Existing text messages not showing up in Messages app on new MacBook? I have a mid-2017 MacBook Pro that I would like to use with the messages app.

I have successfully enabled text forwarding, and can now send texts to both iMessage users and SMS users.

However, my Messages app does not seem to be able to get any of the old messages I have sent from my iPhone.

It can send and receive messages, but cannot seem to sync text history across devices.

This includes both iMessages and SMS messages.

I have confirmed that my phone number is set to the default form of sending and receiving messages on both the Mac and iOS messages app by following the guide here

How do I get it to sync?

Messages don't backdate & sync.

Each keeps its own record of messages it sent & received & syncs to other listed devices it can communicate with at the time.

If, for instance you receive messages at your Mac whilst your phone is out of network coverage, they will not appear later on the phone; The messages will be considered to be delivered when any registered device accepts it, & it will not be retransmitted to the other device later.

Try turning off all message forwarding on all apple devices (iPhone, mac, ipad...). Wait 10 minutes and then turn the message forwarding on again on all devices.


How to stop instagram app remembering / auto-filling in username at login screen, when not yet logged in Steps to reproduce problem:

Log out of instagram app
Close the app
click on it to open it and log back in
Log-in screen is displayed, with the user name filled in (not yet logged in (i.e. still logged out)) and password field beneath blank

How do you clear all Instagram app settings and what it remembers after you have logged out? So that it doesn't remember (i.e. forgets) your user name so that it doesn't pre-fill in this field at the login screen?

There are options to clear data in the Settings screen, but these are too blanket and coarse in that they clear everything - I only want to clear one thing.

Problem seen on Sep 2010 (4th generation) iPod touch 32Gb. IOS Version 6.1.5 (10B500)

Latest version of Instagram app, as of date 2014 05 18.

Navigate to Instagram app → Profile → Settings → scroll down to Privacy & Security → Saved Login Info → Turn it off.

If you go to the log out all accounts button you should be able to choose which accounts it will remember. Log out and then you will only see the accounts you chose to keep.


Install OS X 10.7 to 10-10 on MacBook Air MD232 I have MacBook Air MD232. As we need to test our software on all OS X from 10.7 to 10.10, we need to install them all. Is it possible to install them on my MBA? When I buy, this MBA has been installed with Yosemite. I tried to install any other OSs by using "restore" feature from Disk Utility. However, restoring process were successful and pressing alt/option during restart, I get only gray screen with a stop sign and nothing happen afterwards. Would you please tell me how?

Hardware Requirements

Every Mac has a minimum supported operating system. Older versions of OS X will not run on a Mac with a higher minimum.

For example, the MacBook Air (Early 2014) requires OS X 10.9.2 or later.

EveryMac has a comprehensive list of Mac models and their minimum supported OS X.

Virtual Machines

To work around this, consider using a virtual machine for your testing; VMware Fusion, Parallels, and VirtualBox are all reasonable choices.

I understood correctly your question, you want to test your software on several versions of OS X. I think what you should do is partion your ssd into 4 parts for each OS X version. You can install any version of OS X using a usb key. How to create a bootable usb key with a OS X you can watch THIS

So what I want to suggest you to do is make sure that the current files and documents from MBA are backed up

Restart the machine and hold ALT key, you will see a gray screen with two options, choose Disk Utility and from there you will have to erase the hard drive and patron it into 4 parts. You can watch THIS to see how do so. Even so in the video it is performed inside the OS X and on external drive the moves are the same.

After you partioned your drive you can start installing different versions of OS X with a usb stick, how to do it you can watch THIS

Hope this helps


Cellular data not working after software update? I have updated my iphone software to 6.1 on my 3GS and now my cellular data network is not available. Can this be fixed or can I restore an earlier version again?

I contacted my carrier (o2) and issue was resolved easily. It appears that Data Bolt-On, that I subscribe to, was no longer iPhone compatible. I was advised that this setting was affected by the Software Update. Not sure I really understand how or why but I was assured that the setting had now been amended and data services would be restored at midnight tonight

Did you check your settings for your APN? Since iOS 6 it tends to clear the value on random times for some people.
You can check this within Settings > General > Cellular > Cellular Data Network > APN.

You can only edit this setting if your carrier allows this.
More info here: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2283


iBooks preview not working? I recently converted one of my books into an iBooks format using Author. However when I connected to my iPad and went into 'preview', I saw my device, clicked it, but the 'preview' button to enable the previewing process was faded and I could not click it. Has anyone actually used the preview feature enough to give me some help? Thanks!

Had the same issue with my iMac running Lion and iPad 1. The iPad was visible but greyed out, as was the preview button.

Here's what worked for me:

Connect iPad to Mac
Open iBooks on iPad
Click on preview in Author
Close iBooks on iPad
Cancel preview and tap on preview again
Open iBooks on iPad again

Not sure why or how, but it worked for me.

Good luck!

I had the same problem.  Then I realized that I had "Hide my iCloud books" enabled.  Once I disabled that feature, I was able to see my unpublished iBook.


Disable HDMI sound output when using optical (TOSLINK) output on AppleTV I have Apple TV and have both HDMI and TOSLINK (optical) port connected. But the problem is that when i turn on the video via Apple TV I have double sound from the sound - from the TV set connected via HDMI and the sound system connected via TOSLINK. The later is deleyed due to the fact that TOSLINK is coverted RCA.  This makes me turn off sound in the TV set.

Is there a way to not transmit sound via HDMI in Apple TV if it is anyway transmited to TOSLINK?

You could always use an HDMI cable that doesn't carry sound, not too expensive these days.

not sure about your TV but mine has a setting to turn the speakers off on the TV. I never use them anyway - everything runs through my surround sound


Mechanism to sync mail accounts between Mac and iPhone Is there a way for me to create an account using my Mac's Mail app and have the account sync over to my iPhone or vice versa? I have iCloud setup on both my Mac and iPhone, but I don't see the accounts added on one device syncing over to the other.

No.

(if what you want is a way to configure an account once on a device and have the configuration automagically transferred to other devices.)

You can use IMAP/POP3

On Mac you can add IMAP/POP3 account from System Preferences > Internet Accounts

Open Internet Accounts
Click plus icon on left bottom corner
If it's iCloud mail, Gmail or Microsoft Exchange account click the option respectively, otherwise select "Add Other Account..." from the bottom of the list
Follow trough the guided account setup, and in the end of setting it up (if it asks) check the Email syncing option.
You can get the mail server info from your email provider, but most of them use mail.provider.tld (eg. mail.google.com / mail.ipage.com) domain for the mail server

On iDevice (iPhone in this case) open Settings > Contacts, Calendar & Email > Add new account and follow the instructions inserting the same credentials as you gave when adding account to Mac. This way the mail application will fetch the email from the server on both devices, and sync it.Hope this helps!


Is there a way to have an interactive / editable desktop background (E.g.: A spreadsheet) on a Macbook? The title basically gives the gist of what I am curious about, but to explain more: I wanted to set up a system where I track various things, such as my habits, mood, and tasks every day. I was planning to keep all of this in an Excel spreadsheet. I thought that it would be great if I could make the document where I keep track of this easily visible, so I will remember to edit it every day, and also because it would be easier to access and edit.

Through Googling, I found that at one point in time it was possible to embed an interactive spreadsheet as your desktop wallpaper in Windows. It involved saving the Excel spreadsheet as a webpage (.htm or .html), checking an option called "Add Interactivity", and the document could be set as the desktop background, and it would be editable from there (allegedly). The feature(s) that allowed this in Excel back then don't seem to be available in the 2016 version of Excel for Mac. So, is there a different way to do this now? Or is there some type of desktop Widget I could use as a Spreadsheet? I'm flexible about solutions, so any ideas would be appreciated!

Check out desktopr and add a link to a Google sheet.

The service allows you to set any website as your wallpaper. Heard about it on Product Hunt.

I don't think there's anything that directly involves Excel, but you could look in the Apple Dashboard Widgets store. Then again, Apple could be phasing out the Dashboard, considering how tricky it is to enable it in Sierra. Other than that, keeping a small window or a separate desktop open is the only option I'm aware of.


How can I add a new application to the Open With menu? How can I add an application to the Open With menu (shown after right-clicking) for a given file type, without making that file always open with that application?

In this specific instance, I'd like to the option to open an Web site location (.URL) file with TextEdit, while still defaulting to Safari.

I'm running OS 10.7.4.

Add this to the CFBundleDocumentTypes array in /Applications/TextEdit.app/Contents/Info.plist:

<dict>
    <key>CFBundleTypeExtensions</key>
    <array>
        <string>url</string>
    </array>
</dict>

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -f /Applications/TextEdit.app/
killall Finder
Change the default application back to Safari in Finder

If the application is signed, modifying an Info.plist invalidates the code signature. It also makes a few applications like TextEdit and WriteRoom crash on launch on 10.8.

Check out the tech-recipes.com for detailed instructions. As @Anriëtte pointed out the app should appear on the Open with menu if it can open the specific file.


Text not displaying correctly We just recently got new iMacs at work, and we're all having the same issue

Not only do we get characters like those in all web browsers, but even some apps!

Is there a way to fix the characters? We've tried changing default fonts without success :(

I'm running 10.9.2

The problem happens in local apps as well, not just browsers. How can I check fonts integrity?

In your Applications folder, there is an app called Font Book.

Open this app and go to File → Restore Standard System Fonts. This will remove any non-standard fonts on your system and reinstall any missing standard fonts.

Go to font book and disable Helvetica font family


Keep Mac mini on Wi-Fi (for screen-sharing), but disable internet access... How? I have a Mac mini, running El Capitan, which I use as a media server. I access/control it and control it via screen-sharing. The Mac Mini has no display attached, so it must remain connected to my Wi-Fi or I can't access/control it.

There is however no need for it to be permanently connected to the internet. Beyond the security risk, it also uses up bandwidth for background tasks which I have no use for.

I would like to disable web access, while keeping Wifi connectivity. Possible? How?

There are a couple of things you can do, but by far the easiest is to just manually configure your IP address (don't use DHCP) and leave the router field blank.  See below...

