What to do when you know there’s an update available, but Software Update pretends that it can’t find it. With details of undocumented options for softwareupdate command and more.
troubleshooting
New version adds more detail to the list of log files, and a new graphical view to pick out anomalies in up to 6 weeks of previous log records.
How to browse log entries for an event that occurred many days after its entries have been removed from the active log, by discovering its exact time and the processes involved.
A new app to analyse the size of log entries written by different processes over the last few weeks or months, Logistician. First release version for Sonoma and later.
Get more information about background processes from Activity Monitor, the command tool sfltool performing a BTM dump, attributions.plist, and the log.
You press the Power button, but nothing happens. Has your Mac suddenly died, does it have a problem you can fix easily, or is it just in DFU mode?
You’re sometimes advised to shut your Mac down, wait a while, and start it up again, instead of restarting it. Are they different, and if so when should you use them?
Distinguish between panics, freezes, app crashes, and unresponsive apps, as they have different causes, are investigated differently, and have different solutions.
Catch up on your reading with selected articles from the past year, covering hardware, firmware and Recovery, troubleshooting and updates.
Five test questions put to Google’s AI-enhanced search. Answers analysed to understand its weaknesses rather than strengths. And why every answer is a bit random.
The Eclectic Light Company 