texts:
In the past few days I've seen a strange "box" coming up next to the first icon on the dock on some Macs here at the office. The same box can be found in the CmdTab menu.

This happens only on some of our Macs, which have the same version of OS X (10.10.2) and the same AppleID - but other Macs with the same OS X and AppleID don't seem to show the same behaviour.

When the cursor is over the icon, it says "From Mac". The only 2 icons that have appeared there are Chrome and Mail. Clicking the Chrome icon opens a webpage on Chrome that someone else in the office opened recently, and that's a little bit creepy.

I tried to Googling it, but without success... I'm sure it's an AppleID related issue, but I can't find a name for it, and hence I can't disable it.

What is that, and how can I get rid of it?


texts: So I'm not at all impressed with the "Continuous" view in Preview, that seems to be the default way PDFs are opened. Is there a way to change the Preview.app preferences in such a way as to set "Single Page" as the default?


texts: Homebrew breaks with gcc out-of-date after Lion OSX install

texts:
➤ brew doctor

/Developer/usr/bin/gcc
/Developer/usr/bin/gcc
Your gcc 4.2.x version is older than the recommended version. It may be advisable
to upgrade to the latest release of Xcode.

We couldn't detect gcc 4.0.x. Some formulae require this compiler.

$GREP_OPTIONS was set to "--color=auto".
Having $GREP_OPTIONS set can cause CMake builds to fail.

Xcode 4.1 is installed, gcc -v:

➤ gcc -v

Using built-in specs.
Target: i686-apple-darwin10
Configured with: /var/tmp/gcc/gcc-5664~89/src/configure --disable-checking --enable-werror --prefix=/usr --mandir=/share/man --enable-languages=c,objc,c++,obj-c++ --program-transform-name=/^[cg][^.-]*$/s/$/-4.2/ --with-slibdir=/usr/lib --build=i686-apple-darwin10 --program-prefix=i686-apple-darwin10- --host=x86_64-apple-darwin10 --target=i686-apple-darwin10 --with-gxx-include-dir=/include/c++/4.2.1
Thread model: posix
gcc version 4.2.1 (Apple Inc. build 5664)

Any idea how to fix this?


texts: Mac crashes/reboots if I get a ton of notifications at once while asleep

texts:
I'm unsure if this is a mac issue or a browser issue, I suspect the former so I'll try here first.

In short, I have a few browser applications that generate desktop notifications. If I lock my mac and within a short span of time, ~45 seconds or less, over 4 notifications appear, the computer won't wake. Once when I walked away, it had even rebooted itself by the time I got back, but I have not been able to replicate this. I don't know if non-browser generated notifications cause the same problem.

This is not a problem while the mac is unlocked.

I'm using a Macbook Pro 15" 2015 running Sierra (10.12.6). My browser is Chrome 65.

I'd appreciate if someone could enlighten me as to what is breaking and how I can fix it, or inform me if this is the browser and definitely not a mac issue.


texts: Large .bash_profile increasing time for terminal to do things. Able to fix?

texts:
I've got an almost 100 line .bash_profile which does things like check the git branch and colour certain text. This makes things like even starting a new line significantly slower compared to the instant speed of having an empty profile.

Is there any way around this or is it just because of the extra functionality that the profile has which is adding overhead? Why is it being so slow?

After testing it on another machine (on a Fedora distro, was using Mac), it doesn't have this issue at all. The Fedora machine is instant as expected, while the Mac has a noticeable delay when starting a new line, cd'ing into something etc.

Here is the profile: https://pastebin.com/UKWPPqKf

# .bashrc

# Source global definitions
if [ -f /etc/bashrc ]; then
    . /etc/bashrc
fi

# User specific environment
if ! [[ "$PATH" =~ "$HOME/.local/bin:$HOME/bin:" ]]
then
    PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$HOME/bin:$PATH"
fi
export PATH

# Uncomment the following line if you don't like systemctl's auto-paging feature:
# export SYSTEMD_PAGER=

# User specific aliases and functions

#THIS MUST BE AT THE END OF THE FILE FOR SDKMAN TO WORK!!!
export SDKMAN_DIR="/home/USRNAME/.sdkman"
[[ -s "/home/USRNAME/.sdkman/bin/sdkman-init.sh" ]] && source "/home/USRNAME/.sdkman/bin/sdkman-init.sh"

#Aliases
if [ -f ~/.bash_aliases ]; then
    source ~/.bash_aliases
fi

# get current branch in git repo
function parse_git_branch() {
    BRANCH=`git branch 2> /dev/null | sed -e '/^[^*]/d' -e 's/* \(.*\)/\1/'`
    if [ ! "${BRANCH}" == "" ]
    then
        STAT=`parse_git_dirty`
        echo "[${BRANCH}${STAT}]"
    else
        echo ""
    fi
}
# get current branch in git repo
function parse_git_branch() {
    BRANCH=`git branch 2> /dev/null | sed -e '/^[^*]/d' -e 's/* \(.*\)/\1/'`
    if [ ! "${BRANCH}" == "" ]
    then
        STAT=`parse_git_dirty`
        echo "[${BRANCH}${STAT}]"
    else
        echo ""
    fi
}

# get current status of git repo
function parse_git_dirty {
    status=`git status 2>&1 | tee`
    dirty=`echo -n "${status}" 2> /dev/null | grep "modified:" &> /dev/null; echo "$?"`
    untracked=`echo -n "${status}" 2> /dev/null | grep "Untracked files" &> /dev/null; echo "$?"`
    ahead=`echo -n "${status}" 2> /dev/null | grep "Your branch is ahead of" &> /dev/null; echo "$?"`
    newfile=`echo -n "${status}" 2> /dev/null | grep "new file:" &> /dev/null; echo "$?"`
    renamed=`echo -n "${status}" 2> /dev/null | grep "renamed:" &> /dev/null; echo "$?"`
    deleted=`echo -n "${status}" 2> /dev/null | grep "deleted:" &> /dev/null; echo "$?"`
    bits=''
    if [ "${renamed}" == "0" ]; then
        bits=">${bits}"
    fi
    if [ "${ahead}" == "0" ]; then
        bits="*${bits}"
    fi
    if [ "${newfile}" == "0" ]; then
        bits="+${bits}"
    fi
    if [ "${untracked}" == "0" ]; then
        bits="?${bits}"
    fi
    if [ "${deleted}" == "0" ]; then
        bits="x${bits}"
    fi
    if [ "${dirty}" == "0" ]; then
        bits="!${bits}"
    fi
    if [ ! "${bits}" == "" ]; then
        echo " ${bits}"
    else
        echo ""
    fi
}

export PS1="\[$(tput bold)\]\u@\h:\[$(tput sgr0)\]\[\033[38;5;39m\]\w\[$(tput sgr0)\]\[$(tput sgr0)\]\[\033[38;5;15m\] \[$(tput sgr0)\]\[\033[38;5;11m\]\[$(tput bold)\]\`parse_git_branch\`\[\e[m\] \[$(tput sgr0)\]"


texts:
I hope someone can help me.

I was updating my driver for my XP-Pen drawing tablet. Part of the instructions included adding the app and the driver to Input Monitoring. However, the + and - sign at the bottom of that screen is not available which means I cannot manually add anything there. It also does not allow drag and drop.

Is this standard on Catalina? Is there a setting I'm missing. I have Admin permissions - it's my computer.

Thank you all ahead of time!


texts: iMessages no longer mirrored on iPhone when phone is unavailable (and other device isn't)

texts:
The usually behavior for iMessages has always been (or always seemed to be striving towards) to mirror messages, even after they have been received by another device.

For instance, if my Macbook is turned off, and I receive iMessages on my phone, those messages will then be added in bulk next time I turn my Macbook on.

I like this behavior.

However after a recent iOS update (I can't pinpoint which one), this behavior has stopped being the case on the iPhone.

For instance, when I go to sleep, I put my iPhone on airplane mode - but my Macbook stays on in my office. During my sleep, if it receives messages, these will never make it to my iPhone, even after it is taken off airplane mode. This contrasts with prior behavior (before, when I woke up and turned airplane mode off, I would receive all messages that had been sent while I was asleep).

Has anybody notices this behavior? Is there something to do about it? If it's a bug, how I can best report it?


texts: Persistent Ubuntu boot USB: macOS Sierra

texts:
Short of figuring out how to achieve a dual boot configuration for my mid-2012 2GHz i7 MacBook Air to boot to a Linux OS, I've made a "live" boot USB with Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS using UNetbootin. I would, however, like a "persistent" boot USB. Can this be done? So far I have tried the following to modify the "live" USB but would I be better off making a persistent USB on Windows and hoping it runs on Sierra?

Per these Enterprise Installation instructions (from version 0.4.0), this seems like it might be an option:

  6) OPTIONAL! If you're going to be booting Ubuntu, you can create a persistence file on the root of your USB to save changes. You can do that with the following commands (assuming that your USB is named usb and is mounted under /media/user... obviously, set these to the correct paths):

 dd if=/dev/zero of=/media/user/usb/casper-rw bs=1M count=128
 yes | mkfs.ext3 /media/user/usb/casper-rw

  These commands create a 128 MB persistence file. You can change the size of the persistence file in megabytes by adjusting the count parameter. All values should be a power of two (e.g 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 ... 1024, 2056). Then, to activate persistence, when you boot your USB drive, select option 2 to go to the advanced options screen, highlight option 1 and make sure it activates, and then press 0 to boot the drive. You must repeat this process each time you wish to boot with persistence.

The "instructions" were written December 23, 2016... and there are a few things I notice which are different:

casper exists on the USB, is casper-rw where the persistent data gets written, or should I modify the command to casper?

Presuming casper-rw, this throws an error:

$  dd if=/dev/zero of=/Volumes/UBUNTU/casper-rw bs=1M count=128
dd: bs: illegal numeric value

...to which man dd offers no clarification regarding block size numerical values, except this (from 1994):

Where sizes are specified, a decimal, octal, or hexadecimal number of bytes
is expected.  If the number ends with a ``b'', ``k'', ``m'', ``g'', or ``w'',
the number is multiplied by 512, 1024 (1K), 1048576 (1M), 1073741824 (1G)
or the number of bytes in an integer, respectively.  Two or more numbers
may be separated by an ``x'' to indicate a product.

