WhatsApp on iPhone: how to switch to a new phone number without losing anything? I have a long history of chats, several groups and multiple contacts (who have me in their address books) on Whatsapp for iPhone.

How can I preserve them all if I switch for a week to a new SIM card (which I buy for travel, from a different cell operator)? Is it possible to make the switch seamless for my friends, so they don't have even to add my new number (and of course, I'd like that their history of chats with me doesn't break on this switch)? After a week, I would like to switch back to my original SIM card -- and again don't want to loose anything. My iPhone device will remain the same all the time, and I'm not going to reset it during that period.

Whatsapp FAQ is quite unclear on this...

It proved trivial:

power down iPhone
change SIM card
turn iPhone on
launch Whatsapp
Whatsapp asks something like "Mobile network changed. Switch to new phone number?". Tap "No"

That's it. All groups, chat history and contacts preserved. My friends see me (and chat history with me) as I never changed SIM card or number.

Later switch back to the original number works exactly the same.

Mind the warning from Whatsapp FAQ: "Please do not swap SIM cards ... frequently, or you will create problems in the verification process." But with two changes "to new and back to the old" in half an hour, I of course didn't experience any problems.

I would look here: http://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/general/28030001

  Before you stop using a phone number or phone, you should migrate or delete your WhatsApp account. A simple way to delete your old account and migrate to a new number is by using our Change Number feature.

And here: http://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/general/20971798

  To use our Change Number feature on the phones listed below, please click on the appropriate article for specific steps: Android | iPhone | BlackBerry | Nokia S40 | Windows Phone | BlackBerry 10.

Specifically this part:

  If you are planning on using your old number in the future - for example, if you will temporarily use this new number on vacation - or you simply do not wish to delete your old account number, just delete and reinstall WhatsApp. Deleting the application will not delete the account tied to your previous number. Once reinstalled, you can verify a new phone number.


How to change the color of Exchange's shared calendar in iCal in 10.10? I've been in trouble for some days with the Exchange services on our Apple ecosystem. Right now, I want to change the color of the shared exchange calendars. Changing the color of the local calendar works, same for iCloud ones, and same for my own calendar. See screenshot below. System is in french as you can see…

BUT it doesnt work the same for the shared calendar. Here is when I right clic the calendar :

FYI when I right clic the name of the person above the calendar (on the screenshot it's behind the red rectangle) it just says something like (sorry for the translation) : open the delegate in a new window.

And then, once I clicked "read the informations", this is what I get. A great greyed selector :

Of course when I click the color selector nothing happens. And when I click the "informations on the account" I get the account window, the one you get when you click in the menu on calendar > accounts.

Well, does anyone have an idea to change these damn colors ? I googled the thing but didn't find any consistent thing.

PS: there is a quite similar topic here on StackExchange but it doesn work for me since every shared calendar have the same name (and as you saw the calendar name is greyed too so it can't be changed).

THANKS !!

I too had the same problem with our Office 365 Shared Calendars, but because these aren't user accounts there was no way for the owner to change the colour as there is no owner on these kinds of calendar. I eventually figured out a way of changing the colours which I've created a tutorial for here on my blog: http://matt-stone.co.uk/change-colours-microsoft-office-365-shared-calendars-apple-calendar-os-x/

I had the same problem in a Office365 domain. The solution was to let the owner of the calendar change the color in her own iCal. Then this color will change in other users iCal also.


My iMac won't boot ( internal and external ) My iMac won't boot from an internal drive, even when I completely wipe it and reformat it and start up with command shift R.
Then I tried booting it from an external drive, but even then it wouldn't boot at all. I even tried other RAM so it shouldn't be the problem in this case.
It's a 27" iMac 2012.
Are there other things I can try?

Repair or restore a Mac in Apple Configurator 2
If there is no way to get the Mac working again, you will need a second Mac.
The firmware must be restored and the internal flash memory must be deleted if the following situation occurs:

The Mac cannot start from Startup Disk or RecoveryOS.
The firmware repair failed.

Repair or recovery process
The repair or recovery process consists of the following steps:

Start Apple Configurator 2 on the second Mac and connect the Mac computers.
Restart the Mac using a specific key combination.
Use Apple Configurator 2 to do one of the following:
Repair firmware and reinstall the latest version of RecoveryOS
Restore firmware, erase all data, and reinstall the latest version of RecoveryOS and macOS

Step 1: Configure Mac with Apple Configurator 2 and connect the USB-C cable

Make sure of the following:

You have installed the latest version of Apple Configurator 2.
Your Mac is connected to the electrical outlet.
You can connect to the internet.

Connect the USB-C cable (along with any necessary adapters).

Step two: prepare your Mac

Connect a monitor so you can see when the process is complete.
Unplug your Mac  from its electrical outlet for at least 10 seconds.
Press and hold the power button.
Reconnect to the power supply while continuing to hold the on / off button.
Release the power button.

Note: You will not see any Mac activity on the screen during this time
Step 2: prepare your Apple notebook computer

Press the power button.
Hold down your power button while simultaneously pressing the following three buttons for about 10 seconds:

the right shift key
the left option key
the left Control key

Immediately release the three buttons after 10 seconds, but keep holding the power button until it appears in Apple Configurator 2.

Note: There is no activity on the Apple notebook computer on the screen during this time.
Step 3: Repair the firmware and install the latest version of the RecoveryOS
In the Apple Configurator 2 device window, select the Mac whose chip firmware is to be repaired and whose RecoveryOS is to be updated to the latest version, then select
Actions > Advanced > Repair device and click on Repair.
Note: Hold down the "Control" key and click on the selected device, choose "Advanced" > "Repair Device" and click "Repair"


Transfer accounts from Mac or iPhone to new iPad? I have 8 different email accounts configured on my iPhone. It's a pain to move them one-by-one to the iPad. If I wipe the iPad I can move them all over at the same time. Is there any way to do this without wiping the iPad? I just got a new email account and don't want to manually configure each device.

Not exactly sure what you mean: if you use the same Apple ID on both devices and you have enabled iCloud storage for keychain, mail, whatever else on the iPhone - assuming that it’s holding all the data you want on the iPad - you’re done.


Gmail Doesn't Respect Dark Mode System Preference on iOS 13 Given Dark Mode can really enhance battery life, I'm keen to implement it.

Although all my other IOS/IPADOS 13.3 Apps seem to respect the "System Preferences" > "Display & Brightness" > "Appearance" > "Dark", I noticed gMail didn't for some reason.

Google offered this guidance for configuring Dark Mode:

  For iOS 13:

  On your iPhone or iPad, open the Gmail app
  In the top left, tap Menu Menu  and then Settings.
  Tap Theme.
  Choose Light, Dark or System default.

Since the menu item "Theme" was missing in my gMail settings, I gave up trying to configure Dark Mode- wasn't possible to follow the instructions to achieve a correct result.

My gMail settings look as follows:

By chance I noticed my Wife was using Dark Mode in gMail.  Given we have the same iPad Pros (2019 12.9"), I decided to try to implement Dark Mode again.

Doing some comparative analysis, I investigated how our iPad configurations varied.

Below are my Wife's gMail settings. When you compare the below graphic of her correct settings with mine in the previous graphic, remark (2) things:

There is now a menu item titled "Theme" which is not present in my settings
Version Number: Both the Broken AND Working Dark Modes use same gMail version

How else did the two iPads vary?

My iPad uses both gSuite and a personal gMail accounts
My Wife's iPad only has a personal gMail account.

Remarking this difference, I made the following changes to my iPad to mirror the working iPad (my Wife's):

Deleted the gSuite gMail account to exclude possibility there was a Domain permissions issue.  This did not resolve the broken Dark Mode issue
Deleted and reinstalled gMail itself.  This too failed to resolve the fault

So both iPad Pro's use the same versions of gMail, but the iPad with working Dark Mode HAS the "Theme" menu in settings, the other with broken Dark Mode does NOT.

UPDATE:

Was surprised to see Dark Mode magically working on my iPhone's gMail. I had not fiddled with anything lately, but voila, there it was. However, when I checked my iPads, these did NOT have Dark Mode enabled. Checked the versions on the iPads and these had the same one as the iPhone: v.6.0.200412.  So what was different?  I rebooted the iPhone recently, but NOT my iPads.

Upon reboot of the iPads, Dark Mode was now working on gMail on all my devices.

How to get Dark Mode working: (3) Steps

Set Dark Mode as the system-wide preference in: "System Preferences" > "Display & Brightness" > "Appearance" > "Dark"
As @Lulucmy rightly noted in his answer, Google must enable the feature on their side or Dark Mode ain't happening for you.
Reboot the device periodically: Google will not notify you they are enabling Dark Mode. I had periodically closed gMail from time to time since I last updated it 01 May, and Dark Mode was still not working in gMail.  Only when I rebooted my iPhone did the change seem to be effective.

So Dark Mode will respect the global System Preference, but only where Google has enabled it on their side. So I guess patience is also required for those eager to extend their battery life using gMail in Dark Mode.

Anyhoo, my observations on how my own Dark Mode Hell was resolved.  Hope this saves others cycles trying to resolve the issue-

Google confirmed some time back, this is a server side configuration. If you are not seeing the option, its not rolled out to you yet. Though I don’t know the reason why it has been done. My case is the same.


How to add image to file format .mp3 on a Mac? I use a Mac and have artwork I would like to add as images to sound .mp3 file.
I am aware that I can create a .mov file using QuickTime media player which is already built-in on my Mac, but I’d just like to attach art, not translate the whole file into a new format.
What tools or scripts or apps can do this task?

There are several places you can do this:

within iTunes. Simply right click, select Get Info, then select the artwork tab and select “Add Artwork”

from Get Info (Finder). Right (Option) click the file and select Get Info. Choose Artwork, then select Add Artwork. Select the art work you would like to embed.

in VLC. Go to Media Information screen CommandI  which will bring up a window of all the tags including artwork. Simply drag your artwork to add it.

via a tag editor like Music Brainz Picard. You can easily add the Artwork by dragging it to the artwork “field” in the editor and save it.

command line via ffmpeg
ffmpeg -i musicfile.mp3 -i coverart.png -c copy -metadata:s:v title="Album Cover"-metadata:s:v comment="Album Art " musicfile.mp3

Hi mate are you trying to show the album cover in Finder? If so you can have a look at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8HO0Otah5I and it works for me.


