Do iOS apps run in the background? Let's say if I install a dozen games and utilities on the iPhone, and then also installed chat apps like WhatsApp, WeChat, Line, then

When the iPhone restarts, can all these apps start up as well and take up valuable processor time and system resources?
What if I start an app, and then explicitly double tap on the Home button, and then slide the app out (to exit it). Can it or part of it still run in the background now or later?
Since WhatsApp, WeChat, Line, and Facebook Messages all notify me of new messages, it looks like they will be running as soon as I restart my iPhone. Are they using my CPU in the background? Also, it seems that even if I turn off App Refresh in Settings, the apps can possibly still run in the background. Is that true?

One big concern is, if I do install all Angry Birds variations, a few casino roulette games, and all Cut the Rope versions and don't bother to delete them (the phone has 128GB storage). Then, will all these apps possibly run at iPhone restart time or just randomly and take up processor time and system resources (such as RAM)?

Apple has very strict guidelines for how—and when—apps can run in the background.
The following are the only scenarios in which a third-party iOS app can use CPU in the background.
Background Fetch
Any app can use "Background Fetch" (aka Background app refresh) to fetch content in the background for a few seconds, about once a day (on a timeframe regulated by iOS, out of the developer's control). Background Fetch takes up very little battery and CPU, and is mainly used by news/weather/social media/mail apps to update your feed so that when you open the app it won't be completely out of date.
Audio, Voice over IP, Bluetooth Communications
If an app plays audio in the background (over AirPlay or through the phone's speakers), iOS permits it to run in the background until it ceases to play the music; if an app allows you to make data-based phone calls (like Whatsapp or Skype calls) in the background, it can stay active, using CPU for the duration of the call; and if an app communicates to Bluetooth Accessories (like the Pebble app communicating with the Pebble Smartwatch), it can stay awake permanently in the background.
Newsstand downloads, remote notifications
Newsstand apps (as long as they are approved by Apple to be a  major news organization and show up in the Newsstand part of the App Store) are permitted to download new content in the background; any app (like The New York Times app) that needs to display notifications generated outside the app (for example, breaking news notifications), can stay awake in the background to recieve such "remote" notifications.
Location Updates
If you allow an app to "always" use your location (i.e. in the background), then it can be active at any time in the background. Apps like Facebook, Find Friends, and others use this to update location-related information, though other apps can use it to surreptitiously use it to do tasks in the background (but only if you specifically allow them to access your location).

A very common misconception is that "swiping up" on an app to kill it stops it from operating in the background: this is wholly untrue. Apps that have one of the above seven reasons to operate in the background can operate in the background regardless of you "swiping up" on them, and apps that don't have one of these seven reasons can't operate when they're not on the screen even if you don't kill them.
Another misconception (that you seem to have!) is that switching off "Background App Refresh" will stop an app from operating in the background; in fact, that only disables an app from using Background Fetch, but it can operate in the background if it has one of the other six reasons too regardless of the Background App Refresh toggle.

So are the apps you have installed using CPU, memory, battery, or data in the background? You can easily find out! Go to Settings on your iPhone, find the Battery section, and take a peek. If an app shows "Background Activity" under its name, then it's been using CPU in the background; otherwise, it has not been doing anything in the background.
Here's an example screenshot:

On this iPhone, Podcasts has been operating in the background but none of the other apps have. Going into Battery Settings is a simple way to tell if Angry Birds has been running in the background.

So, to answer your questions directly:

When the iPhone restarts, can all these apps start up as well and take up valuable processor time and system resources?

Only if they are specifically configured to run in the background, you can check if they've been doing that in your iPhone's Battery settings.

What if I start an app, and then explicitly double tap on the Home button, and then slide the app out (to exit it). Can it or part of it still run in the background now or later?

Yes. For example, if Facebook uses location services (as it does), then swiping up to kill the Facebook app will not stop it from using your location in the background, and while it's using your location, it can perform just about any other task in the background too.

Since WhatsApp, WeChat, Line, and Facebook Messages all notify me of new messages, it looks like they will be running as soon as I restart my iPhone. Are the using my CPU in the background? Also, it seems that even if I turn off App Refresh in Settings, the apps can possibly still run in the background. Is that true?

Whatsapp, WeChat, Line, Hangouts, FB Messenger, and other chat apps use the remote notifications capability to check for new messages in the background every once in a while. This is expected behavior (and you can check how much they're doing it by checking their app-by-app battery usage, again in Battery settings), and shouldn't drain your battery too much. And indeed, turning off App Refresh for those apps will not have any effect, as the apps use remote notifications and not background fetch to operate in the background.

TL;DR: Apps can use your phone's resources in the background, you can see how much they're doing in Settings -> Battery.

Sources of information:

I am an iOS and Mac Developer with 2 apps on the App Store
Article: Swiping up on apps doesn't affect whether they're running in the background
Post: What turning off Background App Refresh really does
Image: Background modes in Xcode
Stack Overflow Answer: Strict rules on running iOS apps in the background
Stack Overflow Answer: How WhatsApp and Skype run in the background on iOS


Automator to overwrite folder after uncompressing I'm working on an automator folder action and am running into some issues!

I have a source folder where a zip file is dropped regularly and overwritten.

my automator actions take that zip file, copy the zip to my destination, uncompress it.

but everytime I run it, it creates a new folder (folder, folder 1, folder 2)

how do I overwrite the folder so I only have 1 "destination" updated folder from the zip?

alternatively, I also was going to see if I can get the contents of the freshly unzipped folder and copy that..but couldn't get at that either!

many thanks for your insights and help!

You probably don't need automator for this. Just configuring the archive utility should be enough. Set the "save expanded files" destination folder on the hidden preferences panel. Follow the steps below to enable it.

Change How macOS Handles ZIP Files With These Hidden Preferences

A hidden System Preferences pane lets you configure how archives work on your Mac. You can stop ZIP files from going to the Trash after you unarchive them, or you can have newly created archives spawn in a particular folder. Enabling this panel just takes a couple minutes.

Find and Install The Hidden Preferences Pane

Open the Finder, then click the icon for your computer in the “Devices” section of the sidebar. From your system drive, browse to System > Library > CoreServices > Applications, a folder that houses a few application your Mac uses regularly.

We’re interested in the Archive Utility, which is the program that opens ZIP files by default on your Mac. Right-click this application, then click “Show Package Contents.”

This allows us to browse the files that make up the application. Head to Contents > Resources and you’ll find a file called “Archives.prefPane.”

Double-click this file and System Preferences will launch, asking you if you’d like to install the pane. Click “Install.”

You’ve now added the Archives pane to your System Preferences.

Change How Archives Work On Your Mac

You’ll find the new Archives pane in the bottom section of the System Preferences.

Click it and you’ll see a few options.

First, you can choose where unarchived files end up. The default is in the same archive as the archive itself, but you can choose a specific folder if you want. Next, you can choose what happens to archive files after you unarchive them. By default, such files are sent to the trash, but you can optionally leave the archive alone or even delete it outright.

The bottom half of this preference pane concerns archives created by this application. If you select a bunch of files in the Finder, right-click them, then click “Compress,” you can create a ZIP file.

Source: https://www.howtogeek.com/284856/change-how-macos-handles-zip-files-with-these-hidden-preferences/


What is Format Painter shortcut in Excel 2011 for Mac? I've been looking on the Internet for the shortcut to the Format Painter tool. No luck so far, it seems there's no shortcut for this tool. Maybe someone here knows better.

There is (now) a predefined shortcut for this

To copy the format: CMD+SHFT+C
To paste the copied format: CMD+SHFT+V


How to install GNU-sed? I am trying to install GNU sed. Following this post I did

brew install gnu-sed

A priori it went fine, but then the command gsed is not found. I could not find any gnu-sed (or equivalent) in /usr/local/bin/ except the standard sed.

I am on Mac OS X 10.11.3

It would appear that the brew link process didn't successfully link from the Cellar to /usr/local/bin.

First, let's check that it installed. Try brew list and you will get a list of installed formulae. If gnu-sed is in there then it installed okay. If it's not, then run brew install gnu-sed again and you should be okay.

If it is in the list then try linking it and see what output you get. brew link gnu-sed will do this. It should link okay and you will be off and running.


iPod songs all show as -0.00 seconds long I've come across a problem with my 5g iPod nano. For some reason all of the songs come up as being -0.00 seconds long. I've tried the normal soft reset, but this doesn't seem to have done anything. Any suggestions?

I've had issues with an iPod nano showing most songs with incorrect durations, though in my case they were shown as much longer than the song actually was.

My guess is it was caused by encoding the MP3s in a program not called "iTunes".  They played great everywhere, but the song length never looked right in iTunes on my Mac, either.  I guess Apple's MP3/ID3 decoder is stricter than my encoder was.

If you were using some other program to encode them, you could try re-encoding them in iTunes.


JDK 7 on mac 10.6.2 (32bits) I want to install JDK version 7 on my mac Snow leopard 10.6.2 (32bits).
 How can I do it ? Pleas give me some help ? is it possible or not ?

Java 7 and Java 8 is only available in a 64-bit version on OS X, and therefor it can only be installed on a 64-bit Mac.


Geeky terminal for OS X I want to bind a certain command to show a terminal on screen without window frame with the command of my choice. I plan to use it to quickly launch network monitoring tools (trafshow) when I use a certain key combination. I should be able to specify the position of the terminal window, make it non-interactive, etc. I can specify the position and options through config file or command-line.

Is there any software I can use or does any of the popular terminal applications have this feature?

Try GeekTool. Might be interesting to you.


How to copy TextEdit preferences to another computer? Just copying the following file from one computer to another does not transfer my customized preferences for TextEdit

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.TextEdit/Data/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TextEdit.plist

You have to copy the preference file at ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TextEdit.plist


Cut / clear selected region of pdf using Preview As shown in the screenshot I have selected a rectangular region. I want to clear that section. None of the menu/toolbar items are apt for this task.  Is there a workaround?

Update It was suggested to use the Tools|Annotation|Text and put a white background text . However I see no way to configure the text - including customizing the font, fg/bg color, transparency, etc.  How to do so?  See screenshot.

