texts: Easy way to disable processor cores on the fly

texts:
Hey i'm looking for a fast way to disable processor cores of my macbook to save power when i'm stranded away from a charger. I'm away that instruments can do this from it's preferences, but that's a bit inconvenient. There also used to be a "Processor" system pref, but doesn't work on lion since it's 32-bit.

Is there any other way? perhaps a menubar app or terminal command that can be scripted?


texts: How many times can really I share a purchased app with other people

texts: I understand I can share apps with up to five other iOS devices of other people (with different apple IDs). But is this on a per-app base? I.e. can I only register five devices I want to share with once or can I share one app with 5 people and another app with 5 other people?


texts: How to install Snow Leopard from USB where USB disk is prepared using Linux?

texts:
I'm trying to install Snow Leopard (a retail version) into my MacBook, but seems like that the MacBook can't find the boot disk over USB.

I guess this is related to the fact that I mounted the .iso of Snow Leopard via Linux, using dd if=image.iso of=/dev/sdx and this rewrites the boot sector.

Is there a way to copy the ISO into my USB disk via Linux and make the MacBook recognize this?


texts: securityd goes nuts every 4 minutes & 30 seconds

texts:
securityd spams my console with the following :

19/04/2012 16:23:17.405 com.apple.securityd: Value of bTransmit: 00000001

repeated 563 times (after disabling the default mps_limit of 500).

4 minutes and 30 seconds later (give or take a couple of seconds), it does it all over again.  Oddly, the message is split over that boundary :

04/05/2012 09:32:16.092 com.apple.securityd: Value of bTransmit: 00000001
04/05/2012 09:32:16.092 com.apple.securityd: Value of bTransmit: 00000001
04/05/2012 09:32:16.092 com.apple.securityd: Value
04/05/2012 09:36:19.470 com.apple.securityd: of bTransmit: 00000001
04/05/2012 09:36:19.470 com.apple.securityd: Value of bTransmit: 00000001
04/05/2012 09:36:19.470 com.apple.securityd: Value of bTransmit: 00000001

It's pretty annoying.  Anyone know what causes it, or what bTransmit might be?  There seems to be no mention of it on Google.


texts: Acer XB280HK monitor cannot connect to new MacBook Pro 2018 Thunderbolt 3 port

texts: My Acer XB280HK monitor works fine with my old MacBook Pro and Thunderbolt 2 port but neither the HDMI to Thunderbolt 3 cable nor the adapter Thunderbolt 2 to 3 get the Display to work. Can somebody recommend a cable or adapter that works?


texts: Can I factory reset my jailbroken device without upgrading the iOS version?

texts: As the title says - I need to do a factory reset on my iPad Mini, but I don't want to upgrade the iOS version while doing it. Is this possible at all or will I have to make do and upgrade iOS as I am factory resetting the device?


texts: Set environment variable for applications on startup

texts:
How do you set an environment variable on startup so that it can be used in applications?

For example, ATOM_HOME is used by Atom.


texts: Options to use iPad as remote photo viewing client

texts:
As it says here, I can use an iPad as a remote photo vieing client if I buy the WD My Book Live NAS. But I have an old NAS already and I wonder if there are any generic iPad apps that give similar function, but without restriction on a specific NAS?

Thanks.


texts: Controlling File Permissions on a Windows File Share

texts:
I'm using a Mac running Mountain Lion (10.8.3) with file sharing enabled to Windows users.

Whenever a Windows user copies a file into the share on the Mac (Windows file sharing), the permissions of the file are 600, meaning that other users of the Mac cannot access the file.

Files copied from Mac clients (using AFP) have 644 permissions, which is perfect.

Is there a way to configure the permissions that are set by Apple's Windows file sharing?

Incidentally, I never had this problem previously with Snow-Leopard.


texts:
iOS 7 has a new auto-update apps feature.  When it's enabled, you don't have to manually go into the App Store app and download updates for your installed apps.  However, I want to be able to find out what apps have been updated recently, and the App Store app just has a 'all your apps are updated' message on the Update tab.

Is there a log somewhere that lists recently-updated apps?


texts:
I've read that com.apple.bird, is a part of icloud on Mac but mine is 202GB!! is taking a lot of my iMac space.  Can anyone help me?
Some say it is not safe to delete this cache, but I need to find a way to clean this one up.  Thanks.


texts: Looking for car (cigarette lighter receptacle to lightning) charger for iPhone 5

texts:
Is there any way to charge an iPhone 5 in a 2005 Cadillac (in the cigarette lighter hole)? Or am I just out of luck with an old car?

I did some searches on google but nothing came up. I also saw some car kits but I didn't understand the description when they talked about "pins". I don't see any pins on the charger that came with my new iPhone.

I went back to the Verizon store where I bought it, but they weren't any help.
I don't think Cadillac could answer my question either. After all, they are sales people not techs.
I searched on the Apple website but found nothing regarding a 2005 car.


texts:
I'm considering buying a Geniuine Apple Macbook Pro (2007) battery on ebay.  This is NOT an OEM knockoff, and the battery is still sealed in original plastic, but I have no idea when the battery was manufactured.

If the battery was made, say 5 years ago, is it likely to perform almost as well as one that was recently manufacurerd?


texts:
I've been experiencing this since I got my new MacBook...

At my job, we work I'm a Microsoft environment. Our servers use SMB3. Our IT deptartment also doesn't officially support Macs. We also use network/domain user accounts. No local accounts. Therefore, we also mapped my domain drive to the Mac. I have my network drive connect on login and save my files and work directly from that location.

Here's my problem; When I try to save a file from an app, it keeps saying I don't have permission to write in this location. Then the auto-save OS X feature starts saying it can't auto save because the location can't be found. What's crazy is that I check the permissions in the "Get Info" window and I have Read & Write access. I also obviously have access o the location if I'm looking at it in Finder. I can make new folders and files too. I just can't save them?? IT has triple checked my permissions and it should be fine! So weird. Mac should be supporting SMB too. Sigh...

Screenshot of the error in Sketch app:

Thanks for any help!

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4), Using SMB3 Windows share


texts: Adding website to block via /etc/hosts not working

texts:
I block some websites via /etc/hosts on my machine. But for reddit.com it does not work. What does I have to do?

##
# Host Database
#
# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
# when the system is booting.  Do not change this entry.
##
127.0.0.1   localhost
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1             localhost
127.0.0.1 mackeeperapp.mackeeper.com
127.0.0.1 mackeeperapp2.mackeeper.com
127.0.0.1 mackeeperapp3.mackeeper.com
127.0.0.1 mackeeper.com
127.0.0.1 reddit.com


texts: Is there an iPad app that will 'play' a large PDF file as a slideshow?

texts:
I'm looking for an iPad app that will 'play' a large PDF file as a slideshow.

I've tried the major popular PDF apps, including GoodReader and ReaddleDocs, but none seem to have a 'slideshow' function.

I've also looked into a few Music Notation viewers, but they all seem to require a screen tap to advance to the next page.

Ideally, I want to be able to view a large, graphic-intensive PDF file and then hit 'PLAY' and have it auto advance it's pages.  Bonus points if you can zoom, or flip back/forward a page and then after preset interval, the slide show resumes.


texts: What are the RAM requirements for OS X 10.10 Yosemite

texts:
The minimum requirements for RAM for Yosemite is 2 GB as stated in apple literature.

What are the optimum real world requirements for Yosemite to achieve a noticeable improvement.

In particular for an early 2011 MBP 2.3 GHz which currently has 4 GB.


texts: Converting an APFS volume (and it's partitions) to HFS+(non-J) without needing to migrate data

texts:
After moving from macOS to a Linux-based distribution, I benefit from deciding to have most of my backups on HFS+ partitions (with journaling disabled using a program that changes the value of kHFSVolumeJournaledBit later) early on during system configuration.
Unfortunately, I still decided to use some of my back drives as APFS and it contains two volumes. They (as of now) are not manipulable in GParted and I need to shrink the drive as I need to migrate data off a drive. This is all done on a Linux system as I no longer have the privilege of using a macOS system.
My first thought would be to convert it to HFS+, conversion clearly being possible due to the existence of Paragon's APFS to HFS+ Converter (which as of this writing is no longer available for download) and the fact that I don't think deduplication would have affected my files too much so space occupied shouldn't be too different.
I was considering running Paragon's tool within Darling but running alpha-level software to manipulate my (sole) backup is not on the top of my list and as far as I know, the converter does not have a CLI-only interface.
That being said, is there a (better) way to convert an APFS drive to an HFS+ (non Journaled) partition on Linux?


texts: Nvidia eGPU compatibility with a 2015 MacBookPro running a DualBoot (Ubuntu 16.04)

texts:
My question is very specific, but I hope someone has already encounter a similar problem.

I want to use a Nvidia eGPU, GeForce RTX™ 2080 Ti with my early 2015 MacBook pro (Thunderbolt 2 only).

I will only use that GPU on Ubuntu 16.04 from a dualboot.

The eGPU is declared as thunderbolt compatible by nvidia : https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4565/~/support-list-for-external-gpus-using-thunderbolt-3-in-windows

I was thinking of plugging it in that way :

Running Ubuntu Dualboot -> Thunderbolt 2 cabe male-male -> Thunderbolt 3 (USB-c) to Thunderbolt 2 apple connector -> plug it into USB-c port of the eGPU.

I heard that this Thunderbolt 3 to thunderbolt 2 connector works only if the device is thunderbolt compatible, which seems to be the case ? For sure the performance will be slowed down by the Thunderbolt 2 interface, but that's not a problem.

Has anyone ever experienced a similar setup ? Do you think it will be compatible ?
Or do you guys know any other way of using this eGPU through a thunderbolt 2 ?

Thanks a lot for your help


texts: Does Little Little Snitch 4 block connections during login?

texts:
I have been using Little Snitch for some time now.
I think the version I've started to use the program with, was 3.5.
Anyway, I remember seeing notifications from Little Snitch about connection attempts during login, and then these appeared as 'Suggested rules' in the configuration.

Recently I had to reinstall OS and all the programs on my Mac mini.
I have installed the latest Little Snitch (4.4.3 that is), but after reboot I have not seen notification about connection attempts during login, nor was there a 'Suggested rules' section in the configuration.

In release notes for Little Snitch 3.*, it is mentioned (bold is mine):

  Little Snitch offers rule suggestions based on Silent Mode
  connections, former, already expired temporary rules, login
  connections and more.

Though, no mention of login connections in release notes for Little Snitch 4.*. I have found an old thread on official forum, but again - it is about Little Snitch 3.*

The question is:

Does Little Snitch 4.* 'inherit' the functionality of blocking connections during login from it's predecessor (i.e. Little Snitch 3.*)?

If yes, does it have to be enabled in any special way?