Before you select "Manually" in the drop down, take note of the IP address that was assigned to it by DHCP.  Then when you select "Manually" just re-enter that same IP address.

With the Router field empty, your Mac Mini will not know how to get out to the Internet.

Update:  As pointed out by user3439894 in the comments, reusing the IP address from the DHCP pool could pose a problem.  To avoid this, assign it an address outside the pool.

Most routers will have a starting address (Netgear's typically start their addressing at 192.168.1.100 and assign 50 or 100 address).  So you either have addresses up to 192.168.1.49 or .199.  To make sure you don't cause conflict, just assign it an address either higher than or lower than the pool (i.e. 192.168.1.30 or 192.168.1.210)

Remove the default gateway from its routing table, so that it can't route outside your local network. It will probably be set by DHCP, so you'll need to run a script regularly to delete it again.


Fix accepted invitation with "floating" timezone? I'm using OS X 10.8.2, iOS 6.0, and an iCloud calendar shared between the two. I have timezone support enabled. When I accept an emailed ics calendar invitation, it shows up in iCloud calendar with "timezone: floating". The invitation originated from EST and I am on PDT, so it shows up on my iOS and OSX calendars three hours late.

None of the calendar apps will let me change the timezone of the event. Looking at the ics raw data, I see that it was created by MS Exchange Server and I see that it specifies a timezone:

BEGIN:VCALENDAR
METHOD:REQUEST
PRODID:Microsoft Exchange Server 2007
VERSION:2.0
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:(UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
BEGIN:STANDARD
DTSTART:16010101T020000
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1;BYDAY=1SU;BYMONTH=11
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
DTSTART:16010101T020000
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1;BYDAY=2SU;BYMONTH=3
END:DAYLIGHT
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT

Possibly something could be done by the originator or by the Exchange admin, but it's a serious imposition to ask folks to go hunting for configuration problems because of what will look to them like a problem on my end.

How can I fix this? Is there a way to force iOS, OS X, or the iCloud web site to correct the timezone?

The answer is yes. I've written an AppleScript that will convert the incorrect Exchange produced TZID to a properly formatted one. This means the fix is only on Mac OS.

I've a post on this, https://thefragens.com/ical-exchange-time-zone-fix-chapter-3/

Let's start at the beginning. Sometimes integration of a Mac in the corporate environment is a bit difficult and takes a bit of ingenuity. This is especially true when dealing with Exchange. The current versions of iCal and iCal Server are CalDAV and iCalendar compliant. Only Outlook 2007 is said to be CalDAV and iCalendar compliant. Previous versions of Outlook are not compliant and don’t play well with other calendar applications. Here’s the actual time zone (TZID) spec and the spec for how it should be formatted. You can see by looking at it that the TZID that Outlook produces is non-compliant.

A quick Google search shows an article or two that explain this very well.

I've found that there are at least 3 different types of invites that can be sent by Exchange/Outlook.

METHOD:REQUEST - This is the usual email requesting that you attend a meeting.
METHOD:PUBLISH - This is essentially a publication notice for an event. It doesn't ask you to reply.
METHOD:CANCEL - This is a cancellation notice for an event.

Additionally, I've found that the emails that contain these invites are formated in at least 3 different ways. Sometimes the calendar event is within the body of the message and is encoded with Content-Transfer-Encoding in either 8bit or quoted-printable. Always the .ics file is attached.

My script does the following:

It parses the message to either extract the calendar data from the body of the message or from the .ics attachment.
It then figures out if the invite is of type METHOD:REQUEST, METHOD:PUBLISH or METHOD:CANCEL.
If the invite is one of the first 2 types. The time zone is fixed and the event is imported into iCal. You might have to select into which calendar the event will be imported.
If the invite is of type METHOD:CANCEL then the script will locate the corresponding event and set it's status to cancelled.

You will have to manually delete the event. It will appear in iCal to have a white strike-through font style.
Repeating events all seem to have the same UID (Unique IDentifier).

I don't know why. Every repeating event will be thusly marked as cancelled. You will then manually delete the specific event and manually run the script again while the cancellation message is selected. This will reset the remaining repeating events back to confirmed. Yes, I know this is a bit of a kludge but I don't have a better method.

It will parse the message to allow for invites from multiple Exchange servers.

My script, now re-named iCal-Invite-Fix.scpt, will need to be customized for each Exchange server from which you receive invites. There are 3 properties at the beginning of the script. They are exchange_fragment, ical_tzid and myCalendar. These first two properties are lists and the order of the items is crucial. The specific item (position in list) of each list must correspond to each other.

exchange_fragment is a unique fragment of the TZID that your Exchange server sends.
ical_tzid is the time zone of the Exchange server in proper format.
This means no spaces, though spaces are replaced automatically with the underscore '_'.
For instance, I'm in Southern California and the correct time zone should be written as US/Pacific or America/Los_Angeles. You can find this information by selecting the time zone drop down menu in the upper right corner of your iCal window and select Other.... If you look in iCal's upper right corner for the time zone menu bar the last example will appear as America/Los Angeles.
myCalendar is the name of the calendar that normally receives the events. It is needed for the cancellation to function.

As the image above shows there are now only 2 properties, both of which are lists. These lists work together as an array; which means the order of the list items is crucial.

exchange_fragment contains unique fragments of the TZID that the Exchange server sends.
ical_tzid contains the tzid info that iCal expects to see.

Save the script and either set it up to run from a mail rule or as I do call it from the System AppleScript menu. You will need to save the script in ~/Library/Scripts/Applications/Mail/ folder. Create this folder if it doesn’t exist.

To set the script up to run automatically you will need to create a new Mail rule as follows.

Mail -> Preferences -> Rules -> Add Rule
Description "iCal Invite Fix"
If "any" of the following conditions are met:

"Any Attachment Name" "ends with" ".ics"

Perform the following actions:

Run AppleScript "~/Library/Scripts/Applications/Mail/iCal-Invite-Fix.scpt"

Click "OK" and then "Apply"

You can also run the script manually from the system-wide script menu. To install this menu. Open up the /Applications/AppleScript/AppleScript Utility.app and check the Show Script menu in menu bar box. If you put the script in the folder location indicated above it will now be visible when Mail.app is the current application.

Download the iCal-Invite-Fix script.

Please let me know if there are any problems or you need help setting this up. The script was not entirely my creation and credit also goes to others. I’m quite certain any errors are likely mine. ;-)

Updated 12/28/2008: Added ability to use single script with multiple Exchange servers. The trade-off is a slightly more complex set up.

I have used Outlook for telecons in many time zones on my PC Windows environment for many years. I never had a problem with a meeting invite being incorrectly scheduled due to the event being scheduled in a different time zone than I am in. Outlook always looks at the meeting invite, sees that it was scheduled in a different time zone, then schedules the event so it occurs at the proper time.

Now I get an iPhone and set up iCloud to work with my Outlook calendar. All of a sudden, the iCloud calendar looks real stupid. It doesn't bother to notice that the events are being scheduled in a different time zone and schedules them at whatever time it was in the time zone from which they were sent. So I am either one hour late or early for my telecons depending on whether they were sent from some one either east or west of me respectively. This is pretty dumb. I expected more from Apple.

I have fiddled with the time zone support in both iClound and on my I phone. It didn't help. I have read all the stuff about how time zones are so complex and hard as if the problem is insurmountable. This is allot of junk. Outlook has been doing this for years no problem.

I love my iPhone, but am very disappointed that Apple can't get their act together on this.


There is a process called SH using 100% of my CPU I checked the Activity Monitor and noticed 2 processes called sh that were eating my CPU.

What apps are related to these processes and how can I stop them from eating all CPU?

sh is a shell, a program that provides a command-line interface to your computer. It can be used either interactively, or as an interpreter for script files, such as the famous periodic maintenance scripts. Some such script is likely running in this case, and may be stuck for some reason.

You should be able to find out what script that is by using Inspect on the sh processes in Activity Monitor and looking at the Open Files and Ports tab. A file listed there with the .sh extension is a shell script. Its name will hopefully give you a clue as to its purpose; you can also open it as text and inspect it.

Know it is an old post, but in my case, when I saw high cpu usage of SH, that was a VIRUS!

I googled hours to find out this and delete.

Solution answered here: https://superuser.com/a/868147


Hangouts messages on High Sierra It seems like I cannot send messages on Google Hangouts via Messages after upgrading to High Sierra.

I still receive the messages because I'm authenticated.

Is there any hope to keep writing in Hangouts via Messages?

This is the original fix I saw on the MacRumors forum:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/gtalk-messages-solution-found-high-sierra.2073393/

  Go to system settings and go to Internet Accounts and delete your google account.

  Open Terminal

find ~/Library/Preferences -name "*iChat*" -delete

  then

rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Messages

  then

rm -rf ~/Library/Messages

  and reboot

  Now open Messages and add your google account via Jabber. Then go to preferences in Messages and go to Accounts and go to server settings and make sure settings are as follows:

  Server: talk.google.com
  Port: 5223
  Check Use SSL

  Then go to Account Information and Enable this account

  I rebooted again and then opened Messages and made sure my buddy list was there.

  Then I went to System Preferences and go to Internet Accounts and add your google account.

  Upon doing this a message popped up for me asking to Add Google Talk to Messages and WHOA it is working.

  I can now send and receive messages, have my calendar and everything as before.

  Before this I could receive messages and see buddies but couldn't communicate with them.

I actually have no idea about messages (I'm sorry about it). But the third party app Franz may help you to get out 'till someone may can help you.


AppleScript "Copy Link" function for Safari I need to right click a link on a website...
and open the Services menu...
to run an Automator Action on the text/url of that link.

I need to "get" the url from the link into the script so I can run some shell script actions on it and then output the result to the clipboard.

I am having a hard time finding a way to copy that url into the Action using automator. I need a way to replicate the "Copy Link" function that already exists in Safari drop down menu when right clicking inside of the Quick Action.

I would prefer to not "allow javascript from Apple Events" as it's a security risk.

There is a right click command on AppleScript.

Might also be worth looking into a combination of CliClick and cURL using Brew / Bash for this purpose.


