texts: How to fix "com.apple.dock.extra: ... Could not connect the action buttonPressed: to target of class NSApplication" in system.log

texts:
On a recently installed (from internet via Recovery Disk) 10.7.4 Lion system the system.log is filled with multiple "com.apple.dock.extra: ... Could not connect the action buttonPressed: to target of class NSApplication" message.

Have tried creating a new account, with only 2 icons in Dock: Finder and Recycle bin, though that also generates these "com.apple.dock.extra: ... Could not connect the action buttonPressed: to target of class NSApplication" messages in system.log.

System.log excerpt:

Jun 24 16:14:50 mac03 com.apple.launchctl.Aqua[1209]: usage: launchctl load [-wF] [-D <user|local|network|system|all>] paths...
Jun 24 16:14:50 mac03 com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[1051] (com.apple.launchctl.Aqua[1209]): Exited with code: 1
Jun 24 16:14:52 mac03 com.apple.dock.extra[1231]: Could not connect the action buttonPressed: to target of class NSApplication
Jun 24 16:14:52: --- last message repeated 3 times ---
Jun 24 16:14:52 mac03 com.apple.dock.extra[1231]: 2012-06-24 16:14:52.250 com.apple.dock.extra[1231:1507] Could not connect the action buttonPressed: to target of class NSApplication
Jun 24 16:14:52 mac03 com.apple.dock.extra[1231]: 2012-06-24 16:14:52.303 com.apple.dock.extra[1231:1507] Could not connect the action buttonPressed: to target of class NSApplication
Jun 24 16:14:52 mac03 com.apple.dock.extra[1231]: 2012-06-24 16:14:52.304 com.apple.dock.extra[1231:1507] Could not connect the action buttonPressed: to target of class NSApplication
Jun 24 16:14:52 mac03 com.apple.dock.extra[1231]: 2012-06-24 16:14:52.305 com.apple.dock.extra[1231:1507] Could not connect the action buttonPressed: to target of class NSApplication

How can this behavior be "fixed"? The goal is to prevent these messages from appearing in system.log.


texts: Which is faster: Encrypt empty external disk or leave data on disk while encrypting

texts:
I'm trying to encrypt one of my 2 TB external drives using Finder > Right-click on drive name > "Encrypt"

I moved all the files (~1 TB) to another drive because I was thinking that an empty drive will be encrypted faster than encrypting the drive with the files in place.

However, I'm about four hours into the encryption process of the empty drive and it's only about 5% done.

Is there any advantage to encrypting the drive while it's empty, or does having files on the drive not make a difference in encryption speed?

This is on 10.12.3.


texts: Is it possible to prevent TextEdit's "The file has been changed" dialog from appearing unnecessarily?

texts:
Every so often, I  will be doing something on my computer (e.g., in Google Chrome), when an alert dialog from TextEdit.app randomly pops up. The dialog looks like this:

The dialog asks if I want to save changes made to an open or minimized RTF document in TextEdit. The dialog sometimes appears even when TextEdit is not the active application; the dialog comes out of nowhere.

My answer to this dialog, 100% of the time, is Save Anyway. This is because hitting the Revert button irrevocably changes the file to the last-saved version of the file (which is obviously undesirable).

If the document is not being edited in another application, then why does this message appear? Or, how can I figure out which application (i.e., "another application") is responsible for the changes to the document, exactly?
Is it possible to prevent this dialog from needlessly appearing? Or, is it possible for Textedit to "save anyway," by default?

OS X El Capitan, version 10.11.6.


texts: Why doesn't /usr/libexec/java_home recognize JDK 1.8?

texts:
I am trying to install a JDK 8 on OS X Mountain Lion (to experiment with the new lambda features).

Starting point

A machine recently updated from OS X 10.6 to 10.8, with

$ sw_vers
  ProductName:    Mac OS X
  ProductVersion: 10.8.2
  BuildVersion:   12C60

$ ls -l /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/
  Home@ -> jdk1.7.0_09.jdk/Contents/Home/
  jdk1.7.0_09.jdk/

$ ls -l /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/
  1.6.0.jdk/

and this folder from the OS X 10.6 era:

/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/

In ~/.bashrc I've set

export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/Home

So I have

$ java -version
  java version "1.7.0_09"
  Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_09-b05)
  Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 23.5-b02, mixed mode)

$ /usr/libexec/java_home
  /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_09.jdk/Contents/Home

How I installed JDK 8

Downloaded the .tar.gz file from http://jdk8.java.net/lambda/ and unpacked it into

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0.jdk/Contents/Home

(I created the folders jdk1.8.0.jdk/Contents/Home manually)
Changed the symlink /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/Home to point to jdk1.8

Now I have

$ java -version
  openjdk version "1.8.0-ea"
  OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0-ea-lambda-nightly-h2135-20121203-b67-b00)
  OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.0-b05, mixed mode)

$ echo $JAVA_HOME
  /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/Home

$ ls /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines
  Home@ -> jdk1.8.0.jdk/Contents/Home/
  ...

But the java_home utility doesn't seem to care:

$ /usr/libexec/java_home
  /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_09.jdk/Contents/Home

It doesn't even know that there is a JDK 8 available:

$ /usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.8*
  Unable to find any JVMs matching version "1.8*".

Question

I'd like the /usr/libexec/java_home utility to find my installed JDKs, so I can use something like this:

alias setjdk17='export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.7*)'
alias setjdk18='export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.8*)'

and get rid of the Home symlink. Does anyone know

how I can properly install JDK 8?
how I can make /usr/libexec/java_home recognize it?


texts: I'm not really at home in the screwdriver world, and since this question relates to my purchase of a MBP I figured I could ask the question here. Whats the difference between a Phillips 00 and a 000 screwdriver?


texts: Stopping own iPhone from being erased after being deleted from within Find My iPhone on iCloud.com

texts:
A friend of mine has very recently deleted her iPhone 6S Plus with iOS 12.4.6 (the "deleted" iPhone) from within Find My iPhone via iCloud.com by clicking on the "Erase iPhone" option thinking that this will only disable tracking of her iPhone. The "deleted" iPhone no longer appears in Find My iPhone menus on iCloud.com. However, because the "deleted" iPhone was turned off at the time the "Erase iPhone" option was selected on iCloud.com, the contents of the "deleted" iPhone were actually not erased.

Before the iPhone is turned on, my friend has noticed that that the action she took through iCloud.com will also erase all the contents of her "deleted" iPhone. She has then decided that she does not want her "deleted" iPhone to be erased for a number of reasons including not all the contacts on the "deleted" iPhone being synced to iCloud (although the contacts option is enabled in the "deleted" iPhone's iCloud settings).

To prevent erasing of the "deleted" iPhone at least for now, she took out the "deleted" iPhone's SIM card and disabled the internet in her home before turning on the "deleted" iPhone. She can currently get into the "deleted" iPhone without any trouble (but of course without any internet connection) and is busy writing down the contacts not synced to iCloud.com!

She also owns a second iPhone that is synced to iCloud via the same Apple ID with the "deleted" iPhone (and the second iPhone, as you might expect, doesn't have the missing contacts from iCloud.)

So here is the question:

Is there any action she can take through the "deleted" iPhone or her 2nd iPhone or a computer that will nullify at least the "erase all content" part of the command to be communicated to this iPhone from iCloud.com once it is connected to the internet?

Thank you.


texts: Connecting dual 27" Apple thunderbolt displays to PC

texts:
I have two of the Apple 27" thunderbolt displays, and a Dell M3800 laptop running Windows 7. The laptop has a thunderbolt port, and can run one of the Apple displays just fine. When I daisy chain another Apple display, the display on the far end of the chain works, but the one on the near end of the chain goes dark.

Is there any way to connect two of these displays to this computer?

Note: The ports on both displays, and the PC are thunderbolt, not displayport.


texts: Use DHCP for WiFi for all TCP/IP settings except default gateway

texts:
My Mac is connected via Ethernet to a router (with internet access through corporate VPN) and to home WiFi where all my devices live in.
So I want my Mac to get all TCP/IP settings for home WiFi via DHCP, but to not use default gateway for this connection at all.
Is it possible to ignore or override the gateway setting obtained from DHCP? I know I can specify my own DNS servers, but what about the gateway? I cannot find such option in the Network pane. Maybe there is some CLI way to do it?
Thank you.


texts: What does it mean for `cp -a` to "not [preserve] directory structure"?

texts:
The man page for cp says this about the -a option:

  Same as -pPR options. Preserves structure and attributes of files but not directory structure.

FreeBSD cp's manual does not have this caveat, although the structure of the options remains very similar, if not identical.

What does not preserving directory structure mean in this case?


texts: I was listening to iTunes Radio yesterday - US iPhone, US Apple ID - after launching it from the 'Radio' tab in the Music app (mentioned here). Today that tab disappeared. What happened?


texts: Hide new "play" icon in menu bar after upgrading to Big Sur

texts:
I recently upgraded to Big Sur and I now have a media player icon which I don't really use or need. Is there any way to hide it?
It's the far left icon in the screenshot below:


texts: How do I check the memory usage from a certain time in macOs?

texts: I had a website which was using massive amounts of memory on my MacBook but I was unable to take  a screenshot of the total memory usage from Activity Monitor to file an issue with the website. Is there any way I can see the log of the Activity Monitor from a specific time?


texts: How do I copy text from another application without switching to it?

texts:
I know that I can highlight text from another window without changing the focus to that application by holding down Command and selecting the text. Once I have the text selected, what are my options in regard to copying the text without changing focus to that window?

It seems that when I press Command-V, it copies text from the application which is currently in the foreground.


texts: Using the mac app, Music.app, I can go to the Music Store but how do I search for an artist or a song

texts: I'm using the Music.app on my iMac running Catalina. When I enter the Apple Music Store how do i search for an artist or a particular album or song?  I hope this is not a stupid question, but I've looked everywhere for a search box. I have found a way but its convoluted and doesn't work all the time.  If anyone knows how to search on the App Music Store using the Music app please let me know?  Thanks.  Do i have to load iTunes?


texts: Video Stutter With Multiple Logged-In Users

texts:
I'm experiencing significant video playback stuttering when there are other users logged in in the background via Fast User Switching. I'm not sure if this is do to a recent change to my user setup, or Lion, or what.

I've used Elgato's EyeTV software as my home DVR for 6 years, with the now-discontinued EyeTV 500, through a wide variety of updates, always without major problems. This was the first place I noticed video problems, so I initially suspected a software incompatibility. However the problem has also affected DVD, Netflix (Silverlight), iTunes (h.264) and Flash video playback.

