Various Tips and Links for OS X / Apple Mac users

(Important NOTE - some links could be outdated - things constantly change and time is scares)

TIPS & REFERENCES

Command Line Tips and References
- How to fix mac showing the wrong date and time - see article or from command prompt/terminal type sudo ntpdate -u time.apple.com
- Empty Trash from Command prompt/terminal type sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash or sudo rm -rf /Volumes/*/.Trashes
- Another useful shirt cut set of commands is Shift+Option+Command+Delete will immediately force empty the Trash with no warnings, regardless of what’s in the Trash.
- Reset DNS settings /clear DNS cache from command prompt/terminal type sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder
- If you are moving from Windows, use COMMAND + ~ (tilda to the left of the #1) to switch between windows and COMMAND + TAB to switch beween applications.
- DNS Servers to use:
  - 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4 = Google DNS
  - 84.200.69.80 or 84.200.70.40 = DNS.Watch
  - 64.6.64.6 or 64.6.65.6 = VeriSign Public DNS
  - 208.67.220.220 or 208.67.222.222 = Open DNS
  - 1.1.1.1 and/or 1.0.0.1 = a free Domain Name System (DNS) service. The public DNS service and servers are maintained and owned by Cloudflare in partnership with APNIC.
- VARIOUS Command Short Cuts for Keyboard Layout:
  - European Euro Symbol: € – Shift+Option+2
  - Japanese Yen Symbol: ¥ – Option+Y
  - British Pound Symbol: £ – Option+3
- Finding/Deleting Calendar items with attachments in Outlook for Mac (steps)
  - Go to your calendar
  - Shift Command F (Advanced Find – or you can just click in the "Search this folder" textbox in your toolbar)
  - Change "Item Contains" to "Raw Query"
  - Type in the text from Jon's sample query below. Here's a text version for convenience: kMDItemKind=="olk14_event" && com_microsoft_outlook_accountID==1 && kMDItemFSSize>=10000
  - Your calendar entries larger than 10K will be displayed.
  - Rather than add the due date to the search query (like below) I just clicked on the "Due Date" column to sort the results, and selected the ones older than my target date
  - Hit delete! Note, any invites that YOU sent will pop up a "Cancel meeting" dialog which you'll need to deal with.
  - NOTE: Also, you may find additional keywords to work as well or better than kMDItemFSSize: kMDItemLogicalSize kMDItemPhysicalSize
- How to reset camera if it stops working (steps)
  - Quit all applications that are using the camera (for example Photo Booth, Skype, Google Hangouts webpage, etc).
  - Open Terminal from Applications > Utilities > Terminal. ...
  - At the command line, write the following command: sudo killall VDCAssistant.
  - Hit Enter on your keyboard.
  - Restart what ever application you were using and voila. Done!
- How to reset your Mac's SMC & PRAM - and why?
  - Refer to How to - click me
  - Refer to How to reset SMC by Apple
Hardware Tips and Tricks
- Refer to How to Run Mac Diagnostics
How to Open Terminal Window (few different ways)
- Terminal is kinda buried perhaps because those who use a MacOS laptop just for social media probably won’t need a Terminal.
- 1. Press command+space keys (at the same time) to bring up Apple’s Spotlight universial search, then
- 2. Type “termin” so “Terminal.app” appears.
- 3. Press the space bar to select it.
- Alternately, if you prefer moving your mouse:
- 1. Click the Finder icon on the app bar.
- 2. Click Applications on the left pane.
- 3. Click Utilities.
- 4. Click Terminal.
- OR PROTIP: If you are at the Finder program (since Yosemite) you can open a Terminal to a folder listed within Finder by pointing your mouse on it, then tapping with two fingers on the touchpad/mousepad. To enable that:
- 1. Click the Apple icon, System Preferences....
- 2. Press K and select Keyboard.
- 3. Click Shortcuts, Services.
- 4. Scroll to the Files and Folders section.
- 5. Check on New Terminal at Folder.
- 6. Close the dialog by clicking the red dot at the upper left corner.
iTerm2 for split pane
Many prefer to install and use iTerm2 instead of the built-in Terminal program. Install iTerm2 using Homebrew:
Terminal does not support but iTerm2 does support dividing the CLI into several rectangular “panes”, each of which is a different terminal session:
Pressing the shortcut again restores the hidden panes.

