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I recently got a MacBook Air M2 that i generally use with bluetooth connected keyboard (keychron k9p) and mouse (Mx master). However, if I connect a Bluetooth headset (tried both AirPods and one from Jabra) the sound is cutting in and out. If I disconnect mouse or keyboard all is fine. Is this a known limitation of the MacBook? I find it kinda strange that they remove ports left and right and then do not make sure to enable alternative means of connecting peripherals. Are there other workarounds than getting a docking station or hub?
www.macrumors.com
> Apple's Macs are less targeted by malware than Windows PCs, but that doesn't mean they are immune. Increasingly, insidious types of Mac malware are being developed that have researchers concerned enough to issue public warnings, and that's the case again today. > > As reported by *[Hacker News](https://thehackernews.com/2024/08/new-macos-malware-cthulhu-stealer.html)*, Cado Security has identified a malware-as-a-service (MaaS) targeting macOS users named "Cthulhu Stealer." First spotted in late 2023, the malicious software is designed to steal sensitive information from infected Macs, such as saved passwords from iCloud Keychain, information from web browsers, and even details from Telegram accounts. > > What's particularly concerning is that it's being sold as a service on the dark web for $500 per month, potentially allowing multiple bad actors to use it against unsuspecting Mac owners. > > Cato Security researcher Tara Gould [reports](https://www.cadosecurity.com/blog/from-the-depths-analyzing-the-cthulhu-stealer-malware-for-macos)that Cthulhu Stealer disguises itself as popular software to trick users into installing it. It might appear as CleanMyMac, *Grand Theft Auto IV*, or even Adobe GenP (a tool some users employ to bypass Adobe's subscription model). The malware comes packaged as a disk image (DMG) file. > > If a user tries to open the fake app, macOS's built-in security feature, Gatekeeper, warns that the software is unsigned. But if a user chooses to bypass this warning, the malware immediately asks for the user's system password, mimicking a legitimate system prompt. This technique isn't new – other Mac malware like [Atomic Stealer](https://www.macrumors.com/2023/04/28/atomic-macos-stealer-malware/) and MacStealer use similar tricks. > > Once it has the necessary permissions, Cthulhu Stealer can access and steal a wide range of sensitive data. For crypto users, it specifically targets MetaMask digital wallet information. All of this stolen data is then sent to the attackers' servers. > > Notably, reports suggest that whoever designed Cthulu Stealer is no longer active, apparently following disputes over payments and accusations of scamming their own customers, i.e. other cybercriminals who were using the malware. > > While Cthulhu Stealer isn't the most sophisticated malware out there, it's still a significant threat to Mac users who might be tricked into installing it. General security pointers include only downloading software from trusted sources like the App Store or official developer websites, being wary of any app asking for your system password during installation, and keeping your Mac updated with the latest security patches from Apple. > > In macOS Sequoia, expected to be [released in mid-September](https://www.macrumors.com/2024/08/22/macos-sequoia-mid-september-launch-date/), Apple plans to remove the ability to easily override Gatekeeper warnings by Control-clicking. Instead, users will need to go through System Settings to allow unsigned software to run, adding an extra step that might make users think twice before running potentially dangerous apps.
My father is 75 and not very capable on a computer. He's got an old MacBook Air at home behind a typical ISP router for which he has no access controls (so no port forwarding). My immediate need is actually not his machine at all, but the Raspberry Pi I installed at his house before I left the country and forgot to enable cron on so it's not doing what I need yet. However, it would be really nice if I could also do one of the following as well: * VNC (or something) into his computer whenever something "isn't working" rather than doing the talk-him-through-it dance over Skype. * Install a new OS (the Mac is no longer supported by MacOS). I don't know how plausible this is though. My current plan is to email him a shell script that should create a reverse SSH tunnel to a server in Montréal or something and then I can shell into his Mac through there. It's not ideal though since we're still talking shell scripts and he's easily frustrated. I know that in Windows land there are all sorts of tools scammers use to take over a machine remotely. Does Mac allow for the same thing? Note that I only have Linux machines available to me on this side of the Atlantic.
I'm curious how many packages are there available for macOS compared to linux distributions.