Keyboard shortcut for restoring applications from the Mac OS X Dock? Is there a keyboard shortcut to restore a minimised application window from the Dock?

Almost all Apple Mac OS X applications respond to the Apple + M command which minimises the current application window to the Dock, which is fine.

I can then use Command + Tab to cycle through my running applications - including the minimised application, but selecting the application with the minimised window neither restores the minimised window, nor sets focus to the minimised application window in the Dock so I can restore it without having to reach for the Mouse.

Update: Thanks for the answers, however the consensus seems to be to use the 'Hide' feature (Apple + H) instead of minimising, as it's easier to get the window back using Command + Tab.

Command + Tab until you get the app's icon.
Before releasing the Command key, press and hold the Option key.

You must switch to another app and let it take focus first. In other words, you can't just Command + Tab to another app and before actually selecting that app (by releasing the Command and Tab keys), switch right back to your minimized app, which you might attempt to do if you minimized it by accident or just simply changed your mind shortly after minimizing.
Both the Command and left Option keys must be pressed on the same side (left or right) of the keyboard.

There is another way! Going off of the other answers you can actually access the other windows of a single application using Ctrl + Down. Now you can simply press any arrow to navigate through all the windows that are open or minimized.

If you didn't want to focus on the window you were on and wanted to cancel the whole thing and return to the window of that app that you were already focused on just press Ctrl + Up.

Also, don't forget you can access any of the windows that are not minimized of the same app by using Cmd + `  <-thats the same key as ~ for those who never use backticks.


I updated my iPod 5 gen to iOS 9 and now it has a 6 digit passcode I updated my iPod to iOS 9 ( i think, its the current one right now 10/24/15) and my pass code was 5-6-8-9(4 digits) and now after updating it and recovering it through iTunes to prepare to sell it to someone it now has a 6 digit password. What do I do, how do I unlock it now because I really need it to sell it for the money.

Try a factory reset.  Probably has been hacked and someone else has control of the passcode.


Process "mtmfs" is using 98% of cpu, heating up the core and runing the fans flat out Process "mtmfs" is using 98% of cpu, heating up the core and runing the fans flat out.

I have quite the process through activity monitor, but does anyone know a longer term solution?

I am running a MacBook Pro 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 with 8GB RAM and OS 10.7.1

Presumably you're using Time Machine?  mtmfs is Mobile Time Machine file system daemon.  Have you tried disabling Time Machine?

I was running a search on EasyFind and forgot about it - started up Clean My Mac 2 - this is when mtmfs started cranking up my CPU/fan. I quit EasyFind and the CPU % went down immediately. Took a few minutes for fan to slow down. I think maybe the two programs running a thorough search at the same time did it. Haven't had a problem with either one when run alone.


macOS: Can another user recover files I've deleted? I currently live with someone that I think may be recovering files I emptied from the Trash. It's their computer, they are admin, and I have a standard account. I just want to know are they capable of doing this? Is there anyway to find out obviously without having to just ask cause they'll lie anyways.

There are various ways how this can be done:

They may simply have a background job running which regularly copies all your files (whether in Trash or still in Documents etc) into a folder they control
They may use the backups created by Time Machine or any other backup software used
They can use data recovery software to recover deleted files

However, this doesn't necessarily mean that the other person is reading your files.

If you are concerned about the sensitivity of data/files, you are advised to take measures such as using an encrypted volume, not creating files locally, using an external drive to store and view files and additionally, using Private browsing mode in Web browsers etc.

As implied in Nimesh Neema's answer: they wouldn't need to recover your deleted files -- because they already have access to ALL your files before they are deleted! It's their computer and they have admin privileges.

They wouldn't need to go to the effort of recovering your deleted files.


What is the format of a .xip file As Xcode 8 beta is available to download, I see it's distributed with a .xip extension, Xcode_8_beta.xip.

What is the .xip format? What's the difference between previous .dmg format?

According to the xip manual page:

  A XIP file is an analog to zip(1), but allows for a digital signature to be applied and verified on the receiving system, before the archive is expanded. When a XIP file is opened (by double-clicking), Archive Utility will automatically expand it (but only if the digital signature is intact).

Essentially, an .xip file is just a .zip with a signature to verify that the file has not changed since its creator saved it. This protects from both damage from a disk error and from a third-party tampering with the file.

The Unarchiver and command line (xar, tar) utilities didn't work for me on MacOS 10.12.6.  What did work was right clicking on the .xip file and select "Archive Utility", it was able to expand the .xip file successfully.


Yosemite won't recognize my (admin) user password I Installed Yosemite and it won't recognize my (admin) user password.

Yes - I am positive that I am using the correct password.
No - Caps Lock is not on.

What is the problem?

It will be hard to tell what has broken without being logged in, but the solution is easy.

Boot to the Recovery HD (power cycle the Mac, then hold Cmd-R until the screen goes grey. Then wait about a minute or so and you should get the recovery tools. See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718 for details) and reset the password to be what you want it to be. Once you get logged in again, you can look at the logs and patch up your Keychain as needed.

The same thing happened to me. After a full day and night of struggling and trying every suggestion, I saw Apple made a "root admin" user on my computer that I didn't have knowledge of that superseded the admin account I made. So actually instead of typing my admin username, I typed in "root" as the username and it worked. Weird. Not sure how that happened.


How to convert internal boot SSD from HFS+ to APFS? Many web pages claim that when you install 10.13 on an SSD, you have an option to convert to APFS.  Many others claim that when you install 10.13 on an SSD, you will be converted to APFS whether you want it or not.

Neither was the case for me.  I have an internal SSD that upgraded to 10.13 and continued to the current 10.13.6.  Default disk utility knows it is SSD and HFS+ but will not convert it.  Recovery partition won't convert it either.  And in none of my upgrades was I ever offered the choice.

I don't want to erase and do a multi-hour install, then have to do a multi-hour restore from backup.  Especially since I recently did (10.13.6) from recovery partition and it did not convert.

One page said you can't do it on your boot volume till 2017.  But 2017 is long gone.

SSD was in this refurb when I bought it from the Boston Apple store January 2017.  I used Migration to put apps and accounts on it, Software Update since then.  Never used FileVault nor RAID nor Bootcamp.

UPDATE: As detailed in the question and the "half-answer," there was never an automatic update nor an offer to do so nor were any of my attempts to get around it successful as of August 2018.  I gave up on the idea at that point.  However, I noticed in disk utility today (13 Aug 2019) that my boot SSD is now APFS.  I have no idea when Apple did the conversion without asking, but it was after the updates to 10.13.0 through 10.13.6.  Now I have 10.14.6

Configuration info (when the question was asked—before the surprise conversion):

MBP-WWG:Desktop Admin$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage ISSD                    1.0 TB     disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3

/dev/disk1 (internal, virtual):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS ISSD                   +1.0 TB     disk1
                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2
                                 1687664E-6E25-4DBD-9293-A6B0E4D90B0A
                                 Unencrypted

MBP-WWG:Desktop Admin$

Well, I have the beginning of an answer:

MBP-WWG:~ Admin$ apropos apfs
APFSUserAgent(8)         - APFS new container observer
apfs.util(8)             - APFS file system utility
apfs_hfs_convert(8) !!!! - convert an existing HFS file system to APFS file system
fsck_apfs(8)             - APFS consistency check
mount_apfs(8)            - mount an APFS volume
newfs_apfs(8)            - construct a new APFS volume
MBP-WWG:~ Admin$ man 8 apfs_hfs_convert

But the challenge is when the Terminal is open in recovery mode, how many environment variables do I have to set to make it actually work?  I know it comes up with PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin but none of those directories exist in recovery mode (they're all on the main volume).  I don't know whether redefining PATH is sufficient.  Some commands may need other environment variables to function.  (shared libraries, manpath,

Tempted to try it on the old machine that has a spinner instead of an SSD.

It is possible from recovery mode and/or usb setup. Start the mac in recovery mode (hold cmd+R at boot). Open disk utility, select volume from the left click Edit and convert to APFS. If option is greyed out unmount the volume first from the toolbar.


Can't reformat SD card (Yosemite) I have a 2 GB SD card that I can't reformat. It seems pretty corrupted.

If I go into Disk Utility, I get these various error messages for each option:

Repair Disk:

  Disk Utility can’t repair this disk.

Erase (with Format "MS-DOS (FAT)"):

  Volume Erase failed with the error: Couldn’t modify partition map.

Set number of partitions to 1 and Apply:

  Partition failed with the error: Couldn’t open device.

According to Finder, I have permission to both read and write, and almost 100% of the space is available. However, if I try to copy any files on, I get an error message claiming there is not enough free space.

Any advice on how to fix this disk?

Get drive name
diskutil list

then try
diskutil unmountDisk force /dev/DRIVENAME

Then format
diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ Emptied /dev/DRIVENAME

or
diskutil eraseDisk FAT32 NEWNAME /dev/DRIVENAME

If you feel comfortable with the terminal you can try using diskutil commands. (Make sure you have a current backup of your main hard drive and dismount all other drives, then insert the SD card.)

Read the man page for diskutil first.

Then make sure you are absolutely positive which disk is the SD card before you execute any command that could erase your hard drive if you are wrong.

You might read this post of someone with a similar problem:
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20070306150736965

Good luck and be careful!


Is it safe to upgrade Bash via Homebrew? I'm new to OS X. I'm running OS X Lion on a MacBook Pro. Is it safe to upgrade the bash shell using Homebrew:

$ brew install bash

If safe, how do I make it the default instance of the shell I run through Terminal?

Thanks!

Binaries in /{,usr/}{,s}bin/ should not usually be replaced with other files. Other programs expect them to be the versions that came with OS X, and they are replaced by OS upgrades.

After running brew install bash, you can change the default shell safely by:

Adding /usr/local/bin/bash to /etc/shells
Running chsh -s /usr/local/bin/bash.

Settings in Terminal or iTerm 2 don't normally have to be changed. Both of them default to opening new windows with a login shell of the default shell.

The default shell can also be changed from System Preferences or with dscl, but all three options just modify /var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/users/$USER.plist.

