texts: Time Machine back up to Time Capsule fails

texts:
Recently Time Machine has stopped backing up to my Time Capsule on both my MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. It spends a few hours "Preparing backup" and then just gives up.

I've had a look in Console and when it says it is "Preparing backup" com.apple.backupd is running an initial consistency scan for '/' and then when it stops I get the following messages in the Console:

Error writing event cache at /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/... : Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=20 "Not a directory"
Error writing to backup log. NSFileHandleOperationException:***

The latest backup on my MBA is 23 July and on my MBP is 24 July so I think that coincides with me updating OS X but I can't be sure. These are the things I have tried so far (I've turned Time Machine off on my MBP so I can focus on getting the Air working first)

Turning time machine off and back on again
Reselecting the back up disk
Hard resetting the time capsule
Factory resetting the time capsule
Booting into Safe Mode on my MBA and then restarting into normal mode
"First aid" (Disk Utility) on my MBA
Renaming the Time Capsule to a short name

The only thing I haven't done is erase the contents of the Time Capsule for two reasons. 1) I don't have a hard drive with enough capacity remaining to archive the data to. 2) When I enter Time Machine all of the backups are there and available for me to restore so I don't want to loose all that.

Please let me know if you have any ideas. The TC has over 300 GB of space remaining.

UPDATE Here is the contents of the .sparsebundle (located within the 'Data' folder) that is the backup (the bands folder is empty):


texts: How to move to another full screen window of the same app

texts:
I have two Safari windows, I put both of them into full screen. When I switch to another app (let's say Finder) by cmd-tab, then the next time I switch back to Safari by cmd-tab, I will be in the last full screen window that I was on.

How do I move from here to my other full screened Safari window? Is there any way to do this?

I know I can move to the right/left space by ctrl-arrow, but I have no idea where the other Safari window is (I'd have to guess).

EDIT: What I really meant is a keyboard shortcut, instead of Mission Control.


texts: How to produce an A4-format pdf of an man page?

texts:
I know that man -t ls | open -f -a /Applications/Preview.app produce a pdf of the man page of the ls command.

But the pdf produced is in US Letter size (21.59 cm x 27.94 cm).

The man page of man says that -t option use internally /usr/bin/groff -Tps -mandoc -c.

So, according the groff man, I tried this for obtaining A4 size (21 cm x 29.7 cm) in the pdf (A4 size is widely used in Europe):

man -t ls | /usr/bin/groff -Tps -mandoc -c  -P-pa4 | open -f -a /Applications/Preview.app.

I obtain the A4 size as desired, but the formatting is ugly (no bold, italic, characters doubled, underscored)...

How to have the good formatting (as in the first command) AND the right size (as in the later command)?


texts: How do I get Apple TV 3rd Gen to connect to new Wi-Fi settings with no remote and a TV too far away for ethernet cable connection?

texts:
After a lightning strike I needed a new modem. Now I want to connect my existing Apple TV to my new Wi-Fi network.

My Apple remote is not paired as I always used an iPhone and iPad as my remote. The TV is too far away for an ethernet cable to reach the Apple TV box while HDMI is connected. I have a MacBook Air but it's never been connected to the Apple TV. Any help would be appreciated.


texts: Will a "Mac format" iPod nano (2gen) work on a PC?

texts:
I have an old 8GB iPod nano (2nd gen, I think).  When I plug it into iTunes, one of the things on the status page is "Format: Macintosh".

I no longer use this iPod, so I'm thinking of giving it to my parents, but I don't think they have a Mac.

Will this iPod be able to work with a Windows PC?


texts: Battery service and insanely low maximum charge

texts:
Recently my Macbook Pro Retina Late 2013 has started to shut down unexpectedly while running on battery. I thought it was because of my CPU was too hot but it was not the case. When checking it further, I found that my battery status is "Service Battery". I used coconutBattery to check and found that the Full Charge Capacity of my Mac is insanely low. I could be sure that it was around 90% last week and suddenly now it dropped to 46.9% of the Design Capacity.

I tried resetting SMC like many other said but unfortunately, it did not work for me. One symptom I saw before having this issue is that my Macbook temperature was quite high. I could feel the obvious difference in temperature between my Macbook and others' at the office when touching my hand on it, I guess my Mac was about 10 degree Celsius higher than others.

Is anyone here had this issue before? Should I replace my battery completely? Is it possible to replace the battery only on this Mac, I think it is nonremovable?


texts: How to delete all files in one folder that are the same as in another folder

texts: I have two folders containing videos: the first contains videos that are already referenced within Aperture, and the second contains a mix of duplicates as well as videos that are NOT already in Aperture. What I'd like to do is have the second folder contain ONLY files that are not already in Aperture (so that I can add them). How can I relatively easily delete the duplicate files in the second folder? I've been playing around with Deltopia's DeltaWalker, but it doesn't appear able to allow me to delete the duplicate files easily.


texts: Macbook air screen is too bright even on the lowest setting

texts:
Is there a tweak, hack, or piece of software that can adjust the brightness of the MacBook Air's screen below the settings that MacOS X allows by default?

In low light the lowest brightness setting is too bright for me (and the setting after that is black so that doesn't work at all). :-)


texts:
I have a video clip that I want to convert to an animated GIF. I used GIFBrewery.

But I couldn't figure out how to make a GIF that's the proper speed. The default preview they showed had way too many frames missing, so I increased the frame count. But once I did that, the GIF played way too slowly. How do I make the GIF speed simply the same speed as the original video?

I also used MPEG Streamclip to export to PNGs so I can use GIMP to create the GIF. Same problem, couldn't create a proper speed GIF.


texts: How can I fix intermittently not being able to switch between the same application windows via shortcuts?

texts:
Command + ` intermittently stops working sometimes. There's no obvious pattern I have noticed it in both finder and in chrome. The windows are not minimised because I can move the current one and clearly see the one behind it. After a while it goes back.

It happens about 1-2 times a day. Any ideas?


texts:
Is it possible to silence a WhatsApp video call so you don’t hear the other person. Putting the ringing volume and system volume down and I can still hear the other person on the call?

Update
I’m using both the volume buttons on the left of the phone and the volume setting found in control center when I swipe up from the bottom of the screen.

See image attached.


texts: Where is battery data stored on macbooks?

texts:
Apps like CoconutBattery can display various data on a MacBook battery like

Manufacturing date
Design capacity
Current capacity
Wear level

Once you swap a battery the application can instantly detect and get data from the new battery. This makes me believe that the data is stored on the battery itself.

Where is all this (MacBook) battery data stored? On the battery itself?


texts:
On Mac OS X 10.8.2, shift-clicking the volume control menu extra causes a slider to come up. This slider's value is persistent, but different from the usual volume control's value.

What does this other slider control?


texts: After upgrading to Mavericks, two-finger right-clicking in Chrome doesn't work

texts:
I upgraded my rMBP to Mavericks recently and since then, I'm not able to right-click in Chrome using the trackpad. I can click on menu bars and things like that but not within the actual webpage display window that it renders.

When changing the gesture to the bottom right click, it still doesn't work.

Any workarounds?


texts: Executing bash file with Error bin/bash: bad interpreter: No such file or directory

texts:
I am very new to bash and try writing the first script named hello_world in the path of /Users/me/Study/Linux with the content written by vim:

#! bin/bash
echo Hello World

However, the error occurs when executed:

-bash: /Users/me/Study/Linux/hello_world: bin/bash: bad interpreter: No such file or directory

I have read many questions on the issue but still feel totally lost. :( I'll be very thankful for your help.


texts:
Here is the HTML tag of the button I would like to click using AppleScript.

<button class="btn btn-primary" autofocus="" ng-click="ok()" tabindex="0">OK </button

Here is my script

tell application "Google Chrome"
    tell tab 2 of window 1 to set clickOnMyButton to execute javascript "document.getElementsByClassName('ng-scope')[0].click();"
end tell

Result:

  missing value

how can I generate a click ?

Update : I found that this is causing the block

 style="z-index: 1050; display: block;"

Full HTML block

 Information

Details

Please provide Purchase data

<button class="btn btn-primary" autofocus="" ng-click="ok()" tabindex="0">OK </button>

If I can't click on the menu, how can I remove this using AppleScript?


texts: I have a 2015 MacBookPro 15 inch. On Windows 10 when I plugin in Sony WH1000XM headphones via the wire, I have to turn the volume down to 1/100 in order for it not to be too loud. How can I fix this?


texts: Where does Messages.app store its "Play sound effects" setting?

texts:
I'm trying to write a script to configure the system and various apps to my liking, mostly via defaults write. I got stuck with Messages' Play sound effects setting (under General). I think this setting might be new in Mavericks.

I couldn't find it in any of the *iChat*.plist files under ~/Library/Preferences, so I watched the whole directory for changes with FS events, and it doesn't seem like that setting is affecting any of the files in that directory.

Any ideas about other locations where Messages.app could be storing this setting?


texts: I was trying to use Front Row on Lion and I couldn't seem to find it. Is it included with Lion?


texts:
I have been receiving new iphone 6 hints in my Notifications but when I go to try one out and go back to read it again it is gone.

How do I retrieve them and where do they do they come from?


texts: macbook pro keyboard keys look polished after a few months

texts: Is this polished look due to grease from the fingers or simply friction? By polished, I mean that the surface looks shinier on some keys. I got an UPPERCASE Ghost Cover but it isn't as nice to type on. If I can prevent the polished look from happening by removing grease daily after I use the keyboard, I'd prefer that. But not sure if it'll happen regardless if it's due to friction.


texts: In Safari every time I close the app or turn off my iPhone, every tab that I have open is deleted. I have absolutely no idea how it started, and it deleted a couple important tabs.


texts: How to access the IR sensor of MacBook Pro Mid 2010 to be able to use non apple remotes

texts:
I have an Audio to IR accessory for my iPhone which works very well with most of the TVs and DVD players as the app that comes with it supports them.

I was wondering if it would be possible to write an iPhone App + Mac App that would let me control my MacBook Pro similar to how Apple remote works.

Is the IR sensor on MacBooks accessible to third party applications ?

Any Open Source Projects, SDK's or hacks you nice people can point me towards ?


texts:
I usually work with multiple Safari windows open. Each has multiple tabs. Each window is a particular theme. Is there a way to name these windows so I can easily navigate between them?

Or is there an app that can do it or at least provide a work around?


texts: Why is there an alarm clock badge on the YouTube app?

texts:
I’m using iOS 11 public beta 1 and today I’ve noticed an alarm clock badge on the YouTube app. Now I’m wondering why it is there and what does it mean?

Right now the badge is just a normal red circle with a 1 inside.

Update

It also showed me this:


texts: iPhone 4s: I keep receiving notifications over 3G for apps that I've disabled cell data for

texts:
I try and keep an eye on my cell data so I don't use too much. From what I've noticed from my own usage the apps that eat up the most data are the ones that stream music and videos like Pandora and Youtube, so I turned off cell data for these apps. Just yesterday I got a notification from Pandora saying "New music has been added to so-and-so station". I wasn't on wifi and after double checking the cell settings data was still disabled for it.