So... I tried this on a lark:

$  dd if=/dev/zero of=/Volumes/UBUNTU/casper-rw bs=1m count=128
128+0 records in
128+0 records out
134217728 bytes transferred in 29.537984 secs (4543903 bytes/sec)
...but now:

$  yes | mkfs.ext3 /Volumes/UBUNTU/casper-rw
-bash: mkfs.ext3: command not found
...to which I invoked brew install e2fsprogs and

$  yes | sudo $(brew --prefix e2fsprogs)/sbin/mkfs.ext3 /Volumes/UBUNTU/casper-rw
mke2fs 1.43.4 (31-Jan-2017)
Creating filesystem with 131072 1k blocks and 32768 inodes
Filesystem UUID: 4217a6de-e267-4cec-b4e7-f70acb9adb0c
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
    8193, 24577, 40961, 57345, 73729

Allocating group tables: done
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (4096 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
but still no persistence :\
per the SETUP section of the instructions, I also tried dropping these files into the live USB's /efi/boot/ directory to no avail...

boot.efi
bootX64.efi

Any known exits from this rabbit hole with macOS Sierra?


texts: How does one write Right-to-Left in Pages?

texts:
I have a document written predominantly in a Left-to-Right language, but I also have a few quotes in a Right-to-Left language.

I would like to add ellipses in the end of such (Right-to-Left) quotes, but I am unable to do so.

If the quote has multiple lines, the ellipses end up at the bottom right (as if I was writing Left-to-Right), not the bottom left, as you can see in the following gibberish sample.

  أبجد هوز هو مجرد دمية النص أبجد هوز هو مجرد دمية النص أبجد هوز هو مجرد
  دمية النص أبجد هوز هو مجرد دمية النص أبجد هوز هو مجرد دمية النص أبجد
  هوز هو مجرد دمية النص هذا مثال على النصهنا ، نهاية النص ...

This makes me think that these characters (or anything that replaces three dots for an ellipsis symbol) are in fact Left-to-Right oriented.

How do I write a Right-to-Left ellipses so that I get something like the following?

   أبجد هوز هو مجرد دمية النص أبجد هوز هو مجرد دمية النص أبجد هوز هو مجرد دمية النص أبجد هوز هو مجرد دمية النص أبجد هوز هو مجرد دمية النص أبجد
   هوز هو مجرد دمية النص هذا مثال على النصهنا ، نهاية النص ...

Since markdown on this site doesn't allow proper right-to-left justification, an illustration using Latin characters:

   tfel mottob eht ta sespille na htiw sdne dna tfeL-ot-thgiR morf ereh seog txet cibarA …*

*(read it Right-to-Left)

I am using Pages 8.0.


texts: What are the App Store fees for subscription to an IoT hardware product?

texts:
I'm looking for clarification on the App Store fees charged by Apple for a hardware related app. Refer to the relevant App Store Review Guideline:

https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#hardware-specific-content

When the app provides the UI for an external IoT device, and there is an annual fee charged to the user (which may be via an external link) does Apple charge a percentage?

My reading of this line is that no fee is charged.

  when features are dependent upon specific hardware to function, the app may unlock that functionality without using in-app purchase.

The app only has value when receiving data from the IoT device. Intention is to charge an annual subscription, paid via external link.

I have the same question for the same scenario with an Android app.

An example of this, is the Nest Cam. The cam is bought in a store and the app downloaded at no cost. The camera works with the app on a free basis.
There is an upgrade to premium storage and features paid by subscription to Nest Aware. Does Nest pay a fee to Apple/Google for the subscription?  I'd expect not, as the features are dependent on the camera.


texts: I have an old text file from an old Mac, and I'm pretty sure I'm using the wrong character set.  Opening quotes show up as Ò, closing quote as Ó, and apostrophes show up as Õ.  I'm not sure where to look to find which encoding the original file used.


texts: How can I draw freehand circles on screenshots?

texts:
In Windows I can happily fire up MS Paint and draw freehand circles with the brush tool on top of my screenshots.

In OS X if I open up a screenshot with Preview and use the pen-looking thing and draw a freehand circle, it's automatically converted into a soulless oval. I also can't draw squiggly arrows or poorly scrawled text.

Short of launching Photoshop (or whatever non-default app), is there a baked-in way to draw freehand circles in OS X?


texts:
I have several IMAP email accounts that I use in Mac Mail. I want to sync those "account settings" across to my iDevices (all on iOS 7). I don't want to enter these accounts manually on each device.  There use to be a panel in iTunes called 'info' that allowed this but is missing in iTunes 11.3.1. What is the new methodology?

I notice in Mac Mail that there is an option under the Mail menu to "Synchronize all accounts" which seems hopeful but even if it is pushing account settings to the iCloud then I am still not knowing how to get them to come down to my iDevices.


texts: Unpacking a tarball via terminal like the Finder

texts:
If I have a .tar or .tgz or .tbz on my desktop, and I double click on it, I get the folder that was compressed, neatly decompressed right next to the archive file. Just like you'd expect.

When I try to decompress a tarred item via the tar command, the output I get has the whole full path of the original compressed file.

So for example, if I make a .tbz out of a folder on my desktop called "foo", and then I decompress it via tar -xf foo.tbz ~/Desktop/foo, what I get is:
/Users/[user]/Desktop/foo/Users/[user]/desktop/foo/bar.txt

Is there some magic flag in tar that I'm not seeing? I've googled up 'how-to' after 'how-to' that give you a simple tar command to extract a file, but all the directions I see give me my undesired result with long, unnecessary, super-nested result directors.


texts: How to get 1:1 scale in Keynote, Pages or Numbers?

texts:
I was an early user of Mac last century; I remember Jobs telling about how the Plus had the only screen with square pixels and how important it was for developers a consistent info on pixel size so that they could give to the user an exact scale. That if an image was being shown 100% scale in the screen, one centimeter in the ruler should be a real centimeter.
I think that this consistency was a key to win the field of graphic design.
So, I got a new 21.5 iMac some months ago and yesterday I discovered that the images I was sketching at 100% size were not the size I was seen in the screen. I enabled the ruler and measured it. Whoops, I need to set zoom at 150% to get a correct size, and even then it is a bit, sort if one hundredth part, inaccurate.
To my amazement, Preview does the 100% size right when showing pdfs, so the info on pixel size is available to developers... My guess is that I am missing some setting, is it?
EDIT: LibreOffice also does the right scale, so it is something with the adjusts of AppleWorks applications. Er... iWorks.


texts: Mid-2010 MacBook Pro - HP ZR30W - mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort?

texts:
I am trying to get my new HP ZR30W working at full 2560x1600 with my mid-2010 MacBook Pro through a mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable.

I have seen people saying they have it working, but I can't seem to get it to accept anything but the 1280x800 res, even with SwitchResX.

I know the current Mac solution is a $100 mini DisplayPort to dual-link DVI adapter, but that seems rediculous to me when the monitor has a DisplayPort input.

Anyone have this working and have tips?

Update: I gave up after much tinkering and bought the adapter. I would still love to hear if anyone has made this work.


texts:
My Mac is listening on port 625. This listing by Apple of common ports used by macOS and Apple software claims that it has something to do with Open Directory. However, my machine doesn't have any sharing services on or is connected to any Open Directory services.

The service listening on this port is launchd, so it's likely a system service.

Any idea why this could be the case? What purpose does this listening connection likely serve?

EDIT: Here is the output of sudo lsof -i -P | grep -i "listen":

launchd      1           root   20u  IPv6 0x6cc93710b811f751      0t0    TCP *:625 (LISTEN)
launchd      1           root   27u  IPv4 0x6cc93710b81227b9      0t0    TCP *:625 (LISTEN)
launchd      1           root   31u  IPv6 0x6cc93710b811f751      0t0    TCP *:625 (LISTEN)
launchd      1           root   32u  IPv4 0x6cc93710b81227b9      0t0    TCP *:625 (LISTEN)
launchd      1           root   52u  IPv6 0x6cc93710b811fc91      0t0    TCP *:2300 (LISTEN)
launchd      1           root   53u  IPv4 0x6cc93710b8121ec1      0t0    TCP *:2300 (LISTEN)
launchd      1           root   54u  IPv6 0x6cc93710b811fc91      0t0    TCP *:2300 (LISTEN)
launchd      1           root   55u  IPv4 0x6cc93710b8121ec1      0t0    TCP *:2300 (LISTEN)
vpnagentd   62           root    5u  IPv4 0x6cc93710b81242a1      0t0    TCP localhost:29754 (LISTEN)
ciscod      65           root    3u  IPv4 0x6cc93710b81239a9      0t0    TCP localhost:1023 (LISTEN)
mtmfs      103           root    3u  IPv4 0x6cc93710b81215c9      0t0    TCP localhost:49152 (LISTEN)
mtmfs      103           root    5u  IPv4 0x6cc93710b81230b1      0t0    TCP localhost:49153 (LISTEN)
Nylas\x20  652          brett   38u  IPv4 0x6cc93710ca132ec1      0t0    TCP *:2578 (LISTEN)
Dropbox    701          brett  119u  IPv6 0x6cc93710bed7e751      0t0    TCP *:17500 (LISTEN)
Dropbox    701          brett  120u  IPv4 0x6cc93710cb0119a9      0t0    TCP *:17500 (LISTEN)
Dropbox    701          brett  152u  IPv4 0x6cc93710cb1410b1      0t0    TCP localhost:17600 (LISTEN)
Dropbox    701          brett  158u  IPv4 0x6cc93710ca7369a9      0t0    TCP localhost:17603 (LISTEN)
SpotifyWe  806          brett    5u  IPv4 0x6cc93710c9a0cec1      0t0    TCP localhost:4370 (LISTEN)
SpotifyWe  806          brett    6u  IPv4 0x6cc93710c9a0fb99      0t0    TCP localhost:4380 (LISTEN)
postgres   899          brett    5u  IPv6 0x6cc93710beef5211      0t0    TCP localhost:5432 (LISTEN)
postgres   899          brett    6u  IPv4 0x6cc93710c9a0d7b9      0t0    TCP localhost:5432 (LISTEN)


texts: uTorrent keeps crashing (after upgrade to Mavericks)

texts:
I've been using uTorrent for more than a year. But since I've upgraded to OS X 10.9, uTorrent (now version 1.8.4) keeps crashing: sometimes it works for maybe couple of hours, sometimes for about 15 minutes — and then just disappears (without displaying crash reporter or anything).

