texts:
Let's say I want to dynamically assign an open window a number (or an alias) to be able to activate it quickly later.
For example, say that I manually activate a Chrome Window that contains several Amazon searches, and I want to assign it the number 1, so that I can later activate it with a keyboard shortcut e.g. option+1. Similarly I may have another Chrome window holding a different set of tabs (e.g. StackOverflow tabs), and assign it the number 2, so that I can later activate it by doing option+2. And so on.
A variant of the above would be using aliases (i.e. strings) that I could type on a lightweight prompt on the screen (as in Alfred or Spotlight), instead of using just numbers, to activate the corresponding window. An example here could be that I give a window the alias "foo", another window the alias "bar" and then I can activate them by typing "w bar" or "w bar" in e.g. Alfred. Obviously Alfred here is just an example. The goal is to just be able to give windows names and activate them later.
I know there are several automation / keyboard frameworks out there (e.g. Automator, Keyboard Maestro, and also obviously AppleScript), but many of these solutions don't seem to directly provide this functionality, and/or require extensive custom coding, making it almost as difficult as building a custom application from scratch for this particular purpose. Instead, I'm wondering if there's anything particularly well suited or readily available for this type of operation.


texts: How Do I Partition A Raid 0 Using Disk Utility?

texts:
I have just purchased a WD My Passport Pro. It comes in a striped RAID 0 configuration comprising of two 2TB drives.

I want to partition the drive into 3:

Photoshop Cache
Lightroom Catalogue
Video files

I am not worried about backup as I am backing up regularly from this RAID.

When I look at the drive in Disk Utility there is no tab for partitioning, so I am unable to create there partitions. How can I do so?


texts: Deleted email re-appears in inbox after it has been deleted in Mail app

texts:
After upgrading to Catalina on my MacBook Pro, I noticed that deleted emails re-appear in my in box after a few minutes after the deletion. The only way I can really delete them is by using my iPad or my phone to delete them. At least they don't re-appear if I use any of those devices.

Is this an introduced bug in the Catalina version of Mac mail? Is anyone else experiencing the same issue?


texts: How do you delete applications which are stored in your system preferences?

texts:
I have these two programs "Fan Control" and "Shades" which I got from the Macupdate website. With other downloads it seems they can simply be dragged nd dropped from the applications folder into the trash and all their history is gone with them. However, Fan Control and Shades seem to be stored somewhere differently and I cannot seem to find a way to delete them. They are seen in the system perferences and no where else now. I deleted them from the download folder and the all files folder but the icon and its function are still there.

Please help
Thank you


texts: Attempting to install High Sierra alongside Windows 10 (1809 October 2018 ISO): "This disk cannot be used to startup your computer"

texts:
I have installed Windows 10 (in UEFI mode - no bios emulation) first on an empty SSD of an iMac (mid-2011). Once I was done I attempted to perform a usb-install of High Sierra (I have a created an HFS+ partition around 180GB or so at the end of the SSD). However the MacOS X installer for High Sierra complains that the disk in question cannot be a startup disk. Partitioning info looks like so:

-bash-3.2# diskutil list disk0

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *512.1 GB   disk0
   1:           Windows Recovery                         523.2 MB   disk0s1
   2:                        EFI NO NAME                 104.9 MB   disk0s2
   3:         Microsoft Reserved                         16.8 MB    disk0s3
   4:       Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP                322.1 GB   disk0s4
   5:                  Apple_HFS Windows Shell EFI       67.1 MB    disk0s5
   6:                  Apple_HFS MacOS                   188.2 GB   disk0s6

-bash-3.2# gpt -r show disk0
       start        size  index  contents
           0           1         PMBR
           1           1         Pri GPT header
           2          32         Pri GPT table
          34        2014
        2048     1021952      1  GPT part - DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC
     1024000      204800      2  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
     1228800       32768      3  GPT part - E3C9E316-0B5C-4DB8-817D-F92DF00215AE
     1261568   629114880      4  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7
   630376448      131072      5  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
   630507520   367659663      6  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
   998167183     2048000
  1000215183          32         Sec GPT table
  1000215215           1         Sec GPT header

The only thing I can imagine being wrong is that the EFI partition is either too small or is not being first on the disk. If that's the case is there a way to salvage the situation without reformatting everything?


texts: External bluetooth dongle not working with macbook pro 13 inch early 2015

texts:
I have macbook pro 13 inch early 2015
it's bluetooth is out of order since long.

I got this bluetooth dongle from local market

This shows up in my usb tree

but i still cannot see it in HCI controller

i tried going through this guide https://www.atpeaz.com/using-unsupported-bluetooth-4-0-usb-dongle-with-os-x/ but it didn't work as well.
I have also tried reset SMC some time ago, that didn't work as well.
any idea on how to make this work ?


texts: iOS 13 Mail App - Flag Only A Specific Message In A Conversation When Using Gmail?

texts:
I've noticed that with iOS, when I flag an e-mail message with Mail, every message in the conversation gets flagged.  If I flag a message on my phone and then login to Gmail on my computer, I might have multiple flags (one for every message in the conversation).

How do I change the config so that only the message I specifically flagged in Mail is flagged within Gmail?


texts: Can automator create symlinks but skip existing files?

texts:
Today I discovered the awesome Create Symlinks action from JuneCloud.  It works great, but creates duplicate files (appending a number to each one) for any symlink that already exists in the final location.  I want it to just ignore those files and keep on trucking.

I tried using a shell script ln -s but that just plain fails with a The action “Run Shell Script” encountered an error. message after hitting a file that already exists.

Is there a way to create a symlink but SKIP existing files?  I know I can us -f to overwrite but I'd rather just skip.  How can this be done either in Automator or shell script?


texts: What is the difference between iOS Developer Program and iOS Developer Enterprise Program?

texts:
Can I, as a single person, sell my apps with the normal iOS Developer Program ? What is the difference between these two ?
I have the link here, I just don't understand what really differs between these two... http://developer.apple.com/programs/which-program/


texts: External drive format to be writeable on both Mac and Windows

texts:
What file-format an external drive has to be for it to be writeable on both Macs and Windows machines?

I have a 750GB external drive originally formatted in NTFS for Windows, but it's not writeable on Mac. I know FAT32 is writeable by both systems but am I correct to remember that it has limits to partition size (32GB if formatted from Windows or 2TB) and file size (4GB)? If that's the case then it's not good for me as I use it to transfer files over 5GB.


texts: My contacts on my IPhone 4s was lost. If I backed up my phone to the computer, will the contacts also be saved? where can I find that or how can I restore my contact list?


texts:
On my iPad, I have GoodReader, as well as ReaddleDocs, and both allow me to connect to a large assortment of Cloud Storage providers. On my Windows machine, there are the Cloudberry Lab assortment of products. On my Mac, there are less options.

I have a license for Syncovery, and have been using it since it was called "Super Flexible File Syncronizer". It works great for large pushs and pulls, but doesn't have a great GUI. It also doesn't support as large of an assortment a I would like.

I found Interarchy 10 and DragonDisk. However, the best front-runner right now is CyberDuck, though the GUI is not super shinny.

Am I missing any options? Paid or free is fine, as I don't mind supporting any developers for work they do. If it can have the Mac skin to it, it would be awesome!


texts: Does App transfer between developers necessitate a re-purchase by end users?

texts:
If an app gets transferred from one developer to another, does it necessitate a re-purchase?

From the App Store Connect, App transfer overview page:

  You transfer an app when you’ve sold the app to another developer or you want to move it to another App Store Connect account or organization.

  You can transfer the ownership of an app to another developer without removing the app from the App Store. The app retains its reviews and ratings during and after the transfer, and users continue to have access to future updates. Additionally, when an app is transferred, it maintains its Bundle ID — it's not possible to update the Bundle ID after a build has been uploaded for the app.

I have purchased a free/paid app from the App Store but it is not currently installed on the device. In the meanwhile, the original developer of the app decides to sell away the ownership to someone else.

As an end user who previously bought the app, (and any associated in-app purchases,)will this necessitate a re-purchase? i.e. will the app remain linked to my Apple ID or not?

Emphasis on the fact that the app is not currently installed on device. The linked documentation does mention that the users will continue to have access to future updates, but I am looking for an authoritative documentation which answers the query. (Or someone who had personal experience with this scenario)


texts: Macbook 12" doesn't sleep/wake on close/open

texts:
I bought an Macbook 12" 2016 which doesn't want so sleep when I close the lid. Furthermore it also doesn't want so start if I open the lid. I tried resetting the SMC and NCRAM, then I reinstalled MACOS. Nothing helped. I also tried to get it so sleep with magnets, this worked out quiet well, so I don't think that the sensors are broken.
Here is my pmset -g output:
System-wide power settings:
Currently in use:
 lidwake              1
 autopoweroff         1
 standbydelayhigh     86400
 autopoweroffdelay    259200
 standbydelaylow      10800
 standby              1
 proximitywake        0
 ttyskeepawake        1
 hibernatemode        3
 gpuswitch            2
 powernap             0
 hibernatefile        /var/vm/sleepimage
 highstandbythreshold 50
 displaysleep         2
 sleep                1
 acwake               0
 halfdim              1
 tcpkeepalive         1
 disksleep            10

and my pmset -g assertion output:
Assertion status system-wide:
   BackgroundTask                 0
   ApplePushServiceTask           0
   UserIsActive                   1
   PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep    0
   PreventSystemSleep             0
   ExternalMedia                  0
   PreventUserIdleSystemSleep     0
   NetworkClientActive            0
Listed by owning process:
   pid 142(WindowServer): [0x0000001800098047] 00:00:00 UserIsActive named: "com.apple.iohideventsystem.queue.tickle serviceID:100000271 name:AppleHIDKeyboardEve product:Apple Internal Keyb eventType:3"
    Timeout will fire in 120 secs Action=TimeoutActionRelease
No kernel assertions.
Idle sleep preventers: IODisplayWrangler

Thanks for your help!


texts: Apple’s enterprise distribution and management for iOS apps

texts:
Is there an easy way to distribute same iOS (iPad, iPhone) app to multiple enterprise clients? We develop custom “Enterprise apps” that can be utilized by various clients. These apps get linked directly to client’s servers; but is there a way that we, as a third party, could find a solution to distribute/manage apps for our clients?

