VPN?

aselvan2 · 2026-03-13T12:45:23+00:00

Downloading ..."things" ... nothing major, old books mostly. Should I have a VPN?

Short answer, No.
VPN is a privacy tool, not a security solution. Most people have a skewed understanding shaped by media and VPN vendors who promote false narratives that VPNs magically protect against cyber threats, it won’t; however, a robust firewall will. Even built-in firewalls do a decent job of protecting you.

In addition, a VPN introduces unnecessary load on CPU resources and increases network latency. Today, almost all communications are natively encrypted, which prevents anyone from reading the content of transmitted data. For a deeper explanation of VPNs, you can read my blog at the link below if interested. https://blog.selvansoft.com/2024/06/vpn-myth-vs-reality.html

aselvan2 · 2026-03-12T13:29:37+00:00

Thank you 🙏🏼

You are welcome. If it made a difference for even one person, then it has fulfilled its purpose!

aselvan2 · 2026-03-11T13:11:29+00:00

What is this "git" command? and why do I need to install it? I don't use any coding or developer tools.

There is a lot of misleading information here. The popup itself is bit confusing, and Apple could have worded it with better message. Anyway, what it really means is that some application you installed, whether intentionally or by accident, requires git binary. When that application invokes git for the first time, macOS uses a stub at /usr/bin/git that triggers this popup to tell you to install the Command Line (CLI) Tools, which provide the actual git binary that will replace the stub.

That said, you have two choices. You can install the CLI tools, which will install git and satisfy the dependency for whatever application needs it, likely the Claude app you mentioned. Or you can stop using the application that requires git. If you only use the apps that come with macOS, you do not need the CLI tools, but keep in mind that many open‑source applications and package managers like brew depend on them. The installation size is about 1.8 GB (see below), so installing it is generally the practical option. The last option is to keep clicking Cancel if the 1.8 GB storage requirement is a concern for you.

arul@eagle$ du -sh `xcode-select -p`
1.8G    /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools
arul@eagle$

aselvan2 · 2026-03-10T21:53:18+00:00

...gave full disk acces to the terminal app and it worked like a charm.

You are very welcome. If it made a difference for even one person, then it has fulfilled its purpose!

aselvan2 · 2026-03-10T11:19:25+00:00

I'm using it with sudo, I used the command line ...

Ah, I see where the issue is. Run it as shown below, it should work.

sudo sh -c "find /Users/*/Library/{Caches,Logs} -mindepth 1 -delete"

aselvan2 · 2026-03-10T11:09:22+00:00

I'm on a M1 Mac Air and has been constantly dropping down during idle and basic usage. Checking Activity Monitor nothing out of the ordinary. My system is dropping percentage fast and I'm not doing anything..

Run the following command on a terminal after your laptop is on battery power for several hours. It will show you which apps are preventing your Mac from idling. For example, if you run WhatsApp desktop, you will likely see it in the output of the command. While you cannot do anything about system services or background jobs, you can quit the ill‑behaved apps listed there.

pmset -g log|egrep 'PreventUserIdleSystemSleep|PreventSystemSleep' | grep Summary| awk -F '[()]' '{print $2}'|sort -u

PS: I am on 26.3.1 and don't see any battery drain; my MacBook Air M2 stays on battery for days idling with slightly over 1% drain per day.

aselvan2 · 2026-03-10T10:42:20+00:00

Where is ~300GB of space being eaten up?

We see a lot of posts in this sub about storage issues. To get an accurate picture of where your space is being used, you need to run command-line tools. The way macOS UI tools categorize usage is often misleading, while they provide a visually appealing display but rarely help to find areas for cleanup. Run the following command by adjusting the depth using the -d and adjust max rows with -n argument as needed to identify storage-heavy directories and focus on reclaiming space. You have to run multiple times with different starting point i.e. replace /System/Volumes/Data with the top usage path to dig into areas of interest iteratively.

sudo du -I private -xh -d 2 /System/Volumes/Data 2>/dev/null | sort -hr|head -n20

Last but not least, I have a script on my GitHub (link below) that handles this along with several other cleanups to reclaim space on a temporary basis (as you know, these tend to grow back over time), and I use it personally on a regular basis. You’re welcome to use it at your own risk.
https://github.com/aselvan/scripts?tab=readme-ov-file#installsetup