Example search for "torrent" in Console.app:

11/29/13 5:12:33.569 PM uTorrent[29203]: XPC error messaging com.apple.IconServicesAgent: Connection interrupted
11/29/13 5:12:33.569 PM uTorrent[29203]: XPC error messaging com.apple.IconServicesAgent: Connection invalid
11/29/13 5:26:33.990 PM uTorrent[29203]: uTorrent(29203,0xa081c1a8) malloc: *** mach_vm_map(size=8388608) failed (error code=3) *** error: can't allocate region *** set a breakpoint in malloc_error_break to debug
11/29/13 5:26:47.186 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[177]: (com.bittorrent.uTorrent.41744[29203]) Exited with code: 1
// crash @ 5:26, (manual) restart @ 5:50 PM and crash again @ 6:16 --G.M.
11/29/13 5:50:38.483 PM WindowServer[96]: disable_update_timeout: UI updates were forcibly disabled by application "µTorrent" for over 1.00 seconds. Server has re-enabled them.
11/29/13 5:50:38.797 PM uTorrent[29519]: *** WARNING: -[NSImage compositeToPoint:operation:] is deprecated in MacOSX 10.8 and later. Please use -[NSImage drawAtPoint:fromRect:operation:fraction:] instead.
11/29/13 5:50:38.797 PM uTorrent[29519]: *** WARNING: -[NSImage compositeToPoint:fromRect:operation:] is deprecated in MacOSX 10.8 and later. Please use -[NSImage drawAtPoint:fromRect:operation:fraction:] instead.
11/29/13 5:50:40.450 PM WindowServer[96]: common_reenable_update: UI updates were finally reenabled by application "µTorrent" after 2.97 seconds (server forcibly re-enabled them after 1.00 seconds)
11/29/13 6:16:58.007 PM uTorrent[29519]: uTorrent(29519,0xa081c1a8) malloc: *** mach_vm_map(size=8388608) failed (error code=3) *** error: can't allocate region *** set a breakpoint in malloc_error_break to debug
11/29/13 6:16:59.226 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[177]: (com.bittorrent.uTorrent.41744[29519]) Exited with code: 1

I've tried to google something either about uTorrent and Mavericks in general, or about uTorrent and errors from this log — to no avail.

Does anybody else have this problem? Any advice?

Upd. Following advice from answers I've tried upgrading to uTorrent beta 1.9.1. It seems to be slightly more stable but the problem persists:

11/30/13 11:15:53.540 PM uTorrent[3250]: uTorrent(3250,0xa081c1a8) malloc: *** mach_vm_map(size=8388608) failed (error code=3) *** error: can't allocate region *** set a breakpoint in malloc_error_break to debug
11/30/13 11:15:53.541 PM uTorrent[3250]: uTorrent(3250,0xa081c1a8) malloc: *** mach_vm_map(size=8388608) failed (error code=3) *** error: can't allocate region *** set a breakpoint in malloc_error_break to debug
11/30/13 11:15:54.434 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[178]: (com.bittorrent.uTorrent.41744[3250]) Exited with code: 1

P.S. Warning: uTorrent beta 1.9.1 corrupted some of my files (instead of something.avi I now have something.avi and something.avi.1 — in different folders and neither of them is playable). I can't recommend this 'upgrade', to say the least.

It's time to try some other client, I guess.


texts: Left pane in shortcuts of keyboard system preferences doesn't slide

texts:
I would like to slide the left pane in order to access the list of App Shortcuts.

This is what should happen, as per an image I've found on internet.

And this is what actually happens in my macOS Sierra in Spanish. Additionally, there is a warning about a conflicting shortcut that is not solved after choosing to restore defaults.

Any suggestions?


texts: How should I use VPN on a Mac to prevent compromise before the VPN starts?

texts:
As most experienced users will have heard, using a Mac in a public untrusted Wi-Fi can be potentially harmful. A tool like Firesheep1 has made it very easy to intercept unencrypted communication.

Using a full tunnel VPN to encrypt all communication is as often mentioned as a magical solution to eavesdropping, but of course it's not that easy:

Depending on the protocol and configuration of the VPN connection, the connection may drop easier. (e.g. TLS vs UDP)
The VPN connection is not established instantly when you connect to a public network.

I think that the last two points matter a lot because whenever your network settings change the various applications immediately talk to their servers - I assume it's configd that informs them, right?

  i.e. Before the VPN tunnel is established, most (running) processes that require
  internet will communicate.

I see two components to being a good VPN user:

Making sure things don't get sent in the clear before it's established.
Making sure things don't get sent in the clear later if the VPN fails.

How can I use VPN on a Mac in a public network to restrict unencrypted traffic before the VPN starts up?


texts:
I have a summer-2006 iMac with 2Gb memory. I use it mainly for "mainstream usage" :

browse the web (including web-based applications such as Gmail)
access a remote server (through screen sharing / ssh)
Skype

I do not wish to upgrade the hardware soon as it works fine; upgrading the memory is difficult where I live as I could not find the appropriate memory. Since I upgraded to Lion (though this was happening in 10.6 too), I sometimes have problems when I do 2 things simultaneously (web + Skype for instance) and fall into the karma wheel + swapping slowliness.

My question is the following: how could I just reduce memory usage simply as I do not need any eye candy transitions or such new features that may be consuming the memory I have. what are the obvious things to do to be on a memory diet?


texts:
man timed and "hoakley" says that timed still uses /etc/ntp.conf and I see nothing in the launchd plist that selects that or anything else, so I would think that it is either hard-coded or in some alternate configuration file.

Anyway, in 10.13.6, changing it has no effect on what the pref pane says is being used.  And the pref pane only allows one of three Apple servers.  Changing that has no effect on ntp.conf  Erasing it causes the USA server to be re-entered (without affecting the file).

So, is it possible to point it to a different time server?  If so, how?


texts: How to set Title in Contacts but not display it?

texts:
Is there a way to set the 'Title' field in Contacts, but to not display it?  i.e., in Mail I want to see "John Doe", but have the contact card display "Captain John Doe".

Can I do this?


texts: Yosemite 10.10.3 - New Files and Directories Not Showing in Finder

texts:
When I create a new file or directory, it does not dynamically appear in Finder. I need to manually relaunch the Finder.

Any tips on how to fix this? I know I can create an AppleScript to add a "relaunch" button to the Finder, but that's not really a solution.


texts:
Some users report Chrome and Firefox being slower on Big Sur

On a 2019 MBP 13 (16GB) ... everything is noticeably slower ... even native apps like Preview

This reflects my experience.
Other than waiting for updates to Big Sur, what settings can I adjust in the mean time to help mitigate any jankiness Big Sur introduces?
Some solutions/ideas found so far:

Downgrade to older macOS versions

References:

Google search for big sur stuttery


texts: Is there a way to display sent/received iMessages in a vertical format rather than the current left/right bubble formate?


texts: How to remove synced photos from other devices?

texts: I have an iPad and an iPhone. When I had both of them sync to iCloud to save storage space, the photos and albums from my iPad went onto my iPhone and vice versa. This messed up both the organization of my photos as well as making it difficult to locate that one specific photo on either device, since I now have much more photos to sort through. I tried to revert the iCloud sync but it refused to revert back to the way things were. Is there any way to remove synced photos from my other device automatically?


texts: How to downgrade iOS to previous version?

texts: I really need to downgrade from iOS 9 to iOS 8 on my iPad Mini. Is it possible at all?


texts: Keyboard shortcut to show Tags... dialog

texts:
In the Finder, you can select a file and choose Tags... from the File menu or contextual menu. It will show a little dialog that allows you to select or type tag names, and you can press Enter to apply them to the selected file.

Before Mac OS Mojave, I was able to assign a keyboard shortcut to this menu item (using a method like this, although I'm using Keyboard Maestro).

But with Mojave, Tags... is no longer a standard menu item, so it can't be accessed this way. Using an ellipsis character instead of three periods doesn't help. Is there a way to do this now? I tried scripting System Events, but couldn't get it working.


texts: What's the technical reason some Macs can't use Boot Camp with macOS Mojave?

texts:
As written on MacRumors and other places Macs using 3TB Fusion Drives for the macOS and Boot Camp installations can't be upgraded to Mojave currently without losing the Boot Camp partition.

To fix this problem, Apple says that customers with the 2012 27-inch iMac with 3TB hard drive will need to completely remove the Boot Camp partition using Boot Camp Assistant before macOS Mojave can be installed.
After upgrading to macOS Mojave, Boot Camp will not be able to be used to install Windows on these machines. No other iMac models appear to be affected by this issue.

What is the technical reason for this?
PS: See also Apple knowledgebase document (which mentions only Late-2012 27-inch iMacs with 3TB fusion drives.)


texts: Is it possible to spell a word to Siri? For instance, if I ask for the stock price of a certain company, she doesn't always understand the company name.


texts: 13" MacBook Pro 2017 randomly shutting down

texts:
I bought a new Mac and have had it it for like 1 week now. I noticed it turns itself off at 8% but I wasn't worried. Then it started shutting down on like 17%-20% cca.

When you plug charging cable you can turn it on and it's on the same % as when it turned off. I don't understand why it is shutting down on this much battery charge %.

I also think it's discharging pretty fast. I have no clue and I don't want to wait for a new MBP.

I'm not sure where to begin troubleshooting this and would appreciate any help.

How can I proceed?


texts: What is the yellow warning sign in the "Login Items" Tab under the "Users & Group" System Preferences?

texts: I was deleting Skype from my login items and noticed that iTunesHelper showed a warning under a unmarked column. What does it mean and how do I fix it?


texts:
I forgot the pass code of my iPhone SE.
I have switched it off now.
Yesterday, I reset my pass code but now I can't remember it.


texts: Unable to see iCloud Music Library option in Music Settings

texts:
Both my husband and I have iPad Airs. Both of our iPads are currently on iOS 9.2.1 and it states the software is up to date.

For some reason in my husband's Settings under Music it does not show iCloud Music Library option, but it does on mine. I am able to do all sorts of playlists and add to them from Apple Music, but my husband is unable to.

Is there a way of getting this option? I have tried searching on google, but all I seem to get as response is switch the option on. How can I switch this option on, if it is nothere in the first place? Does anyone in here know what to do, to get this option?


texts: Does iPad rotate right sooner than it rotates left (or up or down)?

texts:
If I don't have screen rotation lock turned on on my iPad 2 (OS 5.1) and am trying to use it in portrait mode, it's constantly rotating to the right when I don't want it to. Since it felt overly sensitive, I did a test to see how far it would have to tilt off of flat to rotate to a given direction.

To change rotation to up, down, or left, I needed to tilt it maybe 40 degrees off of flat. To change to right rotation, though, it only took a tilt of maybe 20 degrees.