P.S.: I do realize that this question would be more appropriate at the official forum of the Little Snitch developers, but registration there is closed (for like a year now).


texts:
Not too long ago, I tried to update my MacBook Pro to the newest OS (Mojave).
I downloaded the updater etc. and started updating my software. I didn't mind, so I just let it update for itself. I came back some hours after, to a black screen, and nothing responding. The computer didn't respond to any clicks neither to the keyboard, or lastly the display/screen getting closed.

I tried to shut down the computer by holding the power button. I then proceed to try to open it again and it shows a blinking folder with a question mark, which I found out, means it can't find a bootable drive.

I tried to open it in recovery mode, and from there download the OS, but every time I agreed to the terms and conditions etc. it sent me to the page, where I had to pick which hard drive the OS would be downloaded on, but I had nothing to choose. Nothing was there.

I also tried to go to disk utility, and I can't see my hard drive on the left side.

Does this mean my internal hard drive is dead? What does this mean, and what can I do?

Thank you for reading


texts:
I have a mac mini with two monitors. On the main monitor I normally keep two desktops and on the second there is only one. I have been noticing that the main monitor seems to add more desktops by itself.

So I am not sure if I might be pushing some sort of shortcut to create another desktop or if there is actually something else happening.

If anyone has any ideas or if if you have had the same issue and fixed it I'd really appreciate your help.


texts: Fix Spotlight results nonsense on Catalina

texts:
Here's an example, open Spotlight with ⌘+Space, then type:

d > dictionary;
do > docker;
doc > dock;
dock > docker;
docke > docker;
docker > docker.

Apart from the fact that it is total nonsense IMHO, what's worse is that results change after a few milliseconds, so for example if I type ⌘+Space doc quickly, the initial docker result becomes dock just before I press enter thus opening Dock.
Is there a way to make Stoplight work "as one would expect" or at least to make it stop changing the result at the last moment?
(In this particular case I could just disable System Preferences results, but that's not a general solution...)


texts:
I want to change all media apps to open with VLC.

So I right click on one, get info, open with:

But now this:

And I only have one VLC on my system:

ps-MacBook-Air:~ pi$ sudo find / -iname "VLC.app"
/Applications/VLC.app

Is this a microscopic bug?

And who is at fault? I suspect maybe VLC needs to register somewhere as a media player and maybe it has registered twice?


texts: Create a new partition in available space

texts:
I want add a new fat32 partition (disk2s2) in all available space leaves but all my leaved space is before an existing extFat (disk2s1) I want to keep
    diskutil list disk2
/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *2.0 TB     disk2
   1:               Windows_NTFS FAT32                   1.0 TB     disk2s1

and
diskutil info disk2
   Device Identifier:         disk2
   Device Node:               /dev/disk2
   Whole:                     Yes
   Part of Whole:             disk2
   Device / Media Name:       M3 Portable

   Volume Name:               Not applicable (no file system)
   Mounted:                   Not applicable (no file system)
   File System:               None

   Content (IOContent):       FDisk_partition_scheme
   OS Can Be Installed:       No
   Media Type:                Generic
   Protocol:                  USB
   SMART Status:              Not Supported

   Disk Size:                 2.0 TB (2000398933504 Bytes) (exactly 3907029167 512-Byte-Units)
   Device Block Size:         512 Bytes

   Media OS Use Only:         No
   Media Read-Only:           No
   Volume Read-Only:          Not applicable (no file system)

   Device Location:           External
   Removable Media:           Fixed

   Solid State:               Info not available
   Virtual:                   No

and
% sudo gpt -r show disk2
Password:
       start        size  index  contents
           0           1         MBR
           1  1944061951
  1944061952  1962962944      1  MBR part 7
  3907024896        4271


texts:
On my iPhone, the camera shutter sound follows the ring/silent switch. However, I'd like the camera to be always silent, regardless of whether incoming calls & messages make a sound. Is there any way to configure it that way?

(Non-jailbroken iPhone 4 with latest iOS.)


texts: ‘bin needs to download the font “Nanum Myeongjo”’

texts: My Mac gave me a pop up that asked "bin needs to download the font “Nanum Myeongjo” I clicked it away and ran Malwarebytes which found and quarantined "Adware.Spigot". Am I fine? Should I still be worried? I am using 10.12.6 on a 2015 Macbook Pro 15 inch.


texts: Programmatically convert formulas to their values in Numbers

texts:
I have a couple of Numbers documents with multiple sheets each which containi quite a lot of formulas (enough to slow down most typical actions on the spreadsheets such as text input and, most disturbing, scrolling).

Every row on these tables corresponds to one day. Most formulas on any given row only operate on that row, menaing that when I've inserterd all the data for the corresponding day they become useless (they output will not change anymore). I will never need to change the input data for days in the past.

So, I was wondering whether it was possible to replace the formulas with their results in all rows belonging to a date in the past, maybe with some kind of macro which I could execute once in a while, or in general any way different than manually copying and pasting.

My goal with this hypothetic macro would be to reduce the "processing weight" of this spreadsheets and at the same time fix the results of formulas regarding past days, protecting them from accidental modifications of the corresponding input.


texts: How to automatically hide/show dock depending on whether any apps are running in foreground?

texts:
In GNOME (on Linux), there is an extension called "Dash to Dock", which gives you a macOS-like dock.  One very nice difference is that when you set it to automatically hide the dock, it only hides it when there are apps running in the foreground.  If you're on the desktop, the dock always shows.  As soon as you open an app, it hides.  I want this same functionality in macOS but there is no GUI option for it and I can't seem to find any way to set it programmatically or otherwise.  Can any of you offer any suggestions, or confirm that there's simply no way to do this at all?

If it matters, I'm running macOS 10.15.2 (Catalina) on a MBP mid-2012.


texts: How can I get the iPhone to "forget" certain words?

texts: The auto-complete features can be nice, but somewhere along the line my iPhone has learned some questionable language.  How can I get the iPhone to "forget" certain words from its auto-complete settings / dictionary?


texts: Thread crash when rendering out on evve blender 2.8

texts:
Process:               Blender [11080]
Path:                  /Applications/Blender.app/Contents/MacOS/Blender
Identifier:            org.blenderfoundation.blender
Version:               2.81a (2.81a 2019-12-04)
Code Type:             X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process:        ??? [1]
Responsible:           Blender [11080]
User ID:               501

Date/Time:             2020-02-13 23:50:16.801 +0100
OS Version:            Mac OS X 10.15 (19A603)
Report Version:        12
Bridge OS Version:     3.0 (14Y908)

Time Awake Since Boot: 16000 seconds
Time Since Wake:       1200 seconds

System Integrity Protection: disabled

Crashed Thread:        27

Total thread count: 43

Exception Type:        EXC_CRASH (SIGABRT)
Exception Codes:       0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000
Exception Note:        EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY

Application Specific Information:
abort() called

Application Specific Signatures:
Graphics kernel error: 0xfffffff9

Thread 27 Crashed:
0   libsystem_kernel.dylib         0x00007fff7441847a __pthread_kill + 10
1   libsystem_pthread.dylib       0x00007fff744d5707 pthread_kill + 384
2   libsystem_c.dylib             0x00007fff743a0aa2 __abort + 139
3   libsystem_c.dylib             0x00007fff743a0a17 abort + 135
4   libGPUSupportMercury.dylib     0x00007fff5d90b0a6 gpusGenerateCrashLog.cold.1 + 94
5   libGPUSupportMercury.dylib     0x00007fff5d9021e7 gpusGenerateCrashLog + 89
6   com.apple.AMDRadeonX4000GLDriver 0x000000011f561641 gpusKillClientExt + 9
7   libGPUSupportMercury.dylib     0x00007fff5d9035bc gpusSubmitDataBuffers + 164
8   com.apple.AMDRadeonX4000GLDriver 0x000000011f53bbfa glrATI_Hwl_SubmitPacketsWithToken + 110
9   com.apple.AMDRadeonX4000GLDriver 0x000000011f537b59 glrATI_Hwl_UpdateContextBufferState + 84
10  libGPUSupportMercury.dylib     0x00007fff5d905018 gldUpdateDrawFramebuffer + 114
11  GLEngine                       0x00007fff478f4a6b gleUpdateDrawFramebufferState + 527
12  GLEngine                       0x00007fff4782fcdc glClear_Exec + 205
13  org.blenderfoundation.blender 0x00000001118f4204 EEVEE_shadows_draw_cubemap + 660
14  org.blenderfoundation.blender 0x00000001118f282f EEVEE_shadows_draw + 271
15  org.blenderfoundation.blender 0x00000001118ef2ce EEVEE_render_draw + 926
16  org.blenderfoundation.blender 0x00000001118e2cd8 eevee_render_to_image + 88
17  org.blenderfoundation.blender 0x00000001118c0e4c DRW_render_to_image + 828
18  org.blenderfoundation.blender 0x000000010d886406 RE_engine_render + 1110
19  org.blenderfoundation.blender 0x000000010d890c9a do_render_all_options + 378
20  org.blenderfoundation.blender 0x000000010d893074 RE_RenderAnim + 2260
21  org.blenderfoundation.blender 0x00000001132487f0 render_startjob + 96
22  org.blenderfoundation.blender 0x000000010da2f1e7 do_job_thread + 39
23  libsystem_pthread.dylib       0x00007fff744d5d76 _pthread_start + 125
24  libsystem_pthread.dylib       0x00007fff744d25d7 thread_start + 15


texts:
I've lost my iPhone, and its power has run out.

Is it possible to use iCloud to locate where it was last detected?


texts: OSX crashes and reboots several hours after going to "sleep" (lid closed)

texts:
I have a MacBook Pro as my work laptop. When I go home, I close the lid and take the laptop with me. Very often, the next time I open my laptop I find that the OS restarted "because of a problem". This reboot may happen several hours after the lid is closed, as the sound from my laptop back indicates.

What is the best way to understand / debug why this is happening? Can I get some useful information from log files?

The laptop is MacBookPro11,3, with Intel Core i7 processor, and 16 GB of RAM. The programs that are usually running before crash are iTerm, Finder, Microsoft Outlook, and Chrome. I also run a Vagrant VM with a bunch of processes in it for work. My coworkers run exactly the same codebase and none of them is having the same problem.


texts: Will my Bluetooth earbuds work with my Apple Watch even if I don't have my phone with me?

texts: I want to listen to music while I am running but don't want to bring my phone with me. Can I just pair the bluetooth earbuds that I use now with my phone and take my watch running?


texts: OSX hangs on startup after large file search caused a crash (Mavericks 10.9.5)

texts:
Well, my computer won't startup. Gray screen on regular startups, black screen with no cursor on safe mode startup.

It started after a everything froze while performing a massive file search in finder. I was looking through all pictures before Jan. 1st last year -- gigs and gigs and gigs of data -- and I was in the Cover Flow view. I noticed everything was slowing down, and while I was browsing, I tried opening a couple files, both in preview and in Photoshop. Both programs hung and eventually crashed.