Whats going on?


texts: Require username+password after sleep/lock

texts:
I want a command to force password input after sleep or manual lock with ControlCommandQ in High Sierra, as opposed to allowing TouchID alone to unlock the laptop.

How?

Use case:

You can be forced to supply your biometrics, but you can't be forced to supply your knowledge of a password, until mind-reading is a thing. Hence; when traveling, knowing that other people want to read/copy data contained on travelers' laptops, I want to secure my laptop by forcing authentication with username+password, as opposed to username+fingerprint.

Like for iOS 11 but for macOS.

Goal:

Disable TouchID every time I want to force a password-based unlock, until the next time the laptop has been successfully unlocked.

Facts:

I can lock the laptop and sign in with password if I click the avatar
I can lock the laptop and unlock it with my fingerprint if I touch the Touch Id sensor.
I have no way to force password on sign-in. That is what this question is about.

Discourse:

There are two concepts in play here. What principal is trying to log in and what credentials versus identification that principal supplies. The principal in the above use-case is always myself, but TouchId does away with the secret part of the credential, and makes it so that authentication is successful by merely supplying a username—the fingerprint. In the triad, "something you have, something you know, something you are", it has replaced the "something you know" with "something you are". In the above threat-model, it has lessened security, because "what you are" is never possible for you to withhold.

Furthermore; because fingerprints are available on your phone, on the surface of your laptop, on your wallet, etc, I don't even "have to be", for the laptop to open, because they can be stolen or faked.

They are a fairly strongly identifying (one to two in a hundred people could share the same hash of the fingerprint); but they are not strongly authenticating. I want strong authentication using a secret ("what I know"), to be possible. That is what I'm asking for.

I hope this removes any doubts about what this question is asking.

Notes:

  You can't input commands after your computer is locked.

Sure I can; normally cabled ethernet is trusted: https://github.com/lgandx/Responder https://room362.com/post/2016/snagging-creds-from-locked-machines/ or a while back, now fixed: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207423

  ...if you could it would lessen security...

Not if the command can only strengthen security.

Besides, this is not what I'm asking about, I'm after a command for "strong lock machine", to enforce password-based authentication after sleep/lock/hibernate.

  This is a duplicate post

No, it's not.

  Typing is less secure since it can be observed and replicated

That is true for other threat modelling scenarios than I have as my use case. However, enabling 2FA (e.g. TouchId + password) for the laptop is a valid solution to this question, if it's possible.


texts: Uploading a minor new build must wait for review every time?

texts: I just fixed a few bugs and minor things after the initial version of an application was released into the app store. I've uploaded the binary to iTunesConnect but I see nowhere to change over the build version. Is it correct that every time a new version/build(1.0.1 -> 1.0.2) is uploaded it has to go through review?


texts: How can I configure my macOS Catalina installation to recognize, and use, the version 12.4 Mail.app used in macOS Mojave?

texts: The macOS Catalina Mail.app preferences panel has an option for selecting between the version 13.4 Mail.app (Catalina) and the version 12.4 Mail.app (Mojave).  With both versions of the Mail.app in the Catalina System Applications folder, I am unable get Catalina to launch the older version 12.4 Mail.app.  I'm sure it's a simple configuration issue.  I'd appreciate any guidance available.


texts: Problem while trying to export iTunes library to an xml file (on OS X 10.8, iTunes 11.1.3)

texts:
Short version: When I try to export iTunes library to an xml file, iTunes creates a temporary file (called iTunes export.tmp) and it quickly disappears and I don't get any xml file...

Long version: I have partitioned my HD and made a clean Mavericks install on the second partition. In order to migrate my iTunes library, I've moved the media files to an external HD ('cause the second partition is too small to contain them) and iTunes keeps working fine on Mountain Lion. Now I'm trying to export my library from Mountain Lion and import on Mavericks. When I finish the tests with Mavericks, I'll probably keep it and drop Mountain Lion (if all the apps I use work fine on Mavericks, I'm testing now). It would be really great if I could keep all the metadata on my iTunes library after the migration...

Is there any other way to migrate my iTunes library? or maybe something I could do to fix this issue with the xml export?


texts: macOS Enrolment - Devices only being added as placeholders

texts:
We have an office of about 15 Mac computers, and I'm looking to setup a Mac Mini server, to centralise the management of these devices. I've setup the Mac Mini server with the Server app and enabled both the Open Directory and Profile Manager roles.

I've enabled the option to sign configuration profiles and selected the Signing Certificate certificate.

In the profile manager, I've created an enrollment profile and unticked the restrict use to devices with placeholders option.

On the computer that I want to join, I've first installed the trust profile and then I've run the enrollment profile to join the computer.

The computer shows up under the usage as having joined the profile, and under devices, it's successfully adding the device (including the Serial Number and Computer Name), but it's only adding it as a placeholder.

I can't seem to find anyone who is in a similar situation than me, but I should add the following:

We use a managed service, and don't have access to our firewall rules, so I'm not sure if we need to make any exceptions
Nothing is showing up under activity (active or completed tasks)
Our financials are handled by our parent company, so there is no way for me to get a DUNS number, so therefore no way for me to enroll in the device enrollment program.

Is there anything I can do to centralise the management of my computers without having a DUNS number and/or making firewall changes?


texts: contact info sent on a text that is now blocked

texts: If someone blocks my texts but has previously sent me contact info from their address book, can I access the info if my texts are being blocked?


texts: Macbook Pro vs Macbook Air for IPad development

texts:
I have IPad and I want to buy Macbook for development simple programs for IPad.  It will be my first Macbook and I don't want to spend too much many and look at Macbook Air 13' 128Gb.

I'm just wondering if this notebook is good enough to develop a small IPad aps ?


texts:
How do I completely disable Siri in iOS 12.2? In previous versions of iOS, there was a simple setting you could toggle that would completely remove Siri from your system. This setting seems to have gone missing in the latest version.

I thought I had disabled it by toggling off all the individual settings on the Siri settings page, but these annoying “Siri Suggestions” keep popping up every time I type something into Safari.

Help me to nuke the AI please.


texts: How does Photos.app handle multiple libraries in relation to iCloud Photo Library?

texts:
The new Photos.app allows you to hold down option to open up other libraries, for example Aperture and iPhoto libraries.

How does iCloud Photo Library handle this? Does it work in a way like iTunes Match, where a 'central' library lives in the cloud, and various libraries add to it? Or will you have to overwrite the library if you open another.

This question stems from another question I had on how to import an Aperture library after setting up a new one, but is more tied to how iCloud Photo Library handles this more than the Photos app - and the workflow/system around this.


texts: Transferring purchased apps across phones

texts: I purchased an app on my old iPhone and then upgraded my phone. The problem is that I also changed my Apple ID as I couldn't remember my old login details for the original ID. Now I want to continue using a running training app from my old phone which has stored some personal data which I'd really like to continue using on the new phone. Is there any chance I can do this?


texts:
How do I (automatically) backup my Time Capsule?

I'm worried that I will lose important data like photo's and video's when the harddrive of my Time Capsule crashes.


texts: Cannot open/save files on El Capitan. Is this a permissions problem?

texts:
I have some issues with my file system on my MacBook; I am running OS X El Capitan with an SSD.

For instance, if I make a screenshot, save the file on my desktop, and then immediately try to open the file, I cannot do so because I lack permissions to open the file.

However, when looking at the permissions of the file, I can assure that I am the owner of the file and that I have R, W, and X access.

The strange thing is, when I try to open the file again after a couple of minutes, it suddenly works, even though file permissions are still the same as before.

What can be the reason for this? Is it a hard drive issue?


texts: Unable to double tap on the trackpad to highlight multiple words in macOS Mojave

texts:
In previous versions of OS X, I was able to "double tap" on the trackpad and then move my finger to the side or down to highlight/select text/multiple text.

I'm unable to duplicate this in the new macOS Mojave.  Previously, I'd enable System Preferences > Trackpad > "Tap to click".  Any ideas?


texts: Airdrop between two MBPs only works in one direction - why?

texts:
I have two 15" Retina MacBook Pros, a 2013 which is my work machine and a 2014 which is my personal machine. I'm trying to transfer some files between them using airdrop. Both have Yosemite on them and are on the same network. Both have been rebooted whilst on this network.

The 2014 MBP shows the 2013 MBP in airdrop and can drop files to it. In the 2013 MBP airdrop view, the 2014 MBP briefly appears whist the file is transferring and then disappears again.

The 2013 MBP does not see the 2014 MBP at all. Nor my iPhone either. And I cannot transfers files to the 2014 MBP.

I completely flummoxed by this. The only difference I can see is the hardware. I've check firewall settings, sharing preferences, disk permissions and any thing else I can think of. But nothing seems to get the 2013 MBP to see the 2014 MBP.

I've also just noticed that the 2013 MBP cannot see any of the local shares.

Any ideas whats wrong?

Thanks.


texts: Video from Mac to Apple TV, audio to Airport Express

texts:
I want to output video from my rMBP to my Apple TV but send the audio to AirPort Express connected to my sound system.

I have tried every way imaginable to accomplish this, and nothing seems to work. All links in the chain have updated software & firmware. Hardware is the following; rMBP Late 2012, Current Gen ATV, Current Gen APE. All running on rock solid WiFi.

If I start by sending video, it quits when I select the APE audio source, if I start by sending audio, it stops sending when I enable mirroring on the Mac.

I have tried under System Preferences on the Mac to have the system audio routed to the AirPort Express, but no luck. I have tried routing the audio to the APE from the ATV's prefs, also a no go.

Strangely this works like a champ from an iOS device, not from my Mac. I can send the video from the Mac to the ATV and send the audio to APE via Airfoil, but there is a noticeable lip sync issue, so that is not an option.

I read a Lex Friedman article on MacWorld touting the ability to do this.


texts: How can I obtain the Full Name of the currently logged in user via Terminal when run as root?

texts:
This command works great to list the Full Name out:

finger $(whoami) | egrep -o 'Name: [a-zA-Z0-9 ]{1,}' | cut -d ':' -f 2 | xargs echo

But, if you run it after a

sudo su

It returns CVMS Root System Administrator

I'm wondering if there's perhaps another place to read the Full Name variable? Is there a User object somewhere that would list this out? I thought I was on to something with

dscacheutil -q user | grep -A 3 -B 2 -e uid:\ 5'[0-9][0-9]'

But it doesn't look like Full Name is represented in that return data.


texts: How I label scatter plot points in Numbers?

texts: I have a scatter plot in Numbers using one column of data from my table for X values and another for Y values and want to label (and ideally also highlight) each point with the corresponding entries in a third column (or additional columns). How do I do that?


texts: Copied application showing "prohibited" instead of app icon in Finder

texts: I copied "Dead Island" to HDD from DMG file and it showed a "prohibited" icon instead of the game icon (2nd row, icon in the middle). I had to kill/restart Finder to solve it, but would like to know what is the cause for this and how can I prevent it from happening again?


texts:
Is there any way to disable mouse acceleration on a mac?

