Monday, April 5, 2021

Recent Questions - Ask Different

Recent Questions - Ask Different

Is there a way to have two shortcuts for the same function?

Posted: 05 Apr 2021 12:47 AM PDT

I saw these instructions to replace a shortcut

On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Keyboard, then click Shortcuts. Select App Shortcuts on the left, click the Add button , click the Application pop-up menu, then choose a specific app or All Applications.

So I can add a shortcut named 'Copy' under all applications, and insert ctrl+C as the keystroke. But then cmd+C won't work as the Copy shortcut anymore.

Is there a way to have both?

How to open another Account's User folder using Terminal?

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 07:31 PM PDT

I used to be able to use one of these commands to switch to another user account (my own) to work on it.

john$ login admin  password:    admin$ open .  LSOpenURLsWithRole() failed with error -610 for the file /Users/admin/.

I have tried other methods as well.

john$ su - admin  john$ exec su - admin  john$ sudo -u admin bash

They all result in the same error. I understand it's a security restriction. The question is what rules are restricting this? I do have the password shouldn't I be allowed, once signing in, access to those files?

What can I do to gain access as if I am in that user account?

EDIT

Also tried:

john$ ssh admin@localhost  Password:  admin$ open .  LSOpenURLsWithRole() failed with error -610 for the file /Users/admin.

Big Sur Add trusted certificate via command line (Safari Can't establish a secure connection)

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 03:14 PM PDT

I am trying to have Safari stop preventing me from visiting one of my dev machines with an invalid cert.

I am trying to use the solution in this thread but install it using the CLI:

   security add-trusted-cert  -r trustRoot  -k ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db /tmp/test.cert

I am still receiving the "Safari Can't Open the Page because Safari can't establish a secure connection to the server" error.

I want it to be applied to the user so I don't want to do the -d flag. And I know I am correctly downloading the cert because if I add the certificate and trust it through the OSX GUI, it works fine.

Another interesting note is that this solution works for my Brave and Firefox browsers, so it's just Safari that is giving me grief, but even safari works when I add the downloaded cert via the GUI.

Cannot access terminal in recovery mode on M1 Mac

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 11:38 AM PDT

I am trying to follow this tutorial to temporaily disable SIP on my new M1 MacBook Air.

Once I get into recovery mode, instead of seeing a Utilities menu where I can open the terminal, I see a message that says "There are no users on this volume to recover" (image here) and all I can do from here is restart the computer.

What do I need to do so that I'm prompted to enter my administrator password and access the terminal in recovery mode?

USB drive disconnects by itself and doesn't reconnect until I reboot (2015 Macbook Air)

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 11:51 AM PDT

I have a USB drive which randomly disconnects. I would think that there is some hardware fault with the drive itself, but if I unplug it and plug it back, it doesn't reconnect unless I just rebooted the computer, which gives me hope for a software issue.

I don't know whether it's relevant, but currently I'm trying to download something heavy directly onto the USB drive, and that's when the disconnects happen. I'm not sure whether they would happen either way though.

Ideas on how to solve this?

Mac Pro late 2013 Control Buttons?

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 11:09 AM PDT

What is the small slide button located to the upper left of the main connection panel of the late 2013 Mac Pro?

What i need to do to backup and secure my mobile data before sending it to repair

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 11:07 AM PDT

I have iPhone 11 and its screen was broken, so I will send it to an authorized reseller for Apple. but before doing so I will remove all the data I have these data include; photos, videos, apps (mail app, WhatsApp, and other apps).

How I can securely remove the data inside my phone, so it can not be recovered when I send it to the technician?

Increasing the size of all content

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 02:10 PM PDT

I'm looking for something that works like "display size" on Android, "change the size of text, apps, and other items" on Windows or "zoom level" on Linux Mint.

"Text size" doesn't cut it because it leaves a lot of things unscaled and accessibility zoom - well, I'm sure it's nice for severely impaired people but I just want to scale up everything by something like 25 to 50% without having to need to pan around.

