How to reset ACLs after Apple Server sharing mistake? I wanted to share my root file system and in Server.app I set up / as a share.  Unfortunately it wrote ACLs across the system that have caused a lot of various problems.

sudo chmod -RN /* has resolved most of the issues, but there are still some permission issues on 10.12.2.

sudo /Applications/OnyX.app/Contents/Resources/repair_packages --repair --standard-pkgs --volume / is still reporting a few folders as still having ACLs that it can't repair with repeated executions, example:

ACL missing on 'System/Library/User Template/ro.lproj/Library'.
Repaired "System/Library/User Template/ro.lproj/Library".
ACL missing on 'System/Library/User Template/ro.lproj/Public'.
Repaired "System/Library/User Template/ro.lproj/Public".
ACL missing on 'private/etc/pam.d'.
Repaired "private/etc/pam.d".
ACL missing on 'private/etc/ssh'.
Repaired "private/etc/ssh".
ACL missing on 'System/Library/User Template/Dutch.lproj/Desktop'.
Repaired "System/Library/User Template/Dutch.lproj/Desktop".
ACL missing on 'System/Library/User Template/Dutch.lproj/Library'.
Repaired "System/Library/User Template/Dutch.lproj/Library".
ACL missing on 'System/Library/User Template/Dutch.lproj/Library/Application Support'.
…

It seems that I'm going to need to issue some other commands to remove the new ACL accident.  What other commands and / or options exist to reset everything back to a pristine state and thus allow repair_packages to execute and repair permissions properly?

Following the above, I then managed to execute:
sudo chflags -R nouchg,nouappnd /System/Library/User\ Template/

…and that seems to have resolved most of the issues now at least in that folder, but when I execute it on the remaining folders I still don't see any help.  Example, here are the ones that are remaining unprepared:

ACL found but not expected on 'installer.failurerequests'.
Repaired "installer.failurerequests".
ACL found but not expected on 'private/etc/aliases'.
Repaired "private/etc/aliases".
ACL found but not expected on 'private/etc/localtime'.
Repaired "private/etc/localtime".
ACL found but not expected on 'private/etc/resolv.conf'.
Repaired "private/etc/resolv.conf".

Everything is fine and the ACL repair is working as it should. Take the first two lines of the output:

ACL missing on 'System/Library/User Template/ro.lproj/Library'.
Repaired "System/Library/User Template/ro.lproj/Library".

The first line is logged when an incorrect ACL has been found. The second line is logged when the repair is a success. If the ACL couldn't be repaired, this second line would say something different. Everything is good!


Can anyone suggest strategies for coping with a 200MB/day Internet quota? I have a satellite Internet connection (because I have no other choice, that's why :-) which has a quota of 200 MB per day (that is not a typo).

As you can imagine, we can very easily go through that quota and end up severely throttled for the next 24 hours (starting when the quota is exceeded, even if the quota was only minutes from 'rolling over').

I am trying to figure out ways to minimize usage.

My first thought was to use something like GlimmerBlocker on the iMac (which is our media server, so it is already on 24/7), and point all of the other devices to use it as the proxy.

But I am looking for other ideas as well. I do not know of many applications out there which might be of use for this.

Technical details of the network and devices

Our household has 3 Macs (iMac, MacBook Air, MacBook) and 3 iOS devices (iPad 2, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch [current gen]).

All of the devices except the iMac connect to the network via Wi-Fi.

(There is no 3G coverage, so the iPhone or iPad must use the Wi-Fi network.)

The network is served by an AirPort Extreme 802.11n (3rd generation) which operates in 'bridge mode' connected to the satellite modem (because the modem has to be the router and DHCP server and I cannot access those controls at all).

What are my options?

I have already 'trained' myself and my family members to avoid downloading audio or video files, but even with simple web surfing it is easy to exceed 200 MB per day. A local proxy/filter like GlimmerBlocker can block ads and other cruft we can't afford to download, but that's all I can think of.

Most of the "bandwidth monitoring" apps out there will not help because they do not differentiate between local (LAN) traffic and Internet traffic.

Can anyone think of other solutions to help minimize the pain of this daily quota?

I hope you remember back to the days when 200MB/day was an incredible amount to have. :-)

There are some simple things and then some more complicated things.

Limit access by time of day

First of all, you can block times of day for connections by MAC address (advanced settings) on the Airport Extreme base station.  This can keep machines from pulling down files, updates, etc., without your permission.

Cache data with a proxy server

Second, you can install a "caching" proxy server, such as Polipo http://www.pps.jussieu.fr/~jch/software/polipo/, which will allow multiple machines to access the same content, fed from your iMac instead of the Internet.  You'll need to perform the same sort of proxy chaining as you currently do with GlimmerBlocker.  You should look around for a caching proxy that offers plugins for ad blocking, etc.

Limit your bandwidth so you cannot exceed your daily transfer limit

Third, you could perform what is called "rate limiting", "traffic shaping," or "QoS" (Quality of Service) (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_shaping).  You can do this by installing software (http://intrarts.com/throttled.html is one I have Googled but have not used) or by purchasing a home router that offers this option and putting it between your AE base station and the satellite router.  Here's a list from CNET: http://reviews.cnet.com/routers/?filter=500563_5554972_

With this option, you could do some rough math to figure out, given your peak usage, how much bandwidth to allow to your network.  I don't think the software solution will work with your iMac proxy solution since people do not connect through the iMac (but the caching proxy will help) so you may have to spend $50 or so on a router and configure the allowed bandwidth.

This will basically cause you to treat your 200MB/day satellite connection as a 18kbps modem assuming 24 hours a day usage.  If you really only use it eight hours a day, you could have the equivalent of a 56kbps modem.  Fudge up or down based on your comfort level.  It will stink but you won't have overages, and you can always "turn it off" if you need to make a big download.

It will also allow your entire family to download video or other media.  It will be self-correcting, in that it will be so painful to download high definition video that it won't be worth doing.


How do I stop my Mac from trying to open new tabs when I make normal clicks? Yesterday I was using musescore and was playing around with keyboard shortcuts and eventually my mac is now acting weird.

Every time I click on something it opens a new tab (on all my browsers) and I figured out it was NOT a browser issue because when I click on an app on my Dock instead it opens the finder at the application folder which is very bizarre. When I click on icons on top right it doesn't even opens them.

I tried restarting my computer in the hopes that whatever mode I got stuck on would refresh but no luck.

Does anyone have a suggestion on how to fix this?

For now it seems what solved my problem is completely shutting down the mac. I am not sure why restarting didn't work but shutting down and then turning it back on solved it.


Macbook Pro Wifi: No hardware installed I have recently been getting a "No hardware installed" error when I click on my wifi. I have tried resetting the SMC, resetting PRAM, reattaching the cables in the electronics of the computer. Now I am stuck for solutions and I think maybe I need to get a new wifi cable? It is a Macbook Pro 15" early 2011 running OSX El Capitan.

...reattaching the cables in the electronics of the computer.

I am assuming by this statement, you have opened up your Macbook for whatever reason.  Did you do any sort of service?

Try reseating the Airport adapter - remove it completely and reinstall it.

There are 4 cables that go to this adapter.  Three are the antenna cables (J0, J1, and J2) and the interface to the logic board (right)

In addition to that, you have the interface cable that connects it to the logic board (below).  Notice the two connectors at each end.

You have 4 things to check:

The Airport card connector
The cable connectors
the cable itself
The logic board connector

You will have to look closely.  If you did any service to the MBP where removing these components was necessary, you may have damaged them either during removal or installation.

The other scenario is that your Airport card simply failed; it happens.

If you damaged either the Airport card and/or the cable, you will have to replace them.  The good news is that they are available on the open market for less than $50

Airport Bluetooth Card 661-5867
Airport Bluetooth Flex Cable 821-1311-01

If you damaged the connector on the logic board, you will need to have it fixed, the logic board replaced, or get a USB Wifi Adapter like these Netgears (I have personally used them with Macbooks quite successfully).


Open Ruby installed gems in editor How to open installed gems in editor such Sublime Text or Text Mate or Atom?

I would like to do it from command line like:

open -a Sublime\ Text\ 2 something_here

If you use the Ruby that comes with 10.9, gems are installed in /Library/Ruby/Gems/2.0.0/:

open /Library/Ruby/Gems/2.0.0/gems/plist-3.1.0/lib/plist/parser.rb

If you use a Ruby installed with Homebrew, gems are installed in /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/*/gems/.


iMovie 10 - How to layer a background under a title? I'm new to iMovie 10 and in my project I added a title clip with a duration of 60 seconds and I would like to add a background clip UNDER the title clip.  But when I select a background from the backgrounds and drag it into the timeline, the new background clip is layered above the title clip -- ie during replay the background is displayed over the title hiding the title underneath it.  Repositioning the background clip by dragging it under the title clip in the timeline does not work - the background clip snaps back to the top.  What to do?

One (hacky) way I achieved this was by making sure the timeline is empty, then I added the needed background, and then added the clip (or title in your case), which was allowed to be added on top of the background.


How to remove "XXX is an application downloaded from the internet. are you sure you want to open it" at start up? Everytime I restart my mac, a pop up shows up telling me that "TunesGoWatch is an application downloaded from the internet. are you sure you want to open it?".

I don't know where this message comes from and I'm not sure how to get rid of it forever (I downloaded this app very long ago but uninstalled it) It pop ups automatically at start up.

The app is almost certainly in your Login items.

To check and remove it, do this:

Go to Apple > System Preferences > Users & Groups
Make sure your User Account is selected at top left
Click on the Login Items tab
Look for an item called TunesGoWatch (or something else that could be triggering this) in the list of login items
Now remove this item by clicking on its name (so it's highlighted) and then clicking on the minus - button
Once it's removed, exit System Preferences
Restart your Mac to test to see if the problem still persists


Is /usr/local a per user folder? Is /usr/local a per user folder?

homebrew says

/usr/local/bin
/usr/local/etc
/usr/local/include
/usr/local/lib/pkgconfig

This can happen if you "sudo make install" software that isn't managed
by Homebrew. If a formula tries to write a file to this directory, the
install will fail during the link step.

You should change the ownership and permissions of these directories.
back to your user account.
  sudo chown -R $(whoami) /usr/local/bin /usr/local/etc /usr/local/include /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig

Doing so would make those folders belong to a particular user which would mean another user using the same machine would be S.O.L. unless those folders are some magic per user thing.

