You can control the number of columns and rows in LaunchPad. To do so, edit the com.apple.doc defaults domain with the key springboard-rows for the number of rows to display and springboard-columns to control the number of columns displayed. So to set the number of rows LaunchPad will show per screen, send the write verb into defaults for com.apple.dock along with the springboard-rows and an -int of 4: defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-rows -int 4 Likewise, to set columns to 8: defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-columns -int 8 Then just killall for Dock: killall Dock In some cases you will also need to send a resetlaunchpad boolean into com.apple.dock (for TRUE) along…
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Limit Upload and Download Streams for Google Drive File Stream on macOS
Google Drive File Stream allows you to access files from Google’s cloud. It’s pretty easy for a lot of our coworkers to saturate our pipes. So you can configure a maximum download and upload speed in kilobytes per second. To do so write a com.google.drivefs.settings defaults domain into /Library/Preferences/com.google.drivefs.settings and use a key of BandwidthRxKBPS for download and BandwidthTxKBPS for upload (downstream and upstream as they refer to them) as follows: defaults write com.google.drivefs.settings BandwidthRxKBPS -int 200 defaults write com.google.drivefs.settings BandwidthTxKBPS -int 200
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Using Managed App Config with Jamf Pro
Hey look, there’s a new category on the Jamf Marketplace, available at https://marketplace.jamf.com/apps/#category=AppConfig,selecting the AppConfig category. The new AppConfig category gives administrators of any MDM that supports AppConfig access to a set of apps that support AppConfig. If you have an app that isn’t listed here, feel free to let me know. What does this mean? Well, AppConfig is a way of sending data into an app. App config allows a customer to deploy settings into applications on iOS devices in much the same way that settings can be sent into a Mac app via the defaults command. This means an end user could get an app installed on their device…
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QuickLook Crashing?
I recently had an issue where QuickLook was crashing every time I clicked on certain file types. I thought they were unsupported by QuickLook. But it turns out that they were animated and trying to start while the QuickLook animation was starting. So disable the QuickLook animation and the files appeared as intended. To do so, write a key called QLPanelAnimationDuration into the global defaults database, with a -float value of 0, as follows: defaults write -g QLPanelAnimationDuration -float 0
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Decrease Time Delays When Scripting Safari
When you’re regression testing, you frequently just don’t want any delays for scripts unless you intentionally sleep your scripts. By default Safari has an internal delay that I’d totally forgotten about. So if your GUI scripts (yes, I know, yuck) are taking too long to run, check this out and see if it helps: defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitInitialTimedLayoutDelay 0 With a script I was recently working on, this made the thing take about an hour less. Might help for your stuffs, might not. If not, to undo: defaults delete com.apple.Safari WebKitInitialTimedLayoutDelay Enjoy.
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Navigating Through accountsd in macOS
The directory services options in macOS has quietly been going through some slow changes over the past couple of years. Many of the tools we use to manage accounts look similar on the outside but sometimes work a little differently under the hood. Account information is still stored in the /var/db/dslocal/nodes directory. Here, the local directory service pulls files from within directories recursively when accountsd loads. You can still create a second instance of the local directory service by copying the Default directory. For example, here we’ll copy the Default directory node to a directory node called NEW: sudo cp -prnv /var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default /var/db/dslocal/nodes/NEW If you killall accountsd then wait (this is…
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Hey Photos, stop opening when I plug in my devices…
When I plug my iPad in, Photos opens. I want it to stop opening when I plug it in. To make it stop, write a disableHotPlug key into com.apple.ImageCapture as true: defaults -currentHost write com.apple.ImageCapture disableHotPlug -bool true To enable Photos opening when you plug in a device again, just delete the disableHotPlug key: defaults -currentHost delete com.apple.ImageCapture disableHotPlug
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Disable The iCloud Options In Caching Server For OS X Server 5
I’ve written a couple of articles about the Caching service in OS X Server 5 for El Capitan. As of OS X Server 5, the Caching service now caches local copies on the computer running the Caching service of iCloud content. This allows you to cache content once and then have it accessed by multiple devices faster. I’m torn on this option. On the one hand, I love the fact that I can cache things and on the other hand I find it frightening that a random user can cache things I might not want them to cache on behalf of another user. I know, I know, they’re encrypted with…
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Command Line Firewall Management In OS X 10.10
The tools to automate OS X firewall events from the command line are still stored in /usr/libexec/ApplicationFirewall. And you will still use socketfilterfw there for much of the heavy lifting. However, now there are much more helpful and functional options in socketfilterfw that will allow you to more easily script the firewall. Some tricks I’ve picked up with the Mac Firewall/alf scripting: Configure the firewall fully before turning it on (especially if you’re doing so through something like Casper, FileWave, Munki, or Absolute Manage where you might kick yourself out of your session otherwise). Whatever you do, you can always reset things back to defaults by removing the com.apple.alf.plist file…
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Password Hints and Retries in OS X
You can customize the number of times that you enter an incorrect password before you get the password hint in the loginwindow on OS X. To do so, use the defaults command to send a RetriesUntilHint integer key into com.apple.loginwindow.plist stored at /Library/Preferences using the following command: defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow RetriesUntilHint -integer 10