(I'm using an iPad Pro with iOS 14.4.2)

Macbook Air suddenly will not power on without charger and shuts down without

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 05:47 PM PDT

I have a Macbook Air model A1466 (mid 2013 model). I replaced the battery early 2020. It worked as normal again until now. It suddenly switched of randomly and after doing this for a day or 2 it will not start unless on the charger. Even worse, when it enters standby mode, when the lid is closed or when the charger is disconnected it will immediately shut down hard. When the charger is reconnected I need to press the power button to do a cold boot.

First guess was the battery. But when i run system_profiler SPPowerDataType it gives me this:

Battery Information:          Model Information:            Manufacturer: SMP            Device Name: BQ20Z451            Pack Lot Code: 0            PCB Lot Code: 0            Firmware Version: 2            Hardware Revision: 00aa            Cell Revision: 1        Charge Information:            Fully Charged: No            Charging: No            Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 7094            State of Charge (%): 95        Health Information:            Cycle Count: 124            Condition: Normal

To me this seems that the battery is ok.

Same when I run a demo version of the app Watts:

Watts output

I also tried to do a reset of the SMC but that did not change anything.

What can be the issue?

How much disk space do the "command line developer tools" take up?

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 01:35 PM PDT

When I run git --version in the Terminal, I get prompted to install the "command line developer tools":

Prompt for installing command line developer tools

What exactly do I get from these "command line developer tools", and how much disk space will the installation use up? I don't want to drag along a whole bunch of useless programs just because I want to use a single command.

(Assume that I do not want to use Homebrew, for whatever reason. The question is asking about the disk space used up by an installation of Apple's "command line developer tools").

Time Machine keeps validating backup, how to identify reason?

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 10:08 PM PDT

I have a Time Machine backup of my Macbook running the latest MacOS (11.2.3) on my Time Capsule (so not a local drive).

Recently I've noticed that the "Validating backup"-step runs often, presumably daily, which is much more frequent than I expect. (I notice the drive spins up and keeps running). Time Machine reports backups are being done on a regular basis.

Is there a way to get more insight in how Time Machine is working on my machine, and why the validation step happens so frequently?

Automatic (or a quick) way to add page numbers to a pdf document

Posted: 05 Apr 2021 01:03 AM PDT

I have a macbook and am running Big Sur 11.2.2. I have some pdf documents with over a hundred pages that I need to put in page numbers. I'd rather not have to do this manually for every page, and was wondering if there's a quick way to do this?

Note that the pdf documents weren't originally word files, in which case I could just go into the word file and put in the page numbers and re-output it as a pdf.

vlc on mac, how to just play videos/songs without the main menu with media library/playlist coming up

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 01:07 PM PDT

I just want to click videos and have them play, not have to close this annoying main menu screen everytime, I googled, checked settings, is it not possible?

WindowServer and kerneltask using a lot of CPU in Big Sur

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 02:03 PM PDT

I have seen these two questions

WindowServer high CPU usage, spikes when moving cursor on M1 MacBook Big Sur

MacBook Pro - High CPU Under Low Workload

and I have the same problem with WindowServer on both a Macbook Pro 16" and an Macbook Air 2020, but I also have problems with kernel_task.

According to the script here https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/393207/31395 my Air's total awake time since last restart is 1 day, 22:07:19.374478 (uptime returns 9 days, 13:59, 5 users, load averages: 5,04 5,11 4,79).

Looking in Activity Monitor, WindowServer has used 42h05m since last restart (since the awake time is 46 hours, that is over 90 % on average) while kernel_task 14h19m ≈ 31 % (I will update this question with corresponding number for my MBP later on).

I mostly use this machine for web browsing and office tasks. These numbers are completely unreasonable! The computer is updated and reasonably "clean". Since I have the same problem on my other machine I don't think it is anything specific to this setup.

The only slightly odd usage is that I use Firefox - a well known resource hog - and it is hard to test if Firefox is the culprit since I need to use it 80-90 % of the time. A different browser isn't really an option.

Any ideas what might be going on here?

How to draw onto a shape that I just drew in Preview.app?

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 09:05 AM PDT

When drawing using draw tool, if I hover over a shape or image it turns into the hand tool and then I can't draw. How do I fix this?

enter image description here

How can I debug a user LaunchAgent that doesn't seem to start or load with launchctl?