Are they? They don't seem to be at a glance but I probably don't know how to figure out if they were.

No, /usr/local is not a per-user folder. It's the same directory for all users. I've been down this road with homebrew and done the chown to /usr/local on a laptop that only I use, but my other non-homebrew-aware Macs all show permissions similar to this for /usr/local:

%ls -ld /usr/local

drwxr-xr-x   213 root     wheel    578 Aug 28 11:58 /usr/local

And they work just fine like that.


Connecting my Roll Up Piano via USB to record MIDI I have a roll up piano (see the image) that has an USB output.

An USB cable comes with it: it is able to connect the roll up piano with the computer.

I have connected it to my macbook.

What are the steps to record MIDI on OSX using the roll up piano and the USB cable?

Relevant output:

❯ ioreg -p IOUSB
+-o Root  <class IORegistryEntry, id 0x100000100, retain 14>
  +-o Root Hub Simulation Simulation@14000000  <class AppleUSBRootHubDevice, id 0x100000322, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (2 ms), retain 8>
    +-o BRCM20702 Hub@14300000  <class AppleUSBDevice, id 0x100000dcd, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (2 ms), retain 12>
    | +-o Bluetooth USB Host Controller@14330000  <class AppleUSBDevice, id 0x100000e25, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (2224 ms), retain 17>
    +-o USB MIDI Interface @14100000  <class AppleUSBDevice, id 0x1000016a9, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (14 ms), retain 20>

I would like to use GarageBand or so to record it, but for some reason, there is no data coming from my piano.

However, it is detected by the software:

Is there any low-level way to test if the the machine gets data from the piano (e.g. a terminal command etc)? How to fix this problem? Should I install any drivers?

In the Ubuntu terminal, you can use amidi or aseqdump to monitor MIDI messages.

OS X has no command-line tool to monitor MIDI messages.
You have to use some graphical tool like MIDI Monitor or MIDI-OX.
You can also test it in the Audio/MIDI Setup windows with the "Test Setup" button; when you are playing something, the port icon (the triangle) should turn red.

To record MIDI data, use any MIDI sequencer. There is no reason why GarageBand should not work, but you could try Ardour instead.


email is missing from my settings on iphone 5c email is missing from my settings on iphone 5c.  The icon is also missing.  I don't know how it disappeared.

Believe it or not, you can delete the Mail app from the home screen.

Go to the App Store and see if you can re-download it or install it.

If that doesn’t work, open the setting app and look for any Profiles that restrict apps. Lastly, look in general for restrictions to eliminate Mail.

It’s likely a configuration change that was made to the device. Worst case you can back up the device and then restore it from iTunes if needed.


Dell docking station D3100 with MacBook Pro I am trying to setup 3 monitors with my MacBook Pro (Late 2013). I was wondering if anybody has tried this docking station with mac.

Yes, this worked for my MacBook Pro which is the Late 2013 model. You need to go to the DisplayLink website and download the driver for your Mac, the driver is called "DisplayLink USB Graphics Software for Mac OS X." Then reboot your Mac and then plug in the Dell D3100.


2009 Macbook not booting up I found a white plastic/ rubber 2009 Macbook in the IT Office of my school  and was given permission to try to get it to be usable again. Currently, it is able to be charged with its magsafe connector and the indicator LED in the front turns on when I hold down the power button, but the screen never turns on and the keyboard does not respond. (i.e. the Caps Lock indicator button does not turn on.) After a few seconds of this, the fans start to make a lot of noise, but the computer remains unresponsive.

I tried plugging in an external monitor though the thunderbolt connector, but the monitor never picks up a signal. I tried plugging in a device though the USB ports, but this too does not work. I tried resetting the SMC as per that Apple website instructions, and this also does not work.

Is there any way that I could get the computer to boot up into the operating system?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Did you reset both the SMC and PRAM (instructions is on the same support page at the Apple website)?
If you did, try it once again.

Did you try all of the things in your post with both the power adapter and on battery?

Since the machine is old and there is no support warrant left at Apple I don't think there is any idea to contact them.
Otherwise, you may have found the reason to why it was just laying around at the IT office.


Is VMWare Fusion bought through the MacUpdate Spring 2012 Bundle a full valid version? I'm considering buying VMWare Fusion 4. On vmware.com it's available for $49.99. MacUpdate is currently also offering a bundle which includes VMWare Fusion and 10 other apps, for a total price of $49.99 (MacUpdate Spring 2012 Bundle). I'm not particularly interested in any of the 10 other apps, but they might be nice to have. I'm wondering if there's a catch to this offer though. For example, I seem to remember that a similar bundle offered in the past didn't include the right to discounts when upgrading to future versions. So is buying VMWare Fusion through this bundle fully equivalent to buying it through VMWare.com?

In addition to the answer of Diago, I got this from the MacUpdate FAQ :

  What's the catch?

  There isn't one! You get the exact same versions of the apps as if you
  paid full price! The same support, update, and upgrade options are
  available to you, as well.

So, yes! Buying the spring bundle will give you a full valid version!


How can I reset the firmware password on a MacBook Air? I purchased a MacBook Air from someone 4 months ago and everything was working perfectly. There is no user name or password needed to log in and I've never had problems using it.

Now I would like to reinstall OS X but I can't do it because it's asking for a firmware password when booting with Option ⌥ held down. It's 4 months now and I've lost the seller's phone number to ask for password.

I've tried to reset NVRM but those keys are disabled. I can't boot from external HD when I turn on the system. What is the reset procedure?

To reset the firmware password it looks like you have to take it in for service at your  nearest Apple Support location as noted in the following Apple Support Article MacBook Air (Late 2010) and later, MacBook Pro (Early 2011) and later, iMac (Mid 2011) and later, Mac mini (Mid 2011): Recovering a lost firmware password

Symptoms
Learn what to do if you no longer remember the firmware password that you've set or if you see a password dialog when you try to select a startup volume on a MacBook Air (Late 2010) and later, MacBook Pro (Early 2011) and later, iMac (Mid 2011) and later, or Mac mini (Mid 2011) computer.
Resolution
Only Apple retail stores or Apple Authorized Service Providers can unlock these computers protected by a firmware password.
If you cannot remember the firmware password for your Mac, schedule a service appointment with either an Apple Retail Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider.  If you plan to visit an Apple Retail store, please make a reservation at the Genius Bar using http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/ (available in some countries only).

As a side note you will need the original proof of purchase.


Where is the documentation of the options on the 'System Services' settings screen? The settings screen Settings ▸ Location Services ▸ System Services in iOS 5.0 contains the following boolean options:

Cell Network Search
Compass Calibration
Diagnostics & Usage
Location-Based iAds
Setting Time Zone
Traffic

This is fine, but:

  Every time you provide an option, you're asking the user to make a decision.

I have never used an iPhone before and don't understand what each of these services does, so I'm not well enough equipped to be able to make this decision.

Where can I find Apple's documentation of these options? I tried asking in Apple Support Communities but didn't get a helpful response.

This Apple Support Document explains the Settings ▸ Location Services ▸ System Services screen.

The items on the list are all system services that could make use of your iPhone or iPod's  location information. While the page above does not explicitly explain each setting, Traffic uses your location to get data about whether nearby roads are congested or not  and uses your anonymized information to help update this database; Setting Time Zone uses your location to automatically select what time zone your phone should be set for; Location-based iAds uses your location to serve relevant advertisements; Diagnostics and Usage is rather unexplained, Compass Calibration uses your location to calibrate which direction your iPhone thinks it is facing, and Cell Network Search uses your location information (anonymously) to help build a crowd-sourced database of the location of cell phone towers.


Install Facebook Messenger on iPhone 3Gs running iOS 6.1.6 I reset my iPhone 3Gs but am unable to install Facebook Messenger back on my iPhone as it requires iOS 7. How can I install Facebook Messenger on my iPhone 3Gs running iOS 6.1.6?

It will let you download the last compatible version if you already have the app in your purchase history. You can add the app to your purchase history using iTunes on your computer, since iTunes is version-agnostic.

Once you've downloaded the app on iTunes, it will be in your purchase history and attempting to download it again on your device should prompt you to accept an older version of the app.


Unable to create a new playlist in iPhone I am unable to create a new playlist for my iPhone4. When I right click the iPhone in iTunes the option 'Create New Playlist' is greyed out. I'm using the latest version of iPhone OS & iTunes.

I can create new playlists in iTunes itself just not on the iPhone.

Any ideas on what this issue is ?

It the same for me, but you can create your playlist on iTunes and then sync it to your iPhone.

Alternatively you can create the playlist directly on your iPhone. Just open Music, go to the tab Playlists and select Add Playlist....


Can I connect a 3440x1440 display to my late 2013 27" iMac? Currently I'm running an external 27"  2560x1440 apple cinema display from the thunderbolt port. I have a second thunderbolt port, so I was wondering if it's possible to also use a thunderbolt enabled 3440x1440 monitor, maybe like the LG 34UM95C. The computer is a late 2013 iMac with an NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M graphics card.
Thanks!

Everymac says your machine can support two external displays up to 2560x1600 via Thunderbolt, so I think the answer would be no.


Where is the latest Microsoft Messenger (or alternative) that works with Exchange? I'm using Microsoft Messenger for Mac 7.0.2, but it crashes every time the network connection is lost and has to be force quitted. I'm looking for an alternative that is more stable.

It seems Microsoft Messenger has been discontinued in favor of Skype. I downloaded Skype but can't find a way to sign into my Exchange account at work. Is it possible to use Skype with an Exchange account? If not, is there somewhere I can download Microsoft Messenger 8.0 / 2011?

Lync for Mac may be what you're looking for. It's a replacement for Office Communicator (the IM, presence, conferencing and voice client). Your work environment should support it with the server though.


Mac terminal command returns permission denied, ran again and it worked fine I ran the following command in the terminal of a Mac Pro running Mac OSX 10.6.8.

rm -rd /Users/Shared/SomeFolder

This command resulted in

rm: /Users/Shared/SomeFolder: Permission denied

Without changing anything, I immediately ran that command again, and it worked. What caused this to happen?

It's possible there was a write-lock on that folder when you attempted the first rm. An application or process could have been indexing or accessing the folder. Things like Mozy Backup or the Spotlight Search run in the background and access most all files on a file system.


