Create bootable OS X/macOS Intel installers under Apple silicon

with macUSB. Requires macOS Sonoma 14.6 or newer and installer in DMG format (MIST^* is recommended for obtaining). With the exception of Mavericks and Sierra, all versions from Lion through Sequoia have passed testing. See announcement on r/macapps.

^* Get macOS installers (app, dmg, iso, pkg) and firmware (ipsw)

❧ 2025-12-15

Boot unsupported macOS guests in VMware Fusion on Intel Macs

with OC4VM (OpenCore for VMware). It provides an OpenCore boot disk image intended for macOS guests running under VMware Fusion (on Intel Apple hardware) and VMware Workstation (on Intel or AMD PC hardware). Enables macOS Recovery boot (working around limitations in VMware's EFI) and adds Intel e1000e virtual NIC support for Ventura and later.

Project testing covers a 2014 Mac mini and an AMD Ryzen–based HP T740 with Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura, Sonoma, Sequoia, and Tahoe VMs.

❧ 2025-12-15

Remove New Outlook / Legacy Outlook toggle in Outlook for Mac

Quit Outlook and run:

defaults write com.microsoft.Outlook EnableNewOutlook -int 0

Before:

Now you see it...

After:

now you don't

See also these links on the dangers of New Outlook and instructions for disabling in Windows.

Sources

Is the toggle for "New Outlook" on macOS no longer hidden by default?
how to disable "new look" outlook on macos
Outlook Mac 16.71 - Remove Permanent "New Outlook" Banner?

Set the availability and default position of the New Outlook switch:

Category	Details
Domain	com.microsoft.Outlook
Key	EnableNewOutlook
Data Type	Integer
Possible values	0 = Switch hidden 1 = Switch displayed, default off 2 = Switch displayed, default on (default) 3 = New Outlook enabled with switch hidden
Requires Configuration Profile	No
Availability	16.38

❧ 2025-12-09

Specify Discogs/MusicBrainz URL for CD metadata in dBpoweramp

dBpoweramp CD Ripper includes a useful but subtle feature (described in the advanced options documentation) for pulling metadata directly from Discogs or MusicBrainz URLs:

"Artist and Album can be typed to be searched in both Discogs and Musicbrainz, it is also possible to load an exact disc from either of these sites, simply browse to the disc release page and copy the URL from the internet browser address bar to the clipboard, this page will automatically load into CD ripper."

After loading a disc, click the Options icon (white and green memo), select Manual Metadata Search, and copy the URL to the clipboard to auto-populate metadata.

❧ 2025-12-09

Spoof a local mail server to bypass Outlook for Mac's mandatory sign‑in

Classic Outlook for Windows can be started without an email account via Outlook.exe /PIM <new-profile-name>.

Outlook for Mac does not offer an equivalent option, but this can be worked around by pointing Outlook at a local dummy mail server so it accepts account setup without real credentials.

1. Run a local dummy mail server

Save and run the following script:

import socket
import threading

RESPONSES = {
    'POP3': {
        'greeting': b"+OK POP3 server ready\r\n",
        'bye': b"+OK Bye\r\n",
        'default': b"+OK\r\n",
        'commands': {
            'CAPA': b"+OK Capability list follows\r\nUSER\r\nUIDL\r\n.\r\n",
            'AUTH': b"-ERR Authentication failed, try USER/PASS\r\n",
            'STLS': b"-ERR TLS not available\r\n",
            'STAT': b"+OK 0 0\r\n",
            'UIDL': b"+OK\r\n.\r\n",
            'LIST': b"+OK 0 messages\r\n.\r\n",
        }
    },
    'SMTP': {
        'greeting': b"220 localhost ESMTP\r\n",
        'bye': b"221 Bye\r\n",
        'default': b"250 OK\r\n",
        'commands': {
            'EHLO': b"250-localhost\r\n250-SIZE 1000000\r\n250 8BITMIME\r\n",
            'HELO': b"250-localhost\r\n250-SIZE 1000000\r\n250 8BITMIME\r\n",
            'DATA': b"354 Go ahead\r\n",
            'AUTH': b"235 2.7.0 Authentication successful\r\n",
        }
    }
}

def handle_connection(conn, protocol):
    cfg = RESPONSES[protocol]
    conn.send(cfg['greeting'])

    with conn:
        while True:
            try:
                data = conn.recv(1024)
                if not data:
                    break

                command = data.decode('utf-8', errors='ignore').strip().upper()
                print(f"[{protocol}] Received: {command}")

                if command.startswith("QUIT"):
                    conn.send(cfg['bye'])
                    break

                # Find matching command
                response = cfg['default']
                for cmd, resp in cfg['commands'].items():
                    if command.startswith(cmd):
                        response = resp
                        break

                conn.send(response)
            except (ConnectionResetError, BrokenPipeError):
                break

def start_server(port, protocol):
    with socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM) as s:
        s.setsockopt(socket.SOL_SOCKET, socket.SO_REUSEADDR, 1)
        try:
            s.bind(('127.0.0.1', port))
            s.listen(5)
            print(f"Listening on port {port} for {protocol}...")
            while True:
                conn, addr = s.accept()
                print(f"Connection from {addr} on {protocol}")
                threading.Thread(target=handle_connection, args=(conn, protocol), daemon=True).start()
        except OSError as e:
            print(f"FAIL: Could not bind port {port}. Error: {e}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    servers = [
        threading.Thread(target=start_server, args=(1100, 'POP3'), daemon=True),
        threading.Thread(target=start_server, args=(2525, 'SMTP'), daemon=True),
    ]

    for t in servers:
        t.start()

    try:
        for t in servers:
            t.join()
    except KeyboardInterrupt:
        print("\nShutting down...")