Mavericks update broke keyboard shortcut for switching Spaces I've upgraded to Mavericks from Mountain Lion. I've used the keyboard shortcut "Control" + "number" to switch between Spaces. The upgrade broke this. I've checked System Preferences and all the settings are the same as before. Is there a fix to restore this feature? Thanks

I actually figured out how to fix this on the fly.

I believe this state occurs when you inadvertently make a swipe gesture while a ctrl-key is held down. I can't be sure of that, but the fix is to do exactly that: hold down the ctrl-key, and then do the desktop-switching swipe gesture (for me it is 3-finger swipe left or right).

I don't know how to prevent it from happening, but it's so quick to fix that it has become a non-issue for me.

I had a somewhat similar problem with 10.8 where bluetooth keyboard would stop responding.  If I turned off bluetooth, then the built-in trackpad and keyboard would freeze.

I tried all kinds of things, terminal commands, xcode bluetooth explorer, etc.

Believe it or not, The best solution turned out to be --
Logging out and logging back in.

It was suggested from a forum and it does sound like bollocks.  But give it a run.

People love Alfred and I've been using Quicksilver to emulate Spotlight.  Perhaps it would be worth setting up either of these as hotkeys for  "Control" + "number" to switch between Spaces?


How can I set Spotlight metadata to files? I am looking for a command line utility (I need to use it in a script) that can set Spotlight metadata to files.

You can always use the command line tool xattr, which lists/reads/writes/erases the filesystem's extended attributes of a file.

That's what spotlight uses to build it's index.

Note that spotlight information keys are prefixed with com.apple.metadata:

As quick example, to change the display name on spotlight of a file:

xattr -w com.apple.metadata:kMDItemDisplayName MyNewFilename.txt ActualFile.txt

to access xattr help, type on t:

xattr -h

If you have installed Apple Developer Tools (usually appears under /Developer/Tools), then you have access to the SetFile and GetFileInfo commands which both assist in manipulating metadata of files.

Additionally, I found a set of command line utilities called osxutils that may prove useful with additional requirements that come up while writing your scripts.


Mac cannot delete file The item image212_tmp1987326278 can’t be moved to the Trash because it can’t be deleted.

I don't know how that file appeared on my desktop but as I try to delete it I get the above error. Does not let me rename, move it or use "Get info" either.

I recently had the same problem, and fixed it by opening Terminal.app and entering killall Finder. This effectively resets the desktop icons.

hold command then right click on trash then secure empty trash


Mac Book Air 13" (2011) - Wifi continuosly disconnecting Last October I bought my first Mac, a Macbook Air 13". It works perfectly except for the wifi: I can be connected for hours without problems, but then it suddenly disconnects. The wifi widget doesn't change, and the way I solve it is disconnecting and reconnecting again.

I can't find the way to trigger this behaviour, which can happen after some minutes, or hours.

This doesn't happen with the other PCs that connect to the same wifi, nor with the iPhone.

I use WPA encryption; a friend of mine suggested using WEP to solve it, but I want to have a more secure network.

What could I do?

UPDATE:

I don't know if this can be important for the issue. I bought the MBA in USA (NewYork) and I live in Spain, Europe, could it be possible to have some slightly different technology/software interfering?

I have it updated to the last version

The exact model of the router is Huawei HG532c

UPDATE2:

Links that may help, seems like a is Lion issue

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2664670?start=0&tstart=0
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16785261#16785261

I've had this experience with my wife's MBA and discovered our wifi channel was to close to other access points in the neighborhood.  You would think this nearby interference would cause connection problems throughout the day but it actually occurred just like you've described.  Ok for hours than down hard.

I changed the channel on our access point away from the nearby channels and the problem went away completely.

You can use an app like iStumbler to view available networks and what channels they are using.  To view the wifi connection for your MBA, hold down the Option key and click on the wifi icon in the menu bar.

I had a similar problem with my MBP, it would stop itself connecting, and generate it's own IP (169..). I solved it by using static IPs. Perhaps this could help?


Change window of an app while Drag & Drop Is it somehow possible to change the window within an application with ⌘+< (sorry, German keyboard here, I guess it's ⌘+` (?) on English keyboards) while Drag & Drop something? While it works between different applications it seems not to work within one application with multiple windows. It's especially annoying with small screens and a lot of overlapping windows.

Example 1: Mark text in browser, drag it, ⌘+TAB to terminal (mutliple windows), ⌘+< to the terminal window you want to drop the text. This works.

Example 2: Mark text in browser, drag it, try to ⌘+< to another browser window. This does not work. Same thing with drag & drop of files between two (overlapping) finder windows. It is possible to do this if you use Exposé, but that's quite slow compared to ⌘+<.

It's a really annoying thing which bugs me since years and it's still an issue with OS X 10.8.

Finally, with OS X 10.10 Yosemite, this works as expected!

Might I suggest you use copy-and-paste instead of drag-and-drop?


How do I get Siri to call Amy instead of Aimee? I don't even have a phone number for Aimee.  Amy is even marked as a favorite. Whenever I say "Call Amy" then Siri says "I don't have a phone number for Aimee."

It was working with iOS 9.

iOS 10.1.1, iPhone 5,1.

If both people are in your Contacts, you can give one, or both, a nickname.  When using Siri, you can refer to the person by nickname and Siri will know who you're talking about.

To add a nickname to a person:

Open the Contacts app
Tap the contact you want to view, then tap Edit
Scroll down and tap add field -> Nickname
Add a nickname and tap Done

To remove a nickname, just reverse the steps.  You can change the nickname at any time.

Source

Not really a soultion, but would probably work anyway:

Roll with it - add Amy's phone number to Aimee's contact info!


MacBook Pro high CPU with external monitors I recently ordered two 4K monitors (LG 27UD88). I connected them using Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort Adapter cable to my MacBook Pro.

When I have the monitors connected, the CPU load is very high with fans  running at 5500-6000 RPM and a processor temperature of 54°C. This does not seem healthy to me. It's kernel_task which is using absurd amounts of CPU (sometimes spikes up to 600%)

Things I've tried so far

Before I used to have a high CPU load as well (with the additional monitors connected), but that got resolved after following the instructions in this article, CPU usage is too high with Yosemite and an external monitor, kernel_task spikes to 600%+.
Disabling X86PlatformShim.kext
Resetting the SMC.

This all seems very odd to be. I have a maxed out MacBook Pro which can't handle two monitors?

Here is the system configuration:

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015)
Processor: 2,8 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory: 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Graphics: AMD Radeon R9 M370X 2 GB
          Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB
Storage: 500GB Flash Storage

Information from sensors:

UPDATE #1:

Here is the information on the GPU load. It seems that the GPU load is high, but that the processor of the AMD Radeon is not used. I'm currently looking into this, if you have any suggestions on how to make more use of the AMD Radeon GPU please do.

I do have Automatic graphics switching turned off (this should increase high-performance graphics).

Also the system preferences tell that the AMD Radeon is being used for the external display. Though the iStat data suggests otherwise.

Update #2:

I've installed gfxCardStatus and put it to discrete only. Looks like the AMD Radeon GPU is actively being used. This does not make a difference.

Update #3:

I've ran iStat for a while now. Looks like the CPU has many spikes, even up to 90 degrees. This would obviously trigger the fans to start blowing (also the MacBook itself feels hot near the processor). Looks like the average temp at the moment is 70 degrees.

Here is the CPU frequency:

Folks this is an image of my fans before I had them cleaned.

I faced the very same issue that you guys are facing and based on input from another forum decided to get my 2016 MPB fans cleaned out. This made an immediate impact where when I connected my external display to the MBP.pre-cleaning, it would overheat causing the fans to spin at 6000 rpm or thereabout and the kernel_task would eat up 500%-900% of the CPU rending the system unusable. This simple cleanup of the fans has allowed me to connect the monitor with no kernel panic anymore and even though the fans run around 5000 rpm now the CPU and GPU are running around 10 degrees cooler now.

Restarting SMC chipset helped fixing it.

Shut down Mac
Hold. CTRL+OPTION+SHIFT+POWER button for 10 seconds
Start mac


Is my Mac spying on me? Feel free to call me crazy or paranoid, but sometimes I feel like the camera LED turns on briefly (for approximately 0.1 seconds). Maybe it's just odd reflections, or me confusing the LED for the camera itself with my peripheral vision, but it piqued my curiosity; how would I find out if some utility is turning on and off the camera very quickly to snap a picture? Is it even possible to do it that quickly? How would I diagnose this? Does something like this actually exist?

Edit: Note, yes, I do know of the existence of trojans and so on. The point of my question is: as a sysadmin-level user (advanced), how can I perform this diagnostic, hard core? Also, the question about the timing is: when the camera is turned on by any utility, is it possible to turn it on, snap a picture, and turn it off in such a small amount of time? Does the driver allow you such a quick round trip?

If you've ever used Photo Booth, or any other app using your built-in camera as a source, you may know that there's no way anything less than 1 second is fast enough. There is a very obvious warm-up time in order for the camera to actually warm up and provide an image. Although the problem with timing Photo Booth is that it has to open the app, draw the window, then fire up the camera somewhere in there.

As a matter of testing, I opened up Quicktime Player (Quicktime X) and let it settle down, then I hit File -> New Movie Recording. Luckily for me, the image didn't fire up right away because the built-in camera for my laptop was chosen, but I have the lid closed using an external screen also with a built-in camera.

So I changed the input source to the external camera, and pressed start on my stopwatch as soon as the green LED lit up (which was pretty much immediately). The video started displaying at about 1.5 seconds in. That's still certainly within "blink-and-you'll-miss-it" territory, but only barely.

My answer is that I'm suggesting stray light may be reflecting off of area the LED resides in, invoking an "illuminated" feeling, but that nothing may be happening in reality.

However, I don't suggest that you do nothing. Commercial vendors such as Sophos offer Antivirus products of OS X, Lion-compatible and free too in Sophos' case, and I've also used ClamXAV as a one-off scan-on-demand utility when I've had similar feelings (or when I've wanted to check a file for a windows-using friend, etc.).

Note also that OS X does have built-in spyware protection named, "XProtect", that was born out of the "MacDefender" trojan scare. TUAW has many great articles on the subject under the security tag.