How do I prevent my Mac laptop from quitting applications trying to logout? If I leave my computer alone for some 1-2 hours, I don't know exactly how long, it tries to logout. But I have terminal programs running (CLI tools fetching data from FTP, or doing processing of some kind, etc.), so the computer never fully logs out. I don't want it to logout though, I want it to stay logged in. It's also quitting the browser and my text editor, which I don't want it to do.
What settings do I change? In System Preferences, I clicked "Start after: Never". I put Energy Saver to never sleep with or without battery. But I don't know what else to change to get it to not log out.
Maybe this helps:

Ah, it was because this:

I must have enabled that at some point, or I don't know what.


What is the location of this Application's file? This application shows in Finder at path (with target):

Macintosh HD/Applications/Trans_Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/applet

and I have not been able to successfully start it with launchd, using

~/Applications/Trans_Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/applet
//  or
/Users/myusername/Applications/Trans_Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/applet

Repeatedly seeing the following in console:

… com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[150] (com.mahogany.sarah[1156]): Job failed to exec(3). Setting up event to tell us when to try again: 2: No such file or directory
… com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[150] (com.mahogany.sarah[1156]): Job failed to exec(3) for weird reason: 2
… com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[150] (com.mahogany.sarah): Job should be able to exec(3) now.

So, I am concluding that the file is not referenced correctly.

In case it helps, the plist file in ~/Library/LaunchAgents looks like:

<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.mahogany.sarah</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>~/Applications/Trans_Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/applet</string>
    </array>
    <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
    <dict>
        <key>Hour</key>
        <integer>15</integer>
        <key>Minute</key>
        <integer>25</integer>
    </dict>
</dict>

EDIT: It finally worked using suggested changes AND removing the tilde from before /Applications. (This is, incidentally, exactly what the Finder > File Info displays for the applet)

<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.mahogany.sarah</string>
    <key>Program</key>    // Change here and removing 1st char of string on next line
    <string>/Applications/Trans_Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/applet</string>
    <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
    <dict>
        <key>Hour</key>
        <integer>15</integer>
        <key>Minute</key>
        <integer>25</integer>
    </dict>
</dict>

There's two problems with the above plist.

You've put the program in the ProgramArguments key.

Replace the ProgramArguments key with the Program key and the array with a string.
You can't use ~ in a Launch Agent plist.

Replace the ~ with the absolute path.


Access 'About this Mac' before creating a user I've wiped and reinstalled macOS in order to sell a 2017 MacBook Pro. Of course, I forgot to take a screenshot of 'About This Mac' to get all the specifics (all I need is the CPU variant).
I've booted into Recovery Mode to access terminal and try a host of variations on system_profiler. None of them work.
I don't want to have to create a user just to view my specs and then have to wipe and reinstall macOS again.
Does anyone have a working 2020 method for accessing system information from the terminal before creating a user?

Use sysctl command to get the CPU brand string.
% sysctl -n machdep.cpu.brand_string
machdep.cpu.brand_string: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-700K CPU @ 4.20GHz


With Latest MacBook Pro and Radeon 460 Graphics, How To Tell How Much Memory in Use? I've got the latest MacBook Pro with the touch bar.  4GB Graphics memory and I'm trying to figure out how much graphics memory is in use when I run certain apps.  I also run Parallels which dedicates part of that memory to itself so I want to make sure I don't starve it for my normal mac use.

I can see in Activity monitor that what I'm running requires High Perf GPU but I can't tell how much memory is being used.

Where can I see that memory usage?

I would recommend using iStat Menus.

Here's a direct quote from their website:

  CPU & GPU

  Realtime CPU graphs and a list of the top 5 CPU resource hogs. CPU
  usage can be tracked by individual cores or with all cores combined,
  to save menubar space.

  Plus, GPU memory and processor usage on supported Macs, and the active
  GPU can be shown in the menubar.

In addition to the above, iStat Menus monitors a whole range of things that you may find useful.

You can download it for a 14 day trial to test it out prior to purchase.

NOTE: I have no affiliation whatsoever with iStat Menus.


Can I recover deleted apps and content on my jailbroken iOS device? Is it possible for a restored iPod touch to recover former apps that had been installed on an iPod touch?

Is it possible for a deleted app to be re installed containing the same information from its previous use, and also still be signed in?

If you restore using a backup that is recent, depending on the app, associated information will get restored (i.e. most games will generally have your high scores) as long as the app uses the standard way of storing data on an iOS device (which optionally involves iCloud).

This is the information that is at /var/mobile/Applications/{GUID}/Documents generally. Some apps do not store certain items there for security or space (in the backup, such as large in app purchase content) reasons. The app itself will generally have a way to retrieve such data on first launch after you provide credentials.


Testflight In App Purchases, sandbox user still needed after passing Beta Review? If our app has passed beta review, meaning we can distribute via TestFlight to 1000 external users, do we still need to setup test user accounts for in app purchases?

Seems like that would be a huge burden, not only for developers (I guess people could share test user account logins, but that could screw up the testing !!!), but also for testers (testers have to logout of the app store on their phone, then log back in with test user account).

No. According to this article, sandbox accounts are automatically created for TestFlight users. Anyway I haven't been able to find this in the official Apple documentation. If anybody finds it it would be great to have an official reference.


Use sips to pad just the top of an image I'm trying to add padding to the top of an image using the command line.

I've found the sips command and I've tried

sips --padToHeightWidth 1300 1920 image.png

on an image which is 1920 x 1080.

However this adds 50px of padding to the top and bottom.

Is it possible to just add 100px of padding to the top?

Is there another tool I should/could be using to do this?

I do not believe you can do that with sips. I would recommend ImageMagick which you can easily install using Homebrew. Then the command is:

convert  InputImage.jpg -background blue -splice 0x100 PaddedResult.jpg

If you want to add transparent padding, use:

convert  InputImage.jpg -background transparent -splice 0x100 out.png

If you want to composite two images together, you can do this:

convert -size 1024x768 xc:blue 1024x768.jpg                    # create big blue image
convert -size 100x100 xc:red 100x100.jpg                       # create little red image
composite -gravity northeast 100x100.jpg 1024x768.jpg out.jpg  # superimpose top right

Note that I am creating my images first, you can obviously just use your own.


Substitue Escape for Control U in Terminal I would like to change bash keybinding so that the Escape key has the same effect as Control U. For example, if I tap the Escape key, the current Terminal command will be cleared out (which is what Control U does). How can I specify both the Escape key and the Control modifier when writing a new key definition in my .bash_profile?

bind '"\e":"\C-u"' doesn't have any effect, and escape can't be remapped from Terminal's preferences.

iTerm 2 does allow remapping escape:

0x05 0x15 is C-e C-u. (E is 0x45 and U is 0x55.)

You could also use a private.xml like this with KeyRemap4MacBook:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <appdef>
    <appname>TERMINAL</appname>
    <equal>com.apple.Terminal</equal>
  </appdef>
  <item>
    <name>test</name>
    <identifier>test</identifier>
    <only>TERMINAL</only>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::ESCAPE, ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::E, ModifierFlag::CONTROL_L, KeyCode::U, ModifierFlag::CONTROL_L</autogen>
  </item>
</root>

The last two options  would prevent using escape in for example vi though.


What do these dashed-box symbols mean on Japanese keyboard? What do these dashed boxes mean and how to use them?

Your image seems to have disappeared so I added one myself.

The dashed boxes represent the space that a normal character would occupy so you can see how the characters you're typing will be positioned.  On the middle row shown, the first key puts a mark in the lower-left position, the second key has the same position, the third shows that the dot will be in the middle of the character space and the last one shows the line will be beneath the normal character space, almost like an underscore


Why iOS on iPhones and iPads automatically end an app (ie Youtube) after idling? Is there a way to stop iOS from ending apps when idling? It's terribly frustrating to have watched parts of a Youtube video, then have iOS quit it. Unless I wrote down the time-stamp, I would have no idea where I left off. Is there a way to stop iOS from ending apps when idling? Thank you!

iOS automatically quits apps which haven't been used for some time, especially if available memory required for the active apps runs low. There is no setting to disable that (which probably wouldn't be a good idea anyway as it would block other apps from getting loaded/started).

But usually apps get notified before they get unloaded and are supposed to store their current state (including for instance the playback position for YouTube) so they can restore it when you switch back to them/restart them. If you need advice on how to make this work for you when using YouTube, please ask a new question (and include the details others asked for in the comments).


iPhone 4 will not connect to any computer and will not show up in device manager My iPhone 4 will not connect to my computer or iTunes anymore after I updated to the new iTunes, and I have looked in other threads and posts and no one seems to have the same issue.

I see other posts about it not connecting, and it says to go into "Device Manager" and find the iPhone under "Portable Devices" but the Portable Devices tab isn't even in my Device Manager on my Laptop (windows 7).

I've deleted all apple appliances on my computer and re-installed iTunes and that didn't work. it's not the cable cord because my iPhone WILL charge while plugged in to my computer, it just will not connect.

and I've looked for an iPhone 4 Apple driver to re-install on my computer but no luck, and also tried plugging it into a different computer to see if it will connect and it still will not.

Please help, I cannot afford to fix this if it is an internal problem with my phone, it has to be a driver on my computer

Lets do some troubleshooting.

Verify that Apple Mobile Device Support is installed on your Windows laptop.

iOS devices require Apple Mobile Device Support, which should be automatically installed with iTunes. To verify whether it is installed, follow the steps appropriate for your Windows operating system. (7)

Click Start.
Choose Control Panel.
Click "Uninstall a program".
Verify that Apple Mobile Device Support is visible in the list of currently installed programs.

If not there, re-install iTunes.


Clear recent locations in Calendar (macOS) I moved to a new address (it's almost one year). Every time I add an event at my address (by entering my name in the location) I still get the old one as primary suggestion (although my address is updated in the contacts).

How do I clear the Recent Locations?

I don't know of a simple way as in iOS, where you can just swipe to delete an entry.
Recent Locations (map-location) on macOS are stored in the "corerecents" database here: ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.corerecents.recentsd/Data/Library/Recents/Recents
There are various ways to delete an entry:

Download a database browser, like DB Browser for SQLite, find the entry and delete it.
Use Terminal (to be found in /Applications/Utilities, or via Spotlight)
and the command line.

I'm not very versed with sqlite3, but the following should delete the "Matteo Corti’s Home" entry:
sqlite3 ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.corerecents.recentsd/Data/Library/Recents/Recents "DELETE FROM contacts WHERE display_name IS 'Matteo Corti’s Home'"

(note: if I type the apostrophe in Terminal, I won't get a result, since the database seems to use ’, instead of ', i.e. not a straight apostrophe.)
If you wanted to clear all entries (including email, phone, urls and instant message recents), you could just delete the database, I would think.