In other words, for client experience of using an app should be completely seamless without having to worry about anything after first time app download. Here are some specifics:

Does enterprise account option allow distributing same app to multiple clients? i.e. if I develop an app  - call it “Appyme”, can Appyme be distributed to 200 users of client A and 500 users of client B
Do we need to have 2 enterprise accounts  - one of Client A  and one for client B? My assumption was that I needed to have just one developer account under my company’s name
Can this be done over the air or will we need to get these installed on all 700 devices?
How can “Appyme” upgrades be deployed to these users?
What happens to clients’ account and users when my personal enterprise account expires every year?


texts: Is there any way to hamstring my system?

texts:
I'm looking to temporarily reduce the amount of cores and RAM available to my system, as well as the processing power.

I've written a server that uses epoll (Linux) and I want to get a rough comparison of it's performance to a server I've witten using kqueue (BSD/Darwin).

My Mac Book Pro is way more powerful than the Linux machine I'll be using, so I want to reign it in a bit.

I was thinking about creating a virtual machine and giving it the resources that I don't want available to OSX, but I'm not certain about how resource sharing works with the VM, and if this will be a reliable way of hamstringing my system. Also, this will just reduce the number of cores, not alter the performance of the CPU.

Is there an easier and possibly more reliable way to do this? Please note that I'm a bit thick when it comes to hardware.


texts: How to disable Location Services using Siri?

texts: Which sentence should I say to disable Location Services using Siri? Saying "disable location services" she says she is unable to do that!


texts: iPhone services required previous password for Mac

texts:
A few days ago I changed the password on my Mac (Big Sur, 11.1). The Mac uses my personal Apple ID.
Today I changed my iCloud password through my Mac settings. Then I needed to change it on other devices (iPhone, iPad).
On the iPhone (iOS 14.3), after entering the new password, and the passcode, the iPhone asked for my Mac password. After entering the new password several times, and failing, I tried the old password. That worked?!
There was a note that I could authorize using another device, e.g., Mac or iPad, but no indication of how to initiate that, and the other devices were not forthcoming.
The other option, apparently, is to reset the encryption path, and possibly lose anything in iCloud. (I admit, I didn't investigate the ramifications extensively.)
Why is the iPhone not using the new Mac password? How long do I need to remember old Mac passwords?


texts:
I have Maverick and the option to Upgrade to OS X El Capitan pops up.
I don't want to do this. Ever.
How do I disable this notification?


texts: How to automatically login to captive portals on OS X?

texts:
How can I automatically login to captive portals on OS X?

A captive portal is used by (often not password-protected) wireless networks that present a web page as soon as you connect to them, requiring you to login.

I have to login to different wireless networks like this very frequently, and none of the captive portals seem to remember my login/password information. Is there a way to automate the login process somehow, or at least store the login/password pairs in the Keychain?

Update: There’s an iOS app called AutoWifi that basically handles this. If it’s possible to do this on iOS with all its restrictions, surely it must be possible to do something like it on OS X, right?

Related fun fact: This is how Apple tests for captive portals on OS X and iOS:

  OS X and iOS make a request to http://www.apple.com/library/test/success.html every time you connect to a WiFi network.

As of Yosemite the URL is now:  http://captive.apple.com/hotspot-detect.html

This URL returns the following HTML:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
    <TITLE>Success</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
Success
</BODY>
</HTML>


texts: Have installed “Command line” but whenever i try to build and run my program terminal says “No such file or directory”

texts:
I have tried to build and run my project through CodeLite.

I have installed Command Line but somehow it doesn't work.

It says "no such file or directory"

but whenever I ask it to look for gcc, it tells me that i have it in my Mac.

What should I do? Please help!


texts: How do I mirror/copy/save a harddrive from an old macbook that has an account in a logged-in state?

texts:
I have an old macbook that I wish to keep all the data from the drive as it currently exists - in the state that it is presently, exactly. Why does this matter? Because the laptop, when suspended and the battery drains, will retain that state upon restoration of power ... and the account is super old - and I don't know the password. I'd like to upgrade the laptop to newer RAM and maybe an SSD, but I have to keep the old hard drive with state and everything intact (to save session, login, etc.).

I'm concerned that if I pull the hard drive, something will result in the drive getting corrupted, or the login state getting corrupted, and I'll lose everything. Ideally, I could clone the drive to an external hard drive, including power-state, and boot using target-disk mode. Copying the data will be an option eventually, but I have software on that computer that only runs on that computer. (If I were to upgrade, I'd have to re-buy licensing, etc.)

Again, this is important because I don't know the password - the laptop is from 2008 (I think), and I've lost data from old macs before (mini and iMac) when I did the 'change the password for this user' trick, which resulted in losing the keychain access (login keychain saved with different password), and loss of data access.

I'm not opposed to using John (the Ripper) to recover the password. (It's my laptop, after all, and I can let the recover run for days or even weeks without being concerned about it ... it would actually be quite nice, since then I could just change my password to something recent I'll actually remember!) But I've only ever heard of that program in passing, and I don't know how to prepare a mac for its use.

UPDATE:
After extracting the hard drive and attempting to boot with it as an externally-attached drive, I received a hardware-level error that I "must reboot the computer". This does not bode well. I'm hoping that by hard-powering-down the computer I haven't corrupted the hard drive image of the logged-in session. I'm now attempting to copy the disk info to another external disk using the Restore function in Disk Utility, as suggested by in a referred answer...


texts: "No PDFs" in iBooks on ipad; i.e. PDFs don't persist in Library

texts:
PDFs instantly disappear in iBooks after I click out of them.
In particular, I can read PDFs by going into the "Files" app, going to my icloud drive, clicking a pdf, then clicking "open in ibooks". The pdf shows up fine and I can read it.
However, as soon as I click the "back" button on the upper left corner of ibooks, in the "Library/PDFs" of ibooks, I see the book I just read appear for half a second, and then instantly disappear, and then it says

No PDFs. All the PDFs in your library will automatically be added to this collection.

What's going on? How can I get my Library -> PDFs screen in ibooks to actually show the PDFs that I have been reading, instead of having them instantly disappear? Currently, in order to read the PDF again, I have to go to the Files app, and click "open in ibooks" every time.
I'm using ibooks on ipad air 2, with the latest system upgrades as of late August 2020.


texts: Permanently Delete a Book from across all devices?

texts:
I've added books to my iPad book app via the "Open in books" option while viewing a PDF. To be clear, these are not "books" bought on the Apple Store, they are PDFs which may or may not have ever been a book.
Now, when I delete them, they still appear as a choice on the iTunes app when I sync my iPad.
This is similar to Delete book from iBooks Mac when I delete it from iOS with I hope, a couple notable exceptions. Over 5 years have passed, and the process may be different. More important, that question was referring to purchased books. I accept that if I buy a book, I may be stuck owning it forever. In this case, I was using the book app as a repository of PDFs for easy access, but not expecting them to be a permanent addition to the collection. Yes, I understand I can deselect those titles, but am specifically asking for a long term removal.


texts: Is there a usb c dock with USB and thunderbolt 2 connectors?

texts:
I have a 2017 13" Macbook Pro.  Sadly, there are only 2 USB type C ports and 1 of them is for charging.  I need at least 1x USB and 1x Thunderbolt 2 (for external Monitor).  I bought a USB C -> Thunderbolt 2 adapter for $50 bucks...and honestly it feels like a complete rip off.  I'm hoping for a similar product at this price with more than 1 connection.

Bonus for a dock with a charging light.  The closest thing I've found has no Thunderbolt 2 and terrible reviews.  I'd like to at least obtain parity with my 2014 MBP before I consider keeping this laptop.


texts: Why would HardwareGrowler show my 'Apple T1 Controller' disconnecting?

texts:
HardwareGrowler just showed me the following notifications on my late-2016 13" MacBook Pro:

Apple T1 Controller disconnecting.
Network port en5 disconnecting.

I'm sitting on my couch doing nothing at all. Do I have a hardware fault?


texts: Where does the OS X routing table come from?

texts: Trying to find out where the initial routing configuration for OS X is stored (plist, or wherever), and what happens at startup to read that configuration and configure the network interface(s).


texts:
I have an early 2015 base mode Mac Book Air.
I just updated to Big sur. Now I have jerky video playback on Chrome.
Youtube works fine, but on other sites like reddit and sports streaming, the video plays for 1 second, then freezes for 1 second, the plays for one second, then freezes for one second....consistently like this without resolving.
Thanks for any help you can provide!


texts: Why doesn't Spotlight look inside shell scripts?

texts:
I have a bunch of shell scripts (all plain text files) in /usr/local/scripts

If I do fgrep -il '@todo' * there are 14 files which match.

If I do mdfind -onlyin /usr/local/scripts '@TODO' there are no results.

How do I get Spotlight to search these files?

n.b. Previous answers suggest adding filetypes to

/System/Library/Spotlight/RichText.mdimporter/Contents/Info.plist

but that file can no longer be edited. I'm not even sure what I would add to that file if I could edit it.


texts: In Terminal, can I find out the current Finder folder?

texts:
It is commonly asked how to get a Terminal prompt from a Finder window.  I am asking the opposite.

I would like a command-line way of determining the working directory of the "current" Finder window.


texts:
My goal is to switch spaces from within an apple script. My shortcut to switch to the 4th space is ctrl+4, but when I tried this in an apple script nothing happens:

tell application "System Events"
    keystroke "4" using {control down}
end tell

What am I doing wrong?


texts: I download a lot of PDFs, jpegs, PNG etc that are only needed for a few hours. Is there a way to make a folder which allows me to access the items but periodically self deletes (sends everything to the trash folder) or tag them in such a way that individual files will delete themselves after a given time limit?


texts: Trying to mount mhddfs / osxfuse via fstab

texts:
I'm trying to create a virtual drive pool using osxFuse and mhddfs.

I'm on OSX 10.9.5. I've tried osxFuse v2.7.3 installed via the package installer. I've also tried the homebrew cask install method. I've had the same experiences regardless of install method.

This command works for me:

$ sudo mhddfs /Volumes/D01,/Volumes/D12,/Volumes/D103,/Volumes/D110 /mnt/DrivePoolA -o allow_other,volname=DrivePoolA

However, I believe I should also be able to accomplish the same using the 'mount' command, but I've had no luck. I've tried a variety of things similar to the line below. Any suggestions? What am I missing.

sudo mount -t mhddfs -o allow_other,volname=DrivePoolA /Volumes/D01,/Volumes/D12,/Volumes/D103,/Volumes/D110

Finally, and most importantly, I'm trying to mount the drivePool with fstab. My fstab looks like this:

# <file system>  <mount point> <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
mhddfs#/Volumes/D01,/Volumes/D12/,/Volumes/D103/,/Volumes/D110        /mnt/DrivePoolA    osxfusefs    allow_other,volname=DrivePoolA 0 0

However, when I run sudo mount -a on that fstab, I get an error message which states:

  This program is not meant to be called directly. The OSXFUSE library calls it. Available mount options: [followed by the list of mount options]`

Now, I'm assuming that that error is coming from osxfuse_mounter, because I found the txt of the error in the source code of the 'support' project on github. I assume that the error is being passed through back to the 'mount' program, which is spitting it back out the the command line.