Eventually, finder itself froze completely. I hard reset. Now, nothing boots.

I've tried moving the preferences files from Library/Preferences (finder, dock, systempreferences), no go. I tried moving the /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist file and /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist file. No go.

I deleted all the caches from /Library, /System/Library, and /Users/myusername/Library/Caches.

Checked my hard drive with fsck and everything is fine. Also tried /usr/libexec/repair_packages --repair --standard-pkgs. Nada.

My last line in my boot log is UserEventAgent[11]: Captive: CNPluginHandler en1: Inactive.

If I boot to safe mode, the progress bar loads, it hangs on the gray screen for a while, it flashes blue for a split second and then hangs on the black screen.

Regular boot just hangs on the gray screen.

Any ideas?


texts: How to install a virtual environment of Python in macOS

texts:
First steps with Python, I am trying to run Python in a virtual environment in macOS.

I Googled "install virtual environment python mac" and got a link for this.
When I typed in Terminal:

$ pip install virtualenv

I got a "command not found".

Is there a simple, well-explained (meaning for dumb, GUI-raised people like me) way to install a virtual environment for Python on macOS somewhere online? I would love if I didn't feel helpless every step of the way (long-distance goal: being able to run this).


texts: Slow and glitchy AirPlay under Mavericks

texts: I have a mid-2011 iMac which could AirPlay video beautifully in and out of iTunes to my Apple TV before Mavericks. Now that I've installed OS X Mavericks 10.9 (13A603) I have latency issues. The audio plays fine but video skips a lot, especially when I'm mirroring my display with AirPlay. I tried a wired and wireless connect and both have issues. Is anyone else experiencing this or have a workaround?


texts: Conflicting Disc Utility Details - Failing Drive

texts:
2010 MacPro Yosemite

A TimeMachine backup attempt gave me an error message of a bad backup drive. Disk Utility shows -

  This drive has a hardware problem that can't be repaired. Back up as much of the data as possible and replace the disk. See an authorized Apple dealer for more information.

Now, the back up drive was one partition of a larger drive. This is the alert when on the full drive. Each partition passes the disc verify test. The latest backup occured this morning despite the alert from TimeMachine, and the current status from Disc Utility.

Question - Does this problem alert from Disc Utility make sense, that a drive fails S.M.A.R.T. Status but its 2 partitions look fine?


texts: How do I get my user directory working for web sharing again?

texts:
I had web sharing enabled in Lion and a web site at http://localhost/~user, where user is my User directory.  When I upgraded to Mountain Lion, web sharing (Apache) remained enabled and I can go to localhost and get the "It works!" default web page, but I cannot access my user page anymore.  The error is

  Forbidden

  You don't have permission to access /~user/ on this server.

How do I re-enable my user directory's web page?


texts: How do I disable this red warning appearing in every new conversation in iMessage?

texts:
Every time I get a text-message from a new number, I get this big, red message:

  WARNING: Apple will never ask you to open Terminal or execute a command on your Mac, click a link, visit a website, send or change your credentials, send or reply to an e-mail or text message, call someone, receive a call, or download and run an application on your phone or your Mac. If such a message claims to be from Apple and asks you to write back or take any similar action, it is a phishing message designed to compromise your account. Do not reply and immediately tap below to report it. If you are unsure, stop and contact the IS&T HelpLine before doing anything else.

Notably, there's no where to ‘tap below’ under the message; and I have no idea what the “IS&T HelpLine” is.

How do I disable this? I'd almost think it were some sort of reverse-psychology phishing worm, because I'm very sure this isn't default iMessage behaviour … except that I can't think of a way that this behaviour benefits a hostile actor? -_-


texts: App store - buying with paypal through iPhone

texts:
Question is simple, how to use paypal as payment method? I don't know is this important, but I am no-U.S. citizen.

I suppose this is possible, just look at the link: http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202631 but there is no details about how to use it. I know there is paypal app, so if anybody have experience with that app, can answer too.

Mainly I would like to buy apps from the appstore via paypal. My debit card is connected with my paypal account. I know I can use debit/ credit card information to buy, but that defeats whole purpose of having an paypal account. I guess this can be easily done, but I just can't find paypal option on my iPhone's app store app...


texts:
I have a MBP with a 1 terabyte SSD. If I look at the storage tab of about this mac, it looks like I would expect, but if I run df -h from the terminal, I get:
Filesystem       Size    Used   Avail   Capacity   iused       ifree         %iused  Mounted on
/dev/disk1s1s1   932Gi   14Gi   83Gi    15%        568975      9767409185    0%   /

Is this a bug in df on Big Sur, or should I be worried that something is up with my MBP? On my old computer (which never get past Mojave) the numbers added up and looked right.


texts: Deleting VPN Configuration Files From Network System Preferences

texts:
Unfortunately I used a bad VPN service called VPN OneClick Pro. When you uninstall the app it does not remove the VPN configuration files it creates in Network in System Preferences.

So in other words, when you open System Preferences and then click on Network, to your left you always see your Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Firewire, etc. VPN OneClick Pro places about 28 VPN Configuration files. The minus button "-" has been greyed out so removing them is impossible.

How do I remove the remnants ?


texts:
I am using an iPhone 5s on iOS 10 and nowadays I have been having an issue. I don't have an unlimited Wi-Fi connection as I use my Samsung mobile phone hotspot for my iPhone.

Whenever I connect my iPhone to Wi-Fi, it starts using very high quantities of data, i.e, 2–3 MB every second without any app running. I also tried turning of Background App Refresh and Automatic Downloads are turned off. I tried a soft reset but to no avail. Any idea what's causing this?


texts:
I have an iPhone SE running iOS 12 and the battery is running out quickly,

How can I found out what is draining the battery and how can it be prevented?


texts: Mac OS won't install from CD, but Windows will

texts:
I had to replace the hard drive in my 2010 21.5" iMac.  When I went to install the OS, I rebooted into the OS selection screen (using option).  The Mac OS X install disc was there (but my external HD, where I back up wasn't), so I selected it.

It starts by showing the Apple logo, as expected, but after a while, the logo changed to a "cannot proceed" icon (circle with a slash).  Thinking I installed the drive incorrectly, I tried my old WinXP CD.

Long story short, XP is installing right now.  I used my Mac CD trying to repair the install just before the HD failed, so I know it's readable.

Edit 1: I would like to re-iterate that the Time Machine volume doesn't show up in the boot menu either.  Shouldn't it be?

Edit 2: When I boot in verbose mode (from the CD) it works fine up until it attempts to find the "root device."  Then it just keeps repeating that it can't find it.

Edit 3: Windows successfully installed, and the BootCamp drivers installed fine, so the CD isn't the issue either.  I'm going to try Rilakkuma's suggestion and contact Apple to get an image of the last OS version I downloaded to put on a USB.

Final Edit: Never could get a USB image of the latest operating system that I purchased.  Disappointed with Apple support.  I'm just keeping Windows on here (with Bootcamp drivers).


texts: I keep accidentally hitting the Escape key when I'm typing. I'd like to move to more towards the center of the Touch Bar, or require a double-click to activate it. Is this possible?


texts: iMac 27" late 2012 boots into Windows 7, but screen is white. How to activate screen?

texts:
I've replaced the HDD in an iMac 27" late 2012, and image copied it to new one, and it doesn't seem to want to boot. I noticed it actually boots into Windows 7, but the physical screen is still white, yet I can connect and work normally via RDP.  I've tried to update nvidia drivers, several restarts, but no change.
I've done reset of PVRAM via
START + ALT + R + P

but no luck.  It looks like, as if it would have 2 screens, but there isn't a secondary one.
Hard disk is GPT formatted with 3 partitions made by Win 7 installation (EFI-boot, and 2 NTFS where are system and data)
Any clues?


texts: How to get Brew formula from the filename of installed binary?

texts:
I often use dpkg -S <file> on Debian to get the package name that installed <file>.

However, using brew I cannot find this option anywhere?

How can I obtain the Brew formula that installed a given binary?


texts: How in the world do you remove an action in iAd producer?

texts:
I am using iAd producer this afternoon to make iAds for some of my apps. I have googled around but I still cannot figure out how to remove an action that I have added to an action list. I have tried dragging the action out of the list, control clicking, alt clicking, command clicking, but I can't figure it out.

How do I delete the action?


texts: A question about installing kernels (related to running Hydrogen with Atom)

texts:
I have a really basic question, but the more I read, the more confused I get: How do I install pip so I can install kernels?

This question came about when I tried to install the Hydrogen package to use in Atom, the text editor (to help me learn Python). I finally succeeded in installing Hydrogen, but got stumped by the missing kernels (not sure which ones I need, so I am willing to install them all). But I can't seem to install the kernels without pip.

I have a vague understanding of the implications of global vs local installations--I get that certain Python installations aren't compatible with local or global kernel installations (I hope I have the terminology right.) But I saw several warnings about installing pip for "a homebrew based python installation", but I am not sure whether Python on my laptop is installed via homebrew (nor how to find out).

So if Python(2.7) came pre-installed on my MacBook Pro (High Sierra), can I just do sudo easy_install pip (as suggested) from the command line--withOUT causing issues?

I first posted this question in StackExchange and was advised to seek help here. Frankly I wasn't sure whether this was a Mac question or a Atom question.

Thanks in advance!


texts: macOS Mojave hibernatemode 25 | Dark Wake/ sleep wake

texts:
I have set hibernate mode to 25 and the standby time to 0 in macOS Mojave. Now my idea is that the Mac goes to deep sleep (no power to RAM). Most of the time it works; if I open the lid I see this screen:

But sometimes I have to press the power button to start the Mac. Either it starts as I would have turn it off before. Or (more often) it starts for a second (with start sound) and then turns black and starts again (again start sound).

I read something about "dark wake". So may be the problem is, that the Mac wakes up. But I don't know how to prevent that.

Any ideas? Or maybe a better setup to secure the system (in-fact prevent the encryption key from FileVault to be in the RAM when I close the lid)?

