a fresh battery. Batteries need to be used occasionally.


MacBook Pro battery will not charge even though cycle count is below max count I haven't used my MacBook Pro (Mid 2011 version with non-removable battery) for over 6 months, as I was out of country. Now it only works on power connected and battery won't change.

Symptoms I observed:

The Battery Status is: Replace Now.
MagSafe gives green light.
Battery indicator: All LEDs flash 5 times.
Coconut battery software shows 0 mAh though the MagSafe is connected.
Coconut battery software also shows load cycles as 564, which is not max and I feel there is still life in it.
The Battery state is: Discharging

I ran a AHT diagnostic and it shows 4xxx/1/40000000 Battery Issue
I did disconnect and connect of Battery as some youtube video's suggested, it didn't work either.

Is the Battery really dead or any logic board issues might be there?

I am thinking to replace with new battery myself manually. Need suggestions on that.

It appears that your battery is dead or there may be an issue with a component in the charging system. Only a trip to Apple will resolve this.

I had a similar issue with my similar MacBook Pro. The battery showed bad, and it would only run when plugged in. It turned out to be a problem with the charge indicator unit (the thing that shows 5 tiny lights). It had a bad chip, and it was not allowing the battery to charge. A quick swap of the part and my Macbook Pro was back to normal, showing a full battery.

Send to Apple or go to the Apple store, as these kinds of things often show in very strange ways.


Cleaning up my .bash_profile: Can I delete some of this? I'm not a Unix guru.

I'm running OS X 10.8.3 Mountain Lion. Today I removed Macports from my machine. I believe  macports left some cruft in my `~/.bash_profile which I would like to remove (the cruft—not the entire file contents). Currently, my $PATH looks like this:

echo $PATH /opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/usr/local/opt/ruby/bin:/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/git/bin

I see some redundancy i.e. /opt/local/bin: appears 3 times. In my home directory I see several files relating to .bash_profile:

ls .bash*
.bash_history
.bash_profile.macports-saved_2012-08-10_at_10:09:18
.bash_profile
.bashrc
.bash_profile.macports-saved_2012-08-10_at_10:00:21

Can I remove the two .bash_profile.macports… files?
How can I remove the extra items listed in my $PATH?

The .bash_profile.macports-saved... are not actually executed, they're just backups. You can remove them if you don't need them.

.bash_history contains the last commands you executed on the shell. There's no point in deleting it, but you can remove it if you want.

If you uninstalled MacPorts (and deleted /opt), you can remove from your PATH all the subdirectories of /opt.

Just look in .profile, .bash_profile and .bashrc for any modification of your PATH.

For example, in my .profile MacPorts added:

export PATH=/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:$PATH

You can remove lines like this, or just single directories.


In itunes connect, can the app seller be different than the name on the associated bank account? I have a personal developer account and my friend is connecting his bank account to my apple development account.

Because I have developed the app so I want my name to be under the name of my app on app store, not my friend's name.

Can I still be the seller of the app even though payment is to my friend's bank account?

This seems like a legal arrangement that would be fine with Apple according to this section of the banking help:

Does the Account Holder Name field have to match the Legal Entity Name field?
No, the account holder name for your bank account doesn’t have to match the legal entity name for your agreement.
The information you provide for the Account Holder Name field, though, should exactly match the name your bank has on file for your account. Make sure this is correct to avoid any issues with your payments. If you’re not sure what name your bank has on file, check a recent bank statement or ask your bank.

My only recommendation would be to have a written contract with your friend lining out whatever agreement you have with them. Your entering banking information to Apple is a legal agreement, so you'll have a hard time getting any money back should you ever expect that once Apple pays the bank account you elected. As long as you control the account, you can update the bank (subject to 24 hours or more delay of course when you elect a change) but you'd likely not be able to claw back or get relief if you don't intend for them to get all the proceeds.
You would certainly be in hot water once the taxes are due on these funds since you are the seller no matter which bank receives the funds. I would pay someone to advise you alone on the banking and tax decisions before relinquishing any payments to an account you don't totally control.


Is there a way for registering iWork apps on App Store? I bought iWork 09 at the Apple Store and it is installed on my MacBook Pro.

However, since I didn't buy it on the Mac App Store, when I go to the Mac App Store purchased tab the iWork apps are not listed.

Is there a way to register them on Mac App Store?

No, I'll link to some of the questions that cover this. The App Store version is sold and licensed differently than the version licensed online.

Do I have to repurchase Apple apps through the Mac App Store to get updates there?
Is there any reason to buy the iWork bundle instead of the apps separately from the App Store?
Can I update apps that I've already purchased through the Mac App Store?