Application works when OS X was updated but not on a clean install I'm trying to get FileMaker Pro 9 to work on Os X 10.10 (unsupported). Having installed a fresh copy of FileMaker on a new Mac I get an error stating that 'some required files are damaged or not installed'.

However, when I updated another Mac from 10.7 to 10.10 with Filemaker already installed, it continues to work without problems.

Does anyone have a suggestion on how to find out what files are missing on the new machine? They've got to be system or preference files as the application folder is excactly the same.

Filemaker versions prior to 12 may or may not work well on OS 10.10.x

From Filemaker Support:

  FileMaker 12 and earlier versions of FileMaker have not been tested or
  certified with OS X Yosemite (10.10).  These products were developed
  and released before OS X Yosemite became available.

  While these earlier versions may install and run on OS X Yosemite
  (10.10), you may encounter installation and stability issues for which
  there is no resolution. (Italics added)

Although you may get older versions (Version 9 was released back in OS X 10.5 days) to work on newer systems, it is hit and miss.  You could try a fresh install again of FileMaker to see if you can get it to 'stick.'  Be careful to keep a backup of your data.  I can imagine if you are still using FM 9 that you have a great deal of important data that has accumulated in your solution over the years.

As for the exact missing files between your installs, that would require a deep look at both installations and compare every tiny little file in the system.  Excruciatingly painful.  It is impossible to determine without access to the system in question.

The files to check are System files in the ~/Library/Application Support/FileMaker and possibly other places.

There are several professional developers who can assist you with migrating your solution to a newer version. (current is FileMaker 14)  This is expensive, but if your business relies on data and downtime is critical, this is a small price to pay.  Converting a file from .fm7 to .fm12 is not trivial, but it is not very difficult for a seasoned developer. (Not assuming your development skill level here.)  This would probably be best as it will prolong the life of your solution.  Especially with OS X 10.11 around the corner.


Why does this app keep getting its Accessibility API privileges revoked when my computer goes to sleep? I'm using an application called Better Touch Tool which does keyboard mappings, and so requires that you give it permission to the Accessibility API in System Preferences > Security & Privacy. I did this immediately after installing the application as you can see in this screenshot.

However, I've noticed something odd. I often will walk away from my computer and after some minutes it will show the screensaver and eventually go to sleep. When waking it back up, it seems this checkbox in the Accessibility settings has sometimes unexpectedly un-checked itself. This has happened to me at least three times now and I can't really explain it, besides to say that it only seems to happen after the computer has gone to sleep and come back. It's quite annoying because not only do I have to re-check the box to get it working again, it also requires a restart.

Is there any reason why this box would get un-checked without me doing so manually? How can I prevent that from happening?

Contact Boastr

Boastr, the developers of this commercial product, will be best placed to answer your question. They have a bug tracking page where you can report these kinds of problems.

If they can help, please submit their answer here to help others.


Now that I have iCloud, what benefit does Time Machine provide? For a normal Mac laptop user, it would seem that almost everything important (Documents, Desktop, photos) are backed up on iCloud. Most apps needs to get downloaded again anyway.

Does iCloud retain versions?

What would you lose if your hard drive died?

iCloud is sync service.  Time Machine is a backup tool.

They're both important and not interchangeable.

You use iCloud to sync content across all your devices.  This way, you can access the most current version of a file, document, or photo, from any device where you're signed-in with the same Apple ID.

Time Machine is designed to create and store backups, including versions.  This is only accessible from a device that locate and mount the TM backup.  Nothing stays in sync across your devices.

If your local hard drive fails, you can use your Time Machine backup to restore your files and retain your version.  iCloud will only allow you to sync the most-recent version of your files back to your drive, without version history.

I recommend using both of these but use, and understand, them appropriately.


Get iPad/iPhone info using only its UDID? Is it possible to get an iOS device info by just using its UDID?
Info such as the iPad model, OS, etc.

I have a developer account where I register apple devices using its UDID, but how do I extract information for such devices?

The short answer is no because it is generated from a lot of variables. As per Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UDID) [on] devices introduced between 2007 and 2018 it was represented as a 40-digit lowercase hex code, and for device models introduced after 2018, as a 25-digit uppercase hex code.


Make safari use normal `back` and `forward` button as other browser As you might know, Safari use different short to go forward and back in history, CMD+[ and CMD+]. How do I change that to use normal back and forward button as on most mouse and other browser?

macOS doesn't natively support using mouse buttons for forward and back. You can use gestures if you have a Trackpad or magic mouse, but not buttons.
However, there are a number of apps that will do this. One lightweight option is https://sensible-side-buttons.archagon.net/
P.S. I also have a personal fork of this app with some idiosyncratic features I wanted—e.g. hold down the middle mouse button while pressing a side button to use the side button's native behavior. https://github.com/Wowfunhappy/Side-Button-Enabler/releases/tag/1.1


How do I use the record button in AppleScript? I don't understand how the Record system works in AppleScript.  The instructions seem clear, but not very helpful.

In the Script Editor app / on your Mac, click the Record button ⏺ in the toolbar.

Perform the actions you want to record in the recordable app.

To stop recording, click the Stop button ⏹

Seems easy enough. So I do that..

Open up Script Editor on MacOS, start a new script (File --> New).
Hit the red record button.
Open up my messages app. Enter my own phone number, enter a message "test" then send.
Hit the Stop button in the Script Editor.

Great, but where is the recorded script?  It didn't go to the empty script.  Its not stored in the clipboard (Command-v = blank)
Am I doing this correctly?  Where is the recorded content?
MacOS = Big Sur (11.0.1)
Script Editor= 2.11 (225) AppleScript 2.7
Scripting language = AppleScript

Apparently, the Message system is not recordable in MacOS AppleScript Editor.

There is no error message, or any other feedback.  It's just a fail.
Comments from others: That being said, most people don't use that record button. You'd be better off trying Automator, or getting a utility like Keyboard Maestro that has a recording function that works better. - ChrisNorman
Very few applications are “recordable”. Messages is not one of them. Finder is one of those recordable applications. – wch1zpink


Add Spacebar as a modifier key I want to configure my shortcuts to switch between multiple desktops. Currently, I am using Control as the modifier key, but that's a bit too difficult for me to reach. I want to use the Spacebar as a modifier key. So I can assign shortcuts like:

Space + C: Desktop 1 (Holds Google Chrome)
Space + I: Desktop 2 (Holds IntelliJ)
Space + T: Desktop 3 (Holds Terminal)
Space + P: Desktop 4 (Holds Postman)

The system won't let me use Spacebar as a modifier key. If I use Command (which is a bit easier for me to reach), then it collides with my copy and paste shortcuts.

I would prefer a native solution but I am ready to use an app as well.

There are native shortcuts which let you go to specific Desktop by Control + 1 etc.

But according to your needs to remove your conflicts with Copy/Paste shortcut, edit the keys by going to System Preferences → Keyboard → Shortcuts. Then you can add/edit Shortcuts to use CMD + C etc for going to specific applications.


My iPhone sets alarms for me without my permission I'm having a strange problem, and it's been happening for many months, from iOS 8 to 10.1, much more recently in iOS 10 however.

Here are the issues that I have been having:

I set an alarm (say, 7:00am) my iPhone goes off at that time, all well and good. However, when I snooze the alarm, get up, turn off the alarm (with the switch in the Clock app) it will still go off as if I didn't switch it off.
If I delete an alarm, it will magically ring a few days later even though it is not shown in the Clock app (today I got up at 8:00am, to find out that the alarm wasn't even there!)
On rare occasions, I will set alarms and they don't go off
When I ask siri to "delete all alarms" it says "Do you want to delete all alarms?" I tried saying "yes" "confirm", "ok" and tried clicking on the confirm button but siri says "Nothing to confirm"

Things I have tried:

deleting all alarms
reinstalling iOS 10 (complete reformat and restore from iCloud)
force quitting the clock app and reopening it
rebooting several times
set it into silent mode (doesn't seem to change anything)

I have some alarms on a schedule, but since then I have deleted those ones and the issues still persist.

I noticed that the changelog for iOS 10.2 says that some users were having problems with alarms not ringing, which might have caused my alarms to ring too often.

What can I do to fix this?

I clicked on the "Bedtime" tab and found out that there was a 6:30am alarm set there. As for the other alarms, well, it's possible they were set via the bedtime tab as well.


Time Machine back up to Time Capsule fails Recently Time Machine has stopped backing up to my Time Capsule on both my MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. It spends a few hours "Preparing backup" and then just gives up.

I've had a look in Console and when it says it is "Preparing backup" com.apple.backupd is running an initial consistency scan for '/' and then when it stops I get the following messages in the Console:

Error writing event cache at /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/... : Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=20 "Not a directory"
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:***

The latest backup on my MBA is 23 July and on my MBP is 24 July so I think that coincides with me updating OS X but I can't be sure. These are the things I have tried so far (I've turned Time Machine off on my MBP so I can focus on getting the Air working first)

Turning time machine off and back on again
Reselecting the back up disk
Hard resetting the time capsule
Factory resetting the time capsule
Booting into Safe Mode on my MBA and then restarting into normal mode
"First aid" (Disk Utility) on my MBA
Renaming the Time Capsule to a short name

The only thing I haven't done is erase the contents of the Time Capsule for two reasons. 1) I don't have a hard drive with enough capacity remaining to archive the data to. 2) When I enter Time Machine all of the backups are there and available for me to restore so I don't want to loose all that.

Please let me know if you have any ideas. The TC has over 300 GB of space remaining.

UPDATE Here is the contents of the .sparsebundle (located within the 'Data' folder) that is the backup (the bands folder is empty):

Usually, I wouldn't post an answer like this  (rather, just delete the question) as my solution to this issue is so untechnical; however, I feel that it might just save somebody a head of hair.

It turns out that the Ethernet capable connecting the Time Capsule to the network switch was damaged. I never checked it initially because the Time Capsule was appearing on the network and my MacBook Air would back up to it fine, but all I can assume is that my MacBook Pro but more stress on the cable. Long story short, I've put a brand new Ethernet cable in and it worked first time, flawlessly.

Now, before I did so I had followed this tutorial to keep using the same machine after a change to the computer, so I don't know if that did have any effect or not.

I suppose the moral of the story here is that networking is a pain and you shouldn't overlook anything, even if it seems to be working perfectly!