In upgrading to Lion, I decided to do a clean install onto what had been the DVR drive, while keeping my Snow Leopard install around for a bit. After I was happy with the migration, I turned what had been the Snow Leopard drive into a DVR drive for EyeTV. However instead of running EyeTV under my only user, as I had been, I set up a new user, with the idea being:

My wife wouldn't need my admin account's password to watch shows she wanted to record
We wouldn't have to toggle audio settings back and forth when running video to the living room (my user would stay on headphones, this media user would stay on toslink out)
The media user could be set to automatic login without a password, so if power was lost when we were't home, when it came back, the DVR would come back too

Unfortunately what's been happening consistently is that if my admin user is logged in, with a few things running (nothing crazy, Mail, Chrome, iTunes, iPhoto, Terminal, etc.), video becomes unplayable, with whatever app that was doing video playback getting the Rainbow Wheel of Death every few seconds and lasting for several seconds.

I'm not sure if this is related, but if both users are logged in, the Lion login/user switching screen itself becomes nigh-unusable, possibly requiring multiple forced sleeps to figure itself out.

At this point I don't know what the problem is, although I have some guesses:

I can't have two users with conflicting sound output settings logged in at once (this is what I'm going to try first)
The media user needs to have admin privileges
There is some bug in Lion (unlikely, but I can't isolate this variable since I added the user at the same time as I upgraded).

Any ideas?


texts: Shortcuts for Inserting objects in PowerPoint for Mac

texts:
The screenshot shows the common items to be inserted into a PowerPoint Presentation. Being on a Mac, of course we are handicapped on not having mnemonics support to perform the action by the keyboard.  Or are there some shortcuts to do these?

The point here is that needing to hunt for the menu item with the mouse and then click on the item is way slow compared to keyboarding.

Update: An answer was provided with a link to the shortcuts provided by MS online help. I should have noted that link had already been pored over and does not mention any shortcuts for "Insert" items.


texts: Will two charging cables charge my laptop twice as quickly?

texts:
Now that the MacBook has all of its ports the same, is it possible to plug in two power cables into the Mac?

If I do so, will it charge twice as quickly? In the event that the Mac is unable to allow that amount of current in at once, is there a mechanism to limit how much is allowed in, or else cut it off entirely?


texts: Does Apple Maps use Core Graphics internally?

texts:
I'm curious to know if Core Graphics would be fast enough for the rendering of a map?
Or maybe Apple has some internal high performance 2D graphics engine they use for Maps.


texts: How to sync Keychain passwords between iOS and macOS?

texts: I'd like to share passwords between macOS and iOS. I've enabled iCloud keychain, moved all relevant passwords in Keychain App to iCloud but for some reason they don't appear in my iPhone. I check my passwords and there's nothing there. How can I debug this?


texts: How can I get old instruments on Garageband so I can play my old files?

texts:
I made a bunch of songs in Garageband a few years ago, on my old MacBookPro (ended up with Mountain Lion, I believe). When I open them on my new computer (a MacBookAir running Yosemite) some of the instruments (it's usually the drum kits) are not available. It gives me this pop up:

How can I get those old instruments so that these old files can be played and edited again?


texts:
Can you control an iPhone remotely using Mobile Device Management protocol? or any other protocol/service? Of course, the user's consent will be obtained before performing any actions.
I am mainly interested in changing the settings and manually selecting a carrier on behalf of the user. Any suggestions are welcomed.


texts: How can I get messages beta to start in "hidden mode"

texts:
I have installed the beta of messages. I understand the software is beta and I have searched all the Apple messages forums and Google around for a solution but could not find one.

I have set messages to launch upon startup via the icon in the dock as follows:

However when I log into OS X Lion 10.7.3 the primary new message window pops up:

This has the effect of having the messages icon in my dock active in addition to having a new message windows pop up.

My desire is to have messages start up without having a new message windows open upon login. Is there an obvious way to accomplish this? I have tried using minimize scripts which minimize the new message window but still results in having two icons active in my dock as follows:

I have additionally made sure that the "Restore windows when quitting and re-opening apps" setting under general preferences is not on.


texts: How do I force Time Machine to back up to a USB HDD, instead of a .sparsebundle on that USB HDD?

texts:
I use an iMac as an external monitor for my MacBook pro (OS X 11.6), over a thunderbolt cable. I usually have a USB 3 hard drive attached to my MacBook pro as a Time Machine backup. Last week I thought I would try attaching my USB drive to my iMac, and mounting it as a shared network drive over the thunderbolt network bridge. Of course, Time Machine then created a .sparsebundle disk image to perform the backup over the network. I decided I didn't want to start a full backup from scratch, and so moved the USB drive back to a direct connection.

However, now Time Machine only wants to back up to the .sparsebundle image, even thought the drive is connected locally and has a full set of backups at the root of the drive (in Backups.backupd). I tried using tmutil setdestination and tmutil associateddisk -a to force the association, with no success. I even renamed the .sparsebundle, and every time I start a backup the .sparsebundle is renamed back to the old name.

How can I stop Time Machine from treating the USB-attached hard drive as a network share for backups?


texts: Icons Within Apple Apps Disappearing in Mavericks

texts:
Recently (as in today) I noticed that Finder had some missing icons in the toolbar.  I also noticed that Xcode 5 has some missing icons as well.  I have included an image of the Finder issue here.

I am running 10.9.1 (Most current version of Mavericks).

Any ideas on a cause?


texts:
On my machine running OS X El Capitan, there is no "Keychain First Aid" option in the Keychain Access app.

All documentation, including Mac OS Help in El Capitan, says to go to the Keychain Access menu and select Keychain First Aid. But my Keychain Access menu looks like this:

Where is Keychain First Aid??


texts: How do I recover the administrator or root password on OS X?

texts:
I received a hand me down white MacBook with 10.4 on it and it automatically logs into a user account that isn't able to change much in the preference pane. How do I recover or change the administrator password?

The original owner told me to try a few passwords, none of which work to get logged in as admin.


texts: Remote desktop to macOS from Windows using all local monitors

texts:
I have a Windows machine with multiple screens attached.
What I would like to do, is "remote desktop" into my MacBook Pro (Early 2015 model) and use all the screens I have locally (on the Windows machine), even though there are no external displays connected to the macOS machine.

I know Windows RDP has an option for this when connecting to Windows machines. Unfortunately I have not seen a similar option for macOS, as the remote desktop stuff mainly seems to revolve around VNC.
Is there any software available to still achieve the scenario mentioned above?


texts: Programmatically check if "Share iTunes Library XML with other applications" is disabled

texts:
iTunes update (10.2.0.145) seems to have added new advanced feature "Share iTunes LIbrary XML with other applications" which if disabled no longers outputs the Music Library.xml.

Our applications is highly depended on that file, which by this documentation states the file will be available. Anyone know how to set, or check if that preference is disabled? I have looked at the com.apple.iTunes.plist, but nothing there seemed to reflect that setting.


texts: Why does a "SAMSUNG_Android" network service keep appearing?

texts:
I recently noticed a strange service in the Network preferences called "SAMSUNG_Android", which seems to be configured as a modem:

I don't have an Android or Samsung device and I've never plugged one into my computer. The only things I've recently plugged in are an iPhone, iPad, and Sony camera.

I noticed this yesterday, and deleted the service. Today, it's back!

Where could this be coming from, and how can I make it go away for good?


texts: Assigning global keyboard shotcuts for cross-application behaviour?

texts:
On PC: To open Chrome, the command was Win+3, a new window was Shift+Win+3.

It just occurred to me how much I relied on this. How can I have something as beautiful and simple as this on Mac? It should try to open the most recently active window, but should avoid changing Spaces as that is super disorienting. It shouldn't disorient.

Can I write a custom macro? Or program? Or command? Or ANYTHING to have this work on Mac?


texts: How to install VLC Player on the original iPad (iOS 5.1.1)?

texts:
My friend has the original iPad that runs iOS 5.1.1 and can't be updated any further. Very few apps these days are compatible with that version of iOS. The new version of VLC in the App Store requires iOS 7.

What I thought I'd do is get an old version of the .ipa for VLC that's compatible with iOS 5.1.1. I have a computer with iTunes that I wonder if I can use to transfer it to the iPad.

Are some old versions of VLC compatible with iOS 5.1.1? If yes, what's the latest VLC version that's compatible?
Where can I get such .ipa files?
Do I have to jailbreak the iPad in order to install such downloaded files, or can I do it without jailbreaking?


texts: shortcut for cycling between different windows of Finder on Mac (not the tab)?

texts:
I have macOSSierra 10.12.5, I have checked the keyboard shortcuts in system preferences and  Cmd ⌘   `   (command + backtick) is enabled indeed!
Yet, when I open two finder windows (not the tabs), I cannot cycle between them. I explicitly have to right click on the finder icon in the doc and select one of the open folders. This is bad, really bad for productivity, since I have to switch every time between mouse and keyboard.

Is there a way out of this ?

Thanks


texts: How can I make ctrl+cmd+V keyboard shortcut work again in Terminal

texts:
Before my upgrade to Big Sur, pressing ctrlcmdV pasted the current selection with special characters escaped. It's still shown in the menu with this keyboard shortcut.
However, when I press this keyboard shortcut, I get some kind of history popup:

Where does this popup come from? I can't seem to find any references to it in the menu. Most importantly: how can I paste the clipboard content escaped into my terminal window?


texts: Wrong indentation and spacing for manual pages in terminal

texts:
I am wondering why the manual pages in the Terminal app look like shite on my Mac running macOS Sierra 10.12.5?

If I run the command man grep for instance I get a crappy layout of text in the terminal window (black terminal). But if I right-click grep and choose open man page then I get the properly formatted version (yellow terminal) of the manual.

How can I resolve this?


texts:
I have this applet made in java, which relies on the users keycode input.
The case is that I have to press "Insert" for a function, which doesn't exist on the keyboard. Another function requires the "Page Up", which is also missing from my keyboard.

I have the BT Keyboard (no numpad).

I did not make the applet and there are no options to change the keyboard-controls.

How can I send these 'keys' to the Java applet?


texts: Changed developer account and now can't log in to it from Xcode

texts: I was forced to changed my account name from a nickname to an email address. Now I can't log in to my developer account from Xcode. There appears to be no way to just edit the current developer ID in Xcode. I can add a new address, but it requires an iCloud address, which my new email is not. What can I do here to resolve this? Also, how do I ensure all my entitlements are moved to the new account?


texts: How do I subscribe to an RSS feed in Mavericks?

texts:
I would like to subscribe to some RSS feeds. I originally had them in Mail, which worked just fine. But after upgrading to Mavericks, the RSS feeds disappeared, and I get this message when I click on an RSS feed link:

How do I subscribe to an RSS feed, if this won't work?


texts: How to access virtual machine website in iMac?

texts: I have installed Windows Server 2012 in VirtualBox inside iMac. Now I need to access the website created in VirtualBox in iMac. can any one guide me please?


texts: iPod Touch 1st Gen charging rebooting loop

texts:
I have a 1st Generation iPod touch.  When I try to charge it, it goes into a loop:

The very low battery logo displays
The black screen with white apple logo is displayed
The screen shuts down
And repeat..