I agree with thread owner, may be we are spying by Apple, that is not virus from "3rd".

Kasperky has been noticed this, but I really don't beleive. However, I have temporary solution is use any firewall from 3rd like as: HandOff, LitleSnitch, ... to monitor all data transfer through network deny unknow packages.

Just remember when you in network: don't beleive anything/anyone.


Straight double quotes on Bluetooth keyboard I purchased a Bluetooth keyboard yesterday for my MacBook Pro Late 2013 (macOS Mojave 10.14.6) and I am having problems with this (") character. I cannot find it on the keyboard.

Is there a chance to remap another key to type that? Or maybe add some combinations like fn + <?

Which key does what depends on the Input Source you are using (not your hardware). These are activated  in System Preferences/Keyboard/Input Sources.  To see the current mappıng, use Keyboard Viewer.

Your keyboard is Turkish Qwerty PC.  If you make that your Input Source in System Preferences, then double quote ıs on Control i as you mentıoned.  (Using Control for special characters is very unusual on a Mac, normally it would only be Option and Option plus Shift).

If you want to change that, it is quite easy to make a custom layout using Ukelele.  I can help if you are having problems with it.

At the end I triggered the virtual keyboard and figured out that typing Ctrl-i will result in a ".


Minimum volume is too loud when using Plantronics Bluetooth headphone I have this problem using an iPhone 6 or iPhone 5s with either of two sets of wireless headphones - Plantronics Backbeat Pro and Plantronics Backbeat Sense.

The volume over bluetooth is much higher for the same number of volume bars compared to wired, to the point where I'm severely lacking accuracy at the low volume end. 1 bar is muted, 2 bars is too loud for when listening in quiet environments. When wired the volume range is perfect.

Volume cap doesn't fix this. Analog control of the volume in the popup control center is not enough.

Within iOS, EQ is off, volume limit is on (EU limit) Sound check off.

How can I fix this?

Further info:

I've tried various manoeuvres with pairing, un-pairing, updating firmware, pairing to different devices, and back again. I don't have a non-apple device to compare with, but the same behaviour occurs with two different iPhones and the two different headsets as described. Plantronics support struggled to see how this was a problem, but acknowledged the discrepancy between wired and wireless volume ranges. I had a similar problem with a pair of V-moda crossfade wireless headphones.

I'm not sure if this is a apple or bluetooth issue (i.e. 'profile' problem) or a hardware issue i.e. the gain is just too high.

I've found that this issue is head-phone specific, perhaps brand-specific or in all likelihood, bluetooth implementation specific. Of the few others I've since tried I found that Bose wireless headphones to not have this issue. However, other problems with distortion sometimes occurred instead!

The music settings don't seem to work for Spotify or other streaming apps. Many of them have built in equalizers to perform essentially the same function. Within Spotify, navigate to the settings menu. Under Playback, you can set up a custom equalizer. Lower all of the settings equally to decrease the base volume.

Is sound check enabled? That may help control some songs on the louder side. Also, you can set volume restrictions in the Music Settings.


Podcast syncing between iTunes and iPhone doesn't work I'm running iTunes 11.1, iOS 7.1, and Podcasts 2.0.2 for iOS, the latest versions of each. I'm signed into the same iCloud account on both my Mac and iPhone. Podcast syncing is enabled in iTunes, and the "Sync Subscriptions" setting is turned on in the settings for the Podcasts app on my iPhone.

Why, then, does podcast syncing simply not work?

Some examples:

If I've played through a podcast episode on my iPhone, the same episode in iTunes won't be marked as played (and vice versa)
If I'm partway through an episode, the playback position doesn't sync between my iPhone and iTunes
iTunes will download podcast episodes that I've already marked as played on my iPhone (and vice versa), even though I've set both to download only unplayed episodes
If I subscribe to a new podcast on my iPhone, it won't appear in iTunes (and vice versa)
Etc., etc.

I feel like I must be doing something wrong or am missing a setting somewhere, because if not, I can't believe that podcast syncing is this unreliable. It quite literally does not work in any way whatsoever.

I've tried turning syncing on and off, signing in and out of iCloud, etc. Podcast syncing simply has never worked for as long as I've been using the Podcasts app (going back to iOS 6).

Apple's entire podcast ecosystem is known to be buggy and has been for a long time. (See, for example, this bug of utter disconnect between iTunes and iOS prior to the arrival of the Podcasts app. It seems the point of moving podcasts to a dedicated iOS app was simply to banish the irredeemably buggy podcast code from the otherwise well functioning Music app code. I still have the exact same problems with iOS 7.1 and the Podcasts app.) You're not doing anything wrong, the stuff just doesn't work.

You will have better luck with Instacast. There are other third-party podcast players for iOS, but AFAIK Instacast is the only popular one that also plays on Macs and syncs between iOS and Macs. As of this writing (April 2014), Pocket Casts is arguably better than Instacast with respect to syncing among mobile devices, as it even syncs between iOS and Android, but it does not have a Mac application to allow you to play podcasts on your Mac.

Actually it does work:

Just sync as usual between your Mac and your iPhone (make sure to check the podcasts you want to sync as you would do with playlists and songs).

Then open your Podcast app on your iPhone and choose the Podcast you want to listen to.

On the second screen you'll have 3 options available:

Unplayed
Feed
Saved

All the podcasts you have downloaded on your Mac are in the "Saved" option.

I hope this will help.


Maintaining Aspect Ratio while Image Cropping using Preview I like the convenience of being able to crop jpg/png images with Preview, but I would also like to be able occasionally to restrict the aspect ratio of the cropped image. This is useful, for instance, if I want to prepare images for printing in 4x6 or 5x7, while avoiding any surprise cropping made by the photo lab.

I am hoping there is a quick and easy way to do this (i.e., without needing to invoke the behemoth of image editing for this elementary task). Are you aware of one?

In Photo (not iPhoto) click Edit

then Crop

then Aspect, and finally Original

.

As of this writing (August 2016), there is no way to do this using Preview or any other stock program in El Capitan. Photo is nearly stock though, and it's easy enough using Photo.

If I understand your question correctly you could just use the Adjust Size… option from the Tools menu, and if it's not selected already, set Fit into to Custom.


How can I silence the startup chime on El Capitan? It's insane that in 2016 we still have to do with this, but since upgrading to El Capitan, previous solutions don't seem to work for me anymore. This is what I've tried.
silence.sh
sudo nvram SystemAudioVolume="%00" # does nothing
osascript -e 'set volume with output muted'
echo "run at $(date)" >> /var/log/silence_log.txt

1. LogoutHook
This is what worked on Yosemite
sudo defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LogoutHook /path/to/silence.sh

but ceased to work on my almost fresh El Capitan install
2. LaunchAgent
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC -//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN
http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd>
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>Silence</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/path/to/silence.sh</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

But running launchctl load silence_sysvol.plist doesn't write anything to the log, so the script doesn't seem to run and I haven't figured out how to have it always be loaded and run at logout.
I read that launchd will send SIGTERM to the agents on logout, so would something like this be a way to go?
#!/usr/bin/env bash

function silence()
{
   sudo nvram SystemAudioVolume="%00" # not working
   osascript -e 'set volume with output muted'
   echo "run at $(date)" >> /var/log/silence_log.txt
}

trap silence SIGTERM
silence

3. nobootsound
Tried this, didn't work.

After a (few) restart(s), method 1 is back to working. Beats me.

I found this article that will help: http://www.techradar.com/us/how-to/computing/apple/how-to-mute-or-enable-the-mac-startup-sound-1308461

Reply if it works.


Not able to restore my 3TB fusion drive late 2013 iMac Last weekend my iMac started to act in a very strange way. While I was working, my Mac was very slow and the mouse and keyboard didn't respond very well.

So I decided to reboot because having two users and switching from time to time, the memory could be the problem. But when I rebooted the other user was gone, and the Mac still was very slow. I rebooted several times and nothing changed, so I decided to try to reinstall El Capitan which was the latest version that I have - originally the Mac came with Maverick.

Then everything went wrong, the system couldn't complete the installation, I tried to erase the disk, I tried to repair the disk and several errors occurred,
To make this story short, I finally succeeded installing Maverick, but then I realized that it was installed in the 122.33 GB Apple SSD because the 3TB Fusion drive couldn't be formatted. Trying several time, the disk was finally erased and I ran several verification and repair passes and everything looks OK according to Disk Utilities.

But Mavericks is still installed in the 122.33 GB Apple SSD and it looks like the 3TB Fusion drive can't be recognized, partitioned or deleted, so I am very desperate.

Here are the screenshots:

I already followed this instructions here, but they didn't work. I don't recall the message but it didn't work

I hope somebody can help me, I am not under warranty and I have two Times Capsules back ups, so I don't care about the information.

I would suggest following the steps in the answer posted here

Most importantly: diskutil cs create "Macintosh HD" disk0s2 disk1s2

Your diskutil output should look more like this with the "logical volume"

$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *121.3 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         121.0 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk0s3
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk1
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         999.3 GB   disk1s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.1 MB   disk1s3
/dev/disk2
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *1.1 TB     disk2
                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk1s2
                                 D11BC089-D75D-4239-AB60-4293803F5F6D
                                 Unencrypted Fusion Drive

And Core Storage list like this:

$ diskutil cs list
CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group 56F5527E-528E-4FD2-A978-6BDB501423F5
    =========================================================
    Name:         Macintosh HD
    Status:       Online
    Size:         1120333864960 B (1.1 TB)
    Free Space:   0 B (0 B)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume 1CA60BDE-CFCA-414B-A429-B838AD39EA82
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:    0
    |   Disk:     disk0s2
    |   Status:   Online
    |   Size:     120988852224 B (121.0 GB)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume D730D88C-C673-4284-9A91-1B8E705FA5F2
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:    1
    |   Disk:     disk1s2
    |   Status:   Online
    |   Size:     999345012736 B (999.3 GB)
    |
    +-> Logical Volume Family B1CF5519-AC85-4259-9F1F-642EFD4D8B31
        ----------------------------------------------------------
        Encryption Status:       Unlocked
        Encryption Type:         None
        Conversion Status:       NoConversion
        Conversion Direction:    -none-
        Has Encrypted Extents:   No
        Fully Secure:            No
        Passphrase Required:     No
        |
        +-> Logical Volume D11BC089-D75D-4239-AB60-4293803F5F6D
            ---------------------------------------------------
            Disk:                  disk2
            Status:                Online
            Size (Total):          1111826382848 B (1.1 TB)
            Conversion Progress:   -none-
            Revertible:            No
            LV Name:               Macintosh HD
            Volume Name:           Macintosh HD
            Content Hint:          Apple_HFS

I'm sure you resolved this by now, but here's a follow up for anyone else. I believe there may have been a bad batch of Fusion drives. I had the same problem described with the same model. The problem is the HDD of the Fusion drive failed and it simply needs to be replaced.