My setup is:

I have one user only for Disc encryption (other users are deleted with: sudo fdesetup remove -user username)
DestroyFVKeyOnStandby = 1
standby = 0

~$> pmset -g
System-wide power settings:
 DestroyFVKeyOnStandby      1
Currently in use:
 standbydelaylow      0
 standby              0
 halfdim              1
 hibernatefile        /var/vm/sleepimage
 gpuswitch            2
 powernap             0
 disksleep            0
 standbydelayhigh     0
 sleep                0 (sleep prevented by cloudd, cloudd, sharingd)
 autopoweroffdelay    28800
 hibernatemode        25
 autopoweroff         1
 ttyskeepawake        1
 displaysleep         0
 highstandbythreshold 50
 acwake               0
 lidwake              1


texts:
I am trying to enable Windows-like hibernation (powering off the device) on an M1 Mac mini. Current power mode configuration of any Mac can be displayed with pmset -g command, and this command's output does not include a hibernatemode entry. I try to enable hibernation with sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 25 where 25 indicates power-off hibernation. Unfortunately this doesn't power the device off because the power light is still on when I put the device to sleep. Curiously enough, running pmset -g again still does not include a hibernatemode entry.
Is hibernation removed in new M1 Macs or macOS Big Sur? If not, what is the correct way to enable it?


texts: Im under Yosemite OS X I got a new battery for my mac model a1398 mid 2012 retina, I charged the battery first time to 100% and drained it till it went to sleep mode to calibrate the battery, now I never let it go under 80% and plug the charger, most of time I use the charger but the thing is, I saw that my cycle count is 3 and it was 1 before, I don't understand how this happened? any idea?


texts: I have icloud which is almost empty, because my phone does not send pictures to icloud. It has sent only 88 pictures and rest of them are in the phone, and I cannot take pictures anymore because I dont have place. Why?


texts: How to Transfer slo-mo video from one mac to other in photos.app with slow motion edits options?

texts:
I have a slo-mo video imported from iPhone to my photos app. Now I need to transfer this from photos of my mac to other mac's photo.

I tried by exporting my video as a file in finder and later imported back to the photos app. The slow motion video is working as expected at right timings, but the editing mode is lost. i.e: We cannot alter the timing or frame of the slow motion thereafter.

What can be done if it need to import the video again with the slo-mo frame edit options available.


texts:
I just got a new IPhone and downloaded Whatsapp. Every time I open Whatsapp, a message saying that the history is being restored from ICloud is displayed and a few seconds later a window pops up saying that the history has been successfully restored. The problem is that it keeps doing the same thing every time I open Whatsapp, so I can't use the app at all.

What can I do?


texts: Get text of most recent notification with applescript

texts:
I would like to be able to grab the text of the most recent notification and pass it into an applescript variable. How can I do that?
Edit: here's what I have so far:
on run
    tell application "System Events"
        tell process "NotificationCenter"
            tell first window
                set rawElements to UI elements
            end tell
        end tell
    end tell
end run

This gets me most of the way there, but it doesn't get me the body of the notification, just the label:
Here's the output:

{static text "Macro Cancelled" of window 1 of application process
"NotificationCenter" of application "System Events", image 1 of window
1 of application process "NotificationCenter" of application "System
Events", scroll area 1 of window 1 of application process
"NotificationCenter" of application "System Events", image 2 of window
1 of application process "NotificationCenter" of application "System
Events"}


texts: Enable sudoing for the logged-in user for one specific prefpane only?

texts:
We are running OS X 10.14 VMs hosted on VMWare ESX.
Users log into the VMs via Screensharing app.
VMWare sets the resolution settings to an odd value, so the users would have to use a VMWare command line tool to change the setting to their needs.
Since most users are not capable of using the command line, I installed a PrefPane on the VMs:
VMware.prefPane. Works pretty good.
In order to set the resolution setting boot-persistent, you need to enter an admin pw, which no user is allowed to.
So I would like to change the sudoers file as follows:
Allow sudo for

a specified account or the logged-in user
only for the purpose of changing resolution values via the VMware.prefPane.

Can someone give me a hint on this ...?


texts: Does Apple's Numbers support 3rd party plugins / data providers / formulas / functions?

texts:
Numbers has the ability to pull in prices for various stocks and currencies. However, I am after the ability for it to pull in prices for various cryptocurrencies, not just BTC, such as Cryptofinance does for Google Sheets.

As Numbers doesn't currently offer that functionality, my question is: Does Numbers support the ability to be extended with plugins? Such that one can create/use custom-made formulas/functions.

It seems all the major competitors to Numbers offer such functionality:

Google Sheets
Microsoft Excel
LibreOffice Calc

Crossposted on the Apple Discussions community.


texts: How to get GarageBand on MacOs to recognize external MIDI Device?

texts:
I am using Macos 10.15.7, and Garageband 10.3.5.  I have a MIDI keyboard plugged in via a USB cable.  I configured the MIDI device using "Audio Midi Studio.app".   I added my keyboard, and tested it using Midi Studio -> Test Setup.   The test was successful, the Midi Studio App plays sounds on my external keyboard.
When I run Garage Band, under Preferences -> Audio/MIDI -> Devices my keyboard does not appear in the list of available devices.
I've read articles on how to debug the USB connection to the keyboard, but from what I can tell (including a successful test where I hear the keyboard playing) that is fine.  It's just that Garage Band doesn't see the device.


texts: What is the difference between a local Mailbox and an archive in Apple Mail?

texts:
In Apple Mail in MacOS High Sierra I move all old sent and received mails out of the IMAP folders into a folder that is displayed as "Local" in the sidebar:

That way I archive all my old mails and remove them from the IMAP folders from the internet. Whenever I get a new Mac, I export those local folders and import them back into Mail on the new Mac. So my archive stays complete and searchable.

But Apple also has this thing called "Archive":

Which is not displayed under "Local" but its content is actually stored under local.

So what is the actual functional difference between the two, except from them having different icons?


texts:
My iMac 24" is about 3 years old.

Specs:

2.66ghz Intel Core 2 Duo / 4gb RAM / OS X 10.6.7

What happens is while I'm in the mid of using the machine, it suddenly goes back to the blue screen and then the login screen. So It's not a hard restart, more like a forced log out. This is the 3rd time it happened this week. It's never happened before. There was no warning, or slow down prior to the shut down. I also felt the top of the iMac to make sure it wasn't over-heating. It wasn't.

What's causing this and what can I do about it? It's extremely annoying to lose work due to this unexpected behavior.


texts:
I've had some odd behavior on my OS X mail client. Heres' my inbox:

Yet here is how many unread messages I have:

These values used to be synchronized. Note that the first value will not change even if I mark all other messages as read (subfolders included).

OS X 10.7.4
Mail = Version 5.2 (1278)


texts:
I would like to receive customized notifications from any specific app on my iPhone so that I can never ignore it because they are super important.

One solution I thought of is to show notification as a popup on the screen while using the iPhone or show it large size when phone is locked. I'm not sure how to implement it.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

PS: I have also supervised my iPhone through MDM.


texts: Use Mac OS in virtual machine on Windows?

texts:
I just got MacBook Pro 2011 and installed Windows 7 using Boot Camp.

I am a Windows user who need to develop iOS apps.

Is it possible to install Mac OS VM on Windows that is installed using Boot Camp?


texts: Are HDMI to VGA converters/adapters compatible with Mac?

texts:
Recently I purchased an HDMI to VGA adapter that actually converts the digital signal to an analog VGA signal to connect a computer to an external monitor. It works perfectly with a Windows PC that I tested, but with my MacBook Pro Retina (early 2013 model), no display is detected. I've tried SMC and PRAM resets, several restarts, and hot plugging both ends of the converter, to no avail.

I read an answer on "graphics limitations" of the Mac but am still wondering how that may be the issue, considering that this is has both passive and integrated graphics, rated better than the PC I tested. I would suspect that it is probably a hardware detail that I don't understand here, but I have been having issues with other display cables (HDMI to HDMI) recently, too. I have noticed specific log messages that appear whenever I attempt to connect the two, which I will add in an update.

It is worth noting that I am regrettably on the Yosemite public beta (10.10.2) and I am checking to see if this is the issue with a Time Machine restore in a bit.

Update: Restored back to Mavericks and the issue persisted. I am thinking it is purely a hardware issue at this point, and not related to other display issues with 10.10.2.

The log messages that I are appearing:

1/3/15 8:09:57.150 PM WindowServer[1460]: Received display connect changed for display 0x42803c2
1/3/15 8:09:57.153 PM WindowServer[1460]: Found 27 modes for display 0x042803c2 [27, 0]
1/3/15 8:09:57.154 PM WindowServer[1460]: Received display connect changed for display 0x3f003f
1/3/15 8:09:57.154 PM WindowServer[1460]: Found 1 modes for display 0x003f003f [1, 0]
1/3/15 8:09:57.154 PM WindowServer[1460]: Received display connect changed for display 0x3f0040
1/3/15 8:09:57.155 PM WindowServer[1460]: Found 1 modes for display 0x003f0040 [1, 0]
1/3/15 8:09:57.155 PM WindowServer[1460]: Received display connect changed for display 0x78c81761
1/3/15 8:09:57.155 PM WindowServer[1460]: Found 1 modes for display 0x78c81761 [1, 0]
1/3/15 8:09:57.155 PM WindowServer[1460]: Display 0x78c81761 changed state to offline

More relevant logs from AmbientDisplayAgent reporting an "invalid display"?

1/3/15 8:09:26.417 PM com.apple.AmbientDisplayAgent[263]: AMBD initializing devices
1/3/15 8:09:26.453 PM com.apple.AmbientDisplayAgent[263]: Set a breakpoint at CGSLogError to catch errors as they are logged.
1/3/15 8:09:26.453 PM com.apple.AmbientDisplayAgent[263]: CGSGetSizeOfDisplayTransfer: Invalid display 0x00000001
1/3/15 8:09:26.455 PM com.apple.AmbientDisplayAgent[263]: CGSSetDisplayIntention: Invalid display 0x00000001
1/3/15 8:09:26.455 PM com.apple.AmbientDisplayAgent[263]: CGSSetDisplayIntention: Invalid display 0x00000001
1/3/15 8:09:26.455 PM com.apple.AmbientDisplayAgent[263]: CGSSetDisplayIntentionWiper: Invalid display 0x00000001
1/3/15 8:09:26.455 PM com.apple.AmbientDisplayAgent[263]: CGSSetDisplayIntentionWiper: Invalid display 0x00000001
1/3/15 8:09:26.471 PM com.apple.AmbientDisplayAgent[263]: AMBD Agent: xpc connection became invalid during event handler


texts: Automate removing the first page of a bunch of PDFs

texts:
I have the cpff, and I would like to let my Mac automate removing the first page of many PDF's. I already have a script to remove the last page from my previous question, Automate removing the last page of a bunch of PDFs.

How can I change the code in the answer to that question to remove the first page instead of the last?


texts: 2nd external display renders whites as bright yellow

texts:
I have two external Dell monitors running through a Thunderbolt 3 dock to my  15" MacBook Pro. On the 2nd one that I connected, all pure white colors show as a very vivid and bright yellow, much like a highlighter. No other color is affected, and off whites render fine.

Whats odd is that this monitor has this issue regardless of how I connect it to the laptop. Its broken via dock, or via direct DP to TB3 cable. It also has the issue while being the only monitor connected. The original monitor does not have the issue regardless of how I connect it.