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 11:00 PM PDT

Problem Description

Running the following user LaunchAgent does not show a started job, nor does the job log an error or do anything detectable. The Vault commands embedded in the plist file work fine when run from a user crontab or the command line, though. I've run the following commands as a non-root user:

# returns exit status 3  launchctl start local.localhost.RenewVaultToken.plist  echo $?    # also returns exit status 3  launchctl enable gui/$UID/local.localhost.RenewVaultToken  launchctl start gui/$UID/local.localhost.RenewVaultToken  echo $?    # returns "Load failed: 5: Input/output error"  launchctl load gui/$UID/local.localhost.RenewVaultToken    # no results  launchctl list | fgrep -i vault

Tailing the system log doesn't show anything identifiable, nor are any log files created. As far as I can tell, the job can't/won't start or run, but I'm not sure how to effectively debug it further.

LaunchAgent File Contents

I have the following file stored in ~/Library/LaunchAgents with the filename local.localhost.RenewVaultToken.plist. The file is set to mode 0600.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>  <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple/DTD PLIST 1.0/EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">    <!-- ~/Library/LaunchAgents/local.localhost.RenewVaultToken.plist -->  <plist version="1.0">      <dict>          <key>Label</key>          <string>local.localhost.RenewVaultToken</string>            <key>ProgramArguments</key>          <array>              <string>/usr/local/bin/vault</string>              <string>token</string>              <string>renew</string>              <string>-increment=12h</string>              <string>-address="https://vault.example.com"</string>          </array>            <key>StartInterval</key>          <integer>14400</integer>            <key>RunAtLoad</key>          <true/>            <key>Debug</key>          <true/>            <key>StandardOutPath</key>          <string>/Users/foo/stdout.log</string>            <key>StandardErrorPath</key>          <string>/Users/foo/stderr.log</string>      </dict>  </plist>

How do I know if my iPhone device is using WiFi 6

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 09:10 AM PDT

I have an iPhone 11 and a new Ubiquiti UniFi 6 Lite AP. I can't see any way to know from the phone (or the AP) if the phone is using a WiFi 6 connection or not.

How can I combine text in multiple rows into one text block in numbers?

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 05:04 PM PDT

I am attempting to automate a set of instructions that have variables. I can combine the text across the rows. But I need to then combine each of the final rows together for one simple text block that I can copy and paste into an email.

For example, the screen shot shows Name, Gallery Link which then combines together in Column C.

How can I create a cell that then collects together all of the rows in Column C?

Numbers, collect all of the Column C rows?

I want it to look like this at the end.

Bob Bob Gallery Link: http://www.mckeephotography.com/gallery1

Doug Doug Gallery Link: http://www.mckeephotography.com/gallery2

Sue Sue Gallery Link: http://www.mckeephotography.com/gallery3

Sort of a sum of Column C but with text.

What third-party games have been included with Macs at some point?

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 12:28 PM PDT

To phrase it differently: Over the years, Mac computers have come with various pieces of software not developed by Apple, many of which are games, such as Marble Blast Gold, Bugdom, and the Big Bang Board Games suite.

After much searching, I've been unable to find a comprehensive list anywhere. What non-Apple games have been bundled with computers running Mac OS, and when were they included?

sms/imessage's allert don't work for one contact

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 11:01 AM PDT

I have an iPhone 11 on 13.5.1 iOs. Suddenly, the alerts of imessage don't work, for one only person. There is no budge for new message in the chat (on the main app, where all the chats are). This specific contact is not on the "Do not disturb" and the alerts are on, but my iPhone neither rings nor has a banner for the new message. I've already tried to delete the chat, delete the contact, restore the settings but nothing of these worked. What can i do? Thanks in advance.

Edit: when I open the message from this contact, he cannot see if I read the message or not. The status of the message is "delivered".

Don't prompt for opening certain external apps in Chrome

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 12:04 PM PDT

Chrome prompts me before opening external apps. Is it possible to add certain apps to an allowlist (e.g., Zoom, Notion) so that I'm not prompted each time?

How to use Applescript to open a printer app and select items within?

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 09:04 PM PDT

I have absolutely no knowledge or experience in using Applescript or Automator. I'm hoping by using either to create an app (or script) that will print a test page off my printer automatically. I know how to open the printer app (Canon iX6800 series.app), but I'm stuck from there with the dialog box not knowing how to continue to do the following steps:

  1. Run "Canon iX6800 series" - I got this part…
  2. Select "Settings" or Command S
  3. Select "Utility"
  4. Select "Print Test Page"
  5. Click "OK"
  6. Quit the app.