AppleCare will cover this though. Take advantage of it, if you have it.


Swollen/pregnant battery on a MacBook (13" aluminium late-2008) The battery in my late-2008 model aluminium 13" MacBook became extremely swollen in early to mid-2012 after only 283 cycles (as per Cycle count under Hardware → Power), and the button on the multi-touch trackpad stopped working due to the expansion of the battery.  I have since had to remove the battery to get the button working again, but the battery itself hasn't leaked, just expanded very heavily to nearly 1.5× the height (perhaps ≈0.2 each on top and bottom).  After removing it, it's basically nearly impossible to put it back in and still close the cover.

I'm convinced that this is a fault in Apple's design, because it seemingly started after there were a couple of times that I had a browser open with too many windows, and it busy-looped during the night, getting quite hot and with the fan kicking in.  However, during such occasions, the MacBook itself sat on a rather clear desk in an air-conditioned room, so I find it unacceptable that plain-use self-overheating on the machine's part could possibly cause any such problems.  (I only ever ran OS X on the machine, and it was very far away from any other heat sources or direct sunlight.)

I'm disappointed that now I not only can't use the MacBook as a portable with any kind of battery life at all, but also that it is now subject to resets during power outages and cannot be transported (e.g. in sleep mode) without having to be shutdown first.

Shouldn't extremely swollen and expanded batteries that completely obstruct trackpad button usage be covered by a warranty?  This never happens with any other single  brand-name manufacturer of computer batteries!  What are my options?  Do I have to buy another battery at full price, only to have it become pregnant and start obstructing my button again right after the warranty is out?  I tried going to an Apple Store in NorCal, and they said they can't do anything about it, since it's out of warranty.  They said that even at 1.5× the width, it is still supposedly safe to use!

My perspective here is that the battery has not been consumed, but instead became damaged through no fault of my own.  It was either defective outright (either through design or manufacturing), or it has become damaged through hardware/firmware/software bugs related to charging and/or overheating.  I wouldn't have cared if it simply stopped holding the charge for more than a dozen of minutes or so; that's clearly something that is very well documented everywhere and is to be expected.

I run into this as well with our MacBooks after a few years. You have to replace the battery. If you have an Apple Store or Reseller nearby, ask whether there is a replacement program ongoing (there sometimes is) which would allow you to get a new battery cheaper or for free.

It would be odd to have a 2008 model Mac still covered under a one year warranty. Even AppleCare with a three year coverage would normally be expired in this case. You might need to spend $129 for a battery at this point, but you could try one more time at a store if you read up on some details.

http://www.apple.com/batteries/replacements.html

Towards the bottom it says:

  However, the AppleCare Protection Plan for notebook computers does not
  cover batteries that have failed or are exhibiting diminished capacity
  except when the failure or diminished capacity is the result of a
  manufacturing defect.

Then you'll want to go to the full AppleCare document, http://www.apple.com/legal/applecare/appgeos.html, where if you search for battery and skip past the iPod parts, will be:

  What is not Covered?
  4.1 Hardware Service. The Plan does not apply to:
  (vi) Consumable parts, such as batteries, except in respect of battery coverage under APP for iPod or unless failure has occurred due to a defect in materials and workmanship;

So, with a battery that is rated at 300 cycles, and is listed as a consumable part (i.e. expected to fail over time), it's pretty common for some people with failed batteries to have to pay for a replacement. Now, the one thing would be if the trackpad still doesn't work after you paid for a battery exchange, I would ask them to consider repairing that.

Keep in mind - the warranty (or care plan) has a start and end date. During the time of the plan, it's Apple's responsibility to pay for repairs and service and parts for covered repairs. After that time, it's the consumer's responsibility to pay.

I would head to the genius bar, with an appointment, and ask them to look it over. Explain (briefly) that you were told at another store you had to pay for a battery and feel bad. You clearly wish it had lasted longer and ask if there is any way they could help you avoid paying for either a repair of the trackpad or a replacement of the battery.

Think of that person as your friend as opposed to someone "working for the man" and is there to say no. You might still get a no answer, but at least you read up and can talk with them over what would be covered and what wouldn't be covered. By trying to get a second hearing of your situation, you might either feel better or they might find a way to help and you'll be out a trip to the store and maybe the cost of a battery.

This is a design / manufacturing defect. Do a search on Apple Macbooks and you'll see they had issued a recall as far back as 2006. They continued to have issues for several years, with Macbooks having swollen or bulging batteries, including exploding batteries. Apple's position in most instances, according to reports, is that after 1 year this is expected behavior. Leaves you with something to think about.

http://appleinsider.com/article/?id=1921%3Fwww.dailytech.com

So this DOES answer the original poster's question.

Do a Google search and you will see numerous complaints, include a full featured article in ZDNet that explains how Apple considers this "expected behavior." Even if the battery swells so much to explode, Apple considers this normal despite this clearly being a manufacturing defect.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/applemacbookbatteryexploded/

In some cases Apple has begun to realize what a fiasco this is. Batteries aren't supposed to do this and they have made exceptions. It's hit or miss regarding such a serious manufacturing and design defect.


High Sierra - Bootable USB - Can't make I have a problem with making bootable USB.

I'm getting this error:

Macintosh:~ **$ sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app
Ready to start.
To continue we need to erase the volume at /Volumes/Untitled.
If you wish to continue type (Y) then press return: y
APFS disks may not be used as bootable install media.

On the same usb drive I had Yosemite, but for some reason I can't make it work with High Sierra. Also tried to erase it in Disk Utility(no errors).

Can somebody help?

I think the message is quite straightforward: It seems like your USB stick is formatted as APFS and the error message says that you can't.

Reformat the USB Stick using Mac OS Extended instead.

I solved my problem, do this step
Rename the USB Drive for:
HIGHSIERRA
(rename in code also)
This is solution. :)


What is causing this sound on my Mac? For several weeks now, my friend’s MacBook has been plagued by this sound, randomly occurring while running: http://c.abr.vg/321r2Q3Y2W0J

We’ve never been able to reproduce it, and it has persisted on her machine across Archive & Installs, and a clean reinstall (10.8.2) and migration via Migration Assistant (System Library and ‘Other Files’ deselected). We only even have a recording of it because I had her run QuickTime and record everything she was doing (audio only) until she caught it.

Now, the sound has manifested itself onto my Mac mini. I was previously blaming the hardware on her machine, but now I’m certain that there is an egregious software issue.

Both of our machines share little to no software. I’m a developer; she’s a human. ;)

What could be causing this?

I don't recognise it immediately, but can perhaps suggest tools to help you find it.

As for identifying the file, the closest I could find in a short time on my computer was /Applications/Mail.app/Contents/Resources/No Mail.aiff but I think yours has a longer tone on the front. But perhaps you can find it yourself...

I'm assuming it's a file on your hard drive, somewhere... most applications store sound effects in .m4a or .aiff files. So my theory is you can find it by brute force... here's a command that'll find audio files, print their name and play them.

# find / -name "*.m4a" -or -name "*.aiff" -exec echo "Playing {}" \; -exec afplay "{}" \;

Note that this particular command plays all *.m4a and *.aiff files, so you might need to extend it with -or -name "*.mp3" or similar for other file types (e.g. .wav, not sure really what else to try!)

The two -exec arguments first print the file name, and then play the file. So you should see the name of each file appear, and then hear it played. Ctrl+C stops it if you find your match (and you can use afplay if necessary to re-play the last few if you're not sure which it was).

If you have lots of music on the computer as well, you may need to exclude your iTunes library or similar:

# find / -not -path "*/iTunes/*" \( -name "*.m4a" -or -name "*.aiff" \) -exec echo "Playing {}" \; -exec afplay "{}" \;

This excludes any files if their path includes a directory called iTunes (you can modify this to match your iTunes library folder).

That of course only tells you what the file was, not necessarily what was running it... if it's in the Resources directory within an Application package, or another helpful path, it might be clear that it's from some specific Application.

If not you could then try

# sudo opensnoop -f <filename>

and leave that running until you hear the sound effect. That should then show you what process played it...

Good luck!

(Incidentally, if you or your friend have housemates like mine, you'll probably find out its someone messing with you, SSHing into the computer and running afplay <sound> on a regular basis... or maybe they put it in the crontab...)

I can usually stop this distortion by connecting/disconnecting my bluetooth speakers, and this usually resets my sound back to normal. But when I have nothing to connect to, I have to restart.

So it's something to do with the sound drivers obviously. I just don't know how to stop it or why it happens.


Exit the "Do you want to save your changes?" dialogue as fast as possible (discard changes) When I press cmd-q or cmd-w on an app, sometimes I get a popup like:

I just want to quit the app as fast as possible, I want to select the "Revert Changes" or "Don't Save" etc. equivalents without having to move my hand to my mouse/trackpad, move the mouse cursor to the button on the screen, and click.

I don't want to have to take my hands off of the keyboard.

cmd-backspace used to work for me

But it doesn't anymore, at least not in Preview.app.

What's the new solution in Catalina?

Press the Spacebar.

⌘ + Backspace works if you are trying to choose “Don’t Save” but the Spacebar is what you want to select ‘Revert’.

Most Apple dialog buttons have key shortcuts. In the old days, if you held down Command, you would see what the shortcuts were in the button text.

Enter will activate the default button, which is filled in with a colour (usually Blue).
Escape activates Cancel.
Space will activate the current highlighted button, if you've got tabbing through menu items turned on. It may also select the 'non-default, non-cancel' action by default.
Command S activates "Save".