The only substitute for "clearing" a section in a pdf that is not editable is to use the Tools: Annotate: Text command and make the fill color of the text block white. This will cover what's behind it and you can type in whatever text you wish to replace what is covered.


How can I automatically disable WiFi when I connect to an Ethernet network? I would like my WiFi to automatically disconnect when I plug an Ethernet cable into my Mac. How would I go about this?

If you have somehow modified the default service ordering, you can set it again in the network tab using the gear.

This makes the Wi-Fi inactive for internet routing whenever you connect the cable. What you ask is scriptable if you know some programming, but there isn't a simple trigger to actually turn the Wi-Fi radio off at the user level of the OS.


Third party application cannot write to disk I downloaded this application: Donkey Simulator

And after unzipping there should be an executable file but also a folder called "log", and once the application is running, new files are written into this "log" folder.

However this does not happen and they warned about this situation:

  If logs are not being generated you are probably running a version of
  OS X that sandboxes untrusted applications. This prevents the
  simulator writing to disk. To resolve this, move the executable within
  the Applications folder.

Their solution of dragging the app into the Applications folder didn't solve the issue.

The logs are indeed getting created. I executed the app on a Mac running macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 (17E199). I have verified the log creation by precisely following the steps documented on the linked download web-page. Three important instructions to take note of from the linked web-page:

  If logs are not being generated you are probably running a version of OS X that sandboxes untrusted applications. This prevents the simulator writing to disk. To resolve this, move the executable within the Applications folder.

  This simulator can create log data in the donkey tub format. This is stored in the log dir at the root of the folder next to the executable. On the mac you will need to browse the package contents to see this folder. If this folder is missing, no data will be recorded.

  Hit Auto Drive w Rec button.

Now, follow the steps as described below:

Double click the downloaded DonkeySimMac.zip file. It will extract DonkeySimMac/donkey_sim.app app bundle.
Move/copy donkey_sim.app to /Applications directory.
Run donkey_sim.app by right clicking (please don't double click) on the app icon. Upon first launch (only), you'll be presented with a dialog box stating

"donkey_sim.app" is an application downloaded from the Internet. Are you sure you want to open it?

Click Open to launch the app.
Select your preferred Graphics options and hit Play!.
Start scene of your choice by double clicking.
Hit Auto Drive w Rec button.
You'll be able to see a running counter against the label Log in bottom left corner of the app window. This verifies that the logs are getting generated.

Once you are done, click Stop → Exit → Quit.
Navigate to /Applications directory.
Right click on donkey_sim.app and select Show Package Contents.
Double click to open log directory.
Voila! Your logs are here.

Observation: Log generation only works when either Joystick/Keryboard w Rec or Auto Drive w Rec option is selected. (Yes, keyboard is mistyped as Keryboard!).


How long does it take for Apple to bill me for purchases on iTunes? I've noticed that I'll often get an email about 24 hours after my purchase took place on iTunes. Does Apple have some sort of billing cycle, or does the withdrawal frm my account actually happen immediately?

Per the iTunes Store — Terms and Conditions

  If a credit card or your PayPal account is being used for a transaction, Apple may obtain preapproval for an amount up to the amount of the order. Billing occurs at the time of or shortly after your transaction. If you are using 1-Click purchasing or your PayPal account, your order may be authorized and billed in increments during one purchasing session, so it may appear as multiple orders on your statement. If an iTunes Card, iTunes Store Gift Certificate, or Allowance Account is used for a transaction, the amount is deducted at the time of your transaction. When making purchases, content credits are used first, followed by Gift Certificate, iTunes Card, or Allowance Account credits; your credit card or PayPal account is then charged for any remaining balance.


Open all selected PDFs in one Preview window - macOS High Sierra As of High Sierra, Preview always opens all selected PDFs in single windows for each document. In the preferences menu, there is an option to change this behaviour for images, but not PDFs.

This is a real bummer and makes Preview a lot less useful. What is Apple thinking?

Ok, the real question is: How do we fix this?

You can install Preview 9.0 again from https://github.com/frhd/macOS-Preview9.0.


How can I associate OpenOffice documents with OpenOffice apps instead of TextEdit? I just updated to Mountain Lion.

My documents were prepared in OpenOffice and contain many mathematical equations. After updating to Mountain Lion, the documents open in TextEdit instead of OpenOffice. This is an issue because TextEdit doesn't render the equations properly.

How can I re-associate OpenOffice documents with the OpenOffice apps instead of TextEdit?

Go to one of your OpenOffice documents in the Finder and Get Info (⌘+I). In the "Open with" section, choose the appropriate app in the popdown (OpenOffice or LibreOffice), then click the Change All... button and hit Continue in the confirmation dialog.


Some MacOS app store functions broken It seemed that Server.app was interfering with the 10.13.4 update.  It would complain that the Server Update required 10.13.4 but offer to install the previous version.  Clicking OK for that, but nothing happened and 10.13.4 did not download.  Then the update panel stopped populating; it would briefly show the connection spinner, then go completely blank.

A web search showed lots of people having this blank updates problem back in 2013, and at least one person solved it by deleting and reinstalling Server.

I deleted Server, but the reinstall attempt gave me the same previous version offer, but again, clicking OK, nothing downloaded.  So I tried hiding it from Purchased.  Noticed that Purchased wants me to "accept" GarageBand, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, & iMovie.  I clicked Accept, but every time I go to Purchased, it still wants that.  Updates is still blank.

Logging out of App Store and back in didn't help.  Reboot didn't help.  Down loading and installing the Combo update didn't help.

The Manage page won't let me unhide Server.

Trying to re-install Server, they want me to pay for it again!

Searching for an associated plist finds dozens whose names suggest they have something to do with App store.  Don't want to delete that many.

Any ideas?  I sent a complaint similar to this to the App Store support, but I'm not holding my breath for an answer.

In case anyone gets confused by all that, here are four things wrong:

Updates is blank (it should show Xcode not yet updated and all the “recently updated” items.
“Unhide” does nothing
“Accept” does nothing
Wants me to pay again for Server
(4) is minor because I have backups, but (1) & (2) will prevent updating it.

Sadly, the best solution is to isolate the failure. Take your AppleID to a clean install of macOS (you could download the installer and install on to a USB drive or boot to Internet Recovery and see if you can install on to a USB drive.

Then you'll know if the problem is your computer or your AppleID. Despite the delay in getting to Apple Support - they are the one true source of account information and the best troubleshooting and the inside access to engineering to fix your account and/or get you the best chance of a precise fix.

Sorry it's not some easy thing, but the likely cause is you need to wipe and reinstall your Mac and that might only take a couple hours overnight - especially if you have a backup to restore tomorrow. Ideally you would have a second Mac you could borrow and run the test there if you don't want to touch your main Mac or be sure you can restore your current system to a new OS with no issues brought forward with the migration.


MBP SSD impending failure Configuration:

Late 2014 MBPr - Loaded (1TB SSD, etc.)
Mavericks
Bootcamp with Win7
Paragon NTFS driver

I think my SSD may be failing. Recently, some files have started to go missing.

Specifically, I'll add a new file to an Xcode project, and things seem to work fine for the most part. Occasionally, Xcode gets in a mood where it is constantly saying that a specific file has been modified outside of the environment by another application - even when nothing else is running.

When rebooting, or waking up, the new file tends to be either corrupt, unreadable (with a "input/output error" message in terminal) or completely missing.

If I reboot into Win7 - Bootcamp, not a VM - and try to read the file - from an NTFS volume - the file will show up in a directory listing (command line). If I try to cat the file, I'll get a "The file does not exist" message. After that, the file no longer appears in the directory listing.

If I then reboot into OSX, the file will also be missing from the directory listing.

This seems to be happening more and more frequently lately.

I've tried removing the Paragon NTFS driver. I still get read errors on some files.

I suspect that the SSD is failing. Is there any cheap / free, reliable SSD diagnositic tool available that runs under OSX? I'd rather not have Apple send this thing off for repair for a week as I need the machine to do my job.

Help!

There is an app named DriveDx that can show you if there are problems with the drive. Not that it is 100% full proof but better than nothing.

Also I remember I had issues with Paragon NTFS too (like file system corruption). Microsoft changes NTFS with each release and it is not "open source", so it is not known how compatible Paragon is. I am sure they do their best but it is difficult to be compatible with such closed system as NTFS.


Time Machine couldn't complete the backup This is the 2nd time I got this error message:

On my Mac Pro, I use two HDs for Time Machine backup. Time Machine would use them alternatively. The other HD works fine. With this HD, I used Disk Utility to perform "First Aid" and no problem was found. However, the Time Machine still cannot back up to this HD.

On the previous error, I had to reformat the HD. Any suggestions on what I should do this time?

It turned out that App Cleaner is the root cause of the problem. I used App Cleaner for quite some time and have purchased the premium version. My problem with App Cleaner started with its V6.0 version and I was still on High Sierra. So it was not a Mac OS problem.


Is a rented movie tied to the download PC? Before I left work today I downloaded a rental movie in iTunes then copied the m4v to a USB key and took it home to watch. However I now can't play the file on my home PC: iTunes asks me to authorise my computer to play films purchased on my account, then when I enter my password it tells me my PC is already authorised but doesn't start the movie. Pressing play brings up the prompt again. Deauthorising and reauthorising the PC acted the same.

Does this mean the rental is tied to the machine that downloaded it, my work PC? I did not start the movie there - I simply downloaded it then copied the file. The FAQ, which I had't read beforehand, says:

  If you download a rented movie on your computer: You can transfer it to a device such as your Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, or iPod if it’s a standard-definition film (movies in HD can only be watched on your computer, iPad, iPhone 4, iPod touch (4th generation), or Apple TV). Once you move the movie from your computer to a device, the movie will disappear from your computer's iTunes library. You can move the movie between devices as many times as you wish during the rental period, but the movie can only exist on one device at a time.

It doesn't discuss moving films between computers. Is that possible? The disappear bit does make me think the ITMS remembers which device the movie is officially on. Is there any way for me to recover this, or will I have to watch the film at work? I rented HD and only have a 2G iPod touch so I can't copy it to that.

