Friday, April 9, 2021

Recent Questions - Ask Different

Recent Questions - Ask Different

I am using MacBook Pro 13 .current OS X El Capitan

Posted: 09 Apr 2021 12:24 AM PDT

How to upgrade the current OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)to " high Sierra"

As the current os ( X El Capitan) is very old not supporting few features.

Anandarao n

TG Pro and Powermetrics

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 09:07 PM PDT

Recently I discovered an app called TG Pro that has all information about the CPU and GPU temperature. However, it shows that it is on sale with $10.00. But I'm not sure if this payment is monthly or one-time. As a medium computer user, should I buy the application? I heard that a built-in terminal also provides similar information with powermetrics, but is it available in M1 based Macs? If so, what command can I use to see all the information?

How to delete hidden login iterms from backgrounditems.btm? CML way is prefered

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 10:52 PM PDT

I am running MacOS Big Sur. I installed some apps downloaded online. I found out many apps were started automatically at startup.

By googling and examining my system, I figured out they were started from the file backgrounditems.btm which is located at ~/Library/Application Support/com.apple.backgroundtaskmanagementagent/. The file stores Login Items.

By running a python script downloaded online, I can see many Login Items registerd in the file backgrounditems.btm and they are NOT shown in System Preferences > Users > myuser > Login Iterms.

I tried the command osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to delete login item "name"' to delete the hidden login iterm, but failed with error message "36:73: execution error: System Events got an error: Can't get login item "myapp.app". (-1728)"

These hidden login iterms are also NOT shown when I use the command osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to get the name of every login item'.

So my question is how to remove those unwanted login iterms to stop them autostart at my login. Command Line Way is prefered. I think some GUI apps such as ccleaner may do the job, but I don't want to install some GUI apps which may be autostarted themselves. Basically, I don't want to install an autostart iterm to remove autostart items.

Thanks a lot.

Update

I figured out the file is in a binary plist format.

Then I tried two tools.

One is the default cml tool plutil. Another one is a thirdy party tool ProperTree. Both can convert and open the binary plist as XML plain plist. But even with a plain plist format, it's kinda hard to understand it. The important sections are still coded in base64 format in xml.

I can decode base64 with many tools, but I still feel it's kinda too much work for this purpose. Do anyone know any easier way to remove hidden login iterms from the file? Thanks.

Scanner not appearing in macOS 10.13 High Sierra

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 05:57 PM PDT

My multifunction Printer / Scanner doesn't have any scanning functions available under macOS 10.13 High Sierra.

The scanner function worked under macOS 10.10 Yosemite.

I'm still able to scan using the iOS app.

Resetting the print system from the instructions in this question has not solved the problem: Brother MFC Scanner not recognized any more

  • Brother MFC-9335CDW
  • macOS 10.13.6
  • Driver package file: ColorLaserFB12_ULW_112_3.dmg

enter image description here

Under macOS 10.10 Yosemite there was a "Scan" button on the top-right of the panel in the picture above.

enter image description here

Is it possible to connect two iPhones to the same external GPS device?

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 05:35 PM PDT

I can connect an iPhone to an external GPS device, but when I use another iPhone to also try to connect to it, it won't connect.

But there are posts that stated we can connect two iPhones to a single Bluetooth device. Does it depend on the Bluetooth device?

It makes sense if the GPS signal can be provided to two iPhones if there are two people hiking together, but maybe it takes extra design steps to make such a Bluetooth device.

How do I make a mac have a faster boot time? [closed]

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 09:22 PM PDT

I have a Mac desktop 2017 that has 8 Gigabytes of ram and a 1 TB HDD running Catalina. I was wondering how I can make the boot time faster because of work-related reasons. Thank you

Homebrew installed git not working [closed]

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 05:55 PM PDT

I installed git with Homebrew and /usr/local/Cellar/git/2.31.1/bin is supposed to be the directory where the git executable is installed. BUT none of the commands are working:

rgdgr8$ /usr/local/Cellar/git/2.31.1/bin/git --version  rgdgr8$ /usr/local/Cellar/git/2.31.1/bin/git  rgdgr8$

I just don't know why.

My contacts in Messages are not syncing on my new Mac

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 07:12 PM PDT

I just got a new Mac and my contacts are not syncing in messages. I have turned off/on contacts sync on both the new Mac and my iPhone multiple times, but the issue persists.