Mouse acceleration is what causes the mouse to move slowly when moving it a tiny bit, and a farther distance when moved fast. In other words, I want the mouse to always move the same distance no matter the speed I use.

I'm using a trackpad, by the way.

To understand what I mean by mouse acceleration, try this:

Place your finger on the left most side of the trackpad.
Very slowly, move your finger all the way to the right of the trackpad, and observe that the cursor doesn't move very much on the screen.
Now try the same thing, but this time move your finger really fast from one side of the trackpad to the other. You should see that the cursor has moved a significant amount of distance more than it did previously, even though your finger traveled the same distance.


texts: Escape character ^] not working from Mac terminal

texts:
If I ssh into an Ubuntu machine from my Mac with a "UK extended" keyboard and run telnet localhost 4730 I see:

me@ip-10-xx-xxx-30:~$ telnet localhost 4730
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.

But ctrl + ] does not work from a terminal on Mountain Lion. How can I resolve this?


texts:
I have Google Drive installed on my iMac running High Sierra. I have a folder on my machine named Google Drive. I haven't used it in a while. I seem to recall that I once had a menu item for Google Drive. Well, I no longer have a menu item for Google Drive and if I open the Google Drive folder there is only a few MB's used.

If I go to Safari and go to Google Drive it says I'm using over 10 GB of my allotted 15 GB and it lists the files which I remember copying to the drive about 2 years ago. Have things changed for Google Drive? Why does the Google Drive folder not reflect what is actually on my Google Drive? At some time in the past, I copied close to 10 GB of data to Google Drive. I have no idea how to do that now.


texts: Why might pasting an URL link into iCloud from a PC make that link inactive on iOS in notes?

texts:
If I paste a link/URL into the notes app from my iPhone, it works fine, I can tap on it and have it open in Safari.

When I try to paste a link from my Windows computer, via icloud.com, the note shows up fine on my phone, but when I tap a link, nothing happens (it highlights briefly).

In this case, I am forced to copy and paste the link into Safari manually.

I'm pasting from a Windows 7 computer running Chrome. The link does appear, underline and everything. It's as if iOS knows its a URL but refuses to open it.


texts: How to prevent reopening of all programs after power outage

texts:
When shutting down or logging out regularly, there is an option to reopen, or not, all the programs and their respective windows upon logging in again.

That option for me is unchecked, and the OS seems to remember that choice.

Likewise, in the General panel of System Preferences, I have it set to NOT reopen windows/documents when relaunching programs.

However, if the new login occurs after a power outage, every single program that was previous opened gets opened up and attempts to load the windows that were open, rendering my computer basically unusable for almost ten minutes or more (I often have dozens of programs open and we won't even talk about number of tabs on Chrome).

Is there a way to suppress the relaunching of programs and previously opened documents permanently and definitively?

I'm on Sierra.


texts: What are the utilities included in the Mavericks recovery partition?

texts:
What is Mavericks Recovery Partition good for? I have Maverick also installed on an external Hard drive, in case something goes wrong with my main system I can use this external hard. Do I still need the recovery partition? (I also have my old Snow Leopard installation disk).

Background:
I have a macbook pro, with Snow Leopard on it. I want to update to Mavericks. Before updating my main system, I put an old hard disk in my mac (same configuration as the main one, with Snow Leopard osx), and updated to Maverick to test the waters!

It went almost well, just it did not create recovery partition since I had 3 partitions on my hard (OSX, bootcamp and a fat32 partition for data).

now, for having the recovery partition, I need to format my hard, and do a fresh install of Snow Leopard, and bootcamp windows, and update to Maverick. Does it worth it?  Or, I forget about the Recovery Partition, and update my current configuration to Mavericks, and in case of any emergency I use the Maverick installed on an Hard drive?

Thanks


texts: Snow Leopard Server in Parallels with Retina MacBook Pro (No DVD Drive)

texts:
I'm trying to install Snow Leopard Server in a Virtual Machine in my Retina MacBook Pro, but I was unable to do it since I don't have a DVD drive in my MacBook.

I've done an DMG file from the original Snow Leopard Server DVD but, it has no effect, since Parallels cannot install Snow Leopard Server from a .dmg file.

Any ideas?

PS: I just want to use Rosetta.


texts: Uninstalling OS Lion, and transferring photos to MacBook if full restore needed

texts:
I have, stupidly, upgraded to OS Lion on both my desktop and laptop.
I've now done a hard restore on my laptop, back to Snow Leopard, and reinstalled my photo software, which wouldn't work with Lion.
Now I need to remove Lion from my desktop, but must save 19,000 photos first, either by transferring onto my laptop (preferred) or onto my WD 2Tb hard drive, so I can reinstall after downgrade to Snow Leopard.

Crazy, I know, but I've never needed to do this before, so please be gentle with an upgrade novice.


texts: Keynote Error Dialogue When Opening .pptx

texts:
I opened keynote 7.3.1 on my Mac (10.12.6) and navigated to the Desktop to open a .pptx document.
This resulted in an error dialogue stating that it could not recognize that file format (.pptx).
What would cause this error and how could it be resolved?


texts: Iphone "shortcuts" for wifi / 3g / localization

texts:
the iPhone may be a real battery hog and sometimes having the battery last till evening is hard. The obvious tips are turning localization, bluetooth, wifi, 3g and so on off. The problem is that this requires a lot of tipping. For example, if I just want to turn 3g off because i'm not browsing or something, I have to tap Activate -> Unlock -> Setting -> General -> Network -> 3g.

One really cool feature of Android is that you can simply swipe down (the gesture that in the new iOS 5 shows the center message) and you have all the icons for turning features on / off. Moreover, every mobile phone has different "modes" that you can activate with a few clicks and that encapsulate a set of settings. On the iPhone you just have sound on / off and the radical "aeroplane" mode.

Is there a way (shortcut, setting, app...) to set up different modes? For example, most of the times I just need to use the iPhone for messages and calls and receive pushes (mails) but not using 3g, but I want to reactivate all the features if I need to look up something on the internet or check something nearby with an app and I don't want to do dozens of clicks just to reactivate the localization, searching for networks and re-enable 3g. Thanks


texts: iPhone plays call ringtone over connected bluetooth speakers while on silent more

texts:
When I have my iPhone X on silent and I'm playing music through my Bluetooth speaker, if someone calls me I hear the ring over the speaker.

How do I stop this?


texts: Google Chrome crashes with EXC_BAD_INSTRUCTION on Sierra

texts:
New iMac running Sierra 10.12.5. 3 days ago suddenly started freezing intermittently for 3-5 minutes at a time. Activity Monitor was showing CPU spikes that corresponded to the freezes. Console reported some push spawn incidents. I pasted code into Terminal to get system report. The output is too long to paste here, but I have pasted into pastebin. Shortly after that, the computer froze and crashed. Tried to shut down, but it froze on shut down so I had to turn it off.

Restarted in safe mode. Seemed okay, so I started up Chrome - which at once reported that it had not shut down properly and began to act very unstable, flickering and loading from bottom over and over. I quit Chrome, uninstalled it and downloaded it, then reinstalled. But on opening it, it repeated the same bizarre behaviour.

In the meantime, Console system log shows:

  Jun 11 03:58:44 iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.watchdogd): >Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.
  Jun 11 03:58:54 iMac Console[919]: BUG in libdispatch client: >kevent[EVFILT_MACHPORT] monitored resource vanished before the source >cancel handler was invoked
  Jun 11 03:58:54 iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.watchdogd[937]): >Service exited with abnormal code: 255
  Jun 11 03:58:54 iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.watchdogd): >Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.

And it was constantly repeating the same thing.

Crash log shows:

  Process:               Google Chrome [776]
  Path:                  /Applications/Google >Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome
  Identifier:            com.google.Chrome
  Version:               58.0.3029.110 (3029.110)
  Code Type:             X86-64 (Native)
  Parent Process:        ??? [1]
  Responsible:           Google Chrome [776]
  User ID:               501

  Date/Time:             2017-06-08 23:53:55.944 +0800
  OS Version:            Mac OS X 10.12.5 (16F73)
  Report Version:        12
  Anonymous UUID:        B346C290-BA5B-BE25-2627-258EB9202EB0

  Sleep/Wake UUID:       09EEC28F-8E0C-41B3-8428-51BCC9E7DD6B

  Time Awake Since Boot: 70000 seconds
  Time Since Wake:       13000 seconds

  System Integrity Protection: enabled

  Crashed Thread:        0  CrBrowserMain  Dispatch queue: com.apple.main->thread

  Exception Type:        EXC_BAD_INSTRUCTION (SIGILL)
  Exception Codes:       0x0000000000000001, 0x0000000000000000

There's more to the crash log, but it's too long to put here.

What is causing the freezing? How can I uninstall Chrome and put things right again?

Also deleted Chrome & Chrome folder in Application Support/Google. Before I can reinstall Chrome, Console is continuing to report pushing:

  respawn: Jun 11 10:29:55 iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.quicklook[2749]): Endpoint has been activated through legacy launch(3) APIs. Please switch to XPC or bootstrap_check_in(): com.apple.quicklook Jun 11 10:29:57 iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.watchdogd[2750]): Service exited with abnormal code: 255 Jun 11 10:29:57 iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.watchdogd): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.


texts:
Is anyone having a higher than usual ping when using a thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter? Or maybe the thunderbolt adaptor has a known issue?

Found this thread, Ping on Mavericks on late 2013 MacBook Pro slow and variable compared to Windows

but it doesn't look to cover hardwire connections.


texts:
I used the Terminal to unzip a file by typing Unzip then dragging the file to terminal. The file unzipped successfully and a few GBs were used from my SDD. However, I have no idea where the files are !!! I can't find them in the same folder of the zip file.
Where would they be ?


texts: MacBook Pro randomly hangs after water damage

texts:
I had water damage on my MacBook Pro trackpad. After that my mouse cursor started randomly trembling. I turned off the MacBook, washed it with isopropyl alcohol and after that it began to randomly hang.

It can hang on boot, after login or after some time of working.

I thought I could check it by using a process of elimination by disabling kexts in normal mode, as in safe mode the MacBook seems to work fine (i.e. it doesn't hang about 12 hours).