Catalina - USB Serial Cables seem to be broken TL;DR - How do I make a USB Serial cable work on Catalina?

I work as an embedded software developer. I write software on small circuit boards like an Arduino or BeagleBone or RaspberryPi. You might know or hear the phrase: "JTAG DEBUGGER"

Every day I use various USB serial converters to do my work.

I just got a new (Nov 2019) MacBook Pro 1 week ago with a real escape key.

I can get SOME, but not all, USB serial things to work.

Knowns:

A) (TYPE_CDC_DEVICES) Some development boards (from ST Microsystems and Texas Instruments) implement what is known as a "USB CDC ACM" Serial port:

These CDC type devices seem to work.

B) (TYPE_CHIP_DEVICES) Others are what you would describe as a "USB Serial Cable" in some cases, the usb-chip that makes this work is built into the main board and is used to as a debugger.

This is an APPLE supplied driver.

These chips come from companies like: FTDI, and PROLIFIC (Apple has a driver for this), and MICROCHIP, and SILABS.

For example the FTDI driver FROM APPLE is here:

/System/Library/DriverExtensions/DriverKit.AppleUSBFTDI.dext

These CHIP type cables and boards DO NOT WORK.

I cannot open the serial device with my TERMINAL programs.
Such as: Screen, and CoolTerm and others.

C) I know the device is present, and the driver is loaded - I can see the device, but when I try to open the device I get various different errors.
(The exact error depends on the application I am using).

foo@bar /dev % ls -l /dev/*usb*
crw-rw-rw-  1 root  wheel   18,  27 Dec  1 16:33 /dev/cu.usbserial-534400
crw-rw-rw-  1 root  wheel   18,  29 Dec  1 16:33 /dev/cu.usbserial-534401
crw-rw-rw-  1 root  wheel   18,  26 Dec  1 16:33 /dev/tty.usbserial-534400
crw-rw-rw-  1 root  wheel   18,  28 Dec  1 16:33 /dev/tty.usbserial-534401
foo@bar /dev %

D) Others have problems too - I am not alone.

http://community.m5stack.com/topic/1369/m5stickc-usb-driver-and-catalina
https://community.platformio.org/t/mac-usb-port-detected-but-wont-upload/8756

Trying to run screen as root does not help.

E) Tried "sudo chmod a+rwx /dev/tty.usb*"

PART 2 ....

Often these USB chips have 2 interfaces, more specifically the FTDI2232.

Interface #0 - tends to be the JTAG debugger interface.

Interface #1 - tends to be the UART debug terminal.

I need both to work. But if I can't get the basic UART to work - I can't even start with the JTAG part.

I am stuck.

Just FYI, I have the same problem. Using Fusion it will work on e.g. a virtual Windows Machine.

Another user has also posted this, but no replies on that thread. It appears to be a more general problem.

Update: I've been working on this for some days, but it might be working now. I am not quite sure what did the trick, however.

I've installed/reinstalled the VCP driver found here. That didn't help.

Then I also installed the D2xxHelper, which also didn't help. Actually it made it worse since this actually removed the device completely from /dev/cu.usbserialxxx.

I then rebooted the Mac and the device was back and now actually working as it should. If it was necessary to install both or only one of the two and reboot, I do not know. Hope this helps you too.


How do I view podcasts in a tiled artwork view using iTunes? I upgraded from iTunes 10 to 11 and the view for my podcasts has changed.

Is it possible to bring back the old tile view of my podcasts?

The only option appears to be the list view on the side and only a view of the individual podcast to the right of that. I want to see the overall view in tile form again.

I just made a smart playlist where Media Kind Is Podcast, and I view that in Grid View.


What does Health's "Show All Data do? When I choose "Show All Data" from an activity in Health (iOS 8.1), I see a long list of data points with associated source app icons; but this list almost always seems to be incomplete and not to correspond to the data displayed in the dashboard.

For example when I choose "Walking + Running Distance", I see a bunch of data from "Phone", but none from recent days (the most recent entry is over a week old; today is Oct 21)

despite recent walks being recorded correctly in the dashboard ("Today" is Oct 21),

and despite the fact that those walks are from a different source (which I can confirm by choosing "Share Data" in the activity and selecting the source).

Is "Show All Data" not working properly? Is there a setting I need to adjust to get it to actually show all data?

it looks like Show All Data from the device is showing frequent short distance movements instead of the aggregated time and distance that Cyclemeter reports.

The Health app must be doing some kind of interpolation as well as merging or ignoring duplicates from the many data sets and points to generate the graph on the Dashboard.

also, checkout this answer.


Error "/dev/disk04 could not be mounted" when using NTFS-3G I use NTFS-3G in order to let myself read and write to my external hard drive in the correct format. My Mac is also bootcamped with Windows 7 on the other side.

Every time I startup my Mac I get an error saying that /dev/disk04 could not be mounted, and it asks me to force or abort it.

Any ideas as to where the root of that problem might be? I think it may be related to Boot Camp.

Screenshot of when harddrive is plugged in:

Disk Util Output:

Did you install NTFS-3G before or after installing Boot Camp? What solutions have you tried? See also:

NTFS-3G unmounts NTFS partitions because it "did not receive signal in 15 seconds"—what signal?


Can I use GPS and GLONASS on an iPhone 6S without a wireless network? I have a hiking trip coming up and I was wondering whether the iPhone 6S can be used for GPS tracking if there are no cellular networks available? Or does the phone not have the same GPS/GLONASS support that you would get from a hiking GPS device?

You would be able to do this - in as much as the co-ordinates can be fixed from the satellite.   You need to be aware that it will take a long time to get the fix if there is no reference point to help it (eg known WIFI or cell towers), as it needs to download the almanac from the satellites.

You also need to know that you won't be able to get maps or anything, and mapping may or may not work depending on your application.

Lastly, be aware that, historically at least, phones and similar devices have not had the sensitivity of dedicated devices, so they may not work as reliably.


Change how many 'recent' files are shown in Preview's "Open Recent..." menu I cannot find anything in the preferences to do this, but I would like to be able to lengthen the list that Preview offers in the "Open Recent" menu. Right now it displays the 9 most recent files. I would like it to show at least 20 or so. Is there some secret way to hack this from the command line, or is there a setting somewhere that  I just haven't been able to find?

You can find the option at the bottom of System Preferences > General:


Sound output through monitor on Mac too loud and unadjustable I just got a 2020 i3 MacBook Air and have an adaptor to connect it to my monitor over HDMI port (which I plug my headphones into) but when I try to listen to anything the sound is way too loud. I've tried going to display and changing the volume but the slider does not work (it is fixed at the top).
The monitor is a Dell HDMI monitor. The sound is unusable like this. What can I do?

You can use a 3rd party utility called SoundSource which lets you control the volume of the external display connected to your Mac using the Macs built-in volume controls.
SoundSource is a macOS app from Rogue Amoeba, a well known and reputed developer of audio utilities for macOS.
While SoundSource is a paid app, Rogue Amoeba provides a fully functional but time-limited demo of the app which you can try to see if that resolves your issue.

P.S.: No affiliation whatsoever with Rogue Amoeba or any affiliates. I have been using SoundSource on my personal Macs and I am highly satisfied with it.


VNC Vinagre to OS X Lion I've got a Linux Ubuntu 10.10 machine running Vinagre (VNC client) and I can't seem to be able to connect to my spanking new Mac mini on Lion.  All I get on the Vinagre side is a blank screen.

Vinagre doesn't seem to work very well when trying to connect to OS X. I have been trying to connect to Snow Leopard now to no avail. It keeps requesting that I supply a username which it shouldn't

I found that tigerVNC worked fine (it does not ask for a username), its not the most up to date application, but at least it connects. Hope this helps.


Safari reopens last open tabs? On Lion, if I quit Safari using  ⌘ Command+Q and then restart it, it reopens all tabs from last time.

In Preferences, I have set that new Windows open with an Empty Page, a setting that worked fine in Snow Leopard.

Is there a way to disable that nonsense? I can't seem to find a setting for this :(

This is a new feature in Mac OS X Lion. See here (Resume).

You can disable this in System Preferences > General and untick the "Restore windows when quitting and re-opening apps, but will be system wide.

Another solution is to hold ⌥ Option+⌘ Command+Q when quitting,  the app will then not save the state.


Why can't I reply emails but send new one on my iPad 2? I cannot reply to emails on my iPad 2, but if I compose a new one it will send it fine. This is a new problem as it was working fine before and there have been no changes.

I use a Telstra Micro SIM and an optus email address.

I believe that what is happening is that you have multiple email accounts setup, and when you go to compose you are using the outgoing of account A, and when you reply/forward you are attempting to use the outgoing of account B.

So to fix, check your outgoing account settings for the account that you cannot reply emails for.


Restore iphone backup to windows A few months back I sold my Iphone 3G because I was going to get 4 instead. Unfortunately my windows machine crashed and I was forced to reinstall from scratch. I now plan to (finally) purchase the new one and I want to restore from my old backup. I copied everything from My Music folder on the old HDD to a the new one and I also copied everything from:
Appdata\Roaming\Apple Computer to the new one. I though that would be enough but the backup is not showing up in Itunes.

What can I do? I lost the old HDD completely after this.

There is nothing you can do about it, if the HDD is really gone. If you don't have a backup of your old phone, then you just need to gather all the lost data from your memory.

Of course, if you still have the HDD, you could try and take it to a shop that restores data from broken drives, maybe you'll get lucky.


SD CARD saying read only after I tried to delete files from the card I have a 1 GB SD card that I have been using with my zoom H4n recorder. I literally recorded onto the card, inserted it into my Mac OS x computer, pulled the recordings, and when I tried to delete the files, the card switched to read only. This has happened to two of the exact same 1 GB cards, and now I have no way of using them anymore. Does anybody know what the problem is, and how I can fix this? I appreciate any help! Thank you.

Are these cards NTFS formatted and have you only had this problem since updating to Mavericks?  Are you using the free NTFS-3G and/or MacFuse NTFS driver? If you answer yes to all, then that is the cause.  I'm having the same issue and may have to buy Paragon's NTFS driver.

Maybe try uninstalling and reinstalling NTFS-3G and MacFuse


Question on Apple ID for iPad bought as gift I ordered the new iPad for my husband and used my Apple ID & password. How can he change to his ID when the iPad gets here? He will want to set up his own since we do not share the same taste in music and movies.