In Applications that don't use Apple's Auto-save and Versioning, Command D activates "Don't Save". Otherwise, it selects the Desktop as the file location.

Command Backspace works when you try to close an Untitled document that's been auto-saved: then the choice will be to Delete it, or Save it with a name.


Disable auto-save in Preview (only Preview): Mojave edition This has been asked before, on earlier OS versions, but doesn't seem to have gained satisfactory answers. I'm looking for a way to disable auto-save in Preview (only).

Background:

In OS X Lion, Apple introduced the concept of Auto-saving, Versioning and Restore (or Persistence, in which an application would reload the documents it previously had opened).

This works well for certain types of application, e.g. document-creation apps, but not for Preview, where users might not want to modify original images and PDFs, but rather to make changes to copies. It can also be easy to make accidental edits, immediately over-writing the original.

It used to be possible to prevent auto-save in Preview with the following Terminal command:

defaults write -app Preview ApplePersistence -bool no

However, this no longer seems to work, notably because Apple changed the default preference for all apps to close windows at Quit, instead of persisting on relaunch. Apple also seems to have split Auto-save and Persistence as two separate options, whereas previously they were intertwined.

I can of course set System Preferences > General to Ask to Keep Changes when Closing a Document. This works, but disables Auto-save on all applications. Checking this preference sets NSCloseAlwaysConfirmsChange in .GlobalPreferences from false to true. However, trying this key-value pair in Preview's own plist doesn't set the behaviour just for Preview.

In short: I'm asking if anyone knows a method which might disable auto-save only in Preview, without my having to lock all my original image files.

I guess it may be that I have to use some other image viewer and editor, though there aren't many that fill Preview's shoes, because Preview already exists. (The alternative is to knock up a read-only version of Preview in Xcode...)

Per Turning Off Auto Saving In TextEdit And Other Mac Apps on the "Mac Tricks and Tips" website:
Open System Preferences
Go to "General"
Enable "Ask to keep changes when closing documents"


Can I set the volume on my iPhone lower than the slider goes? I have an iPhone 4S and some V-Moda in-ear headphones. The headphones have great volume and isolation, which is good when I'm listening to something quiet. But it's a problem on my iPhone.

When I play music on my iPhone with the headphones, it is very loud. As in, painfully loud when I put the volume slider in the middle. To  lower the volume, I (of course) dragged the volume slider to the left. The problem is that even when I get all the way to the left, it is still very loud. If I move it any further, the volume abruptly mutes.

I've tried changing settings, and I've found that enabling Sound Check helps some louder songs. Unfortunately, Sound Check doesn't apply to apps like Spotify, which I use more than the Music app.

So, how can I reduce the volume on my iPhone beyond the slider?

Notes: The volume is fine with the stock Apple headphones. Reducing the volume of the music itself (modifying the files) isn't an option because I need to reduce the volume of streaming audio and files I don't have access to (Spotify).

I had the same issue. I went into settings, music, EQ and adjusted the Loudness setting. It is now softer / not as loud sounding.

There's a very simple solution for your problem.

Go to 'settings' > 'Music' > Volume Limit. There you can limit the maximum volume. How lower the maximum volume, how smaller the increased or decreased volume difference when you click on the volume rocker.


Back up iPhone that can not be unlocked--screen is broken/shattered. Need help! I left my phone on the roof of my car and drove away on a busy road.  It was hit several times and the screen is broken/shattered and glass comes off of it.  It receives calls/text messages, and the button on the top to turn on/off still works.  The screen is just in such bad shape that it won't register the touch of my finger.  I have an appt with Genius bar in a few hours to get a new phone.  I want to save all my pictures and apps off this phone if possible (I never backed up on the computer prior to this) but it prompts me to unlock my phone and I can't do it.  I can't use another iPhone as a guide, because it won't even recognize my finger touching the screen, but the phone still works.  Can I get some ideas on how to back it up?  I am not tech savvy and this is a difficult problem!

How about PhoneView (http://www.ecamm.com/mac/phoneview/).  Although its not a true backup of your iPhone at least you can get all the important stuff off of it.

You may try to perform a backup of your device in DFU mode using Wondershare Dr.Fone. DFU mode is usually used to connected your device to iTunes in order to repair it due to software problems. You will find full tutorial in the link I provided.

Personally, I have never tried this app however backing up under DFU mode is really the only way that comes to my mind.


Where is the "Double click on titlebar to minimize" setting located in Mavericks? I just updated my MacBook Air to Mavericks and I can't find the checkbox to enable the "Double-click on window title to minimize it" feature.

I thought I was in the System preferences > General pane, when I activated it, but that was in 10.6 (Snow Leopard).

The setting is in System Preferences -> Dock

The option is 'Double click on a window's title-bar to maximize'.


Android tethering: Mac doesn't detect new network interface I am trying to share my 3G internet connection from my Nexus 4 running Android 5.1.1 with my Macbook Pro running macOS Sierra 10.12. Using an USB cable (aka USB Tethering). After connecting the phone and turning on the USB tethering option, When I go to "Open Network Preferences" from the network icon in the status bar, I don't see my phone listed as expected to proceed with the configuration.

Although, I do see my phone in About this mac -> Overview -> System Report -> Hardware -> USB. The Android File Transfer app opens when I connect it to the computer, and it closes when I turn on tethering.

I tried installing HoRNDIS, and even restarting afterwards, but didn't solve. Tried to play around the USB Debugging option as well without success.

My broadband allows tethering since I can do it over Wifi and Bluetooth really straightforward.

Is there a specific set of Sierra native steps to set up a generic USB network interface that supports android 5.1.1?

You can use this link to some software that works on Sierra I found on a YouTube video. It is only a trial, easily reinstalled though.

http://download.clockworkmod.com/tether/tether-mac.zip


Control AppleTV 4K volume on monitor with speakers Equipment:

Apple TV 4K
iiyama ProLite E2273HDS LED monitor, with built-in speakers
iPad Pro
iPhone 6S

Connection:

HDMI, from Apple TV to monitor

I am temporaily using my Apple TV 4K with a computer monitor, instead of a conventional TV - connected via HDMI.

It's working great, except that the only way I've found to control the volume of the built-in speakers is via the very fiddly on-screen menu.

Is there an easy way via the Apple TV to control the sound volume on a computer monitor with built-in monitors, without using the monitor's on-screen menu?

Things I've tried:

Using the volume control on the Apple Tv's remote - it tells me to use the remove control for my TV, which doesn't exist
Use AirPlay or Screen Mirroring on iPhone and iPad to send to AppleTV - the iOS devices then don't allow the volume to be changed
Search online for inline HDMI devices to control volume - I didn't find anything

There's no easier way from the AppleTV or similar. In modern HDMI based systems the volume control always happens at the destination (for example the TV). When you send the audio digitally, the source (Apple TV) is not amplifying an analog signal and thus has no impact on the actual volume except for any external control signals it can.

Your computer monitor is probably not designed for use as a TV, and does not support receiving volume control signals anyway other than the on-screen menu. According to its manual, there doesn't seem to be any remote controls available or similar.

Accepted answer is wrong as of May 2021 - you can do this with a similar device. Google's 3rd gen Chromecast (and perhaps earlier models) supports this with an option to have the Google TV remote (as they call their remote) control the output volume level of the Chromecast, and hence the audio sent to monitor over HDMI. I found this option easily during Chromecast setup with a 32"/QHD Dell monitor and didn't need to consult documentation.
So this is an Apple feature omission. I just received the new 4K Apple TV and went to set it to behave the same way as the Chromecast and discovered that it is not supported. Shame on Apple for not supporting something so simple and helpful. Being able to double up a monitor as a TV is a nice feature in a lot of settings.


Dock Icons will not move in Yosemite I am able to rearrange the dock icons for a period of time after each restart, though I have not been able to determine the length of time. Then I am not able to rearrange the dock icons again.

I have tried the solutions found here: Can't rearrange Dock icons

The killall Dock command did not do anything.

Deleting the com.apple.dock.plist file only seemed to work due to the restart because after a while the issue came back.

Is there a way to fix this issue so that I do not have to restart every time I want to rearrange icons?

Did you try this?

Finder and Dock issues in OSX 10.10.1

I had the same exact problem and it was definitely caused by Pushbullet extension in Chrome. Disabled completely the extension, restarted the system and the dock started working.
Don't know if it was caused specifically by the "Universal copy & paste" option being enabled or the extension as a whole, would have to investigate this further. Hope this helps.

I just changed Dock preferences from Genie effect to Scale effect an it fixed the problem.


How to prevent Mac sleep from command line? I have a long running script at the remote computer.

I don't want terminate my ssh session, and need enter it into a shell script.

How is it possible to prevent my Mac from falling into sleep from the command line?

In Mountain Lion you can use the caffeinate command.

caffeinate -u -t 1000

will prevent idle sleep for 1000 seconds.

The StarMessage screensaver ( http://starmessagesoftware.com/moonscreensaver/ ) has also the option to keep the MAC awake for 2 hours, 8 hours, or permanenty.
This way of disabling the MAC sleep, is much easier than caffeine.


Disable "Share Mac Analytics" with defaults command? I'm trying to disable all analytics feature with the defaults command:

Any ideas?

sudo defaults write /Library/Application\ Support/CrashReporter/DiagnosticMessagesHistory.plist AutoSubmit -int 0


How do I examine and reduce what "About This Mac" categorizes as "System" disk use? In "About This Mac" my Storage shows a System disk use of 419 GB. Since my storage is a bit tight and I'm gearing up to update to Catalina (from 10.14.6), I'd like to clear as much disk space as I can, and this huge chunk attributed to "System" seems a good place to start.

What is in System? How do I examine the details of what's there? How can I delete (safely) some of the things there consuming disk space?

FWIW, I have a lot of local Dropbox files, use Google Drive, have a disk image on my drive, and have a bunch of Homebrew installed tools (in case any of these could wind up categorized as "System").

You should get a copy of DaiseyDisk or GrandPerspective. These apps will produce a mapping of your hard drive so you can check what is taking up so much space.