Well before you do anything, back up your current file (of course, but always deserves to be said)

sudo cp /bin/bash /bin/bash.3.2.bk

Then create a symlink to the bash executable that Homebrew downloaded. I think it will be in /usr/local/Cellar, like so

sudo ln -s /usr/local/Cellar/bash/4.2.10/bin/bash /bin/bash

Now /bin/bash points to the file in your usr/local directory


Where does OS X store the profile photo it takes when you first create an account? When you first create your OS X login account it takes a picture of you. Where does that picture get stored? I can't find it in ~/Pictures or ~/Library.

The photo can be found in the /Library/Caches folder, if you haven't cleared this folder yet.
Otherwise, I recommend typing:

dscl . -read /Users/short_username JPEGPhoto | tail -1 | xxd -r -p >
/PATH/TO/accountImage.jpg

on one line in a Terminal window, from Chealion's brilliant answer here. In the above example, a JPEG copy will be saved to /PATH/TO/accountImage.jpg.

open finder, click: command,shift,G

type:

~/Library/caches/com.skype.skype

then click the folder that is titled as your user name.

then click the SKAvatar Cache folder.

it should be the first image.

Good luck!


How to unlock iPhone 4 if original carrier doesn't provide the service? I have two iPhone 4 locked by the original carrier. I can't get the factory unlock because this carrier don't provide this service.

I try to unlock via software but I can't, because the baseband (modem firmaware) are 04.12.02 (iOS 6.0.1) and 04.11.08 (iOS 5.0.1). Is not possible that I use Gevey, for the basebands. So, I think that I need wait for other new solution or maybe Apple unlock the all generation of iPhone 4.

If you know, other solution for me, please, help me. Because right now, I have only two iPod touch.

So, is possible that Apple unlock the all generation of iPhone 4?

As far as I know, you can't unlock with Apple after you've purchased an iPhone.

In the US, the laws regarding cellphone unlocking haven't changed, but a Library of Congress exemption to the law has recently not ben renewed so you might only legally unlock if your carrier allows.

try attiphoneunlocking.com, I have unlocked my 4s over there, took me 4 hours after sending the imei number.


Mac OS X Yosemite broke my iMac I recently tried to update my iMac OS to Yosemite as most people had already done it a while ago.
it downloaded the package when rebooted to install it. It was stuck with error message.

It looks as if there was an issue with hard drive preventing installation.
I was also unfortunate to revert the installation, hence end up loosing all my files as I decided to erase the disk and create new partition.
Even after formatting the disk and using 'Reinstall OS X' from recovery mode; I am unable to complete.

The screen doesn't seem to do anything stuck at 'Downloading additional components, it will automatically restart' I tried leaving it for few hours but no result.

Would someone please share your experience?

Try using Internet Recovery Mode instead of the regular Recovery Mode, and make sure that you formatted the right hard drive (in other words if you have an external hard drive plugged in, make sure that you formatted your actual hard drive, not your external one).

Here is some more info about different recovery modes from Apple's support site.

I thought I had this issue.  It was just stuck on the "Downloading Additional Components" Screen and the progress bar wasn't moving.  Then after maybe 10 or 15 minutes, it started moving along. After a blank screen now at the "Installing on 'Untitled'" screen.


Can't play an Online game that requires Java Some games online require Java to play, however it says that I have a missing plug-in. I am worried that I might get the java-exploit if I downloaded Java, any advice ?

Apple is automatically disabling old versions of Java for security reasons. If you re-install Java you do certainly run a slight risk of exposing your computer to known "in-the-wild" exploits. This is a decision you are best suited to make. Are the games worth installing Java for? Are there alternate places to play the same games without using Java?

If you need to install Java, follow this link to get the latest version.

As soon as you have latest Java you're reasonably safe. Oracle doesn't provide free java for macOS after April 16, 2019. Currently most complete set of Java binaries provided by Azul. It has binaries for Apple Silicon.


How to enable push notifications of emails? A quick question with perhaps no answer,

How can I enable push notifications of emails?

What currently happens when I get an email is that my phone vibrates or rings, then I look at the locked screen and no information is displayed.

I'd like a preview of the email in a notification window with at least the sender.

I currently have 3 mailboxes, one in google, one in hotmail, the other a private work exchange server.

Is there a solution to receive push notifications for all of my mailboxes?

You're talking about the notification settings for Mail, not whether push is on. To see new mail messages in the Lock Screen:

Settings > Notifications > Mail > Make sure "View in Lock Screen" is turned ON.

If you're concerned about your mail's push settings, those are in:

Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendar > Fetch New Data > Make sure "Push" is set how you want it.

There is no push for mail settings for iPhone 5


MacBook Pro screen muddling up letters I got my MacBook Pro in December so I haven't had it for that long. After a while, on youtube the screen would act up a bit and move around or display transparent grey rectangles or a massive (transparent again) pause button.
Until one or two days ago. I think it may have started yesterday or it might have been the day before. The letters displayed on the screen are just weird lines and you can't even recognise what the text is supposed to say.

I'm not sure why this is happening and also I don't know if it's something internally or just something I've installed.

It looks like a weird browser extension to me.

Can you go to settings in Chrome, choose Extensions and deactivate all of them?


App download stuck in iOS Whenever I try to download an app in iOS, the icon goes onto my Home screen, but then it gets stuck on loading.

What do I do to resolve this?

Assuming you’ve exhausted the usual steps:

iOS App stuck in 'Loading...'

Then you could either contact Apple support to check on their services and your account or make a backup of your phone - erase all content and seettings and see if things are better after a restore.

Worst case, you’d have corruption on the OS level and need to restore the OS, but usually you can remedy this by taking lighter handed steps as opposed to wiping the system or the data of all apps being loaded.

Settings -General -in about Available data -data usage


How can I easily add a batch of files to the HandBrake queue? How do I add multiple files into the queue at once in HandBrake?

I heard that multiple files can be added to the queue by selecting the folder. But when I select the folder as source, only the first file is added, rather than all the files.

Am I missing something?

After adding the folder as the source, File>Add All Titles To Queue

The only way to set up multiple files for processing is to use the 'Add to Queue' button (or the ⌘B shortcut) in Handbrake.

This is by design as Handbrake requires you specify a destination folder and file name for the converted video file. If you were able to add all files in a folder, how would Handbrake know the unique output location and name for each rendered file? It doesn't make any guesses about those things, it requires the user to specify them for each render.

Once you've staged each file in the queue you can use the Start button (or the ⌘S shortcut) to tell Handbrake to begin processing the queue.


Different "Preferred Networks" for different Network "Location" The question is: can I have different "Preferred Networks" when switching from one to another Network "Location"?

This issue has been discussed before at Ask Different: Can't I use different WiFi networks for different Locations?. However, I do not like a solution that ought to use some external App.

I would appreciate any comment! Thanks!

Each of your Locations will show WiFi.

To differentiate by location you have to rename them.

To do that click on the Gear box icon at the bottom of the location screen and choose rename service.

Now you can get creative in naming the service to your liking in each of the Locations. The WiFi function will remain.


mds and mds_stores constantly consuming cpu mds and mds_stores are constant CPU consumers even when I think nothing should have changed on the hard drive.
Activity Monitor:

I have a circa 2009 Macbook Pro with lots of software installed over the years. Dropbox and Crashplan are active background processes among many others.
I have included many locations in the privacy settings of Spotlight to exclude from its index:

USB drive
Crashplan folder
/Library/Caches
/Users/me/Library/Caches

Still, mds and mds_stores are constant consumers of CPU hovering around 10-12% each. My fan keeps running due to the heat.
Any ideas as to what it could be due and how I can troubleshoot?

As you know, the mds and mds_stores are Spotlight activities.

The reason why your Spotlight is so active could be a number of things; it could be you have an app or multiple apps constantly changing some folder contents.

First let's check whether Spotlight is the cause of the fans running so much. To test this, run the following in your terminal:

sudo mdutil -a -i off

this turns off indexing of files, and should result in a clear slow down of the fans if mds and/or mds_stores are to blame.

To turn indexing back on, run

sudo mdutil -a -i on

After this you could run the complete re-indexing of your hard drive (be aware this could be an over night job), it will delete your Spotlight data base forcing it to start over.

sudo rm -rf /.Spotlight-V100/*

The next and final step would be to add others to your (do not scan), privacy settings.

You said, "I have included many locations in the privacy settings of spotlight."
You need to include FEWER locations, not more. If you include more, that means Spotlight is keeping very busy looking at them all.
You can easily go to System Preferences/Spotlight to un-select many locations. Especially, un-select Mail, search engines, and other internet dependent options.
Shut down and restart after changing your Spotlight preferences.


How to change the language of the App Store to be able to see accurate star ratings? I have an iTunes account with an Italian billing address; because of this Apple assumes that I want the app store in Italian which is not the case.

Part of the UI is in Italian (other parts are in English, go figure), the app descriptions and their reviews are in Italian, even the "Top apps" are the top apps in Italy instead of worldwide.

The biggest problem of all is that there is no way to see the ratings for apps without logging out first. This is a big inconvenience as almost all applications show up as having "no ratings" (as only local ratings and reviews are shown, which are very few and almost non existent).

This of course severely hinders my capability of knowing whether an app is good or not. Even the most popular apps have either 0 ratings or less than 5.

As an example, YNAB which currently has 1574 ratings when viewed from the English store shows up as "No Ratings" while I am logged in.

Is there any way to change the language to English, and see worldwide ratings without having to log out first?

EDIT: 6 years later, there appears to be still no solution.

It seems to be possible for some countries, but most countries only have one (or few) native languages.
The table at the bottom of the above link lists which countries support which languages in iTunes.
Some oddities:

Belgium supports both English and French (but not Dutch, which is one of their native languages).
The Netherlands supports only Dutch (but not English).
Switzerland supports English, German and French (but not their native languages Italian, and Romansh).
Germany only supports German (but not English).

Go figure!

Note there have been many complaints about this on the apple forums already.

--jeroen

you can change the App Store in iTunes to use the store of another country.

Click on iTunes Store (left menu in iTunes), then click the home button on the top. Scroll all the way to the bottom (page footer) and under Manage you will Change Country. There you can change it to whatever you want and the music, apps and other items will change accordingly


Logitech mouse scrolling weird after Sierra update; soggy inertia effect in native apps, choppy in third-party apps The update to macOS Sierra wrecked scrolling with my Logitech Mouse (which uses Logitech Control Center).