MacBook Air does not respond to cursor clicks My mac isn't responding. I can move the cursor around and click anywhere but I can't exit or quit anything because it doesn't click on the actual GUI. Closing and opening the lid doesn't help and I can't restart because I can't press that button in the menu.

What should I do?

First I would look if any of the running apps is doing that.

Press 3 keys together

alt + cmd + esc

In the new pop up window use the up or down arrow on your keybaord and when selected hit Enter key.

You can Force quit  anything showing in there.

If that did not help to restore normal function use again the keyboard to Restart.

To reboot your Mac instantly, hit Control-Command-Power/Eject.

Alternatively if you hold the power button for 2 seconds a screen should show up asking you what you want to do next.


Unable to run xcode-select --install I am on a MacBook Air running macOS High Sierra 10.13.2
When I run xcode-select --install to re-install Xcode developer tools, I am prompted to this

I choose install option which opens the agree terms prompt

agree terms and this appears

and nothing happens for 30 mins, so I tried to stop and it didn't work, I tried the quit option from the dock which didn't work either. I had to force quit Install commandLine Developer Tools. Can anyone help me how to reinstall CommandLine Developer Tools. Thank you

I'd reboot the system and try again.

If that doesn't work, you can download it from Apple Developer.

If you don't have an Apple Developer Account, you can create a free account, and then once signed in you can download the "Command Line Tools (macOS 10.13) for Xcode 9.1" from: Downloads from Apple Developers


Propagate permissions to subfolders and subfiles I know that using sudo chmod 777 /folder will set a particular permission to /folder, but it will not do the same with subfolders and subfiles inside the folder.

Is there a terminal command to propagate permissions inside the folder?

You have to use -R option to make the command recursive:

sudo chmod -R 777 /folder


Dell DW15 docking station audio output set up with mac I'm using a Dell DW15 docking station with a mac High Sierra and wanted to ask how can I set up the audio output so that when I plug in the audio jack in to the docking station the audio output would go to the device connected to the docking station and when it's unplugged the audio output would go to the mac's built in speakers?

Currently it outputs the audio through the speakers in both scenario's.

If I go to System Preferences -> Sound -> Output
and then choose the docking stations USB output it only outputs audio to the docking station, meaning that there is no sound when the audio jack is unplugged from the docking station.

If I go to System Preferences -> Sound -> Output and then choose the
  docking stations USB output it only outputs audio to the docking
  station, meaning that there is no sound when the audio jack is
  unplugged from the docking station.

This is expected behavior.  USB audio devices don't "report back" that speakers aren't attached.  As far as your Mac is concerned, the audio device (USB dock) is seen and functioning.


Where to find Apple product images I am looking for some current, high quality Apple product images for my website, anyone know a good source?

Apple Press Info contains a bunch of pictures you can probably use. Depending on the nature of your website you want to clarify copyright issues with Apple before. The Apple trademark page is a good place to start and contains wording that you cannot use Apple images without express written permission, but the contact information is also provided in this link to ask for that permission. As long as you are an Apple developer, you can use photographs of Apple's products with a few restrictions, so that might be a good place to start.


How do you prevent CodeRunner from prefixing its console output with [00m[00m[00m[00m[00m? There seems to be a connection between CodeRunner's console output and your actual terminal prompt script, that is, if such prompt code is sourced from e.g. ~/.bash_profile (which CodeRunner reads by default).

I have a pretty fancy (read: great) terminal prompt (screenshot|code) that seems to mess up CodeRunner's console output, leading to garbled [00m[00m[00m[00m[00m characters at the start everytime I run some code, even though it's error-free and regardless of language). I'm reluctant to change my prompt for the sake of getting rid of these annoying characters.

If I turn off Invoke bash in login mode when running code in CodeRunner's Advanced prefs, I'm seeing bash: source: No such file or directory instead…

So I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place, trying to get a clean console in CodeRunner…

How can this be fixed? (I've tried contacting the developer about this but I'm receiving no answer.)

The culprit probably is line 88 in your prompt.sh:

trap 'echo -ne "\033[00m"' DEBUG

This will output an ANSI escape code to reset the colors and style before the output of every command.

From examining your bash script, this line seems to be unnecessary, because you are resetting the formatting at the end of your prompt here on line 76:

PS1="$status_style"'$fill \t\n'"$BY\$(__name_and_server)$Y\w$G\$(__git_prompt)$RESET$ "

I suggest you just remove line 88 and try it like that.

Somewhat unrelated to this problem, but I also suggest editing line 73 to the following:

local RESET="\[\033[0m\]"

This way you are truly resetting the ANSI styling, whereas before you were setting it to white.