I have the 'Clinometer' app (a fancy level), and its readings seem more or less accurate, so it doesn't seem like a problem with the accelerometer. Do others experience the same thing? Is there any setting I can change to tweak this?


texts: Why am I being prompted for my password for updates in the iOS App Store?

texts: Recently the iOS App Store has started to prompt me for my password for updating apps in the App Store. Is there something I can do to change this back to the way it was?


texts: what is difference between gcc version and Xcode gcc version?

texts:
This maybe a little silly question but I am very confused

executing pkgutil in shell I get

$ pkgutil --pkg-info=com.apple.pkg.CLTools_Executables
package-id: com.apple.pkg.CLTools_Executables
version: 6.1.1.0.1.1416017670

the above tells me version 6.1

and gcc version in shell tells

$ gcc --version
Configured with: --prefix=/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr --with-gxx-include-dir=/usr/include/c++/4.2.1
Apple LLVM version 6.0 (clang-600.0.56) (based on LLVM 3.5svn)
Target: x86_64-apple-darwin13.1.0
Thread model: posix

This says LLVM version 6.0 ,
Can anyone explains what the above versions are telling are which version of what !!


texts: 2008 MacBook (A1181) won't boot from battery

texts:
I have a 2008 13" (2.4GHz) white MacBook that will only boot from mains power.  If you attempt to boot from the battery it's as if it's not even connected.  Once you get even past the initial startup chime, you can pull the mains and it's fine.
Things I've tried so far

Replaced the top case (as I had to replace it anyway)
Removed the top case and used the power jumper.
Checked battery status (4/5 lights)
Checked magsafe light status (Orange initially, green after a short wait)
Ran diagnostics (which only reported 4SNS/1/4000000 Th1H-128.000... - a temperature sensor error)

I'd appreciate ideas on what's causing this when the battery clearly has (and can supply) power and more importantly how can I resolve it?


texts: MBP 17" (2010) goes to sleep and can't wake it up

texts:
My laptop goes to sleep and when I open the lid it wakes up just fine (or I move the mouse if I didn't close the lid).

Now sometimes when I open the lid, it doesn't wake up.  The status light which is usually going on/off is just not lighting up at all when the lid is open.  If I close the lid again, then the light remains lit but doesn't toggle on/off.

The only way I can get things to work is if I press the power button for like 10 seconds to force it to shutdown.

What is happening here?

Note:  I press fn-control and the eject key to put into sleep mode (to avoid it going into the clam shell mode).

The output of pmset -g is:

Active Profiles:
Battery Power -1
AC Power -1*
Currently in use:
 womp 1
 halfdim 1
 sms 1
 hibernatefile /var/vm/sleepimage
 gpuswitch 2
 networkoversleep 0
 disksleep 10
 sleep 10
 hibernatemode 3
 ttyskeepawake 1
 displaysleep 10
 acwake 0
 lidwake 1


texts: My iMac has two non-matching displays. When I connect from my iPad using iTeleport, only one of the displays is visible. Is there some way to configure Screen Sharing so that both displays will be available?


texts: Blank/Black Screen on AppleTV when mirrored from iMac

texts:
Using macOS Sierra 10.12.5, iMac 27-inch Mid 2011, AppleTV Model A1469 7.2.2 (8015)
Connected via WiFi

I have an Apple TV that used to work, however, now whenever I mirror or extend my display from my iMac it only shows a blank/black screen with audio.

I found this post, Apple TV Black screen (OS X Yosemite ) however, the solutions there did not work for me, and I am not sure how it worked for the OP.

I also found How to Fix an Apple TV with a Blank Screen and reset my Apple TV to factory settings, but still the same problem persists.

The audio works fine and I can switch between internal speakers and the AppleTV but there's no video on the AppleTV.

Any ideas at all are greatly appreciated...


texts: iPhone 6, charged overnight and now stuck in bootloop

texts:
I left my phone charging overnight, and in the morning I woke up and the phone was stuck in bootloop.
The Apple logo came on, then the screen turned white, sometimes with 1 black horizontal line or sometimes a pixel (greenish).


texts: Where can I download iPad apps in macOS Catalina Beta?

texts: I have heard that macOS Catalina can run iPad apps. I have the public beta version of macOS Catalina. Where can I download iPad apps?


texts: How can I change the ownership of the unwritable directories for Homebrew?

texts:
I had admin account before and I deleted the admin and made the user as admin because it was bit of pain in neck. This is now the admin user called zuhairhallak. Before, installing Homebrew, it was just user without any privileges. I want to fix that. I tried to remove Homebrew but it did not let me.

zuhairs-mbp:~ zuhairhallak$ sudo chown -R $zuhairhallak /usr/local/share/aclocal /usr/local/share/doc /usr/local/share/info /usr/local/share/locale /usr/local/share/man /usr/local/share/man/man1 /usr/local/share/man/man3 /usr/local/share/man/man5 /usr/local/share/man/man7 /usr/local/share/man/man8 /usr/local/share/zsh /usr/local/share/zsh/site-functions
Password:
chown: /usr/local/share/aclocal: illegal user name


texts:
Im reposting another users question because I have the same problem but am brand new to the site and I dont have any reputation to answer/comment.I have gotten the keyboard to light up using xcode and stopping it when its lit, but I want to set a key shortcut to use it easier.

OP:

I have a CM Storm Devastator and cannot get the backlight working on Mac. I have followed the instructions below :

Go here:

https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/samplecode/HID_LED_test_tool/Introduction/Intro.html

Click the little "Download sample code" button

Open the downloaded folder and go to Build / Release

Drag the HID LED test tool file to your Applications folder

Launch the OS X "Automator" program

Choose "Service" document type

Under "Library", click "Utilities", and drag "Run Shell Script" to the blank area / workflow pane.
For "selected service receives" choose "no input" in "any application" (important)
For "pass input" choose "as arguments" (important)
For "shell" choose "/bin/bash"
Paste in this script:

/Applications/HID\ LED\ test\ tool & pid=$! sleep 3 kill $pid

Click "run" to test. After 3 seconds, your keyboard should remain in a state with num lock and scroll lock enabled, and all the keys should be lit up. Yay! Continue to assign keyboard shortcut to do this.

Click "File" > "Save", "Save service as" : "Devastator LED Lighter"

Go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Services > General > "Devastator
LED Lighter"

Assign a shortcut. Scroll lock and F keys didn't work for me. I ended up choosing "

The problems I have encountered:

The downloaded file is called "HID_LED_test_tool". This contains 3 files

HID LED test tool-Read Me.txt

HID LED test tool.xcodeproj

main.c

Problem: it does not contain a build/release folder, so I dragged HID LED test tool.xcodeproj into the Applications folder.

I followed all the instructions above renaming the HID LED... file to a simple HID. The problem is that when I run the automator program as indicated above I get the reply xxxxx is a directory. I cannot get around this; I have tried extracting the file within the HID LED test tool folder and then executing the automator with that file name but the exact same thing happens ....

When I attempt to open the project.pbxproj file in Terminal I get the response :

Last login: Sat Feb  7 19:34:21 on ttys000
/Applications/HID\ LED\ test\ tool.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj ; exit;
Zakias-MacBook-Pro:~ zakia$ /Applications/HID\ LED\ test\ tool.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj ; exit;
/Applications/HID LED test tool.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj: line 1: //: is a directory
/Applications/HID LED test tool.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj: line 3: archiveVersion: command not found
/Applications/HID LED test tool.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj: line 4: classes: command not found
/Applications/HID LED test tool.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj: line 6: objectVersion: command not found
/Applications/HID LED test tool.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj: line 7: objects: command not found
/Applications/HID LED test tool.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj: line 9: /Applications: is a directory
/Applications/HID LED test tool.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj: line 10: syntax error near unexpected token `('
/Applications/HID LED test tool.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj: line 10: `       8DD76F770486A8DE00D96B5E /* main.c in Sources */ = {isa = PBXBuildFile; fileRef = 08FB7796FE84155DC02AAC07 /* main.c */; settings = {ATTRIBUTES = (); }; };'
logout

[Process completed]


texts: Frequent freezing and random reboots in iMac (2015) running Mojave

texts:
After upgrading my 2015 iMac (Intel i5, 8GB RAM, 1TB Fusion Drive) to Mojave I been having nothing more then headache.

It all started with WiFi randomly dropping and when I navigate to the WiFi menu I'm greeted with spinner of death. With only solution is to restart or to logout, unless the whole system lags out and then you have to physically power it down.

The other issue is partially related to WiFi is that when WiFi drops it seem's to kill whatever Browser is running, at first I though it was Chrome acting up as it's a major RAM hog, but this also seems to happen to Opera but less frequently.

When the Browser crashes you can "Kill Process" but even so you will still have the Browser window overlay everything with no ability to Hide or Close it. Again at this point you can't use Navigation menu's as such you have to physically power it down.

And last issue is that I can be working on something and when I come back I'm greeted by Login screen, because for whatever reason the OS restarted itself. Same seems to happen when I try to use the computer in the morning, the iMac is once again has rebooted somewhere over night. Mind you the iMac runs 24/7 like most of PC's I owned and have.

So what troubleshooting solutions did I partake?

Reset SMC on the iMac (Performed this task, no result)
Reset NVRAM on the iMac (Performed this task, no result)
Check Disk (Performed this task, no result, no errors found)
Auto Updates is Disabled and is set to Manual

I will say for the record after random reboots I installed a copy of Windows 10 along the OSX, and guess what I at times come back to Windows 10 booted up. However Windows 10 does not seem to suffer from this Random Reboots, so I'm gonna guess the Reboots are isolated to Mojave.

Any suggestions? At this point I either have to figure how to downgrade or to backup everything and try to do a clean install.


texts:
If I have an app on my iPhone and I want to recommend it to someone else who might be interested in downloading and using the app on his/her iPhone - what's the easiest way to do this?

Is there a native way of doing this? Through another app?


texts: Whats the equivalent of the unix tree command on OSX (10.8.5)


texts: Senior Apple Customer Service Contact Required

texts:
I’ve currently got an issue with Apple that issue being that I’m attempting to recover purchases that I’ve paid money to Apple for an Apple ID that I’ve forgotten the password to.

Unfortunately I cannot reset the password as I’ve got an outdated (and since removed) two step verification setup on the account, and I cannot locate the required recovery key to reset it.

All other reset options were taken away by Apple when two step verification is enabled. I’ve had several phone calls and online chats with Apple advisors, Senior advisors and iTunes Support and I keep getting told one of three things “sorry we need password verification to access the account” or “purchases can not be transferred to another Apple ID” or it’s an Apple “privacy” policy.

Whilst I reluctantly accept that I’m locked out and cannot regain access my account I do not accept that I have to readily forfeit everything that I’ve paid good money for to Apple for.

Apple unfortunately haven’t thought through the account recovery process for accounts with two step enabled properly and have in my opinion dropped the ball.

The only assistance I’ve received is an email from iTunes Support with a feedback link, I’ve chosen not to use this as it is exactly what is says “feedback” and Apple advise on the feedback page that they will not respond to individual comments. I actually want my case to be looked into and I want my primary Apple ID credited with everything I’ve paid for and I require a written response.

I previously asked an Apple advisor for a senior point of contact/department where I can take up my grievance and the only contact that they could give me was a surface mail address in another country, this is totally unacceptable especially for a technology company.