I've also tried the following fstab, omitting the options, dump, and pass:

# <file system>  <mount point> <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
mhddfs#/Volumes/D01,/Volumes/D12/,/Volumes/D103/,/Volumes/D110    /mnt/DrivePoolA    osxfusefs

After running  sudo mount -a with this configuration I get no errors, but nothing seems to happen.

Any suggestions?


texts: Workflow Services not showing in Service Menu

texts:
All of a sudden my Automator services are no longer showing in the Service menu in Mail.

None of them.

All I see is No Service Apply (grayed out).

I know they still work, if I open them in Automator in they saved location (Services).


texts: How do I stop OSX from deprioritizing a background app (possibly GPU related)?

texts:
OSX seems to have an auto-deprioritization feature that I want to turn off.

I'm encoding some videos and while the encoding window is in the foreground the process is using 150% CPU and 75% GPU

Approximately one minute after it loses forground focus that drops to 40%/20%.  As soon as it regains focus it goes right back up.

While I get the purpose of such a feature it's incredibly annoying in this case.  Anyone know exactly what this is and how to disable it?

10.15.5

[edit] To make matters worse it also does this when the screensaver kicks in

I've also tried renice-ing the process with no luck


texts: I'm capturing some old Mini DV tapes using Quicktime. The Firewire isn't outputting audio so I'm using the headphone jack in the camera to get my audio. I plugged a standard stereo headphone into the camera and my Mic Line In. I chose my video and audio device in Quicktime. I'm getting audio in, but when I play it back I get buzzing in the right channel. I assume this is because the camera records in mono as apposed to stereo and the computer is trying to record a right channel that isn't there. I don't have a single channel headphone cord so I need a way to only record the left channel. Can I do this in quicktime?


texts: Why the huge calorie difference between outdoor and indoor activities in Apple Watch?

texts:
The calories consumed for an indoor activity is upto 2 to 4 times that of the outdoor activity of the same nature given the same conditions.

For instance, the active calories consumed for an outdoor walk for 25 minutes covering 1.5 km is shown as 50 (avg. heart rate 114 bpm). I walked the same course the next day but with the indoor workout. The indoor workout under the same conditions is shown to burn 150! This also applies with a treadmill.

It gets a little annoying when a no-sweat treadmill session can burn 100 calories while a tiresome outdoor brisk walk burns less than half that amount.

The same also applies to cycling. 10 minute outdoor cycling covering 2.35 km (155 bpm) results in 35 active calories burnt. The same with indoor cycling shows 120!

I've been noticing this difference for over 2 months now.

What's wrong with the whole calorie consumption system in the Apple Watch? Which one is (more or less) accurate? Indoor or outdoor activity?

WatchOS 4.3.1

Update: problem persists with WatchOS 5.0.1


texts: Can you do a group Google chat with Messages?

texts:
How do you do a group Google chat (Hangouts) with iOS Messages? Specifically I would like to do a group chat via iOS Messages with multiple people who use Google Hangouts either where they initiate the group chat or I do.

Thanks all for any ideas or suggestions!


texts: Selecting different letters like "ä" and "õ" on IPhone SE

texts:
I have to press and hold the the default letter "a" for example which then opens another list of modified letters which I can then choose If I slide my finger without lifting it up to the "ä".

I find it inconvenient, is there a way to set it that you when you press and hold the default letter and lift up your finger that the alternative letter menu still stays up?

Or any other  suggestions which you think might be more preferrable to me?


texts: What is the real working method of making a bootable usb drive?

texts:
Always when I need to make a bootable usb drive on a mac I struggle, I end up switching to windows because none of the below works for me, I'm using MacBook Pro:

running sudo dd if=Debian.is of=/dev/rdisk2 bs=512k in terminal
using Disk Utility, formatting the usb to have 1 partition, MBR and unmounting the partition, then dragging the iso image onto restore tab
using diskutils for the above

On Windows we have plenty of tools. I always struggle with creating either Ubuntu bootable  usb stick or Windows 7 in the company deployment process.


texts: Are there any gotchas with using two Apple IDs for one user in the App Store?

texts:
To date I have had an Apple ID tied to my personal email address. It uses my personal paypal account for the purchases, and currently it has a credit balance thanks to some Christmas iTunes gift cards.

With the App Store recently being released, I'd like to buy an OS X app for business purposes. I don't want to use the credit balance on my personal Apple ID account, so I was thinking about creating a new Apple ID just for when I buy apps that I use for business. This way I could have the business Apple ID tied to my business paypal account.

However, I'm concerned that there might be some gotchas with using two different Apple IDs on the same MacBook by the same user. Before I just try this blindly, does anyone have any experience or know of any gotchas?


texts: Send Docs to iPad via email address like Kindle?

texts: Is there a way to send docs to your iPad (iBooks) via an email address endpoint like Amazon has for your Kindle?


texts: High Sierra - Terminal lags if background opacity is set

texts:
After upgrading, I noticed my terminal got extremely slow (MBP 2013). There is a noticeable input delay, moving the window or switching to another application lags and skips the animation. I noticed the background needs around 1s to recreate the opacity/blur effect after window switching, so I tried disabling the effect in the settings, which restored previous performance completely.
Is this a known issue? I'd like to have my transparent, blurred background back.


texts: Retina MacBook Pro (non-Force touch) trackpad can't "click" as usual

texts:
I was working with my mid-2014 Retina MacBook Pro yesterday and everything was normal. Today, when I turned it on, I've noticed that trackpad is feeling a bit "weird". It's like, unless I forcefully touch the trackpad, it's not registering any click. It was much smoother and easy-to-press just yesterday, and it was just inside my hard-bag all the day, not damaged etc. It feels like it's a force-touch trackpad (while it's not), this is the closest I can describe how it feels. I can't get the regular "click" feeling and response from the trackpad.

What should I do?


texts: How to add Spotlight comments to the bundled OS X apps?

texts:
I'd like to add a Spotlight comment to TextEdit.app. Is that possible?

What I've done:

Open Finder
Browse to /Applications/
Select TextEdit
Press ⌘ + I (Get Info)
Click the lock icon to unlock the dialog
Click on Spotlight comment text field
Nothing happens. Even cut, copy and paste options are disabled in the context menu.

This seems to be the case for all the other OS X bundled apps as well (Font Book, iChat, iCal, …)

I could create an alias of the app and give comments to it, but are there any other ways?


texts: Create a Database Environment Mac OS/SQL Developer

texts:
Hi I am very new to all of this.
I am trying to prototype an function on my local machine. I am using SQLDeveloper and trying to understand what I would need to do to create a database locally. I'm probably using the wrong language so I will try to be more specific. I don't have access to a server where I can build this database and I would need to do it locally - how would I set up my SQLDeveloper to use part of my hard drive space a server where I can build the database?


texts: How to force the Mac to not expire passwords?

texts:
This morning, when I logged into my Mac, it forced me to change my password. Because I'm unlikely to remember a new password, I had to choose an insecure password that will be easier to remember.

It also won't let me change the password back.

I went to the Security & Privacy settings and found NOTHING that can control this behavior.

Everything on the Internet that is even remotely related is about Active Directory, but I'm sure this thing isn't using Active Directory.

How do you make a Mac NOT do this?


texts: Contextual menu in Safari does not offer option to download PDF

texts:
Some websites (e.g., for academic journals) show PDF files in frames. Sometimes I would like to download the PDF file, but doing so is annoyingly difficult: right-clicking on the PDF brings up a contextual menu that does not have an option to download the PDF — it only includes an option to open the file in another application (Adobe Acrobat, in my case):

It would be convenient to have an option in this menu to save the file to disk. As it is, I have to open the PDF in Acrobat (using the option in that menu) and then save the file from within Acrobat.  This works, but takes time, requires switching applications, and quickly gets old when viewing a lot of PDFs. Now, the curious thing is that for other embedded object types such as images, the Safari contextual menu does have a save-to-disk option.  What is puzzling me, therefore, is why there is no "Save PDF as ..." option or its equivalent in the contextual menu for PDF files.

So, is there a way to get a similar save-to-disk option for PDFs? Is it normally there, and have I done something at some point to disable it?  Or is it truly never an option for PDFs?

Obligatory system info: OSX 10.9.5, Safari 7.1, MBPR.

Additional clarification: Acrobat offers a plug-in for Safari that has different menus and options.  I prefer Safari's native PDF support to the Acrobat plug-in, and disabled the plug-in long ago for that reason.  So, to be clear: this question is specifically about the menus offered by Safari's PDF facility, not the Acrobat plug-in.


texts:
I have a 2012 Mac Mini with an OWC disk doubler installed with the OS on an SSD and Time Machine on the original HDD. I was attempting to install a fresh copy of El Capitan from an installer image on the desktop to an external drive. When the install failed the first internal drive (the SSD with the installed MacOS) has disappeared from Disk Utility and the diskutil list in the Terminal.

Last login: Sun Feb 23 17:19:14 on ttys000
El-Capitan-on-HDMI-Mini:~ dougandlynn$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS TM Backup               999.9 GB   disk0s2
/dev/disk1 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *4.0 TB     disk1
   1:                        EFI EFI                     314.6 MB   disk1s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS All Media               4.0 TB     disk1s2
/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *480.1 GB   disk2
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk2s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS MacMini QC HD           479.1 GB   disk2s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk2s3
/dev/disk3 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk3
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk3s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS WD 1TB                  999.8 GB   disk3s2
/dev/disk4 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *4.0 TB     disk4
   1:                        EFI EFI                     314.6 MB   disk4s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS BU All Media            4.0 TB     disk4s2

This happened once before and I got the internal SSD back by erasing the drive which I had installed the new OS on. I tried that process and this time I still am missing the drive. I'm positive the SSD has not failed it's just missing. Any idea on how to make it reappear?


texts: Need to copy, rename and move file into newly-created subfolder

texts:
I am new to automator and could not find an answer to my question! I was able to figure out first-part, but not 2nd.
In first part, I have an application that I double-click and I type in client name. That automatically creates folder with Client's name in right place with sub-folders.
I now need to take a word doc that is on the desktop, copy the file, rename it and then move it to one of the newly-created subfolders.
Here is a screen shot of the first part.
I am not sure where to go from here because I do not know how to move the file to the new folder.
My attempt so far is to get specified finder items, copy finder items, then I get caught up with the rename Finder  Items: replace text (I want to rename the file to be" "LastName.FirstName.AOS.Engagement Package," but How do I put in a variable use the new client name from the new folder I just created?
Then I want to move the copied and renamed file to one of the new sub-folders I created to this one: "mkdir "$1/$2/Client File/Engagement Package"

Hoping I do not need to do a separate workflow for this! TIA for help!


texts: How to attach files to emails on iPhone running iOS 8?

texts:
Here is my dilemma/situation:

I download a PDF (or any other type) file from somewhere (i.e Safari, Email, Google Drive, etc.) into an application that can open it (i.e. Documents by Readdle)
I make some adjustments/edit the file using the app (i.e Documents by Readdle).
I go to the Email app and open an email that I want to reply to. I type up my message.
The problem: Now I want to attach that file I just edited in the app (i.e. Documents by Readdle) into this email reply that I am typing up.