I am trying to create a focus so that I can play Spotify, or similar with no notification sounds of any kind. I tried Do Not Disturb but Discord still pings. I created this focus, first with "allow some apps" and only allowing Spotify (but it does not appear in the list of available apps), so instead I switched to "Silence Some Apps" and added Discord, Messages, and Telegram. All of the apps still send notification sounds. I had previously made a Focus that had Allow Some Apps, but no apps were added, this Focus still allowed notification sounds. I have tried sleep focus. I followed [the steps on the support page](https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/set-up-a-focus-to-stay-on-task-mchl613dc43f/mac) with no luck. How do I silence notifications on my Mac? ETA: I even went into Notifications in the settings menu and turned off sounds for the apps I am trying to silence and am still getting sounds.
I have a MacBook Pro M2 (Touchbar) and since I have it, on every MacOS version, I couldn’t share my LAN connection over WiFi. I use a Thunderbolt 3 Dock but also tried a direct USB-C to LAN adapter. When I enable Internet sharing and configure it with PSK wpa2/3 and a SSID, it opens a Hotspot with default values and without PSK. Also you can’t connect to it. Does anyone have the same problem?
Hi, I'm trying to uninstall iterm2. I installed it via the installer from their webpage and tried to uninstall it by putting the application in the bin as usual. But it keeps reappearing. I also tried removing remaining files: `"~/Library/Application Support/iTerm", "~/Library/Application Support/iTerm2", "~/Library/Application Support/com.apple.sharedfilelist/com.apple.LSSharedFileList.ApplicationRecentDocuments/com.googlecode.iterm2.sfl*", "~/Library/Caches/com.googlecode.iterm2", "~/Library/Cookies/com.googlecode.iterm2.binarycookies", "~/Library/Preferences/com.googlecode.iterm2.plist", "~/Library/Saved Application State/com.googlecode.iterm2.savedState",` Still, iterm will pop up as soon as I start my mac. What is this shit? How can I get rid of it? **Answer:** "This shit" is my stupid brain. I forgot I reinstalled iterm after my employer introduced a managed software center. It was the only app I installed via msc myself and thus did not think of it at first.
I personally am a fan I find it to be like spaces except I can see them which makes switching between tasks smoother.
Helix is a new batteries included Modal editor inspired by Vim & written in Rust
infosec.pub
Also [see here](https://imgur.com/a/hB5eIVX) for a video of the screenshot and a video of my configuration reload script.
I have 3 TVs connected to a 4x4 Matrix, when I use my Mac they are out of sync. It seems fine when using my Apple TV, or my Windows/Linux dual boot laptop. The issue does seem to be tied to the length of the HDMI cables. TV1 is connected to a 6' cable, TV2 is connected to a 15' cable, and TV3 a 30' cable. I am using the HDMI out on my MacBook Pro (2023 M2). Any ideas for a solution short of changing all of the cables to 30'?
I am trying to shell out of VBA in excel and I keep getting permissions issues. So far I have tried: Full Disk Access Accessibility Developer Rights chmod Quarantine Shell function AppleScriptTask function (with full disks access and Accessiblity, and Developer Rights) All of the pieces work independently. I can call it from the command line and as an apple script from osascript The MOST frustrating thing its that once I got the permissions correct on Apple Script, then the excel AppleScriptTask function stopped working. The command that used to work now throws an Error 13 Type Mismatch. I have double checked, triple checked and had Chat GPT write the code. There is not type mismatch - and it worked fine before I fixed the permissions on Apple Script. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!
This is killing me. We have a snippet of code on a web page. Users copy the code to a text editor, make a small change, then copy the modified version and paste it into a terminal window. And it fails to run. I've confirmed this happens with both Textedit and Notes, and also that copying from the web page and pasting _directly_ into a terminal works fine (although without the necessary code changes). It's something in the text editor copy; and there's no way to either "copy as plaintext" or "paste without formatting" into a terminal. Does anyone know how I can work around this? **EDIT** Apparently _some_ (but not all) spaces (octal 040) are being converted to octal "302 240". I can't figure out how to stop it!
The infotainment system in my truck uses metadata tags to organize all of the music. I’ve the past few years I have thought I was doing something wrong with the new music I was adding, but apparently the Music app’s edits of the data were not “sticking “. I found a large number of music I had added but was not available to play in the Unknown folder. Are there any free, or cheap Mac apps for editing the data?
     macOS is recognizing it, but no image on display. I tried safe mode but with no luck. With my MacBook. My USB c to HDMI converter works with all my other monitors. I want to use it as an Audio monitoring "device" with the minimeters app for my MacBook Pro m1 for music production purposes. I tested it on my win pc. It just works with my Linux laptop and Windows 11 pc with no problems. Any help would help, thanks!