So I decided to compare kexts, which only load in normal mode. Below is a list of those kexts:

 com.apple.driver.AppleFIVRDriver (4.1.0)
 com.apple.driver.AppleSMCLMU (211)
 com.apple.vecLib.kext (1.2.0)
 com.apple.iokit.IOAudioFamily (206.5)
 com.apple.iokit.IOHDAFamily (281.52)
 com.apple.driver.AppleHDAController (281.52)
 com.apple.iokit.IOSlowAdaptiveClockingFamily (1.0.0)
 com.apple.driver.AppleIntelSlowAdaptiveClocking (4.0.0)
 com.apple.driver.AppleOSXWatchdog (1)
 com.apple.driver.AppleHV (1)
 com.apple.driver.AppleSSE (1.0)
 com.apple.plugin.IOgPTPPlugin (680.15)
 com.apple.iokit.IOAVBFamily (683.1)
 com.apple.iokit.IOSerialFamily (11)
 com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothSerialManager (6.0.7f15)
 com.apple.iokit.IOUserEthernet (1.0.1)
 com.apple.driver.pmtelemetry (1)
 com.apple.AGDCPluginDisplayMetrics (3.20.16)
 com.apple.GeForceTesla (10.0.4)
 com.apple.driver.AppleUpstreamUserClient (3.6.5)
 com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyDriver (281.52)
 com.apple.kext.OSvKernDSPLib (526)
 com.apple.driver.DspFuncLib (281.52)
 com.apple.driver.AppleHDA (281.52)
 com.apple.driver.AppleHDAHardwareConfigDriver (281.52)
 com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyHIDDriver (131)
 com.apple.driver.AppleTyMCEDriver (1.0.3d2)
 com.apple.driver.AudioAUUC (1.70)

I've also tried to start Apple Hardware Test (AHT), but AHT didn't launched properly. Either AHT stacked in choosing WiFi or after 10 minutes show error.

How can I proceed to identify which hardware part(s) are broken?
It happens with MacBook Pro 2010 Mid 13"


texts: How to add an IP range to Lion server's SMTP whitelist

texts:
I run Lion Server (10.7.5) on an old iMac (2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo) and it handles my e-mail for me.

I've been having some trouble recently with delays in delivery of e-mail to my server from DynDNS's mail backup service. I have been advised to add DynDNS's IP range (216.146.32.0/23) to my whitelist.

Trawling the net has revealed how to add a single host to the whitelist (add it to /etc/postfix/rbl_whitelist), but that IP range holds 512 hosts. Also, the Mac version of /etc/postfix/rbl_whitelist contains the following text:

### DO NOT MANUALLY EDIT THIS FILE ###
# This file is automatically generated
# any manual additions to this file will be lost

which suggests to me that there is another way of doing it.

Can anyone enlighten me please?


texts: 10.11: Good Samaritan message not showing on Filevault2 unlock screen

texts:
You can set up a lock Message under System Preferences => Security & Privacy => General => Set Lock Message.
This Message is stored in NVRAM. Under 10.9 Mavericks it was not only shown on Login/Fast User switch window but also on the FileVault2 Login Screen after a cold boot which makes a whole lot of sense. On 10.11 El Capitan this feature is gone. The Message is only shown on the normal Login/Fast User switch window after the machine has already been unlocked.
Is there a way to revert 10.9 behaviour?


texts:
I am on a MacBook Pro using OS X 10.9.2, using Mail 7.2
If I try to send an attachment in mail, my finder does not allow me to access files.  I thought maybe it was just taking longer after the update to "adjust" however I left the finder open for 10 minutes and it still nothing.  I can see the folders, but not the contents of the folders.  I can access my files when I go directly through the finder, but not when accessing the finder through the mail.app

HELP!


texts: Why can't I hide my active application (e.g., Chrome)?

texts: This happens from time to time: the "hide" option is just grayed out and the usual shortcut doesn't work. I'm not doing anything special or stuck in a modal window—it just isn't available.


texts: Even though JRE 8 is installed on my MAC OS Yosemite, the error - " No Java Runtime present,requesting to install "

texts:
Even though JRE 8 is installed on my MAC OS Yosemite 10.10.3,while running the Android present in tools in sdk - the error - " No Java Runtime present,requesting to install " gets displayed in terminal- how do i solve this issue?

I wanted to install Xamarin test recorder - after installing they asked me to install Android sdk
SDK is downloaded in Library/Developer/Xamarin/android-sdk
Now when I run Android present in tools folder - I get the error - No Java run time
I've installed JRE 8 with get the verified java version from their site
Can someone please help!!


texts: iOS Facebook app stuck in logged in state - how to log that user out?

texts:
My wife was on one of her Facebook accounts on the Facebook app on my iPad one day. And when she went to log out, instead of the normal login screen, it now says Logged in as Xxx Yyyy with Xxx Yyyy being substituted here for my wife's account.

There’s a link below that that says Not Xxx Yyyy?, which gets you to the normal login screen so you can log into other accounts; but what I want to know is how do we get that account logged out properly so that the Facebook app goes to the normal login screen directly?

This is on iOS 8.2. One of the comments suggested I sign in with another account and log out with 'Remember me' unchecked, but I don't see a 'Remember me' check box on either login or logout. Also, this is the Facebook app itself, not the Settings app.

Update: Instead of the Logged in as link, there's now two pictures, one for each of my wife's accounts, with the account names below them. (And, there's a Log in as a different user link below.) It seems that the FB app is being changed to allow one tap logins or something. But there should still be a way to actually log out in such a way as to force the password entry next time, shouldn't there? I'm concerned that there's now this state that the app can be left in where someone can just click and go right into one of the accounts on the initial screen without typing a password. (Granted, the FB site has a 'keep me logged in' feature when you log into it from a browser, but at least there, when you log out, you're actually logged out.)

Update 2: As it turns out, the Facebook app's new behaviour is, indeed, a new feature for logging into your account(s) with one tab and no need to type your password. (When I logged into my account, I was greeted with a little dialogue that asked if I wanted my account to be saved like that (with an optional 4-digit passcode). I was able to get rid of one of the accounts from the app (the first one that showed up) by going to the Settings app and deleting the account from the Facebook app. For whatever reason, the other account isn't showing up there. Nor is there any option to add a passcode after the fact. Anyone know if there's a way to get at (and delete) all accounts that have been saved by the FB app?


texts: Alternative to FaceTime or iMessages to communicate with Android devices?

texts: How can I contact my friends that have no Apple products (iOS or OS X) in similar manner to using FaceTime or iMessage?


texts: So I installed the iOS 8 upgrade, however now my iPad does nothing. It won't charge. It won't show anything but the Apple logo. I've tried soft and hard reboot. Nothing! I am furious!


texts: Is there any way to specify "not" in iTunes search?

texts:
Whenever I want to listen to songs from a particular band in iTunes, I'll just type the name in the search box, select shuffle, and start playing. For most bands this works very well, but I've run into a few situations where I'm unable to narrow it down to a single band due to the fact that the name of the band I'm looking for is a subset of the name of a different band. A classic example is "The Who" - every time I type "the who" in my search bar I get "The Guess Who" as well.

I've tried some of the basic tricks like using quotes or minus symbols but nothing seems to work. Is there a way to do this, or do I have to create special playlists for these problem bands?


texts:
My Mom accidentally moved some system files on her Macbook Pro and did something so they can't be restored back to where they were and now some apps aren't working anymore. Is there a way to repair the installation of Mac OS or a way to figure out where these files should go? She doesn't have Time Machine set up by the way so that isn't an option.

Here is the list of files that she moved:

ATASMARTLib.h
Conversion.h
glut.h
IOAccelSurfaceConnect.h
IOCDTypes.h
IOFDiskPartitionScheme.h
IOFireWireLib.h
IOGraphicsInterface.h
IOGraphicsInterfaceTypes.h
IOGraphicsTypes.h
IOMacOSVideo.h
LogicAUProperties.h
USB 14-18-03 2.h
USB 14-18-03 3.h
USB 14-18-03 4.h
USB 14-18-03.h
USB.h
vDSP 14-17-08 2.h
vDSP 14-17-08.h
vDSP.h


texts: Does Watch Series 5 work with iPhone SE?

texts:
On Apple's fine print it says:

  Apple Watch Series 5 requires an iPhone 6s or later with iOS 13 or later.

So I'm not sure whether this implies iPhone SE as well.


texts: Move dock between displays keyboard shortcut (or keep on both displays)

texts:
I would like to move my dock via keyboard shortcut between displays.  When I connect my second display (which I use as my active display) and try to use the pad to 'learn' this new display is the main one it takes probably 20-30 seconds of moving my mouse up and down before the display finally jumps.

I was wondering if there is a keyboard shortcut that exists or I could create that could handle this action?


texts:
can I downgrade my iPhone 4s iOS 9.2.1 to 9.0.2? I try using ipsw but it isn't signed at this moment. Can I create custom ipsw 9.0.2?

Its possible to downgrade my iPhone?

Thanks.


texts: Dropbox syncing issue (permissions) after new hard drive migration on OS X

texts:
Since upgrading my hard drive (and reinstalling OS X), doing an OS X "Migration" to the new drive, and finally re-logging into Dropbox, I now show 700 files have syncing issues.  This shows up when I click on the Dropbox icon in my top bar.

I can only see one of the files though, as the menu to see more is grayed out. The error is "Permission denied", but I checked the permissions on the file, and it is owned by me.

Questions:

Is there a log file somewhere that shows me the other 699 files with issues?
Any ideas why some of my files have syncing issues?  Other files are syncing fine.  The OS X account username is the same as it was before my reinstall, although I was wondering if it had something to do with user ID's being different (i.e. the underlying Linux UID, asssuming Dropbox uses it).


texts: How do I inspect the power-regulator of a Mac?

texts:
As a tangent to:
Can connecting 2 external monitors to a macbook pro damage it?
How does one get visibility into which power-source the Mac is running with? Are any detailed stats available underneath the hood?
Unrelated context: My MBP 16" 2020 is in the shop with a bad-battery. When my MBP chose the weaker power-source, combined with the failing battery, would cause OSX to go into preservation mode (fire the fans, dump ram to disk etc).  While I'd love to say that I've plugged things in the correct order, being able to verify cabling is also important.
Thank you


texts: Is there a way to forward individual voicemails on the iPhone

texts:
I would like to send a voicemail I received to someone else for them to be able to listen to the exact same audio.

Is there a way to forward an individual voicemail to someone else, whether by email or some other means?


texts:
Somehow rabbitmq is installed on my Mac (OS X Mavericks) and I see the following process

500    86     1   0 Tue05PM ??         0:00.31 /opt/local/bin/daemondo --label=rabbitmq-server --start-cmd /opt/local/etc/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.rabbitmq-server/rabbitmq-server.wrapper start ; --stop-cmd /opt/local/etc/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.rabbitmq-server/rabbitmq-server.wrapper stop ; --restart-cmd /opt/local/etc/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.rabbitmq-server/rabbitmq-server.wrapper restart ; --pid=none
500    98     1   0 Tue05PM ??         0:00.00 /bin/sh /opt/local/sbin/rabbitmq-server
500   109    98   0 Tue05PM ??        64:58.43 /opt/local/lib/erlang/erts-6.0/bin/beam.smp -W w -K true -A30 -P 1048576 -- -root /opt/local/lib/erlang -progname erl -- -home /opt/local/var/lib/rabbitmq -- -pa /opt/local/lib/rabbitmq/bin/../lib/rabbitmq_server-3.1.5/sbin/../ebin -noshell -noinput -s rabbit boot -sname rabbit@localhost -boot start_sasl -kernel inet_default_connect_options [{nodelay,true}] -sasl errlog_type error -sasl sasl_error_logger false -rabbit error_logger {file,"/opt/local/var/log/rabbitmq/rabbit@localhost.log"} -rabbit sasl_error_logger {file,"/opt/local/var/log/rabbitmq/rabbit@localhost-sasl.log"} -rabbit enabled_plugins_file "/opt/local/etc/rabbitmq/enabled_plugins" -rabbit plugins_dir "/opt/local/lib/rabbitmq/bin/../lib/rabbitmq_server-3.1.5/sbin/../plugins" -rabbit plugins_expand_dir "/opt/local/var/lib/rabbitmq/mnesia/rabbit@localhost-plugins-expand" -os_mon start_cpu_sup false -os_mon start_disksup false -os_mon start_memsup false -mnesia dir "/opt/local/var/lib/rabbitmq/mnesia/rabbit@localhost" @STDOUT_STDERR_REDIRECTION@

However, diagnostics shows the following:

sudo rabbitmqctl status

Status of node rabbit@alsMac ...