Any suggestions or help will be greatly appreciated. I can send the actual app to whoever might need it. Thanks in advance. George

Can someone else see my messages on his device?

Posted: 05 Apr 2021 12:01 AM PDT

Something strange happened today. I got lots of messages via iMessage obviously not intended for me. Short story, what's happened is when I got my iPhone on a new network I transferred my old number. Except I didn't realise I had to do this manually on the phone itself which was happily using the number the handset came with for iMessage and FaceTime.

So it turns out the network must have reallocated my number and now I'm getting all of this person's messages. I've now changed my number on my iPhone and checked that iMessage and FaceTime are linked to my actual number. My question is whether this other person can see my old messages via iMessage on his new phone (as they were sent to what is now his number)?

Open New Terminal From Finder When Terminal is Already Open

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 06:00 PM PDT

Is there a setting that will let me open a NEW terminal window when I select the Terminal application from finder if one is already open? What happens now is that it yanks me to the terminal window that is already open, which is a frustrating feature. Thanks

Save screenshot with document name and page

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 10:04 AM PDT

Is it possible to add the document name and document page when I do screenshots?

So, if I open a PDF and do a screenshot at page 6, I will have: Document Name | Page 6 | Screen Shot 2012-06-12 at 8.02.40 AM

cannot paste my metadata keychain password

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 08:02 PM PDT

I am following the steps in How do I stop 'mdwrite wants to use the "metadata" keychain' prompts?

But having a problem, I am unable to type the crazy password into the system dialog that comes up, and copy-paste does not work. Because it is stealing the input focus, I cannot do much else. I had to manually type the password. Is this a Mac Bug? Or am I just doing it all incorrectly.

(Mac Mini on Catalina, while editing xcode project options/targets after locking keychain) Otherwise pretty much exactly as in the link.

Catalina - App Store issues - doesn't automatically find new updates and cannot update!

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 10:04 PM PDT

Screen Recording

Since I've updated to Catalina, the App Store, for me, cannot:

  1. Automatically find any new app updates
  2. Update an app when I try to do it manually.

When I click on 'updates', I see "No updates - all your apps are up to date" but when I search for one of my apps, it says "update". When I click on update, the progress circle shows and it goes to 100%, but then the "update" button re-appears.

I have a video to show but cannot work out how to attach it.

I have reset my pram, logged out and back in on iCloud, have deleted the various .plist files and have emptied my cache, yet have achieved nothing. Anybody having this same issue and have found a solution?

Preview Cant Open Multiple PDF in same Window

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 10:54 PM PDT

I have the option to open groups of files in same window setting turned on, and this works for pictures.

However, for PDFs this setting does not seem to work.

I know opening multiple PDFs in the same window was possible at least in Sierra, I have no idea if they changed anything for High Sierra that caused this to fail.

I went through ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.preview/..../com.apple.Preview.plist and found PVImageOpeningMode = 1

so this should be the correct setting, at least from what I know.

I tried getting my old ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.preview/fluff and replaced whatever setting I have right now ( it worked before ), and unfortunately I still cannot view multiple PDFs in the same window ( without using tabs ).

This is pretty vexing, right now im leaning on the conclusion that apple had some how changed how preview app works, unless there is another hidden preview setting location some where.

Has anybody found a solution to opening multiple PDFs in the same window in High Sierra?

How to fix macOS Sierra language switching bug?

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 07:57 PM PDT

Changing languages input does not work, you can see the video.

How can I make all folders in Finder "snap to grid"?

Posted: 04 Apr 2021 10:36 AM PDT

I don't like that files can be placed anywhere, even overlapping other files, in Finder. The files also don't reorganize to fit when resizing the window.

enter image description here

I do realize I can right click and select "Clean up", but I don't want to do that every time I drag and drop a file.

I found this setting to make everything "snap to grid" so it will stay organized in the Show View Options window. However, it only works for that specific folder. Is there any way to make it apply across everything in Finder? I tried clicking "Use as Defaults" but it appears to only apply to new folders.

enter image description here
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