The scrolling behaviour is erratic because I'm actually assaulted by two issues:

In native macOS applications, like Apple Pages, there is an ”inertia-ish” effect that slows down the scroll and introduces some sort of acceleration-like movement akin to the worst nightmares from Windows 10.
In third-party applications, like Google Chrome, the scrolling is quite fast but not fluid; it's choppy and non-linear with sudden jumps and stops. Because of this, it feels like the computer is laggy when scrolling a page, but it's probably due to the way the software scrolls.

Sierra just came out, but I'm not that hopeful that Logitech are capable of tending to issues like these, so I'm afraid I will have to do something about it myself.

I have tried checking the settings of System Preferences > Mouse and System Preferences > Logitech Control Center > Vertical Scroll but came up with nothing except temporary band-aid tweaks to make it feel better.

Edit, Broken Mouse Buttons: Also related to this, is the issue that the Forward/Back buttons on some Logitech mice have stopped working. I was able to mitigate this issue by binding those buttons to keystrokes in Logitech Control Center, e.g. (⌘ + ←) and (⌘ + →) for Google Chrome. Possibly, something like BetterTouchTool, Steermouse, or USB Overdrive could be used to intercept the OS functions Forward/Back in case the keyboard shortcuts above aren't global for all applications. Regardless, with BetterTouchTool, you can set application-specific keystrokes and bind them to mouse buttons.

The 3.9.5 version, published on Sep 22, 2016 by Logitech solves most of the issues. The scroll is smooth again in Chrome. Unfortunately the inertia is still a bit high in native apps like XCode, but not as bad as before I guess.

It's odd - that's the experience I had after upgrading to Yosemite several years ago with my Performance Mouse MX – I'm surprised you had it working past that point!

For me, the best solution (though it did not perfectly mimic the previous behavior) was to install BetterTouchTool and use the "advanced" configuration options to get it to mimic the inertia and acceleration of the original behavior (in a way that playing around with the default OS X settings was unable to accomplish). Here's a screenshot of that dialog (not configured):

I tried installing new & old versions of the OS X Logitech drivers and control panel to no avail; a few months later, I ended up switching to a combination wired/BT Razor mouse instead (even though I don't game) just to experiment with this issue and discovered it only affected/plagued Logitech mice..


How do I move a folder in 10.9 Mavericks? I am trying to move a large (100GB+) folder from the Desktop into a subfolder on the Desktop. When I drag and drop, it invokes a copy, and I do not want to wait an hour while it goes through with this (I will need to do several such moves.) I have read that holding CMD while drag-dropping will invoke move, but it does not. If I wait for a folder to finish the alleged "move" operation, it turns out to be a copy, with the original folder left behind.

Interestingly, if I attempt to move (drag/drop) a smaller folder, it does so without issue. What am I doing wrong?

Open your terminal (Terminal.app)

Then do:

mv source_folder destination_folder

e.g:

mv /Users/foo/Music/ /Users/foo/something

This is way faster than copying as it maintains inode

Check the file permissions for the source folder before moving.Change it to read & write  mode.It will work


3rd-party SSDs: enabling TRIM without disabling kext signing Before reading this long question, please note that it is mostly outdated in light of the more recent developments reflected by the top answer.

Unfortunately Apple has decided to create kext signing in Yosemite that creates issues for SSDs that require Trim support for optimal function and longevity. Whether this is vendor lock in or not, it's made upgrading a headache. If you bought a SSD that needs trim support (at time of writing, all SSDs benefit) such as the Samsung 840 Evo, there are many reported issues when performing PRAM reset and potential future system update conflicts in addition to the current security tradeoffs (see below). Trim Enabler author says using Trim Enabler by turning off kext signing is cracking a walnut with a sledgehammer.

I'm hoping for strategy / options to work with SSDs that recommend or require Trim support. So far, because of this article, I'm considering a SSD with Sandforce or equivalent active garbage collection. I'm also considering turning on Trim Enabler periodically, then off and reenabling kext-signing to avoid issues with until (if) Apple restores TRIM support to hardware and software devs.

Please detail working hardware/software configurations and strategy/schedule as well as outcomes.

tl;dr --

Some background:

3rd party SSDs for the most part don't have trim support in Yosemite without kext signing security tradeoffs. Apple changed kext signing in OS X 10.10 such that kext singing must be disabled to use applications like Trim Enabler for trim support. So choices using Yosemite are, reduced security and potential system update issues; or, a SSD that doesn't require Trim support.

Yosemite kills third-party SSD support. This is not relevant if you're using an Apple installed SSD or SSD that doesn't require 3rd party trim support for optimal function. So, if you're using a DIY SSD, Trim support is tricky in Yosemite because of recent modifications to kext security management that affects Trim support. More about Trim Enabler for Mac:

  About Trim in Yosemite In OS X 10.10 (Yosemite),

  Apple has introduced a new security requirement called kext signing. (A kext is
  a kernel extension, or a driver, in Mac OS X)

  Kext signing basically works by checking if all the drivers in the
  system are unaltered by a third party, or approved by Apple. If they
  have been modified, Yosemite will no longer load the driver. This is a
  means of enforcing security, but also a way for Apple to control what
  hardware that third party developers can release OS X support for.

  Since Trim Enabler works by unlocking the Trim driver for 3rd party
  SSD’s, this security setting prevents Trim Enabler to enable Trim on
  Yosemite.

  To continue to use Trim Enabler and continue to get Trim for your
  third party SSD, you first need to disable the kext signing security
  setting.

  It is important to note that the kext-signing setting is global, if
  you disable it you should be careful to only install system drivers
  from sources that you trust.

See my answer here:

Since the release of 10.10.4, Apple now provides a new tool called trimforce, allowing users to activate TRIM also on unsupported disks. So now you can do:

sudo trimforce enable

Wondering if anyone has tried this:  Run your 3rd party SSD on Yosemite with kext enabled and no TRIM and once a week--or as needed-- boot from a bootable Mavericks external and run a TRIM Enabler over night. In the morning, shutdown, remove the bootable external drive and restart with Yosemite.


XQuartz X11 2.7.5 not found to get X11 i went to XQuartz here https://xquartz.macosforge.org/trac/wiki/X112.7.5
however the download linke XQuartz-2.7.5.dmg seems to be broken -- couldn't find it anywhere else either. what am i missing?

If you go to the XQuartz home page you will find a link to download XQuartz that should be correct.

If you are running OS X 10.9 then you need version 2.7.5

At the moment it is http://xquartz.macosforge.org/downloads/SL/XQuartz-2.7.5.dmg but our friends at MacOSforge appear to have a broken server. The problem is not yours, it is on their system.

Wait a few more hours and it should be right.

If you can't wait then grab it from my dropbox :-

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m6c2owdu0nkf7aa/XQuartz-2.7.5.dmg

(note to everyone - I'll remove it in a day or so. Try the website first.)

XQuartz is available in MacPorts as the default X11 server (xorg-server).


What's a good tool to jailbreak iPad mini? I just bought myself an iPad mini and I'm wondering what is a good tool to use to jailbreak it and hopefully without breaking the device. I've heard a couple names like Evasi0n and Redsn0w but am unsure of their reliability. So, what's a good and safe tool to use to jailbreak it?

I'd use evasi0n - it is fully compatible with the iOS 6 and hence the iPad Mini. The process if fully automatic. More about how to jailbreak here: How to jailbreak iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch running iOS6?

If you are running iOS 5, use Absynthe instead.


iMac FaceTime HD camera shows no image/black image There's an iMac whose FaceTime HD camera isn't displaying video images in applications like FaceTime, Photo Booth, or QuickTime video recorder.

OS X El Cap shows that the camera is attached and registered properly in the About This Mac - System Report.

fresh new install of El Cap on a Fusion drive. Previously the camera worked well with Yosemite.
the green light indicator flashes on/off repeatedly and irregularly when you start an application that uses the camera
there are no error messages or anything about no cameras being attached.
pressing the big button to take a photo in Photo Booth has no effect. The button is on the screen, but isn't pressable.
Skype is not installed

What steps can I take to get the camera to capture and display video properly?

Attempts to fix

reset the NVRAM

Items to investigate

should I reset the SMC?
will the Apple Hardware Test reveal anything

I recently opened this iMac to install an SSD. All cables were re-attached properly.

I have had this problem in the past. I found my answer here. http://osxdaily.com/2013/12/27/fix-there-is-no-connected-camera-error-mac/
Open terminal from the utilities folder in the applications folder. Type sudo killall VDCAssistant into terminal and click enter.
Then, enter sudo killall AppleCameraAssistant (may say "No matching processes were found", this should be fine). That should do the trick.


Macbook Pro won't mount external hard drive I have been having this problem with a Macbook Pro late 2006 and a Macbook Pro early 2011.

Macbook Pro refuses to mount an specific external hard drive or USB stick, after being able to do so with no problem before, and usually after the operating system disconnects it suddenly.

That particular external hard drive or USB stick is perfectly good since it works OK under linux.

MBP would mount the drive month later when tried again.

It have happen with two external Western Digital Hardrives (myPassport) as well as with a Kingston USB stick.

Disk Utility sees the drive but cannot mount it because it's "incompatible".

Many people seem to be having this problem and no solution has been found.

I cannot format the disk because that's where my backups are.

Again: a Linux box uses the drive with no problem. I don't have another mac at hand to try.

Now I'm going to buy another external hard drive from Amazon.

Which brand and model should I buy in order not ti have this problem again?

This seems like an issue with the chosen file system.

What file system did you choose when formatting the hard drive? If it's not HFS(+), FAT in any fashion or NTFS you cannot read it on OS X without additional software. If it's Ext, you could go with Paragon's Ext for Mac (but it costs some bucks).

In future, best choose exFAT when formatting an external hard drive if you need to use it on different operating systems. It both allows rather large files (which is heavily limited in FAT32), but can be both read and written in all important operating systems.

on disk utility.....just right click your hardrive then mount....it will mount....but if you mount it at the top it will fail.....


Why does my MacBook Air produce so much noise My MacBook Air's fan is spinning rapidly even though there are hardly any programs running. This normally only occurs when I am using the MacBook at a high intensity. However, the fan stops only when the MacBook shuts down. However, when I turn it back on again, it starts spinning at maximum speed again. Why is this so and how can I solve this problem? I need to use my MacBook urgently without it producing any noise from the fans.