Is the battery totally knackered, or is there anything else I could try?


texts: Suppressing iPhone's native video player when playing HTML5 video

texts:
on iPhone, when you have an HTML5 video tag on a web site and you click play it will open the iPhone's native video player and play the video there (unlike on the iPad where it will play the video in the on-site HTML5 video player).

Is there a way of suppressing the native player and play the video in the browser in the on-site HTML5 video player on iPhone?

Thanks


texts: iOS 11 & Apple Maps: Hide Search Box in Landscape Orientation

texts:
I’m not sure what that box is called, but it’s the one with the search at the top of it, and the history below.

In Portrait Orientation you can swipe down on it and it reduces to a single search box. It’s annoying how much space it takes up, but at least it doesn’t cover half the screen.

In Landscape Orientation, I can’t see any way to reduce the search box, so that it always covers half of the screen. The main reason to use Landscape Orientation is to see more horizontally, not less.

Is there any way to get rid of that search box?

I have iOS 11.1 on an iPhone X, but the problem also occurs on iPhone 6 etc.


texts: Why it takes 19 days to erase a Time Capsule harddisk?

texts: My Time Capsule harddisk was dead. The problem is, why it takes 19 days to erase it?


texts: What features in iOS 7 make a difference?

texts:
Share your experiences on exploring iOS 7 with us..

Whether you found hidden or little-known feature of iOS 7 or can explain how a big feature makes a difference, we're looking for objective reports of how the new OS affects your workflow.

Also provide details on how to achieve that feature, and if possible, include a relevant image too (hold Home and Lock for a screenshot on your iOS device).

Please post one tip per answer. Please also check to see if your answer has already been posted - duplicate answers will be deleted in favour of the original answer on any given topic. To search answers for this question use inquestion:101382 (or inquestion:this, directly from the question page) in addition to your search terms in the search box in the upper right hand corner of this page.


texts: MacOS change display orders after restart

texts:
In the company, we have Samsung S24E650 monitors - for each MacBook Pro, we have connected two of them by different kinds of USB-C hubs. When we unplug the monitors and plug it again monitors usually change the arrangement so we need to rearrange them in MacOS settings. Sometimes when we close the computer and awake them we have this issue too.
I'm sure that this is not an issue with the order of USB-C ports because I keep it always in the same order.
I don't have this problem when I work at home with my Iiyama monitor set. When I restart a computer display order is always correct.


texts: New disk on MacBook, how can I install OS X

texts:
I recently change my hard disk for ssd on my Macbook 7.1. My old hard disk doesn't work, I don't have access to anything.

How Can I install now OS X El Capitan?

At the moment I don't have access to any OSX, so how can i resolve this situation?


texts: How to convert Audible AAX file audiobook M4B on a Mac using Terminal

texts: How do you convert Audible AAX files to M4B audiobooks


texts:
Looks like VMWare Tools do not allow changing resolution in El Capitan. Input data as follows:

VMWare Workstation 12
Latest VMWare Tools 8.0.2 (here)
Mac OS El Capitan, build 15B42

I've tried everything I could find online. I set sudo nvram boot-args=rootless=0 before installation. I also disabled protection via csrutil disable in Recovery.

VMWare says it's installed successfully. I see that its drivers are loading in verbose boot log.

Nov  5 13:51:38 localhost kernel[0]: gfx: Loaded com.vmware.kext.VMwareGfx Version 0297.78.63 Build 2977863 (Aug 11 2015 19:19:22)
Nov  5 13:51:38 localhost kernel[0]: gfx: svga: Start: FB size=0x300000, FIFO size=0x200000
Nov  5 13:51:38 localhost kernel[0]: gfx: svga: Start: host_bpp=32, bpp=32, num_displays=2
Nov  5 13:51:38 localhost kernel[0]: gfx: fb: start: maxWidth 3840 maxHeight 1920 vramSize 33554432
Nov  5 13:51:38 localhost kernel[0]: gfx: fb: setDisplayMode: (1) wxh=1024x768, 32 4096
Nov  5 13:51:38 localhost kernel[0]: gfx: svga: SetMode: mode w,h=1024, 768 bpp=32
Nov  5 13:51:38 localhost kernel[0]: gfx: svga: SetMode: pitch=4096
Nov  5 13:51:38 localhost kernel[0]: gfx: fb: setDisplayMode: Display ID=1, Depth ID=0
Nov  5 13:51:38 localhost kernel[0]: gfx: fb: setDisplayMode: wxh=1024x768, bpp=32, pitch=4096
Nov  5 13:51:38 localhost kernel[0]: gfx: gfx: UpdateTraces: Enabling traces.

Nov  5 13:51:43 Jacks-Mac kernel[0]: memctl: Loaded com.vmware.kext.vmmemctl Version 0297.78.63 Build 2977863 (Aug 11 2015 19:19:20)
Nov  5 13:51:44 Jacks-Mac kernel[0]: memctl: Opening balloon
Nov  5 13:51:44 Jacks-Mac kernel[0]: memctl: offset 0: 80
Nov  5 13:51:44 Jacks-Mac kernel[0]: memctl: offset 1: 16
Nov  5 13:51:44 Jacks-Mac kernel[0]: memctl: offset 2: 56
Nov  5 13:51:44 Jacks-Mac kernel[0]: memctl: offset 3: 64
Nov  5 13:51:44 Jacks-Mac kernel[0]: memctl: offset 4: 76
Nov  5 13:51:44 Jacks-Mac kernel[0]: memctl: Timer thread started.
Nov  5 13:51:44 Jacks-Mac kernel[0]: hgfs: Loaded com.vmware.kext.vmhgfs Version 0297.78.63 Build 2977863 (Aug 11 2015 19:19:16)
Nov  5 13:51:44 Jacks-Mac kernel[0]: gfx: fb: VMwareFramebufferGetLastCustomResolution: Last custom resolution: missing

But unfortunately it's not working in practice - there are no screen resolutions besides 1024*768

I suspect it might be related to System Integrity Protection introduced in El Capitan. Suspiciously despite the fact that csrutil status says disabled in Recovery in real system it gives following result

Any thoughts how to make it work?


texts: How can I find out which iOS apps I've purchased were free?

texts:
I know that I can see all my purchased apps in the App Store on my iPad but it doesn't give any indication of whether these are free apps or whether I paid for them.

I am in South Africa and have accounts in both the ZA and US stores. Before the ZA store had access to most apps I would buy them from the US store that I had loaded with vouchers. Unfortunately I left my iPad's store connected to the US store and "bought" many free apps there too. Now I keep the ZA store connected and apps purchased from the US store don't update unless I switch stores first.

So I want to uninstall all the free apps I purchased from the US store and re-purchase them from the ZA store, leaving only paid apps purchased from the US store installed. The problem is that once an app has been purchased the app info pages in the store no longer show the cost of the app; so how do I tell free and paid for apps apart? Not having bought the apps by credit card I have no email record of the purchases to refer to.

I rarely use the App Store functionality in iTunes (on Windows) so perhaps that holds some key to this and I will check, but in the meantime I'm hoping someone already has the answer to this.


texts:
When installing Parallels in Mac OS X 10.6 I believe I chose to integrate Windows XP with OS X. Some files are now associated with programs in Windows even though there are OS X equivalents. This is annoying because it is easy to accidentally open Parallels and Windows. Very annoying.

So my question is: can I un-integrate Parallels?


texts: Strange keyboard shortcuts and menu items

texts:
I have just noticed that some items in the click-right menu and in the keyboard shortcuts settings are displayed in a different language now (Portuguese). The system default language is English and the OS is 10.6.8.

Why is this happening and how do I fix it?


texts:
I am trying to run a binary that I have downloaded (it's part of flutter). Whenever I'm trying to run it, I get the error:

I have already disabled gatekeeper checks globally with sudo spctl --master-disable. What else can I do to get this to run?


texts: How do I increase display by 120% of normal? Using Mac Air, Yosemite OS

texts:
In Windows one can right click, head over to display preferences and have the OS increase everything globally ... icons, fonts, etc ... by a certain factor.   It's really helpful for "old" eyes.   Is there an equivalent for Mac?   I have found zillions of places to tweak things piecemeal.  But am looking One place, One setting.   Am certain it exists, but as a Mac novice I have struggled.

Am using Mac Air; OS X Yosemite 10.10.2


texts:
With every pair of Bluetooth headphones I've owned I've had a latency of about 50 ms.

How do I get rid of or reduce this delay?

MacBook Pro with Retina, Mid 2015, macOS Mojave 10.14.3 (but I had the problem on earlier OSes).


texts: Can one buy an Ethernet and HDMI Thunderbolt adapter?

texts:
I need both of them and I am wondering if it is possible to buy them together or if I have to get two separate items?

Also I am seeing a lot of third party Thunderbolt>HDMI adapters for cheap and then no generic Ethernet adapters, only the stock (expensive) Apple ones. Is there a way to get an off brand Ethernet adapter?


texts:
Several months ago, I was interested in a Windows program "Azuon."  They had instructions on how to install it on Mac OS by getting a "wrapper" from somewhere else.  Sort of like WINE or CrossOver but it put everything needed inside the .app bundle.

I'd like to use the same technique for some other programs, but I can't remember the name of the thing.  I went back to Azuon's website to find out, but they have since done the packaging themselves and no longer cite the other site.

Where is this "embedded WINE" code, or what is its name?


texts:
I'm using iMovie, but i'm looking to replace the cheesy standard leaders.

I've read that you can use Apple Motion as a standalone tool to generate leaders and tranparent animations, export them to 4444 format and include them in iMovie.