Thanks. Both machines are PCs running the latest iTunes, 10.1.1.

Without using an iPod that supports HD movies then no. You are correct in thinking that it is tied to the device Apple thinks it is on.

Source: See Update at the bottom


What is the method transferring an old Clash of clans on account to new device if the old device can't switch on already due to hardware problem I can't generate link for transferring my old C.O.C account to the new device. Can I use old C.O.C account to other device such iPad and using the old game centre and Apple ID? Will it transfer my previous Clash of Clans Town to the new device? Is it possible?

From last year, Clash of Clans doesn't support old iOS devices run iOS 6 and below. You can't transfer your Clash of Clans account to a new device by using Game Center. Here is the method:

Download iExplore on your computer.
Connect your old iOS device to your computer, browse to /private/var/mobile/Containers folder then copy the Clash of Clans folder to somewhere in your computer.
Connect the new device then copy that folder to /private/var/mobile/Containers (iOS7) or /var/mobile/Containers/Bundle/Application (iOS8).
Login with your related Game Center ID.
It will ask you if you want to play that Clash of Clans account or not.
Enjoy!

Source: http://cocland.com/tutorials/transfer-clash-of-clans-from-old-ios-devices


Having windows virtual machine (Windows 7, run in Parallels) run from installed SSD I am upgrading my 2011 iMac with an SSD.  I have sized this ssd to store everything but the data in my User folder, and will be following the setup (not installation) instructions found here.  My question is this:

Does moving everything but the content of my user folder ensure that my Parallels based installation of Windows 7 runs from the SSD?
Will all programs installed on the Windows side be run from the SSD?

If not, how do I go about achieving this?

The setup proposed in the setup guide provides a dual-drive environment with a "swapped" system. The faster SSD finally contains the system, some user folders and all apps and the slower but larger HDD contains your user data.

If your Windows Parallels VM is stored in your user folder (the default path is /User/[username]/Documents/Parallels.../) it will run from the HDD. But you can add a folder with your user name in /Users and move the VM image to it or move it to /Users/Shared/.

After deleting the VM from your HDD user folder open Parallels and relink the Windows VM to the VM list. AFAIR you will be asked if the VM was moved or copied. Then choose "moved". After moving the VM image to the SSD all Windows apps as well as the Windows system will run from the SSD.

Finally the root looks like this (I left out a lot of mostly invisible files and folder):

/                                                       \
|-Applications                                           |
|-bin                                                    |
|-...                                                    |
|-Library                                                |
|-System                                                 |
|-Users                                                  |
|     |-Shared                                           |=SSD
|     |-test                                             |
|     |-YourUser                                         |
|              |-Documents                               |
|                        |-Parallels/WindowsVM.pvm       |
|                                                        |
|-Volumes                                               _/
        |-HDD-Name                                      _
                 |-Users                                 \
                       |-YourUser                         |
                                |-Documents               |
                                |-Library                 |=HDD
                                |-Music                   |
                                |-Pictures                |
                                |-....                    |
                                                         /

The linked guide misses one important step though:

After successfully booting to the SSD and configuring your user, you have to delete the previously copied files and folders on the source disk (the HDD)- except the folder /Users/YourUserName of course.


Safari CMD+Click link new tab focus Is there a way to force focus to a new tab in safari when you cmd+click on links in google search results for example?

Go to Preferences → Tabs and enable When a new tab or window opens, make it active.

Enabling this option switches the shift modifier to disabling this functionality rather than enabling it.


How can I delete VMWare from my MacBook Air? I installed VMware on my MacBook Air (running OS X Lion) and now want to delete it. I dragged VMware into the trash and tried emptying it, but a popup notes that The operation can’t be completed because the item “VMware Fusion” is in use.

I tried pressing command + option + esc but could not see VMware open. I am confused about how VMware is in use.

Here is how you remove VMWare Fusion as referenced here from VMWare: Manually uninstalling VMware Fusion

  Fusion 4.x

  In Fusion 4.x, there is no uninstaller. Most Fusion files are contained within the application bundle (that is, the Fusion application in /Applications). To uninstall Fusion 4.x, drag the application bundle from the Applications folder to the Trash.

  Also, ensure to delete these additional files and folders if they are present.

  Note: Depending on the environment, some of these files may not be present. Some files may exist only if Fusion 3 was originally installed on the machine that was later upgraded to Fusion 4.

  /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion
  /Users/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion
  /Library/Preferences/VMware\ Fusion
  ~/Library/Caches/com.vmware.fusion
  ~/Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion
  ~/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusion.LSSharedFileList.plist
  ~/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusion.LSSharedFileList.plist.lockfile
  ~/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusion.plist
  ~/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusion.plist.lockfile
  ~/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusionDaemon.plist
  ~/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusionDaemon.plist.lockfile

  Note: In Lion, the Library folder inside your user directory is hidden by default. To access your Library folder:

  Click the Finder icon.
  While holding the Option key, click the Go menu. This reveals your Library folder.


Can I access iCloud Drive files from non-apple device? I have an application that stores its files on iCloud Drive for synchronization. I'd like to write a cloud service that can also access the files.

For example, if I record a video on my app, I'd like to ask my service to download the file, and send it to a transcoding service, or something.

From the device, can I create an authenticated URL to the file? Alternatively, can I create a temporary token to send to the server, so that it can access the file? Then, when transcoding is complete, can I write back to the iCloud Drive?

I'm mostly trying to avoid uploading the entire file from the device to the server, because the files might be quite large.

I'm also trying to use iCloud Drive to support the seamless file sync between device and mac laptop without having to explicitly authenticate - that type of thing isn't supported by google drive, or dropbox, correct?

Thanks very much in advance, I appreciate any help at all!

CloudKit

Apple offers CloudKit, which achieves something very similar to what you are describing.

If you're able to write an application both for your Mac and iOS device, you can sync data and files across devices relatively easily. For example, CloudKit allows you to store files and data in a free database, process it however you want in your apps, then re-upload it to the database. All of this happens without any explicit authentication.

  The CloudKit framework provides interfaces for moving data between
  your app and your iCloud containers. You use CloudKit to take your
  app’s existing data and store it in the cloud so that the user can
  access it on multiple devices. You can also store data in a public
  area where all users can access it.

CloudKit | Apple Developer Documentation

Keep in mind that while CloudKit itself free and easy to use, there is a caveat; You have to have a paid Developer account, which costs $99 a year.

I would highly recommend you look into CloudKit and check out Apple's (outdated) CloudKit Quick Start guide to get a feel for how programming for it actually looks.

Access from Non-Apple Platforms

While CloudKit works best when used on an Apple device, it is certainly possible to interact with a CloudKit container with more platform agnostic methods.

The best solution may be to use CloudKit web services. This allows you to use either more traditional HTTP methods or JavaScript to interact with CloudKit data.

The part of CloudKit web services that has more up to date documentation is CloudKit JS, a JavaScript API for CloudKit.

Keep in mind that with either of these options, Apple says that, “You must have an existing CloudKit app and enable web services.” Details on how to setup CloudKit web service are in the linked CloudKit JS guide


Is there a way to refresh a file that is opened by TextEdit? As an academic, I often have to conduct "numerical experiments" by running a small computer program that outputs to a text file.
I use TextEdit to read the text file.
However, when I re-run the program, and the contents of the text file changes, I find that the contents in TextEdit do not automatically update to the new version.
In order to access the new version, I need to close the existing TextEdit window, and open the file again in TextEdit.

Is there a way to refresh the file to the new version in TextEdit?
For those of you who know about the program Vim, what I am looking for is like the command :e[dit] in Vim which allows one to

  Edit the current file. This is useful to re-edit the current file, when it has been changed outside of Vim.

There's a ugly way of doing it, as far as I know.

Once the file has been edited just try to save it. TextEdit will prompt you saying something like:

  The document "Untitled.txt" couldn't be saved. Other application modified the file.

Giving you the choice to either Restore or Save anyway.

While Save anyway will keep your changes and save as a new version the changes made by the other application, Restore will update your file with these new changes.

Unless there's a specific reason to use TextEdit I'd recommend using any other text editor, such as TextMate, which supports the automatic refresh.


Any other Terminal / shell based options to strip all ACLs and extended attributes from a folder? I'm having some trouble deleting some folders that contain nothing and have no processes or kexts utilizing them (lsof | grep path_element).  When I try to delete them (as root) I get:
root@hostname /# rm -fr /path/to/folder
rm: /path/to/folder: Operation not permitted

Even after executing the following to strip ACLs / extended attributes, I still cannot rm -fr the folders:
sudo chmod -RN /path/to/folder
sudo xattr -c -r /path/to/folder

Executing ls shows no attributes:
ls -lea -@ /path/to/folder

Any other options to ensure all permissions are stripped and that an rm operation as root should work?

The culprit that was stopping the folder from being deleted was apparently flags being set and so the following finally allowed deletion:
sudo chflags -R nouchg,noschg /path/to/folder


No Sound in Windows 10 via Bootcamp I recently installed Windows 10 using Bootcamp. When I try to turn up the audio nothing happens. I went into device manager and the High Definition Audio Controller has a triangle with an exclamation mark over it. I tried to update the drivers but it said they were already up to date.

Sounds like you're missing the Boot Camp software needed for your Mac or it didn't install the audio driver properly.

Try downloading and running Tim Sutton's excellent Brigadier while in Windows.
It should download the latest compatible boot camp software for your model Mac.
Once downloaded run the Boot Camp setup file from /Users/(your username)/BootCamp-****/ and reboot when asked.
Should be fixed.

Brigadier is here https://github.com/timsutton/brigadier


How to resolve Apple Mail issue where message list doesn't match full message? I am running Big Sur 11.2.3 (20D91) and Apple Mail. Today, a good number of my messages in Apple Mail no longer match the full message when I click on the message list.
For example, the message list may show a message from Apple Store, but when I click on it, the full message that shows on the right is a completely different message and sender.
I have deleted the IMAP folder under ~/Library/Mail/V8/{IMAP folder guid} but after the mail downloaded it still had the problem.
Not sure what else to do.