Update:
I have included some screenshots from Activity Monitor. However, I am not sure which of them are applicable at this point in time. Sorry.

OK, the Activity monitor does no show anything unusual.

You are a candidate for the SMC reset. SMC (system management controller) is responsible for fan control, the battery charging ect..

Follow the instructions here for how to.

Apple kb HT3964

If you hold Shift+Control+OPTION+POWER at the left side of the keyboard, hold it for ten seconds,  then wait, it will totally fix it.


Where is "mkpasswd" for OSX? There is a well-known unix utility called mkpasswd available on many *nix systems.

I was just trying to use it from terminal on an OSX 10.10.5 Yosemite (Early 2015) machine, and it is nowhere to be found.

How can I install it on this machine? or is there an alternative already available?

There's a Mac implementation of mkpasswd on GitHub - https://github.com/PrototypeAlex/mkpasswd

Alternatively, Keychain Access has a built-in GUI password generator
File menu > New Password Item... > [click the key icon]

drop-menu artificially offset for visibility

I also found this Apple Discussion on how to achieve it natively, though it's unfortunately above my skill-level, so I'll let you see if you think it might be suitable.

I successfully installed mkpasswd on my macOS 10.14.5 using gem install mkpasswd.

gem install mkpasswd
Fetching mkpasswd-0.1.0.gem
Fetching unix-crypt-1.3.0.gem
Successfully installed unix-crypt-1.3.0
Successfully installed mkpasswd-0.1.0
Parsing documentation for unix-crypt-1.3.0
Installing ri documentation for unix-crypt-1.3.0
Parsing documentation for mkpasswd-0.1.0
Installing ri documentation for mkpasswd-0.1.0
Done installing documentation for unix-crypt, mkpasswd after 0 seconds
2 gems installed

Here is where I get this information.


Safely deleting files downloaded by Safari Sorry to ask such a basic question, but I am remotely helping my parents who have a Mac, and I am not familiar with that system, nor have I it at home.

They received a fake order confirmation email and my father clicked the button to cancel the order. This opened another tab alleging a security issue and it downloaded a number of files. They could not close the tab.

First I told them to restart Safari with the shift key pressed so that tabs were not restored.

Second they inspected the download list and cleared it (unfortunately before taking the picture I requested).

Now I am not sure as to whether the files are still on the computer. It is kind of assumed by a number of sources including https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/safari/sfri40598/mac that clearing the download list deletes them, but I am looking for a positive confirmation. Could please someone familiar with OSX/Safari confirm this?

My mother told me she could find no folder named "Downloads" (or its localized version). Could it be that the folder is hidden when empty?

Finally, if there is such a folder: What is safest way to empty the "Downloads" folder without risk of opening one of the files? Keeping in mind I must explain the procedure on the phone.

I do not think anything worse has happened. This looked like a scam to have them call a phone number, where they would have been requested to pay for "technical support".

Thanks in advance.

The Downloads folder is still usually visible to the user when empty. Some malware can be difficult to find and it may have even moved out of the Downloads directory. First, in Terminal, try chflags nohidden ~/Downloads and then cd ~/Downloads then ls. You can also try sudo chown Username:Staff ~/Downloads then sudo chmod 755 and then see if the folder and its contents are visible. Do they see any files in there then? If not, then try starting in Safe Mode. This startup mode allows macOS to start with only basic files that are required. To enter Safe Mode, reboot the Mac and hold Shift. You may need to login twice. Once you are in, try looking in Finder and Terminal for the downloads. You can also try applying the above Terminal commands again. Which version of macOS is the affected Mac running? If it is macOS Catalina, then Safari will always ask for confirmation before downloading the files. If none of the above are working, then your best bet is using Malwarebytes to remove malware found on your Mac. Good Luck!


How do I downgrade from Yosemite 10.10 to Mavericks 10.9? I have the new Yosemite. How do i downgrade to the last version?

I really don't like it. Lost Yahoo messenger and a lot of extras I had on my old operating system.

Backup Mavericks using Time Machine first (if possible)

  Follow these steps to get a copy of Mac OS X Mavericks:

  Open the App Store.
  Enter your Apple ID and Password and click Sign In (if App Store requests it).
  Click Purchases.
  Scroll down to find Mavericks.
  Click Download.

  Now that you have downloaded the Mavericks file you will find it inside Applications.
  Revert to Mavericks by creating a Mac OS X USB boot drive.

  How to make a bootable Mavericks install drive

  You can use this file to turn an 8GB USB Flash into a Mac OS X Mavericks boot drive. With this USB Boot Drive you can wipe the hard drive on your Mac, and install a fresh copy of Mac OS X Mavericks. If you have your Mavericks Time Machine backup, it can be used to reinstall all your files and programs (otherwise you’ll need to setup your Mac from scratch using the files you backed up to an external drive or cloud storage solution).

  Using a Mac OS X Mavericks boot drive to perform a fresh Mac OS X installation

  Shut down your Mac (Choose Apple > Shut Down).
  Insert the Mavericks USB Flash Drive into your Mac.
  Startup the Mac while holding down the Alt key.
  Choose the USB Flash Drive Volume.
  Choose Utilities > Disk Utility on the Install Mac OS X window.
  Select your main Volume in the sidebar. Now click Erase > Erase (warning, this removes everything on the volume).
  Click Disk Utility > Quit Disk Utility.
  Tap Continue on the Install OS X window.

Check out this MacWorld article. It explains each step in detail.

Note: In some rare instances, it may be necessary to format the Macintosh HD partition before installing Mavericks. **This will erase your entire hard drive ** so be sure to back up any files you need before going this route. I've outlined the steps to do this below:

1.) Boot the Mac from the USB you made using the steps above.
2.) Open Disk Utility and erase the drive entitled (Usually) "Macintosh HD". You can rename it whatever you like.
3.) Install Mavericks.

I think previously you can still do it before Apple remove Mavericks from their server. By the way, thank god if you have a backup of Mavericks Bootable Drive because you can downgrade it with these steps Downgrade from Yosemite to Mavericks Guide at anytime you want.


Set up OSX to act as router via Internet Sharing I have the following network setup:

LAN====OSX++++Machine A
        +
        +
        ++++++Machine B

OSX is currently sharing an ethernet connection with A and B via an ad-hoc wireless network.  This works great, except that Machine A and Machine B can't see each other.  They can see the LAN and OSX, and OSX can see both of them.  I'm convinced some combination of ipfw and/or natd configuration options can solve this problem, but my networking knowledge is limited enough that I can't seem to Google effectively for a solution.  What do I want ipfw/natd to do for me?  How do I get them to do it?

(Obviously, I could solve this problem much more easily by the expedient of purchasing a switch, but I feel like I should know how to do this sort of things regardless.)

You need to enable routing.  I'm pretty sure on OS X this is a sysctl(like FreeBSD):

http://securityreliks.securegossip.com/2010/10/enabling-ip-forwarding-on-mac-osx/

doing:

# sysctl -w net.inet.ip.forwarding=1

as root should enable this.

Try to enter each computer's address manually in the Network System Preference panel.

eg.

Machine A:
IP address: 192.168.1.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0

Machine B:
IP address: 192.168.1.2
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0


Web Inspector crashed in Safari 7 When I try to display web inspector just a grey background shows instead of that. I tried to restart browser but it didn't help. It happens in Safary 7 OS X Mavericks.

Anybody knows what is that could be?

A quick fix that brought the inspector back for me was to resize the web inspector pane by moving the mouse to the top edge until the pointer changed to the resizing pointer and dragging.

Solution (works permanent, without reboot):

Open Terminal:
killall -KILL Dock

This is Dock restart.

EDIT:

Also you can make alias in ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile, for fast run of this cmd.

alias dockrestart="killall -KILL Dock"


Can using a non Apple USB cable damage an iPhone? If I use a generic/aftermarket iPhone USB cable instead of the official Apple product, can it damage the iPhone?  A vendor at the mall said that high quality iPhone USB cables have a chip that regulates the charging current so it won't damage the device.  He said the cheaper cables don't have that capability. Doesn't sound very credible, so I wanted to double check.

They are generally safe to use.  And they don't have a chip (at least the ones I've used).

The charger itself may regulate the current, but the cable itself doesn't.  I've used a multitude of cables from a multitude of vendors over the years and I've never had a problem with damaging devices.   Build quality is a different matter.  Too cheap, and the cables inside can break.   Rare but does/can happen.

i bought a non apple cheap iphone 5 cable and it has damaged my battery, im losing 30% an hour when my phone is turned on aeroplane mode, i also noticed when my phone was plugged into this cable when i tryed to control my phone the whole screen would shake and crash


How can I unlock an iPad 3 with an activation lock with an unknown Apple-ID Bought a a second hand ipad  from a yard sale the person had it set to  new installation. I looked at it before I bought it to make sure it powered up, and I got it home and connected to my laptop to start the process I found I i could not go any further be cause the ipad had been locked by another apple Id. When I went back to show the person they didn't know how that had happrned and they didn't recognize the apple Id and now they wont do anything to help try and reset it nor give back my money  and now i'm stuck with a locked Ipad and no money. What can I do now?

With the iPad powered off, press and hold the Home button, connect the USB cable from PC/Mac to iPad.

Continue holding the Home button until you see the "Connect to iTunes" screen, then release the Home button.

Open up iTunes to see iPad in recovery mode.


Where does iTunes store my iPhone and iPad backups? Where does iTunes store data for iPhone and iPad backups? I know that—on a Mac—the following folder is ostensibly the only location.

~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup

I actually replaced this with a symlink to an external hard drive to free up space on my laptop, and was thus a bit surprised to find that backing up my iPhone nevertheless continued to decrease the free space on my laptop's hard drive. I eventually discovered that the following folder was the culprit.

~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media

Are there any other folders that iTunes uses for its backups?

Mobile applications (.ipa files) are stored in the following folder and can take up a lot of space:

~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Mobile Applications

The backup file location on Windows system:

On Windows 7/Vista, the file is stored in: \Users\ (username)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\

On Win XP, the file stored in: \Documents and Settings\ (username)\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\


Why Can't I Read /private/var/db/ConfigurationProfiles/Store under macOS 10.13 I'm trying to set up a new backup utility on my system, and am getting an error that it cannot get the files in folder /private/var/db/ConfigurationProfiles under macOS 10.13.3.