Apple doesn't pre-load anything onto an iPad that is ordered, so you can just hand him the box. He will be asked if he wants to register it and also guided through using his existing Apple ID if he has one.

If for some reason you opened it to "make sure everything works", just go to the settings app. reset -> erase all content and settings and he will get to go through all the setup steps and enter his credentials.

You could go one by one and remove the things you added, but this is the easiest way to get that out of the box experience. You could build suspense by having him go to http://appleid.apple.com and make an Apple ID so he is ready to go when the surprise arrives.

Have fun and let him know we're here with answers to iPad questions, too.


How can I transfer annotations from a PDF to another in iPad? I know there are a lot of ipad/pdf questions out there, but one of the things I don't see explicitly answered is the ability to transfer/merge pdf annotations from a pdf to an update pdf (only pages added).

Seems like a unpopular use-case for pdf annotation, but this is the case with alot of legal related documents. The court allows for access to the pdf, of course the lawyers need to take notes on the pdf, exhibits are added, then the court sends lawyers an email to download an updated pdf.

Anyone know of any ipad software that can store the annotations outside the pdf or even better merge the annotations to an updated file? Pages are just added to the end of the pdf file.

GoodReader can't do this and GoodReader suppport is unaware of a product that can, since they operate in this space I assume there isn't an iOS app for this.

GoodReader can display PDF files, add annotations to them, and save those annotations to that specific file. Unfortunately it's not able to edit the content of a PDF file, merge files or create new PDF files.

On a computer, the software that does this is Adobe Acrobat Pro. Unfortunately I can't recommend an iOS app that can perform these functions.


How can I delete song from both playlist and iTunes library? How can I delete a song both from a playlist and the iTunes music library when viewing the playlist in iTunes 12.0.1.26.

I've tried several key combinations with Backspace and Delete (in the Editmenu) is disabled.

Simple…

 Alt ⌥  Right Click & you get the option to Delete added to the context menu

Alternatively - press  Cmd ⌘   +  Alt ⌥   + ← backspace
see Deleting songs on computer from an iTunes playlist


Restoring iPhone backup from iTunes taking too long I got a new iPhone today to replace my broken one and I am trying to restore the backup from iTunes. I had around 50 GB of content in my old iPhone.

The remaining time to finish the backup started in 2 hours, and is steadily increasing (to about 27 hours at the time of this post).

Is there something wrong with my system?

I am recovering an iOS 9.3.2 backup to an iPhone 6 (64 GB) on a Mac running macOS 10.11.6 (El Capitan) on a 2013 iMac. I am using the lightning cable to restore the backup, and not over Wi-Fi.

First of all, you need to make sure that you have the latest version of iTunes (Currently v12.4.2) installed on your mac so that it supports the latest version of iOS.
Secondly, you can't restore an iPhone with a later version of iOS (iOS 9.3.2) to an iPhone with an older version (for instance, iOS 8.x). So make sure you've updated your new iPhone 6 to the latest version of iOS which is currently 9.3.3, then try it again.

I recommend you read this link and also this one so you'll get more information.

I hope I could help you. Good Luck.


Issues with Boom Beach and Clash of Clans My dad and I share an Apple ID (even though I've asked him time and time again to get his own for this reason). I accidentally clicked on both games my dad's account that is on his iPad and now I can't get to my own account. I have tried logging out of the Game Center and logging back in but neither will prompt to switch to my game. I also tried deleting it off my iPhone 6 and clearing it from the Game Center then re-download them and they both just pop up under my dad's account. Any advise to get my account back? Or start a new one?

Apps such as Boom Beach and Clash of Clans use Game Center by default, the only way to force it to not use the Game Center account is to temporarily sign out of Game Center then start the app after a clean install. If your old account was not bound to either Facebook or Game Center, there is no definite way to recover it, but you can try by following these steps: http://clashofclans.wikia.com/wiki/Recovering_a_lost_village_that_wasn%27t_linked_to_GC_or_GPlus


LG Ultrafine 5K volume too loud I have the LG Ultrafine 5K screen, and the volume is extremely loud if I move the slider to more than 20%. The screenshot below shows a rather normal listening volume. If I double it, it's very loud, but it's still at only 20% or less.

Anything over that, it sounds like the speakers are broken.

Is anyone else having this issue? The problem it causes is that I don't have fine control over the volume, for example when using the volume keys up or down, it moves in too big steps.

Is there a way to "rescale" the volume slider, or cap it at a maximum value somehow, so I can use the entire slider without becoming deaf?

This is fixed in the latest firmware from LG. Unfortunately you have to install it via their Screen Manager software, available here, but it seems to resolve the issue for the most part.


Will I lose previous purchases when I change country in iTunes I lived in country A for a few years, and made a number of purchases on the iTunes store for that country. I have now moved to country B, and want to start using the iTunes store from country B. If I change the country in my account settings, will I lose all my previous purchases, or will I still be able to re-download my purchases from country A from iCloud?

No, you will not lose your original iTunes purchases (songs, movies, apps, books, magazines, etc).

However, if you use iTunes on Macs or Windows to manage your apps, you'll only be able to download any app update(s) only if you switch your iTunes login (authenticate by typing in the correct password when prompted) to the same country that you purchased the apps.

If you use iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad installed with the latest iOS 5, you'll be able to download updates from purchases made with different iTunes country ids. Again, you'll need to authenticate by typing in the correct password when prompted. But unlike iOS 4, you won't need to log out before switching iTunes id.

I am happily using two different iTunes id to buy content from different countries.


Applescript toggle to do This, this time, and That, next time? Let's say I have an Applescript that does THISCODE.  And I have another Applescript that does THATCODE.  I always run them in sequence, but never at regular intervals.  In other words, whichever one I ran last time, I'll always run the other the next time.

Is there a way to combine the two Applescripts into one using a simple toggle?  For example, at the end of the Applescript, could I write a variable into the beginning of the script that'll be read the next time, such as EVENvariable or ODDvariable...  so that, when the Applescript runs, it'll know which state it was in the last time it ran.  Or is there an even more simple and obvious solution I'm missing?

You can do it by setting your own defaults parameter, to store the value between uses/reboots etc, otherwise an Applescript will not remember your current toggled state.

This is a quick example that will set a user-defined parameter [replace with actual company &/or product name & memorable parameter name if you have one, otherwise the example data will do fine] then will just say out loud, 'yes' or 'no' depending on the state of the defaults parameter switch.

You can run it from the open script or save it as an application.

set newTestParameter to "YES"
try
    set oldTestParameter to do shell script "defaults read com.myCo.myApp myParamSet"
    if oldTestParameter is in {"1", "YES"} then
        set newTestParameter to "NO"
    end if
end try
do shell script "defaults write com.myCo.myApp myParamSet " & newTestParameter

--your actual code, dependant on above switch
if newTestParameter is in {"1", "YES"} then
    say "Yes"
    -- run thisCode
else
    say "No"
    -- run thatCode
end if

On first run it will write a new file to ~/Library/Preferences called com.myCo.myApp.plist & will contain one parameter, with the current state of your toggle, like this

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>myParamSet</key>
    <string>NO</string>
</dict>
</plist>

You don't need to do anything to 'maintain' this on your own, you can simply keep sending its new value with each script run.


What is "applessdstatistics" doing on my non-SSD, non-Fusion drive iMac? I have a mid-2010 iMac that has regular HDD (not a Fusion drive, just good old spinning disks). Recently, after reboot, I was hearing intensive HDD I/O sounds and firing up Activity Monitor I noticed applessdstatistics process was reading a lot of data.

I found a way to disable it via Terminal command:

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.applessdstatistics.plist

But the question is: what was the process doing on my computer in the first place?

Does it do any tasks that would—nevermind the process name—benefit a regular HDD? Meaning: should I re-enable it?

I'm on up-to-date macOS Sierra 10.12.3

For whatever reason applessdstatistics started appearing for many non-SSD users after the macOS Sierra 10.12.2 update. Apple is aware of the issue.

As you've discovered, if you do not have an SSD it is totally safe to disable applessdstatistics with:

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.applessdstatistics.plist

And no, there is no need for you to re-enable it.

[EDIT]

After reading the comments I thought I should add some additional info about this issue.

Based on the advice provided by Apple on 8 February 2017, there are actually two issues that appeared around the same time concerning applessdstatistics. I describe these below:

The first issue is the one directly referred to in the OP's question. This is the issue of Macs with only hard drives suddenly having applessdstatistics appear and start reading data from the hard drive (typically in 4GB lots). applessdstatistics is only supposed to run on Macs with a SSD installed, not on Macs with traditional hard drives installed. This issue has affected a large number of desktop users with internal hard drives, primarily older iMacs (although this may only be because there are more iMacs in the field compared to Mac Pros and Mac Minis). I am unaware as to whether it is affecting MacBook models with only hard drives installed (as Little Eden implies in their comment below), but I am aware of the following issue (see 2 below) which could be what Little Eden is referring to.
The second issue, however, does affect various MacBooks (and other Macs) which do have a SSD installed. The issue is not the presence of applessdstatistics and the fact it is running, but the fact it results in high CPU usage. applessdstatistics has been running in the background of Macs with SSDs installed for a long time without issue until macOS Sierra 10.12.2 was released. However, after this release it has resulted in high CPU usage and, in some cases, a noticeable amount of noise coming from the machine.

Notes:

The 2nd issue (re high CPU usage and noise levels) is also affecting some non-SSD Macs affected by the first issue.
It is my understanding that Apple has an open ticket on this issue (i.e. I think it's the one ticket for both issues as they're related) and that a future update will resolve this.


iPad Air 2 charger getting warm My charger has been fine until recently although I noticed it getting warmer.  Last night it wouldn't charge at all and this morning it was so hot I could just about touch it with bare hands. I couldnt get the iPad to start up and eventually noticed a message "only use Apple charging devices as others may cause harm" it was then that I began to use my MacBook Pro USB.

The iPad charges okay from my MacBook Pro USB, is this a common occurrence? I bought the iPad as a manufacturers refurbished and has been fine in every other way.

It sounds like there may be a defect with either the charger or the iPad. I suggest taking it to an authorized Apple store so that they can run diagnostics on it, and potentially repair it.


Changing home network on SIM card I have an iPhone 4S from Verizon, which they've "unlocked" for international use. I say "unlocked" in quotes because it's still restricted from US SIM cards. I'm able to use any international SIM, but I can't use a SIM from AT&T, T-Mobile or AirFire.