I’ve also been told by an Apple Senior Advisor that they can’t due to the way in which their system is engineered see an Apple ID’s details/history without an account holders password.

I’m located in Australia and I’m looking for contact details for an Apple Department that is capable of accessing Apple ID’s and seeing its history without a password being needed and has the authority to credit an account. Law enforcement agencies seem to get what they want without to much trouble and they don’t have passwords this according to the public disclosures on Apples Privacy webpage.

Apologies for rambling on, any help would be greatly appreciated.


texts: Convert image and save to same folder in Automator

texts:
I'm trying to figure out an Automator workflow (to make as a Service/Quick Action) to convert an images' file type - easy enough with the "Change Type Of Images" option. BUT, doing that alone replaces the original image - where i want to keep the original image.

Using the "Copy Finder Items" requires you to choose a location for the converted file, BUT, i want it to save to the same folder as the original, AND, i don't want to have to have a "choose folder" option come up every time.

I've read that it may not be possible without using "Variables" & "Applescript" - both of which i don't know. I would think that it should be more simple than that - that only if the "Copy Finder Items" had an option to use the same folder.

I found another workflow where if you put the "New Folder" option in there, it will leave the original alone and copy it to the new folder and convert that one. i could do this if i have to, but would still rather the conversion to take place in the same folder as the orig.

any ideas?
thanks.


texts: My iMessages are still merging even though we have separate Apple IDs

texts: My phones messages are still syncing with my iPad's even though both devices have separate IDs. The only device I'm signed in on is my phone, yet everything is still synced? I was wondering how to unsync both devices completely?


texts: Using iMac 2012 as a monitor for MacBook Pro 2012

texts:
Can I use a Macbook Pro as a monitor for an iMac?

Both of them are on sale from a startup that went out of business, and were originally bought in 2012.


texts: MacBook Pro (macOS 10.15.1) waking up from sleep ... with Reminders from iOS?

texts:
the weirdest thing is happening and I can reproduce it quite reliably.

I put my Mac to sleep by closing the lid and check it has gone to sleep in the evening.
In the morning, both my iPhone and iPad go out of Sleep Mode at 8am so all previous Reminders & notifications fire up then. I happened to be next to my desk with my iPhone in hand and I noticed the Mac waking up. It is very quiet so I went near and heard the fans being active...

I used the Consolation3 app from H. Oakley to browse the log entries and the Mac is indeed asleep before 8:00am but suddenly wakes up some seconds later.
A lot of entries about remindersd, fetching CoreData, CalDav ...

I have not yet upgraded to the new Reminders because of shared lists with family members but if that is the (proven) reason (not just something Apple would say to do to try things out because there is no way back) I will upgrade.

Do not disturb is active until 7am, but the Mac awakes at 8am.
PowerNap is not enabled.

Does anyone know what is happening here?
Is there any other check I could/should perform?

Thank you

Logs:
1. https://www.dropbox.com/s/92wx69sx5lhy21v/20191119_eventMessage%20CONTAINS%5Bc%5D%20reminders.rtf?dl=0
2. https://www.dropbox.com/s/r5np7ccl5sn6ccb/20191119_eventMessage%20CONTAINS%5Bc%5D%20sleep.rtf?dl=0
3. https://www.dropbox.com/s/j475scc2nmfvuql/20191119_eventMessage%20CONTAINS%5Bc%5D%20darkwake.rtf?dl=0
4. https://www.dropbox.com/s/nh87y7bep3dor86/20191119_eventMessage%20CONTAINS%5Bc%5D%20cause.rtf?dl=0


texts:
MAC PRO 1,1

it says: Insecure Startup items folder detected .... Items in startupitems folder have not been started because the folder does not have the proper security settings

my question:I checked in About this mac, then more info, then under software Startup items - and there I read: No information found.

I think I deleted what is supposed to be there by mistake. Please let me know what it is to be

there and if I can get that to put it there please help.


texts: Is there a free command line program for converting PDF files to SVG?

texts: Once upon a time I used Corel Draw to edit vector graphics. Now I'm looking at using Sketch. I previously converted all my old CDR files to PDF but Sketch doesn't seem to like to open PDFs containing vector graphics. Is there a free command-line program I can use to convert PDF to SVG?


texts:
I have two Macs, one is running Snow Leopard and can't be updated any further. The other is running El Capitan. I use FileVault on the latter and I also want to backup the latter to a 1TB external hard drive using Time Machine.

I want the backup to be encrypted. AFAIK that means I will not be able to access the EC backup on the SL machine. That's OK with me. But I still want to use the remaining space on the drive as storage that I can also access on the SL machine.

Is it possible to have only the backup be encrypted but having the rest of the external drive be compatible with SL? (I.E. unencrypted)

Can it be achieved by making two partitions, one for encrypted Time Machine backups, and one for other, unencrypted storage? Can the latter partition be exFAT formated?


texts: Magic Mouse 2 appears as it is connected but it will not scroll; when you click on something it will not put on the screen what you clicked on. I have to triple click on the item to get rid of it on the screen.  I would like to know if there is a problem with the mouse.


texts:
I created a service using Automator called "Open URL in Public Window".  Its purpose is to never open a selected link in a private window (which will happen if the current front-most Safari window [before opening the new URL] is a private window).

I'd actually prefer all clicked links(/highlighted URLs) to open in public windows, and have that be the default behavior of the "Open URL" service that shows up when you right-click a selected URL or link, but I cannot find where that service exists so that I can edit it.  Maybe it's not even editable or even a Quick Action/Service.

I'm not even certain that the "Open URL" service I see in a context menu from right-clicking a link in other apps (e.g. Mail.app) and going down to the "Services" sub-menu is a standard service (did I create that a long time ago and forgot about it? - regardless, I cannot find it in e.g. ~/Library/Services).


texts:
Imagine I visited a website: http://example.com/food/cake.html with the title Delicious Cake. When I use Safari and start typing Del, one of the suggestions shown by Safari might be the aforementioned website. If I hover over this site, my address bar will contain the title of the website: Delicious Cake. I can visit the site by pressing enter, but how do I get Safari to just fill the URL into my address bar?

For example, if I wanted to visit http://example.com/food/, I want the address bar to contain http://example.com/food/cake.html and then delete the cake.html.


texts: MacOS Mojave Install - About 2 minutes remaining, for 2 hours

texts:
I'm currently a new Mac user, I was given a newer iMac to test with High Sierra installed on it, I needed to install Mojave to use the app I need.

It seems to be stuck at 2 minutes remaining for the last 2 hours. When I look at the activity monitor, it has already received 97 gigabytes of data on the network tab, should I be worried?


texts: nslookup & dig fail; ping, traceroute, and scutil -r work

texts:
I'm running on 10.8.2.  All of a sudden, traditional nameserver lookups are failing on my machine:

$ nslookup www.att.com
;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached

$ dig www.att.com

; <<>> DiG 9.8.3-P1 <<>> www.att.com
;; global options: +cmd
;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached

But operations that use name services work fine:

$ scutil -r www.att.com
Reachable

$ ping www.att.com
PING e2318.dscb.akamaiedge.net (23.1.57.145): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 23.1.57.145: icmp_seq=0 ttl=55 time=22.862 ms
64 bytes from 23.1.57.145: icmp_seq=1 ttl=55 time=26.947 ms
^C
--- e2318.dscb.akamaiedge.net ping statistics ---
2 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 22.862/24.904/26.947/2.043 ms

I've tried setting the name server addresses to different destinations via the network system preference (e.g., 4.2.2.2, 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220, etc.) but that doesn't seem to make any difference.

I'm guessing there is an internal configuration file for the on-board DNS server that isn't getting updated, but I haven't a clue where to look for that.


texts:
I am on High Sierra (MacOS 10.13.6) and I am failing to remove com.skype.skype.shareagent.plist which is in ~/Library/LaunchAgents

ls -l
-rw-rw-r--@ 1 me  staff    1  8 Oct 17:57 com.skype.skype.shareagent.plist

So I fail to see why I cannot.  Yet:

rm -r com.skype.skype.shareagent.plist
remove com.skype.skype.shareagent.plist? y
rm: com.skype.skype.shareagent.plist: Operation not permitted

similarly,

sudo rm com.skype.skype.shareagent.plist
Password:
remove com.skype.skype.shareagent.plist? y
rm: com.skype.skype.shareagent.plist: Operation not permitted

I rebooted in single user mode, used chflags noschg and tried to remove the file with no success.  What I did manage to do as single user was to basically delete the content of the file with vim.  I cannot rename the file BTW.

Any idea of (1) what is going on and (2) how I delete said file?


texts: What is the best way to consolidate two iPhoto libraries into one library?

texts:
On the family's iMac my wife and daughter have separate user accounts, each with their own iPhoto library. My wife has asked me to consolidate both libraries into a single library for convenience.

What is the best way to do this? Can it be done with the existing software and utilities that come with Snow Leopard or is there a 3rd party utility that facilitates the process?

Thanks in advance.


texts:
I've recently been having problems with compiling packages for R. I'm not sure of the causes but one possibility is that there are a couple of different versions of gcc on my MacBook Pro. When I type which gcc in a terminal window it returns /usr/bin/gcc. But when I type gcc --version I get back
Configured with: --prefix=/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr --with-gxx-include-dir=/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/usr/include/c++/4.2.1
Apple clang version 11.0.3 (clang-1103.0.32.62)
Target: x86_64-apple-darwin19.5.0
Thread model: posix
InstalledDir: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin

I may also have some issues with the path. It is currently set to
/usr/local/sbin:/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/Library/TeX/texbin:/opt/X11/bin:/Library/Apple/usr/bin:/usr/local/git/bin

I added the Applications... path to PATH hoping it would help but it didn't. /usr/bin contains both a g++ and gcc file install May 18, so very recently. I've tried renaming those as a test of whether that would solve the problem but I'm unable to do that even as sudo.
Suggestions greatly appreciated!


texts:
I have an iPod Touch 4G and my software is updated to iOS 6.1. I was messaging someone then suddenly it gave me an error saying the message was not sent and I had to re-try sending the message.

After that my iMessage freezes if I go into that same conversation. I cannot delete that conversation because if I go back (does not freeze if my screen is not in a conversation) and press edit then delete, it reappears every 5 seconds.

How can I troubleshoot iMessage on iOS?


texts: How can I check the model of my Apple computer?

texts: Is there a way that I check the model number of my Apple computer? (For example, iMac9,1.)


texts: How can I Spotlight search exclusively in `.txt` files in `~/.` on my disk?

texts:
I was talking to Mr. Ramanujan at his desk when he gave me his cell phone number.