After a year or so of using the free version of Alfred, I finally decided to make myself a Christmas gift and get the power pack. Any recommendations from the folks here using Alfred about essential workflows and favorite themes? I did a quick search on Alfred gallery and Packal, but it also seems that many workflows exist only on GitHub somewhere. Also, it is not even possible to filter workflows and themes by popularity or date. Any tips welcome!
Hello all, I've recently gotten a MacBook pro at work. In the past I've mainly used Linux, so the switch isn't super drastic. I'm mainly getting used to the shortcuts. My work mainly involves DevOps related work. Things I've installed so far ( besides standard things like an IDE ): - neovim - brew - rectangle - jq / uw - docker desktop - iterm2 I have some coworkers excited about Alfred, which I have installed, but haven't really used yet. Looks like an enhanced spotlight? Any apps/tools you can recommend which makes your life easier on Macs? Hidden productivity gems?
Keep getting this pop up asking me to allow it to manage my PC. IDK what it is or how to get rid of it. Happens every time I restart. Any help is appreciated.
A few weeks ago i removed the recent downloads icon from my dock on accident (blue folder with an arrow and when you click it, it opens a list of your most recent, and when you start a download in safari it shows the file drop down to the folder). This folder is not the same as downloads, nor the same as recents. I checked the trash, and the folder is not there. For the time being i have added downloads to my dock, but that just shows everything in my downloads. (Also since the folder has been gone when i download something safari shows the file go to the downloads icon on safari instead of down to the dock)
My recent experience is no -- the first backup went just fine, but all subsequent attempts to add to it have failed, giving various errors in the logs, including mounting problems, timeout during the initial write test, bad database, etc. I did rename the drive between backups, maybe that was bad? The log shows Time Machine using the new name and finding the drive just fine. Googling this I see that people have these same problems with external hard drives, though, so I'm wondering if anyone has been successful using a thumb drive and if there's any trick to it.
I have a 2015 iMac 21.5" that has slowly ground down to crawl. I had this great idea of installing macos on an external SSD (Kingston 2TB) and run it from there instead but no matter what I try I can't get it to work. At first I downloaded the installer for Monterey but the HDD isn't great and it kept crashing and restarting partway through. Then I tried installing to the SSD from Recovery (internet recovery wouldn't get past wifi choice so had to use non-internet) but even though the installation went ok it continued to boot from the HDD and in Startup Disk the SSD wouldn't show at all. Then I made a USB boot stick and did the same steps above with the same result. The SSD has GUID map and I tried both Mac OS and APFS formatted. Does anyone have an idea what might be going wrong? Thanks in advance!
I haven't been able to find good info on this, or it could be that there's nothing to speak of. New to MacOS (last time I used it was c. 2001). My intention is to use it as close to "as intended" as possible, including using all of Apple's productivity apps. I also have an iPhone. I am using iCloud Drive and have Desktop and Documents sync turned on. When I used Pages for the first time it made a Pages folder in iCloud Drive. I know I don't HAVE to use it (I can open docs in the Documents folder and its subfolders from either device) but is there any special advantage to using the dedicated Pages or Numbers (etc.) folders that I'm not seeing? Or am I missing out on nothing by ignoring them and filing docs where I want to. TIA!
I’ve got Lockdown enabled on my mac. Most things are fine. But MS Office for the web is not. For most web pages, you can select whether lockdown applies. I have done this for Office:  When looking at office in the browser, a red message appears in the top right “Lockdown Off”. But when the office web page shows, all the icons are blank:  I looked at the web page source - and can see that some material is being loaded from here: res-h3.public.cdn.office.net I have also set this to be excluded from lockdown. But that didn’t help. Has anyone got MS Office for the web working under Lockdown Mode? Thx
After installing Mac OS sonoma for a few weeks my mac quickly ran out of storage. I did a scan using cleanmymac and found this huge folder in /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/:  I opened the folder and found it full of high-quality landscape videos, which is probably used for screen savers. Would anything go wrong if I delete everything in the folder and use the old screen saver?
[rcmd](https://lowtechguys.com/rcmd/) is a great tool that lets you switch apps using the right command key and the first letter of an app's name, but I found right command to be a bit out of the way to hit when my right hand was on the mouse. I did a bit of research, and found some [resources](https://rakhesh.com/mac/using-hidutil-to-map-macos-keyboard-keys/) on how to use `hidutil` to rebind keys, and bound caps lock to right command. Now I have a super useful quick app switcher key that is easy to use and doesn't punish me for accidentally hitting caps lock! Yay!