How do I do this?


texts: Can you get a "Smart TV" experience from a Mac (Netflix, Amazon Video etc w/ remote control)?

texts:
I like the Roku / smart TV experience of leaning back and browsing shows, but I only have a Mac → HDMI into a dumb TV.
Is there a way to get something similar? You can obviously just run a TV like an external monitor and go to netflix.com, but ideally looking for:

A large UI
A way to control it with a remote, not keyboard/mouse (hard on a couch)
Wide range of "channels" (Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, HBO, etc)

Apple TV has a Mac app, but it seems like a regular desktop app and doesn't seem to have very much content.


texts:
macOS 10.14.6, Mail.app v. 12.4 (3445.104.11), 2015 iMac. The software is up-to-date.

I was looking for a possibly-deleted email, and searched several Time Machine backups. I found one possibility, and restored it. It turned out not to be what I sought, so I deleted it.

Now, however, I'm left with extra mailboxes in Mail.app:

You can see them here as "com.apple.Mail Backup" and "Recovered Messages." "Recovered messages" is empty, and I cannot delete either mailbox. Similar mailboxes in the past (when I've used TM to recover emails) were easily deleted.

I have rebuilt them both (Mail > Mailbox > Rebuild), which only makes the single I email I thought might be my target reappear in the "Recovered Messages" email folder.

I've also restarted the computer, both normally and into safe mode. These had no effect either.

I used the Mac's Finder search, and found three files named "com.apple.mail - note the difference that the word "mail" is not capitalized, as it is in these mysterious mailboxes.  These files are all located on a mounted bootable backup disk which is updated nightly using ChronoSynch. The file path displayed in the Finder window says these files are located at the root level of the bootable disk in a folder named "private." Opening the bootable disk reveals no folder named "private."

I'm mystified. Can anyone explain what's going on here? How can I get rid
of these folders?

EDIT: I moved the "Recovered Messages" mailbox up to the top of the mailbox list, then quit and restarted mail, selected the moved mailbox, then used the "Delete Mailbox" command at Mail > Mailbox > Delete Mailbox. The mailbox disappeared. Perhaps moving it had something to do with the success, or perhaps thinking so is a post facto fallacy. The other mailbox remains.


texts: iPad 2 cannot connect to a Microsoft Exchange server with Outlook Web Access (OWA)

texts:
I just bought an iPad 2 and wish to link to the Microsoft Exchange email server Outlook Web Access connection. Sadly even though all details are correct it still says that the details are unable to be verified and obviously can not load emails.

For the record i can successfully connect via OWA connection on browser.

Also I have been able to load calendar.
Also the Signature also seems to have been loaded.


texts:
Are there any apps to can monitor iPad network usage per app?

What's going on is out of no where one of our iPads will start uploading to Amazon's datawarehouse. Even if I double-click the button and shut everything down, it still finishes it's "sync" -- whatever it's syncing.

The problem is we don't know what app is causing this or even why it's causing this. Nothing is set to backup within iCloud.

For instance, one of the servers we're uploading 100KB (yes, that's bytes): s3-us-west-2-w.amazonaws.com -- now keep in mind, 100KB is a fairly significant amount of data to be uploading and it's making us very nervous about what data is being sent to Amazon's storage cloud that some arbitrary user has.

All we have is the official Amazon app and the Kindle app but my iPad never does this upload action.

It does this for non-trivial amount of time (read: > 3 minutes) -- which is a considerable amount of data and makes gaming and web browsing less enjoyable (and by that I mean miserable).

Powering off the iPad entirely and powering back on the iPad resolves the issue for a few days, which is interesting in and of itself.

Thoughts? I'm very interested in actually resolving the situation than just blocking at the router but can not find an app that allows me to identify which app is drinking my bandwidth like it's vodka.

Edit 1: iPad is latest generation -- iPad Air 2 -- with WiFi only.

Edit 2: How do I know what'g going on? I have a RT-AC87U router that tells me. I know it's just his iPad and I know how much it's uploading and downloading and where that data is going. I would expect regular updates / downloads but uploading large quantities of data has us baffled as all he has are video's, manga, Kindle, etc. Backups are handled manually.

Edit 3: There's a few apps he got from the Apple store such as ComicGlass. I'm not particularly interested in enumerating all the other apps as if there's no way to identify what app is doing this we will wipe the app and iPad go from there. I'm let down that there's no real troubleshooting method to know what application is sending data, of some kind, to a location that we don't have control over that we haven't asked to back up -- and Apple doesn't provide troubleshooting tools to help locate rogue apps like this, so with that, I must confess defeat since no comments have offered more than a manual method of figuring this out.


texts: Change highlight colour in Sublime Text 2

texts: How can I change the default highlight colour in Sublime Text 2? I know I have to find a highlight key in one of the theme files but I don't know where these theme files are kept. Are they in the library somewhere?


texts: so Chrome recently changed the search button to a new tab button. I tried following the instructions in another post on this community which told to go to chrome://flags but i cant find the setting in it. Thanks for the help in advance]1


texts: Primary User missing after macOS Sierra Update

texts:
Clarification:
There were two accounts on this macbook air (plus guest):
Account A (Admin)
Account B (standard)

1) After restarting after the latest macOS update, Account A was missing from the startup screen (Account B and Guest are the only options).

2) After a successful login to Account B, instead of starting macOS as usual, another startup screen appears, now with the option to log in as either Account A or Guest.

3) After logging in to Account A, macOS appears to run normally. Checking in Users & Groups, shows that Account A is still Admin. Account B is not listed.

4) Logging out of Account A returns to a screen with the option to log in again as either Account A or Guest.

5) A restart brings us back to #1, where we have to sign in first as Account B, then Account A.

Attempting to reinstall macOS from recovery mode prompts for the password from Account B (not the admin account) to unlock the HD.

What is going on, and how can it be fixed?

Original post:

The first time I restarted my macbook air after the latest macOS update, the primary user account had disappeared from the startup screen. My wife's account (a standard account which she never uses) and the guest account (which is apparently now a special browser only mode) are now the only options.

All attempts to login through my wife's account have failed. I figure she doesn't remember her password. I decided that I'm just going to try reinstalling the OS. So I restarted while pressing cmd-r to get into the recovery mode with macOS utilities and click to reinstall macOS.

Then it gets weird... My password didn't work to unlock the HD, and based on the hint, the hard drive is now encrypted under my wife's password instead of the one from my (now disappeared) admin account.

How/why would the primary account seem to disappear? And how did it end up treating a non-admin account as admin (and encrypting the HD under that password)? Did it just default to whatever other account it could find when the primary one went away?

And how can I get back in again? I imagine that all of the files are still there if I could access them.

Edit: My wife managed to remember her password and typed it in from the login screen, but instead of logging her in, it started another startup screen, now with options to log in as the primary account (the one that was missing before) or guest account, but now her account is missing. If I log out, her account is still missing.

But when I restart, it goes back to only having her account and guest as options... Then when I attempt to log in as her, it again takes me to a start up screen where the option are my account and guest.

What is going on here? Should I try to reinstall the OS?


texts: Changing settings on iPad Pro selfie camera? (2018 11 inch model)

texts: Apparently the selfie camera (FaceTime HD) can operate in both 30 FPS and 60 FPS modes. I haven’t found a way to change it. Is there one?


texts: Apache VirtualDocumentRoot, MAMP, .local domain & xip.io?

texts:
I have a problem making xip.io works. I have set up my machine to use virtualhosts with MAMP .local domain name.

this is my httpd-vhosts.conf file:

NameVirtualHost *:80
UseCanonicalName Off

<VirtualHost *:80>
    VirtualDocumentRoot /Users/<myusername>/Sites/%-1/%-2+/build
    <Directory "/Users/<myusername>/Sites">
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
        AllowOverride All
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

When I try to access for example http://project.local.<my local ip>.xip.io it doesn't work while http://project.local works. How can I fix this?

Also, I have read that the .local domain on Mac can cause some problems, is this true?


texts: Using my iPad with IOS 7.1.2, how can I sync my calendar from my iPad, iPhone, iPad mini to Google claendar?

texts: I realize I can sync my Google calendar to my devices.  However, can someone explain to me in simple steps how to get my iPad, iPad mini, and iPhone 5S to return the calendar information to my Google calendar.  I would REALLY appreciate it:)  I have red various preposts similar but most of those questions and answers are about syncing from Google to Apple devices like mine.  Be gentle.  I am a newbie at this site.:)


texts:
Looking at ActivityMonitor, I saw a strange process with a URL for a name:

I went to that site, and yes it looks familiar I might have been there, once, a long time ago. Definitely not at the time that this process showed up, and even if I did - why would visiting a website trigger its own custom process?


texts: I have brew installed but I don't have the GNU flavor of sed - can I get it through brew?


texts: can I point my Pictures folder to a folder in an external hard drive?

texts:
I would like to save some space on my laptop and to do so I was thinking of moving my Pictures folder on an external hard drive. As OSX doesn't want me to mess around with the main folders in my home, how can I do this and is it safe to do so?