I recall I had a text editor open and I wrote the number in a file. Normally I store such details in ~/phone-numbers.txt, but that time I seem to have inadvertently written in another file.

No worries. I use Spotlight Search to search for Ramanujan, but it produces irrelevant search results of the famed mathematician, on and off my computer, especially off.

How can I search for Ramanujan solely in .txt files in files rooted at ~/.?


texts: MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015): SSD replacement

texts:
I would like to replace my 256GB storage with a drive having more space, and not less efficient in terms of read/write speed. I was thinking about something like Samsung Pro drives with M.2 interface. But I am not sure if MacBook uses standard interface for this purpose.

So my question is, which drives/memory chips are compatible with my laptop model? Which hardware interface should I look for?

Also I guess that I need some specific toolkit to replace SSD, right? At least, to open laptop's back lid.


texts: Help me navigate the dongle/dock situation please!

texts:
Greetings!

I was recently issued a 2017 15' MBP for work, and I want to purchase accessories such that I can hook-up my home workspace to it. I thought I had the situation figured out, but as I hovered on the "checkout" button on amazon, I found a review stating my use case would not work.

The setup:
My home workspace consists of two Dell U2417H monitors. They are each currently hooked up via DP -> Mini DP to my 2015 MBP (personal). They support HDMI.
The ask:
Without making my monitors incompatible with my 2015, I would like to be able to use one USB-C connection on my 2017 to drive both 1080P displays and charge.
The failed idea:
I figured I could use the HDMI ports on my Dell monitors, hook them up to a dongle/dock and be done with it. But I can't seem to find any dongle with two HDMI outs. I found the Dell WD15 had one HDMI and one Mini DP, but evidently even using a HDMI -> mini DP and HDMI -> HDMI connectors I would only be able to mirror the two external displays.

What is the solution here? Two docks/docks seems inevitable. Do you have recommendations?
Thank You,
Salomon


texts: Wallpaper does get restored after a LogMeIn Rescue session

texts:
I recently hosted a remote desktop session with a HP tech support who used LogMeIn Rescue for the remote screen share and control session.

As part of the session, LogMeIn Rescue removes the desktop wallpaper, so that it doesn't add complexity/bandwidth to screen share stream.

Usually the desktop wallpaper gets restored after the remote session is concluded. But this time it got restored only on my MacBook's built in screen and not on the connected external display (connected via HDMI via a Thunderbolt adaptor).

I've shut down and restarted my computer, but to no avail. Any ideas? I am using a 2017 MacBook Pro running macOS Mojave 10.14.x.


texts: Asking for password when adding new folder in /Users/.../Sites/?

texts:
My Mac's hard drive was recently replaced, and I copied my folders over from my old drive to the new one. One problem, however, is my sites folder. Originally, I had them located in /library/webserver/sites/, but now they're just in /Users/.../sites.

If I try to create a new folder within any of the subfolders, it will prompt me for my admin password. The same happens in Coda when I'm trying to add a new folder, but there it just denies me.

Basically, how can I fix the permissions on these files so that I no longer need to enter my admin password? The files are the same, if I try to save one of them, I also need to enter the password.

Update: TextWrangler is giving me the error -5000.

Update 2: So is Terminal: ERROR: Unexpected Error. (-5000)


texts: Chrome on Mac UTF-8 in URL strange behavior

texts:
I have URLs with non-ascii chars that behave strangely on Chrome 79 on Catalina 10.15.3
I was not able to reproduce it with Chrome 79 on Windows, neither with Safari.

If I have the following chain in the URL bar ∀ ∀∀∀§, the last three ∀ get bigger then the first one. Try copy pasting it in your Chrome URL bar. If I remove the § or put a space before the §, all the ∀ return to the same (smaller) size.

google.com does not seem to care about the size difference in the URL, but my Java WebServer is not able to parse the URL if the ∀ and § are adjacents.

Update : I've just upgraded to Chrome 80 and the problem does not appear any more...


texts:
I am building an automator script to do automatic backups to a network drive via rsync. The shell script works perfectly fine in terminal and completes and everything, but when i run it from automator, it just hangs at that steps and never proceeds, e.g. the process keeps running in the background and the automator workflow never goes to the next step.

I found others with similar problems on other forums, but no answer to how to fix it. Should i add some kind of exit command to the shell script?


texts: How to add content (books and music) into my library so I can sync it with my mobile devices?

texts:
I am having trouble synching my books (non-DRMed epub/pdf) and music (non-DRMed m4a) to my iPad.
I've seen guides (like this one: https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/mac-help/mchl562e1847/mac) on how to sync via finder. BUT what I cannot find is a guide on how to add things into my library so I can then sync them into my device.
As a test, I've added some books into the Books app but nothing shows up in Finder/books sync. I've unplugged/replugged the iPad several times already just to check if that makes a difference.
Can you please help? Thank you.


texts: How do I speed up Mac boot to the ready desktop in El capitan

texts: My computer has become slow to fully boot since updating to 10.11. This isn't helped by Applications (including their previous windows) reopening automatically post login. I am aware that this is part of the default Mac OS experience and I've seen answers that involve checking a box when restarting, although I would prefer a permanent fix to disable this particular function and any other advice to improve my iMacs startup efficiency.


texts: How to import self-signed certificate over SSH? (bounty)

texts:
I'm trying to remotely (SSH) import a custom certificate into Firefox and/or Chrome. It looks a similar question has been asked before, but didn't get an answer. I put a 150 point bounty on it in hopes of someone being motivated to answer it. This is a work-related thing, so I could really use some help. The cert I created with done like so:

sudo openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /etc/nginx/ssl/nginx.key -out /etc/nginx/ssl/nginx.crt

I'm basically trying to import and fully trust the cert using Terminal. Is this possible?


texts: Wine on macOS, does it support 16 bit color in window mode?

texts:
I am trying to use Wine to run an old Windows game on macOS: so far the fullscreen mode does work fine, but the game checks for 16 bit color depth support and prevents Wine from running it in window mode.

I am wondering if there is something I could do on Wine's end (using the Mac driver, not X11 server).

ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_depth#High_color_(15/16-bit)


texts: Create bootable USB of Windows 8.1 on Mavericks 10.9.4

texts: I've followed the instructions to enable the "Create windows 7 install Disk" in bootcamp but I am attempting to install Windows 8.1.  How do I force bootcamp to allow me to create a windows 7 or later install disk?


texts: External iSight microphone audio not working

texts:
I'm using a 2003-era external iSight "Autofocus Video Camera + Noise Suppression Microphone" with an Apple Cinema Display and USB-C MacBook Pro running macOS 10.15.
It's connected via a long succession of dongles:

iSight > FireWire 400 > Apple Cinema Display > FireWire 800 > Thunderbolt 2 > Thunderbolt 3

It still works great for video, if a bit low resolution, and you can't beat the design:

However, the iSight camera's microphone does not appear to be working. People cannot hear me when my laptop is in clamshell mode, despite being on video via the external iSight.
In System Preferences > Sound > Input I only see "MacBook Pro Microphone":

System Information shows a FireWire iSight device, as well as an "Unknown Device". When I unplug the FireWire cable/dongle, both devices disappear.

This iSight is running the 1.0.2 firmware; I'll try to update it with 1.0.3 and test:

How to update external iSight firmware?

Why isn't the iSight mic working? How can I use an external iSight as an audio/video webcam in modern versions of macOS?

Related threads that seem to be experiencing the same issue:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250914849
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251255964
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251293054
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252233406


texts:
I updated my iPhone yesterday and now whenever I take or make a call my phone restarts itself.

It was updated via iTunes on my computer. Each phone call can last between 1 - 10 minutes.
I've never had this problem before.


texts: Whenever I watch videos, my screen gets flashes of snow

texts:
I'm using a 15 inch mid 2010 macbook with 10.8.4. It happens both on my cinema display and laptop display. It happens sporadically and had me questioning whether I was actually seeing it for a while. I notice mostly on youtube videos, but I think it's occurring from other sources as well.

Somebody could be playing a prank on me (as my buddies are likely to do), but nobody has confessed and I can't really find anything about the issue.

Any Ideas?


texts:
Running Mavericks 10.9.5, iMac 12,1 21.5 Intel i5 2.7ghz 16gb.

I want to re-image the machine but it only boots with a Guest account. No Recovery partition and unknown admin password.

Using "Install OS X Mavericks" but need admin password. It does have a Boot Camp partition that has Windows 10 which I have admin rights.  I want to get rid of everything but being guest on the Mac side without admin rights does me no good.

My last thought was to just take the 1 terabyte drive out and erase it from another Mac then re install Mavericks OS.


texts:
I'm on Macmini6,2 with current firmware and 10.8.4. When I send it to sleep it starts its on and off fading status LED thing to indicate it is now asleep.

When I come back a few hours later, it is dark, but the computer is still asleep and enters wake mode when I touch any key.

What's wrong there? Isn't the indicator LED supposed to blink all the time?


texts: MacBook Pro: How to disable discrete GPU permanently from EFI?

texts:
I'd like to disable the NVidia GTX 750M GPU on my MacBook Pro 15" (Retina, Mid 2014, Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite). I know I can use GfxCardStatus but I read I could have a more permanent solution by changing some EFI flag.
My question is:

How can I disable the discrete GPU from EFI?
I assume this is persistent across multiple reboots. I'd also want to know how to undo it if needed.

Update:
The question is basically whether the command mentioned in GfxCardStatus github issue comment here is correct or not, and how to undo it if it doesn't work.
.
An answer to this alone is a correct answer, but it'll be awesome if you can also tell me:

If you force integrated graphics in GfxCardStatus, Mac OS X (up to Yosemite at least) doesn't allow you to use multiple monitors (even though the built in Iris Pro can do it).
If I disable the discrete GPU from EFI, will macOS think that the integrated GPU is the one installed and will it let me use multiple monitors with it?

I heard that the same EFI setting is responsible for not even showing the integrated GPU to other operating systems than macOS and you have to trick it somehow to think it's macOS.
Is that true? And if yes, how to do that?


texts: Can I connect 3 displays to a late 2012 Mac Mini?

texts:
I have the late 2012 Mac Mini, which has a HDMI port and a Thunderbolt port.

I have 3 1080p monitors that each have DVI, HDMI and VGA. Is it possible to connect them to my Mini, no mirroring?


texts:
What is the OS inside the Time Capsule?
What is the OS of the Time Capsule ?


texts: "Could not sign in x-apple-md-action_message" when signing in to App Store

texts: I was trying to download a game from the App Store on my iPhone 5c (iOS 8.4) and I put in my password to download it but I got a pop-up message on my screen saying this: "Could not sign in x-apple-md-action_message". What does this mean?


texts: Can't stop the screen with the new iCloud terms from being displayed from time to time

texts:
Since a couple of weeks back, when I start (and sometime during usage of) my Apple TV this screen comes up.