Error: unable to connect to node rabbit@alsMac: nodedown

DIAGNOSTICS
===========

nodes in question: [rabbit@alsMac]

hosts, their running nodes and ports:
- unable to connect to epmd on alsMac: nxdomain (non-existing domain)

current node details:
- node name: 'rabbitmqctl14166@jhammar-lt'
- home dir: /opt/local/var/lib/rabbitmq
- cookie hash: u9T+ExBe4Ol0RIKh8VYXcw==

What should I do?


texts: I was given an iPhone 5S for christmas and looks like it is locked to AT&T. How do i unlock it so I can use it overseas? I have looked online but there is no answer except for these suspicious IMEI unlock services. Thanks


texts: Is it possible to erase sensitive data from a dead Retina MBP SSD?

texts:
My Retina MacBook Pro has died spectacularly after just over 30 days with what appears to be an SSD fault. No boot, no recovery, and after internet recovery, Disk Utility can't see the SDD at all.

I've persuaded Amazon to extend the returns period, so a replacement machine is on the way - but is there any way I can wipe the SSD before the returning the dead machine to remove personal data?

I'm 99.99% certain the answer is 'no', in which case what precautions can I take in future to make sure personal data stays 'personal' in the event of SSD failure
?


texts:
For some reason that is not clear to me, the Photos app icon on the dock of my Yosemite OS now displays a badge (the number 1 in a red circle top right corner)

First of all, I have no idea what that badge is suppose to represent.  Second, when I launch the app I have not idea what the thing is that I'm suppose to look at, acknowledge or in some way "touch" so that the badge goes away.


texts: How can I prevent certain tracks from going to iPod?

texts: I manually put music onto my iPod by dragging albums over from the library in iTunes.  For some albums, I don't want all of the tracks to copy over to the iPod - for example, audio commentaries and dialog tracks.  Short of deleting these tracks from my iTunes library, how can I prevent specific tracks from being copied over to the iPod when I place albums?


texts:
I have a folder on a HFS+ volume I can't delete. I already tried to get rid of the ACLs but somehow this doesn't worked out.

The folder is calles CrashPlan.app.

Here is what the terminal says:

    sh-3.2# ls -ahel@
    total 0
    drwxrwxr-x@ 3 root  admin   102B 23 Okt 22:58 .
        com.apple.backupdelta.MoveChecked      3B
        com.apple.s stem.Security     68B
    drwxr-xr-x@ 3 root  wheel   102B 30 Okt 13:21 ..
        com.apple.backupd.SnapshotVolumeFSEventStoreUUID      36B
        com.apple.backupd.SnapshotVolumeLastFSEventID     20B
        com.apple.backupd.SnapshotVolumeUUID      36B
    drwxrwxr-x  2 jan   staff    68B 13 Nov  2012 CrashPlan.app

    sh-3.2# cd CrashPlan.app/
    sh-3.2# ls -ahel@
    total 0
    drwxrwxr-x  2 jan   staff    68B 13 Nov  2012 .
    drwxrwxr-x@ 3 root  admin   102B 23 Okt 22:58 ..
        com.apple.backupdelta.MoveChecked      3B
        com.apple.s stem.Security     68B

Strange thing here is, if you look from the outer folder there are no ACL for the folder. But if you look from the inside there are.

How can that be and how I can get rid of it?


texts: Any new recommended settings for Mail and Gmail (post Mavericks update)?

texts:
After applying the Mavericks Update for Mail 1.0, I'm still having the same problems: Gmail works great on iPhone/iPad/Gmail.com, but OS X Mail still does not reflect any changes made on other devices. Also, the recommended settings for Apple Mail on Google's website are uselessly outdated.

Are there any new, up-to-date recommended settings for Apple Mail and Gmail to make them play nicer, has anyone published a good comprehensive blog or anything? (Current as of AFTER the release of the update?)


texts: Safari browser support for offline web apps

texts:
I've been doing research into what solutions are out there for using iOS Safari browsers in terms of offline capabilities with web apps. Many articles and sources I've come across don't seem to mention much in terms of offline support apart from AppCache which is now deprecated.

I'm wondering if there are any solutions out there for iOS Safari offline support apart from AppCache?


texts: Is it possible to install iMovie 9 on El Capitan?

texts:
Is it possible to copy iMovie 9 from my OS X Yosemite MacBook and install it in a new MacBook I am yet to buy and will have OS X El Capitan and iMovie 10?

iMovie 10 has very limited export options compared to iMovie 9. So I would like to copy iMovie 9 from my old computer to my new computer. If this is not possible, is there any other way to install iMovie 9 on El Capitan that already has iMovie 10 installed?


texts: Pop-up Appears then dissapears at MacOS Boot: Do you want the application "mediasharingd" to accept incoming network connections?

texts:
I'm running MacOS Catalina 10.15.7 (19H114) on a Macbook Pro 11,3 15" mid 2014.
Every time I log into my Mac, after about 5 seconds, I get a popup that says...

Do you want the application "mediasharingd" to accept incoming network connections? Clicking the Deny may limit the application's behavior. This setting can be changed in the Firewall pane of Security & Privacy preferences.

After about 3/4ths of a second, the popup dissapears, and doesn't allow me to click allow or deny. This continues to happen no matter my firewall settings.
I have tried the following firewall settings:

√ Block all incoming connections
☐ Automatically allow built-in software to receive incoming connections
☐ Automatically allow downloaded signed software to receive incoming connections
√ Enable stealth mode

Then with:

☐ Block all incoming connections

mediasharingd (blocked)

☐ Automatically allow built-in software to receive incoming connections
☐ Automatically allow downloaded signed software to receive incoming connections
☐ Enable stealth mode

and finally with:

☐ Block all incoming connections

mediasharingd (blocked)

☐ Automatically allow built-in software to receive incoming connections
☐ Automatically allow downloaded signed software to receive incoming connections
√ Enable stealth mode

Regardless of my Firewall settings, this popup continues to open, then immediately close right after login. My questions are...

What is mediasharingd, and how can I trace back which app is using it and where exactly it is coming from, so I can delete it?
Why is mediasharingd seemingly being able to request internet access before my firewall activates?
How do I debug this and STOP this pop-up from happening on login, and permanently block mediasharingd?

Screenshots below.
Thanks for any help!


texts: Why does Siri need to know "which John?" for a reminder or calendar event?

texts:
Me to Siri: "add to my calendar Tuesday noon meeting with John"

Siri: "which John?"

...and then you can't proceed without picking a contact from the list. I'm afraid Siri is going to send a calendar invite or something to whichever contact I pick. I try to avoid using names now, or use funny names I know aren't in my contacts. Why does Siri need to know "which John"? Just add it to my calendar!


texts: How can I start a new text on my iphone message app?

texts: I can't seem to find a way to start a new text thread on my Iphone, does anyone know how to do that without deleting the entire contact, and then re-entering it?


texts: Who are the clients of my shared iTunes library?

texts:
Is it possible to see who is currently connected and listening to a shared iTunes library? Is it possible to see which songs they listen to and how many/often?

It's not really important; I'm just curious about it. Would be nice to know which colleagues love my music…


texts: How to distinguish between multiple AirDrop connections?

texts:
I have iMac A, MacBook Pro B, and MacBook Pro C. I want to copy a file from A to B and C using AirDrop. The problem is that I have multiple instances of the B and C machines showing up in AirDrop. I suspect it is due to multiple users being logged in on B and C. iMac A is also listing itself (under a different user?) as a destination. The problem is that AirDrop lists only the computer name, not the user account name under its icons.

How can I find out which users I will be sending the file(s) to?

I don't want to just send to all of them and later have other employees on these company machines ask me why old AirDrop requests are popping up next time they log in. I also would rather not shut down the machines and bump everyone off, interrupting whatever they might have been working on.

For today I will probably resort to another means of copying the data, but since I use AirDrop regularly I would love to get this solved. Surprisingly Google isn't giving me relevant search results on this.

Thanks


texts: How to get the original HEIC file out of iCloud Photos on the web?

texts:
I take photos on iPhone 7+.

How can I get the original HEIC file from iCloud Photos on the web, when browsing on Windows?

I'm using Firefox on Windows 10. When I download a single photo from https://www.icloud.com/#photos
that is (presumably) HEIC because it has HDR and Live photo, I get a ZIP file containing a JPG and a MOV instead.

(Yes, I really want the original HEIC, for testing software)


texts: iPhone 6s display color profile differences between devices

texts:
Comparing three iPhone 6s side by side, I noticed fairly significant differences in the appearance of colors between them. One in particular is much warmer looking, especially for whites. I have confirmed that nightshift is off and that no screen accessibility settings are enabled.

I tried to capture the difference in the image below with limited success.

In person, the one on the left is noticeable warmer looking, and the one on the right is redder than the one in the middle (or the middle one is greener than the one on the right).

Could any other setting be effecting the display colors? Or is this color variation just expected for three different devices with different histories?


texts: In iTunes v.12.3.2.35, can I tell if an aiff song is in stereo or mono? I tried "Get Info" but I cannot find a tab regarding this. Thank you for any suggestions.


texts: Some homebrew formulas broken after migration

texts:
I've migrated from an old MacBook Pro to a new one, using Apple's Migration assistant. Some home-brew formulas migrated with no problem, whereas others got broken at the library reference level. Reinstalling them does not help. E.g.:

$ weechat
dyld: Library not loaded: /usr/local/opt/gettext/lib/libintl.8.dylib
  Referenced from: /usr/local/bin/weechat
  Reason: image not found
Abort trap: 6

But

$ brew install weechat
Warning: weechat 2.2 is already installed and up-to-date
To reinstall 2.2, run `brew reinstall weechat`

Any ideas?


texts: iPod Nano 2G audio started skipping during music playback - what causes this?

texts:
My 5 year old iPod Nano "2G" 8GB has recently began skipping during song playback.  It sounds like when a CD skips, a kind of digital glitching sound.  But lately it's gotten really bad, where it will skip repeatedly over a whole verse of a song.