On Linux, there is the screen command.
- See Iterm2 Cheat Sheet of iTerm2 keyboard shortcuts. https://github.com/nobitagit/iterm-cheat-sheet/blob/master/README.md
SHUTDOWN from Termainal
CAUTION: To kill all apps and shutdown a Mac right away (with no warning and no dialog):
- execute: sudo shutdown -h now
Text Command Line Bash Shortcuts
These come from the bash terminal on Linux machines here: Press control with your pinkie, then …
- control + A = Go to Beginning of line (as in A to Z)
- control + E = Go to End of line (hit E using longest finger)
- control + F = Forward cursor
- control + B = Backward
- control + H = Backspace left of cursor
- control + D = Delete right of cursor
- control + K = Kill line from under the cursor to the end of the line.
- control + U = "U get out of here" - Clear entire line
- control + P = Previous line
- control + N = Next line
- control + Y = Retrieve line
- control + ` = cycle through session windows
- control + left = previous session
- control + right = previous session
Keyboard Shortcuts Every Mac User needs to know
Including how to see the definition of any word you highlight…
- Command X - cut the selected material
- Command C - copy the slected material
- Command V - paste the selected material
- Command F - search a page or document for specific word, phrase, symbols etc.
- Command + - Zoom in page by 10%
- Comamnd - - Zoom out page by 10%
- Command Z - Undo the previous command or action
- Shift Comamnd Z - Redo the undo :)
- Command M - Minimize the current window
- Options Comamnd M - minimize all windows
- Shift Command 4 - Open Screenshot Tool
- Shift Command 3 - Take Instant Screenshot
- Shift Command 5 - Take a screenshot or start a screen recording (Mac OS Mojave or later)
- Shift Command N (in Finder) - Create a new folder
- Command N (in internet browser) - open a new window
- Shift Command N (in internet browser) - open a new incognito window
- Command T - open a new tab
- Command W - close current tab
- Option Comamnd Esc - force quiet an app
- Command Delete - move selected item to Trash
- Shift Command Delete - Empty Trash
- Command "Mission Control"* - Immediately Show Desktop
- Option Shift "Volume Up" - Increase volume in shorter portions (opposite with Vol Donwn)
- Fn "Left Arrow" - scroll instantly to the top of a page(opposite with Right Arrow)
- Options Command F5 - show accesibility options
- Control Command D - Disctionary (show the options of a selected word)
- Command O - Open menu to slect a file to open
- Shift Command ? - Open "Help" Menu
- *Swipe up with three or four fingers on your trackpad, or double-tap the surface of your Magic Mouse with two fingers.
Environment Variables
A big reason to use a command-line terminal is to set environment variables.

Like on PCs, the PATH system environment variable stores where the operating system should look to find a particular program to execute.
- 1. To see what is already defined:
- export
- The listing such as this, which declares the “XPC_FLAGS” system variable:
- declare -x XPC_FLAGS=”0x0”
- This talks about setting launchd.conf and rebooting. This applies to all users.
- 2. To see what is defined:
- echo $PATH
- PROTIP: $PATH must be upper case.
- The response I’m getting includes:
- /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin
- Notice colon (:) separator used in Mac and Linux vs. semicolons used in Windows PATH.
Alphabetical Commands list
- A list of all commands native to macOS is listed alphabetically @HERE.
Mac OSX Terminal (command-line tips and tricks)
- As Wilson Mar say on his GitHub page, I quote:"Make things happen quickly without touching the mouse" @HERE.
How To Repair & Verify Your Hard Drive From The Command Line [OS X Tips]
- @HERE.
OS X References

Useful Apps for OS X Users:
- Free Git client for Mac and Windows
- Adium is a multi-protocol IM client that can be used to access various chat platforms and the local to your business (or if you are indepenndently rich and dumb to run it at home) Lync/Communicator servers. You need a plugin for Communicator; it is found at Adium Sourceforge page. You need a recent version of adium or this plugin will not work.
- Facebook Messanger for OS X
- Link to Microsoft Apple Products
- Maleware Stop for Mac - ClamXAV
- All Software you really need for Mac OS X by PURE-MAC
- Easy to use (idiot proof) backup package for OSX Super Duper! by ShirtPocket
- Apple Support Downloads
- DVD Remastering by DVD2One
- Free Download MacTheRipper 2.6.6
- X Lab™X Lab™ Troubleshooting Tips and More
- CoRD: Simple RDP Remote Control
- easyWHOIS
- Filesystem search and application launcher: [Alfred]
- Terminal: [iTerm 2] is a full-featured alternative to OSX's built in terminal application.
- Script/code editors: [Coda], [TextMate],[BBedit], [MacVim] with [Janus] config and plugins.
- Replacement for AutoHotkey on Windows: [Keyboard Maestro]. To get Command+Shift+L functionality to lock Mac OS X _(similar to Windows+L in Windows)_, see [LockTight].
- [PDFLab] is a free program that will combine PDF files into one. Handy for scanning receipts and combining them with a PDF of your expense report cover sheet.
- To write, verify, and test Regular Expressions (RegEx) on the Mac, an excellent inspection tool is [RegExhibit].
- If you would like to do a visual file diff, then good tools are [Changes] and [DiffMerge].
- If you need to schedule a meeting for a large group of people and easily select a date, or operate a simple poll, try using [Doodle].
- RSS Readers: [Vienna] or [Reeder].

Multiple Monitors
- If you require an external monitor, the MacBook Pro has either a DVI or a Mini DisplayPort output to which you can connect one monitor. If you have have a Mini DisplayPort, you can purchase an adapter directly from Apple (link could be outdated).
- If you require more than one external monitor, you can purchase a USB to DVI adapter such as the one located here: [Adapter Here] The drivers for this adapter are located here: [DisplayLink Drivers] You can connect up to six of these devices with the use of a USB hub.
- If you have a more recent Macbook Pro (most retinas I think) they come with multiple thunderbolt and a single HDMI output, you can just run two of the mini-display port - DVIs. I have not tested running an HDMI \-> DVI adapter for a second screen but it will probably work.

IPv6 (some data might be outdated - check and recheck)
- Starting with 10.7 (Lion), Apple has decided to enable temporary addresses when stateless autoconfiguration is enabled on the network. This means that your Mac will calculate and enable the expected IPv6 address based on the RAs heard, but it will also generate a "temporary", randomized one for outbound connectivity.
- In reality, this isn't particularly helpful in most environments, so, it's a good idea to just disable it.
  - As root: {code} sysctl -w net.inet6.ip6.use_tempaddr=0 {code}
  - And add into the /etc/sysctl.conf: {code} net.inet6.ip6.use_tempaddr=0 {code}

iPhone References

Various Tips and Links for OS X / Apple Mac users

Main Menu

Login Form

Visitor Counter