Please note, not all my contacts are missing on my Mac, but most of them are. Certain contacts like my immediate family members are shown in Messages....not sure why. When I search in the Contacts app in my Mac, I do not seeing the missing ones. I can add them one-by-one, but obviously this is not a good solution.

How can I fix this?

How do I send an automated reply as soon as I receive an iMessage between a time frame on a MacBook?

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 07:33 PM PDT

I have a MacBook, and I need to have a way to send an automated reply to all iMessages when I'm at work or doing a certain activity. For example, when I'm working, I want a message that could say something like "Hey, I'm busy. Will come back to you later when I'm done." to automatically be sent. Is this possible? I need it hugely, because I receive a lot of messages from friends and family while I'm working, and I can't respond to them. So I need the laptop to send them automatically.

"Call/Cancel" popup in Google App

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 09:45 PM PDT

A few days ago I was using the Google iOS app (not Chrome, but the specific "Google" app that you can download in the App Store) to go to shady website in an attempt to stream a movie online. Stupid, I know. I didn't download anything, and I didn't think I clicked on anything, but I started getting a prompt to call a number.

As far as I could tell, it wasn't any of the obviously fake ones that tell you to call a number because your phone is compromised or anything. It looked like the legit prompt that pops up when you click on a number in iOS where it has "Call 808-xxx-xxxx" on the top row and "Cancel" on the bottom row at the bottom of your screen. This is the prompt that comes up if you click on a number in any app.

Anyways, it popped up a thousand times and stopped when I killed the app. How does that exploit work? Did the webpage just trick my phone into thinking I clicked on a number a few dozen times? Is there any chance I got a virus from the website? Things have seemed fine since. Is there any way to tell if you have a virus aside from just the normal weird symptoms?

Change remote directory after connecting via ssh

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 11:15 PM PDT

I want to make a ssh-config, that automatically changes the folder after connecting. I heart of a possibility in the linux universe with the configuration in ssh-config-file. Something like this:

RemoteCommand cd /var/www/html/project-directory

Because of multiple projects on the same server I want to make different ssh-configs with only different of RemoteCommand to get into the right projectfolder.

ssh project-x

I tried this:

RemoteCommand cd /var/www/html/project-x

here I login, got the MOTD and get loged out directly.

and that:

RemoteCommand cd /var/www/html/project-x && exec bash --login

here I login, got the MOTD and freeze on this position.

My whole config looks like this:

Host customer      User username      Hostname project-x.example      IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa_project-x      RemoteCommand cd /var/www/html/project-x && exec bash --login      #RemoteCommand cd /var/www/html/project-x

Is there a way to use RemoteCommand to change directories after login on apple terminal. I use /usr/local/bin/bash from Homebrew: /usr/local/Cellar/bash/5.0.11/bin/bash (not the zshell).

Red screen and glitchy video playback at times

Posted: 09 Apr 2021 12:11 AM PDT

It has been going on always, but I always thought it was just a software bug in the browser or something, but I am more and more often experiencing that video playback on my Mac Pro is glitching and sometimes just playing as a static red screen. Does anyone know what may cause this issue? Refreshing the browser window or video conference sometimes help, but it is a weird thing happening. enter image description here If you look at this video: https://youtu.be/c3UIR9IS5hk you'll see what I mean. The site shown consists of a multiple small tiles, some of which are videos. You can see how they glitch and are all red. If I refresh the page though, everything goes back to normal, and videos are playing correctly. It is not something I can trigger, it just randomly happens from time to time, and it happens in all browsers, Screen sharing in Slack and more. Can be a browser or native app.

enter image description here

Again - this is something that has been going on from day one (Bought Feb 2020) but as it has never been more of a problem than just refreshing the window, I haven't thought more of it. Now I am curious to understand what causes it.

Copy a table in a Microsoft Word document, using AppleScript

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 09:06 PM PDT

I have several hundred MS Word documents containing a single table in each. I need to copy the table, paste into Preview and save as jpeg. I can get Word to find the table, but cannot get the "copy object..." command to work. Suggestions welcome!

tell application "Microsoft Word"      activate      tell document 1          count (tables)          --  set firstTable to item 1 of tables — this does not work. Why?          set table_list to tables          set firstTable to item 1 of table_list          tell firstTable              allow page breaks              -- allow page breaks (false) -- syntax error, () not allowed. Why?              set allow page breaks to false -- This does not work either.              allow page breaks          end tell          select firstTable -- this works! Now what?          copy object firstTable --error -1708; doesnt understand "copy object"      end tell  end tell

See when a macOS application accesses the clipboard?