I did some research and found that it's actually possible for Flash memory to get fragmented. Does this really apply to my iPod Nano?

It is significant to mention this skipping just started happening as I've recently filled the iPod full to capacity.

How can I resolve it?  I have a Windows XP computer.  Would I really want to Defragment this iPod like you would with a spinning hard disk?  Would I be safe to simply Cut & Paste everything off the iPod's drive letter in Windows Explorer?  (Move it all temporarily to my hard drive, and then restore it?)


texts: MacBook Pro 15" (Mid 2012) won't connect to a specific wifi network

texts:
Recently installed fibre optic (in the UK) so have a new wifi router/network, and I cannot connect my MacBook Pro 15" Mid 2012.
I can still connect to my old wifi network on the MacBook Pro though.
The strange thing is I can connect to my new network on my phone and MacBook Air, as well as other devices.
Any ideas what is happening?


texts: `.DS_Store N` files appearing on Desktop in macOS Catalina

texts:
I am using macOS Catalina 10.15 Beta (19A501i)

My desktop is becoming cluttered with hidden files:

pi@πPro ~/Desktop
> ls -la
total 240
drwxr-xr-x@  3 pi  staff    96 13 Sep  2018 $RECYCLE.BIN
drwx------@ 19 pi  staff   608 15 Jul 07:18 .
drwxr-xr-x@ 16 pi  staff   512 14 Jul 01:35 ..
-rw-r--r--@  1 pi  staff  8196 14 Jul 22:58 .DS_Store 15
-rw-r--r--@  1 pi  staff  8196 13 Jul 15:11 .DS_Store 2
-rw-r--r--@  1 pi  staff  8196 13 Jul 15:32 .DS_Store 3
-rw-r--r--@  1 pi  staff  6148 14 Jul 22:58 .DS_Store 4
-rw-r--r--@  1 pi  staff  8196 15 Jul 06:33 .DS_Store 5
-rw-r--r--@  1 pi  staff  8196 15 Jul 06:34 .DS_Store 6
-rw-r--r--@  1 pi  staff  6148 13 Jul 17:12 .DS_Store 7
-rw-r--r--@  1 pi  staff  8196 15 Jul 06:53 .DS_Store 8
-rw-r--r--@  1 pi  staff  8196 15 Jul 07:00 .DS_Store 9

Many of these files don't even show up on the Desktop.

Is this likely to be some beta issue?


texts:
I have change permission of /var location by mistake with 777 and  now my Keychain Access not working  fine (i have stop chmod but some file and folder's permission  are  change  )

folder in var location  with permission

drwxr-xr-x   26 root       wheel       884 Jul  8 22:02 .
drwxr-xr-x@   6 root       wheel       204 Jan 23  2015 ..
drwxrwxrwt    3 root       wheel       102 Mar 24  2015 Keychains
drwxrwxrwx    2 root       wheel        68 Sep 10  2014 agentx
drwxrwxrwx    8 daemon     wheel       272 Jan 23  2015 at
drwxrwxrwx  101 root       wheel      3434 Jul  8 20:49 audit
drwxrwxrwx    2 root       wheel        68 Sep 10  2014 backups
drwx------   72 root       wheel      2448 Jul  9 09:19 db
drwxrwxrwx    3 root       sys         102 Jul  9 01:57 empty
drwx------    5 root       wheel       170 Jul  2  2015 folders
drwxrwxrwx    2 _jabber    _jabber      68 Sep 10  2014 jabberd
drwxrwxrwx    3 root       wheel       102 Sep 10  2014 lib
drwxrwxrwx   65 root       wheel      2210 Jul  9 10:46 log
drwxrwxrwx    4 root       wheel       136 Dec 18  2015 logs
drwxrwxrwx    3 root       mail        102 Jul  9 10:50 mail
drwxrwxrwx    3 root       wheel       102 Jan 23  2015 msgs
drwxrwxrwx    2 root       wheel        68 Sep 10  2014 netboot
drwxrwxrwx    2 _networkd  _networkd    68 Sep 10  2014 networkd
drwxrwxrwx   14 root       wheel       476 Jul  8 23:32 root
drwxrwxrwx    4 root       wheel       136 Sep 10  2014 rpc
drwxrwxrwx   30 root       daemon     1020 Jul  9 10:37 run
drwxrwxrwx    2 daemon     wheel        68 Sep 10  2014 rwho
drwxrwxrwx    7 root       wheel       238 Jan 23  2015 spool
drwxrwxrwt   31 root       wheel      1054 Jul  9 10:54 tmp
drwxrwxrwx    3 root       wheel       102 Jul  9 01:36 vm
drwxrwxrwx    3 root       wheel       102 Sep 10  2014 yp

login and system Keychain are in  read-only with not item display

when i try to first ads then

Repair started
Checking keychain configuration for patel (user ID=501)
Home directory is /Users/patel
Checked login keychain
Unable to open ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain (-25312)
Renamed /Users/patel/Library/Keychains/login.keychain to /Users/patel/Library/Keychains/login_renamed.keychain
Repair terminated unexpectedly

when try to reset then

A Module Directory Service error has occurred.

when try to create new keychain  then

An error occurred while creating a new keychain.

and some time i have got

"Unapproved Caller", "SecurityAgent may only be invoked by Apple Software".

any help to restore var folder permission


texts: How can I prevent Calendar from auto-closing notifications?

texts:
A common scenario: I wake my Mac, notifications pop up and within 1 second, some of them close automatically. This happens for appointments that have a start time that's in the past (e.g. I open the Mac at 10:23 and the appointment was set for 09:00).

I want those to stay open until I click 'Close'. I use these "appointments" as reminders to myself, having them disappear without acknowledgement makes them useless. These reminders generally don't need an exact time, but I need to see them at some point during the day I've set them for.

How can I force the Mac to keep showing the notification until I interact with it?

OSX 10.10.5, Calendar 8.0


texts: repair disk - unmounted encrypted disk partition

texts:
In Yosemite 10.10.2 after verifying my startup disk in disk utility I got this message...

"This disk needs to be repaired using the Recovery HD. Restart your computer, holding down the Command key and the R key until you see the Apple logo. When the OS X Utilities window appears, choose Disk Utility."

As per instructed I rebooted in recovery mode and tried to repair the disk from there. The problem is that in recovery mode my startup partition shows up as "unmounted encrypted disk partition", and all options including verify and repair are greyed out. The core storage volume can be repaired but it comes up clean.

What do I do, is this problematic? My computer appears to be running smoothly in general, I just verified the disk out of curiosity and now I'm faced with this issue.


texts:
I'm on my school laptop (MacBook Air) and it used to connect to my home Internet connection but suddenly it just..stopped.

It says that I am connected. And I have full bars, my iPad and everyone else's computer is connected and are working, but my laptop won't.

It's only my home internet too. It connects fine to my schools internet and all my friends internet. But not mine!!! Again I am fully connected but my browsers never load the home page (AND my Spotify won't connect but that's not that important).


texts: ssh: Identity not Loaded from Keychain at Startup

texts:
I have configured a host in my ~/.ssh/config like this

Host pptest
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa_test_2048_pp
UseKeychain yes
AddKeysToAgent yes

This key has a passphrase on it. As was my understanding, UseKeychain and AddKeysToAgent should automatically load the keys passphrase on reboot, however I have not found this to be the case. To get for instance a git-fetch (or any remote action involving ssh) working, I still need to run an

ssh-add

beforehand.

Why is this happening?

My system is 10.15.5 (19F96)


texts: How to setup a ssh tunnel that works with P2P and filtered http from OS X to a linux machine over SSH?

texts:
I do have a linux machine (Ubuntu) which has no filters and a client machine which is behind a firewall that have even web traffic filtering.

I can properly establish SSH connections from the client to the server.

What is the correct command line for establishing a tunnel which would allow unfiltered browsing (via socks proxy) and also P2P traffic.

Currently I used something like this, but it seems not to work with P2P (uTorrent in my case):

ssh -v -v -N -p 22 -g -C -c 3des user@server.tld -D 0.0.0.0:1080 -R 55555:localhost:55555

The socks5 proxy part works, at least with Firefox but uTorrent is not able to download.


texts: Mac keeps warning me about the battery problem on the top bar

texts:
My Mac (2017 12' MacBook) keeps me warning about the battery problem when I tap on the battery icon on the top bar. It showed battery repair (the exact English phrase might be different) with a warning icon.

However, I'm not sure what is the problem of the battery in my MacBook. Currently, the battery cycle is 829 and the manufacture date is 2017-06-19. Is it just that the battery is consumed too much and Apple encourages me to change to a new one or is there a serious problem with the battery?

If there is a real problem, how can I detect it and what should I do? The battery swap is quite costly (over $100) so I would rather like to avoid it (well, I'm fine with buying a new laptop but the problem is Apple ditched 12' MacBook).


texts: iMovie: Crop and letterbox (ignore aspect ratio)

texts:
I have a project in iMovie and I want to crop part of one of the included clips to a rectangle that isn't 16x9 or 4x3 or any standard aspect ratio. As far as I can see, iMovie will only let me crop in the shape of the current ratio.

How can I get iMovie to let me crop part of a clip to a nonstandard aspect ratio and letterbox the result?


texts: Can I have stereo music playback during an iPhone call?

texts:
Is there a way to playback (true) stereo audio (with seperate left and right channel) files during a phone call?

I'm not trying to make the callee hearing any of the stuff playing on my phone. I just try to playback a song while being on the phone (headset plugged in).

It seems that the iPhone switches to some kind of "joint stereo" mode, where it mixes L and R channel into a single one while the call is taking place.

Is there some option to prevent the iPhone from doing so? Is there an alternative music player for iOS that will render stereo audio as intended?


texts: How can I import a .terminal file using the command line?

texts:
I'm writing a (Bash) script to automate setting up my Mac environment and would like to do this, except using the command line only. I'd also like to make that theme the default.

I have a .terminal file exported and all ready to go, I just can't figure out how to do this programmatically. Is there a documentation for this somewhere that I'm missing?

... or would these be easier using AppleScript? Never done that before though.


texts: OS X 10.11 Not able to change the folder permission

texts:
I have root permission but still I am not able to change the folder permission

sudo chmod  -R 777 /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/MacOS/
chmod: Unable to change file mode on /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/MacOS/: Operation not permitted

But at the same time I am able to do

sudo chmod -R 777  /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/

System details:

ProductName:    Mac OS X
ProductVersion: 10.11.2
BuildVersion:   15C50

Could anybody help in identifying the issue?


texts: I try to update apps, and it asks for a password.  I enter the password, and then it asks for a password again.  How do I get it to accept my password?


texts: iPhone keeps disconnecting & connecting when transferring data

texts:
I have a MacBook Pro (2015), and an iPhone 7 Plus.

The problem is the following: If the iPhone is connected to my Mac, then whenever I run an app via XCode, or the Mac is just transferring data, the iPhone starts disconnecting and connecting (the battery icon indicates it), and the data transfer fails.