(this follows from my original question, which was closed as it wasn't a real question https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/76019/can-i-point-one-of-the-user-core-folders-to-an-external-hard-drive)


texts: So I was playing around with the findmymac/iphone app just testing it out and hit the "lock" option. My Macbook Pro is now locked, which has been fine up until this point because I just hit "option" on startup enter my passcode and I'm in. The problem now is I'm wanting to reformat my macbook so I can partition it (need to for work) but obviously I cant because the lock mode inhibits me from doing so. I cant find any help on this issue, my situation seems a bit different because most people asking the questions seem to not have their passcode but I have mine, is there a really obvious fix that I am missing?


texts: How to add still image to audio file to convert it into video?

texts:
I am using QuickTime Player. From initial research it seems i would need QT Pro to do it. Is there a free opensource tool i can use for a simple task like this?

On opening the audio .m4a file in QT the Edit Tab options like copy paste etc are coming out to be disabled.


texts: Fast External DNS Servers and My Intranet

texts:
The local DNS servers, where I work, stink.  They're absurdly slow and often completely fail to resolve web domains during certain periods of heavy sunspot activity.

In response, I've just added Google's DNS server to my Network configuration.  This totally solves the speed problem, but also generates a problem with the intranet.  Whenever Google's sever is ordered above the local DNS, I can't resolve anything on the intranet.

I always assumed OS X would just go down the list if it couldn't find a DNS on the first server, but apparently it isn't.  I have to go in and manually re-order the local server to the top (ahead of Google's) in order to resolve the intranet.

Is there any way around this?  Have I set something up incorrectly?


texts:
for my studies I am very frequently using iBooks on my iPad, and for many PDF files it would be great to have them displayed, such that 2 pages are shown next to each other.
It is a very common thing for me to have to skip back and forth,  so that this would really help.

I have allready seen a few questions akin to this one, however none exactly delivering what i need.

Thanks for your help!


texts: Artifacts when viewing pdfs in Preview (and Skim)

texts:
When I view PDFs with Preview or Skim sometimes scrolling cause the following artifact

Here in 0,06 it seems as if one or two rows of pixels are cut.

If I cause the fonts to redraw by any means (getting the text out of displaying area, selecting text) the artifact disappears. I wonder where is the right place to report this bug.


texts: "This Apple ID is valid but is not an iCloud account"

texts:
Trying to sign into iCloud on my Macbook and I get this error message. I've also had some trouble signing into the same account with iCloud on iPad and iPhone, but the messages there are even more vague.

My Apple ID is a gmail address - not anything from iTools/Mobile Me and existed as an Apple ID before iCloud was released.


texts: Can an Apple Watch configured with Family Setup use the other family members' iPad?

texts:
My child has an iPad with his own Apple Id. I'm considering getting him an Apple Watch, but controlled from my iPhone using Family Setup. My question is if the watch can sync/communicate with his iPad? On the iPad he has his podcasts, books, music, etc., and that is what we would like to appear on his watch.
I've read the documentation, but I'm still unclear on how that would work.


texts: How do you get a program to load earlier when you log in to Mac OS X?

texts:
I'm running Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4 on a late 2011 MBP. I use a Logitech mouse with it, and rely on the Logitech Control Center software to configure the mouse speed/acceleration (I prefer it over the Mac OS X mouse acceleration).

The problem is that every time I boot up and log in, the mouse pointer will be extremely slow for about a minute, because it takes a minute before Mac OS X loads the Logitech Control Center. Is there any way to get Mac OS X to load it earlier?

EDIT in response to gentmatt's answer:

You are right, when I uncheck the "Reopen all windows when logging back in" box, then the Logitech Control Center loads almost immediately when I log in.

However, when I check that box, it doesn't take the Mac a whole minute to reload all my windows.  For example, I just tried it with 6 Firefox windows open and Activity Monitor open.  When I logged back in, all 6 Firefox windows and the Activity Monitor finished loading in no more than 10 seconds, however the Logitech Control Center still took about 1 full minute before it loaded.  I was watching the processes in the Activity Monitor, and during that minute there was no activity at all while I waited for the Logitech Control Center to load, and then all of a sudden 7 different processes loaded at the same time (backgroundinstruments, warmd_agent, imagent, AirPort Base Station Agent, Logitech Control Center Daemon, EpsonLowInkReminderAgent, and iTunes Helper).  Why would those processes take a minute before they loaded, when the Firefox windows and Activity Monitor finished loading after just 10 seconds?

EDIT (June 3):

@gentmatt: Do you run Firefox?  I just noticed that Firefox seems to be causing this problem.  When I restart with the "Reopen windows when logging back in" box and still have Firefox running, then I'll get the 60 second delay for the Logitech Control Center and other processes when I log in.  But if I quit Firefox before I restart, then there's no 60 second delay when I log in again and the Logitech Control Center and other processes load immediately when I log in.  I just tried restarting without Firefox open, but with some Chrome and Safari windows still open, and when I logged in again, the Logitech Control Center loaded almost immediately before the Chrome and Safari windows had finished reloading.  So the 60 second delay definitely seems related to Firefox.


texts: Connecting to a device console using screen shows no output

texts:
I am trying to access a network device console from my mac using a Prolific Technology USB-serial adapter to the device's console. After installing the relevant driver, the adapter is correctly shown:
$ ioreg -p IOUSB -l
...
    +-o USB-Serial Controller@14200000  <class AppleUSBDevice, id 0x10000034a, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (101 ms), retain 11>
    |   {
    |     "sessionID" = 1402970206
    |     ...
    |     "bDeviceSubClass" = 0
    |     "bcdUSB" = 272
    |     "USB Product Name" = "USB-Serial Controller"
    |     "PortNum" = 2
    |     "non-removable" = "no"
    |     "IOCFPlugInTypes" = {"9dc7b780-9ec0-11d4-a54f-000a27052861"="IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOUSBLib.bundle"}
    |     "bDeviceProtocol" = 0
    |     "IOUserClientClass" = "IOUSBDeviceUserClientV2"
    |     "IOPowerManagement" = {"DevicePowerState"=0,"CurrentPowerState"=3,"CapabilityFlags"=65536,"MaxPowerState"=4,"DriverPowerState"=3$
    |     "kUSBCurrentConfiguration" = 1
    |     "Device Speed" = 1
    |     "USB Vendor Name" = "Prolific Technology Inc."
    |     "idVendor" = 1659
    |     "IOGeneralInterest" = "IOCommand is not serializable"
    |     "IOClassNameOverride" = "IOUSBDevice"
    |   }

To access the console, I started screen from Terminal as per below:
$ screen /dev/tty.usbserial 9600

When I power on the connected network device, I can see the cursor bounces around randomly as if responding to the device console output, however no characters appear on Terminal at all. I know the USB-serial adapter is working fine, as using it on a Windows machine, I am able to access the same network device console without any issue. Any idea how to address this?
Thank you.


texts: Where are Mail.app rules stored? They got deleted and I want to restore them

texts:
Since Mail.app had trouble connecting to the various accounts, I tried to 'reset' it by removing all accounts and the stored passwords in Keychain Access.app. Then I re-added all the mail accounts.
However, for some reason all configured rules were deleted too, even though they are not directly tied to a specific mail account.
Where are these rules stored so that I can restore them from a time machine backup?


texts: How can I diagnose if a failing trackpad has a hardware or software cause?

texts:
My trackpad is misbehaving, it randomly interprets clicks as swipes and the cursor jumps around or lags on the screen.
How can I find out if this is a hardware or software issue?
I'm on a MacBook Pro 5,3 with OS X 10.11.6.
Using a bluetooth mouse (Logitech MX Master) I see none of these issues.
Steps taken

Restart - solves the problem for a few minutes, but symptoms return
Different user - same as restart
Apple Hardware Test - pressed D during startup, but the hardware test did not start and the machine started in normal mode.


texts: Where has the "define" ability gone when selecting a word in an SMS message or email?

texts: When selecting a word in an SMS message or email, how do I access the "define" ability?


texts: Shortcut to insert / paste email address?

texts:
Is there a way to setup a shortcut to insert my email address when typing?

About once a day I need to type my email address on some login form or order page. It would be really nice to have a kind of paste function that inserts my email address.

Of course this is also a feature request: Long (context) tap while typing - cut/copy/paste/select menu pops up -> in that menu I would like to have an additional item: "Insert email address". Even better: Allow me to define additional "paste items".


texts: Cannot view Outlook invitations in Gmail web on my iPhone

texts:
I have email through Google Apps that I access from my iPhone via the web.  I can view all emails and do everything I need to do except view invites sent from others using Outlook.  I see the message and who it was sent to, but none of the details about the actual time and place.  I can't accept or reject the invite so it never gets added to my web calendar.  Even if I look at my email using the "Desktop" link, it doesn't show the details of the invite.  If I look at it from my laptop, I see the details and can accept the invite and have it show on my calendar.

I do not want to add this account as a mail account on my iPhone, so web access is the best.  Other then not seeing the invite details, I have no other problems.  Is there a way to see those details?


texts: Mass deleting email from an iPhone/iPad?

texts: Is there a workaround for the iOS inability to easily delete ALL (or large blocks of) email from my iPhone and iPad ?


texts: Terminal sudo dd error while making a bootable drive

texts:
So I have been trying to make a bootable Kali Linux USB drive for a while.

I am using the command:

sudo dd if=/Users/vanshyadav/Desktop/kali-linux-2018.1-amd64.iso of=/dev/disk2 bs=1m

It asks for my password once, and then gives me the error:

dd: /dev/disk2 bs=1m: Operation not supported

My drive looks like this:

I am following the steps in: Making a Kali Bootable USB Drive

I unmount the disk using:

diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2

It unmounts, but then it doesn't work.

How can I proceed?


texts:
I find Keynote 6 in Mavericks to be both a step backwards and a step forwards from Keynote 5. It has some neat new transitions and all, but the iOS-ification (simplification) of the interface, as well as the removal of some key items in the Export to Quicktime command (can't set the exported movie to loop; exports into .m4v format, for instance,) make me want to throw it in the bin. What I am most concerned about, however, is that once Keynote 6 is installed, it appears to hijack the launch services app/doc binding.

When I click on a Keynote document, (version 5 or 6,) Keynote 6 opens as expected. If I 'Get Info' on a Keynote 5 document and use Open with: to select Keynote 5, (either by selecting Keynote 5 from the pulldown list, or by choosing Other... and selecting Keynote 5 from within the /Applications/iWorks folder, that document will open in Keynote 5. This is normal and expected.

Disturbingly, the Change All... button, which is supposed to set the app/doc binding for all .key files, does no such thing when I set a doc to Keynote 5! No .key documents open in Keynote 5 after I execute this command.

Even more disturbing is that at some random time, the specific .key files I individually associated with Keynote 5 will lose this association and revert to opening in Keynote 6!