This would imply a hardware issue with the monitor BUT I have confirmed the monitor works correctly on a windows laptop. Whats also odd is there's a split second after login that the colors are correct, before they go yellow. This also suggests the monitor hardware is fine.

Both monitors are running in forced RGB mode, but this did not correct the issue.
PRAM reset also had no impact.

If I go into color calibration for the monitor, everything is fine so long as the target white is below 6500k. 6499k is fine, but the moment I raise it to 6500k (which is the default) the whites snap to highlighter yellow. They remain so for any value higher than 6500k.

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this?


texts: macOS Mail app takes ~60 seconds to send emails but only for one SMTP server

texts:
Recently I've noticed that the Apple Mail app on macOS takes about 60 seconds to send emails via a certain SMTP server (my primary mail server). I don't recall any particular upgrade to either my operating system or mail server that may have triggered this, so I'm not sure why it's started happening as Mail has been happily using this mail server for many years.
I've performed a connection test from within the Mail app and looked at the Mail logs and the mail server (postfix) logs and this is what I can see:
Logs from Mail.app:
INITIATING CONNECTION Aug 07 19:12:06.024 host:<my-mail-server> -- port:<port> -- socket:0x0 -- thread:0x6000002e2fc0

CONNECTED Aug 07 19:13:07.110 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNone] -- host:<my-mail-server> -- port:<port> -- socket:0x6000032c4420 -- thread:0x6000002e2fc0

READ Aug 07 19:13:07.260 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNone] -- host:<my-mail-server> -- port:<port> -- socket:0x6000032c4420 -- thread:0x6000002e2fc0
220 <my-mail-server> ESMTP Postfix (Ubuntu)

WROTE Aug 07 19:13:07.272 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNone] -- host:<my-mail-server> -- port:<port> -- socket:0x6000032c4420 -- thread:0x6000002e2fc0
EHLO [<my-ip-address>]

// Followed by the basic SMTP handshake and connection test.

Logs from postfix:
Aug  7 19:12:06 <server> postfix/smtpd[23750]: connect from unknown[<my-ip-address>]
Aug  7 19:13:01 <server> postfix/master[1324]: warning: master_wakeup_timer_event: service pickup(public/pickup): Connection refused
Aug  7 19:13:07 <server> postfix/smtpd[23750]: lost connection after UNKNOWN from unknown[<my-ip-address>]
Aug  7 19:13:07 <server> postfix/smtpd[23750]: disconnect from unknown[<my-ip-address>] unknown=0/3 commands=0/3
Aug  7 19:13:07 <server> postfix/smtpd[23750]: connect from unknown[<my-ip-address>]
Aug  7 19:13:08 <server> postfix/smtpd[23750]: disconnect from unknown[<my-ip-address>] ehlo=2 starttls=1 auth=1 quit=1 commands=5

From the mail server logs it seems like the client connects, times out after 60 seconds, connects again and then instantly succeeds, whereas from the Mail logs it looks like it just takes 60 seconds to connect in the first place.
I've tested the same mail server and credentials with both an iPhone and an iPad and neither of them have the same issue.
Is there anything I can do to resolve this?
Edit: I have just updated my operating system to macOS 10.15.6 and restarted but the issue still persists.
Edit 2: I've just set up a new 2019 MacBook Pro and continue to experience the same issue, which suggests that it is an issue with the mailserver, but doesn't explain why it works fine on an iPhone and iPad.


texts:
I need to hand back my current MacBook Pro, and setup up a new one. What I want is to save my all user-specific data and, maybe, all the programs installed (not necessary).

I believe it is possible, having an external HDD, setup a Time Machine to back up all my system to it. Yet I see this to be not the best solution: I don't have much time left with my current MacBook + I would like to lower my expenses as much as possible, solving this problem.

So my question is: is it possible to order, for instance, a non-expensive external dropbox-like storage and setup of Time Machine to use it? MIf not... I have a 80 Gb iPod Classic – are there any known cases of backing up the system to IPods?


texts: How to move a folder containing aliases to another machine without breaking the aliases?

texts:
I've got a large folder of music with lots of aliases to tunes that are spread throughout subfolders of the main tunes folder. For example I might keep the original files sorted by artist, and then have a folder for a genre with a bunch of aliases to tunes (or folders of tunes) for that genre, like a playlist.

Now that I've got a new laptop how can I transfer the whole folder without breaking the aliases?

I tried using the symbolic link options of rsync but that doesn't seem to work with OS X aliases.

BTW I'm not interested in replacing the aliases with a copy of the original, I really want to keep the aliases :)

Is this something Time Machine can help with?

Thanks!


texts: What happens when put a Finder alias in a Dropbox folder?

texts: I have several folders and files that I would like to link to a local folder that happens to be a Dropbox folder. Specifically I'd like to put Finder aliases to some files and some folders into a folder that is on Dropbox. What happens when I do this? What is synced to Dropbox? Is it just the Finder alias itself (a special kind of file only meaningful on macOS) or are the linked-to files or folders copied to Dropbox?


texts: Concatenating AVI files with multiple tracks

texts:
I have a directory of AVI files that I would like to combine into a single AVI file.  These AVI files come from a dash cam and have two video tracks -- a front camera and a rear camera.

I tried to use the suggestion here to combine the videos.  Specifically:

ffmpeg -f concat -i <(for f in $PWD/*.avi;do echo "file '$f'";done) -c copy output.avi

This works great for the first (front) video track but completely removes the second (rear) video track.

How can I concatenate these files and retain both video tracks?  Alternatively, is there a way I can specify the video track to concatenate?


texts: Can I safely change my account's username?

texts: My Mac username is set to 'John', and I hate looking at the capital 'J' and would like to set it to 'john'. I see the advanced option in the Users & Groups settings, but I want to make sure that it won't break my setup? Do I need to rename my /Users/ folder? Would it break any programs depending on my home path?


texts: Messages on Mac say not sending but they are going through

texts: I've tried changing my addresses on my phone, logging in and out, and messing with the library setting in finder. I know that the messages are being received and it happens all the time to almost everyone I message thru my comuter (and im receiveing all the messages on my phone as well.) It's just annoying really but not an actual problem.


texts:
When I boot my Macbook Pro and log in, the progress bars starts scrolling. After a few seconds the screen goes completely black and then shows the progress bar again but all the rest around the progress bar is black.

I tried to reset the SMC settings but no luck. Anyone else experiencing this issue or knows how to fix it? I noticed this issue right after the upgrade to El Capitan, I don't know if it's related to that.

Specs (in case it helps troubleshooting):

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015)
2.5GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz 16GB 1600MHz   DDR3L SDRAM
512GB PCIe-based Flash Storage
Intel Iris Pro Graphics +
AMD Radeon R9 M370X with 2GB GDDR5 memory


texts: How can I prevent my Apple ID account from being recovered using a trusted phone number?

texts:
In the Security section of my Apple ID account page (https://appleid.apple.com/account/manage), I have a “Trusted phone number”. The help text says:

  Trusted phone numbers are used [...] to recover your account if you lose access.

However, I don’t want my account to be recoverable using a phone number, because phone numbers aren’t secure.

I have two-factor authentication turned on, and I have several Apple devices that support it. I have my two-factor recovery key saved in a password manager that’s backed up in several places. In short, I’m happy that I’ll be able to recover my account if required, without a trusted phone number.

I’ve seen guides showing how to remove trusted phone numbers when more than one is attached to the account (you click the little cross next to the phone number). But I only have one trusted phone number, and there’s no cross next to it.

How can I turn off the ability to access my Apple ID account using a “trusted” phone number?


texts: Typing >console in username box—nothing shows up until cancelled

texts:
When I type >console into the username box on the login screen, the computer seems to freeze for a very long time. Then I press ^C^C^C^C^D^C^D^D^D^C^D and eventually the computer unfreezes—but first, it flashes the session contents (showing the login console prompt, in what appears to be the same font as single user mode).

This is a fresh (or close enough) Mavericks install with

no third-party kernel extensions
no extra apps but the Yosemite installer (It is the same on Yosemite but I'm not allowed to ask about that :P)

on a Macbook Air, 2012, 10.9.3.

It appears that I'm having a problem very similar to the one in this question … but the console actually shows up for me, as soon as I exit.

Also, I am using the user list then selecting a name and pressing option ⌥+return ↩ but that doesn't seem to matter.

I was able to take a photo of what is going on:

Darwin/BSD (Hostname.local) (console)

login: █username>
Password:**** [IOBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport][SuspendDevice] -- Suspend -- suspendDeviceCallResult = 0x0000 (kIOReturnSuccess) -- 0xf400 ****

Password:
Password:
Login incorrect
login: █D ––that is a control-d

The block characters are cursors.

A session that I could actually log in to (but still not see my typing):

Darwin/BSD (Hostname.local) (console)

login: <username>
Password:
Last login: Tue Jun 24 08:06:36 on console
$ echo hello
hello
$
$
$ **** [IOBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport][SuspendDevice] -- Suspend -- suspendDeviceCallResult = 0x0000 (kIOReturnSuccess) -- 0xf400 ****

$
$ logout
█


texts: Is my SSD drive faulty when Blackmagic disk speed test shows decreasing write speed as low as 10 Mb/s?

texts:
I have old plastic white MacBook 13'' 2007 mid late.

In previous year I have bought SSD and replaced old one (HDD).

Everything was Ok, but in last month i started seen how sometime OS become stuck for one-two second, and then everything is ok.

Today I have download

  Blackmagic Disk Speed Test

And it shows me good speed, but only at once. Seems to me it is testing my drive in cycle. It trying to write then read, then repeat cycle. So in first try it shows nice digits as a result, but then "write" (and only write) numbers become lower and lower, and fixing about 10 Mb/s. Is it mean that something non good with my SSD drive?


texts: Connect a Lacie Thunderbolt only drive to a USB port?

texts:
I have a huge Lacie Thunderbolt only drive and I want to connect it to pre-thunderbolt computers but no matter where I look there doesn't seem to be a device or adapter which can achieve such.

I've looked at Lacie, Apple, and all over the internet but nada, nothing, zilch..  Rather than toss the drive in the attic I'd like to give it some new use but the machines it will connect to don't have a thunderbolt.  Newer drives at least give you the option of using both but I was wondering if anyone out there might have some suggestions.


texts:
I can't seem to figure this one out, there must be some really easy trick.

I have a bash script which sets my environment for an app and launches it with the correct parameters.  How can I put this script (or any script) on the dock?