I don't get the issue under a VM running macOS 10.12 - but if I attempt to read /private/var/db/ConfigurationProfiles/Store, then I get errors:

ComputerName:~ root# cd /private/var/db/ConfigurationProfiles/
ComputerName:ConfigurationProfiles root# ls
.cloudConfigNoActivationRecord
.noActivationRecord
Settings
Setup
Store
com.apple.ManagedClient.enrollagent.plist
ComputerName:ConfigurationProfiles root# cd Store
-sh: cd: Store: Not a directory
ComputerName:ConfigurationProfiles root# ls -lah
ls: Store: Operation not permitted
total 0
drwxr-xr-x    8 root  wheel   256B 25 Jan 07:51 .
drwxr-xr-x  108 root  wheel   3.4K 14 Feb 12:57 ..
-rw-r--r--    1 root  wheel     0B 13 Dec  2015 .cloudConfigNoActivationRecord
-rw-r--r--    1 root  wheel     0B 17 Dec  2014 .noActivationRecord
drwxr-xr-x@   4 root  wheel   128B 25 Jan 07:51 Settings
drwx------    3 root  wheel    96B 15 Feb 22:17 Setup
-rw-r--r--    1 root  wheel   490B  9 Sep  2014 com.apple.ManagedClient.enrollagent.plist

Getting info on the file in the Finder show unknown permissions:

I've tried the same in a VM running a macOS 10.13 Beta (so, a completely separate installation), and I get the same issue.

Any ideas what's going on here, if I need to correct it, or if I just need to exclude this path from my backups?

Thanks!

Yeah definitely is protected by system integrity protection. Disabling it properly shows the file as a directory. Mine had one blank .plist in it.

Edited: Your kernel is definitely blocking access which is preventing you from reading the file.

I tried lsof -b which avoids kernel blocks and it said that it couldn't open it due to -b being used which indicates the kernel is blocking access.

Seems like this would support a malware theory since I've never set up a configuration profile on my computer. The file was created exactly 10 hours after my operating system was newly reinstalled.

Original: (Apologize if this is too theoretical but most people don't even believe in malware for Macs)

But it seems there's something weird happening here. I personally believe malware/modified BOOTROM/BIOS/kernel (try and cat /dev like "cat /dev"). But yeah nothing works on this file including stat, cat, more, ls, rm, cp, file, ln. It's interesting considering it's a configuration profile related file which seems to imply that there is in fact a configuration profile installed on the computer, which understandably would want to prevent a user from access the configuration profile for the computer..if it were legitimately installed like on a work computer. This is on my personal computer though..yours too?

I see you also have a managedclient .plist file which would be the preferences for a manager account on your computer. Did you set up a user with parental control settings or something? If not are you able to open that file?

It doesn't make sense that the root user can't do anything at all to this file..never seen one so protected. I suppose the next option would be to turn off SIP in Recovery Mode "csrutil disable; reboot" but normally even SIP protected files are readable.


How can I install Octave with curl support via homebrew? I've installed octave with homebrew (via brew install octave), and it seems to work fine, including gnuplot support.  However, it looks like it's missing curl support.  I'm getting the message "error: urlread: curl: No error" when trying to execute str = urlread(url, 'post', params).

I've tried making homebrew install curl by adding depends_on 'curl' to the octave formula and setting the CPPFLAGS and LDFLAGS environment variables to point to homebrew curl, but that didn't seem to change anything.

I had a similar problem a while back that was caused by having my proxies set up funny. I ended up disabling them to get it to install.

Also, are you sure curl is installed correctly? You could try installing it manually as well: http://curl.haxx.se/docs/install.html


Low sound on headphones Macbook pro Very low volume when headphone is connected to my Macbook pro, even if at max. Headphone works correctly on my iphone and other devices. Tried Audio MIDI setup, settings seem to be correct 44.1KHz 2ch-16 bit. Can anyone help me?

In audio Midi setup, change the "2ch-16bit" setting that you mentioned to either the 32 or 24bit option. The hissing should then be gone.

I had the same problem, but it fixed itself when I just simply restarted my macbook. Hope this helps!


Installing a HP Color LaserJet 1600 on MacOS 10.6.4 I'm trying to install a HP Color LaserJet 1600 on MacOS 10.6.4 with little luck. The printer works fine from my Windows machines. HP doesn't support the MacOS for this printer by default so I followed the instructions from this forum post: http://macosx.com/forums/hardware-peripherals/302806-hp-lazer-1600-printer-driver-mac.html.

The post offers several solutions but I followed the instructions from whiskynwhisky and downloaded a Unix driver from here: http://www.mediafire.com/?nocydet5wml. The instructions included with the download were straightforward and I now have the driver installed and the printer in System Preferences. Unfortunately while jobs queue and dequeue they do not actually print. Are there other options to get this printer to work on my MacBook Air? Do I need to do something differently with the driver I already have installed?

HP has published a list of printers not supported on OS X Mountain Lion on their web site:

Products not supported
The following products are not supported in Mac OS X including the Mountain Lion operating system
...

HP Color LaserJet 1500 and 1600 Printer series

There is a app that claims to be able to print to legacy printers.

I am unable to confirm that since I do not have such a printer.

  handyPrint™ v3.1 is a 64bit (core 2 duo or better) Mac OSX application
  that allow you to print from your iPods, iPads and iPhones on legacy
  printers that do not support the AirPrint protocol.


Alternative Method to Acquire El Capitan Upgrade Is there a way to acquire a copy of the El Capitan upgrade without downloading it first via the App Store, for example via a USB Drive? I know you can make a USB Drive after downloading El Capitan, but I am trying to skip the download itself.

Don't is my recommendation. This is how malware gets introduced into Apple software - like the Xcode ghost where developers were not downloading from Apple and not checking the validity of the software they installed.

If you call AppleCare, they might sell you physical media or even comp the shipping charge if they feel yours is a legitimate need to avoid the download. You could also find someone you trusted to have them make you an installer and ship it to you.

I have known people that went to an Apple store and asked if they could sign in to the App Store on a Mac there and download the installer to a USB drive. Since the store probably runs a caching server, even downloading 10 GB of data would proceed in a matter of minutes.

What is the best way to generate a Yosemite or Mavericks Install USB flash drive?

https://7labs.heypub.com/tips-tricks/el-capitan-direct-download.html

go to this site and you will get instructions on how you can download it.


iPod Touch stuck in Recovery mode I am using iPod Touch 5G and I've recently jailbroken it.

First, all my apps disappeared from the springboard.
But now the iPod is stuck in recovery mode. I get a 9006 error when I try to restore it via iTunes.

I've searched online and found a few answers, but none of them work.

go on the internet and type in find my ipod but then once you have done that type in your apple ID then take it out of recovery mode hopefully that should work


Transferring file creation dates to an Asustor NAS I have just purchased a new Asustor 7004T network attached storage device, which I had hoped to use as an archive for the massive quantity of files I have spread across multiple computers and external hard drives. The problem is, I have many of these files meticulously organized by "date created", and recently learned, to my utter disbelief, that my device (and apparently NASes in general) does not preserve the creation date of any file transferred to it. For example, if I take three files dated 9/24/2008, 7/31/2011, and 1/6/2014, and simultaneously migrate them over to the NAS on 11/15/2015, they all end up with the timestamp of 11/15/2015. This is nothing short of a disaster for me, and I am flabbergasted (and frankly outraged) that a top-of-the-line, $1,000+ device expressly made for storing and backing up files was designed without a data storage capability possessed by any $5 2GB flash drive.

I am desperate for a way to circumvent this fatal (for me) flaw of the Asustor NAS. I would be eternally grateful to anyone who could recommend a means of copying files to an NAS that leaves the creation date intact, without potentially corrupting any data or otherwise compromising the security of my files.

Some key information: my computer is a 2012 MacBook Pro running Mac OS X 10.9.5. I am a 1988 model human being compatible with most Web Browsers and proficient with a handful of basic applications such as Microsoft Word, with the capacity to comprehend and follow simple step-by-step instructions as far as more technical tasks are concerned. In other words, if your solution is any more complex than downloading and installing an app, you should probably take a "for dummies" approach in explaining it to me. I would also appreciate any input from users of a particular method who found it to be buggy, ineffective, or otherwise problematic, for Murphy's Law is an ever-present specter in my life, and I would thank you to inform me of all the pros and cons of a particular solution before I risk implementing it.

Thank you in advance to all who contribute their help. I have not been able to find any other sites or forums where someone has asked about this issue in regard to a Mac or Asustor device, and hope that this thread will prove helpful to other users of those systems who share my predicament (I cannot imagine I am the only one).

The Problem lies not in your Asustor per se but in the file system (and subsequently the drive configuration) you use and the copy routine you use. In a nutshell: There are different methods to copy files (f.e. rsync) and different ways the file systems store data (f.e. creation date).

Without further Information regarding your NAS-Setup, File system (necessary) and RAID Level (not necessary, just to be complete), the possible solution at this point would be very general: One possibility would be to use rsync to transfer files from you Mac to the NAS - it should copy all data including creation date. It is a command line tool but there is Software with a GUI which should be more to your likeing. I suggest 'Carbon Copy Cloner', a commercial software but with a 30 day trial.

You should start with that and test it with a few files. If it does not work you should provide more information about the file systems used in the NAS and your external drives.

There is a difference between a Copy-N-Paste and Moving a file from a computer to a NAS. Copying from a computer to a NAS will preserve the files original metadata, including the creation time and date stamp; the time and date modified, will of course, represent when the file was copied or transferred to the NAS device. The user should be able to use the sort function within Finder (Mac) or File Explorer (Windows) to organize files by Creation date/time. Moving a file, however, saves the file as a new entity with a creation time/date reflecting when the file was moved. Moving files to a different location is inherently risky, a lost connection during a move or Cut-N-Paste may result in data loss at both the source and destination.


How to show the map in Photos? I just upgraded to OS X Yosemite with the new Photos application. I have seen screenshots online where we can view photos on a map, however I can't get to that map.

How can I see all of my photos on a map, like in iPhoto/Aperture?