First I thought that this was a cable issue, because If I adjust the cable in a certain position then it works, but I realized that it is not:

because

I bought brand new cables
I cleaned the USB port of the Mac

But still nothing

It is really annoying.

Sometimes it gets fixed if I unplug & reinsert the USB like 5-7 times.


texts: Will jailbreaking allow me to run apps that require iOS > 4.2.1?

texts: I have an iPod Touch (2nd gen), which can't update past iOS 4.2.1. I can't download many apps anymore, so I was wondering if jailbreaking it would allow me to download the things I want? I don't even mind actually paying for some stuff, it just won't allow me to download it says I need the iOS 4.3 which I can't even upgrade to.


texts: I accidentally used "touch .." , is there a way to safely delete this document?

texts:
I am using zsh, macOS 11.0.1 (Big Sur), was working on a project and for some stupid reason I decided to write touch ... A file was created in the Desktop so I don't think that it will affect the computer's performance in any way.
I tried doing vim .. and a document was opened.
It contains so many things it is not the one that I just created, also on the top I read /Users/Serax instead of /Users/Serax/Desktop.
I don't want to damage or delete something that i should not. I tried using mv .. my_stupid_mistake.txt but it didn't work.
I also checked Desktop in the finder but found nothing.
Is it safe to do rm ..?


texts: Boot Camp Partition Unavailable After Windows 10 Upgrade

texts:
I have a simple problem for you today. I have been using Boot Camp with my Mac Mini for about two years and now, after upgrade from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10, the Boot Camp partition doesn't seem to appear in the Finder anymore.

I can still boot Windows up by holding the alt/option key at the startup but OS X acts as if the partition didn't exist.

Here are the symptoms:

The partition has disappeared from the Finder.
Boot Camp tray icon has the 'Restart into Windows' option grayed out.

Disk Utility shows the partition under name disk0s4. Moreover, when I hit 'Mount', it immediately gets unmounted again.

What do you think could cause this situtation?

Thanks in advance,
Pete.


texts: Is there a difference between the command line tools that come with xcode and the ones installed with xcode-select? If I install xcode and then run xcode-select --install will the ones installed with xcode be overwritten?


texts: Shortcut to save screenshot both to desktop and clipboard

texts:
The screenshot shortcuts save either to the desktop or to the clipboard, but not to both at once. Is it possible to copy to clipboard, and to save in desktop, the same screenshot preferred in a single shortcut?
If a single shortcut is not available, the only way is to save to desktop and then copy the saved image to clipboard manually?


texts:
I'm using a Macbook Pro late 2011, it has been upgraded with a SSD and 8GB RAM.
I was curious as to whether putting my mac on hibernation would extend it's life or I should just shut it down every night like a regular person...

**Problem: **I have to use this for an another 4-5 years.
**Usage: ** for like 3-4 days of a week, it runs for about 10hrs each day, it is mostly sitting idle.

I have a lot of stuff opened up and I use "Reopen windows when logging back". I just feel like the whole shutting down and booting back up puts excess stress on my CPU.

The CPU usages all the way to the top for like 5 secs on booting up. Would it be better for my CPU's life if I just used hibernation instead?

I could use this command I figure:

sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 25


texts: I am using Yosemite - but my Mail is v 8 - how can I upgrade Mail?

texts: I want to use an auto configure for my new email address - but it says it can't do it automatically because my email program isn't a v10+.  What is the problem - is there a Mail upgrade??


texts: Is there a human-readable summary of Apple's Terms and Conditions?

texts:
Just went to update my apps on my iPhone and it looks like Apple have updated their Terms and Conditions and Apple Privacy Policy. It's currently at 62 pages!

Has anyone read it thoroughly and can give a short summary of any important items for users? I appreciate this won't be a legal answer (that'll also take 62 pages) but a general summary would be handy, e.g. am I promising to go on their mailing list or something like that?

Clarification: the best answer won't be legally accurate (because only the T&C themselves are) but it will state if there are any gotchas or weird stuff users should be aware of.


texts: Can I transfer a call from the iPhone to Facetime on the mac?

texts: Using Yosemite, can I transfer a call from the iPhone to Facetime on the mac?  I know it is possible to go from FaceTime on the mac to the iPhone.  I want to go the other direction.


texts: Notification settings aren't being retained

texts:
After upgrading an iMac and MacBook Air from Mavericks to Yosemite, changes to Notifications aren't being retained:

Looking at the Notifications Preference Pane - there are a set of apps with Notification settings.
Changing Notification settings for any of these apps works - ie I can change the alert style, whether notifications appear in Notification Center, etc.

These settings are respected until I reboot / logout, at which point they revert back the original settings.
New apps will appear in the preference pane when they are run. Notification settings can be changed. After rebooting, the app disappears from the notification preference pane until I run it again, at which point it appears with default settings.

So what seems to be happening is that these settings aren't being saved to disk. I have:

repaired permissions
deleted the ~/Library/Application Support/NotificationCenter folder

None of this had made any difference. Does anyone know where these settings are stored?


texts: OS X Finder sorting by date shows some files in incorrect order

texts:
Is there any logic behind OS X's file sorting patterns?

Here is a screenshot of two file dialogs open side by side:

Why on the left it is labeled as "no date" and on the right it is "today"?

What is the purpose of "no date" anyway? Isn't it kind of useless, especially appearing on the very bottom of the list?

Is there any fix for this?

I'm on Mavericks.


texts: Is it possible to use @user mentions in Mail.app?

texts:
Is it possible to use @user mentions in email composed on Mail.app? Outlook for Mac allows this and I am wondering if it is possible in Mail.app as well.

Outlook's @ mention allows these:

Lets the email composer choose a user name from the list of matching user names pulled from LDAP
Upon choosing an entry from the dropdown, a user link is inserted into the mail body

This feature helps to draw attention of email recipients as necessary.


texts: When you make a change to your .bash_profile it will be read the next time you open a terminal.  But what if you have a terminal open already. Is there anyway to do a re-read?


texts: Macbook keeps rebooting on installation USB after trying to reinstall - EFI partition empty

texts:
I've got a 12-inch MacBook I would like to reinstall. Before doing so I've cleared the storage drive, reset the SMC and NVRAM. I've got a macOS High Sierra USB ready from which it successfully boots.

The issue is that after booting from the USB, partitioning the internal drive and going through the "Install macOS High Sierra", it reboots the machine (presumably to continue the installation) - the problem is the machine just starts from the same USB drive and brings me back to "macOS Utilities".

I've tried this multiple times already and no luck. Restarted the machine, cleared NVRAM once again, etc.

The main storage drive is not in "Startup disks" after it restarts, which I'm not sure if it's the expected behaviour. If I shut down the machine and unplug the USB, it gives me the "question mark folder icon" which implies there's nothing bootable on the storage drive, as if the installer was failing at correctly putting the initial files in there.

Looking into the EFI partition of the internal drive I can see there is absolutely nothing, which would explain what's happening - why doesn't the installer put anything in there though?


texts: Mac equivalent to iOS Colour Filters (Tritanopia)

texts:
I have Tritanopia (Blue / Yellow) colour blindness.

In iOS I can use Settings > General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations > Colour Filters > Blue / Yellow Filter to boost the relevant colours on the display.

I looked around but apart from applications hacks and messing with monitor calibrations I couldn't find anything easy.

Is there an equivalent on Mac?


texts: Does T-Mobile's network in the US allow an iPhone 3GS work as well as the iPhone 5?

texts:
Buying an unlocked iPhone makes it cheaper to find a iPhone 3/3GS than a 4 than a 4S than a 5. Please assume that I know and am aware of all the other benefits of newer hardware like cameras, running iOS 6 (in the case of the iPhone 3), more RAM/faster CPU so that cheaper hardware will likely be both older and slower. However, functionally with the network connectivity, is there a difference?

But for someone that will only call, text, use maps and very lightly use Safari, my thinking is that I shouldn't spend any extra money and get the oldest phone for a friend that is constrained to T-Mobile.

Does the T-Mobile network / infrastructure only work with 3G or am I incorrect in thinking that newer phones don't work any better with T-Mobile's 2012/2013 network frequencies?


texts: How can I stop iCloud downloading files to my Mac

texts:
Ok, I am getting really annoyed with macOS now, so I asked this question

How can I clear pending iCloud Downloads?

and the answer worked! Great!

However after signing out of iCloud and signing back in this time with documents switched off and Optimise switched off, my Mac is still insisting on downloading my documents folder!

As you can see from the image both Desktop and documents is not selected, Optimise is unchecked and yet you can see it is still downloading 44GB of data I don't want on my mac! Thats why I bought the external storage plan!

Why? This is driving me crazy!!


texts: iOS QR code scanner that can open URLs in the default browser

texts:
I am in search for an iOS app that can open URLs in the default browser upon reading a QR-code. All I can find are apps that have their own in-app browsers. That's problematic since many of them are bloated with ads and won't work properly (I am using it for registration).

This seems to be standard on Android, so I really don't know what to look for. So basically, is there maybe some keywords to use to find these apps?

Is it technically possible on iOS for other apps to open up other apps, such as, in this case, the web browser?


texts: rEFInd - normal OSX not showing, just Recovery HD

texts:
I just installed rEFInd (to dualboot ubuntu) and all is working well so far, with a small exception: In the boot interface the normal OSX (Yosemite) is not there, it´s just showing the Recovery HD. That does not seem to be right. Any idea how to fix this?
(FileVault is not activated)


texts: Wireless Diagnostics: what does "_handleLinkEvent: Got an error trying to queyer WiFi for power. Resetting state variables" mean?

texts:
I have a Macbook Pro (model 10,1) running OS X 10.9.3 (13D65) with a wireless problem; it keeps dropping connection. That is, it says it's connected, but if you ping a host...even localhost...the packets aren't returned for a period of time, then it comes up, only to lose connection after a few seconds, then it stays down for awhile before cycling back up again. If you turn off the wireless, it can ping localhost just fine. And a wired Ethernet connection works fine.

While troubleshooting I found this line in the logs:

_handleLinkEvent: Got an error trying to queyer WiFi for power. Resetting state variables.

That makes me suspect a hardware issue with the Airport card, but I can't seem to find documentation about that error anywhere. Does anyone know what would cause this or if there's another cause beyond hardware failure?


texts: Formatted a Bootcamped drive as a dynamic disk, now can't boot to either Mac or Windows

texts:
I was trying to create an extra partition to get a file from the Windows side of my Macbook Air to the Mac side, and I accidentally made the disk dynamic without realizing it. I am now unable to boot to the Mac side (holding Alt to go into the system manager at startup doesn't even list the Mac partition), and the Windows side blue screens during boot (goes so quickly that it doesn't even get to the error code before restarting).

What can I do to fix the issue? I don't know how to make a bootable flash drive that a Mac will recognize, and Disk Utility (via Internet Recovery) couldn't do anything.


texts: Creating a test environment for Mac software

texts:
My company develops commercial Mac software. Our flagship product runs on OS X 10.6.8+. We want to improve our software quality with better and more comprehensive testing.