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 09:21 PM PDT

On iOS, it now shows you when an app accesses the clipboard. I discovered my weather app is snooping on my clipboard, which is very interesting, especially since I never pasted, and there's no logical reason why it would have needed to view the clipboard:

enter image description here

I very much appreciate this feature on iOS because it creates the right incentives for apps to view only what they have to.

Is there any way to enable this feature on macOS, where a small popup could appear if an application views what's on your clipboard?

External display resolution is broken after wake on M1

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 11:11 PM PDT

on my MacMini M1 I have the following problem:

Very often (not always) when macOS (11.2.2) wakes up after some sleep time, the resolution on my main display (BenQ EW3270U) is broken in a very weird way:

enter image description here

The box on the right side is part of my second display.

The display is connected via Thunderbolt. Before the M1 I had a MacBook Pro 2014 and never had a problem with the display. But to be honest: I cant remember if the problem started with the M1 or if it was introduced by some macOS update.

The only thing that helps is changing the resolution scaling setting to something else and then switching back to my usual scaling setting

enter image description here

Questions:

  • Anybody recognises this behaviour and knows how to fix it?
  • As a work around: does anyone know how to automate / script changing the resolution scaling setting?

How can I copy Music library from one Mac to another

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 09:39 PM PDT

I am attempting to copy my wife's Music Library to a new user on my iMac.

Update 2021-04-09

My previous attempts failed. I thought this may have been due to attempting to copy from Catalina to Big Sur.
I have now updated my iMac to Big Sur, but still not having much luck.

I now have a fresh copy of my wife's iTunes folder on the desktop of her login on the iMac.
My many attempts to get Music to use this have failed. There was a iTunes folder and Music/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary from previous failed attempts, which I deleted.

I have been unable to find any Automatically Add to iTunes folder

It is frustrating, as I can see ALL the music, but not access it in Music.

Update 2 I have partial success.
I gave up on trying to copy the iTunes folder.
I went into the Music Files menu and there was an import option (I can't remember exactly, but think Import Library - it is now gone).

My wife's playlists are missing, but that is a minor issue.

It seems this is a case where all the instructions on the web no longer work.

Years ago I did similar things, but it seems much harder without iTunes.

After many web searches I followed a set of steps:-

Copying Your iTunes Folder

Plug your USB flash drive or external drive into your computer. Go to the iTunes folder. Finder double-click the Music folder. You'll find the iTunes folder here. Copy the iTunes folder. Click once the iTunes folder to select it, then press ⌘ Command+C to copy the entire folder. If you already have music in iTunes on the new computer, you'll instead double-click the iTunes folder and then copy the iTunes Media folder inside of it. Open your USB flash drive or external hard drive. On the left side of the File Explorer or Finder window, click the name of your plugged-in USB flash drive or external flash drive. Paste in the copied iTunes folder. Press ⌘ Command+V to paste in the folder.

Transferring Your Library

Plug your USB flash drive or external drive into the new computer. Open the flash drive or external drive. Either click the drive's name in the File Explorer (Windows) or Finder , or wait for the drive's window to open automatically. Copy the iTunes folder. Click the iTunes folder inside of the drive's window, then press or ⌘ Command+C. Open your computer's Music folder. Go to the location of the Music folder, which is where you found the iTunes folder on your first computer. You shouldn't see an iTunes folder here if you haven't already used iTunes on this computer. If you instead copied the iTunes Media folder in the last part, you'll double-click the iTunes Media folder, then double-click the Automatically Add to iTunes folder before proceeding. Paste in the iTunes folder. Press ⌘ Command+V to do so. You should see the iTunes folder appear in the Music folder. Once the folder finishes copying into the Music folder, you should be able to open iTunes and view your music.

If you do see an iTunes folder and you haven't already used iTunes on this computer, you can delete the iTunes folder clicking it and dragging the folder to the Trash.