For more recent versions of Photos.app (Version 2.0 that came with macOS 10.12 Sierra at least), there is a "Places" item avaialble under "Albums" in the sidebar (use "View" -> "Show Sidebar" if it is not visible). This gives a map view similar to that available in iPhoto.app.

For older versions of Photos.app, it does not appear that there is a way to see ALL photo locations on a map at one time, aside from a small Info window. Here's what you need to do:

For the small info window that shows all locations:
 1. Go to the Albums tab in Photos
 2. Right-click on "All Photos" -> Get info
 3. Note the small window has a map included which you can zoom in/out of

For maps that vary by date:

Go to View menu -> Metadata -> Location
Go to the Photos tab and zoom all the way out to Years
Note that there are locations next to the year. Click on the location name

Actually you can see all your photos on a map, it is just not obvious. Go to Photos and go all the way out to see all your images. You now see location names for all locations you have tagged your photos with, together with year or year interval. Simply click the location name and a map will be shown.


How can I delete photos imported to an iPhone from a PC? How do I delete photo albums that I accidentally imported to my iPhone 4S from my PC? There is no delete available for either album or individual pictures.

Open iTunes and select your device by clicking the device button in the top-right.

If no device button is shown, make sure your device is connected (whether by USB or iTunes Wi-Fi Sync).
Select the Photos tab.

There should be a list of sources that you can sync from.
Uncheck the albums that you don't want syncing to your device.

Alternatively, uncheck the Sync Photos to remove all imported photos from your device.
Click Apply (or Sync) to sync the changes to your device.

Simply use Syncios, free and VERY easy! Link


How can I reset Safari when Safari is broken? I started up Safari and let it import history from Firefox, but now Safari is behaving very strangely. For example, many of the menu options are greyed out.

I want to reset Safari to a blank slate, but the Clear History... option isn't available.

I tried deleting ~/Library/Safari/ and ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari but it didn't seem to have any effect; Safari is still broken. How can I more thoroughly reset Safari when the app itself seems broken?

This is using an Administrator account. Running macOS Mojave 10.14.5 (18F203) and Safari 12.1.1 (14607.2.6.1.1).

One of the very first things to try when Safari is "behaving poorly" is to launch it in Safe Mode.

Quit out of Safari then just hold down ⇧ Shift while you launch it. That turns off all third party extensions and often lets you do some cleanup when you have stuff installed in Safari that is resistant to being turned off.

click on the apple icon on the top left and click force quit and click safari to force quit the safari app. Then, try what you were doing previously.


What makes an app unique from POV of options -> assign to desktop? What is the set of things that differentiate one application from another from the point of view of right-click on dock icon -> Options -> Assign To (All Desktops / This Desktop / None)?

I've experimented and haven't been able to hit on a combination of actual binary name / Info.plist values / PkgInfo string that will make Mac OS X workspaces think a duplicated application is different from the original for purposes of automatic desktop assignment.

Found it, just leaving this here to make it easier for others to find answers via google. See:

Assign Application Windows to Different Spaces/Desktops
Is there a way to hide certain apps from the cmd+tab menu?

Specifically, the one thing you need to care about is CFBundleIdentifier in the app's Contents/Info.plist file. Here is a part from a script that may be useful:

  # Change Bundle ID so desktop assignation works. Not sure if this will survive updates.
  # CFBundleIdentifier must contain only alphanumeric (A-Z,a-z,0-9), hyphen (-), and period (.) characters.
  # (Based on fiddling around there also seems to be a length limit.)
  UUID="$(echo $APP | md5sum | awk '{print $1}' | tr [0-9] [A-Z] | cut -c 1-4,29-32)"
  plutil -replace CFBundleIdentifier -string "cdi.$UUID" -- "$RUNTIMES/$APP/Contents/Info.plist"
  #plutil -replace CFBundleName -string "$APP" -- "$RUNTIMES/$APP/Contents/Info.plist"
  #plutil -replace CFBundleDisplayName -string "$APP" -- "$RUNTIMES/$APP/Contents/Info.plist"
  # To check: defaults read ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.spaces.plist app-bindings

To see this in some context, see my answer to this question: Is there a simple way to have separate dock icons for different Chrome Profiles?


Problems setting up gmail on ipad On my IPad I use a GMail app for my email.
However some applications seem to require sending via the built in Email client.
That's question #1 - why doesn't for example my camera app allow me to send pictures via gmail?
And question #2 is - the IPad default email client is not allowing me to create a new GMail account with my Gmail configuration in settings.
I  am doing the following in Settings:

Mail, Contacts, Calendars
Gmail
Enter my Name, email address, Google password and description
It gives me a dialog that says "The user name or password for "imap.gmail.com" is incorrect.

Why? This is the same info I use to configure my gmail client, and it works perfectly well.

What to do?
Signed
Cant move stuff off my IPad.

At the moment the way iOS is set up is that if you want to send or share something it will only go through the Mail app.  It's a bit of a bummer, but that's how things are at the moment.  There are slight work arounds, so if you try to attach within an app it uses that app, but in all other cases by default it will always use Mail.

In regards to your Gmail not working, try referring to this article to add your Gmail account to mail.  There are some things that have changed recently with Gmail on iOS devices.  It's not longer setup through exchange so it might not work as effectively as you would if you used the Gmail App.  Your mail will not be pushed automatically you will have manually open the Mail app and refresh to receive new mail.  Another bummer.

I hope this information helps!

"imap.gmail.com" is the wrong setting.

try gmail.com


What personal finance apps work between iPhone, iPad and Mac? One of my resolutions for 2014 is to keep better track of my finances. I'd like to use an iPhone app to do this. I've used a few personal finance apps in the past, but none of them do precisely what I'm looking for. I don't need anything particularly sophisticated, just the following features:

Ability to add a new transaction with as little effort as possible. I
want to capture every single payment I make, so if the UI isn't up to
scratch it will get really annoying.  I want to be able to enter how
much the transaction is for, what account it's coming out of, and
what category it should be filed under: i.e., "Car", "Electric", etc.
Those categories should be hierarchical, so the "Car" category should
include subcategories called "Gas" and "Servicing"
Ability to create recurring payments
Synchronisation with iPad and Mac. Mac synchronisation is less
important and I suppose I'd be satisfied with a detailed spreadsheet
download, but synchronisation with iPad is a must.

Can anyone recommend an app or two that would fit the bill?

I used Mint.com for quite awhile and liked it. It easily pairs with most bank accounts (except ones with 2-step authentication, like I have enabled which caused me to move away from it), so most transactions are populated automatically, and even categorized automatically.

Manually adding transactions is quick, and very simple. As you can see in one of the screenshots, all one has to do is open the app, and then top the "Compose" icon in the lower right corner. This opens an interface which is very intuitive.

I don't remember right off whether it allows hierarchical categories, and recurring payments, as those are not areas I specifically used, but I do know it has excellent customization of categories, and handles bills well.

They have a Mac app which is functional, but the online interface is probably better overall. Mint has native iPhone and iPad apps, which have the ability to lock with a passcode if so desired.

Love Mint.... It's very useful...
In addition, I use 'SquareOff Now' to keep
A running tab of expenses between friends and family....built in PayPal ....Free :-)


How can I back up my app data? I have some app data that I'd like to preserve when the time for a new iPhone rolls around.  This app does not (seem to) have any cloud-syncing functionality.  I regularly sync my iPhone to iTunes via USB on a Macbook Air running OS X 10.5.8.  How can I ensure that this app's data is backed up, so as to re-use it on a new device?

If you take a full backup of your iPhone (right click on it in iTunes and choose Back Up) and then restore it to a new phone, all data will be preserved, including apps' data:

  iTunes will back up the following information

  Contacts* and Contact Favorites (regularly sync contacts to a computer or cloud service such as iCloud to back them up).
  App Store Application data including in-app purchases (except the Application itself, its tmp and Caches folder).
  Application settings, preferences, and data, including documents.

From iTunes: About iOS backups.

i dont know about i cloud but with itunes it back ups everything


Change icons on macOS Big Sur I wanted to change the icons on Big Sur and ran into the same problems. I tried to follow the steps here (https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/395509/387852) but on step 6:
sudo mount -o nobrowse -t apfs DISK_PATH MOUNT_PATH

I ran into this issue
mount_apfs: volume could not be mounted: Resource busy
mount: /Users/timrupp/newicons failed with 75

I really am no programmer or have any real clue how to use Terminal. I'd appreciate any help.

diskutil unmountDisk force DISK_PATH (or whatever your disk is)


What are the advantages and disadvantages to jailbreaking an iPad? I just got a new iPad 2, this is my first iOS device.

What are some advantages to jailbreaking and what are some disadvantages?

Note:
Please make sure that answers are objective.
Stick to facts, not personal preferences or ethical debates.

For

You can run any app you like, including ones not permitted by Apple, and you can run them at a system level rather than the unprivileged level they do on a normal device.
You can remove Apple services on the iPad more or less at will.
Provided you can download the image of the software, it's relatively easy to restore to a non-jailbroken state.

Against

Running apps at system level comes with inherent risks - malicious code can kill your iPad, and badly written code can cause an entire system crash / instability.
It's my experience that jailbroken apps (Springboard ones particularly) deplete the performance of the device (But I'm talking about an iPhone 4, rather than the more powerful iPad 2 - may be less valid).
Jailbroken iPads aren't elegible for warrantee - in theory if you reset back to default you're okay, but if that's not possible you've invalidated yourself and they are totally within their rights to refuse you service.
Jailbreaking needs to be redone with every software iteration, and with it, so do your jailbroken apps [possibly no longer true, can anyone verify?]

Jailbreaking causes battery failure for e.g. One day i was playing fifa 12 on my jailbroken ipad 2 and in 20 minutes the battery went from 64% to 33% also the speed decreases i had to wait relatively a lot of time for apps to open, even basic ones like settings and camera which is very irritating.also if youre downloading apps it takes double the time it would have taken to download on a normal ipad 2


Macbook Pro 13-inch stuck at Gray screen with apple logo and wheel I have a 13 inch Macbook Pro, early 2011 with its original OS.
I came to a point where its battery needs to be replaced, and I can't use it without using its charger/adapter. One time, I  accidentally  pulled out the charger and it turned off. It was not my first time so I just didn't worry. But when I plugged it back and turned on the laptop, it just got stuck at the gray screen with the Apple logo, the wheel, and a loading bar. At first I thought I should just wait, but later I realized it's still stuck for almost an hour!