I was able to solve the problem by deleting (make a backup first, just in case) the Envelope files under the MailData folder:
~/Library/Mail/V8/MailData/{Envelope}*
This will result in Mail reimporting all your mail messages, but after that, the message list and full messages were correct for me.


Homescreen changes via iOS Enterprise Remote Device Management I'm trying to find out if it is possible on the iOS Developer Enterprise Program to remotely add a home screen bookmark to a website.

For example: a user can visit a website and add a shortcut to that webpage to their home screen in Mobile Safari via the Share context menu and picking "Add to Homescreen". I want to be able to reproduce this remotely to all the devices under my control as a matter of automation.

I understand that Apple have a Mobile Device Management Protocol (MDM) that can be used to install a configuration profile to devices. The documentation lists the following about configuration profiles:

  A configuration profile contains a number of settings that you can
  specify, including:

  Restrictions on device features
  Wi-Fi settings
  VPN settings
  Email server settings
  Exchange settings
  LDAP directory service settings
  CalDAV calendar service settings
  Web clips Credentials and keys

So there's nothing there about home screen configuration.

Is there any way of remotely adding home screen bookmarks to iOS devices?

PS. I'm aware that a work around to this is to create a browser wrapper application and remotely push this app. However, that is not what I wish to do.

Bingo! you've already got it there in your question.
Your last item "Web clips Credentials and keys" should actually be two - "Web Clips" and "Credentials and Keys" in which case, "Web Clips" is the one you're looking for. A "Web Clip" is a home screen bookmark for a website.
From the Enterprise Deployment Guidelines:

Web Clip Settings
Use this payload to add web clips to the Home screen of the user’s device. Web clips
provide fast access to favorite web pages.
Make sure the URL you enter includes the prefix http:// or https://—this is required
for the web clip to function correctly. For example, to add the online version of
the iPhone User Guide to the Home screen, specify the web clip URL:
http://help.apple.com/iphone/
To add a custom icon, select a graphic file in gif, jpeg, or png format, 59 x 60 pixels in
size. The image is automatically scaled and cropped to fit, and converted to png format
if necessary.


Mac asking for multiple "login" keychain app passwords but won't accept them I have a 2012 MacBook Pro. My husband reset the password for iCloud and iTunes and now I cannot get access to my computer. I can put in the password at login then nothing but a black screen with popups saying "login" keychain for multiple apps like calendar, messages, address book, etc. The password for iTunes and iCloud is not being accepted.

If you mean annoying popups such as:

  X wants to use the "login" keychain. Please enter the keychain password.

you need to type your correct keychain password (usually it's the same as your login password, unless you've changed it).

It happens, because different mentioned services (see the list via: sudo launchctl list) trying to access your credentials which are encrypted and stored using Keychain (e.g. in ~/Library/Keychains/) and your login.keychain file is encrypted with different password than specified.

It's not likely you can fix it without specifying the right password, however you can try the following options (which can give you some clues):

You may want to disable specific services from accessing your keychain, e.g.

sudo launchctl list
sudo launchctl stop <job label>

Run Keychain Access from Utilities and invoke Keychain First Aid from the menu to verify consistency of your keychain configuration.
Run Disk Utility and invoke Repair Disk/First aid in case there is any temporary glitch (from corruption of the file).
Check your ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain, such as size, the last modified date and time (which can lead you to specific changes on that date) or any potential backups in that folder or somewhere else (login.keychain).
Try unlocking your keychain file from the command line:

$ security unlock-keychain ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain

Using -p you can specify the password on the command line, so if you have list of potential valid password, you can write small brutal-force script.

Try the same on older login.keychain files if you've to verify that it worked.
Try dumping the content of keychain from the shell, e.g.

Try security dump-keychain command which can be used to dump the contents of a keychain.
Try keychaindump command which can read keychain file by hunting for unlocked keychain master keys located in the memory space of the securityd process, and uses them to decrypt keychain files.

$ sudo ./keychaindump ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain
[*] Searching process 16 heap range 0x7feec8c00000-0x7feec8d00000
[*] Searching process 16 heap range 0x7feec8d00000-0x7feec9000000
[*] Searching process 16 heap range 0x7feeca000000-0x7feeca400000
[*] Found 4 master key candidates
[*] Trying to decrypt wrapping key in ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain
[+] Found master key: XYZ
[+] Found wrapping key: XYZ

Try the EnCase's dumpkeychain application, which works similar as above, see: Examining Mac OS X User & System Keychains.

Restore your ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain file from Time Machine or somewhere else, and unlock it manually (security unlock-keychain <file>).
In Keychain Access Preferences try Synchronize login keychain password with account, however if you're not remembering your password, it rather won't help.
The last resort would be to do Reset Default Keychain in Keychain Access Preferences which would revert it to factory defaults and create a new empty "login" keychain and your current default keychain will be moved aside, but not deleted. That means all remembered passwords are gone unless you've some of them remembered in the web-browser, but you can start storing them from scratch.


iBooks (OS X) can't download Book I have an issue where a book of mine doesn't seem to want to download at all. I purchased the book from the iBooks store. At a couple points in the past the specific book in question was deleted off my iPad for some reason. However I was able to both times go to my purchases and re-download it on the iPad and iPhone and my reading position was even preserved.

However on my Mac, it appears to be in an inconsistent state. The book shows up as not being downloaded at all.

so then I try and download it and it appears to download 99.99% of the book, but then quickly shows this dialog

When I look in the downloads folder for iBooks it appears to be mostly (if not all) there, but I keep consistently getting that dialog every time I try and re-download the book.

Since this is from the iBooks store and iBooks thinks its not downloaded, it appears to disable deleting the book (for some reason.) So I can't just delete it and then re-download it. Has anybody encountered anything like this and have any suggestions for how to finally get iBooks to re-download this book in its entirety? I think I should probably also file a radar with Apple asking for the ability to delete books in this state (if it isn't a bug.) Thanks.

I have never had only problems with iBooks. But when downloading 'Get Sample' of your book "designing bsd root kits" the same error occurred!

It is likely that this book is corrupted in the Store. Give Apple a call and see what they can do. This might not be your fault at all.


Write a script that installs a package file automatically with limited interaction from user I'm trying to run a package installer from terminal and have it complete with limited interaction from the user. This will need to be ran on any computer.

The bash script I have so far is:

sudo installer -store -pkg "/Users/username/Desktop/test.pkg" -target /

It will not complete and I am getting the following error:
installer: Can't load package "/Users/username/Desktop/test.pkg": The requested URL was not found on this server.

Not sure what this error means as I'm a newbie to scripting. Please advise what is needed to fix this.

It is not possible to run any command using sudo without user interaction because the user will have to supply an administrative password.


Is there a good docking solution for Macbook so far? I have been looking for a good Macbook docking solution for months

The Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock doesn't seem like a good option based on the reviews on Amazon.com.

I also noticed that there is kickstarter project called ZenDock which is not going to be publicly available till Q2, 2014.

Are there any other good solutions to this problem?

A few months ago my organization made the decision to make docking stations a standard item to be ordered with all Macs.  We've evaluated the Belkin Thunderbolt dock, the Matrox DS1, the Kwikdock, the LandingZone docks and had previously used Henge docks.

The Henge docks proved to be a constant pain for both users and our support team.  The connections in the bottom of the dock frequently came loose, meaning the end user would lose USB connectivity, network connectivity, etc even though from their perspective the Mac appeared to be docked correctly.

The Kwikdock didn't have the build quality we desired.

The Belkin Thunderbolt dock and Matrox DS1 dock are both very similar in that they're a hub that you connect all of your connections to, then connect to your Mac via a thunderbolt cable.  The downsides we found to these two were cost the necessity to order a thunderbolt cable in addition to the dock.  Our end users are also much more accustomed to the traditional docks offered by Dell and other PC manufacturers, were you click it into place and go.  This is the same reason we didn't pre-order a Zendock.

We ended up going with the LandingZone.  It offers the traditional docking style that our users are accustomed to, the build quality seems to be very good, it's much cheaper than the alternatives and can be further reduced in cost by ordering in bulk.  It DOES require a separate driver for network connectivity but it's very lightweight and they seem to be committed to providing updates in a timely fashion.

I've deployed about 25 of the LandingZones so far and aside from two support calls where  it hadn't been locked completely in place I've only heard good things from my end users.  We have yet to receive our 13" Retina MBP docks but we do have a tracking number so I'm confident they'll arrive soon.

Hope that helps!


how to navigate system dialogue boxes never touching the mouse? I often open files, mess with them and then close them, not wanting to save. The system dialogue prompt always asks me if I want to save and this is annoying. I want this nag to end as quickly as possible, but my keyboard arrows won't change highlighted field (I's on cancel by default). Tab is ok, but still too slow. How do I
A: quit a close a document (without saving) without touching the mouse?
or
B: disable the "do you want to save" dialogue completely without touching the mouse?

A fix for either scenario would make my life more streamlined.

If you've got one of the standard macOS file save sheets, such as:

  Do you want to save the changes you made in the document ‘untitled’?
  Don't Save | Cancel | Save

↩ enter will save.
⎋ esc will cancel.
⌘⌫ command-backspace will not save (usual Finder delete shortcut).

If the sheet is a slightly different macOS file save sheets, where the document has not been saved previously, then ⌘⌫ will select the Delete button from the options

  Delete | Cancel | Save

For macOS file save sheets which prompt for a destination to save the file, you can quickly jump to a standard folder using the following shortcuts:

⇧⌘O for ~/Documents
⌘D or ⇧⌘D for ~/Desktop
⇧⌘H for ~ (your home folder)
⌥⌘L for ~/Downloads
⇧⌘I for iCloud Drive
⇧⌘G or / or ~ to enter a path name by typing the path

Some of these shortcuts are described in the Apple KB article Mac keyboard shortcuts

The ‘don't save’ shortcut used to be ⌘D, however many save sheets have an option to specify the location for the document, in cases where the location is undefined. ⌘D chooses the Desktop for the destination. To revert macOS back to ⌘D for ‘don't save’, set the following key:

defaults write -g NSSavePanelStandardDesktopShortcutOnly -bool true


How do I set a custom avatar for my account profile in Mountain Lion? I just got Mountain Lion. On previous versions of OS X, I could choose a photo from the filesystem as my account avatar. This doesn't seem possible under the Users & Groups section of System Preferences.