Thanks,


texts: Why does extracting a large file with MacZip cause Mac OS 9 to hang?

texts: Why is it that I can perform multitasking when extracting .sit files with StuffIt Expander but extracting .zip files with MacZip causes Mac OS 9 to hang until extraction is complete?


texts: How do I delete imap email accounts without opening Mail

texts:
After Yosemite update Mail crashes as soon as I open with an 'Absolute path' error. I've tried all the usual things

removing the Envelop Index (hangs without crashing)
turning off all the mail accounts in System Preferences

The error message indicates its an issue with some IMAP account but I still have a POP account that I need to keep, so I can't just delete the ~/Library/Mail folder. Is there a way to delete the IMAP accounts by editing the plist files.

Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInternalInconsistencyException', reason: 'Absolute path passed into -[MFIMAPAccount mailboxForRelativePath:isFilesystemPath:create:]: //Archive'
abort() called


texts:
I've an external HDD of 500GB and in HFS+ format. It works normally on my Mac running OS X 10.5.8. After I plugged it into a machine running Windows, I found a vacant partition of 128MB and formatted it to NTFS. I used Paragon HFS+ for Windows to read and copy files.

Now I'm not able to write to that disk on my Mac. What is the problem?


texts: Stop Docker from automatically starting on startup

texts: I installed Docker on OS X, and now it automatically loads every time I log in. Is there a way to stop this?


texts:
I'm using garageband, and I am trying to lower the volume of one track. I adjust the volume slider to where I want it (-13.8 db) , but when I start playing the song, the volume slider for that track instantly resets itself back to a much higher volume (+1.8 db).

If I adjust the volume while the song is playing, it works, until I restart. If I start the song from anywhere but the very beginning, it plays at this right volume. If I start it from the beginning, it plays with the higher volume. I'm so confused as to why this is happening. I'm using volume automation to fade out at the very end, but it's flat until then, so I don't know why it would cause this. (Yes, the line in the automation is where I want it).

Any ideas?

Here is a video of the issue in case my description was unclear.


texts: What's the difference between an iTunes Account, an iCloud Account, and an Apple ID?

texts:
I just got a new iPhone 5 from work today, and good heavens!  There is 3 accounts for this thing!  My boss has the iCloud account, I'm supposed to hook up my existing iTunes account to it, and now it's asking me for this Apple ID thing...

I thought they were all one account what happened? And what is the difference between them?


texts: How can one reset the tutorials that run for preinstalled OS X apps on first run?

texts:
I'll give a bit of back story so this makes more sense:

I was pre installing and configuring some stuff for a family member's new Mac mini. It was shipped to my place so they haven't ever used it and in the process of setting things up I had to run iTunes and other included apps.

The first time you run them, they open up a pop up that guides you though basic usage. How can I reset that before I hand it to them, so they see the tutorial when they first run the app?

There are also some non-Apple programs, like Office 2011 and Spotify, which I would like to do this for. So any general pointers that could help with that would be appreciated.


texts: Is there a way to access my Reading List without opening Safari?

texts: I am reading on iPad and saving to reading list. I don't like Safari on OS X and don't want to open it every time. Is there a way to access the links in my Reading List without opening Safari?


texts: Using cURL to download images in XML feed?

texts:
I have an XML file that has links to various .jpg I want to create an applescript that downloads a local copy of these. The idea is to also label them sequentially  with a number say 001 to 030.

Every time i run the script i want the pictures to be overwritten with the new ones.

Here is the XML file I need to use:  http://tweetriver.com/hud_ro/steer_filtered.xml?include_entities=1

Can anyone help?


texts: Keyboard shortcut or script to move full screen applications to another screen

texts:
I have four physical displays and like using applications in full-screen mode. While working, I typically have around 10 apps running in full-screen.
I frequently to rearrange the full-screen windows, moving them from one display to another by switching to mission control mode and then dragging and dropping the windows.
Is there a way to do this using a keyboard shortcut or an Apple script?
To clarify: I would like the app windows to remain in full screen mode at all times. Tools like Better Touch Tool, recommended in another post, only work with apps that are not in full screen.


texts: Is it possible to extend Quick Look to support h.265?

texts:
H.265 (or HEVC) is the official successor to H.264, with a significant reduction in bitrate for the same picture quality.

However it's not supported widely yet, including in Quicktime, iTunes or Quick Look in the Finder (cmd+space) and I haven't seen anyone talking about support in OSX 10.11 (El Capitan).

I can view files in, for example, VLC, but was wondering if there's any sort of plugin for Quick Look.


texts: Google Drive client fails to sync Pages documents

texts:
I have two Pages documents in a local folder. They should be synchronised to Google Drive by my Google Drive client. The documents appear as folders remotely.

I'm getting "Upload error - an unknown issue has occurred".

Now if I open the GDrive folder in my brower, instead of SomeDoc.pages, I see a folder with the same name and a structure like so:

Index.zip
preview-micro.jpg
preview-web.jpg
preview.jpg
Metadata
    Properties.plist
    ...
Data
    (images contained in the doc)

Closed and restarted the client, and deleted the faulty remote files. It didn't help (it actually deleted the local files in an attempt to synchronise).

Surprisingly, nothing to be found: search and search on Google nor on stackexchange.

Any idea?

OSX 10.10
Pages 5.5.1 (2111)
Google Drive 1.18.7821.2489

UPDATE

This is stunning: if you open a terminal and ls -la the directory where your document resides, you'll find out the document is actually not a file but a directory, containing all the items I've listed (Data, Metadata...). Even though Finder presents it as an actual file.

I've updated to Pages 5.5.2 (2120). Making a guess from this post, I re-opened the file and re-saved it. Now in the terminal, it shows as a file, not as a directory.

Then I renamed it to trigger a sync (not sure this step is mandatory). I worked. Renamed it to its original name.

The old files still appear "in error" in the Google Drive client, even after I restarted it (by going to Activity Monitor to finish it as there's no quit button in the current version). Still have to fix that part.


texts:
I have had a new iPhone SE for a few weeks. It works fine, but in the "Health" app, my step length is approximately 0.6 m (1000 steps give a distance of 600 meters), which seems wrong (I used to have around 0.8 m with my previous phone). I also checked with the distance on my companion's iPhone : my iPhone correctly measures steps, but not distances.

Is there any way to reset this ?

BTW : yes, I have allowed the "Motion Calibration & Distance" option in the "Privacy" setting.


texts: Can't search exact file name, with extension, in Catalina Spotlight

texts:
I used to be able to launch Spotlight (command + spacebar) then search for filename.txt, but in Catalina, that no longer works. However, if I search for just the filename that will show some results, and I'd have to pick out the right one.

Ideally, if I search for the exact file name (filename.txt) it should show me the exact file if it exists.

How do I re-enable the behavior that allows me to search using the full file name with extension?


texts:
Is it possible to disable alerts coming from the Calendar app? I am talking about the on the screen pop-ups that come before the start of an event. You can turn off the alert sound in the Preferences, but I don't see an option to turn off the alert pop-up.

(My iPhone calendar is synchronized with Google Calendar, and so I already alerts through some other means, and don't want to get them one more time on the iPhone.)


texts: On a MacBook air, the trackpad is super hard to use because whenever I try to move the cursor, it selects everything or drags something to somewhere random. This is the fault of some tap to drag feature. Whenever I touch the trackpad and move my finger, it thinks I am trying to click and drag. I disabled tap to click and everything, but this feature still vexes me. This feature is a pain in the butt so how can I disable it?


texts: iTunes library incomplete on iPhone/iPad

texts: I have about 16,000 songs in my iTunes library, but what shows on my iPhones and iPads in "My Music" is much less; not even all of my artists appear in the Library/My Music window.  I have the very latest updates on all devices, including iTunes.   Truly vexing....


texts: Is there a shorcut for the 'plus' symbol on every mac window

texts: On every window, there are 3 buttons colored red, yellow, and green. When you hover over the green, it becomes a plus sign. I want the keyboard shorcut for that. I know that cmd+w seems to be the red one. It does not always work but most often than not, it will close the window. Cmd+H is minimize. What is the third one?


texts: Package macOS launchd daemon with bundled jre

texts:
I have been reading up on how to go about bundling an openjdk jre with a launchd daemon to be packaged for macos, but I seem to not be finding very clear information. The how-to's all seem to focus on bundling a jre for an .app application to be installed together with the jre into the /Applications folder and furthermore, each seem to go about things slightly differently.
What I am trying to accomplish is to use the luggage to build a .pkg package which installs a fat .jar as a launchd service. The pkg must also include the openjdk jre of a specific java version. Also, the service requires a bunch of files (config files, DB files, logs, external executables which are launched for certain tasks by the service etc.) Some of these are just for the service to read its config, some will be constantly updated as the service does its thing, like the DB files. The jre and all these other files must be available for the service at a particular location. From what I can gather, the luggage will simply copy a .plist file to /Library/LaunchDaemons from where launchd will then pick it up and according to the contents of the .plist file run a certain command after the machine starts for example.
My question is, where should all the other files, including the service .jar, go? In my mind it is reasonable to expect them all to be available at one location... Would this in fact be the way to do it? /etc/MyApp? /usr/local/etc/MyApp? Any guidance would be highly appreciated!


texts: How can I use an Apple remote control with customized actions without having the button actions happen?

texts: I want to use a white plastic Apple remote with BetterTouchTool to control Safari, but while it works, the default button actions (e.g. skip, volume up) still happen. How can I prevent this?


texts: Сheck for duplicate photos on Apple devices

texts: Here's the thing, I have iPhone, iPad and Mac. On each device there is a bunch of photo copies. Is it possible to find and delete photos from my iOS devices that are on my Mac?


texts:
I'm desperate to uninstall the DoNotTrackMe extension from Abine.com. The cure is worse than the disease in this case. I've used the "Uninstall" button in the Extensions pane in Safari, and it supposedly removes it, but even then sites such as Yahoo news and Asana won't work properly until I reinstall their extension and click on the DoNotTrackMe button.

I've looked in the Library folder to see if I can find any sneaky additions, but I don't see anything in Preferences or Application Support or the Safari folder that would indicate that Abine is doing anything more than installing the extension. Help?


texts:
I'm thinking my Mac in for repair again and last time I lost data.

Can someone suggest a key logger or watcher so I have a bit of granularity in terms of what the repair guy is doing..


texts: Disable volume control noise on mac book pro?

texts:
When I hit F11 or F12 (volume up and volume down) I get the volume control overlay; the volume increases or decreases; and the machine makes an "SQUICK SQUICK SQUICK" noise.

How do I keep the functionality of the keys but stop them making that noise?

(Mac Book Pro with Snow Leopard)


texts: Problem with copying files above ~4.2 GB

texts:
I am trying to copy video (mp4) files from the solid state drive of my MacBook Pro to both a external hard disk as well as to a SanDisk USB thumb drive. It goes well up to abut 4.1 GB file size, but for larger files I get an error message "The item "Filename" cannot be copied. The operation couldn't be completed. File too large".