I'm guessing this restriction involves checking if the Mobile Country Code is from the United States (310-316, I think). Since AT&T's MCC-MNC is 310-410, it's obvious the phone shouldn't be happy with it. However, with a SIM from GiffGaff (a virtual carrier on o2's network), I'm able to use AT&T in the US because their MCC-MNC is on the list, but not in the home position.

Armed with this information, I'm guessing I can take an AT&T SIM card, bump all the MCC-MNC's on the list down a position, and add a UK carrier in the 'home' position? That way my phone will look for the UK carrier and believe that it's a UK carrier's SIM, not find it and then move down the list to the roaming networks?

If anyone has any information on if this will work, or can point me in the right directions for the tools to try this, please let me know!

Afaik Verizon can only unlock the phone completely and not block certain carriers.

Until the iPhone 5, there was no model that supports CDMA and GSM.

The reason your phone doesn't work on an AT&T network (or most international networks for that matter) is because AT&T doesn't run a CDMA network.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3939


iCloud documents "waiting" Ever since I restored my Mac from a Time Machine backup to return from Yosemite to Mavericks, things have been a mess. I fixed everything but iCloud sync, which seems to be an impossible issue. It simply refuses to sync. The files are always "Waiting", no matter what I do. I've deleted the Ubiquity folder, replaced the Mobile Documents folder, run killall -9 ubd, rebooted about 20 times, and so on. Any other ideas out there?

Upgrading to iCloud Drive is a one-time, irreversible action. You can not go back from iCloud Drive to Documents & Data—your Apple ID has been permanently upgraded.

  Migrating to iCloud Drive will disable Documents & Data syncing for your iCloud account on OS X Mavericks and earlier Macs, as well as iOS 7 and earlier devices.

Source: OS X Yosemite release notes


running ARM program on xcode I'd like to have a compiler for ARM on my Mac, and I read somewhere that there is a way to run and maybe debug ARM code on Xcode.
Anyone has any hint on how I should do or if it is even possible?
Any other solution for ARM on Mac?
Thanks

Running ARM code on macOS

See How to emulate an ARM architecture under OSX 10.6 (“Snow Leopard”)? The answers to this question include suggestions for:

QEMU

  QEMU is a generic and open source machine emulator and virtualizer.

QEMU can be installed from Homebrew: brew install qemu

Skyeye

  Skyeye is a multi-architecture, multi-core, and highly scalable hardware simulation platform. Cur- rently it is implemented by the core library libcommon.so and a series of plug-ins based on the composition of the core library. SkyEye supports the system structure of ARM, Blackfin, Coldfire, PowerPC, MIPS, SPARC and x86.

Skyeye may be no longer under active development.

Cross Compiling ARM with Xcode

Getting Xcode to correctly cross-compile non-iOS device ARM code on the Mac appears to be possible, if tricky. You may find focusing on command line compiling easier.

embedXcode

  embedXcode is a template for Xcode, Apple's official IDE on Mac, and eases development for the most popular embedded computing boards.

Alternative Approaches

Cross compiling ARM static lib with GCC for Mac iOS xCode projects
Add a custom compiler to XCode 3.2


Why can't I see my latest photos when I try to add a picture to facebook? I just imported a bunch of photos from my iphone 6 to my mac book and I have migrated to the new Photos app.  When I go into the Photos app, I do see these pictures that have been imported but when I go to another app (like facebook) and try to add a photo to a post, I go into Media => Photos and none of the newly uploaded photos are showing up.

I am not sure if this is related to migrating from IPhoto to Photos on the mac but any suggestion or explanations on what could be going wrong here?


How do I delete thousands of .jpg files, each a duplicate of a .heic file? I was shooting photos/videos with an iPhone 8 and syncing using macOS iTunes & Photos on High Sierra.

For a period of two years, I have somehow ended up with a duplicate of every photo—several thousand duplicates.

Each duplicated photo is in two file types, one is in .HEIC and the other is in .JPG.

Each video from the same period has only one copy, in .MOV format.

I am assuming that it is prudent to delete the .jpg files and keep the .heic ones, since the latter can store live photos and since I can generate .jpg from them if needed.

How do I delete thousands of .jpg files, each a duplicate of a .heic file? The duplication started after I moved to Photos from iPhotos. A script that does the job with no confirmation is fine (I'd test it on one day).

One option is to use an AppleScript (or JavaScript for Automation, rather) such as the one I posted about here. I've copied its contents below*, and I've tried to include a fair amount of instructions between the post and comments in the code.
#!/usr/bin/osascript -l JavaScript
// findJpgHeicDuplicates.js
// https://n8henrie.com/2021/02/remove-duplicate-jpg-or-heic-photos-from-macos-photosapp/
//
// Quickstart:
//   - Copy this into a file, e.g. `findJpgHeicDuplicates.js`
//      - Alternatively, check the post above for a download link
//   - Make executable: `chmod +x findJpgHeicDuplicates.js`
//   - Modify the configuration in the `CUSTOMIZE` section if desired
//     - This is where you can configure getting rid of `.jpg` vs `.heic`
//   - Select a set of photos in Photos.app
//   - Run `./findJpgHeicDuplicates.js`
//   - Process the suspected duplicates in `Duplicates/timestamp`
//
//  Alternatively, users not comfortable with the command line can:
//    - open `Script Editor.app` on their Mac
//      - `/System/Applications/Utilities/Script Editor.app` on Big Sur
//    - create a new script
//    - Change the language to JavaScript (if `AppleScript` is displayed near
//      the top left)
//    - Copy and paste the contents of this script
//    - You will need to compile with `command` + `k` (or the hammer button) in
//      between each run or else you will get `Error: SyntaxError: Can't create
//      duplicate variable:`
//
// Apple's newish `.heic` image format compresses photos somewhat smaller than
// jpg with some loss of minor details. Unfortunately, many users like myself
// end up with numerous duplicate photos as a result -- half .jpg and half
// .heic -- which nullifies the space savings.
//
// This script uses filename (sans extension), the photo's timestamp*, and
// configurable fields in `criteria` (found in the `CUSTOMIZE` section) to find
// likely .heic/.jpg duplicates from a selected set of photos in MacOS
// Photos.app. If it finds a likely duplicate with at least one copy of the
// desired extension, it then moves all copies of the UNdesired filetype to an
// album named by the unix timestamp at the time of running within a folder
// named `Duplicates`. These can then be inspected, and if desired batch
// deleted with `command` + `delete`.
//
// * +/- 10 seconds, since most of my `.heic` files are timestamped ~1 second
//   after the `.jpg`
//
// Note that if adding many photos to an album at once, Photos.app may prompt
// for confirmation before doing so. Therefore, if you leave this script
// running and aren't there to accept the confirmation prompt, the script may
// time out while waiting for a response. Additionally, if your Mac sleeps
// while this is running, it may not work properly -- I recommend running
// `caffeinate -d` from the command prompt or using an application like
// `Caffeine` to disable sleep if you're going to run it while AFK. Thankfully,
// it seems that as long as you confirm the action it will often still work.
//
// I don't write much JavaScript, but I much prefer it to AppleScript. This
// should be non-destructive, but use it at your own risk. Make sure you have
// tested and working backups.
//
// Runs in about 19 minutes for my library of 20,233 pictures on my 2014 MBA.
//
// Tested on MacOS 11.1, Photos 6.0

'use strict'

// CUSTOMIZE
let getRidOfExtension = "jpg" // Only get rid of photos with this extension
let dupFolderName = "Duplicates"
let logInterval = 1000

let criteria = [
    // "favorite",
    "width",
    // "pcls", // not sure what this is
    // "size", // not recommended -- heic and jpg will have different sizes
    // "location", // [123.456, -78.9]
    // "keywords",
    "height",
    // "description",
    // "altitude",
    // "name", // often not set, not the same as filename
]
// END CUSTOMIZE

function getDetails(photo) {
    let properties = photo.properties()

    var details = {
        "extension": properties["filename"].toLowerCase().split(".").slice(-1)[0],
        "timestamp": properties["date"].getTime() / 1000, // in seconds
    }

    for (let criterion of criteria) {
        details[criterion] = properties[criterion]
    }
    return details
}

function run(argv) {
    let tsForAlbum = Date.now().toString()

    const photos = Application('Photos')
    let selection = photos.selection()
    let selectionLength = selection.length
    if (selectionLength < 2) {
        throw new Error("Not enough photos selected")
    }

    let getRidOfExtensionLower = getRidOfExtension.toLowerCase()
    // { filename-sans-extension: [ {'selectionIdx': idx1, 'timestamp': ts, "extension": ext } ] }
    var photomap = {}
    var duplicates = []
    for (let selectionIdx in selection) {
        if (selectionIdx % logInterval == 0) {
            console.log("Processing " + selectionIdx + " of " + selectionLength)
        }
        let photo = selection[selectionIdx]

        // This script only intended for jpg and heic
        let filename = photo.filename()
        let lowername = filename.toLowerCase()
        if (!(lowername.endsWith(".jpg") || lowername.endsWith(".heic"))) {
            continue
        }

        var details = getDetails(photo)
        details['selectionIdx'] = selectionIdx

        let stem = filename.replace(/(\.JPG$)|(\.HEIC$)/i, "")
        if (!(stem in photomap)) {
            photomap[stem] = [details]
            continue
        }

        photomap[stem].push(details)
        let sameStem = photomap[stem]

        // filter for timestamps within 10 seconds of the current photo
        let timestamp = details['timestamp']
        let similarTimes = sameStem.filter(otherDetails => {
            let ts = otherDetails['timestamp']
            if (Math.abs(timestamp - ts) < 10) {
                return true
            }
            return false
        })
        let detailsMatch = similarTimes.filter(otherDetails => {
            let keys = Object
                .keys(otherDetails)
                .filter(key => !(["timestamp", "extension", "selectionIdx"].includes(key)))
            for (let key of keys) {
                if (details[key] != otherDetails[key]) {
                    return false
                }
            }
            return true
        })

        // If filtering heic / jpg duplicates, we want to make sure there is at
        // least one of each filetype before we decide to filter the other out,
        // otherwise we might e.g. end up filtering both copies of duplicate
        // [jpg, jpg] (if configured to keep heic). Because this script only
        // puts *one* copy into the duplicates folder, which facilitates mass
        // deletion, this otherwise could end up causing unexpected data loss
        // if users aren't paying attention.
        let keepPhotos = detailsMatch.filter(each => each["extension"] != getRidOfExtensionLower)
        if (keepPhotos.length < 1) {
            continue
        }

        // Should always match itself
        if (detailsMatch.length > 1) {
            (
                detailsMatch
                    .filter(details => details['extension'] == getRidOfExtensionLower)
                    .map(details => {
                        let sidx = details['selectionIdx']
                        duplicates.push(selection[sidx])
                })
            )
        }
    }

    console.log("Found " + duplicates.length + " suspected duplicate[s]")
    if (duplicates.length == 0) {
        return
    }

    let duplicatesFolder = photos.folders.byName(dupFolderName)
    if (!duplicatesFolder.exists()) {
        photos.make({new: "folder", named: dupFolderName})
    }
    let album = duplicatesFolder.albums.byName(tsForAlbum)
    if (!album.exists()) {
        photos.make({new: "album", named: tsForAlbum, at: duplicatesFolder})
    }
    photos.add(duplicates, {to: album})
    console.log("Duplicates added to " + dupFolderName + "/" + tsForAlbum)
}


What does the 'J' icon on a photo in the Photos app mean? For some reason on some of my photos there is this 'J' icon:

What does it mean?