What hardware and OS's should we supply our tester with? My thought so far is either a Mac Mini or an iMac with an SSD, lots of RAM, and either Parallels or VMWare so that he can run OS X 10.6.8, OS X 10.7, OS X 10.8, OS X 10.9, and OS X 10.10 in virtual machines.

Is this feasible? Recommended? I'd love to hear your feedback.


texts: Is there an iOS email client that does IMAP properly?

texts:
I specifically am looking for an iOS email client that supports IMAP's ability to delete messages "in place", i.e. without moving them to some "trash" folder.  I would want to be able to view deleted messages appropriately marked (or greyed out) in their original folder, with a separate option to expunge either a single message or all deleted messages in a folder.

I can do all these things with the default Mail.app on OS X, so it's especially frustrating that Apple doesn't offer equivalent support on iOS.  Does anyone know of another iOS email client that does this right?

And for extra credit, I'd love to have these features too:

True Junk mail filtering
Ability to subscribe/unsubscribe from IMAP folders


texts: What's a good iTunes alternative to use with my iPod nano 6g?

texts:
I'm looking for an iTunes alternative for my new iPod nano 6g.

I've used sharepod before but it doesn't work with the nano 6g—I can upload songs but they're not being recognized by the iPod database.

Any ideas on alternatives that work with the nano 6g?


texts: Backing up with rsync, how not to get into trouble with permissions and privileges?

texts:
I am backing up files to an external hard drive using rsync as a test, usually I just copy pasted but I read that rsync is more reliable and does a checksum to verify the copy so I am trying it out now.

I'm just using it as: rsync -a --progress [SOURCE] [DESTINATION]

I noticed in the manual page relating to rsync that it also copies the permissions and privileges, in fact after the copy when I right click and "get info" on the files and folders, they have the same "Sharing and Permissions".

When I check files backed up during previous backup processes (using copy/paste), sometimes the permissions are "read & write" for the current user (me) and "no access" for everyone else, some have "read only" for everyone and spotlight.

My question is: how can I be sure that the backed up files and folders will at least be readable by future users on my external hard drive. In other words, when I'll access the hard drive using a fresh clean install of my OS using a new/fresh/possibly-new-with-a-different-user-name-account, how can I be sure that I won't be locked out of my files by permissions etc ? I would like to at least get read only.
Do I have to manually right click every file and folder then "get info"  and go to "Sharing and Permissions" and then choosing "Read & Write" for everyone ?

Thanks !


texts: Execute a custom script when OS X 10.8 is in Power nap?

texts:
Apple new feature of OS X 10.8 in new Macs "Power Nap" checks email and does make backups.

Is it possible to execute a custom script (bash, AppleScript,...) when OS X 10.8 is in Power nap mode? For example pull a git repository or download files.


texts: What versions of OS X are affected by Heartbleed?

texts:
What versions of OS X come default with the affected versions of OpenSSL?

All Internet traffic right now is clogged with the same generic information in regards to the Heartbleed bug, without any attention paid to Macintosh in the environment. I am looking for information on Mac OS X client as well as Mac OS X server. Right now it's impractical for me to check all the Macs in the environment for their specific version of OpenSSL, but I already have the Mac OS X version information for the affected machines.


texts: Reinstalling from Time Machine, what changes?

texts:
I'm having an issue that seems may be resolved by formatting and reinstalling, but if I do this and then recover from Time Machine during the install (assuming a backup just prior to the format), would anything be different? My issue may be the result of some kind of corrupted file associations or something so if the restore operation is a copy it may fix it, but if it's a bit for bit backup I don't see it making a difference.

If it matters, I have a early 2013 Retina MBP which has an SSD.


texts: How to repair documents that display the “The document xxx.pages could not be opened” error when opened in Pages?

texts:
I recently did a clean Mountain Lion install, after which I restored some important Pages documents from a backup HD.

Now, when I try to open these documents in Pages, I get the following error:

Someone in this old thread on the Apple support forum suggested to use Disk Utility to repair disk permissions, as well as the disk itself, but that doesn’t seem to help.

The weird thing is I can still open these documents using my girlfriend’s laptop just fine. I tried opening the file on her Mac, saving it, then transferring it back to my laptop, but no luck — it still shows the error message.

Any other ideas as to how these documents can be repaired?


texts: Whenever I open a new tab in Safari on one of my iPads, it automatically opens the same tab on another iPad. How do I stop this?


texts: How to change one person's name in Messages?

texts: How do you change one person's name in a chat? I don't mean group chat, I mean just one person in this chat.


texts: Is there a way to stop Bluetooth coming back on after an update

texts:
When i do an update via the Settings app on the iPhone (because the computer i sync to iTune doesn't connect to the net) after the update is done Bluetooth is turned back on. because Updates can be months apart i keep forgetting this so when it comes back on i forget Bluetooth is turned back on and thus end up it having chew up more power.

Is there a way i can prevent the iPhone from turning on Bluetooth after an update?


texts: How to run a performance benchmark on my MacBook Pro?

texts:
I need to run some sort of performance benchmark to measure how slow my MacBook Pro is (and why)—a 15" MacBook Pro (late 2008) with a  2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4 GB of DDR3 memory, and running Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4 very, very slowly. Most of the tasks I perform (e.g. deleting a file or folder, typing letters, switching desktops, etc) can take more than an unacceptable 10-30s response time. I also have a second, 22" monitor.

Is there any way to measure a MacBook Pro's response time? Is there any free software I could use to run a performance benchmark and understand why it is so slow? I'm running the built-in Activity Monitor, but I have no idea how to diagnose the issue(s).


texts:
It's well known that to run Windows on a Mac you can either use a virtual machine install or reboot into a Boot Camp partition.  You can also, with suitable software like Parallels Desktop or VMWare Fusion, open your bootcamp partition whilst booted into OS X.

Is it possible to do this the other way around?  If I boot into Windows via Bootcamp, can I start my OS X partition via virtual Machine software?


texts: Transpose a colum into a line inside the same table using a keyboard and trackpad combination

texts:
Given the data on this table

I type the formula "=B2" in cell "D2" and get

Now, I want to select cell "D2" and somehow get the formulas "=B3" in "E2", "=B4" in "F2", and so on, thus resulting in the table

How can this be done by selecting cell "D2", and with a keyboard + trackpad combination get the resulting table with the generated formulas?

Thanks


texts: I have a two locations set up on my macBook. One for normal use and another for when I use a proxy, which I start from the command line.  It would be very useful for me to be able to switch network location from the command line at the same time.  Is this possible?


texts: Web Visit Generator - Similar to JingLing

texts:
I would like to know if there is a software for Mac similar to JingLing for Windows. I am looking for a free desktop software to generate automatic visits to my websites.

If you know something online it would be OK also.


texts: DNS Resolution Fails for ping and curl, but not dig

texts:
I'm running DNSMasq as a local DNS server, so I can resolve *.local.pcfdev.io (as discussed here Using PCF Dev Offline with Mac OS X). Everything worked when I first set things up.

A couple of days later, after a few restarts of my MacBook, whilst offline I can no longer resolve things like api.local.pcfdev.io using curl or ping. However, dig does the right thing.

$ dig api.local.pcfdev.io

; <<>> DiG 9.8.3-P1 <<>> api.local.pcfdev.io
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 46877
;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;api.local.pcfdev.io.       IN      A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
api.local.pcfdev.io.    0       IN      A       192.168.11.11

;; Query time: 1 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)
;; WHEN: Tue Sep  6 10:17:44 2016
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 53

$ curl api.local.pcfdev.io
curl: (6) Could not resolve host: api.local.pcfdev.io

I've tried adding -AlwaysAppendSearchDomains as an argument to /usr/sbin/mDNSResponder in /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist and restarted the mDNSResponder with launchctl, but to no avail.

UPDATE 1

There is definitely something listening on the right local IP:

$ nslookup api.local.pcfdev.io
Server:     127.0.0.1
Address:        127.0.0.1#53

Name:   api.local.pcfdev.io
Address: 192.168.11.11

$ ping api.local.pcfdev.io
ping: cannot resolve api.local.pcfdev.io: Unknown host

$ telnet 192.168.11.11 80
Trying 192.168.11.11...
Connected to 192.168.11.11.
Escape character is '^]'.

HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request

Connection closed by foreign host.

UPDATE 2

After trying the suggestion below of removing all DNS servers from Network Preferences except 127.0.0.1, I can't resolve anything. I managed to get some debug logging out of mDNSResponder:

mDNSResponder[91]:  74: DNSServiceCreateConnection START PID[32612](ping)
mDNSResponder[91]:  74: Error socket 75 created 00000000 00000001
mDNSResponder[91]:  74: DNSServiceQueryRecord(15000, 0, api.local.pcfdev.io., Addr) START PID[32612]()
mDNSResponder[91]:  74: Error socket 75 closed  00000000 00000001 (0)
mDNSResponder[91]:  74: DNSServiceQueryRecord(api.local.pcfdev.io., Addr) ADD    0 api.local.pcfdev.io. Addr
mDNSResponder[91]:  74: Cancel 00000000 00000001
mDNSResponder[91]:  74: DNSServiceQueryRecord(api.local.pcfdev.io., Addr) STOP PID[32612]()
mDNSResponder[91]:  74: DNSServiceCreateConnection STOP PID[32612](ping)

I did also observe that as explained in the proposed answer, nslookup and dig don't cause anything to be logged by mDNSResponder, but other tools (ping, curl) do.

So it seems like for whatever reason either dnsmasq isn't working (I can establish a TCP connection to 127.0.0.1:53) or mDNSResponder isn't using it.

UPDATE 3

etc/resolve.conf ceases to exist when my wifi adapter is active, but I'm not connected to a network. Could this be why CLI tools don't use the local dnsmasq server?


texts: What is the technical reason why OS X can't write to NTFS devices?

texts:
Mac OS X can't write to a hard drive with the NTFS format. It can, however, read it.

Why can't it write to it?

My basic understanding is that a file format dictates how is data stored and retrieved in a device. So, the key to working with a storage device is to know the rules for data storage and retrieval.

Since OS X is able to read devices with the NTFS format, obviously OS X knows such rules. What exactly stops OS X from following the necessary rules to write data to an NTFS device? It knows that it is NTFS (just do Get Info), so I see no reason why it can't do this.


texts: Accidentally turned on Siri using an iPhone 4 (not 4S)

texts:
I was using the Facebook app when it decided to freeze. Out of frustration, I clicked the home button multiple times. I got back to the homescreen with VoiceOver turned on ('Triple-click Home' was not set) and a second later, Siri loaded. I tried to take a screenshot, but Siri closed just before the 'flash' took place.

Has anyone else experienced this? Non-jail broken, iOS 5.0 on Verizon.

Update:

I have restored my phone a couple of times since this happened, mainly due to this issue: Audio output and volume controls gone after updating to iOS 5.1

So, unfortunately, any useful information contained in the crash logs has been lost.