I just got my new MacBook (upgraded from an air 2018 to a pro). Second Mac, first time replacing one. Should I do a Time Machine restore immediately? Or should I boot up and do updates then Time Machine restore?
When I got my iPad and then MacBook Air I was still an android and windows user, so I used a gmail address for my Apple account. Eventually I used a custom domain and switched the account email address. I am currently trying to wipe my MacBook to give to my daughter for college. But it needs me to sign out of find my and it has the original gmail address. It is not accepting the password, and when I do to find my nothing is signed in. Any tips? The only thing a search turns up is how to sign out nothing about it being a defunct account name.
I'm on Mac OS sonoma beta and I've been using the solar gradients wallpaper since it exists. But a few days ago white vertical bars appeared on the wallpaper. When I switched to another wallpaper and switched back the white bars disappear. Yesterday the same issue happened, but when I switch back to the solar gradients wallpaper, the vertical bars are still there. Although any other wallpaper doesn't show vertical bars, I really want the solar gradients wallpaper back, how do I fix this? Screenshot of wallpaper with vertical bars (the black squares are the dock and documents on my desktop): 
If anyone else has dealt with iCloud Drive constantly getting stuck uploading I wanted to share the best solution I have so far and ask if anyone has fixed it another way. What I've figured out from reading Apple support and Reddit threads is that there's a daemon called `bird` at `/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CloudDocsDaemon.framework/Versions/A/Support/bird` that handles syncing, and killing it forcing it to restart usually gets things working again. My oneliner script to kill it to force a restart: `pid=$(ps -ax | pgrep bird | awk '{print}'); kill $pid` But sometimes it restarts and gets stuck the same way. Do you get this issue? Figured anything out about it?
Just launched updates in App Store and it suggests this app that is not even installed on my computer. What is doing there?? Is this some scam?
new MBP user here with M2, 13", 2022. I'm trying to backup some stuff to dropbox from my hdd (~300GB of photos and videos), but my hdd keeps being disconnected on its own? and how the hell do I clear all notifications?
Hi, just got a MacBook air m2 running latest stable Ventura. Safari has no trouble autofilling passwords from keychain, but there's no autofill in desktop apps. I thought macos had universal keychain autofill. Or did I remember this wrong?
New MacBook user here, M1 Airbook here with the latest MacOS. I have an SD Card from my old Android phone. I'm trying to transfer some stuff from there to my MacBook. I'm using a SD card adapter, the card is readable on my Windows machine. But when I plug it into my MacBook I get an error it is not readable. I think the card is exFat formatted, though Disk utility says FAT32, either way MacOS should be able to read it. Attached screenshots of the errors and disk utility. Any help is appreciated.
Hi guys, So I've been experiencing a lot of issues lately with my Macbook losing WiFi after waking up from sleep. I have no idea what is causing it, it was never an issue until about 3 weeks ago when I started using an external monitor and a dock (but have no idea whether it is correlated). Tried all the tricks I read online: Reset SMC, PRAM, remove all saved WiFi networks and locations, create new ones, reset router... The only thing that seems to fix it is if I reboot the Macbook. I fiddled around with the Network settings and set the macbook to use "DHCP with Manual address" and that seems to give me partial connectivity: some apps will work, some won't. Some websites will load, some others won't. Does anyone have a permanent fix for this? It's incredibly annoying that I step away from the workstation for 5 minutes, come back, and find that I have no internet again.