I realize some functionality is lost without final cut pro but i think i do not (yet) need FXP (plus, i'm saving for a rMBP)

Are there any alternative apps that i'm overlooking for creating custom leaders/trailers before i shell out $50 ?


texts: If I transfer my Keychain folder to another MacBook Pro - open it with keychain access, would I be able to see it?

texts: Basically want to take my Keychain folder (from old Macbook) onto a new MacBook Pro, then open the login.keychain on the new MacBook, which ideally would show my iCould, system keychain, system roots too, correct?


texts: How to completely erase the Photo Library on an iPhone?

texts: I decided to delete all of my iPhone's photos and videos so I copied everything to iPhoto and deleted everything on my phone. After that, I decided to backup my phone through iTunes. Then I reinstalled iOS 7.1 through iTunes (via ipsw and Restore phone). After a few minutes, I was able to restore everything. The phone is much faster than before. The only problem is, the Photo Library still consumes space.


texts: Best way to connect Remote Mac with audio from Mac or PC

texts:
I am in a need of a solution, where I can remotely connect from my PC/Mac to remote Mac Pro or Mac mini with audio coming from it.  I will be using VPN to access Remote Mac, so I couldn't get Airfoil working for me (correct me if I missed something from the tool). I went through several tools such as nuoRDS, SoundFlower (didn't work on Catalina), VNC Pro (paid one also didn't work for macOS).

Any ideal solution that would help me as I am looking for 10-15 users. So purchasing one tool or a year license would be a solution too but per month, per user, per session is quite out of context.

Please suggest anything that you recommend, I will test it.


texts: Can I make a symlink (to a .app folder) in Applications directory show up in spotlight?

texts:
I used brew to install MacVim and it put it in /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/7.3-61/MacVim.app

I would like to be able to go to spotlight and type MacVim to launch the app. I tried creating a symlink in the Applications directory to /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/7.3-61/MacVim.app. But that doesn't seem to show up in Spotlight. I set the executable bits on the symlink. open MacVim.app from the command line works. How can I get MacVim to show up in Spotlight search?


texts: Best way to View Powerpoint Presentations on Ipad

texts:
I'm not a big ipad user, but I need ot know how to view powerpoint presentations on an ipad. I have noticed alot of people mentioned to convert it to a video, pdf slides or image slides. But I have also noticed that KeyNote seems to do alot of the same stuff as powerpoint.

Is KeyNote the best way and will it allow editing too? What drawbacks are there? What is your suggestion for powerpoint on ipad?


texts: External monitor refresh rate drops after turning off macbook monitor

texts:
I have a Macbook pro 16 and a dell 3415w monitor.
My setup is: I mirror the macbook to the resolution that fit best on Dell (21:9 ratio), use the trackpad and keyboard on macbook, and hardly look at the macbook screen.
It's silky smooth on dell as long as the macbook monitor is on. But as soon as I turn off my macbook monitor (decrease the brightness to zero), the refresh rate of dell decrease to a level the lag is so visible.


texts: Installation of Yosemite taking over 20h

texts:
Yesterday I started installing Yosemite on my MacBookPro 2011.
It all went well until it started rebooting. It is stuck on the Apple grey screen for over 20h now. The progress bar is at the very same point (half way) since 20 hours ago. What to do?


texts: How can I know that a user allowed from security & privacy 3rd party kernel extensions to load in High Sierra?

texts:
I've created a kernel extension for macOS High Sierra.

When the kernel extension file  loads in High Sierra the user has to allow it in the Security & Privacy preferences.

How can I verify that the user allowed my kernel extension to load properly? Is there any file in which user allowed kernel extension details are stored?


texts: When using dual monitors, is it possible to get the screenshots to appear on the desktop of the screen it captured?

texts:
I'm not using a mirrored display, I connect my monitor to my laptop to do my main work and use my laptop for keeping track of queues and emails. Throughout my day I take many snips/screenshots and I always have to slide over to a clear desktop on my laptop to grab and drag the new screenshot to the desktop on my monitor. The screenshots always stay afterwards on my monitor desktop.

Is there a way to there a way to change the screenshot default so that it appears on my external monitor desktop when I snap something on it?

Or maybe change the default "desktop" to be my monitor?


texts: Can I switch between iOS 5 & 6 (and possibly Android/Windows 8) on my iPad?

texts:
On my iPad 3 (The New iPad), is it possible to switch between different versions of iOS (iOS 5 & iOS 6)? If so, how?

Would also be possible to install Android and or Windows 8 on iPad?
(I know for older versions of iPhone there is iphodroid and Bootlace, but these don't work on the iPad 3. There are also services that let you run Windows 8 on a computer and access it from iPad, but that is not the same as installing Windows 8 on iPad).

I don't mind if the answer involves jailbreaking.


texts: Lost iPhone, if "Lost Mode" is on would someone still be able to access messages etc?

texts: I lost my iPhone, but I believe I have "Find My iPhone" switched on. If I turn "Lost Mode" on, using a different Apple device, can messages etc still be accessed by a thief?


texts: Is there q simple data base out there that is similar to the database the was included in the old Apple Works software


texts: Full wifi signal but horrible download speeds

texts:
I'm connecting my MacBook to the internet via a current generation Apple Airport Extreme (late 2013). When I'm standing next to the Airport, my Mac's wifi indicator shows full signal strength (duh!) and I get excellent download speeds (30-50mbps). When I'm on the other side of the house, my MacBook still shows full signal strength but I can barely load anything (.25mbps... if I'm lucky)!

What gives? Why would the signal be strong but I can't download anything?


texts: Weird spam message overlay appears on my iPhone's screen (FLASH SMS)

texts:
This weird message keeps appearing every few days and it's very irritating. It always contains spam messages that asks me to accept or cancel invitations to random services (weekly jokes, pics etc). From googling, I believe this is some sort of Flash SMS:

Can someone explain if this is caused by an app or forced through the service provider as I would like to know how to disable these permanently.


texts: Set Mac mini to be constantly on and logged in

texts:
I've got a Mac mini that I would like to run headless; leaving plugged in to network and power only.

I want to leave the Mac mini on to:

Run Dropbox constantly, so that I have the local copy backed up to the Mac mini.
Run a cloud backup service so that my Dropbox data is backed up again.

The hurdles I see with doing so are:

If there is a power cut, I want to make sure that the machine reboots and logs back in so that tasks 1. & 2. above can run. This can be partially achieved by powering the Mac mini via a UPS, although if the power cut was long enough the UPS would also fail.
Knowing if the systems fail, so that I can fix them. I wouldn't want the systems to fail and me not know for 6 months.

Are there some specific settings I should be looking at in macOS to enable me to leave it running constantly carrying out tasks 1. & 2. above?


texts: How can the check point on startup for macOS's T2 chip authentication be bypassed for securely signed OS's like RedHat?

texts:
How can the checkpoint on startup for macOS's T2 chip authentication be bypassed for securely signed OS's like RedHat?

I know after both drives within, say macOS Catalina for example, are mounted while in the root bash of a recovery partition, you can edit almost anything in either volume, but how does one get to the "watchOS" prefs/executions, to add to or modify the list of "secure signed OS's" you can boot with, even after the OS Security pref has been set in that recovery window to allow external drive booting?

Apple keeps claiming on all official documentation and forums that you can install Linux to a T2 enabled machine, but it doesn't appear this is true of booting (post install, even if UEFI equipped).


texts: Getting a text file with list of installed apps on iPhone or iPad?

texts:
Is there any simple way to get a list of all of the installed apps on my iPhone or iPad, that I can save to a text file?

I'm guessing it needs to be done from iTunes or an external app that manages iDevices. Any tips?


texts: Is there a way to get a crash report (not a core dump) for a command line program?

texts:
If a macOS application crashes, CrashReporter will (optionally) pop up a window with a human-readable set of stack traces and the "Send to Apple" button.
Is there a straightforward way to get the same results for a non-.app program which crashes when started from the command line? That is, the situation I want more information out of is
$ some-program
Segmentation fault: 11
$

I've only found instructions about how to enable core dumps, but not how to get something readable out of them. I know that Activity Monitor can "sample" running programs, but I'm looking for the crash event, not profiling.
I've thought of creating a dummy .app package that actually runs the command that's crashing, but that'll be a bit of work and probably run into some Gatekeeper trouble, though I haven't actually tried doing that since a few major versions ago. I'm currently on Catalina 10.15.7.


texts: AirPort Extreme between two VLANS - intermittent response to ping

texts:
I have a network topology I'm trying to set up with some TP-LINK switches with 802.1Q VLAN support.

A technical detail is that I have two of these switches with an aggregate of two gigabit links set up as a trunk for 802.1Q to bind the two together.

I currently have two VLANS: a DMZ and the LAN. My intention is to have one gateway between the modem and the DMZ and another gateway between the DMZ and the LAN. The latter is shown on this diagram:

I have an AirPort Extreme for the second gateway. However, when both its LAN and WAN are connected to the same physical switch (though on different VLANS), it intermittently responds to pings (I.e. About 25% of the pings return). If I unplug either of the wires, it responds 100% (on the appropriate interface, of course).

If I put another gateway (some cheap Netgear thing) at the point labeled A in the diagram, suddenly it works exactly as expected.

So, why does the AirPort Extreme behave so strangely?

Yes, everything is set up correctly. Also, I have tried both with an AirPort Extreme and an AirPort Extreme and both with IPv6 set to Native and set to Local Link Only with no changes in behavior.


texts: Where are downloaded apps located on my iPhone?  I went to download the Prisma App and the download page indicated that it was installed. Now I want to use the App but do not know how to find it.


texts: Selectively control when Aperture/iPhoto opens

texts: Both Aperture and iPhoto have a setting of whether to open "when a camera is connected." I want this option to be checked, but I don't want it to consider my iPad a camera. How can I enable it for some devices but not others?


texts: Is it safe to delete the contents of Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup if using iCloud?

texts:
My /Users/{username}/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup is 5GB and I'd really like to reclaim that space if I can.

I back up my iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch to iCloud, so is there any reason not to simply delete the 9000+ legacy backups in this folder?


texts: Can I fake location using two phones with find my friends by swapping sim and leaving phone in place ?


texts:
Previously before, I didn't touch apps like GeekTool because I was afraid that it would slow down my system performance severely. (MacBook Pro 15" C2D 2.4ghz Late 2008) However, I have decided to use it as a clock on my wallpaper.

How much CPU % would GeekTool use? I only have the measly 2 hour battery for the MacBook Pro, so conserving as much CPU cycles as possible would be my aim.


texts: Basic OS X folders - folder structure regarding users

texts: I am logged in as user "vlado" on my MacBook running El Capitan. If I go and type whoami in Terminal, it says vlado too. So this is fine. But in my folder structure in hd/Users/vlado/Applications I don't see my Applications, which I can otherwise see through Finder. I have my applications no problem and I run them no problem, but the folder structure is confusing me. Shouldn't the applications go into my user's (vlado's) folder structure and not to hd/Applications?


texts: Who else besides Apple typically offers Iphone preorders?

texts:
The iphone 5 is going to be my first iphone.

Since I've never purchased one before, I'm wondering, who else besides Apple offers preorders in the United States?  Does anyone offer them on the same date that Apple does?