I've rebuilt the launch services database, verified permissions, etc. This was happening before 10.9.2, as well. I'd like to keep Keynote 6 installed, but it just doesn't seem to play nice.

Any flashes of insight as to why this is happening?

SOLUTION

After installation, move the new iWorks apps onto another volume. This prevents the Launch Services 'hijacking' from occurring, allows the use of the new apps, and shuts down the inane update request from Software Update. I've tested this on three separate Macs, and use a Time Machine external drive as the repository for the new apps. Laptop users without perpetually mounted external drives may wish to add the apps into a disk image and mount the image only when needed.

This solution provided by user benwiggy at Mac OS X Hints.

ADDENDUM

With the release of Yosemite, this problem now recurs. Putting a bounty on a REAL SOLUTION!


texts:
I am wondering if iPad 3 or any iPad version supports wireless charging?

Can I use samsung's w'less  charger for it?


texts:
A couple days ago, my MacBook updated to Mac OS X 10.13.2 (17C88), and since then, the swiping between spaces has been fickle.

Before the update, I just had to swipe with three fingers (as per the setting) and the screen with my mouse cursor would switch to the desire space.

Since the update, I occasionally have to click with the trackpad to initiate the switch.  Without clicking it does nothing.  However, once clicked it works without clicking for a while (like it did before).  Also, I don't have to hold the click; it's almost like a focus issue.

Is anyone else experience this?  Is this something Apple did in the update?  Is there a way to get the swipe to work without clicking again?


texts: How can I stop an iPod from upgrading the iOS once it has already started the download?

texts:
I accidentally clicked to upgrade from iOS 7 to iOS 8.1.1. The problem is, I am a developer and want my device to remain at iOS 7 so I'm testing with the same OS and browser version that my corporate users are using in the field. However, there is no "Cancel" button (seriously, Apple? ...seriously? )

I tried shutting the device off and turning it back on, but it resumes the download after it's restarted. Same with turning WiFi on and off. I need to stop it permanently.

I read this macworld.com article that discusses how to revert back once you've upgraded, but at the top it specifies that it no longer works: "Update: The technique outlined here for reverting to iOS 7 no longer works as Apple has stopped signing versions of iOS prior to iOS 8."

I did read one "hacky" way to prevent the download from completing by leaving the video recorder on so space fills up and it can't finish. Is there a better way to do it?

(Hopefully this question is in the right place w/right tags - I haven't posted in this SE before)


texts: Mac mini 2012 with Dell U2717D & Dell U2417H

texts:
So I'm having an odd issue. I'm pretty sure this only started since macOS 10.12 but I can't say for sure.

I'm using a late 2012 Mac mini with two displays. The first display is a Dell U2717D connected via DisplayPort. Resolution is 2560x1440 @ 60hz. I've never had any problems at all with this monitor connected to the mini. The second display is a Dell U2417H, connected via HDMI at 1080p resolution. I only recently started using it with my Mac mini again, but I use to use them both together on the mini without issue.

If I start up the mini with both monitors connected everything works perfect. The problem only arises if I power down the HDMI second display or plug it in after the mini has already been running.

What happens is the DisplayPort main display loses it's signal. Nothing I do can fix it other then restarting the computer. I've tried unplugging / cycling power on both displays in every combination. Once the main display loses it's signal the mini has to be restarted. The HDMI second display continues to work fine. The mini still recognizes the main display but gathers the Display settings pane to the second display as if it knows the main display isn't working.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks.


texts: Access the system library folder rather than the user library folder with Terminal

texts:
I am trying to chmod a folder in the library of my Mac but I can only get to the folders below the user level.

I need Library/WebServer/Documents/..., but I can only get to user/me/..., etc.

Does anyone know what I need to do?


texts: Why should I observe a limit of sixteen partitions per disk with OS X?

texts:
I read things such as:

Mac OS X may be unstable with more than sixteen partitions
up to sixteen partitions on a external drive.

Also I understand that in a sixteen-slice environment, the full installer for OS X Mountain Lion may be unable to add an Apple_Boot slice for Recovery OS.

If there's a limit

Why the number 16?

References

Red Hat Bugzilla Bug 460390 – Can't make apple boot partition catch 22 during install (netinstall CD): comment 8 (2008-11-15)

  … more than 16 partitions on the drive … Mac OS X did boot with the
  whole drive formatted (as several partitions), or with more than 16 partitions,
  but it did not recognize the entire drive, and may not have been stable. …

.Drives, partitions, formatting w/Mac's + PC's: Apple Support Communities (2012-12-05)

  … up to 16 partitions on a external drive …


texts: Comparing Directory Structures recursively in bash

texts:
I'd like to recursively compare two directories in bash using something I can put into an if ![ x=y ] type test.

The directories are intended to have a synchronisation between them using rsync which I'm trying to start with folder actions: file added to directory.

I'm trying to find a test that would let me check recursively if the source and destination directories are basically the same: file names, locations relative to the source/destination head directory and size in MB should be enough. Modification date may throw things off a little due to the way the applications handle the contents of those directories.
A couple of files may have streams being written to them at times. I'd like to start the rsync process on these whenever there is a significant difference in file size, eg. >1MB.

So far the answer at superuser seems to come the closest, but due to differences between MacOS and linux this (and several other) solutions fail. In this case even with gfind installed, "%p" is not accepted as a valid argument (invalid format character).

Other options I've investigated or read about are rsync dry run, and diff. rsync takes a very long time even with --size-only, and I believe diff would take even longer: the drives are networked to each other, and used for media storage.

Is there a way I can get a listing of directory contents and ballpark file sizes as an input for an if statement in a bash script? Or is there a better approach?

Thanks in advance.


texts: LAPACK, BLAS, ATLAS on Mac book pro 2017, Mojave

texts:
I want to know if and where LAPACK, BLAS, ATLAS packages are installed. I have been reading that these libraries speed up data crunching with numpy(python).

How can it find the location of these packages (if they are installed) and turn them off?

on linux you can do this

apt-cache policy liblapack3
apt-cache policy libblas3
apt-cache policy libatlas-base-dev

and for the lapack, you will get

liblapack3:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 3.7.1-4ubuntu1
  Version table:
     3.7.1-4ubuntu1 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages


texts: Disable Search / Dictionary Popup Window in iTerm2

texts:
The newer versions of iTerm2 have a "feature" in which a Search dialog is displayed instead of doing a Start selection action.

My intention had been to select the 14 and the following paragraph .. but instead I am presented with the Wikipedia lookup of the symbol 14.  Not exactly what were on my mind ..

I have looked through all of the iTerm2 Preferences and not found anything to disable this behavior.  Anyone have better eyes than me on this?


texts: Encrypted hard-drive I can't reformat in Disk Utility

texts:
I have an external HDD I wish to reform (erase) so I can put inside my MBP and make a DIY fusion drive. I've done the fusion drive before but Apple made me remove it for a logic board replacement.

My question I have is regarding the formatting of the drive. It's possible to erase and reformat at the drive unit level and the partition level. And you can have it ExFAT at one level while Mac-OS Journaled at the other level. Wondering what the differences are and which is "better" for stable use as part of a fusion drive?

I just reformatted as journaled format and it says 660 MB is used already. Formatting? Formatted ExFat at drive level it says in Finder the patron is using 1 MB of storage.

Also how to change the name at drive level (not that you see it in Finder but it can get confusing in Disk Utility). Disk Utility only has two of the normal five tabs, RAID, Partition, and Restore are all missing for this drive.

One other thing, I had it refusing it's password when I had it as encrypted. Eventually after trying on two MBPs and restarting one with drive plugged in it accepted the correct password. Gave me the yips, why would it be doing that?!


texts: XQuartz: user / environment when executing xinit? (XMonad, xmodmap, etc.)

texts:
I'm running XMonad with XQuartz on an 11,3 Macbook Prop Retina. My .xinitrc looks as follow:

[[ -f ~/.Xdefaults ]] && xrdb -load ~/.Xdefaults
export LANG="en_CA.UTF-8"
xmodmap /Users/xxxxxxx/.xmodmarc
cd $HOME
/Users/xxxxxxxx/Library/Haskell/bin/xmonad

I've noticed that both the LANG export and the xmodmap are being called, but their effects are not persisting. If I throw some env >> tmp.txt in there I can see that it's a different environment than when I finally reach a terminal, and I suspect perhaps even a different user that is calling xinit.

My Questions

what user or environment is actually calling xinit when you startup XQuartz?
where is the appropriate place to put xmodmap so that it's called once, and only once, when XQuartz is started?
How do I get the LANG set once, and only once, as an environment variable when I start XQuartz (I need it for unicode support)

Thank you!


texts: Is it possible to download an old version app from Mac App Store?

texts:
I recently updated Numbers/Keynote on my mac2 (10.14) to 6.2/9.2, and rsynced to mac1 (10.13). Then I found they do not run on 10.13.

I deleted them on mac1 and tried to re-download. It told me to upgrade macOS instead of letting me download last working version for 10.13.

So is it possible to download an old version app from Mac App Store?


texts: set custom file extension to open with specified program

texts:
I want to have all files with an extension of .fw.png to open in Fireworks (not necessarily .png files though).

Is there a way to do this in Terminal?


texts:
I can inspect an ePub book in Books on Mac using Safari’s web inspector. I can also inspect a web page in iOS Safari when the phone is plugged in to my mac using desktop Safari’s web inspector.
What I don’t seem to be able to do though is debug iOS Books remotely using desktop Safari’s web inspector.
Given that I’ve got an issue that’s only occurring in iOS Books and not in Mac Books, this is rather annoying. Does anyone know if this is possible?


texts: How can I assign a customisable mouse button to open Notification Center?

texts:
I want to set my mouse's customisable button to open Notification Centre on OS X Mountain Lion.

Is this possible?


texts: Wallpaper Identification: Where can I find a better version of this?

texts:
(Please forgive me + nuke from orbit of these kinds of questions aren't allowed here. Don't know where else to ask.)

I'm trying to find a higher-res version of this specific wallpaper:

The site where I got the iPhone version did not deal with iPad wallpapers, so I didn't have an option there. Nor did it list an author for me to track down. I've tried Google image search for similar images and just plain browsing a ton of other sites, but I can't find anything.

Thanks!


texts: Is it possible to run a windows OS off a Flash drive/thumb drive on a Mac?

texts:
In theory, is it possible to run Windows OS off a flash drive, so that on starting up the machine, if the stick was in the USB slot, it would startup on that 'hard disk' and run windows programs off it?