Any ideas on how to do this?

I haven't found a way to choose a photo from that popup dialog, but you can add one by dragging an image file onto the picture itself (that dialog may have to be closed for this to work).


How can I upgrade Mac OS without the administrator password? I recently received an old iMac secondhand.  I have no way to reach the original owner. I am trying to upgrade the OS software, but the prompts demand the administrator's name (which is auto-filled) and password (which I do not have).  I understand why these security features are in place, but is there any way in the world for me to access Admin. privileges without the password?

You can boot from installation media and use that to reset your password. To do this:

Boot from installation media, or, if the Mac OS version is recent enough, from internet recovery.
Once in the installer, Utilities --> Reset Password will allow you to reset the password of the administrator user.

See this link for more information, including instructions on how to perform the reset without an installation disk.

Once the password is reset, you can perform an OS upgrade. Of course, as this is a second-hand machine, you may be better off doing a reinstall (in which case, just reinstall and don't bother resetting the administrator password first).


Terminal command to show FileVault and Firewall settings I'm as a system admin and a big pain is physically checking people's private MacBooks for FileVault and firewall settings.

Is there a way to get the Terminal to output the FileVault and Firewall settings?

You get the FileVault status with:

fdesetup status

You get the Application Firewall status with:

/usr/libexec/ApplicationFirewall/socketfilterfw --getglobalstate

You get a verbose pf status with:

sudo pfctl -sa

Further readings: man fdesetup|pfctl and /usr/libexec/ApplicationFirewall/socketfilterfw -h.


Lion Mail: Drag to Select vs. Drag to Move I'm using Mail in Lion in three-pane full screen mode. Let's say I put my pointer over a message in the middle pane. I push the touchpad with my thumb to click and hold, and start to move the pointer with my index finger in the direction of the new folder where I want to file the message. Mail does one of two things:

Begin to highlight a range of messages, or
Begin to move the selected message to another folder.

I can never tell which one I'm going to get. I almost always want (2), but maddeningly often I get (1). What am I doing to cause the ambiguity? How do I clearly signal my intent to the UI?

Selecting happens when you start dragging in the empty part of a line and have a major vertical movement. You can prevent message moving from happening by immediately starting to drag across after clicking.

Moving happens when you start in the text part of a line. Moving is also easier invoked when your major movement is in the horizontal axis. If you click and hold on a spot for a moment and then start dragging message moving will be invoked.


Is Apple TV intelligent enough to stream directly from a NAS? I'm considering purchasing an Apple TV. I understand that I need to include movies in iTunes in order to play them on the device. On my iMac, my movies are linked in iTunes over a shared drive to my NAS — when I play video, does the file stream from my NAS, to my iMac, and then to the Apple TV? Or is the Apple TV intelligent to understand the remotely linked file?

I'd like to avoid the unnecessary bandwidth on my network.

To answer the op's exact question, "No, ATV is not intelligent enough to stream directly from a NAS".  Others have pointed out some options, like using ATV2+Plex, or PlexConnect (which is VERY difficult to setup).

Let me thrown my $0.02 in by saying that unless you're running your iMac over wi-fi, this will work fine.  Even with my older 802.11g network, my Mac mini (hooked up to Ethernet and thus hooked up "closely" to the NAS) could pull the files off the NAS and stream them (over wifi) to the ATV.  No issues at all.  I'm on 802.11n now, and it's handling 1080p streams no problem (don't remember if I tried that on the "g" wifi).  In fact, with the Mac on Ethernet, it can download new videos from the iTunes Store while serving up content from the NAS to the ATV.  It's really not a lot of bandwidth.  You can check in the Activity Monitor.  I'm always surprised by how little bandwidth it uses.

However, if your Mac is on wifi too, I could see that there could be some problems, but a "n" (or "ac") grade wifi should be able to handle it.


OSX Yosemite Finder sort by date modified wrong? In the image of an OSX Yosemite 10.10.2 Finder window below, you can see that the content of the 'blog' folder has been most recently modified. However, the 'Date modified' sort of the parent folder 'D' is not showing the 'blog' folder at the top of the list.

Why is this, and is there a way to sort the list as I intend? I seem to remember it was fine in previous versions of OSX.

Modification dates for folders are only updated when the folder's contents are edited, not the folder's contents' contents. In other words, you probably edited something in the DES folder, which changed the modification date for the DES folder, but you didn't create, remove, or edit anything directly inside the blog folder since 2015-01-06.


Trying to restore Time Machine. Lost boot disk I just bought a new Macbook Air after giving mine to my wife.  Before gifting the old laptop I created a Time Machine backup.

Now that I have my new MBAir, I went into Apple+R and chose to restore a Time Machine Backup.  Chose my backup, chose the Macintosh HD as the destination drive.  It failed.

Now, subsequent attempts have not shown Macintosh HD as a choice for restoration destination. It is also not a choice when trying to choose a start up disk.

However it does show up in Disk Utility.

Boot attempts without holding Apple+R take me to the same OSX Utilities Page.

It seems that I lost my Macintosh HD....

What should I do?

Depending on how old the original MBA is compared to the new one, you probably won't be able to do a bare metal restore.

What you can do, is do a fresh OS install (if not done already) and "Migrate Your Settings" from the Time Machine Backup.


How can I rename screenshot files added to my Screenshot folder? I've designated a folder to receive screen shots I receive from the default Mac screenshot command. How can I elicit a prompt that will let me rename every screenshot I take?

Thank you

I used Cocktail to specify that screenshots are saved to a folder called "Screenshots" on my Mac. I use an app called "Hazel" to watch that folder and to automatically run an AppleScript that shows a dialog box asking if I want to rename the screenshot.

Here is the dialog box that pops up automatically:

Here is a screenshot of Hazel, with my "Name it" rule:

Clicking the edit (pencil) button in that window shows you the conditions under which the rule will run. As you can see, Hazel will run the AppleScript if the file is an image, added today, whose comment does NOT contain the word "Hazel." Since newly-made screenshots do not have comments with the word "Hazel" in them, these are the right conditions. (When the script runs, it adds a comment with the word "Hazel" in it to the file.)

Here is my AppleScript.

tell application "System Events"
    set the_apps to every process whose frontmost is true
    set the_app to item 1 of the_apps
    set the_app_name to name of the_app
    set old_name to name of theFile
    set the_choice to display dialog "If you want to rename this file, do it" buttons {"Rename", "No thanks"} default button "Rename" default answer old_name
end tell

if the button returned of the_choice is "Rename" then
    set the_date_string to do shell script "date '+%Y.%m.%d'"
    tell application "Finder"
        set the comment of theFile to "Name changed with Hazel"
        set the_name to text returned of the_choice
        set cleaned_name to change " " into "_" in the_name
        set cleaned_name to the_date_string & "_" & cleaned_name
        if (characters 12 thru 13 of cleaned_name as string) is "wm" then
            move theFile to (POSIX file "/Users/cboyce/Dropbox/Screenshots/Webmaster Screenshots")
        else
            move theFile to (POSIX file "/Users/cboyce/Dropbox/Screenshots/Renamed Screenshots")
        end if
        set the name of theFile to cleaned_name & ".png"
    end tell
end if
tell application the_app_name to activate

The first part of the script records the name of the frontmost app at the time of the screenshot's creation. It also has the "Display Dialog" step.

The second part of the script renames the screenshot and moves it to a "Renamed Screenshots" folder. If I put "wm" at the beginning of the file's new name, the script puts the renamed screenshot into a special "Webmaster Screenshots" folder. The script also replaces spaces with underscores, but you would not have to include that part. Notice also that the script sets the comment of the screenshot to "Name changed with Hazel." You of course can make your own conditions but this works for me.

You will have to change the username in the script, in the two lines that start with "move theFile." Replace "cboyce" (my username) with whatever yours is. If you're not sure what yours is, find the Users folder at the top level of your Mac's hard drive, open that up, and look for the folder with the house icon. The name of that folder is the username. Actually, you have to change the entire path. I'm saving my renamed screenshots into folders stored in my Dropbox folder but you of course can put them where you like. So change the path in those "move theFile" lines to point to YOUR folders.

Hazel is commercial software but you can use it in Demo mode for free. Demo mode allows you to watch only a single folder, which in your case is all you need. You can download Hazel from Noodlesoft.com.


MacBook 15-inch speakers on when closed, is it damaging them? I have my MacBook on a stand and I plug in a monitor and listen to something and I occasionally forget to plug-in my speaker. Will it damage my Mac speakers if they're facing the screen ?

No, the device will just be muffled. You needen’t worry about closed clamshell mode if you don’t have other microphones and speakers engaged or selected.


I can not visit localhost with apache on OS X 10.9 The Chrome alert me

  Oops! Google Chrome could not connect to localhost

But my apache still running:

  501 80299 71841   0  2:35PM ttys003    0:00.00 grep httpd

I paste some piece of important apache configuration , please help me. Thanks.

http.conf

ServerRoot "/usr" Listen 80

ServerAdmin you@example.com

DocumentRoot "/Users/username/Sites"

<Directory />   Options Indexes FollowSymLinks Includes ExecCGI
    AllowOverride None
    Order deny,allow
    Allow from all </Directory>

<Directory "/Library/WebServer/Documents">
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
    AllowOverride None
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
</Directory>

Actually I don't know what file I need to show you.

If you need more configuration file detail, please tell me. I will paste later.

Run this command:

sudo apachectl start

That should start your standard apache server software as well as edit the system startup files to cause it to start at boot. Replace start with stop to reverse that change. Your grep shows that httpd is not actually running and there's just the grep process active. You may need to look at the logs if after asking apachectl to start things up, the httpd process doesn't stay running (or even start in the first place).