Using Airport Express connected via Ethernet to extend Airport Extreme wireless lan? I was wondering whether it's possible to use an Airport Express that is connected via Ethernet (using a powerlan/-line bridge-set inbetween) to extend an Airport Extreme network?

Basically the two places are a tad too far away from each other so connecting the Express to the Extreme via WLan hardly works reliably & I thought I read somewhere that the lan connected method should work, but after going through the Airport Utility Wizard that actually seems to offer this method & it restarted the Express, my Lan stops working.. for some reason.. heavy packet loss from my mac to the Extreme (via ethernet aswell) and all that... if I unplug the express from lan, it all of a sudden works again perfectly fine.

So basically the question is and if its doable, what do I have to do to make this work?

what you want to do is setup your express to be a "bridge" for your airport extreme network, you want to create a "new" wireless network (but if you use the same settings as your extreme, most macs should seamlessly work and switch as required)

make sure your airport express is configured not to do any NAT or give out IP's as that is maybe what is conflicting with your network currently, also make sure you give it an IP in the same subnet as your airport extreme and also that it does not conflict with any other machines

If you're using Airport Utility 6.x, you'll need this answer here (it worked for me):
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5244532?tstart=0


Latest iOS 9 doesn't show WiFi symbol, even when connected to WiFi How do I display the WiFi symbol when connected to WiFi? iOS 8 used to show the WiFi symbol in place of LTE when connected to WiFi. Now, after the iOS 9 update, it always display LTE, even though I'm connected to WiFi. It shows I'm connected to my router in settings, and I also pinged my local router with a ping app.

iPhone 5, iOS 9.0.1.

It should show up so the fact that it doesn't indicates a problem. In the past, Apple has focused on reliability for newer models and then subsequently released a X.1 version with under-the-hood work done for older devices. So it wouldn't surprise me if it is a deeper problem.

Two simple things to try right off would be a hard reboot of the device if you haven't already. You can do that by holding the home and power button down until you see the Apple logo. Also, make sure that you are on the latest version of iOS. iOS 9.0.2 is out now, so update and hopefully that will solve your issue.

If that doesn't work, you have to take it up a notch. You could try resetting all preferences to see if that solves the problem. Go to Settings - General - Reset - Erase all Settings to perform that function. If that doesn't work, the other main thing to try would be to restore the phone. Make sure you have a backup (I always like to have two), wipe the device, then restore.

A hard reset worked for me.  I was not showing the icon on 5S but wifi was working.


How do I stop my iPhone from telling me by voice what keys I press and instead respond to them How do I stop my iPhone 5s from voice identifying what keys impress and actually respond and accept the keys I press?

Your device currently has on a feature called voice over which is made for people who are visually impaired.
One touch tells you what you have pressed, two touches will actually perform the intended action.

Triple clicking the home button typically turns off the voice over feature unless you have the magnifier enabled.

Once you have unlocked your device:

-go to settings, use the tap sequence
-three finger scroll to get to general than use the tap sequence
-three finger scroll to accessibility ,use the tap sequence and turn off the voice over, once again using the tap sequence.


Can I upgrade to Lion straight from 10.5.8? Can I upgrade to Lion from 10.5.8 without upgrading to 10.6.6 first?, or with a package deal?

And can I upgrade just downloading? -- Without having to have the discs mailed to me?

At the moment it is not possible to upgrade to Lion without first installing the App Store, and Apple hasn't announced any plan to make that available on versions older than Snow Leopard.

From Apple's press release announcing Lion's availability:

  Users who do not have broadband access at home, work or school can download Lion at Apple retail stores and later this August, Lion will be made available on a USB thumb drive through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com) for $69 (US).

They haven't confirmed that this will work for upgrading for older versions, but given the price many people are assuming that this is the case.

Yes you can! It is just 1 more step (see #4) from 10.5 to lion OS X

Download from Appstore the lion os x
make a bootable dvd or usb or partition your internal drive
reboot with alt key and chose your source with burned .dmg on it
choose: disk utility and erase your internal drive completely
then start installation again and choose this new erased drive as a destination to recovery lion to it.

it works!


Could software cause the iPhone's home button to become unresponsive? Possible Duplicate:
  Flaky iPhone 4 Home Button

I've got an iPhone 4, and for a while now the home button has been quite unresponsive.  Sometimes I need to press the button around 5 or 6 times for it to register.  However, I noticed that once I restore it to factory settings, the home button goes back to normal.

Once I put my apps and music on the iphone once again, the home button problem reappears.  Has anyone heard of a problem like this, or is it just a coincidence? What can be done to fix it? Should I reinstall iTunes and re-download all my apps?

Do you close your open applications often? If you tap twice on your home button so the last used apps bar on the bottom comes up there if you hold any of those icons for about 2 seconds pushed in, where after they will start to jiggle and you'll see an red close icon on the top left of those recently opend apps icons will show. Tap that! and the app will close and make space in memory. If opening up memory by hand doesn't work I'd suggest you check the connection of the button.


Can I daisy chain a Thunderbolt display to a non thunderbolt display I have dual thunderbolt displays. One of them is breaking down. Since apple discontinued the thunderbolt display, are there other companies that can support daisy chaining a non apple monitor to an apple monitor.

Here, here, and here all say no, but that was before the july 2016 discontinuation. Other forums say you can do this with DP 1.2, but the OS is incompatible. Again, these are old forums and I wanted to know if there is an update.

I have a 2014 retina macbook pro for reference

The short and simple answer is:

Directly?  No.  You cannot daisy chain a mDP display directly off a Thunderbolt
display.
Indirectly? Yes.  You can add a single mDP display off another Thunderbolt peripheral (like storage or a dock)

This is coming off of Apple's Support page as of the time of this answer:

  Can I connect my Mini DisplayPort monitor or monitor using a Mini DisplayPort adapter to my Apple Thunderbolt Display?
  Mini DisplayPort Monitors or Monitors connecting with Mini DisplayPort adapters will not function when connected through a Thunderbolt Display. They must be connected directly to the Thunderbolt port on the computer or to a non-display device as indicated above.

(Emphasis mine)

http://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-34UM95-P-ultrawide-monitor

I use it with an MBP, also. Never tried daisy-chaining. It's got DP, too, and USB 3.0. Also has a KVM switch and can handle multiple inputs concurrently (not ideal). It's almost too much monitor. I honestly feel like I need two chairs to use it because of the amount of real-estate & resolution. Easily replaces dual monitors of a decent size. It's VESA mountable & very light. Any old/cheap wall-mount will work. I've used one that looks like it's meant to hold up a light-bulb.

Thunderbolt
This monitor's Thunderbolt input/output port allows you to connect up to six compatible devices, moving data between them with incredible speed. The two channels of 10-gigabits-per-second throughput in both directions are up to 20X faster than USB 2.0. Thunderbolt is an exciting innovation for both expansion and premium video display.
Note: When connecting both Thunderbolt™ ports to two separate computers, the monitor will only recognize the computer that is connected first. The second Thunderbolt™ port can be used as a daisy-chain for external storage devices or additional monitors.

Don't pay retail! I picked one up when it first came out a year or two ago, and I got it for 10% off from Beach Audio in NY. And a friend of mine has sent me some links to advertisements when he's seen it selling significantly cheaper. You can probably find it for almost half the price, especially if you're patient (holiday season coming up = sales).

Hope this helps.


Best way to uninstall; backup programs on Mac Macbook laptop has a few programs .. in which I'd like to uninstall
and then keep the programs on a disc or external hd.

Should I clone the program? (best suggested freeware? eg. Clonezilla or ..)
or use a software such as Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner?

What are other best tips on speeding up Mac OS settings? (tuning particular features, functions on control panel?)

To uninstall programs, just delete them.

To back them up, the best idea is to keep the installer. In most cases, this is the .dmg the app came in. If it came from the App Store, there's nothing to keep. Other programs can come with installer packages (.pkg) or apps; these are what you'd keep in this case.

If the already installed programs are not useful for you from future P.O.V., then simply uninstall them from your Mac hard drive. It will also improve the Mac performance significantly by freeing up the Mac hard drive space.

Also, both CloneZilla and Time Machine are free programs, and you can use any one of them as per your requirements. However, sometimes using these free program can results in un-necessary data loss problems (that is why I avoid free programs).


Does Find My Mac stop working after the system has been wiped? Possible Duplicate:
  If Macbook has been wiped, will “find my iPhone” still work?

I lost my Macbook Pro recently. I had activated iCloud on the computer, so Find My Mac is operable.

If the thief wipes the hard drive, and installs a fresh operating system, OSX Lion or Leopard, for example, then will I still be able to locate my device? In particular if the thief installs Leopard (which obviously doesn't support Find my Mac) will Find My Mac still work?

If the thief just wipes the harddrive, there is a slight chance that your device will still show up in Find My Mac as the association is saved in the NVRAM which persists even after a drive format.

However, if the thief or new owner clears the NVRAM in any way, or reconfigures iCloud with another account and enables Find My Mac for it, the association will be deleted or overwritten, and you will no longer be able to track your device.

See this question for more on the subject.

The answer is no.  iCLoud will be deleted along with everything else.

Keep iCloud open on your current computer to make sure you get each location the device is located at.


Why does my finger buzz when I slowly move it near the trackpad? I've noticed that when I drag my finger around the trackpad (not actually on the trackpad) that I get a strange little vibration. Is the haptic engine responsible for this? and why does it do it?

Normally this vibration sensation is due to the MacBook being plugged in. From personal experience my 2008 MacBook Pro does this when plugged in (Official Charger) and my 2012 MacBook Pro only does this when plugged into the college power (Official Charger) so cant say for sure as I don't have your specific MacBook but am confident this may be the answer.

As you stated with the haptic feed back this could be the answer as there could be a software bug causing the vibration to be stuck on but I can't help thinking this may not be the case.

It is your charger not being grounded. You probably use the snap-on with only neutral and +, while the bundled cable also connects ground wire. For me this sensation occurs not only near the touchpad but anywhere on the metal surface of the laptop, even magsafe plug itself.

If you disconnect it from charging or use the bundled cable it will stop doing that.