But the file I am trying to copy is only 4.5 GB, whereas there is about 25 GB free space on the USB thumb drive, and about 1 TB on the external hard disk. Does this possibly depend on the file transfer program? First I tried to use Forklift, and then simply Copy and Paste from one Finder window to another. But always the same error message. I checked if there is a limitation on the size of transferred files in Forklift, but did not find any. I would appreciate if someone could tell me where the bottleneck is.


texts: Unpairing a Bluetooth device when there is no “i”

texts:
I got a Tickr X heart rate monitor. It uses BTLE to interoperate with iPhone and Apple Watch. On the first day I got it, I paired it with my iPhone.

Then I decided to keep it paired with my Apple Watch instead, since that replaces the less-accurate optical heart rate monitor built into the watch.

But, it seems that my iPhone hijacks the Tickr before my Apple Watch can pair with it. When the iPhone shows “Connected” for the Tickr, the watch does not show the Tickr as a health device. When I turn off the iPhone Bluetooth, the Tickr appears on the Apple Watch.

So, to the best of my understanding, I need my iPhone to forget the Tickr and stop auto-connecting to it. But I can’t figure out how to unpair the Tickr from the iPhone — it is the only Bluetooth device that does not have the encircled “i”. How do I make the phone forget this device? Or am I misdiagnosing the situation?


texts: MacOS connecting to a non-internet server on local network

texts:
I have 2 Mac (Mac Book and Mac Book Air), one running Catalina 10.15.5 (19F101) and the other one Mojave 10.14
I have a server NOT connected to the Internet, with Tomcat setup and it's all hooked to a local network, many computer connect to it via WiFi.
The address is something like 88.110.19.73, when opening Chrome on Windows and going to http://88.110.19.73 it connects correctly to the network and Tomcat serves the web-app correctly, any Windows computer connects fine to it.
When connecting from a Mac (any of the above and even other Macs) it says No Internet with error: ERR_INTERNET_DISCONNECTED
The computer is correctly connected to the correct WiFi Network.
Actually the "no internet" is correct, but how do I access that network service from a Mac?
I tried turning off the Firewall with no luck.


texts: Can't download High Sierra from the Mac App Store

texts:
When I click "Download" in the High Sierra page in Mac App Store, the button turns into a gray "Downloading" button and might even show an estimated download time but after a while it turns into a gray "Download" button that isn't clickable anymore.

This happens on my 2 Mac's: a Mac Mini running Sierra and a MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012) running High Sierra Beta (17A360a).

Update: I've just restarted the download and it estimates about 1 hour to download the ~5GB of the installer. If I start another simultaneous download in the network (iOS update, for example), the transfer time starts to increase and if it reaches some value over 15h the App Store quits the download. This happens even if the installer download is still active, only at a slower rate, as can be verified by looking for "OS update" in the Console app.

Update 2: it seems the problem I was facing with the download “fixed itself”. Since yesterday I managed 2 full downloads without any issues on my 2 Macs.


texts: Problems reconnecting to WiFi if connection is lost

texts:
In the area where I live there are frequent power outages for a few seconds.  I am connected via a router, which (of course) restarts each time.  Unfortunately my Mac (2011 MB Pro) does not automatically reconnect to the WiFi after the router has restarted and I have to manually reselect the network.

Allan's answer below provided a temporary solution by simply trashing the airport preferences.  Unfortunately this solution only worked for a short time and now my Macbook won't reconnect again.  Does anyone have any further ideas?

I had assumed this was a problem of the router (and maybe it is) and therefore in the original question asked, whether it was possible to have some script or app run in the background that monitors whether WiFi is connected and when it's not it either tries to reconnect or to turn WiFi on and off or something that would ensure that I regain access.

Nonetheless, finding the root of the problem would obviously be preferred.  Any help greatly appreciated!


texts:
I have a root certificate authority file that works on Windows computers, but it is not accepted on Macs since macOS Catalina.

The file was imported into Keychain and marked as trusted in its settings.

However, I am getting this error across all web browsers when trying to browse websites on the Internet. Only pages directly on local LAN are accessible.

NET::ERR_CERT_INVALID

It looks like Mac does not like something about the file, how do I find the specific cause?


texts: Deleted hidden files and now Mac won't boot, how do I fix this?

texts:
My friend deleted some hidden files on his Mac (OS X 10.9.4) laptop.

After restarting his laptop the Mac just shows loading progress bar and nothing else.

How can we restore the hidden files and get the computer working again?


texts: How to Retrieve the Wi-Fi Password of a Connected Network on a Mac

texts: I need to find the password for a Wi-Fi network that I am already connected to. I'm using a MacBook Pro that's running OS X Lion. Any guidance is appreciated.


texts: MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012) hang ups with artifacts on the screen

texts:
Sometimes my Macbook Pro hang up with the artifacts like on the photo

Basically it occur if i move my notebook from one place to another, open-close it and so on. If notebook stay still, this hang ups doesnt occur often. It looks like some mechanical failures inside my notebook. Did you know what a problem is this?


texts:
I used the commands:

defaults write com.apple.finder ProhibitEject true and
sudo defaults write com.apple.finder ProhibitEject true (as stated on this page - Remove eject button from finder)

The command prevented the 'eject' button from working, however i want to undo this command...

Can someone rewrite the command to undo this, so that my eject button can work again?


texts: Strange message in console about _DirtyJetsamMemoryLimit key

texts:
This message is always displayed in the console log at regular intervals.

com.apple.xpc.launched: (comm.apple.imFoundation.IMRemoteURLConnectionAgent) the _DirtyJetsamMemoryLimit key is not available in this platform

Can anyone explain why it's displayed and if it has any impact on system performance, as well as how to get rid of it?


texts: Prevent closing of entire Xcode window on Command-W when "Quick Open" menu is open

texts:
I have an Xcode window open with many tabs. I want to open a file through Quick Open (⇧⌘O).

When I decide to close the Quick Open menu and also close the current tab that I'm on, I'll press Esc to close the Quick Open menu, and then press ⌘W to close the tab. However, sometimes I make a mistake and press ⌘W on the Quick Open menu, which causes the entire Xcode window to close instead.

Is it possible to prevent this behaviour? Maybe prevent ⌘W from doing anything when Quick Open is open?


texts: First Aid process has failed. If possible back up the data on this volume

texts:
I accidentally unplugged my hard drive without properly ejecting it, and now the drive does not mount when plugged in.
What can I do to make it work again?
I can see the disk in lsusb and diskutil list.
I've tried:
sudo diskutil unmountDisk force /dev/disk2

sudo diskutil unmount force /dev/disk2

I tried Run "First Aid" under Disk Utility getting this error message

Help me out from this issue. Thanks in advance


texts: (Mavericks) Appstore repeatedly updating Xcode to 5.1 (fixed?)

texts:
In the past 7 days I have updated to Xcode 5.1 seven times!

Yesterday I dragged Xcode to the trash and emptied the trash in an attempt to make it stick, this morning I got a popup saying that Xcode had been auto updated (should it even do that?) EDIT it is a preference setting!) but there is still an update showing Xcode 5.1 as being available.

I have now dragged Xcode to the trash, emptied the trash, rebooted and fixed permissions. Noting the previous thread about repeated updates I have enabled the App store debug menu and cleared cookies and reset the application. In desperation I even shutdown my NAS which has the old version of Xcode on it (I invoke Time Machine manually)

I am trying to resolve an issue with my ISP and this is not helping. Before I install Xcode for the 8th time, is there anything else I can do to convince the App store that it has indeed updated Xcode?

EDIT: Despite the above preparations, I updated Xcode just now and another update is already showing as being available!

EDIT: I may have solved the problem. Another application needed updating and then also exhibited the repeated download issue. Reading around I discovered comments about Spotlight and App Store issues. The Spotlight fixes didn't seem to do anything for me but I read a comment that deleting some dubious looking files in "/Library/Application Support/App Store" seemed to do the trick. I moved these 3 files to a temporary directory and rebooted. At last! The problem seems to have been fixed. 2 of the files were recreated, the 3rd (utd.plist) wasn't. I will leave it for a few days before declaring success.


texts: Why is the audio volume level at 0 every time I start my Mac?

texts:
I don't know if this is a bug or a feature in Mac OS X 10.7. Every time I (re)start my Mac the volume of my audio device is set to zero and doesn't remember the last level I set.

I think this started some weeks ago, maybe with a Lion update. I don't remember changing any audio-related setting.

Is this something I can change? I'm running Mac OS X 10.7.2 on a 2009 MacBook Pro which sometimes I connect to a 24" Cinema display (but it seems that the behavior doesn't depend whether it's using the laptop's or the display's speakers.)


texts: How to restrict an iOS app to iPad Pro only?

texts:
As a developer of iOS software, is it possible to restrict an App to only be available on the iPad Pro?

To be more precise, the App we are considering should be restricted to the Apple Pencil, which is currently limited to the iPad Pro.

Is there any way to restrict our App to those devices which support the Apple Pencil?


texts: Replacing a failing HD with an SSD in an early 2011 MBP 13".  Made a Time Machine backup to an external USB HD with original disk, installed the SSD, installed OS X from the install DVD that came with the machine.  Success so far, when I try to run Migration Assistant to restore files it does not recognize the external drive as a source option, instead only offering 2 Time Capsule drives as potential sources.  With the external drive connected, Finder sees it and sees a folder 2015-06-22, xxxx.  This folder contains 3 sub folders with the backup files in them.  They are just invisible to Migration Assistant with the new SSD installed, even though recognized and seen by Finder.  I suspect some kind of conflict with UUID's between the old drive and the new drive, but I'm at a loss as how to diagnose and fix the problem and then restore my old files.  Any pointers, ideas or a full blown solution would be greatly appreciated


texts: How to turn off the iOS-style character picker menu

texts:
When I hold a key in Lion, I get this iOS-style character picker instead of a repeated character, as in previous versions of the OS:

I really dislike this (I rarely use those symbols as I only speak Dutch and English). I want to hooooooooooold a key. :)

Where can I turn this off? I can't find an option in the system preferences.


texts: Recovering data from a phone stuck in restore mode

texts:
I have an iphone 4 that is stuck in restore mode after trying to update to ios 6 wirelessly.  Unfortunately, I do not have a recent itunes backup of this phone.

Is there any way to recover my photos from this device before I try to restore it?  Will restoring it wipe all the data on the phone?


texts: Why/how are Apple Testflight IPAs scrambled?

texts:
I was playing around with Apple's Testflight lately. Everything works fine, I can upload and test my app internally. However, I stumbled about something curious while looking into it.

I looked at the traffic generated by the Testflight app and noticed that it is requesting the IPA to install from phobos.apple.com. However, the server's response doesn't seem to be a valid zip archive/IPA. When I download the IPA manually, I can neither install nor unzip it. It seems to be corrupt.