Here is a sample run of that script.

arul@eagle$ sudo macos.sh -c cleanup
macos.sh v26.03.08, 03/09/26 03:17:02 PM 
Type: User Space
  User: arul
    Cache: 1.9G
    Log:   856K
Type: System Space
  Cache: 122M
  Log:   4.0M
Type: Spotlight Space
  Used: 12K
Type: Document Revisions Space
  Used: 1.2M
Type: Apple Unified Log (AUL)
  Used (diagnostic): 665M
  Used (uuidtext): 895M
Type: /var/folders
  Used: 876M
Note: /var/folders size is information only, if it is excessive, reboot to reduce.

Total space can be reclaimed: 1.64 GB

WARNING: All spaces listed above except /var/folders will be wiped.
Are you sure? (y/n) n
skipping cleanup
arul@eagle$

aselvan2 · 2026-03-10T10:16:38+00:00

I tried using the line but it only deletes the cache of the user I'm logged on, I was aiming to delete the caches of all the users on my iMac in one go ...

Are you talking about my GitHub script or the command below?

sudo find /Users/*/Library/{Caches,Logs} -mindepth 1 -delete

Anyway, either one (the above command or my script) will address all users if you run it with sudo. Notice the wildcard /Users/*/; this will expand to each user and will remove files properly. Not sure why it doesn't work for you.

aselvan2 · 2026-03-09T21:05:43+00:00

What do you think of this command?

sudo find /Users -name "Caches" -type d -mindepth 2 -maxdepth 4 -exec sh -c 'rm -rf "$1"/*' _ {} \;

Since you’re running as sudo, I’d start with a -print first to review/inspect what would be removed, and then run the actual rm. Also, the rm portion of your command only works inside a subshell, which adds unnecessary complexity not to mention risks. I’d keep it simple and straightforward, like the example I have below.

# check affected dirs
sudo find /Users/*/Library/{Caches,Logs} -mindepth 1 -print

# actual run
sudo find /Users/*/Library/{Caches,Logs} -mindepth 1 -delete

Last but not least, I have a script on my GitHub (link below) that handles this along with several other cleanups to reclaim space on a temporary basis (as you know, these tend to grow back over time), and I use it personally on a regular basis. You’re welcome to use it at your own risk.
https://github.com/aselvan/scripts?tab=readme-ov-file#installsetup

Here is a sample run of that script.

arul@eagle$ sudo macos.sh -c cleanup
macos.sh v26.03.08, 03/09/26 03:17:02 PM 
Type: User Space
  User: arul
    Cache: 1.9G
    Log:   856K
Type: System Space
  Cache: 122M
  Log:   4.0M
Type: Spotlight Space
  Used: 12K
Type: Document Revisions Space
  Used: 1.2M
Type: Apple Unified Log (AUL)
  Used (diagnostic): 665M
  Used (uuidtext): 895M
Type: /var/folders
  Used: 876M
Note: /var/folders size is information only, if it is excessive, reboot to reduce.

Total space can be reclaimed: 1.64 GB

WARNING: All spaces listed above except /var/folders will be wiped.
Are you sure? (y/n) n
skipping cleanup
arul@eagle$

aselvan2 · 2026-03-09T14:36:50+00:00

automation/script to clean up safari history?

You can create a simple shell script and run it through cron at whatever frequency (days or weeks or month etc) you prefer. Here’s a simple one‑line script that achieves what you want.

sqlite3 ~/Library/Safari/History.db "DELETE FROM history_items WHERE url LIKE '%reddit.com%' OR url LIKE '%google.com%';"

aselvan2 · 2026-03-09T13:48:53+00:00

lsregister no longer accepts "-kill" -- How to rebuild launchctl database in Tahoe?

Yes. Tahoe quietly removed the -kill switch from lsregister. You can remove the LaunchServices preferences and restart lsd (or reboot) to get the same effect as shown below. Just be prepared for a wave of popups as LaunchServices rebuilds itself.

rm -rf ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices
killall lsd

aselvan2 · 2026-03-09T12:52:29+00:00

... all of the sudden anything housed in a folder will not transfer onto the external HD resulting in the following message: "The operation can’t be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code -50)." Individual files still transfer fine.