I only ask because I'd prefer to avoid having to go to the Apple store when it comes out.  I like Apple but the thought of waiting in line for hours annoys me.

Which retailers, if any, typically offer preorders?  Which ones officially offer pre-orders?


texts:
I got an iPhone from a friend and he’s far away at the moment but the phone has a software issue. I wanted to wipe the phone and restore it to a “new” state, but I was told it’ll require an Apple ID.

Can I enter my current Apple ID, or do I need to contact my friend to provide his password?


texts: Problem importing iPhoto library in Aperture

texts:
I just bought a new MBP and I copied the iPhoto '10 library of my old iMac to the Pictures folder of my MBP.

Then I opened iPhoto '11, it said that it has to update the library.

To that point it was just fine and I have my compete library in iPhoto '11 on the MBP.

Then I tried to import the iPhoto '11 library in Aperture and that's my problem: Apertures says it can only import libraries from iPhoto of version 7.x or newer.

My iPhoto '11 library is of course version 9.1.1 so I don't understand the problem. It is however true that the library was first build with iPhoto 08 (or 07 I don't really remember).

Do you have an idea were the problem comes from ? Is there a hidden feature of iPhoto allowing to "consolidate" the library (as in iTunes) ?


texts: How to cross-compare Apple Health data (e.g. weight vs steps)

texts: Is there a way to cross-compare Apple Health/HealthKit metrics like weight vs. number of steps? I would like to see the correlation of my step count or exercise/move minutes and my weight, maybe in some kind of chart.


texts: How to view a photo marked up in iOS on my laptop ? (.AAE file)

texts:
I've taken a couple of photos on my iPhone 5s running iOS 10 and annotated them using the built-in markup feature.

The photos look fine when viewed on the iPhone but when I transferred them to my laptop (MacBook Pro 15-inch, Mid 2012, running 10.10.5) via the Image Capture utility it imported all of the photos, but they where not marked up, instead for each photo I got an accompanying .AAE file, which I presume is the markup overlay.

How can I get the photo to save as a JPEG with the markup already overlaid ?


texts: Is it possible to automate changing some security settings in Catalina?

texts:
I realize the user would have to enter their password, but beyond that step could the process of adding a program to Accessibility, Full Disk Access and Screen Recording be automated in some way? Programs like Teamviewer and Splashtop (to name two that I know of personally), require the user to make these changes before I can provide remote support. This is a bit much to ask of people for whom minimizing a window is a challenge.
BTW, the Macs in this situation are not part of an organization; they are individually owned Macs that could be anywhere in the USA.


texts: How can one copy photos off an iPad onto a Windows computer (prior to syncing)?

texts:
My father wants to sync a bunch of photos from his Windows PC to his iPad for a presentation.  But he's never synced photos before.  And he's downloaded a number of photos from his camera directly to his iPad.  I fear his iPad contains the only copy of some of his photos, and he doesn't want to loose them.  When my father turns on photo syncing in iTunes, he gets a warning that photos on the iPad not previously synced will be lost.

If my father was using a Mac, I would tell him to open iPhoto and download the photos from the iPad before syncing.  How can he do the equivalent with Windows (or perhaps with an app)?


texts: Erase app data on iOS simulator or real devices

texts:
I am developing natives apps for both Android and iOS and when debugging some login scenarios I need to reset the app to its initial stage without any token persisted on the (virtual) device. On Android, it is just as easy as typing an adb commande adb shell pm clear my.app.package.

Is there a way on iOS or shall I go through the lengthy process of uninstalling and re-installing the app ?


texts: Why do I have to enable 'Developer' for Spotlight to find Numbers documents?

texts:
In order to get macOS Spotlight to find Numbers documents, I need to enable "Developer" in Spotlight's settings.

Why do I need to do this? I don't want to enable developer searches from Spotlight, so I'm stuck being unable to use Spotlight to find Numbers documents.

(I'm not the only person with this problem.)


texts: Limit the scope of tag search in Finder on Mavericks

texts:
I have a fairly extensive file system with a large collection of images and a duplicate disc of those images and, additionally, some folders with images that are in process of some workflow.

I have tagged some of these files. If I click a tag in the Finder's sidebar, ALL the files with that tag are shown throughout the file system.

Is there a way to limit the search by tag to a certain folder (and it's contained folders) in the Finder?

Here is what I have tried so far:

Finder -> Preferences -> Advanced does not limit the scope when tags are used.
If click a tag and then try and add limiting information in the search box, the tag is lost.
If I click to the parent folder, then type tag:Red in the search folder, the files with that specific tag are not shown

I can use mdfind at the command line, but that does not give a Finder window with the results.


texts:
The issue started after updating to macOS high Sierra. The problem can't be shown when a screenshot is taken or if the cursor is hovered at those areas. So below is image captured from my phone and the screenshot from iMac.

I tried ,uninstalling all safari add-ons but issue still persists.


texts: Magic Mouse arrow briefly gets stuck at random places on screen

texts:
As I move my mouse around the screen it will briefly get stuck at random points then start moving again. This doesn't happen on the MacBook Pro trackpad...only when I have a Magic Mouse connected. This also happens most often on the left 1/4 of the screen when coming from the right side of the screen or trying to transition from the lower to upper half of the screen.

This started happening right after Security Update 2018-002 for Sierra 10.12.6.

Restarting hasn't fixed it.

My cursor size in Accessibility > Display is normal.


texts: Is there a way to see overall status of iCloud Drive in macOS?

texts:
I have moved a large folder with many subfolders to my iCloud drive. If I dig around I can catch a status bar next to a file name (same as during a download), but it seems to be taking a lot longer to upload than I would think. Besides catching an upload in progress I don't see a way to tell what has been uploaded or is waiting. Is there anything I am missing?

Dropbox had a nifty menu bar icon that would display progress and pending files.


texts:
I'd like to update my iPhone Operating System.  I plug the iPhone into my desktop computer, sync up to itunes, then press the Update button, right below where it says

  A newer version of the iPhone software is available... To update your
  iPhone with the latest software, click Update.

I then get a popup that says

  Updating to iOS 10.3.2 requires at least 770 MB of free space on your iPhone.
  Please change your media sync options to make more storage available.

Huh?  I'm looking at the data storage summary at the bottom of itunes.  It says quite clearly that I have 2.48 GB free in the little color bar describing the iPhone.  I need 770 MB, and I have 2.48 GB available, then why, for goodness sake, am I getting that mystery message?

When I learned math, I thought that 770 MB was a heck of a lot smaller than 2.48 GB.

Note: There is some other odd stuff going on with this phone's memory display.  I've deleted all the photos from the photo gallery on the phone, yet the data summary bar shows 1.49 GB, 1760 photos.  It should show near zero memory / zero images.

Note:  Its possible that Dropbox is messing things up.  I would have thought that the Dropbox memory usage would be accurately reported out on the data usage summary in iTunes. My Dropbox storage capacity is 10GB, of which I typically use 8GB.  (In fact is there a DropboxIgnore for the iPhone?  I really only need access to photo backup and my password vault from the iPhone...)  On the phone data summary color bar, there is an Other category, sized at 4.84 GB, which I assume to be Dropbox.

I've clicked Synch, Done and rebooted the entire computer numerous times trying to get stuff to update.  There are minor variations to the storage usage display, but the photo segment doesn't seem to update, nor will the OS update, and utilize that empty space.

Anybody know what's going on here?

ref: windows 10, itunes v12.6.1.25, iphone 6 with 16GB memory, sync via USB cable.


texts: tccd and trustd are cycling up and down, causing severe graphics lagging every few seconds -- please help find the culprit!

texts:
(cross-posted to an Apple Discussions thread, apologies)

I upgraded from High Sierra to Catalina and ever since then my computer has been super laggy. Every, say, 3-5 seconds the entire screen freezes for about a second--everything but the mouse, which keeps moving. But, for example, whatever I type gets "buffered" up and then all comes out once the freeze is done. This continues after restarts, waiting with the computer just sitting and running for over 24 hours, and closing applications.

The only thing out of the ordinary that I've found is that tccd and trustd are both cycling up and down at intervals that seem to match the occurrences of the stuttering. tccd ramps up to about 45% and trustd to about 25% CPU in Activity Monitor, then sink down to low single digits, then back up. It's creating a very distinctive sawtooth pattern in my CPU load graph.

I've spent a lot of time looking at other issues people have had with tccd in the past. I tried revoking various Accessibility permissions and other related permissions, even deleting the tcd.db User file, nothing has worked. This seems different from what most others have experienced since tccd isn't ramping up to 100% or more of CPU, trustd is involved, and this is Catalina, which I haven't seen before.

This is making my computer almost unusable! Please help!

My best guess from reading various things is that some launch daemon (?) or something is busted and keeps asking for permissions or something in the background. How can I figure out which of my extensions, apps, stupid virus checkers that various jobs have made me install, interface tools like Magnet, or something else is doing this? I tried looked at a sample of the tccd process but I didn't see anything obvious and I also don't really know how to do that or what to look for.

Thanks!


texts: How to mapping "Eject" key on Non-Mac keyboard?

texts:
I've gotten a new USB keyboard for my Mac. It is a Windows keyboard, but after remapping the Alt and Windows keys, it works just like a Mac keyboard. It is missing one particular feature and that is the "Eject" key. I'm not sure how to remap that command to another key. Where can I find that command?
Also if I can assign volume up and volume down to control the sound from the keyboard.

If anybody knows of a way to resolve this issue, I would greatly appreciate it.


texts: iOS 9 Cydia “Could not open file /var/lib/dpkg/status”

texts:
I've recently installed Pangu jailbreak where you get Cydia because a friend said it's a good way to customize your iPhone 6 (which I'm using) and other generations of iPhones.

At the end my Cydia and Pangu crashed instantly upon opening so I tried deleting it but Cydia is "impossible" to be deleted because it has no profile or "X" mark on the icon when removing it.

So I looked up that you can search for "Cydia compactor" (I think that's the name of it) inside of Cydia, but the problem is when I go inside of Cydia there's a database error popping out instantly in "RED":

Could not open file /var/lib/dpkg/status - open (2: no such file or directory)

The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
I really want to un-jailbreak my iOS 9.3.3 iPhone 6 but i need help fixing Cydia so i can search/ download the Cydia compactor (which again i think that's the name of it) which removes and un-jailbreaks your phone / cydia.

I tried every way to get rid of it: restore, reset and other stuff that did not work, Cydia compactor is the only way.