(In Swedish and it translates to...)

  New terms of service for iCloud
  You must accept the new terms of service before using iCloud on this Apple TV.

If I select Show terms I just gets the Apple TV settings, but it doesn't stop the "new terms" screen from appearing again later.

The same goes for selecting Not now...

How can I stop the annoying "new terms" screen from showing up all the time?
Can it be done on the Apple TV or do I have to use my iPad or computer?


texts:
I have two Macs, a Lion and a Yosemite. I have several accounts on each one, both user and admin. I activated file sharing on both Macs and selected AFP. I can connect from any account on one Mac to any account on the other one Mac as expected, with one exception.

"As expected" means: Select go->"connect to server" in the Finder menu, then enter one of the users names on the other Mac and its password when prompted, then choose which of the folders on the other Mac to mount.

The exception is that in one of the accounts the Yosemite Mac ("xyz" - unix name) I do not get the "connect as" prompt.  It connects directly as the user "xyz" (same name) on the Lion Mac, without giving me a choice or asking for a password.  It only asks me which folder I want to mount.

I signed out of iCloud in account xyz on the Lion Mac, changed the password, and deleted the keychain, restarted, etc.  Still, no "connect as" prompt.

Now, if I sign out of iCloud in the account xyz on the Yosemite Mac, too, I do get the expected "connect as" prompt. Sign in again, no prompt.

Thus there must a permission buried somewhere on the Lion Mac that grants access to the incoming connections via my Apple ID.
However, a brute force search (recursive grep) revealed no trace of my Apple ID.
Where can such a permission be buried and how can I reset it?

I tried to replicate this (unexpected) behavior in other accounts, using new Apple IDs, but I was not successful.  I always got the expected user name/password prompt.


texts: How can change hard disk name (not partition)

texts:
The title is self-explained: I want to change the hard disk name (not the partition). I am not able to do it with Disk Utility. Any solutions?

I'm on Yosemite


texts: Clash of clans switching accounts in one device

texts: I want to to make another clash of clans base but when I log out of Game Center and log into another account it doesn't ask if I want to delete my base and sign in with the new Game Center. Is there any other was i can get a new base with out loosing my old one?


texts:
I am new to the macOS and the apple ecosystem in general. For research purposes I need to install a TexLive distribution on my new machine (MacBook Air M1) which I think can be done in at least two ways :

Using HomeBrew or similar platform
Using MacTeX

My questions :-
A. I will be using HB later on (and most probably with /usr/local as install directory) so should I install TeX using HB or MacTeX?
B. On the official website of MacTeX I read that they will release MacTeX with Arm support around April 2021 but on the linked page above they have provided MacTeX-2020-Universal.pkg which is supposed to run natively on Arm without Rosetta support. So, I am a little confused here as to what the universal package actually is.
C. Also, if I install using MacTeX+MacTeXUniversal and in April 2021 I want to upgrade will I have to delete everything and install from scratch?


texts:
I have a client who wants to add Apple Watch functionality to its app. However, my client wants to take paid from its customers using In App Purchase to activate this content. This will lead to an "empty" app on the apple watch with informative text to the user to purchase the Apple Watch IAP package to enable its functionality.

Although the request from my client is logical, I have a hard time believing Apple will approve such an app. Also, with regards to 2.12 of the review guidelines:

  Apps that are not very useful, unique, are simply web sites bundled as
  Apps, or do not provide any lasting entertainment value may be
  rejected

I can imagine Apple will interpret my client's Watch app as an app that is not very useful, until the user purchase the functionality.

Anybody with any experience here or having more insight on whether it would be worth giving it a try or not? Last thing we'd like to do is waste our time ;)


texts: iOS 8: Prevent Safari Mobile from reloading tabs by default

texts:
When switching between tabs in Safari Mobile -- Even within a few seconds -- Safari will automatically reload the tab.

This will happen more frequently between sessions: Switching between Safari Mobile to another app and back will cause every open page ("tab") to reload.

Not long ago, I found a tutorial explaining how to prevent Safari Mobile from reloading tabs while browsing that involved plugging in the iPhone, and making use of Safari Desktop's Development Web Inspector, similar to the method viewable in this tutorial: http://appletoolbox.com/2014/05/use-web-inspector-debug-mobile-safari/

To prevent the Mobile app from reloading tabs by default. However, the above tutorial is only for troubleshooting how a specific webpage appears on the iPhone, and I can no longer find the tutorial to prevent Safari from reloading all tabs each session.

Solutions tried have included:
Closing all other apps
Clearing History and Website Data
Restart
Changing Settings > Safari > Open Links from "In Background" to "In New Tab"
Resetting Network Settings
Clearing available storage space
Reset All Settings
Restore phone from backup

Tabs still reload. This is commonly attributed on the Apple Support and other threads I have read to "Memory Issues" or default behavior for "Memory Allocation":

http://forums.imore.com/ios-8/302019-safari-stop-reloading-my-pages.html

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/sick-of-safari-reloading-pages.1807865/

http://www.reddit.com/r/ipad/comments/2gv2rb/does_ios_8_fix_the_constant_tab_reloads_in_safari/

Yet pages are visible and usable in the tab immediately after switching, but then reload anyway. Not good in poor coverage areas.

Is anyone aware of a true solution to prevent this automatic reloading behavior in Safari Mobile?


texts:
Sometime ago I noticed that iCal lost all my evens and calendars. Luckily I was somehow able to "re"-synchronize it with the Outlook calendar.

Yesterday the same happened. After opening iCal all my events calendars and tasks are deleted. The funny think here is, if it comes closes to an event it still keeps me notifying that the event will happen.

Did someone experience something similar? How can I prevent iCal from forgetting the events and calendars?

I am working with Snow Leopard and iCal 4.0.4 and Office for Mac (but I do not use Outlook itself). Everything is stored locally and not synchronized with any iCloud, Google Calendar or services like that.


texts: My iPhone 6 screen is not showing all my apps, they are half way down the screen

texts: My apps on the screen are not showing all the way at the top. They are showing only on half the screen and I can't see all the apps.


texts: Where are the PNG files for the UI theme stored?

texts:
I like using my Mac with the "graphite" theme, but I'd like to still keep the color "traffic light" graphics.  I remember from various theme modifiers in the past that these are simple PNG files, so I figured if I copied the color ones into the graphite directory it would use them.

I forget where in the System these files are.  Anyone know?


texts: iPhone 7plus Pages application - table formulas

texts:
Is it possible to add a column of numbers together to get a total in the footer on the iOS Pages app on your iPhone?

I've tried to directly enter the formula: =sum(c).  However this doesn't seem to work.


texts: Black Border in External Monitor OSX El Capitan 1920 x 1080

texts:
I've got this issue with OSX El Capitan. My existing monitor show black border in resolution 1920 x 1080. The black border is shown only on left side of monitor. This never happen previously in Yosemite.

What I've tried but didn't work:

set resolution in safe mode
unplug and plug again my mini to VGA cable
Restart
play with my monitor setting (reset setting)

Here is the screenshot:

Thank you for your help


texts: MacBook Pro 13" 8,1 shuts down during boot, recovery boot and internet recovery

texts:
Laptop: MacBook Pro 8,1 (Late 2011)

List of related (I think) issues:

shuts down during boot: Apple Logo, progress bar ~10%
shuts down during recovery boot (Cmd + R): Apple Logo, progress bar ~10%
shuts down after internet recovery (Cmd + Option + R): sometimes I can see the GUI sometimes not
charger light behaves oddly: sometimes doesn't turn on and sometimes is working well (can't get the logic)
after a random shutdown I can restart the Mac only resetting SMC, if I don't reset the SMC the power button is dead

What I did so far:

changed battery with a new one (side leds are Ok)
run without battery, same issues
run without HDD, internet recovery issue
SMC + PRAM reset
removed HDD and used a new one with internet recovery, same issues
run Apple Hardware Test (D) both short and extended mode, no errors in both cases
changed thermal paste

Booting with Cmd + V:

Question: What I can do right now?

My two cents: dying SMC controller?


texts: Mac on High Sierra won't shutdown cleanly: black screen with mouse

texts:
Similar to issue "mac book pro sierra does not shutdown stays idle with a black screen and mouse".

Apple logo > Shutdown leads to black screen with mouse cursor. Stays like that for hours.

Realized this problem because it wouldn't install Mojave (also won't install 10.13.6 update). Seems I'm stuck on 10.13.3.

I tried verbose mode, but get the same black screen with no text on shutdown (did see lots of black screen with text on startup).

I get a bit more information when shutting down from Terminal:

$ sudo shutdown -r now
...
shutdown: / is busy updating; waiting for lock

Stays like that for hours. I used Activity Monitor to kill some random applications (starting with launchd) and it proceeds to shutdown. I narrowed it down to killing kextd to complete shutdown.

I've tried resetting PRAM.
I've tried resetting SMC.
I've tried removing everything from Login items (in Users & Groups).


texts: Recommendation for genealogy software for OS X?

texts:
I primarily work with gedcom files for my genealogy. What software is available for the mac which allows me to view and edit gedcom genealogy files?

If there are several options, I'd like one that interfaces with ancestry.com and/or other similar sites so I don't have to quite as much work managing searches and downloads of gedcom files.

Icing on the cake would include apps that have ipad counterparts so I can take it on the go for at least viewing, and hopefully editing.

I'm fine with apps that have their own database or file format as long as they import and export gedcom as well.


texts: Why can I not hide all the apps on my mac?

texts:
this may be a repetitive question, but I was unable to find an exact solution anywhere.

I would really like to be able to hide all of the open applications on my mac without minimizing.  I have this workflow in mind:  Hide apps which I want to keep updated, minimize apps I am actually using but need to hide temporarily.

I just don't understand why we are restricted to minimizing the final app and not hiding it?  Does anyone know how to get around this?

Thank You


texts: Remove applications from Software Update

texts:
I have two applications showing up in Software Update that I didn't install, don't exist anywhere on any volume attached to my computer (and never have), and I would like to remove them. When I click on the "Update" button an Apple ID I've never heard of shows up (a different ID for each application). I'd install the apps just so I can delete them, but both cost money that I'd rather not spend.

This question never really got a useful answer, and I couldn't find anything else relevant on Ask Different. I rebuilt the Launch Services database but no dice.