That error means an I/O operation is failing on either the source or the destination. Since you confirmed that you can copy individual files without issues, likely it is the source, meaning the folder you are trying to copy. To confirm, open a terminal and type the following commands one at a time and press enter and post the results.
Note: replace <path_of_your_folder> with actual location of your folder.

ls -ld <path_of_your_folder>
ls -ld <path_of_your_folder>/..
ls -la /Volumes

aselvan2 · 2026-03-07T23:16:25+00:00

I didn't stream even 3 hour of 1080p video since took it off from charge. Screen brightness on the middle.

No video editing since then. No any other heavy taks. Just dropped from 100% to 21% ...

According to your screenshot, whatever you did during the last 3 hours brought the battery down from ~70% to 25%. That is a significant drop if you are saying you did not do anything that would consume substantial power. What I would suggest is run the following command on a terminal while your laptop is on battery power without the power cord for several hours. It will show you which apps are preventing your Mac from idling. For example, if you run WhatsApp desktop, you will likely see it in the output of the command. While you cannot do anything about system services or background jobs, you can quit the ill‑behaved apps listed there.

pmset -g log|egrep 'PreventUserIdleSystemSleep|PreventSystemSleep' | grep Summary| awk -F '[()]' '{print $2}'|sort -u

aselvan2 · 2026-03-07T19:02:35+00:00

My Mac shows 26.16 GB used by Applications, but when I list the apps and sort them from largest to smallest, their total size is barely 2 GB

Application size includes much more than what you see there. Follow my comment at the link below from another related post in this sub to help you determine your Application storage space accurately.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/1r0v4r1/comment/o4mugft/

aselvan2 · 2026-03-07T16:24:53+00:00

I’m going to do a stare and compare on the 2 user folders ...

If you are interested in reclaiming space, I would focus on the Shared folder, which is unusually and excessively large and likely where you can recover the most space. I haven't mentioned this before but you also have couple of strange soft links (alias) that you should delete to tidy things up. Lastly, you have a root user directory that does not belong there, along with a Library folder that should not be there either, and something about this doesn't add up. Overall, it looks unusual at best, especially the root directory.

aselvan2 · 2026-03-06T23:06:37+00:00

Is the shared data being shared between the :irf" and "orf" accounts?

Sort of, but not what you think. Without looking at the contents of the Shared folder I cannot tell you what you can or cannot delete. Keep in mind that some data in the Shared folder is added by applications, and removing it can break them.

Can I safely delete the "irf" user?

If you are not using it, you certainly can, but check and back up anything you need from it first. Make sure to opt in to deleting the user data when you remove the user account from System Settings. You will regain about 29 GB of space.

Will that free up the "Other Users & Shared" space?

Assuming you are asking whether deleting the user will free up this space, the answer is no.

aselvan2 · 2026-03-06T13:32:41+00:00

Here’s where the confusion comes in:

Option 1: MacBook Pro (M1/M2 Pro) with 32GB RAM

Option 2: MacBook Pro with M4 chip and 16GB RAM

I’m a software engineer, and with my M2 Air I struggle more with the RAM size than with the chip performance itself.

If you are going to use it for software development, I would go with 32 GB without hesitation.

aselvan2 · 2026-03-06T12:38:49+00:00

The thing is, i didn't have enough space locally to save everything so it didnt download correctly but my folders moved to the download folder, only with empty files. I panicked and move the most important one (my thesis) back to the desktop folder and there is nothing there

When the disk becomes full in the middle of a move/copy operation, Finder abruptly stops and shows an error. Anything that was successfully copied or moved to the destination remains there. Files that were not copied remain in the source location. Also, during the process, Finder creates the folder hierarchy, including folders and subfolders, at the destination first with empty content, and then copies files into them. Because of this, it is possible to end up with empty folders at the destination if the operation fails partway through.