Keeping iCloud from erasing my Mac data I've saved several files and photos onto my MacBook. I've had iCloud syncing on my iPhone. I have synced my iPhone's media using the Photos app on my MacBook. I don't think I've ever synced my MacBook with iCloud.
I'd like to save things onto my Mac (or external hard drives) permanently, with iCloud as a tertiary backup for my phone. I've heard some horror stories from coworkers where they synced their MacBook with iCloud and rather than just add the files from iCloud, it deleted everything on the MacBook and then added the iCloud files.
Obviously I could take a slower route, like using Air Drop, emailing the pictures, or using a different cloud storage service to transfer, but if I could it to work without deleting stuff, I'd like to use iCloud. How do I avoid losing my non-iCloud files while also syncing the iCloud files?

Enabling iCloud does not remove everything on the MacBook, and then transfer over the iCloud synced files to the MacBook. That's not how it works, so you don't have to be afraid of that.
If you want to ensure that files are always stored on your Mac, and not only in iCloud, then you want to ensure that the "Optimise Mac Storage" setting is not enabled. Open System Preferences > Apple ID and ensure that there's no checkmark besides "Optimise Mac Storage".
If you do have a checkmark there, files stored in the iCloud Drive could potentially be removed from your Mac in case available disk space runs low. They will be refetched from iCloud when needed.
Similarly for photos and videos synced to iCloud using the Photos app, you'll want to ensure "Optimise Mac Storage" is turned off. Open up Photos.app and open Preferences from the menu. In the iCloud tab, you'll want to ensure that "Optimise Mac Storage" is not selected - instead you'll want to choose "Download Originals to this Mac". This ensures that every photo and video store in iCloud is also stored on your Mac.


Does Apple change iPhone serial numbers when they refurbish them? Does Apple change the serial number of iPhones they take in when they refurbish them?

Typically no. Serial numbers cannot be 'edited' as such - they can be written to new products (such as a new logic board), but an existing serial on a logic board cannot be rewritten.

However, if a logic board is replaced, then that will result in a new serial number.

As an aside, Apple really does have an excellent refurbishment program. Refurbished Apple products come with a new outer shell, a new battery, and the same full one-year warranty they give to their new products. It is more expensive than buying secondhand, but you're paying for the peace of mind.


Messages and FaceTime stuck with temporary number I recently changed my provider and got a new phone number, temporarily, while my old provider transferred it. During that brief period of about 48 hours, my Apple Account, Messages and FaceTime picked up on the change and set everything to the new number.

Now I've got my old number back, I cannot seem to force Messages and FaceTime to pick up on the change back to my previous number. I have managed to add my old number back to my Apple Account and Trusted Number, but it insists on keeping that temporary number (which is now no longer in service) as the main contact for Messages and FaceTime, which subsequently appends it into my Apple Account.

I managed to get the above to work by switching iMessage and FaceTime off, then logging out of my Apple Account, and switching off; finally turning everything back on again about 20 minutes later. However, this has no effect on the Messages/FaceTime choice of contacts, which is stuck with that temporary number.

What's the trick to fix this?

(iPhone 8; iOS 13.2.3)

I managed to fix this by switching off Messages and FaceTime, removing the SIM, turning off, switching back on, reinserting the SIM and then manually tweaking the Apple Account contacts (removing the manually added number, which was a duplicate once the reinserted SIM was recognised).

I don’t know which of the above steps are necessary and which are optional, but it seems to have worked for me!


Can I make macOS Sierra not notice when I turn off my monitor? I'm having this problem where my computer performs some weird behavior when I turn off my external monitor. For example, I have to run some programs and I'd like to have my screen off because they take many hours to run. However, when I turn off my monitor it seems to stop the program. How can I make my  computer not notice when I turn off my screen? I have a Dell monitor and a Mac Mini with macOS Sierra.

I suspect the best way to manage your situation is via some of your System Preference settings.

More specifically, try the following and let me know how you go:

Go to System Preferences
Select Energy Saver
Set your Computer Sleep to Never
Set your Display Sleep to a short period
Ensure that Put hard disks to sleep when possible is unchecked
Now exit Energy Saver and select Desktop & Screen Saver instead
Select the Screen Saver tab
Ensure that the Start after setting at bottom left is set to Never
Exit System Preferences

Now try using your Mac Mini as you want, but don't turn off your monitor until after it has gone to sleep. Let me know how you go.

Sleep

As an aside, is there a reason you want to physically turn your monitor off?

Your monitor uses less than 0.3W when it's in sleep mode, so you're not really saving much in terms of energy by shutting it off instead of letting it sleep. So, if you set your Energy Saver settings as above, the amount of energy consumption while your monitor sleeps is negligible and your Mac Mini can still perform what it has to.


Why didn't my Windows partition show up in the Startup Disk preference pane? I install Windows(XP after that 7) on my MBP with Boot Camp and every thing was fine but after a while in System Prefences -> Startup Disk my windows partition was lost and when I want to switch to my windows must restart my Laptop and Press Down option during startup. I can't switch directly from my OS X.

anyone know how can I solve this. or why this is happened?

Did you by any chance install the NTFS-3G driver?

It's a known bug (for quite some time, now). When installed, you can no longer have the Windows partition in the Startup Disk prefpane.


is there a way to create an AFP link to point to any user's home directory? I would like to send a link via email to a file that everyone has in their Dropbox. The file exists on everyone's machine in the same relative location, however everyone has a different User Name.
On my machine, the file is accessible at afp://Users/scott/Dropbox/shared/example.pdf
Unfortunately, afp://~/Dropbox/shared/example.pdf does not work.

I am running Lion (10.7.1), most others are as well, a few are running Snow Leopard (10.6.x)

Well simplest way would be ~/Dropbox/shared/example.pdf (~ denotes user folder) but that will not probably work right from email.
You have to put it in Finder's 'Go to Folder...' dialog window which you can invoke with cmd+shift+G shortcut.


Run Google Chrome in full screen with dev console across dual-monitors Is there a way in Mac OS X 10.8.3 to open Google Chrome in full screen mode with dual monitors so that the Dev console appears on a second monitor?

This would seem to be the obvious and intuitive way to develop for the browser, but I wasn't able to find any hints or suggestions about how to accomplish this setup.

Many thanks.

Doesn't work as the implementation of Fullscreen-scaling in OSX (10.7, 10.8) currently only covers single-windows. Either Chrome provides its own implementation which could in fact display two windows over two displays, or - let's cross fingers - Apple implements this somewhere around 10.9 :)


System Preferences constantly jumps to Keyboard screen Whenever I open System Preferences directly to one of the subscreens (e.g. Network or Bluetooth), that screen appears for a split second, then Sys Prefs immediately jumps to the Keyboard screen.  I have to Search and select the screen I want again before it will "stick."

Also, if go to another prefs screen, then click away from it to another app, Sys Prefs again consistently jumps to the keyboard screen.

Even after switching to another tab under Keyboard (Text, Shortcuts, etc.), clicking away will again jump back to the first tab (Keyboard -> Keyboard).

Happens in Sierra but also happened in El Capitan.

This makes it pretty hard to do some tasks and is extremely annoying.  Haven't found any solutions online - ideas?

Since this issue isn't present when you create a new user account, I suggest you also test whether this behaviour is replicated in Safe Mode.

Boot into Safe Mode

Follow these steps to boot your MacBook Pro into Safe Mode:

Fully shut down your Mac
Restart your Mac
Immediately press the Shift key and keep it down
Let go of the Shift key when you see the login window (NOTE: If you have FileVault enabled you may need to log in twice).
Take a note of what happens (i.e. is the issue still present when accessing System Preferences)
Now exit Safe Mode by restarting your Mac as normal
Once logged in again, test to see whether the behaviour continues

If the problem is not present during Safe Mode and still remains when you log back in normally, it's time to investigate login items, fonts, and kernel extensions.

Investigating login items, fonts, and kernel extensions

Let's start with Login Items:

Startup normally
Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups
Select the Login Items tab
Take a note of your Login Items
Now remove all of them by highlighting them and clicking on the - button below
Restart your computer

Now your Mac will boot up without those login items loading. Test this and see if the problem persists:

If the problem goes away you know one (or more) of the Login items were causing the problem. You can then add them back in one by one until you've identified the culprit. Problem solved.
If the problem does persist, it's either a problem with fonts you've installed yourself or with a 3rd party kernel extension. A little more info below:

Fonts:- You can remove any of the fonts you've installed yourself to see if this makes a difference.

Kernel Extensions:- You can open Terminal (found within your Utilites folder) and enter the following command:

kextstat | grep -v com.apple

The above command will list 3rd party kernel extensions (you may need to stretch the Terminal window so it's easier to read). Look for anything you don't remember installing, or something that belongs to software you've removed, or just anything that looks out of place. Remember though, this is a list of 3rd party kernel extensions and therefore any of them could be causing the problem.

After making these changes, use your Mac long enough to see what difference, if any, they make. This is basically a troubleshooting step to help narrow down the possible cause of your problem, so let me know how you go.


Difference between MacBook Pro 13" Early 2011 MC700LL/A and current model 13" / 13" retina? I want to buy a "new" MacBook to replace my white MacBook 13" (Mid 2007), which makes me mad especially because of its limited RAM (only 3 GB possible).

I want to buy a MacBook Pro 13" and I'm not sure if it is worth taking a really new model (13" or 13" retina) or maybe buying a used one which might be much cheaper.

I saw a MacBook MC700LL/A MacBook Pro 13" Early 2011" 2.3 GHz (8 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD built-in later) and I wonder how much it is different from the current "normal" 13" MacBook Pro which seems to be nearly unchanged since 2012.

My question

I can compare the technical specs, but I am not sure

how much difference they will make in my daily life and especially if I could maybe regret to buy a MacBook with an older USB/Airport/Bluetooth standard...
if there are other differences / disadvantages of the older model
How much "better" the smallest current MacBook Pro 13" Retina model would be compared to the 2 of them - which use cases would justify buying this one?