The copied directory looks like the following (edited for brevity)

iTunes  |-- Album\ Artwork  |   |-- Cache  |   |-- Cloud  |   |-- Cloud\ Purchases  |   |-- Custom  |   |-- Download  |   |-- Generated  |   `-- Store  |-- Mobile\ Applications      …  |-- Previous\ iTunes\ Libraries  |   |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2010-07-19  |   |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2010-11-02  |   |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2011-03-18  |   |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2011-03-26  |   |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2011-10-10.itl  |   |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2012-03-19.itl  |   |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2013-05-07.itl  |   |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2013-05-29.itl  |   |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2014-10-18.itl  |   |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2016-01-15.itl  |   |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2016-11-15.itl  |   |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2017-03-04.itl  |   |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2017-05-27.itl  |   |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2017-10-24.itl  |   |-- iTunes\ Library\ 2018-09-28.itl  |   `-- iTunes\ Library\ 2019-01-20.itl  |-- iPod\ Games  |   |-- Klondike  |   `-- iPod\ Quiz  |-- iTunes\ Library\ Extras.itdb  |-- iTunes\ Library\ Genius.itdb  |-- iTunes\ Library.itl  |-- iTunes\ Music  |   |-- Alan\ Clark  |   |-- Alan\ Clark,\ Eddie\ Gomez\ over\ The\ Acetones  |   |-- Alan\ Clarke\ over\ The\ Acetones  |   |-- Alan\ Clarke,\ Mike\ Brecker,\ Mike\ Mainieri,\ Neil\ Jason\ &\ Steve\ Jordon  |   |-- Aled\ Jones  |   |-- Andrew\ Dalton  |   |-- Andrew\ Parrott_\ Taverner\ Consort\ &\ Players  |   |-- Antonio\ Vivaldi      …  |   |-- Winsome\ Evans  |   |-- Yvonne\ Kenny,\ Adelaide\ Symphony\ Orchestra  |   `-- Yvonne\ Kenny;\ Takuo\ Yuasa_\ Adelaide\ Symphony\ Orchestra  |-- iTunes\ Music\ Library.xml  `-- sentinel    119 directories, 48 files

I have had several tries and at one stage using Library / Import Playlist I could get a couple of tunes to play, but I am reluctant to do for hundreds.

Can anyone help, or suggest an alternative.

I have been unable to find any Apple instructions for the Mac - although they have Windows instructions.

My iMac is running Catalina

Apple Business Manager and Apple Developer Program

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 06:00 PM PDT

My team developed custom application for a company, and now we are trying to deploy the application to the employee owned devices. We decided to use the Apple Business Manager and some MDM solution for managing the devices.

1.Using the Apple Developer Program is the only way to make the application available on the Apple Business Manager account for further distribution, is this correct?

2.Once the application is distributed, from the Apple Developer Account to the Apple Business Manager, in case there are no updates needed for the application, there is no need to renew the Apple Developer account and pay the fee. Meaning the application will still be available for distribution and using on the Apple Business Manager Account. Is this also correct?

How to get full resolution for LG 27UK650-W with MacBook Pro?

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 05:14 PM PDT

I bought a LG 27UK650-W monitor that has 4K UHD resolution (3840 x 2160). When I connect it to my MacBook Pro (2019, 16-inch, Big Sur), the fonts are huge. I had to switch from "Default for display" to "Scaled" and move it down a couple of notches. Once I've done that, the System Report under About This Mac shows:

Resolution:  5120 x 2880 (5K/UHD+ - Ultra High Definition Plus)  UI Looks like:  2560 x 1440 @ 30.00Hz  Framebuffer depth:  30-Bit Color (ARGB2101010)

It is listed as LG HDR 4K Display 27-inch (3840 × 2160) under Displays in About This Mac. By comparison, my work laptop has a Dell U2719DC with 2560x1440 pixels and it works perfectly with the default settings (no scaling).

I tried both a UtechSmart 6 In 1 USB C Hub and a Belkin USB-C to HDMI Adapter (HKQ22ZM) with the same result.

Shouldn't Apple "just work"? I expect to plug in a monitor and have all pixels available and the UI in some sane state in terms of font sizes. What am I missing?

Does the new Airpod Max support lossless audio on wireless?

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 09:25 PM PDT

Earlier AirPods and AirPods Pro models send audio over 256kbps AAC.

As I use Tidal HiFi (lossless streaming) and some offline flac/wav files, I still need to use wired headphones, and I need to get 3-4 lightning to 3.5mm jack adapters each year, as they go off often.