I'm basically asking because I'm having nightmarish issues trying to get Bootcamp to partition my drive and run Windows on the partition. I've been searching the problem and it seems to be an ongoing problem going back to 2014, which amazes me.


texts:
I just updated my iPad to iOS 9.3.3 this morning and immediately have been having problems with glitching and freezing.  Hard restart will usually work but then within 2 minutes of using it, it freezes again.

Is there a way to fix this problem?  Either with another update or within my 9.3.3 update itself?


texts: How to use a MacBook always wired like a desktop/MacMini?

texts:
I have MacBook Pro 2013 (MacOS Catalina) which may no longer receive any software updates few years from now. It is not even practical to keep on buying new batteries to this old Laptop as batteries are becoming scarce too.
We know we can use the MacBook without battery but with throttled CPU speed.
I would like to use this old MacBook always wired similar to the Mac mini,But without speed throttle.
if anyone have been in a similar situation Please let me know where to start.


texts: How to fix "512 bytes per sector" to "4096 bytes per sector" for an "Advanced Format" 4K sector USB hard drive?

texts:
Mac OS X 10.7.4 has a Sharkoon Quickdeck Pro USB enclosure attached. That USB enclosure contains a 4TB Advanced Format hard drive which has 4096 bytes (4K) sector size. The drive is GPT/GUID partitioned.

When listing the properties os the drive, it is being seen as "512 bytes per sector":

$ diskutil info W | grep -E 'Total Size:|Volume Free Space:|Device Block Size:'
   Total Size:               4.0 TB (4000787022336 Bytes) (exactly 7814037153 512-Byte-Blocks)
   Volume Free Space:        4.0 TB (4000772390912 Bytes) (exactly 7814008576 512-Byte-Blocks)
   Device Block Size:        512 Bytes

Or when formatting the disk with newfs_hfs the drive is being seen as "512b sector size".

$ sudo newfs_hfs -N -J /dev/disk3s1
7814037153 sectors (512 bytes per sector)
HFS Plus format parameters:
    volume name: "untitled"
    block-size: 8192
    total blocks: 488377322
    journal-size: 311296k
    first free catalog node id: 16
    catalog b-tree node size: 8192
    initial catalog file size: 354418688
    extents b-tree node size: 4096
    initial extents file size: 16777216
    attributes b-tree node size: 8192
    initial attributes file size: 354418688
    initial allocation file size: 61054976 (7453 blocks)
    data fork clump size: 65536
    resource fork clump size: 65536

How to make/force OS X to recognize Advanced Format 4K sector size drives as 4096 bytes per sector using command line tools

or

which USB drive/enclosure natively supports 4K sectors on OS X?

PS When reading the source code of newfs_hfs the sectorSize value seems to be derived from this function call ioctl(fso, DKIOCBLKSIZE, &dip.sectorSize)


texts: Alfred and Spotlight don't detect VSCode even though I've it on shortcuts

texts:
When I installed the VSCode I had added it to dock applications.

I am not able to find it/open it with Alfred or Spotlight. I tried to search for: code, VSCode, visual studio code, and nothing. It seems like if I remove VSCode from dock, I won't be able to start it again.

Any idea?


texts: OSX 10.11 crashes after login progress bar

texts:
After I power on and type my password, there is a progress bar under my username. The progress moves from left to right and after finishing normally it would present my desktop. Now it goes to about 75% and then the system powers off completely.

I would like to know how I can recover from this.

I have tried to login to Disk Utility from the Recovery Mode.  I am able to see my disks and click First Aid > Run and it says the HDD is all good.

Based on Comments

After doing syslog | grep -i "shutdown cause" as suggested by @allan, it found pci pause SXDC.  Googleing, that I found this Reddit comment which says

Boot in single user mode [and execute the following commands]
mount -uw /
mv /etc/launchd.conf /etc/launchd.conf.old
reboot

In my case I don't even see the /etc/launchd.conf file.


texts: What are the consequences of using DDR3 RAM in DDR2 MBP4.2?

texts:
I'm supposed to use DDR2 5300 (667MHz) RAM for my MacBookPro 4,2. The max is 6GB, and I already have 4GB (2 x 2GB), so I only need a single stick of 4GB.  So far it looks like this spec RAM runs about $100.

4GB of DDR3 RAM runs about $20.

What are the consequences if I put the wrong RAM in? Will it work at all? Will it damage the RAM or the computer?


texts: How do I pair a second smartcard to my MacBook?

texts:
I have a couple smartcards issued by my employer. Each is for a different account. When I plugged one in to my MacBook running Catalina (10.15.3) for the first time I was prompted to pair it. I think. I don't really recall. For all I know I might have ran a program or something. Regardless, it's been a while and I don't recall.

I now want to pair the second smartcard. When I plug it in, I'm not being prompted to pair it. Is there a program I can run manually to do this or some other way to force the pairing prompt?


texts: How to add hibernate mode to MacBook Pro

texts:
I have recently switched to Mac from Windows hence I do not have much information.

I want my Mac to go to safe sleep state on closing the lid.
I also need an extra option available somewhere which can be used to move to hibernate mode (no battery used at all).

I read safe sleep is default on closing lid and minimal battery is used at that time, but my Mac drains full battery in less than 2 days, which does not seem like "safe sleep".

I researched about it but every answer/blog mentions having only 1 option at one time, either hibernate or sleep. Also, some mention using mode 25 for hibernate and some mention using mode 1 for hibernate. I tried Mode 25, but it does not seem to be working (does it take time to fully implement?), and mode 1 seems to have risk involved. I do not want to risk losing data.

How can I achieve the desired behavior and also test wether it is working or not?

Currently in use:
 standbydelay         4200
 standby              0
 womp                 1
 halfdim              1
 hibernatefile        /var/vm/sleepimage
 sms                  1
 networkoversleep     0
 disksleep            10
 sleep                0
 autopoweroffdelay    14400
 hibernatemode        3
 autopoweroff         1
 ttyskeepawake        1
 displaysleep         0
 acwake               0
 lidwake              1

Software  OS X 10.9.2 (13C64)
13-inch, Mid 2012


texts: Duplicated text replacement in WhatsApp application

texts:
When I type in the WhatsApp application (only that application) with the text replacement being active, the last syllables of the word gets duplicated. But I found out that this only happens when the "replacement bubble" appears on top of the message.
Here's a gif:

I tested almost everything I could find... Reseted NVRAM, disabled repetition, tried to uninstall any Wacom Software (as seen here), and I had none installed, but nothing works.
I'm running a MacBook Pro 2019 with Catalina Installed. And this only happens in this particular app.


texts: Use Force Click to open link in a new tab in Safari?

texts:
I know it's possible to open a link a new tab by holding  Cmd ⌘  when clicking a link. However, I think it would be great if I could simply use Force Touch for this - then my hands wouldn't have to leave the trackpad at all.

I have BetterTouchTool installed, but that program lacks a 'single-finger Force Click anywhere on the trackpad' trigger. Is there another workaround to achieve the desired effect, e.g. using AppleScript?

I'm on a 15" tMBP, should that be relevant.


texts: How can I get files off of a Mac when the display is broken?

texts:
I need to get files off of my mac, and SSH and RDP are both disabled. My screen is broken, and my SSD is encrypted by FileVault.

Now, I do have one advantage: An external monitor. However, it will not turn on until FileVault has decrypted the hard drive. I have a BIOS password on it as well.

If there is a way to automatically select a user at the FileVault screen by pressing Enter or so, then please tell me. What I think I need to do is boot into Single User Mode, but I need to know exactly what prompts I'll encounter until it will display on the external monitor.


texts: How do I permanently delete data from a game when I delete it from my iPhone/ipad

texts:
I have been trying for weeks now to delete a game and all of its data and every time I do this and install the game again it comes back with the previous data. I want to delete the game and start again as a new customer with no pre-existing data. Although it says it will remove the game and all of the data when trying to delete it does not.

Is there a way to permanently delete the data when I delete the game from the iPad and iPhone?


texts:
I have installed Windows 10 on my Mac with BootCamp. This week, Anniversary Update has been released. I wanted to install it. I have launch wizard to upgrade Windows.

Windows restarts.

Now, even if I press 'Alt' key, the boot menu does not show. Mac OS X starts, slowly... very slowly... very very slowly... When login screen shows up, I can not use keyboard or trackpad.

To start my computer, I need to plug external keyboard and external mouse... Mac OS X is very slow (when I mouse the mouse, I need to wait few minutes before see the cursor movement)

Mac OS X started and logged in, I can use Mac correctly.

I can access to BOOTCAMP partition in Finder.
In Boot Camp Assistant, I can not see Windows Partition, whereas in Disk Utility, I can...

How can I start again on Windows without having to reinstall everything?


texts: Mac Utility doesn't show any disk in Recovery Mode

texts:
After booting my Mac it used to hang either immediately or after some time, so I put my OS on update. As usual, it asked me to restart so I did, but now it keeps on saying:

"The installer resources were not found. Quit the installer to restart your computer and try again"

So I started my system in Recovery M and went to Disk Utility,1 but it doesn't show any disk.


texts: Selecting files with one extensions that have the same name as files with a different extension

texts:
I have two folders of images. In one folder there are .JPGs, e.g.

  001.jpg
  002.jpg
  003.jpg
  004.jpg
  005.jpg
  006.jpg
  007.jpg
  008.jpg

in the other folder, there are .NEFs. However some of the .NEFs have been deleted, so there are e.g.

  001.nef
  003.nef
  004.nef
  005.nef
  008.nef

The jpgs and nefs correspond to one another - they are the same photograph taken at the same time with the same efix data (saved to two seperate memory cards)

What I want to do is select the .JPGs that correspond to the remaining .NEFs. In the above example I want to select JPGs 1,3,4,5,8 but not the others. I actually have around 400 jpgs and 800 nefs.

I have tried using folder comparison apps such as VisualDiffer however they seem to only work if you're using the same full file name + extension.

Does anybody know how it might be possible to achieve this in finder or using terminal? or alternatively with a different app?

I am using Mac OSX 10.6.8

Thanks!


texts: iPhone Shortcut to change app location services preferences

texts:
My motorcycle GPS is connected to an App that must allow location services to “Always” to work correctly (“While using the app” does not work).
As I’d like to turn the location services off when I’m not riding, is there any way I can quickly access the setting with a shortcut? The path would be the following: Settings->Motorcycle App->Location->Always (or “Never” when I stop using my bike).
Many thanks!


texts: Lock Screen vs Login Window - affect on running processes

texts:
It appears to me that BOTH Apple Menu>Lock Screen AND Fast User Switching Menu>Login Window halt user processes at some point. (AirServer eventually stops working for me)

I would like to know if/why/how user processes are affected in these scenarios.  I've read elsewhere that the Login Window halts processes, and the Lock Screen method shouldn't, but I've personally seen the opposite or inconsistent behavior.