Use case

I'm currently using my MacBook mainly for

E-Mail and Web-Browsing (the latter makes my old MacBook nearly unusable, as Safari with some open Tabs regularly blocks all my RAM after a short while and I have to close it)
Office Applications and LaTeX
working with large databases (file size many GB)

In the future, I'd also like to do (private) graphics and video editing and "multimedia stuff".

Differences from my point of view between used MacBook Pro Early 2011 and current MBP 13" 2012:

new MacBook is really new, has warranty and a new battery
(the used one is already nearly 4 years old)
the technical specs (see screenshot below) seem to be very similar to each other, differences are mainly CPU speed, USB and Bluetooth standards

source: http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-comparison-chart/?compare=all-intel-macs&highlight=0&prod1=MacBookPro043&prod2=MacBookPro057

rows with differences in specs are highlighted in blue!

Comparison between all 3 models:

source: http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-comparison-chart/?compare=all-intel-macs&highlight=0&prod1=MacBookPro043&prod2=MacBookPro057&prod3=MacBookPro080

In my opinion, I'd get the newest Mac, especially if you get a warranty with it. The newer the computer, the more OS X updates it can handle. As far as graphics go, I'd go with the one that has better specs. If you do end up buying a new one, upgrade the RAM, and if you plan on working with video editing software, definitely get the i7 processor instead of an i5. I currently use a Mid 2012 MBP (Non retina) and it functions pretty well, however, there are times when rendering videos gives me the "Spinning Wheel of Death". The new one is going to be better, even if it's a little more. And as far as your statement about the "Macbook Pro hasn't changed much since 2012", the new ones are lighter but don't include disc slots, so keep that in mind. The new MBP is definitely an improvement, and although the looks haven't changed much, it'll (most likely) run smoother and gain more support for future updates.

EDIT
If you can (I haven't bough a new Mac in a while so I'm not sure you can do this with laptops), upgrade your graphics card to the Nvida (whatever model they have). It helps a lot with 3D animation and graphics.


How do I change the brightness in iOS 7? I used to be able to double the home button and swipe right to change the brightness. How do I change the brightness in iOS 7 without going to the Settings app?

Ask Siri to change the brightness and you can get to the control straight away.


Remotely upgrading to El Capitan broke Screen Sharing We have a remote Mac Mini acting as a build server that we use Screen Sharing to connect to and remotely manage.

Well I recently upgraded this box to El Capitan and now Screen Sharing won't connect to it at all.

I've upgraded the OS remotely before and never ran into a problem. Is there any way to connect to this box and get screen sharing working or am I S.O.L.? I can ping it, but I can't seem to do anything else (file sharing, ssh, screen sharing).

Update: I did a port scan on the server and it can't find any open ports. I guess that pretty much settles it then. I still don't understand how upgrading and rebooting the box could have so completely bricked it. I mean did Apple really not remote upgrading a possibility?

I'm half picturing some "Welcome to El Capitan, just a few screens to click through before you get your computer back" dialog to be sitting on the screen right now.

Update 2: So we got this resolved, but it looks as though something may have gone wrong during the upgrade process as our IT guy says it wasn't responsive when he plugged a monitor into it. He had to reboot the machine before it would respond. Anyway just wanted to give a heads up to others.

The three ways to connect are Apple Remote Desktop, ssh and remote Apple Events. If you have one of those enabled, you can kickstart screen sharing with a command line tool:

   sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/Resources/kickstart -activate -configure -access -on -restart -agent -privs -all

See these for more details:

Restart Screen Sharing Service on Mac mini Server
Remotely turn on screen sharing
activating screen sharing remotely

If not, you will have to have the machine shipped to a human or a human shipped to the machine to take local corrective action and diagnose the failure.


iTunes reports "There is no updates available" for applications but there are updates available Recently I moved from Russia to New Zealand. And now I'm experiencing an issue - all the applications I purchased in Russia cannot update here in NZ.
I see there is a number in front of Apps in iTunes but when I click on "Check for Updates" it says that no updates are currently available.
If I take my ipad and see the apps needed to update, after that download all the applications MANUALLY from app-store - it "solves" the issue.
But I need to do that each time any application I've purchased being in Russia updates. It is really annoying.

How can I solve the problem and get the automatic updates really automatic?

There is a question here: iTunes shows App Updates Badge, but no updates are available with no answer though

UPD: well, looks like there is no good solution...

UPD 2: I was insistent enough in my emails to support and among 2 pages of other irrelevant lines this is what I see:

  I have regranted all available Apps back to your account as a one time exception.

So, well, probably the problem is solved partially for now :-)

UPD 3:

Got 250+ updates in my itunes. Brief overview says that there are all the applications I ever downloaded. And if I delete them from the download list - they resurrect on itunes restart. Well, downloading them to delete right after (ps: it is not funny as long as I have 60Gb monthly limit)

UPD 4:

Let's all write a feedback at their http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html !!

Have you checked the normal route on this issue? First and most important is that you're on the same country store as the purchased app. No matter where you move around the world you're bound to the country store which the app  is purchased from.

I have never attempted moving from one country App store to another. But this would require changing your billing information on the account and a verification of credit card billing address which has to be within the territories covered by that App store.


Risks and mitigation when getting a used iPhone When buying or receiving a used iPhone, what security precautions should I take?

I intend to immediately wipe the phone by using iTunes to install a fresh iOS, as a clean install.

➥ What else should I do to address security concerns?

➥ If this phone had been through a jailbreaking, is there a way for me to tell? Is there any risk to using a previous jailbroken iPhone after doing a wipe and install of an all-new iOS?

My Question here is similar to: Steps after buying a used iPhone. But that Question focused on practical issues. My Question here has a focus on security.

The only to-do item I know is to check for the Activation Lock feature being enabled. Apple describes how to do this. Any other to-do items?

I intend to immediately wipe the phone by using iTunes to install a fresh iOS, as a clean install.

That should be the only major step required. Do a clean iOS install (or factory reset the device). Make sure to install the latest public version of iOS supported by your model of iPhone.

  ➥ What else should I do to address security concerns?

Installing the latest public iOS release should take care of the security concerns whatsoever. You can further ensure if no 3rd party/unauthorized part replacements have been made. The iOS should be able to detect if any crucial components such as Home button or battery has been replaced by unauthorized means.

  ➥ If this phone had been through a jailbreaking, is there a way for me to tell?

No if the device has been reset to remove the Jailbreak.

  Is there any risk to using a previous jailbroken iPhone after doing a wipe and install of an all-new iOS?

None if you reinstall iOS which effectively removes the jailbreak.


Building a minimal OS image Are there tools or guidelines for slimming an OSX installation down to the minimum needed to run particular applications? I would be interested in the case both with or without the GUI layer. A tool could be something like nLite for Windows.

There are 2 apps that I can think of that might do what you want, wile it is still unclear what you want.

The first one is called the Pacifist and shows you a hierarchical (and searchable) list of every item contained therein in mavericks Installer package.

The second one is used to install customized Mavericks called UniBeast and MuliBeast.

Here are the instructions how to use that.


Does the Gmail app automatically upload photos to Google Photos? Does the Gmail app on iPhone having access to your photo gallery automatically upload photos to Google Photos or Drive? Did any version of the Gmail app did this before if not now?

No, the Gmail app does not upload your photos automatically. This can be done per your request if you choose to add a photo as an attachment to an email.


Script to change Computername/hostname causing bizarre Terminal behavior I have a script (mostly borrowed) which utilizes scutil to rename computers based off of values in a CSV file. It matches the serial number to a computer name, sets a variable, and then renames the ComputerName, HostName, and LocalHostName with the variable. For reference, the name will be SFO-C2900-MBP

Here's the script:

#!/bin/bash

echo "-----Starting-----"

# Get serial from ioreg and assign
serial="$(ioreg -l | grep IOPlatformSerialNumber | sed -e 's/.*\"\(.*\)\"/\1/')"

#Initialize compName to null
compName=''

#Loop through CSV looking for a match
while IFS=',' read ser loc; do
    if [ "$serial" == "$ser" ]; then
        compName=$loc
        echo "Serial Matched with name: $compName"
    fi
done < /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/Users/Shared/Configuration/names.csv

#If compName is not null, use scutil to rename. Otherwise user must manually rename
if [[ -z $compName ]]; then
    echo "This computer was not found on the list, you must manually rename it."
else
    echo "Setting Host Name to $compName"
    scutil --set HostName $compName

    echo "Setting Computer Name to $compName"
    scutil --set ComputerName $compName

    echo "Setting Local Host Name to $compName"
    scutil --set LocalHostName $compName

fi

echo "-----Finished Renaming-----"

Two things are happening from this:

1) An error is thrown when the script attempts to rename the LocalHostName: SCPreferencesSetLocalHostName() failed: Invalid argument

2) The Terminal, after quit/reboot/etc, will do the following:

Terminal showing Question Mark over folder, also missing hostname

Setting these values manually through terminal using scutil --set {def} work fine and restore Terminal to its normal behavior.

I have tried the following:

Removing the LocalHostName lines from the script
Setting the LocalHostName value to a variable set inside the script and not the CSV file

Mostly, the script's issue is what it does to Terminal more than anything - I can work around the LocalHostName issue. Weirdly enough, when you run scutil --get {def} on those, Terminal outputs the correct values.

In the comments, @MorganR wondered if the code that reads from the CSV file was including a strange character within $compName.

One way to test for odd, perhaps non-printable characters is to use od.  It has an obscure name (stands for "octal dump"), but it is useful.  It shows the detail of each character in an input stream.

I usually start by using -c argument, which causes od to output each character detail as "C-style escaped characters"... there are other arguments to output as hex, octal (still occasionally useful!), etc.

For example (notice the normally invisible \n is shown):

$ echo "foo" | od -c
0000000    f   o   o  \n
0000004

So, if that makes sense, my suggestion is: try adding the line echo $compName | od -c to the script after the "loop through the CSV" section.

In the comments, the issue has turned out to be an unexpected \r character.  I think the likely cause for this is that the CSV file has CRLF (=\r\n) line endings (was it created on a Windows system perhaps?), but the read ser loc command in the script is expecting just LF (=\n).