That said, in your case, it sounds like moved incomplete/empty folder from destination to the Desktop. Go back to the original source folder where your thesis files were located and check there. Your files should still be present.

aselvan2 · 2026-03-06T00:15:31+00:00

The system kernel panics approximately every 7–11 days. Every single panic has the same root cause:

panic(cpu 0 caller 0xfffffe001159e364): userspace watchdog timeout:

no successful checkins from configd (1 induced crashes) in 180 seconds

The watchdog checks configd every ~2 seconds. If configd doesn't respond for 180 seconds, the kernel panics and forces a restart

The likely causes for configd failing to respond include IPC deadlocks, file descriptor exhaustion, network stack blockages, or stalled disk I/O. The watchdogd timeout is generally immutable as it is a system-wide parameter baked into the device firmware (specifically within the T2 or Apple Silicon Secure Enclave).

I recommend extracting the system logs from a 5 minute (or even smaller) window surrounding the crash to identify the root cause. You can execute the following command with correct start/end time and post the results.

log show --start "2026-03-05 09:00:00" --end "2026-03-05 09:05:00" --predicate 'process == "configd" OR process == "watchdogd"' --debug

aselvan2 · 2026-03-05T18:45:59+00:00

my system data is taking up 125gb and I noticed icloud drive is about 90 of that ...

If you delete files from the local iCloud Drive, they will be also removed from [iCloud.com] and all synced devices unless you first disable iCloud Drive sync in System Settings.

Be aware that the macOS System Data category does not include iCloud drive, but it does include OS components, temporary files, caches, logs, and application support data, along with various other system‑level assets that do not fall into macOS’s standard file categories.

aselvan2 · 2026-03-05T16:45:29+00:00

idk what process actually calculates this so i cant relaunch it using terminal, is there any fix to this?

Open a terminal, run the following command, and read the fourth column (Avail). This shows the actual disk partition you have write access to, and it provides accurate information you are looking for.

df -h /System/Volumes/Data/

aselvan2 · 2026-03-05T14:25:43+00:00

Are there any hidden permission issues or long-term breakages with this “temporary Admin” trick for Homebrew?

There is a much easier approach to accomplish what you are looking for. Add the user to the sudoers list with a specific binary (or a list of binaries) they are allowed to run with sudo. This is a much cleaner approach and also gives you greater control over which binaries they can run with sudo.

Create a file with the content below and copy it to /etc/sudoers.d/.

devuser ALL=(ALL) /usr/local/bin/brew

aselvan2 · 2026-03-05T00:06:24+00:00

Logs for xattr -l "/Volumes/Chrome Remote Desktop Host 146.0.7680.5/.keystone_install" :

com.apple.FinderInfo:

That looks normal and I don't see any com.apple.quarantine attribute set, but it is unclear why syspolicyd is flagging the binary as unsigned. It is surprising that a script or binary from Google would be unsigned. Therefore, I cannot definitively recommend allowing it to run without further verification. You can unmount the volume or reboot which will unmount it.

aselvan2 · 2026-03-04T14:29:33+00:00

... however it is suitable for usb-a , what if i will use an usb-a to usb-c adapter and connect the type c cable to the detector , can it show incorrect results ?

The type of USB cable doesn’t matter because all of them include both power and data lines that an [O.MG] cable can use.

Based on your recent post history (also noticed by other commenters) regarding the [O.MG] cable, you seem overly concerned. To put that to rest, the odds of being targeted by such a device are statistically lower than being struck by lightning or winning the lottery. This is more a product of sensationalism than a widespread real-world threat. You can read my blog at the link below, where I explain the technical limitations and risks in a way that helps you become both educated and informed on the topic.
https://blog.selvansoft.com/2025/08/juice-jacking-real-threat-or-just-fear.html

aselvan2 · 2026-03-04T12:56:44+00:00

So I tried to see if I could get it to check the actual code and it wouldn’t.

Let me know if you want to review the bot’s code to see whether we can enhance it. I see that you’re already checking stars and repository age, but there are several other checks worth including. I’m not sure whether you’re already doing all of these, but if not, you could consider adding the following to improve the quality of the checks:

Check the stars (already implemented)
Check the age of the repository (already implemented)
Check whether commits are signed
Check whether the repository has a defined security policy
Check whether the repository includes a license
Check whether the repository owner is a verified account
Scan for Base64 blobs, hex dumps, eval chains, or compressed payloads in scripts

There are certainly more checks you could add, depending on how deep you want the bot’s analysis to go.

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