2. Configure Outlook for Mac

In Outlook for Mac, create a new account with these settings:

Dummy email address and password
Incoming server: 127.0.0.1
Incoming port: 1100
Outgoing server: 127.0.0.1
Outgoing port: 2525
SSL: disabled for both incoming and outgoing

Notes

Legacy Outlook (equivalent of classic Outlook on Windows) and Work Offline options are located under the Outlook menu in the macOS menu bar.
Use Outlook Profile Manager, located at /Applications/Microsoft Outlook.app/Contents/SharedSupport/Outlook Profile Manager.app, to create, delete, and set default profiles.

❧ 2025-12-07

Public WiFi security risks explained

lolwifi.network:

"This site takes a position: we believe untrusted public WiFi presents unacceptable risks for consumer devices. Our assessment is designed to surface logical contradictions in the 'it's fine' position.

"We present the technical facts fairly, but our framing has a point of view. If you disagree with our conclusion, we'd genuinely like to understand why—especially if you can address the join-phase risk problem."

reddit | HN

❧ 2025-11-30

Delete all contact images via AppleScript

One of the more frustrating features in iOS/iPadOS/macOS is the automatic insertion of unwanted photos and images into contact records, made even worse with the introduction of Contact Posters. There is currently no way to disable this anti-feature, and manually deleting images becomes an endless game of whack-a-mole. The situation is especially vexing in macOS Tahoe, where Contacts already suffers from extremely low information density.

These two simple scripts were tested in Tahoe on a local contacts database (back up before running, proceed at your own risk (and joy), etc.); the first lists contacts with images attached and the second deletes images from contacts:

1. List contacts containing images

tell application "Contacts"
    set contactsWithPhotos to {}
    set allPeople to every person
    
    repeat with aPerson in allPeople
        if image of aPerson is not missing value then
            set end of contactsWithPhotos to name of aPerson
        end if
    end repeat
    
    return contactsWithPhotos
end tell

2. Delete images from contacts

tell application "Contacts"
    set contactsWithPhotosRemoved to {}
    set allPeople to every person
    
    repeat with aPerson in allPeople
        if image of aPerson is not missing value then
            set image of aPerson to missing value
            set end of contactsWithPhotosRemoved to name of aPerson
        end if
    end repeat
    save
    
    return contactsWithPhotosRemoved
end tell

❧ 2025-11-25

Launch multiple, isolated macOS app instances

with Parall:

"[C]reate dedicated app shortcuts that launch fully separate instances - each with its own data folder, profile, environment variables and command-line arguments. With the new HOME redirect feature, it now supports the majority of non-sandboxed macOS apps."

Mac App Store | r/macapps

❧ 2025-11-18

Insert thought bubble/balloon in macOS Preview

Speech and thought bubble annotations (Tools → Annotate → Add Speech Bubble / Add Thought Bubble) were introduced in Preview 5.5/OS X 10.7 Lion (not Mountain Lion, as incorrectly stated in the top search result).

While the speech bubble option is still listed as of Preview 11.0/macOS 26.1 Tahoe, the thought bubble option was last seen in Preview 7.0/OS X 10.9.5 Mavericks.

However, starting with Preview 8.1 in OS X 10.11 El Capitan, an adjustable thought bubble (with built‑in text area) can be created by using the Sketch tool to approximate a cloud, an Easter egg that still works in macOS Tahoe.

***

Poor drawing skills triggered recognition of a heart shape, raising the question of what other shapes might be supported. Apple's documentation offers scant detail:

"If your drawing is recognized as a standard shape, it’s replaced by that shape; to use your drawing instead, choose it from the palette that’s shown."

Went digging for what these "standard shapes" might be:

otool -L /System/Applications/Preview.app/Contents/MacOS/Preview revealed a dependency on /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/AnnotationKit.framework/Versions/A/AnnotationKit, which sounded promising, but the file was missing and an alias by that name two directories above pointed to Versions/Current/AnnotationKit, which was also missing.
Trying to find the macOS Framework binaries and Binary Extraction with Visual Tooling clarified that most system frameworks reside inside the dyld shared cache.
Extracted the cache using dyld-shared-cache-extractor: dyld-shared-cache-extractor /System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e /tmp/libraries

strings /private/tmp/libraries/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/AnnotationKit.framework/Versions/A/AnnotationKit uncovered two lists of shapes:

1st	2nd
Rectangle	arrow
Rounded Rectangle	outline arrow
Oval	star
Line	rounded rectangle
Line with Arrow	oval
Outline Arrow	chat bubble
Speech Bubble	pentagon
Polygon	triangle
Doodle	freeform
Triangle	heart
Heart	cloud
Thought Bubble

A 2019 snapshot of the iPadOS 14 features preview page (H/T) contained a similar list:

"Shape recognition allows you to draw geometrically perfect lines, curves, and shapes, including hearts, stars, and arrows. Simply start drawing and pause slightly at the end, and your imperfect shape snaps into a perfect one. Shape recognition is great for drawing diagrams and quick sketches.

"Shape recognition supports these shapes:

Line

Curve

Square

Rectangle

Circle

Oval

Heart

Triangle

Star

Cloud

Hexagon

Thought bubble

Outlined arrow

Continuous line with 90‑degree turns

Line with arrow endpoint

Curve with arrow endpoint"

Automatically crop PNG transparent background

Acorn includes a Trim to Edges command in the Image menu that "will automatically crop out anything that is a constant color, or no color at all."

Before and after:

IrfanView offers both Auto-crop borders and Auto-crop borders - Show selection in the Edit menu.

❧ 2025-11-09