How to open more than one app at a time in launchpad? Is there a way to open more than one app at a time in launchpad before it fades away?

I've tried holding down command, option, control, & shift in different configurations while clicking an app, but all that seems to do sometimes is to make launchpad very slowly fade out.

I like having my favorite apps on one screen, but launchpad is doubling the clicks needed to open apps as opposed to having them on the dock.

Using Lion btw.

There is no way to do it, it's one app at a time.


I want know how to get the new photo filters in the camera on my iPhone 4 I want to know how to get the new photo filters in the camera on my iPhone 4 because my friend has them on her iPhone 4s. How do I get them?

I think the filters you are talking about were added with iOS 8, the recent iPhone operating system update. Unfortunately that update won't install on your iPhone 4.

There are a number of applications available in the App Store that provide similar photo filters though.


Internal SSD: Create a partition in unallocated space I have a MacBookPro 13" Retina late 2013 with an internal SSD, there is 1TB unallocated space, I tried Disk Utility but it doesn't let me create a new partition there (it just does nothing when I click 'Apply').  Verify shows no error, also repair.

gpt -r show disk0
start            size   index   contents
    0               1           PMBR
    1               1           Pri GPT header
    2              32           Pri GPT table
   34               6
   40          409600       1   GPT part - C12A7328-....
409640     1953083352
1953492992     716800       2   GPT part - DE94....
1954209792        295
1954210087         32           Sec GPT table
1954210119          1           Sec GPT header

fdisk /dev/disk0
Disk: /dev/disk0   geometry: 121643/255/63 [1954210120 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
 #: id  cyl   hd  sec   - cyl   hd sec  [    start -       size]
 1: EE 1023  254   63   - 1023 254  63  [        1 - 1954210119] <Unknown ID>
 2: 00    0    0    0   -    0   0   0  [        0 -          0] unused
 3: 00    0    0    0   -    0   0   0  [        0 -          0] unused
 4: 00    0    0    0   -    0   0   0  [        0 -          0] unused

diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:       TYPE NAME                  SIZE      IDENTIFIER
   0:   GUID_partition_scheme         *1.0 TB    disk0
   1:      EFI EFI                     209.7 MB  disk0s1
   2: DE94...                          367.0 MB  disk0s2
/dev/disk1
   #:       TYPE NAME                  SIZE      IDENTIFIER
   0:  Apple_partition_scheme         *1.3 GB    disk1
   1:  Apple_partition_map             30.7 KB   disk1s1
   2:      Apple_HFS OS X Base System   1.3 GB   disk1s2

I've booted with CMD-R, can I unmount the disk0? I guess not, but I'm not sure.

I've created an usb stick with OS X 10.9 but the notebook could not boot from this stick.

Is there a way to make a new perdition from the existing free space with diskutil?

If solved the problem by
- Boot with ALT CMD P R
  After this the former bootcamp partition was again there.
- New partitioning of the ssd with only one partition having 1TB
- By using Web-recovery installation of Mac OS X
- Creating a new bootcamp partition with bootcamp assistent.

My concern was when remove the partition disk0s2 (with recovery OS X) a new installation of Mac OS X is not possible, I wasn't aware of the function Web-recovery.


Forklift Tools syntax In Forklift there is an Tools option, which allows to make quick actions.
But I don't really get how to create one. For example a simple one - to copy files from one pane to another.
cp $SOURCE_SELECTION_NAMES $TARGET_PATH
/bin/bash cp $SOURCE_SELECTION_NAMES $TARGET_PATH
/bin/bash/cp $SOURCE_SELECTION_NAMES $TARGET_PATH

I tried these three variants but none of them work.
Error messages:

"The operation couldn’t be completed. No such file or directory"
"/bin/cp: /bin/cp: cannot execute binary file"
"The operation couldn’t be completed. Not a directory".

I need some other stuff like this - to covert .rtf files to .odt with a bash command:
soffice --convert-to odt $SOURCE_SELECTION_NAMES

What should i write? Maybe /bin/bash in the beginning? Still doesn't work.

From looking at the example in the documentation you need to specificy the full path to the commands you want to run
/bin/cp $SOURCE_SELECTION_NAMES $TARGET_PATH
/path/to/soffice --convert-to odt $SOURCE_SELECTION_NAMES


How can I change the tags in the context menu? I can't find any way to edit the tags within the context menu which appears when you double-tap on a file in Finder. Is there a way to choose which ones appear? An example of what I mean is below:

From Finder prefs [Finder menu > Preferences... or  Cmd ⌘   ,  > Tags

You can check which to show in the sidebar in the top section & in the lower section you can drag & drop the set to use on contextual menus.  It will replace the tag you drag to with the new one.


How do I delete an app purchased through the Mac App Store? I notice that apps downloaded through the Mac App Store are placed in the /Applications folder on my Mac. Is there any special procedure to delete them, or can I just drag them to the trash like I can with other apps?

There's no delete mechanism in the App Store. You can use a normal app-removal procedure to get rid of it. Apps leave config information and what not lying around that's outside of the .app container, so just dragging the .app container to the trash doesn't uninstall it completely. An uninstaller app like TrashMe will find and remove most of the little bits apps strew about your profile.


El Capitan startup screens After installing El Capitan (Currently on 10.11.3), the screen starts with a login prompt, which then displays a progress bar. At about 30%, the screen goes gray, then a faster progress bar completes the process.

I have read several answers and it seems to be related to Filevault.

I did have a GPU problem (MBP early 2011) which I resolved by entering a script available online, where I did modify the boot process disabling the discrete graphics and after that the boot started to display this additional progress bar; since then the motherboard was replaced (Thanks, Apple!), then I deleted all those extra features yet the startup screens remained.

Is there a way to have just one progress bar for the whole process?

I find that greyscreen somewhat annoying.

There are several ways you can fix this issue.

Reset NVRAM
Try starting up in Safe Mode
Press and hold the power button for a few seconds until your computer turn off, then release the power button.

Source: Apple Toolbox


What personal finance apps work between iPhone, iPad and Mac? One of my resolutions for 2014 is to keep better track of my finances. I'd like to use an iPhone app to do this. I've used a few personal finance apps in the past, but none of them do precisely what I'm looking for. I don't need anything particularly sophisticated, just the following features:

Ability to add a new transaction with as little effort as possible. I
want to capture every single payment I make, so if the UI isn't up to
scratch it will get really annoying.  I want to be able to enter how
much the transaction is for, what account it's coming out of, and
what category it should be filed under: i.e., "Car", "Electric", etc.
Those categories should be hierarchical, so the "Car" category should
include subcategories called "Gas" and "Servicing"
Ability to create recurring payments
Synchronisation with iPad and Mac. Mac synchronisation is less
important and I suppose I'd be satisfied with a detailed spreadsheet
download, but synchronisation with iPad is a must.

Can anyone recommend an app or two that would fit the bill?

I used Mint.com for quite awhile and liked it. It easily pairs with most bank accounts (except ones with 2-step authentication, like I have enabled which caused me to move away from it), so most transactions are populated automatically, and even categorized automatically.

Manually adding transactions is quick, and very simple. As you can see in one of the screenshots, all one has to do is open the app, and then top the "Compose" icon in the lower right corner. This opens an interface which is very intuitive.

I don't remember right off whether it allows hierarchical categories, and recurring payments, as those are not areas I specifically used, but I do know it has excellent customization of categories, and handles bills well.

They have a Mac app which is functional, but the online interface is probably better overall. Mint has native iPhone and iPad apps, which have the ability to lock with a passcode if so desired.


How can I tell Time Machine to keep using its former backup? For some reason Time Machine doesn't think that the backups on my external drive are for my current computer.

How can I point Time Machine at the former backup files so it can pick up where it left off?

On OS X 10.7 Lion or later, yes. You need to look at the tmutil command, specifically the inheritbackup verb (which tells Time Machine that this is a backup of this machine, and not some other), and the associatedisk verb (which tells Time Machine that the disk it was backing up before is this other disk that you have now).


Can a Mac Pro drive more than 2 monitors? I have 3 Monitors which I would like to drive off a Mac Pro (that is not bought yet). The Monitors don't have DisplayPort though (and I had not much luck with the $100 adapters).

All 3 have DVI and 2 have HDMI as well (running at 2048x1152).

Would I have to get a configuration with 2x Radeon 5770? Can I use a Mini-DP-HDMI Adapter on it? (I successfully drive one of them on a MacBook Pro, I just don't know if the Mac Pro's 5770 are special)

If you look at the Apple Store page for buying a Mac Pro, you'll see it comes with the ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB.

Under "Second Display," it says:

  All Mac Pro graphics cards support up to three displays: two using Mini DisplayPort and one using DVI.

Under "Graphics," it says:

  Configure your Mac Pro with two cards to power up to six displays simultaneously for visualization projects and large display walls.

If you click on the "Learn more" link under Graphics, it says:

  ATI Radeon HD 5770

  Ideal for motion graphics, 3D modeling, rendering, or animation, the ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB of fast GDDR5 memory comes standard — and provides up to 5x more performance than previous Mac Pro standard graphics cards. It also includes two Mini DisplayPort outputs and a dual-link DVI port.

and

  Dual-display and triple-display modes

  Both ATI Radeon HD cards each have two Mini DisplayPort outputs and one dual-link DVI output for a total of three video ports. All three ports are available for simultaneous use, depending upon the type of connection…

  Note: If you are using more than one Mini DisplayPort to Single-Link DVI adapter, only two displays are supported across the three ports. To connect up to two Mini DisplayPort displays and up to a 30-inch DVI display simultaneously, use the ports without any adapters. To connect two DVI displays, use the dual-link DVI port and the Apple Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter or the Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (sold separately). To connect three DVI displays at once, you must use two Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapters (sold separately). To connect up to three VGA displays simultaneously, use the Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter and DVI to VGA adapters (sold separately).

However, based on this blog post, it's worth reading these two Knowledge Base articles before making a buying decision:

Mac Pro: Supported display configurations
Mac Pro: Issues with three displays and multiple DVI, HDMI connections