I tried to Google and I read that something is corrupt.

I don't really have too important files, so it's okay if I would need to reinstall the OS. Or do I need to change the laptop's hard drive?

Well, seeing as the laptop is at least attempting to boot from the hard drive, I'd say that your hard drive is fine.

My recommendation is that you reinstall Mac OS X. An early 2011 MacBook Pro would've come with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, so you should have had some DVDs come with the MacBook Pro when you bought it. Use those to re-install Mac OS X 10.6.

for anyone having this problem its 100 percent working ok i have the problem and i did solve it don't u lsn to anyone don't do anything with the software "if you don't have any hard drive problems existed on the disk management " then try this option open ur laptop take off the battery and take off the hard disk press 10 sec on the power button then re instal the hard disk and do press the power button for another 10 second after that insert the battery and turn it on :)


Lock keyboard from CLI I used to use kextload and kextunload to unlock/lock my keyboard. However, the actual kernel extension changes between MacBook  models, and that can have unexpected results.

For example, if the kext is AppleUSBTCKeyboard, both unloading and loading work fine. However, if the kext is AppleHIDKeyboard (e.g. MacBook Air), unloading works but loading again does not. This means kextunload -bundle-id com.apple.driver.AppleHIDKeyboard will disable the keyboard, but then it cannot be reenabled with kextload and the machine has to be rebooted.

There are some apps that are still able to do it, like KeyboardCleanTool. I’d prefer a CLI way of doing it, though. If possible (but won’t be picky) using only tools that come with macOS, or an open-source one.

Bonus points if there’s also a way to lock the trackpad, but that is less important.

One possibility could be to use ControllerMate.

You would have to create a Driver Configuration and map all of the keys to None.  Then there are multiple ways to enable/disable the custom Driver Configuration, but unfortunately CLI is currently not an option.

But CM is very customizable and I'm sure you could come up with something.  For example, using the logic blocks, you could have it disable when you have held down Z for 2 seconds, then hold down P and click the mouse.  Using a delay timer block to wait for 30 seconds but then only re-enable if holding the left shift key down and scrolling the mouse up/down.

Another similar utility that might work is Karabiner-Elements.  It is a complete rewrite of his wonderful Karabiner app which broke hard with macOS Sierra.  It is still in the early development stages but it might have the functionality you need.


How to identify codec (AAC vs ALAC) used in an m4a file Given that the m4a format is merely a container, and can contain music encoded with a lossy (AAC) or lossless (ALAC) codec, is there a simple way to determine which codec was used for a given file?

When I use the file command on an .m4a file, I get back a generic response of "ISO Media, Apple iTunes ALAC/AAC-LC (.M4A) Audio" for both AAC and ALAC files. I can think of two other approaches off the top of my head that don't require either the heavy hand of iTunes or installing new software :

Open the audio file in question with QuickTime Player. Select "Show Movie Inspector" from the 'Window' menu (or press ⌘-i) to see the file's size, data rate, and the codec used in its creation.
Use the afinfo (audio file info) command in Terminal.app to get a more information than QuickTime Player provides. Here's some sample output:

$ afinfo /Users/admin/Desktop/01\ The\ Guns\ of\ August\ 1.m4a

Num Tracks: 1 Data format: 2 ch,  44100 Hz, 'alac' (0x00000001) from
16-bit source

4096 frames/packet

Channel layout: Stereo (L R)

estimated duration: 18702.930431 sec audio bytes: 1006059541

audio packets: 201367 bit rate: 430332 bits per second

packet size upper bound: 12334 maximum packet size: 12334

audio data file offset: 48

optimized audio

824799232 valid frames + 0 priming + 0 remainder = 824799232

For any readers unfamiliar with using the terminal, it's quite simple, and you won't break anything. Open Terminal, and type in--or cut and paste from below--the word afinfo followed by a single space:

afinfo

Next, drag an audio file over to the Terminal window and drop it in. You will see the file's path get appended to the afinfo command. If dragging the icon caused the Finder to become the active process, you'll need to click on the Terminal's window to wake it up before the final step of pressing enter to run the command. If you like, you can get information on more than one file at a time by dragging and dropping multiple icons instead of just one. When you're finished, just quit Terminal.app as you would any other program.

If you go to iTunes > View > View Options > Show Columns > Kind it will include a column that tells you if the file is Apple Lossless or AAC


Most Apple apps wont open on Mac Big Sur So this issue has been happening for a while now, ever since I updated to Big Sur, apps like Safari and App store will not work. For Safari, I can open it and enter a url, but it will never actually go the link and follow through.
App store will open but just stay blank
Music I can see my previously downloaded music, but I can't search for new music.
I tried doing a back up for a restart but the backup would end up freezing at 74 mb out of x GB.
And for the first few weeks, any time I decided to open a new app, it would take a couple minutes to open, now that issue is gone but the apple apps are still broken
My macbook is a 2019 macbook pro

Ideally, you’d make a bootable copy of your primary drive, erase it, and reinstall macOS. The easiest, free option to do so is with SuperDuper but it’s not yet Big Sur compatible.
I think your next best bet is to make sure you have some kind of backup (Time Machine or otherwise so you can at least access your old files) and erase and reinstall macOS.
After you have your backup, hold down Command + R on startup to get into recovery mode. Open Disk Utility, select your primary disk (top-most level), erase it, and reinstall macOS. From there, you can access your backup and pull out the files you need.


Is /Users/Shared preserved after reinstalling the OS? Reinstalling* the OS preserves the contents of user homes in /Users but is /Users/Shared also preserved untouched?
Is my data stored in /Users/Shared safe? (I do have backups.)
* via Recovery or standalone installer on top of an existing installation without erasing the disk or partition. Does it make a difference whether it's via Recovery or standalone installer?

If you are updating the OS to a newer version, either a point upgrade or 'major version' (e.g. from Catalina to Big Sur), then yes, files in /Users/Shared are left untouched.
I have lots of files in /Users/Shared and have never had them wiped by an OS upgrade.
I haven't use Recovery on a working system, but suspect the results would be the same. An OS installer does not wipe the disk by itself.

As far as I know, when you install OS from TimeMachine or Startup Disk, OSinstaller ask you what info you want to install, this include

Apps
Users
Settings and
Other Data

And calculates size of each section, giving you the option of checkmark each one individually.
The Users/Shared data are included in Other Data, so if you check this, you will preserve Shared data, if not, you don't.
Hope is clear, english is not my native language


External Hard Drive Won't Mount I've searched and tried a lot of stuff but still can't get it to work.

I was able to use my seagate HDD properly last week but now it doesn't mount. I tried plugging it to a PC & another mac, it works fine on both. The reasons could be

Updating OS to macOS Sierra
Not ejecting properly
Installed sims4 with wineskin

Things I have tried.

From disk utility clicking on mount & first aid.

From terminal writing: diskutil mount disk2s1 & diskutil mount readOnly disk2s1 both resulted with this
Volume on disk2s1 failed to mount
If the volume is damaged, try the "readOnly" option
From terminal writing: diskutil repairDisk disk2s1 & diskutil repairVolume disk2s1.
Restarted mac in normal mode & safe mode.
/private/var/log/install.log from here found some logs but don't know what to do with them.
Switch USB ports & retry.
A couple of other things.

I'd recommend checking if fsck is holding your disk hostage upon connection. This was it for me.

Running ps aux | grep fsck revealed:

root              2587   7.3  0.1  4363584  21780   ??  U    10:56PM   2:22.54 /System/Library/Filesystems/exfat.fs/Contents/Resources/./fsck_exfat -y /dev/rdisk2s1

So the solution was a sudo kill -9 2587 (insert your PID instead of 2587) (or sudo pkill -f fsck).
As soon as that ran, my Volume immediately mounted.

Oh the irony of fsck being the problem...

Addendum (surfacing from comments):
Ideally, you're better off letting fsck run its course. Otherwise, you'll run into this the next time too.

I had the same problem and I used this solution that I found here:
https://support.wdc.com/knowledgebase/answer.aspx?ID=20789#highsierra

Just a word of caution - this solution involves erasing the drive, so please read the entire article before you take any action with your hard drive!

Hope it helps!


How do I virtually disconnect an external monitor? I have a iMac that is connected to an external monitor to extend my screen. Into that same monitor I have a separate Windows box that I need to run sometimes. The Windows box goes in through VGA and the iMac through HDMI. The problem I'm running into is that when I want to use the monitor for Windows, there is no simple way to get my iMac back to just that monitor. If I leave it extended, some apps are open in the other 'monitor' and I can't access them without work arounds. If I turn on mirroring, the resolution on the iMac drops significantly, even if I tell it to keep the iMac screen size. I can't turn the other monitor off as that defeats the point. I have to unplug the HDMI to get it to perform correctly. Is there any way (command line, an app, preferences, etc) to toggle between using the display and not on my Mac?

There is no way to "virtually" disconnect a display on a Mac, like you can on Windows. The Mac needs to disconnect physically. The easiest way to do this is by purchasing an inexpensive KVM Switch, to physically switch between the Mac & PC.

Use VLC player to play your movies. Go to Preferences → Video and choose black screen when in full screen.


How do I reload the Mac OS on a new MacBook Pro that comes without Mac OS X DVD? I just purchased the base model (i5/4gb ram) MacBook Pro 13' 2012 computer. The reason I purchased the base model is because I already had an SSD drive and 8GB of memory compatible with this computer.

Unfortunately, Apple does not give the Mac OS X DVD any more, they load it as an image on the hard drive.

Since I need to remove the existing hard drive and replace it with the new SSD drive, how will I load the Mac OS image?

Any computer that shipped with Lion or Mountain Lion has Internet Recovery, which is a very limited installer that downloads the full OS from Apple and installs it. To get into the Recovery mode, just boot while holding down commandR, and it will prompt you for the rest.

However you can also do a direct clone of your existing disk to your SSD, which will avoid having to download the installer (it's about 4 GB) or reinstall all your programs and data. You'll need an external enclosure to put one of the drives in. You can do this with the built-in Disk Utility tool, or a tool like SuperDuper (the free version of which suffices for this task).

Here is the full explanation on how to do clean install of ML from USB flash.

http://osxdaily.com/2012/07/25/how-to-clean-install-os-x-mountain-lion/