Source:

  When you shoot RAW + JPEG the Photos app stacks the two images together. The J means you have a stack with a JPEG file and a RAW file and the JPEG file is used as original. To change to the RAW file go into edit mode (enter) and choose Image - > Use Raw as original. The letter will now change to a R.


Microsoft Remote Desktop client failing to connect via Remote Desktop Gateway in AWS I am on Microsoft Remote Desktop Version 10.2.2 on macOS 10.14 (Mojave). The error log looks like the following.

  An error occurred while communicating with the Remote Desktop Gateway.
  If this keeps happening, contact your network administrator for
  assistance.

  Error code: 0x3000062

I confirmed that the EC2 instance requires a security group that allows incoming traffic to the following ports for the Remote Desktop Gateway Service.

TCP/443
UDP/3391


Any way to know what wakes an Mac up? Regularly while sleeping my Mac wakes up and i'd like to know if there is some kind of log of what trigged the waking. (Mouse click ? Keyboard ? WOL Magic Packet ? Something else ?)

I'm on late 2012 iMac with 10.8.3

PS: "Wake for network access" is enabled.

In System Preferences under Energy Saver, is there a check in the checkbox for Enable Power Nap while plugged into a power adapter?

If so, then this is possibly why your iMac is waking up.  The description of Power Nap in System Preferences says: "While sleeping, your Mac can back up using Time Machine and periodically check for new email, calendar, and other iCloud updates".


How to redirect MacBook 2009 audio to my Sony TV? I can't connect audio from my MacBook 2009 to a Sony HD LED TV, need some help.

2009 MacBook Pro's do not output audio through the display port.  This feature didn't start until the 2010 models.  You will need a second optical cable or headphone cable from the audio port.


Why does mounting an nfs share from linux require the use of a privileged port? I export a directory on a linux box and I can mount it from another linux box using

# mount -t nfs kurush:/media/lynk /mnt/kurush/

The same command fails on Mac OS X:

$ sudo mount -t nfs kurush:/media/lynk /Volumes/lynk
mount_nfs: can't mount /media/lynk from kurush onto /Volumes/lynk: Operation not permitted

At the same time, kurush:/var/logs/syslog records this line:

rpc.mountd[7943]: authenticated mount request from sds-MacBook-Pro.home:1009 for /media/lynk (/media/lynk)

When I try to go though the GUI (finder->connect to server->nfs://kurush/media/lynk->connect), I get an immediate failure (unable to connect &c) and the linux box syslog records the authenticated mount request.

The problem is solved by using a privileged port:

Command line:

sudo mount -o resvport -t nfs kurush:/media/lynk /Volumes/lynk

To enable GUI:

sudo vifs

then add a line

kurush:/media/lynk /Volumes/lynk nfs resvport,ro,user,noauto

The questions are:

Why do I need to use a privileged port? Is it something I do on the linux side?
I seem to recall that once upon a time I did mount that share without the aforementioned magic.
How do I tell MacOSX to use the privileged port without using the command line?
I thought Apple was for the "non-techie" crowd, so it must be possible!

Why do you have to? Tradition, mostly. Once upon a time, restricting NFS to privileged ports (<1023) was considered a security measure. Back when people were using mainframe computers, this made sure that the NFS software on the client side was part of the OS/approved by the administrator, since a program can only use a privileged port if it's run by the root user. Today, this makes no sense because anyone can own a computer and have root access, so this doesn't mean anything in terms of security.

By default, many NFS servers don't allow non-privileged source ports. Some NFS clients (such as Ubuntu's), default to using a privileged source port unless otherwise specified, which is why your Linux client works without issue. Clearly, the OS X client doesn't do this. I don't know if that was an Apple design choice or something inherited from BSD. I know that Solaris also defaults to a non-privileged port.

The two ways of avoiding this problem are, telling the OS X client to use a privileged port, as you discovered, or configuring your NFS server to allow non-privileged ports (look it up in your server's documentation).

How do you get OS X to use a privileged port using a GUI? As far as I know, you can't on versions > 10.6. One used to be able to mount NFS shares in Disk Utility and type in extra options, but that was removed. (details) It was never a simple button or anything. NFS is hardly something most of the "non-techy" crowd need, so I guess it wasn't a priority and there are reasons routinely using privileged ports isn't a great idea.

I haven't tried it, but http://www.bresink.com/osx/NFSManager.html seems to allow configuration of OS X's NFS features without the command line.


Does USB-C to HDMI take more processing power than direct USB-C to DisplayPort? I have a MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Two USB-C ports). My company bought a USB-C to HDMI adapter to connect a screen that has both HDMI and DisplayPort.

I'm having some issues unrelated to the question (I have to unplug and plug back the HDMI cable for it to work). So I was wondering... Would a USB-C to DisplayPort work better? not only in terms of getting rid of having the unplug/plug the HDMI cable but also in overall performance?

How does a USB-C to HDMI work vs USB-C to DisplayPort?

For instance, I know that if you plug this HDMI adapter to a 4K screen, this will run at 30Hz. On the other hand, when using a direct USB-C to DisplayPort cable, the same screen would run at 60Hz. Is this because of the limitations of HDMI itself? or is it because it requires significantly more power to run an HDMI adapter?

(I'm more interested in the performance part and how the Displayport and HDMI connections are different, if any, than in the issue I'm having with my current adapter).

Technically speaking, your Macbook has two Thunderbolt 3 ports.  From Apple.com:

  Two Thunderbolt 3  (USB-C) ports  with support for:

  Charging
  DisplayPort
  Thunderbolt (up to 40 Gbps)
  USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10 Gbps)

So, the adapters you have are actually Display Port to HDMI;  USB-C is just the physical port type.

So, the question is actually: "Which would work better?  Display Port to HDMI or Display Port to Display Port?"

Personally, I don't like converting signals from one to the next - I would go with a Display Port adapter and keep everything the same end-to-end.  The less you have to convert, the less overhead and the less compatibility issues.


Unable to download or stream purchased song from iCloud Library I noticed an issue a few months ago that songs that had been uploaded to my iCloud Library (a feature of Apple Music) were occasionally not playing on my iPhone. Trying to download or stream the song would result in my phone waiting a few seconds and then start playing the next queued song. The phone never threw an error and it always happened on the same songs.

All of my music is available locally on my computer, so I never saw the problem there. But out of curiosity I removed the download of one of the problematic songs, tried streaming and it failed on my computer. iTunes throws an error: "There was a problem downloading [song artist/ title] An unknown error occurred (-206). Please check the connection to the network is active and try again"
After doing some digging I discovered that songs that had either been purchased from iTunes OR downloaded from iTunes Match and then uploaded to iCloud Library (instead of being matched by iCloud Library), will always fail to download from iCloud Library. In iTunes it can be filtered like this:
Kind: “Purchased AAC audio file” OR “Matched AAC audio file” iCloud Status: “Uploaded”
I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this issue? And if so, do you know how to force the song to upload?

And if anyone is willing, and I’d be very interested in knowing if you filter for those types of songs and remove the downloaded version, are you able to re-download or stream them? PLEASE BACKUP YOUR MUSIC BEFORE TRYING THIS — in my case, if I had not had a local backup of my library I would have lost these songs.
Some example images of the errors:

Found a kind of workaround to re-upload those related songs. Make sure you have a backup of those songs before trying in case something will go wrong, and make sure you have exported your custom created playlists to import them later if any of those songs are there.

You are going to remove those Matched or Purchased kind of files and will create new ones. These steps should save all the metadata like ratings, play counts and so on, but will have a new one date added to library.

iCloud should have to check those files again and will make those songs Matched or Uploaded once again, but this time everything should be playable and downloadable for offline use.

Make sure you have the iTunes Plus setting in Preferences > Import Settings.
Create the new playlist and put all songs you found broken in your previously created Smart Playlist, just in case it will not mess up later. Create a new Smart Playlist with todays Date Added, this will put all fixed files there that you will create later.

In the next step you have to Create AAC version in File > Convert. This will make a duplicate file but all the crucial metadata should be the same, file size may be larger or smaller though.

Now you need to completely remove broken songs under Song > Delete From Library.

This will give new Removed iCloud status to the newly created files. You will need to select all files in the new Smart Playlist with Date added today setting, right-click and select Add to iCloud Music Library.

You will have now Matched or Uploaded iCloud status in these files but everything should work properly now. The location of files eventually should be the same as removed ones, so you can have playable Exported playlists that you want to Import now.


Eclipse quit unexpectedly (Mac OS X 10.7.4 and Eclipse 3.8) I had an Eclipse environment all wrong, than I decided to install another (newer) version from scratch. After I "uninstalled" the older version, I downloaded the Eclipse for Java Developers 64-bit for OS X (version 3.8) from eclipse.org.

After I downloaded, I tried to open and the error Eclipse quit unexpectedly begun to haunt my programming fun! Does anyone have a solution for that problem?

These are the ones I've tried:

Clean the workspace.
Open via Terminal with -clean.
Download previous "working" version.
Downloaded other version.

RESULT: same problem = eclipse quit unexpectedly.

This is probably because eclipse shutdown abnormally.
Open the Terminal and go to the location where eclipse is installed.
Then run eclipse from the terminal like...
$./eclipse -clean

It should start, once it does go to the Eclipse menu and Quit eclipse.
If you have any shortcuts on the desktop you'll have to remove them and make new shortcuts with the executable.