My only guess is that some applications I have, which were obtained through a friend ;), were originally installed using these Apple IDs or are otherwise associated with them, and that info is being read by Software Update. Is there some centralized place I could edit to remove these entries? I would rather not grep -r "random_letters@mail.ru" /Applications if I don't have to, as it's over 32GB, but if that's the only way I'll bite the bullet and do it. I was rather hoping there'd be a .plist somewhere I could edit real quick...


texts: Can't set the `Account` property in Mail rule

texts:
When I set my personal account as the Account property, close the dialog, and edit the rule again, the Account property is set back to iCloud.
I suspect this has something to do with my Gmail account since this happens only when I try to set my personal Gmail account as the Account property.
I have tried setting other accounts as the Account property and they seem to be saved correctly; two of them are Gmail Enterprise accounts except for one that is a regular free tier one.

I would like to know what to look for here. Maybe I've hit some quota on my personal account, maybe there's some configuration I'm missing.


texts: How to get all tunes downloaded to my iPhone from the cloud?

texts: I have tunes that show on iCloud but I can't get them on my iPhone. How do I restore these? These represent about half of my saved music. When I backup I only get the songs that are currently on my iPhone. This happened when I upgraded to the iPhone 6 from the iPhone 5.


texts: Enigma: How can my iPad mini without GPS know his location?

texts:
I have an iPad mini, non-cellular, without GPS.

Yesterday, I had opened the app RATP. In the app, I had a map. I took my iPad outside, in Paris. I opened my iPad. I still had the map. And — surprise, surprise! — the iPad showed my location on the map. When I moved, the iPad showed my new location!

How is this wonder possible?


texts: Allow user to SSH to my Mac, but sandbox the account

texts:
I would like to create an SSH account on my Mac to allow some friends to test code on my machine from the command line.

However, I want to sandbox them, so that the only folders/files they can see are those owned by them within their user folder. All other user folders, the application folder, etc, would be hidden. Ideally external volumes would also be hidden.

Is this possible to do with a standard user account? (The other accounts on the system are admin accounts) Is the guest account a better choice?


texts: What does MD545FD/A model of iPad means?

texts: Usually there is a model number with AXXXX. What does MD545FD/A mean? At Identify your iPad model you can see there are avery of them with AXXX.


texts:
The Contacts app on my Mac has separate "On My Mac" and "iCloud" groups, but I really just want one set of contacts on iCloud that will be accessible on both my Mac and my phone.

Is there a way to merge the two sets of contacts and/or disable the "On My Mac" group?


texts: Apple Mail not saving Smart Mailboxes - chmod solution not working

texts:
I tried the answer suggested in :
https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/93305/397729
by using :
chmod -a 'everyone deny write,delete,append,writeattr,writeextattr,chown' ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/com~apple~mail/Data/MailData/* ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/com~apple~mail/Data/MailData/Signatures/*
but I get the errors below. Any suggestion ? :

chmod: Entry not found when attempting delete '/Users/fernandoaires/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~mail/Data/MailData/Signatures' chmod: Entry not found when attempting delete '/Users/fernandoaires/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~mail/Data/MailData/ubiquitous_SyncedRules.plist' chmod: Entry not found when attempting delete '/Users/fernandoaires/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~mail/Data/MailData/ubiquitous_SyncedSmartMailboxes.plist' chmod: Entry not found when attempting delete '/Users/fernandoaires/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~mail/Data/MailData/Signatures/ubiquitous_229055C3-8D60-480F-A529-4C550A785C72.mailsignature' chmod: Entry not found when attempting delete '/Users/fernandoaires/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~mail/Data/MailData/Signatures/ubiquitous_4CD146D0-394A-4625-B408-C8350EF50E52.mailsignature' chmod: Entry not found when attempting delete '/Users/fernandoaires/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~mail/Data/MailData/Signatures/ubiquitous_5C74A1D3-02D1-406E-A4BD-8D7AA2DD97C0.mailsignature' chmod: Entry not found when attempting delete '/Users/fernandoaires/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~mail/Data/MailData/Signatures/ubiquitous_6D71A2C8-D439-49C3-B9B8-E2EB61D4AF22.mailsignature' chmod: Entry not found when attempting delete '/Users/fernandoaires/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~mail/Data/MailData/Signatures/ubiquitous_78295AC5-6832-4122-B687-02EFD09E870B.mailsignature' chmod: Entry not found when attempting delete '/Users/fernandoaires/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~mail/Data/MailData/Signatures/ubiquitous_9C896C36-9E7C-4428-938E-74191FF57E30.mailsignature' chmod: Entry not found when attempting delete '/Users/fernandoaires/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~mail/Data/MailData/Signatures/ubiquitous_AllSignatures.plist' chmod: Entry not found when attempting delete '/Users/fernandoaires/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~mail/Data/MailData/Signatures/ubiquitous_D0DCB4E3-E16E-4C9E-8D39-E6CC4483DFC9.mailsignature'


texts: What is the largest hard drive a Mac Pro 3,1 (early 2008) will support?

texts:
What is the largest internal hard drive a Mac Pro 3,1 (early 2008) can support?

I read here that it's around 1.2 TBs is that correct?  Also I plan to run Proxmox on it, not Mac OS X (well, I might run it as a VM, but not directly on the bare metal).


texts: I am trying to figure out if there is a way to combine workflows in Apple's Automator application. Basically I saved out the automation as an application and it works like this: I can drag a folder of images onto it and it scales and renames them. At the end of the automation I would like to trigger another workflow. The issue is that the previous workflows images are taken as input to the new workflow. How can I run multiple workflows without using the output of the previous workflow as the input for the current. Thanks


texts:
My MBP 15" 2018's touch bar died few days back.
I read a lot of people suggesting to kill process "Touch Bar Agent". But, I don't find process "Touch Bar Agent" in the activity monitor, nor via grep in terminal.
Interestingly, my another MBP which has a working touch bar does not show process "Touch Bar Agent" as well.
I am running "macOS Catalina 10.15.6". Did apple change the process name in latest updates?
Edit:
There are numerous post here which suggest to kill that process, suggesting the process used to exist in older releases. Example: this


texts: Can't export HEVC videos from Photos app

texts:
I have a late 2012 iMac running Catalina (10.15.7) as it's too old to upgrade to Big Sur. Photos are synced from my phone with iCloud.
I'm unable to export HEVC videos to other formats. When I drag and drop to the finder, the cursor shows a green plus sign but nothing happens. No error, but no video either.
When I choose File > Export > Export 1 Video… I get an unable to export error: Unknown error (0).
The videos play fine in Photos. I can export them using File > Export > Export Unmodified Original, and they show up as HEVC videos in .mov containers. They play fine in the Finder with Quicklook, and I can open them in Quicktime Player, although File > Export As has all its options greyed out.
This seems to apply to every HEVC video in my library. Other formats (e.g. H.264) work normally. I have a newer iMac running Big Sur synced to the same iCloud library, and I can export normally there.
Apple says HEVC support was introduced in High Sierra, so Catalina should be fine. And there must be some support, since I can watch the videos.
What could be causing this and how can I fix it?


texts: Difference in processor performance in base 13" Mid 2020 and upgraded 13" Mid 2020 MacBook Pro?

texts:
Is there any difference in the efficiency of the processor between the two MacBook Pro:

Mid 2019, 13" MacBook Pro upgraded to 2,8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
Mid 2020, 13" MacBook Pro (Four Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports, base model)

I am fully satisfied with the 2019 version I have now. But is it at least the same, as the base model Mid 2020 13"?

Would public geekbench results for above macs be an effective comparison?


texts:
I run curl I got

-bash: /usr/local/php5/bin/curl: No such file or directory

When I run
which curl I got

/usr/bin/curl

When I run /usr/bin/curl --version I got

curl 7.49.1 (x86_64-apple-darwin16.0) libcurl/7.49.1 SecureTransport zlib/1.2.8
Protocols: dict file ftp ftps gopher http https imap imaps ldap ldaps pop3 pop3s rtsp smb smbs smtp smtps telnet tftp
Features: AsynchDNS IPv6 Largefile GSS-API Kerberos SPNEGO NTLM NTLM_WB SSL libz UnixSockets

What should I do to be able to run just curl again ?

I never understand much about this export stuffs.

Can someone please shed a little light on this ?

If I run
export -p

declare -x Apple_PubSub_Socket_Render="/private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.8nDQkuFrwz/Render"
declare -x DBUS_LAUNCHD_SESSION_BUS_SOCKET="/private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.rRmvUm9NdX/unix_domain_listener"
declare -x DISPLAY="/private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.cw926giJNa/org.macosforge.xquartz:0"
declare -x HOME="/Users/bheng"
declare -x LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
declare -x LOGNAME="bheng"
declare -x OLDPWD
declare -x PATH="/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/php5/bin:/Users/bheng/.composer/vendor/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/pgsql/bin:/opt/X11/bin"
declare -x PWD="/Users/bheng"
declare -x SECURITYSESSIONID="186a6"
declare -x SHELL="/bin/bash"
declare -x SHLVL="1"
declare -x SSH_AUTH_SOCK="/private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.afZzV5wsc3/Listeners"
declare -x TERM="xterm-256color"
declare -x TERM_PROGRAM="Apple_Terminal"
declare -x TERM_PROGRAM_VERSION="377"
declare -x TERM_SESSION_ID="790013ED-2C1D-4D5E-9BC2-DF773A8473A8"
declare -x TMPDIR="/var/folders/54/y_678c6n7q7_pgk1v5lkzwnr0000gp/T/"
declare -x USER="bheng"
declare -x XPC_FLAGS="0x0"
declare -x XPC_SERVICE_NAME="0"
declare -x __CF_USER_TEXT_ENCODING="0x1F6:0x0:0x0"


texts: Is there an OS X equivalent to the web debugging proxy Fiddler?

texts: I do web development on Windows for my day job, and I rely a lot on Fiddler, which is web debugging proxy.  What is an equivalent tool for OS X?


texts: While I'm just switching to Terminal window using Cmd + Tab + Up my Terminal window started floating on top of all other windows. I am unable to bring it down. I've tried Cmd + Tab + Down but didn't work.


texts:
I want to install a few CPAN modules in OS X.

It filed since the module I want requires make and gcc to be installed. A quick google on the subject tells me that I need to install "Apple Developer Tools".

Do I really have to install the entire Xcode package (it's a 3 GB download) just to get make and gcc?


texts: How to turn off calls, iMessage and texts, but stay on Wifi?

texts: I want to disable people from contacting my phone, but I still want to use Wifi for web browsing. Do I just take the SIM card out?


texts: Is there a (non-jailbroken) iPhone app that works like Android Lock?

texts:
Is there an app which works like Andriod Lock on IPhone. I had read cydia offers
but on jailbreak. Is there an official one for this.


texts:
The ITunes store app has gone from my phone. When i go to app store, the option open doesn't work.

Also it's not in icloud.