I'm thinking about buying the AirPods Max, but I won't buy it if it's still limited to the same 256kbps AAC recompression as the earlier AirPods.

It seems it uses Bluetooth 5.0 which by itself supports up to 2Mbps, also it may have it's own wireless chip again, so I see the chance, but I'm awaiting confirmation as Apple's marketing page didn't convince me if it's supported or not: https://www.apple.com/uk/airpods-max/

Question: Does someone know if AirPods Max support lossless audio over wireless?

"Verify Contact Information" in Apple Pay

Posted: 09 Apr 2021 12:04 AM PDT

I am trying to use ApplePay for the first time. I have a link set up with my debit card, and verified that with the bank.

Now in the web page of the vendor from whom I wish to make a purchase, I clicked the Apple Pay option to display a Apple Pay dialog. That dialog shows my credit card info. But it has a red error message at bottom saying "Verify Contact Information". The "Contact" field has red letters "PHONE NUMBER REQUIRED".

I have no idea whose phone number it wants, nor what I should do next.

What is the best way to validate every single file on an external drive?

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 09:05 PM PDT

My mac is having a kernel panic every time I try to time machine this external drive.

I've tried disk utility but I'm pretty sure it doesn't actually check for much, except maybe for some directory structure. The scan is maybe only a few minutes long and it reports everything has fine.

Is there a command or app that will actually read every single file in the disk and report any corruption or IO error?

Windows resized after sleep with external display connected to Macbook Pro via DP to usb-c

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 10:02 PM PDT

I have an external display ASUS VG279 connected to my MBP 2018 via Display Port to USB-C cable by moshi (sold on Apple's website). I use 1080p resolution for the display and my macOS version is Catalina (10.15.4). When my laptop wakes up after sleep, all my windows resized (smaller than should be) and I have to manually adjust it every time. My laptop is always on a charge.

How can I do so the size of windows kept to the external display resolution after sleep?

The issue doesn't happen if I lock my computer manually and then unlock it, only if it was put to sleep according to the schedule in energy saver preferences.

UPD: I don't know what happened but now after the laptop wakes up I see my windows minimized and a small part of them picking out from the right side of the screen, it's like I have a two display setup and the windows were on the right screen even though my laptop lid is always closed.

Soundflower + AU Lab Mojave?

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 05:14 PM PDT

I had an AU Lab preset saved from before updating to Mojave that used to work on macOS High Sierra.

It seems that the combination doesn't seem to work any more on Mojave. I'm not seeing any response in AU Lab at all.

Ideas?

Numbers app: conditional highlighting using color scales?

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 07:37 PM PDT

Is this possible, like you can in other spreadsheet software to do something like this? (color scales)

enter image description here

Stolen MacBook Pro - Locating via Serial Number

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 07:29 PM PDT

Someone has broken into my apartment and stolen my MacBook Pro and my roommate's Mac. Neither of the two devices was logged in to iCloud. Is there a way to track my device through its serial number?

Use Mac OS X dictation on a file?

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 08:41 PM PDT

In Mountain Lion, Mac OS X can use its dictation/voice recognition to turn your speaking into text.

Suppose I have an audio file of my voice speaking. Is there a way to use this dictation ability to turn that audio file into a text file?

I suppose the brute force solution would be to plug headphones into the audio port and hold them up to the microphone. Is there a more software-based solution more analogous to Unix pipes?

How can I switch applications on iPhone or iPad by keyboard like "Windows key + tab" on Windows?

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 09:13 PM PDT

I like typing by keyboard while using iPhone and iPad. But when I switch applications(e.g. between Safari and memo application), I have to the push home putton on the devices'. It is very frustrating. Does anybody know how to switch applications by keyboard like "Windows key + tab" on Windows?

Is there a command line mail program for Mac?

Posted: 08 Apr 2021 07:32 PM PDT

My C++ professor has had us use Terminal for editing code. Is there an app or program that will allow me to send and receive email via Terminal, so I can stay in one window?

iPhone 4 Stuck on Headphones Mode

Posted: 09 Apr 2021 12:11 AM PDT

I took my headphones out of my phone after a run and I figured out that it is stuck on headphones mode. I've read the forums and tried...

to plug in and out my headphones (I even used two different pairs I blew into the headphone port (similar to an old Nintendo system)

Something to note: My alarm works and when I unlock the phone during the alarm I get the click sound.
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