Some people say it's illegal but I just want to remove it because I don't want this kind of stuff on my iPhone anymore, if anyone could help that would be amazing.


texts: Unable to delete Dropbox folder from my local hard disk

texts:
I have installed Dropbox app on Mac. This created a folder named "Dropbox" in my home folder.
I copied a large folder into this Dropbox folder.
The syncing of this folder is taking a lot of time so I have unlinked the Dropbox folder from Dropbox app (Dropbox app preferences -> Account -> Unlink the dropbox). Now when I try to delete this "Dropbox" folder I get the below error:
  The operation can’t be completed because some items had to be skipped.
For each item, choose File > Get Info, make sure “Locked” is deselected, and then check the Sharing & Permissions section.
When you are sure the items are unlocked and not designated as Read Only or No Access, try again.

I have seen the 'Get Info' and see that the folder has 'locked' checkbox not ticked and also in users I see that I have read&write access
I also restarted my Mac but I still get the same error
How do I delete this folder(including all its sub-folders). How can I force delete this folder?
I am able to move the folder to Bin but I cannot delete the folder from Bin. I was doing 'Delete immediately' option and the folder is not getting deleted. How do I get the free space on my hard drive back?


texts: How to find the location of an opened file

texts:
Imagine that I have two files of the same name in two different folders. Now, one of them is opened and I am not sure which one is that. How to find it?

I tried "save as" option and that is not helping me much.

I am using OS X Mavericks.


texts:
How can I view PDF at two-pages and in the right-to-left order?

Acrobat can do this but Preview is more responsive.


texts: Very slow to open Outlook on Parallels 8 with Windows 7 on OS X 10.8.5

texts:
When I wake my MacBook Air after being in sleep mode, and open Outlook 2010, it can take 30+ seconds to open. This is a relatively new phenomenon.

My system is a MacBook Air (i5 and 8GBs memory) running Windows 7 using Parallels 8.


texts: How to assign latitude & longitude to a photo "Location" in Photos 6?

texts:
I have a specific latitude and longitude that I would like to assign to a photo that does not otherwise have any location information.
eg.  (18.352185, -64.792505) aka 18 deg 22' 26.46" N, 64 deg 45' 37.46" W
When I paste any formatting of these coordinates I can think of into the Photos (version 5.0 and 6.0) info panel "Assign a location",
Apple Maps does some sort of regional search and replace.  In this case, it populates "Caribbean Sea" and a pin hundreds of miles away from the actual coordinates position.
Arrg. this is maddening.
How can I assign a specific location?


texts: Is it possible to change a Finder List View column width in AppleScript?

texts:
I want to create an AppleScript that opens five predefined folders in five different tabs in one new Finder window with predefined bounds and then shifts the active tab of this window to tab one. I would also like the full filenames (of the files in all five folders) to be displayed without any truncation. I exclusively use List View in Finder.

Can this last condition be accomplished in AppleScript or automated in any way?

The default "Name" column width is too narrow; the full filenames of my files are always cut off. To fix this, every time that I open any folder, I have to either manually drag the "Name" separator dramatically to the right or double-click on the separator itself (which automatically adjusts the width to show the longest entry in full).

My understanding is that it is impossible to change the default width of the List View "Name" column on a Mac. Otherwise, I could simply set the default width of this column to be larger and this width would be set as the default across all folders.

Holding down the option ⌥  key while dragging a column separator (to save its width) is fruitless.
I tried setting the wider column size as the default by pressing command ⌘  + J in Finder & selecting "Use as Defaults." But, this did not work.
I tried increasing every "Name" width value in my com.apple.finder.plist file and then re-saving the file, as described in the most recent comment by user azeotropo (from 2012) of this webpage (from 2003). But, the old, narrow "Name" width remains.

OS X El Capitan, version 10.11.6.


texts: Windows 10 install very slow on Mid 2012 MacBook Pro

texts:
I made a Win10 USB installer using the media creation tool on my PC and I have a SSD in a drive caddy which replaced my DVD drive.

I want to clean install Win10 to this SSD but the Win10 installer takes hours - no joke - to boot up and then it takes forever to start the setup.

I already installed it before but when booting from the disk after install it just ends in a boot loop. The USB drive should be working fine I don't think it's the problem. And the SSD in the caddy also works fine.

Any idea why this is happening and how I can install Win10?


texts:
Every time I'm near a Genius Bar I see a lot of ENT (ear, nose, throat) microscopes peering down the headphone jack of various iPhones. I asked about it and found that the moisture sensor is down there, and if your device got wet then it turns red, and the purpose of that is that you don't have a warranty and don't get a free new device if it has mysteriously died but the cause is moisture.

I'm curious about how these things work and whether this simple examination could be subverted. I don't have a wet iPhone and I'm not looking to defraud Apple here, but I'm curious.

The sensor must involve a chemical reaction, if it didn't show the indicator color when it dried it wouldn't be much good. What is the reaction and is it reversible? Would the required reagent be safe to drip down the headphone opening?
Could one buy a new sensor component, open the phone and replace it?
How about simply getting a material that looks like the sensor, opening the phone and putting it in place of the sensor - an inert sensor?
Simplest of all, painting the sensor - if the "OK" color is white then a paint marker should do.

Again, not trying to get a free phone here. I'm curious about devices like this since I saw my first "tip-n-tell" on a shipping carton, and played with Maxim iButton temperature loggers.


texts: Connecting Apple Wireless Keyboard with USB-Receiver

texts:
I'm using a Aten CS533 to pair a USB-Keyboard with my PC, a MacBook Pro and my iPhone. I'd now like to upgrade the wired keyboard to an Apple Wirless Keyboard. But I'm not sure how to pair them.

Is there any sort of „Bluetooth to USB-dongle“ that does not require the management of an OS? So that I pair the Keyboard with this Dongle or alike and that device mimics a USB-keyboard at the USB-port of my switch?


texts: My phone isn’t able to receive incoming calls from my girlfriend’s phone but can make outgoing calls to it

texts:
Whenever my girlfriend calls my phone, she gets the same message you would get if you were to call someone who’s blocked you, and the call doesn’t go through. Although this happens, we’re still able to exchange texts, FaceTime each other, and I can call her. For the time being, whenever she needs to call me, she uses FaceTime audio.

I’m using an iPhone 11 running iOS 13.


texts: Why does Yosemite want to throw away all my backups?

texts:
Huh? “To improve reliability, ... will remove your existing backup history”
Doesn't that kind of miss the point of having backups??

Time Machine is set to use a network share dedicated to that purpose.  It claims to have 7T free, which would be true only if the volume in the sparse bundle automatically expands (does it?).  The bands files total 118G which sounds like the size I created the volume for initially.  I think the initial full backup consumed about 25G.

Thinking the volume might have been corrupted, I restored it from a snapshot of the host storage's volume that was made just before Yosemite was installed.

What's going on?  I can't imagine that Apple is serious about casually throwing away all backups.


texts: Is my iPhone model number MC922LL/A unlocked or locked?

texts:
I have seen that there are many other model numbers of iPhone 4S's, but I have not seen any info about model number MC922ll/A

Is an iPhone 4S of this model unlocked or locked to a specific mobile carrier?


texts:
I have about 4 devices always using the internet on my home wifi network. Everything is fine and dandy until I start to do intensive bandwidth stuff like gaming and streaming movies. So I thought this was an issue with my internet speed so I upgraded to 100mbps down and 20mbps up but this hasn't improved the issue.

I have a 3 year old Linksys E4200 router. I've tried different DNS servers and i've looked for the optimal wifi frequency so that there's no interference with neighboring wifi. Because of the distance of my devices I cannot connect anything to ethernet.

Please help. My hulu keeps glitching and I can't use my laptop and xbox at the same time with out something slowing down.

One other thing is I have my xbox on DMZ would this cause any issues?

Thank you in advance for you time and help!


texts: Unable to rename Bluetooth Headphones on mac

texts: I opened Bluetooth preferences, right clicked on device and selected rename. I provided new name in the textbox and clicked on rename button. It did not change the name. I tried like 100 times, it didn't work. I am on macOS Sierra 10.12.5.


texts: remote "desktop mouse" with Magic trackpad emulator for iPad or Mac Book

texts:
I would like to control my desktop Mac with a Magic trackpad or Magic mouse "emulation".

I have an iPad and an Macbook Air too. So my questions are:

There are some iPad App to emulate a Magic Trackpad to control my desktop Mac?
There's any way to connect my Air trackpad to the desktop Mac?
Any idea to make it possible maybe with Apple Remote Desktop or any other tool?

Thanks

EDIT: I just found this one, looks very good!
http://www.bttremote.com


texts: Microsoft Outlook for Mac 2011 "Not Responding" after upgrade to Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan

texts:
I'm experiencing issue with my Microsoft Outlook for Mac 2011 after upgrading to Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan.

Activity Monitor and/or Force Quit Applications shows Microsoft Outlook is Not Responding.

I found following knowledge base article:

Outlook for Mac 2011 on OS X 10.11 hangs during account sync operation

Microsoft's workaround:

  To work around this issue, run Outlook for Mac 2011 on Mac OS X
  Yosemite (version 10.10) or an earlier version.

Is there anything else I can do?

FIX: Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 14.5.6 update


texts: Any way to override wifi requirement for downloading apps/app updates larger than 150MB?

texts:
Right now (on iOS 12 beta version 1) if you try to download an app or app update larger than 150MB it requires a wifi connection. Problem is, I just moved into a new place with wifi not as speedy as my old place and my LTE provides much quicker downloads.

Any way to override this requirement?


texts: How can I activate the text preview in Finder's column view for an arbitrary filetype or document type

texts:
I really like the preview functionality that Finder offers in the last column of the column view. However, not all filetypes or document types are associated with a preview.

For example when I have a file INSTALL (without file extension), the document type of this file is just Document and the preview column only contains an icon.

How do I change the behavior of Finder in such a way that a text preview is displayed for the file INSTALL?


texts: Why Other storage keeps increasing when I don't download anything on this laptop

texts:
I cleaned my Macbook Pro about 2 months ago, I deleted plenty of non useful files and junk and I made about 100 gb free.
After this I use this laptop only for browsing web, watch youtube and write some code on my personal project (rarely), but Other storage keeps increasing day by day, I don't understand what is using the space and where it comes from, I'm getting crazy about it.
I don't want to go through hundreds of folders and guess what is useful and what can be deleted again, It will waste considerable amount of my time, so what might be the solution here?


texts: How do I identify which CPU a MacBook uses?

texts: I'd like to identify which CPU this notebook is using, in terms of code names such as "Ivy Bridge" and "Haswell". The little Apple logo in the upper left shows some information, but not this.


texts:
I am developing MDM solution for that I need to create several certificates. For that I have following this document.