With a better understanding, perhaps a native solution can be found - if one exists, I'd like to know!

I have zero interest in a screensaver, but if it can somehow lock the screen while allowing all background user processes to run, I'm listening.

Yes I have Sleep set to NEVER

I'm familiar with headless windows services automatically starting and running with zero user interaction, not even a need for an initial login.

I wish to have similar behavior on my Mac mini serving as Plex and Airplay server.

Unfortunately Plex and AirServer are user processes - so that means I have to log in initially... fine.


texts: Is it possible/a good idea to use an ExpressCard SSD for swap?

texts:
I have a 48GB WinTec filemate ExpressCard SSD which I'm not currently using for anything.  My idea was that I would re-partition it with a 16GB partition for swap and virtual memory (I have 8GB of RAM), and the rest for either random files, or maybe stick a flavor of Linux on there.

I have some concerns about it though.  The drive, while it is difficult to physically remove (you have to press really hard on that tiny 34 slot), it is still possible to remove it without ejecting the disk and powering off the slot.  So if it does get accidentally removed while the system has swap/virtual memory on it, what would happen?  Is there a way I could set it to switch to use another drive if the expresscard drive gets removed?

Another concern is speed.  I normally run at the almost the full 8GB of RAM and usually go over for most the day since I am usually running vagrant, Chrome with lots of plugins, multiple monitors, AirMail, HipChat, Skype, Sublime with lots of plugins, iTunes, and other random applications.  Since I am probably accessing swap frequently is this drive going to be too slow?  I will post the screenshots of the speed tests I did below.

Express Card SSD:

SATA2 SSD:

SATA1.5 HDD:


texts: How do I make Reminders sync with iCloud on Mojave after downgrading from Catalina?

texts:
I updated my Mac to Catalina last year but it turned out Wechat for Mac does not work with external webcam on Catalina. I had to downgrade to Mojave but now it seems the Reminders can no longer sync with iCloud unless I upgrade back to Catalina.

Is that true? If so, is there a way to make Reminders under Mojave work with iCloud?


texts: Rsync: run backups like Time Machine and prevent removing non existing remote files/dirs on local folder

texts:
I have this configuration: a NAS and a local hard drive on my Mac I want to backup incrementally, like Time Machine does.

When I do this rsync command:

rsync -va --exclude=.DS_Store --delete /Volumes/Drive/Folder /Volumes/RSYNC/Test

A folder "test" on my NAS (so the remote) will be deleted if it doesn't exist on my local hard drive.
I would like to keep the possibility to add more content on the remote folder without having it on my drive (more like a shared folder, other users can add content, but I come with my possibly updated data to backup everything).

Any idea how to do incremental backups (in another folder, with file versions, etc — like Time Machine in some way), without deleting non-existing content on remote from local?


texts: How to fully connect and switch 2 macbook pro including sounds, microphone, mouse

texts:
I have 2 MacBookPro (one for work and one private) and a Dell u4919dw. I use the KVM function of the Dell U4919DW and it works just fine for switching the keyboard and mouse BUT I'd love to also be able to switch the headset (Steelseries Arctis Pro connected via a USB Hub on my private Mac), the speakers (Edifier E25HD Luna Eclipse connected to the Steelseries box), the microphone (HyperX Quadcast S connected via a USB Hub on my private Mac) and the external camera (Logitech directly connected via USB-C to my work Mac).
I'd also love to be able to switch from one setup to the other by a press of a button.
I found a workaround for the headset (using bluetooth on my work mac and USB connection for the private one) but cannot find any stable solution for the rest (other than constantly switching cables)
Can anyone help?
Thanks in advance


texts: What should I do about outdated BootCache playlists?

texts:
In /private/var/db/BootCaches there are old 'bootcache playlists' (not clear what these exactly are as they also have some sort of user component apparently) for Coriolis Systems (which in the past had iDefrag and iPartition, but which now has been shut down because of APFS). I've removed as much as I could find from Coriolis Systems software, but this remains and rebuilding the boot cache and rebooting hasn't changed that.

How do I really clean this up? Here is the output of ls

bash-3.2# ls /private/var/db/BootCaches
72499DE8-BFC3-4A73-AC46-2EFBCAA4F257    PreheatedUser
FFFFEEEE-DDDD-CCCC-BBBB-AAAA000000F8    Root.logical_playlist
FFFFEEEE-DDDD-CCCC-BBBB-AAAA000001F5    RootExtra.logical_playlist
Login.logical_playlist
bash-3.2# ls /private/var/db/BootCaches/*
/private/var/db/BootCaches/Login.logical_playlist
/private/var/db/BootCaches/Root.logical_playlist
/private/var/db/BootCaches/RootExtra.logical_playlist

/private/var/db/BootCaches/72499DE8-BFC3-4A73-AC46-2EFBCAA4F257:
Login.playlist
app.com.agilebits.onepassword-osx.playlist
app.com.apple.ActivityMonitor.playlist
app.com.apple.Console.playlist
app.com.apple.Safari.playlist
app.com.apple.Terminal.playlist
app.com.apple.TextEdit.playlist
app.com.apple.systempreferences.playlist
app.com.backup42.desktop.playlist
app.com.coriolis-systems.iDefrag.playlist
app.com.coriolis-systems.iPartition.playlist

/private/var/db/BootCaches/FFFFEEEE-DDDD-CCCC-BBBB-AAAA000000F8:
Login.playlist

/private/var/db/BootCaches/FFFFEEEE-DDDD-CCCC-BBBB-AAAA000001F5:

/private/var/db/BootCaches/PreheatedUser:
Login.playlist
app.com.agilebits.onepassword-osx.playlist
app.com.apple.ActivityMonitor.playlist
app.com.apple.Console.playlist
app.com.apple.Safari.playlist
app.com.apple.Terminal.playlist
app.com.apple.TextEdit.playlist
app.com.apple.systempreferences.playlist
app.com.backup42.desktop.playlist
app.com.coriolis-systems.iDefrag.playlist
app.com.coriolis-systems.iPartition.playlist


texts: Mac version of man doesn't have the -u option. How could I rebuild man's database of commands?

texts:
In Linux, the following rebuilds, or updates, man's database of commands:

> man -u

But that option does not exist in Mac OS X's BSD version. How could I update man's database of commands on the Mac?


texts: How to upgrade brew ssh after recent client exploit?

texts:
I'm running OS X El Capitan 10.11.1

Since the recently discovered SSH client exploit mentioned here I wanted to take action to secure myself. In the process I noticed I'm using Apple's ssh and not the brew version I have installed. So I wanted to change that. One of the things I need to do is edit the file below to point to /usr/local/bin/ssh-agent instead of the system default /usr/bin/ssh-agent. However, even as sudo, I cannot edit this file. It only opens as readonly.

sudo vi /System/Library/LaunchAgents/org.openbsd.ssh-agent.plist

How can I open this file in read/write mode?


texts: Is there a way to name an Apple Pencil on the iPad Pro?

texts:
On the 2018 seamless design (matte finish / no lightning connector) Apple Pencil with the 2018 iPad Pro (USB C charger) I'm not seeing a way to give a name to the Apple Pencil that shows when I charge it.

Is there a setting that lets you name the pencil similar to on macOS where you can name bluetooth accessories?


texts: What data repair and recovery options exist for a missing APFS Volume?

texts:
I am using an OWC Envoy Pro enclosure with an Apple Samsung SSD out of a 2015 MacBook Air. It's plugged into a 2017 iMac 27".

The External SSD) randomly gets ejected and as a result of this random ejecting I have now lost the volume. Only the base SSD drive/name and container are there.

Is there anyway to recover the data or the entire APFS volume?


texts: No Plus Sign Button or Edit Button in IOS Contacts App

texts: The Contacts App on my iPhone 4 (with IOS 5.1) has no '+' in the top right corner to add a contact and no "edit" in the top right corner to edit a contact. My friends do have this. How to it get these buttons to show up?


texts: Windows Laptop as Secondary Monitor for Macbook Air (Preferably Wired)

texts: I have a Macbook Air and an HP Stream 13 and I am wondering if it is possible to use the HP Stream 13 as a secondary monitor (a more mobile solution to a secondary screen). I currently own a Mini DP to HDMI cable and I would prefer a wired connection since the HP Stream's wireless cards aren't the best.


texts: OSX spaces - how to switch space on another monitor

texts:
I cannot for the life of me figure this out. I have two monitors. If I'm focused on the left monitor, I cannot use a shortcut to switch spaces on the right monitor. Or (as often happens) I click my right monitor to focus it instead of alt tabbing, and then I cannot switch the left monitor space with my keyboard without clicking on that screen.

Is there not a way to control the space of another monitor with your keyboard?


texts:
I have a 17-inche Macbook-pro, the resolution is at the moment 1920x1200, the font size of the system looks very small. Is there a way to increase the font size without changing the resolution? It seems that we can't parameter it via System Preferences...

PS: the OS is Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2 (11C2002)


texts: CMD + space not working in the first try

texts:
I'm having troubles with Spotlight.

Command Space isn't working in the first try, but when I try it again it does work. After few minutes I need to do it twice again for it to pop.
I don't see app result anymore. I tried to add it to the privacy section in the spotlight setting, than remove it so it will be re-indexed. It didn't work.

Somehow I think they tied together. I have the latest OS (macOS High Sierra)

Appreciate the help.

Since I got an answer for the first one, I'll post here the solution for the second one. Just add the whole computer (ShiftCommandC) to the privacy in the spotlight settings - then remove it.


texts:
I am trying to re-activate my Apple ID which I have not used for about 1 year. The issue is to be able to re-activate my Apple ID (after being de-activated), I need to answer my security questions or  enter my old mobile phone number. The only issue is I have forgotten them.

How would I go about re-activating my Apple ID again?


texts:
I had two external hard disks: External and Backup. External had many aliases which pointed to other files on the same disk. Backup was used to backup External.

External failed, and I now use Backup, which I have since renamed to External. Unfortunately, all those aliases now point to /Volumes/Backup/… and thus no longer work.

I don't want to have to fix them or recreate them one at a time.

Is there a way to fix all the aliases so that they point to /Volumes/External/… instead of /Volumes/Backup/…?