Can I change which external monitor is considered the "secondary" monitor? I've got a MacBook Pro, and two Thunderbolt displays. I'd like to be able to change the brightness on them individually, like so:

For the MacBook, I'd use the F1/F2 keys on its keyboard.
For the first Thunderbolt Display, I'd use the F1/F2 keys on my USB keyboard.
For the second Thunderbolt Display, I'd use CTRL+F1/CTRL+F2 on my USB keyboard, as outlined in this AskDifferent answer.

However: the CTRL+F1/CTRL+F2 keys on my USB keyboard currently map to my MacBook's brightness - so now I've got two ways to change my MacBook's brightness, and zero ways to change my secondary Thunderbolt display.

Is there a way to re-map the CTRL+F1/CTRL/F2 commands, so they control the secondary Thunderbolt display?

I don't know how this applies to the mapping. But you can define what is your primary monitor by going to display prederencey and moveing the little menu bar to the display of choice


This computer is no longer authorised for purchased items I am facing a very annoying problem from last few days. Whenever I try to install an app from my Mac to my iPad it says:

  This computer is no longer authorised for purchased items

but when I try to authorise this computer, it says:

  This computer is already authorised

You've probably authorised the computer with a different iTunes account from the one that the iPad is using. Have you tried deauthorising it and then authorising it again? (If you've purchased iPad apps on both the iPad and the Mac, using different iTunes accounts, then you've got a problem.)

I've fixed the issue by resetting all settings and removing all apps from my iPhone.


Mail attachement problem I have a problem with mail application.

Using it from OS X when I send mail including an attachment like image, pdf or any oder document and if my recipient reads the mail on windows devices, they do not see the text of my mail and a signature, but instead the whole text and signature of the email all are processed as an attachment.

LIKE THIS...

MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2015), iOS 9.1, OS X Yosemite version 10.10.5

You can try Universal Mailer Plugin to Apple Mail.
It has options to keep signature text formatting as well as how to treat images in the message.


What Is the Keyboard Shortcut for Sleep Display Without Eject Key? I read that if you want to put your display into sleep the keyboard shortcut is Control ⌃+Shift ⇧+Eject ⏏, but what is it in Mountain Lion or Lion using a retina MacBook Pro or MacBook Air without an eject button?

(At least on the Retina display MacBook Pro) use the Power button the same as you previously used the Eject button. So Control ⌃+Shift ⇧+Power puts the display to sleep and Command ⌘+Option ⌥+Power puts the machine to sleep.

The difference between putting the display to sleep and putting the computer to sleep might be important to some users:

Ctrl-Shift-Eject ⏏ puts the display to sleep
Opt-Cmd-Eject ⏏ puts the whole computer to sleep

Putting only the display to sleep allows any running programs (including large downloads that are in progress) to continue while you lock your screen (if you have it set to require a password) and leave the computer, while putting the whole computer to sleep will stop a download's progress as soon as you put it to sleep.


Why does Google Chrome fail to draw tabs correctly when the Discrete graphics adapter is in use? Google Chrome fails to paint browser tabs correctly while the Discrete graphics adapter is in use.

I have an Early 2011 15" MacBook Pro running OSX 10.10.5 (Yosemite) and am running Chrome Version 53.0.2785.143 (64-bit). This problem began about a month ago.

Not sure if this is still relevant to you but maybe this will help you:

MacBook Pro Repair Extension Program for Video Issues

Basically your GPU might be faulty and Apple will fix it for free.


How can I turn an iPod touch into a functional mobile telephone? Considering that the iPhone is three times more expensive than the iPod touch and that the iPod touch is much thinner than the iPhone, it would be quite neat to use an iPod touch as to send and receive phone calls.

What would need to be done to enable an iPod Touch to send and receive phone calls (either Wi-Fi only or better interfacing to cellular data through an accessory)?

There are three steps that would need to be completed to enable an iPod Touch to act as a mobile telephone.

First, it would need to make phone calls. The answers to this question document how to place phone calls using an iPod Touch and VOIP. I personally have used Talkatone, and find that it does work, but has some substantial lags, particularly at the beginning of the conversation.

Second, it would need to receive phone calls. (Note that this is a key difference between using an iPod Touch as a mobile telephone, as asked in your title, and a calling device, as asked in the body of the first version of your question!) This is a much more difficult prospect, as presumably you would want the device to be able to receive calls at any time, and not just when a particular app is running. It would appear that the program Skype is available for the iPod Touch and could be used to make and receive phone calls.

Finally, unlike the iPhone, the iPod Touch can only communicate with the rest of the world when it is connected to a WiFi network. A mobile hotspot like the MiFi carried with you could give the iPod Touch steady access to a WiFi network.

All that said, you'll end up paying for Skype in and out on top of paying for the data plan for the MiFi. It might be simpler and not a whole lot more expensive to just go with an actual iPhone.

In other words, it can be done to make an iPod Touch more like an iPhone, but that doesn't mean you'd want to, besides as a proof of concept.

Unlock your iPod, and then you'll have the ability to turn your iPod touch into a Mobile phone. But you have to be careful unlocking, because it could damage the iPod if your not knowing what your doing.


iPhone alarm clock sometimes doesn't work I can't count how often I overslept since I'm using my iPhone as my main alarm clock. I can't reproduce it and it's happening without any observable frequency of occurrence. Here is all I know:

My iPhone is not jailbroken and I've already done a complete reset for several times.
The volume is loud enough. I test the volume of the alarm clock before I go to sleep and it's definitely loud enough. In addition, the iPhone is lying in a distance of 15 inches from my head.
I'm not sleepwalking, so it's impossible that I turn off the alarm clocks at night. ;)
Most of the time I set three or four alarm clocks with intervals of 15 or 20 minutes. Just to get that I'm so glad I can sleep another 15 minutes - feeling.
As I already mentioned, the malfunction does not always occur. The alarm clock does work sometimes. The first alarm clock goes off at 5:30, another one at 5:45, I get up and go to work. But in 30 % to 50 % of the cases, it does not go off and I'm late for work, in a bad mood and really stressed.
When I realize I have overslept I first have a look at my iPhone. When I unlock it, I see that there is still the message I programmed for the alarm clock to display when activated! Like Get up! or something. That's very strange because it implies that the alarm has been activated but only the message is shown and no sound.
I've got no other problems with my iPhone (besides a synchronizing issue I got the Tumbleweed badge for). Sound is working fine, settings are always applied.
It's not an issue of push-messages being displayed. I first assumed that it could be a push message from Google+ or a news-app I'm using but the malfunction is also occurring without any push-messages being displayed.
I've been searching the net for a solution and found the issue of iPhone alarm clocks going off one hour late. That is not my problem, because - as I already said - the alarm seems to go off, but without sound.
I'm not deaf.

The iPhone:

iPhone 4 32GB
iOS 4.3.5
No jailbreak

I hope one of you has a solution for this problem, because I would feel very strange buying an old school alarm clock. :) But I think I have to, if I can't fix this malfunction of my iPhone.

Thanks in advance.

I have written up a procedure for you to try:

Restore your phone.
Test - if successful go to last.
Take your iPhone to the nearest Apple store and tell them what's happening.
Test the issue with the refurbished iPhone they gave you to replace the one that was malfunctioning - if successful go to last.
Enjoy your "15 more minutes" feeling.

Failing all of these, your alarm is going off and you're sleeping through it because you stayed up too late playing WoW, drinking, coding, whatever. It eventually stops making noise and leaves the message on the screen. Try placing the phone across the room so you have to get up to turn it off. See if that helps. Either way, now you have a newly refurbished iPhone 4.

Please forgive the snarky nature of this answer. I wrote it after my alarm didn't go off in the morning due to a push notification.

Forget all the information above. I experience the same problem all the time. It is a fault with the iPhone, insofar as it just 'jams'. Please report to Apple as it just glitching and more users must have the same problem and think they have a 'possessed' phone, or they forgot to set the alarm.


2020 macbook air ethernet disconnection problem I have been struggling with an ethernet disconnection problem on my Intel MacBook Air 2020 for several months now. The ethernet connection (through a wired USB-C lan connection) turns off after I have the camera on during a video conference for around 10 minutes. Turning to wifi works fine though. It happens with a variety of videoconferencing applications as skype, webex, zoom, GotoMeeting but strangely not with FaceTime. I thought it was an adaptor problem but I have changed four adaptors: Satechi Multiport (tried 3 different ones) and Belkin USB-C multimedia hub.
After updating to Big Sur the problem got even worse as it not only freezes my ethernet, but forces my home VDSL modem to disconnect from the Internet and I need to reboot it to get connected again.
I also posted it at the Apple community forum and it appears others have this problem as well. When I was returning the Satechi adaptors to the Apple dealer they were testing on their MacBooks before giving me a replacement and they were also experiencing the same issue.
Apple Support has given me a list of things to try like resetting SMC, NVRAM, PRAM, which I tried with no result. They also suggested to wipe my disk and do a clean installation of the OS which I have not tried yet as it will take me days of work to reinstall everything.
Does anyone have any idea of what the cause could be, or what else I could try? Has anyone managed to solve the problem?
UPDATE: following Apple support advice I also installed a clean version of the OS on an external disk and booted from this, but the problem persists

I am having a similar issue with the Thunderbolt 3 Dock from Belkin, when i am using it, then it is ok, but when i send my laptop to sleep, or turn it off then the whole network collapses. i opted for disconnecting the cable from the dock every time i send the laptop to sleep or turn it off. i know it is not the best solution, but probably in the meantime you find a solution you don't have to suffer the interruption of your home network.


Second screen mirror one desktop While I am using multiple desktops on my Mac, I would like to mirror one of these desktops on a second monitor.

This monitor would keep mirroring this desktop while I could switch between all of my desktops with my main monitor.

Any ideas on how to make this happen?

I am using an iPad as a second monitor if that might be important.

Welcome to Ask Different!

I am assuming you are using an app such as Duet Display or Air Display for this purpose. It sounds like you are attempting to extend your desktop, rather than mirror a desktop. You will need to go to System Preferences -> Display -> Arrangement. From there, you can shoes to extend the Desktop.

Following these steps, you will be able to have one or more windows open on your iPad screen, and several desktops on your Mac screen as well.