When I'm firing this command, I am getting this error.

openssl rsa -in key.pem -out private.key

Error:

  unable to load Private Key
  4713004652:error:09FFF06C:PEM routines:CRYPTO_internal:no start line:/BuildRoot/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/libressl/libressl-47.11.1/libressl-2.8/crypto/pem/pem_lib.c:684:Expecting: ANY PRIVATE KEY

could any one guide me, how to resolve this issue?


texts: Is it possible to access a Mac via SSH without administrator access?

texts: I want to be able to SSH into my Mac, but it's disabled in System Preferences (Sharing --> Remote Connections, I believe). The administrator disabled this, and I'm looking for a way to re-enable it without an admin password. Is there a way I can re-install SSH to enable it, or something along those lines?


texts: How to show a notification when you go online/offline?

texts: I want to get a growl notification any time my internet connection changes state - for instance, when wifi comes online, wifi goes offline, or when I switch from wifi to wired. I would love it if there was already an app out there that did this, but I'm definitely open to home-baked solutions. Any pointers?


texts: How to resolve Microsoft Excel for Max OS X Yosemite error "Cannot use object linking and embedding"?

texts: What is the best way to resolve Microsoft Excel for Mac OS X Yosemite error  "Cannot use object linking and embedding"?


texts: DNS resolution broken in El Capitan with Thunderbolt Ethernet Adapter on Offline network

texts:
After upgrading to El Capitan how do I enable DNS resolution on an offline, internal computer network?

Before upgrading to El Capitan I could connect to my internal network, set my DNS and search domain, and I was good to have DNS resolution happen. There was no gateway on the network or DHCP server, just a switch.

Following the upgrade I was no longer able to resolve DNS names internally on a network physically separate from the internet and not connected in any way to the internet. I could ping the hosts on the network by IP address yet not by DNS name.

I tried the usual, flushing the DNS cache, restarting mDNSResponder, and rebooting. None of that helped.

One weird fact is that my /etc/resolv.conf is now blank whereas before the upgrade it showed the list of resolvers my Mac would use.

I imagine El Capitan must have included an update to the OSX DNS resolution system. Can I go and configure it manually? I have been reduced to adding entries to my /etc/hosts file.

I have tried the suggestions mentioned here.

I should mention that my co-worker's computers that are on Yosemite do not experience any issues at all and the Windows computers on the network still resolve names properly as well.

The DNS server is running BIND9 on Ubuntu 14.04 on the regular port 53.

EDIT:

I tried disabling System Integrity Protection (SIP) according to this set of instructions and that did not help at all.

EDIT 2:

Okay, so I found a fix and I probably didn't need to do a fresh install of El Capitan to do it. This is the WEIRDEST bug I have ever encountered on the Macintosh platform. All I had to do was add a Router in my network settings. I just put an arbitrary value in of 1.0.0.1 even though there is no device in my internal network that acts as a router. The mere presence of a value in the "Router:" input field triggered a write of the resolv.conf file and a restoration of the DNS service.


texts: How to find a telephone number strored in contacts by searching for a substring on iPhone

texts:
I'd like to search my iPhone contacts using a part of a telephone number as a key (search by substring). The integrated spotlight search, however, doesn't return any entries when searching for a full telephone number or for its part. The number formatting in search doesn't appear to make any difference.

Suppose there an entry in the Contacts.app (number is shown exactly as it apperars on the screen):

  John Smith

  mobile: +41 76 123 23 43

Neither of the following searches in spotlight returns "John Smith", as expected

  +41 76 123 23 43

  +41761232343

  2343

Is it possible to search for a number using spotlight or an alternative application?

Tested on iPhone 3GS with iOS 4.2.1


texts:
on my MacBook Pro Mid 2015 Version 10.14.6 I cannot add any other account (Jabber, G-Chat/Hangouts etc,) to messages.

Can you still add third party accounts to messages?

I tried to add it over online accounts (no option to tick messages) and I tried to add it in "message".


texts: How to make file operations like move/delete without mouse in Finder?

texts:
I was on Windows for a long time and switched to Mac about year ago.
Some things still looks strange and confuses me:

How to remove a file without mouse in Finder?
How to move (cut) a file without mouse in Finder? (Ctrl+X, Ctrl+V in Windows)
How to get common info about several selected files (for example their size)?
How to go back to previous folder in Finder without mouse? (Backspace in windows)
How to open one image and be able to move between pictures with keyboard (without another picture viewer software)?


texts: Unable to resize main HD after deleting Bootcamp Partition

texts:
[Note:This question is dissimilar to the other ones like this since my Bootcamp partition does not show up on listing the drives in terminal.]

I added my bootcamp partition to parrallels desktop. I removed the VM and opted to keep the files.

Naively, I ran the following commands.

diskutil list
diskutil eraseVolume jhfs+ BC1 disk0s3
diskutil eraseVolume fat32 BOOTCAMP disk0s3

I then set out to restore my HD using Boot Camp Assistant. It said that there was an error so I ran First Aid on my completely empty Bootcamp partition. After clicking done to continue,the partition VANISHED.

So I was left with 100 gb space missing. Here is my output when I list all the drives:

 #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                         251.0 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     314.6 MB   disk0s1
   2:                 Apple_APFS Container disk1         150.0 GB   disk0s2

/dev/disk1 (synthesized):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      APFS Container Scheme -                      +150.0 GB   disk1
                                 Physical Store disk0s2
   1:                APFS Volume Macintosh HD            95.7 GB    disk1s1
   2:                APFS Volume Preboot                 56.0 MB    disk1s2
   3:                APFS Volume Recovery                512.4 MB   disk1s3
   4:                APFS Volume VM                      2.1 GB     disk1s4

Also the following command ,

 diskutil cs list

..returns the following:

No CoreStorage logical volume groups found

But on the Apple forums, I saw that they should return output.

Also I was repeatedly getting this error in any attempt I made in restoring my drives.Something to do with my "object map".

error: btn: invalid btn_btree.bt_key_count (expected 152418, actual 152419)

Is there a way I could perhaps make another partition taking up the remaining space and merge it with my main HD?
Any help would be appreciated!!

Edit: After executing the command

sudo diskutil apfs resizeContainer disk0s2 0

....this is what I got back:

Started APFS operation
Aligning grow delta to 100,684,705,792 bytes and targeting a new physical store size of 250,685,575,168 bytes
Determined the maximum size for the targeted physical store of this APFS Container to be 250,684,547,072 bytes
Resizing APFS Container designated by APFS Container Reference disk1
The specific APFS Physical Store being resized is disk0s2
Verifying storage system
Using live mode
Performing fsck_apfs -n -x -l -S /dev/disk0s2
Checking the container superblock
Checking the EFI jumpstart record
Checking the space manager
Checking the space manager free queue trees
Checking the object map
Checking volume
Checking the APFS volume superblock
The volume Macintosh HD was formatted by hfs_convert (748.1.47) and last modified by apfs_kext (945.200.129)

This did not work, but I can remember reformatting the Boot Camp partition to Mac OS Journaled before I sought to restore the drive.

Edit :

It was something wrong with the B tree node (no idea what that is)!??
So I went into self mode by Cmd-S when restarting.

Then type in the commands:

/sbin/fsck -fy

In my case it pointed out what went wrong and then I typed in YES.

So there where a bunch of y's being printed on the screen.I am assuming it was doing some check of some sort.It ran for well over an hour.I press the power button (dont reccomend doing so,but then again it worked for me) and restarted into Mojave.

And voila I removed the "Free space " using disk utlity and it worked like a charm!


texts: How to get all user reviews of an app at AppStore?

texts:
I want to get all the user reviews of an app from AppStore.

With this URL, I get the recent 500 reviews.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/rss/customerreviews/id=447188370/xml

Is there a way to get all the reviews?


texts: Can a friend see how many times I have looked them up using Find My Friends

texts:
I am sharing my location with some friends using Apple's Find My Friend service.

I am curious to know if they get to know how many times and when I have looked them up using Find My Friend?


texts: Is there any way to get BetterTouchTool to let me swipe between apps without cycling?

texts: I am using BetterTouchTool to add more gestures for my Mac. I want three fingers swipes to move me back through the previous apps that I have open. Currently, I am setting the gesture to Cmd-Tab. Unfortunately this cycles me through the last two apps. I want to be able to swipe twice to go back two apps. How can I add this ability to BetterTouchTool?


texts:
Whenever I send a message on GroupMe from my iPhone and I use dictation, I always find this character at the end of my message when I open it on a Windows or on my Android: ￼.  It only shows up on non-apple devices, so in case you're on one and it doesn't show up:

What does it mean, or what is this character used for?  Why does it not disappear, even when I press the end dictation button after I'm done speaking?


texts: MacBook Pro trackpad goes erratic when paper touches it

texts:
Whenever I set a piece of paper or a notebook with paper over my trackpad, it begins to act erratically for hours at a time. By erratic, I mean the mouse jumps around the screen and sometimes even clicks / right-clicks. This has been happening for several years (my MBP is from 2010, late-fall 15" i7).

I've never bothered to take it in, because it usually goes away. It also helps if I vigorously wipe it with a dry cloth.

Does anyone know the cause of this? Is there some type of oil on paper that could be the culprit?


texts: App no longer available in store. Transfer from old iPhone to new iPhone?

texts:
I have an app on my iPhone 4S called 7 Second Diet. It is no longer available on the app store. Luckily, it is still available on my iPhone 4S.

Two days ago, I bought a iPhone 6S. The transfer process was relatively painless. Everything copied across, and all the apps started downloading, except 7 Second Diet.

I still have the app on my iPhone 4S. I am looking for a way to transfer it to my new iPhone 6S.

iTunes used to let you save your apps to your Mac, but they have removed this feature in iTunes 12.4.1.

  With iOS 9 or later, apps will not sync or transfer to iTunes via Transfer Purchases. If you would like to download your apps to your iTunes library, make sure to turn on Automatic Downloads for your iTunes purchases. You can also download past purchases. Source.

I tried a third party solution called iMazing and while this allowed me to copy the 7 Second Diet app off my iPhone 4S and onto my Mac as an .imazingapp file, it was unable to copy the app to my iPhone 6S. It gave a message saying I had to download the app from the app store to the phone before restoring it.

I also tried the download your past purchases technique in iTunes 12.4.1, but the app does not show up there either.

Does anyone have any solutions? Most solutions I can find only, including here on the Apple Stack Exchange, are out of date and not compatible with iTunes 12.4.1.


texts: Is it possible to send audio through both the headphone out jack and line in jack on my MacBook Pro? My reason for doing this is because I'm trying to monitor audio on headphones on a mixing program while sending audio out to loud speakers. I know it would be possible if I bought an external/USB sound device, but I'm out of the country for the next few months and finding a place that sells one will be difficult.


texts: OS X 10.11.1 El Capitan has disabled the keyboard sound keys

texts:
All setting are correct. Tried following some other site's suggestions but nothing has resolved the problem, so now what should I do? Keys worked before the install.