On further inspection it looks like this IPA is indeed a zip archive (there are the local file headers, central directory entries, and the EOCD header, as well as most of the filenames in plaintext). A lot of things don't make any sense though. For example, the EOCD header states that there are 38 central directory entries, but when searching for the central directory headers, I only find 32 occurences. Additionally, some of the file names are partly scrambled.

All things considered, it looks like some parts of the zip archive are somehow scrambled/encrypted. By running some experiments with different filenames I was able to determine that the binary data seems to be partitioned into blocks of 512 byte, with the first 112 bytes being scrambled, seemingly meaningless data and the remaining 400 bytes is just regular plaintext/zip data.

I couldn't determine yet how exactly the data is scrambled, just that a different "key" is used for each block.
Right now I suspect, it's some kind of protection mechanism to prevent unauthorized installations.

But why would Apple implement it this way? Why not just encrypt the file? Is this maybe some kind of integrated checksum mechanism?

If anybody can tell me more about what's going on here, or can point me to some resources I'm missing, I would really like to know more about this..


texts:
Is there a way to tell OS X I want my music player to play over Airplay but Chrome to play on my computer's speakers at the same time?

I have a hunch it's possible because some apps let me switch (I can choose to have my VoIP calls output to the computer's speakers while all the rest of the audio plays through Airplay) but is there a way to control this globally whether the app has an option for it or not?

Hijack Pro seems to be doing it but it costs 50$ and seems to be overkill for what  I want to do.


texts: how do I retrieve my photos that are stored for the last five years while I was with iPhone now that I'm using Android

texts: I was with iPhone for over 5 years and stored all of my photos in iCloud now that I have switched to an Android mobile I have lost access to my iPhone pictures is there any way for me to retrieve my photos from the iCloud so that I can view them on my Android? And I need to be able to do this without using a PC because I do not have access to one.


texts: Using IFTTT to sync my Alexa ToDo and Shopping list with iOS reminders

texts: So I have managed to setup an IFTTT applet to copy new todo's and Shopping list items from my Alexa to my Apple iOS reminders.  When I tried to create an option to remove them from Alexa (Todoist) when they were deleted the options to delete are not in the Alexa end of the app.


texts: How to refresh iCloud after some changes in iTunes

texts: I use iCloud to sync music files. On my Mac, I changed some song information such as genre or artist name. How can I sync the changes on my Mac's iTunes with iCloud so that all my iPad and iPhone iTunes have the same change?


texts: Can i somehow check my iPhone safari browser history with exact time?

texts: I'm in court and I need to confirm by law something and the only way I can do it, is to offer the exact time I checked for a particular web page on that day. Can someone give me a software or a trick to uncover that data?


texts: Backup to two sources (external HDD and network folder) at the same time

texts:
My setting:

I use a iMac 27” Retina 5K with macOS 10.15 Catalina

At the moment, I use the Time Machine to make a backup to an external HDD.

For safety reason, I would like to save a copy of my Time Machine backup to a local network folder that is connected to my iMac.

My questions:

What is the savest way to do so?

Can I set up the Time Machine to make two backup's (HDD and local network folder) at once?

Update:

I just learned that a series of backups is probably not the best solution.
I think about to sync all data to the network folder. Is there any in-built program in macOS to do so?
If not, what software would you recommend? If I could chose I would prefer an encrypted sync.


texts: Dismiss MacOS Big Sur notifications with keyboard

texts:
I have long used an Applescript triggered from a keyboard shortcut to dismiss notifications on MacOS. It worked by simulating a click of the "close" button of every open Notification Center window.
Since upgrading to Big Sur (currently 11.0.1), notifications no longer have a close button. Instead, when you hover over them with the mouse, an "X" button will appear. For a person who has difficulty clicking precisely (I have a slight hand tremor), using the mouse/trackpad is difficult.
Anyone have suggestions on how to restore that functionality so I can just keep my hands on the keyboard?
My Settings
I am using Automator to test this.
In System Preferences > Notifications, I selected Automator:

Allow Notifications is true.
Automator alert style: is Alerts.
Notification grouping is automatic.

Testing

I opened Automator and created a new workflow.
I added three instances of the Display Notification action.
I gave them Title: values of test 1, test 2, and test 3.
And Subtitle: values of subtitle 1, subtitle 2, and subtitle 3.
And Message: values of message 1, message 2, and message 3.
I ran the workflow using ⌘+R.
In the upper-right corner of my screen, I see a notification from Automator stacked over two others. Only notification test 3 is fully visible and it has the notation "2 more notifications" at the bottom.

@AndrewJanian 's Script

Again, thank you, Andrew for providing the script!
I added the line #!/usr/bin/osascript to the start of the script and saved it as andrew.applescript.
I made the file executable. (chmod 755 andrew.applescript).
I ran it in a terminal window (./andrew.applescript)
The result of running is:

the grouped notifications become ungrouped (so I see test 3, test 2, and test 1 stacked top to bottom in the notification area
the terminal displays the following error
./andrew.applescript:370:377: execution error: System Events got an error: Can’t get action "Name:Clear All
Target:0x60000116ff20
Selector:_internal_handleCustomActionWithUiAction:" of group 1 of UI element 1 of scroll area 1 of window "Notification Center" of application process "NotificationCenter". (-1728)

I'll try messing around with it to see if I can make it work with modifications.
Note: If I run the script again, starting from the ungrouped state:

it dismisses the top-most notification (test 3)
and it displays the following in the terminal:
action Name:Close
Target:0x60000116ff20
Selector:_internal_handleCustomActionWithUiAction: of group 1 of UI element 1 of scroll area 1 of window Notification Center of application process NotificationCenter


texts: How to change / replace the associated image of an icon located in the menu bar (BigSur)?

texts:
I know how to change the icon of an application (.APP) with .ICNS (same method applies to folder and file icons), but how can I change the specific icon related to that app in the menu bar?
I have this Unite app which convert websites into native macOS applications (.app based on WebKit). A cool feature is that, it can also create a menu bar icon which actually displays a website in their respective mobile version. The menu bar app/icon created in Unite, shows a horrible small image of the .ICNS/app, and I want to change that image with something in the style of actual macOS bar icons.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.


texts: Apple Watch won't update to watchOS 7 (update couldn't be verified, your device is not connected to the internet)

texts:
iPhone 7 w/ iOS 14.1,
Apple Watch Series 5
I've been trying for some weeks now to update my Apple Watch to watchOS 7. Every time I try to install, whether I initiate the installation from the Settings app on the Watch or from the Watch app on the iPhone, the update takes about an 1 to 1 1/2 hours to download, but then throws the error:

Unable to verify update, your device is not connected to the internet.

My device is connected to a home WiFi network. I've tried with cellular both on and off. I've also tried 4 different WiFi networks, from (at least) two different service providers. I've tried with my iPhone on every update from iOS 14 to current.
Some other things I've tried:

Unpairing and re-pairing the Watch
Restarting both devices
"Cold" restarting the iPhone
Charging and completely depleting the iPhone and the Watch twice
Turning off cellular and connecting only to WiFi
Connecting to another phone's hotspot
Turning of the new iOS 14 "private IP" setting

I spoke to an Apple Support Representative by the online chat twice. They run diagnostics on the iPhone and Watch, and confirmed that the "WiFi chip" is fine, and that I was in fact connected to a working WiFi network. They ran me through the basics (restart the device, etc), then escalated to a "senior chat representative", who asked me a series of questions and forwarded me to a "senior phone representative" who performed additional diagnostics. I got nowhere, and was asked to provide a call-back number. That was... four weeks ago maybe?
I'm not sure what else to try. Is there another way to update the Watch? iPhones and iPads can be updated by connecting to a computer with iTunes. I don't believe that's possible with an Apple Watch, however. I'd heard the Watch automatically updates when being paired, but (as I said) that didn't do me any good.
Thanks in advance!
EDIT:
Seemingly the same issue as found here, here, here, and here.
Neither have answers.


texts: How should I submit bug reports and feature requests?

texts:
Inspired by Marco Ceppi's DS_store question I became curious about what is the current preferred mechanism for submitting bug reports and feature requests to Apple. I'm aware that they have the internal RDAR bug tracking system, and that there is an Open RDAR project to crowdsource the tracking of issues, but I'm at a loss as to the preferred channel to submit something.

Is there a public-facing portal for submitting issues?


texts: How to prevent my iPhone from downloading music when using cellular data?

texts:
My iPhone 5s CONTINUALLY downloads songs I've previously purchased, then deleted.  I've resolved the issue on how to delete songs that appear un-deletable.  Now I need to stop the songs from downloading.  The other day, it wasted my entire month's data by downloading 350 songs while I was listening at work.

Here's my info:

1) I don't use iCloud for music.

2) "Show All Music" option is off.

3) I don't subscribe to iTunes Match.

4) I sync only one (1) playlist, with 1061 songs, the other day it jumped to 1405 songs.

5) "Automatically fill free space with songs" has NEVER been on.

6) "Automatic Downloads" is turned off for music.

7) I have deleted the library through Settings, and re-synced several times.

8) I have 7.1.2 on my phone and 10.9.4 on my iMac.

9) Songs appear while I'm listening to music.

10) I don't manually manage songs.


texts: Time Machine + FileVault on Lion or Mountain

texts:
If I stop the backup it says: "now encrypting...", is the data saved "not encrypted" before being encrypted? Can I make it "always encrypted"?

Non-encrypted transfers are a problem for me.


texts: How to display full path to file in spotlight search?

texts:
I often use SpotLight to find files in macOS Mojave.

However, many times there are multiple files with the same name.  Is there a way to display the full path for each file in the spotlight window where the found files are listed?


texts:
I have installed Lion Server on my box.  (broke my existing VPN setup, and I wanted to play around with it).

I had a bunch of stuff already setup in apache (some webdav for omnifocus, ical, etc).  Due to my customizations (I'm assuming) the server manager can't really do anything with apache (no ical, webdav, wiki, etc).  What do I need to do to reset to a place where the Lion server software is happy with the way I've got my box setup?


texts: Locating the file in which a dictionary word is stored

texts:
I misspelt the word "analogous", and I found that the system spellchecker offered "anbalagous" as a possible correction. As far as I can tell, "anbalagous" isn't a real word, so I figured I must have added it to the dictionary at some point by mistake.
However, it seems that "anbalagous" isn't in ~/Library/Spelling/LocalDictionary, so it's a bit of a mystery. Out of curiosity, I would like to check which file the word "anbalagous" appears in. So:

where are the spell check dictionary file(s) located on a Mac?

is there any location other than ~/Library/Spelling/LocalDictionary where custom words are stored for the system spell checker?

if (as I suspect) the dictionary is stored in a binary file, is there a way to see the list of words in it?

(Probably not but might as well check) does a Mac's spell checker dictionary contain the word "anbalagous" by default?

In case it makes a difference I'm still on OS X 10.11.