Hi all, I am currently using a MacBook Pro 15" mid-2014 with the following specs: - RAM 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3. - Processor 2.5 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7. - Graphic cards Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB/NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2 GB. It is running with Big Sur 11.7.9. Recently, I had its battery replaced because my old one was in bad shape, and it had even swollen a bit. The new battery is from the manufacturer Simplo, according to coconutBattery app. I've been experiencing some issues, particularly when using macOS on battery power only, something I hadn't done in a long time due to the poor state of my previous battery. The problems I'm encountering are as follows: 1. Overall slowdowns, laggy cursor, and beachball, especially when the battery percentage drops below 80%, most noticeable when it goes from 60% to lower. 2. Freezing my Mac, causing macOS to crash and returning to the login page. 3. In the worst-case scenario, a kernel panic, followed by a reboot. Through my investigation, I have identified two processes, configd, and powerd, as the main culprits. Configd always uses 100% of the processor when the battery is the power source and I'm engaging in moderate to heavy usage with my Mac. By this, I mean using applications like Spark mail, Safari, Activity Monitor (to track down issues), Telegram, Evernote, Todoist, Discord, and occasionally Notion and Element app without any image or video processing apps (which I would refer as heavier usage). Reproducing these issues is quite simple – just let the battery drop below 80% and start using the aforementioned apps while unplugged. If issues arise, quickly plug it in, and you might regain control (though sometimes this approach doesn't work, depending on how long it remains stuck). While I've found some information about configd and its behavior, the available advice mainly consists of workarounds, like manually killing the process (which doesn't work in my case because it auto restarts quickly). The closest source I've found addressing this is a [macrumors forum](https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macbookpro-mid-2015-mds_stores-or-configd-cpu-high-load.2380126/), which also happens to be from this year. I also found a [comment](https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=364963#c31) that describes my experience accurately. I'm wondering if this might be a hardware failure or perhaps some kind of battery-related issue (battery gate, maybe???). I also use BootCamp with Windows 10, and I haven't noticed any slowdowns or crashes when running on low battery. It seems to be isolated to macOS albeit my usage on Win10 is minimal compared with macOS. Here is a list of workarounds and fixes I've attempted so far, without success (in what I believe is chronological order): 1. SMC and PRAM reset immediately after battery replacement, but it didn't help. 2. Testing on Safe Mode with Safari and some other tabs opened plus YT playback, almost instant macOS crash. 3. Reinstalled macOS without using Time Machine backups to get rid of any lingering issues from previous setups. 4. Removed my ethernet driver (using the Asix USB Ethernet app). 5. Minimized usage of the aforementioned apps, which seemed to help a bit, but I still experienced crashes when using Evernote with a background YouTube video in Safari. 6. Tried turning off Wifi and BT (one at a time and both together) using the ethernet adapter to maintain Internet connection, but it didn't resolve the issue. 7. Another user on a macrumors forum suggested that having another administrative account active somewhat might help, but it didn't make a difference for me. 8. Attempted to kill the configd process, but it immediately auto restarts, causing further issues with macOS. 9. Reduced peripherals such as my MX Keys keyboard and mouse (since my trackpad is faulty, likely due to the previous battery, and the stock Apple keyboard works fine for about 8 seconds then it stops registering any inputs for 1 second and repeats this behavior). 10. Removed my Ugreen dongle to rule out hardware issues, but it didn't fix the problem. 11. Someone else in the macrumors forum mentioned that disabling IPv6 support could help, but I couldn't do it with my Ethernet adapter, then I disabled it for Wifi, it didn't resolve the problem. I may be forgetting some workarounds or best practices, but these are the most prominent ones that come to mind. Here is some information about my new battery: >Model Information: > >Manufacturer: SMP > >Device Name: bq20z451 > >Pack Lot Code: 3230 > >PCB Lot Code: 3230 > >Firmware Version: 2d31 > >Hardware Revision: 322d > >Cell Revision: 3036 > >Charge Information: > >Fully Charged: Yes > >Charging: No > >Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 8500 > >State of Charge (%): 100 > >Health Information: > >Cycle Count: 18 > >Condition: Normal I've also included my last kernel panic [report](https://pastebin.com/raw/wRQX0cR2) for reference. What are your thoughts? Could this issue be related to old software and hardware, or could it be linked to my hardware or the new battery itself? This is the most bizarre issue I've faced with my Mac so far, and as I mentioned earlier, it's possible that this problem has been present for a while because I used it plugged in for so long, both for me and others.
I want to backup my Mac onto my ssd drive so that I can safely upgrade to Mac OS sonoma beta, but time machine gives the error message that the disk doesn't have enough free space. I always thought that time machine automatically deletes older backups when it runs out of space, but it appears that it doesn't. I searched for tutorials on how to delete backups but none of them seem to work for the time machine interface on Mac OS ventura (most of them involve clicking a gear on the finder window in time machine but on my mac there's no gear icon). Any ideas how should I do that?
I have two identical WD Passports 1TB external disks - one orange one yellow (crucial information :D). On one of them, I store all my data - design files, family pictures etc. Second one, I used to use as a backup. Before formatting my macos I had an app that worked like that: I would plug both of the to my macbook, after clicking a button, it would compare orange and yellow, and whatever was on orange but was missing on yellow, it would copy that file to yellow. I could set it up, that if something was missing from orange, but was on yellow, it would also delete it from yellow (or if I wanted, it would leave it there). Now, for the love of me I couldn't remeber what it was called. It was very basic looking... Any idea what it was, or maybe a suggestion for a similar app? It was deifnitely 100% free. EDIT: I remember that backup option were presented like this A>>B, A=B etc.