MacBook Pro (Retina, early 2105)
2.7 GHz
8 GB


texts: Why does my Mac take a long time (30+ seconds) to find my home wifi?

texts:
I have a retina MacBook Pro 15" running Mac OS X 10.9.4. When I wake it from sleep at work, it's connected to the wifi network before I've even entered my password. But at home, with a Airport Extreme base station from about 2009, it takes 30 seconds at minimum every time I wake from sleep, and sometimes up to a couple minutes.

I've tried rebooting the Airport Extreme, it doesn't need any firmware updates, and of course the laptop itself has been rebooted many times since this problem all started (months ago). I'm sitting in the same room with the thing, so the signal power should be great - not to mention my iOS devices (and other Macs) have no problems connecting instantly to the Airport. So it seems like it's got to be a local computer problem, but then why do I have no problem instantly connecting to other wifi networks?


texts: Applescript to forward email but preserve sender

texts:
How can I make an Applescript that Mail.app on my Mac can run? When it encounters a message that is being sent to mac@email.com, I'd like it to redirect it to email@gmail.com, where the "From" field is NOT mac@email.com, but rather is the "From" field on the original email that was sent to mac@email.com.

E.g., I'm Joe Schmo and I send an email from joeschmo@joe.com to mac@email.com. Then the Apple Script runs and redirects that email to send it to email@gmail.com with the From tag as joeschmo@joe.com

I am planning on setting up a rule in my Mail app that runs this apple script when it encounters a message that is being sent to mac@email.com.

Note: the emails in this example are fake.


texts: Is there any free iOS video player that allows you to transfer and keep a folder hierarchy intact?

texts:
I have a video course folder that in turn has multiple folders (one for each chapter). I was using VLC on my ipad and found out that when I copy the parent folder to the device, it just copies all the files to a folder. ie removing all sub folders and adding ALL the videos in just one parent folder.

I switched to infuse. Turns out you can have only 1 level of folder. ie. if you have a Parent Folder which has 10 sub folders. You will now have just 10 folders without parent. Also this app does not even have basic functionality as playing videos as faster speed.


texts: How do I import only new photos with Image Capture.

texts: It used to be that if I connected my iPhone and clicked Import All in Image Capture, it would import only the new photos. Now it imports all the photos even though it recognizes that most of them are already imported and it shows a green checkmark on them. How do I import only new photos without having to select them one-by-one?


texts:
I stuffed up (basically wiped) my PATH variable.

Is there any way to reset it to the default?

I look at How do I reset the $PATH variable on Mac OS X?, but I find it very confusing.  As far as I know I stuffed up my ~/.profile file.


texts: iCloud Music Library and multi-CD audiobooks: Duplicate error

texts:
So I've imported an audiobook into my iTunes library.
It consists of 4 CDs with about 11 tracks each. I've given them the proper author info and album info. I also gave each CD the proper number before import, and then iTunes did the rest by importing the tracks as Track 01, Track 02, etc... And giving them track number data in the info. There's 44 tracks total between the 4 CDs. They started importing to iCloud, and everything goes fine until just one track (Track 03, disc 4) decides it doesn't want to upload. It has the duplicate icon. When I click it, it says "This song is already in your iCloud Music Library." The problem is that there really isn't a duplicate. That file hasn't uploaded to iCloud, as I can see every track but that one from my iPod Touch with iCloud music. I think it may be thinking it's a duplicate with one of the other Track 03's in the album, even though the Get Info data differs in CD number.

Could this be what's going on? Is there any way I can fix this?

Here's basically what it looks like

I have right clicked that one track and clicked Add to iCloud Library, and it begins to try but then it goes back to the Duplicate icon and error.


texts: Connection Timeout Error for WEP security

texts:
I'm connecting my MacBook Pro to a router which uses WEP security. It shows a Connection Timeout error every half an hour. The security level of the router can't be changed, since its a common router. Other Mac systems are having no problems with it.

So far I've tried removing the network from the System Preferences/Network panel and restarting the router and the computer, with no luck. What should I do next?


texts: Copy home directory from one Mac to another both running macOS Catalina

texts:
I have a new 16" and an older 15" MacBook Pros both running macOS Catalina. I want to transfer all my the content in my home directory to the new MacBook Pro while retaining the same username.
How do I do this?
Different problems have occurred since I have a huge amount of data about 1.3TB of it to transfer.

With scp -rp: Over my local Wi-Fi network, it is slow and mainly, files with a too long full path are not copied.

With rsync -aZv: Slow here too and there are the same issue than with scp with the long full path of filenames to copy.

By linking the 2 MacBook Pros with a Thunderbolt cable : With Shared directory, too slow and I have had at each time errors that stops the copy, which is very frustrating.

So, how can I copy all this data (even with a long full path for files) on to the new MacBook Pro ?
i.e how to to be able to copy all the content of my /Users/name/ directory into another directory of my new macbook pro 16", i.e into /Users/name/home_from_old_macbook_15_inch/ ?


texts: Emptying the trash doesn't move emails out of a smart folder

texts:
I came across a weird issue in Mail.
I have a smart folder for emails matching a number of specific senders.
I assumed that smart folders work like smart folder in the Finder that emails are not actually moved there but simply link to the original location.
The smart folder worked fine.

Now I moved a message to the trash (from its original location in the Inbox, not from the Smart Folder).
The message still shows in the Smart Folder, although now instead of "Inbox (Accountname)" it says "Trash" for the location of the message in the top right corner of the message.  OK, fine, not quite intuitive, but understandable.

However, now I empty the Trash.

The message still remains in the Smart Folder. It still says "Trash" as location, yet the entire trash is empty (the IMAP trash folder as well as On My Mac trash folder).

Now I click to "delete" it (from within the Smart Folder by right clicking and choosing "Delete" from the context menu) and it disappears (it doesn't show up in the Trash either, thankfully, that would have been even more bizarre).

Anyways.  Am I just not understanding how Smart Folders are work?  Or is there something wrong.
And after emptying the trash, where exactly is the actual (physical) location of my message (for purposes of troubleshooting)?


texts: Is it possible, using Preview (or maybe some other tool if not doable with Preview, but Preview preferably) to remove all annotations from a PDF file, without manually deleting every annotation?


texts: Call Shell script from Automator on Catalina

texts:
I created a Automator Program wich connect me with vpn an sets routes for split tunneling via Shell script.

The Program works fine on Mojave - now with Catalina the call

do shell script "sudo /Users/XXX/Desktop/routen_VPN.sh" with administrator privileges

produces an error

sh: /Users/XXX/Desktop/routen_VPN.sh: Operation not permitted


texts: Accidentally unloaded all launchctl daemons and now can't boot

texts:
While trying to set up some services (OS X 10.10 Yosemite), I accidentally did a sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ and the screen was frozen immediately. Now my Mac doesn't boot any more. The loading bar is half full, and nothing happens.

Is there a way to restore the daemons with some kind of rescue console? Unfortunately, I don't have a working time machine backup, my external hard drive crashed some days ago.

I can still boot into recovery mode, using Cmd+R while booting. I can also access the terminal. I tried a launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ but it said ‘Operation already in progress’ for every process.

When trying to load the LaunchDaemons files, I was on the rescue partition. After switching to /Volumes/Macintosh HD/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ and doing a launchctl load -w /Volumes/Macintosh HD/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ I got some errors with File already exists, but some other Daemons seem to load.

But I suspect, that they are loaded into the rescue system. So I also tried to use the launchctl file of /Volumes/Macintosh HD/bin/launchctl. But unfortantely, same result, the screen stucks with a half progress bar during startup.

I had a look into the verbose startup (pressing Cmd+V at startup). The last lines, where everything stops are

hfs: mounted Macintosh HD on device root_device
XCPM: registered
VM Swap Subsystem is ON
Darwin Bootstrapper Version 2.0.2: Mon Mar....
boot-args = -v
** /dev/rdisk1 (NO WRITE)
** Root file system
   Executing fsck_hfs (versoin hfs-285)
Warning: couldn't block sleep during cache update
Warning: proceeding w/o DiskArb
/dev/disk1 on / (hfs, local, journaled)
BootCacheControl: Unable to open /var/db/BootCache.playlist: 2 No such file or directory
Bash: /etc/rc.server: No such file or directory
USBMSC Identifier (non-unique): 0000000...
bash: /etc/rc.installer_cleanup: No such file or directory
AppleUSBMiltitouchDriver::checkStatus - received Status Packet, Payload 2: device was reinitialized

I also tried to reinstall Yosemite over my old system (without deleting the filesystem, so my data is still there). Unfortunately, the problem stays the same.

Now I can log in in single-user mode (I had to press an additional Enter). After that, I set the filesystem to read with mount -uw /. Then I load all the daemons with launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons. And then, surprise it loads my Mac's login screen, and I can login.

But when I try to restart, I have to repeat that step to login (which is kinda annoying…). I also tried to load all daemons with launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons when I'm logged in.

Here I get ‘Operation already in progress’. I read something in the single-user mode that the loading of services is not supported. Does this affect the fully loaded OS X too? I'm not sure if I'm still in single-user mode or not. How can I tell OS X to load all the LaunchDaemons on startup?


texts:
I need to write Mathematics, but I would like to avoid Latex for quick notes that I wish to send to colleagues. So I would like to have somewhere to write with some sort of pen, in such a way that

1) what I write appears on the display of my computer (please note that I don't have an iPad, just a Macbook)

2) it gets saved on my computer when I finish.

These are just quick notes, so no special drawing features are required (on the contrary, the simpler/cheaper the better).

What should I consider? Since I own a Macbook, also writing on the built-in trackpad would be fine, but I've heard that the Inklet app slows down the computer in a very nasty way...

Thank you very much in advance.


texts: Rubberized stylus, not moving smooth on iPad glass, any tricks?

texts:
I have a Targus stylus for my iPad, with a rubber tip.

This tip, however, does not move smoothly over the glass on the iPad, but seems to have too high friction. It didn't have this when I bought it, and I also have a different stylus that is much smaller, also with a rubber tip, that still moves smoothly over the glass.

The large one, however, gets "stuck" on the screen. Not like glue "stuck", just doesn't move as smoothly as I'd like.

What tricks can I use to get it back to how it was when I bought it? Has it accrued fat from my fingers or something like that I can wash off, or are there other things I can do? Has anyone experienced this and solved it?