I hope you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 361. Here are my solutions to them.

1: This second was actually the sixth and bumped up by 20.

2: Its A5 followed the A4, without any one, and a third thinner.

3: First with a 750 followed the 604, but there was neither 1 nor 2.

The common factor

I look forward to your putting alternative cases.

Here are this weekend’s Mac riddles to entertain you through family time, shopping and recreation.

1: This second was actually the sixth and bumped up by 20.

2: Its A5 followed the A4, without any one, and a third thinner.

3: First with a 750 followed the 604, but there was neither 1 nor 2.

To help you cross-check your solutions, or confuse you further, there’s a common factor between them.

I’ll post my solutions first thing on Monday morning.

Please don’t post your solutions as comments here: it spoils it for others.

I hope you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 360. Here are my solutions to them.

1: With parents born in 1984 and 1989, it was born a server and raised with aqua.

2: First with Face ID and no Home to go to in 2017.

3: It shocked without MIDI in 2009, and ten years later went solo.

The common factor

I look forward to your putting alternative cases.

Here are this weekend’s Mac riddles to entertain you through family time, shopping and recreation.

1: With parents born in 1984 and 1989, it was born a server and raised with aqua.

2: First with Face ID and no Home to go to in 2017.

3: It shocked without MIDI in 2009, and ten years later went solo.

To help you cross-check your solutions, or confuse you further, there’s a common factor between them.

I’ll post my solutions first thing on Monday morning.

Please don’t post your solutions as comments here: it spoils it for others.

I hope you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 359. Here are my solutions to them.

1: Could in theory be 995 or unreal apparatus for running old macOS.

2: More than a superlative manager at the heart of 1.

3: Unreal input and output from Rusty Russell for 1.

The common factor

I look forward to your putting alternative cases.

Here are this weekend’s Mac riddles to entertain you through family time, shopping and recreation.

1: Could in theory be 995 or unreal apparatus for running old macOS.

2: More than a superlative manager at the heart of 1.

3: Unreal input and output from Rusty Russell for 1.

To help you cross-check your solutions, or confuse you further, there’s a common factor between them.

I’ll post my solutions first thing on Monday morning.

Please don’t post your solutions as comments here: it spoils it for others.

I hope you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 358. Here are my solutions to them.

1: Thinly dispersed line of people could save lots of space.

2: Identical copy of rasp when duplicated.

3: Steadfast 7.92 inch two-way volume connector.

The common factor

I look forward to your putting alternative cases.

Here are this weekend’s Mac riddles to entertain you through family time, shopping and recreation.

1: Thinly dispersed line of people could save lots of space.

2: Identical copy of rasp when duplicated.

3: Steadfast 7.92 inch two-way volume connector.

To help you cross-check your solutions, or confuse you further, there’s a common factor between them.

I’ll post my solutions first thing on Monday morning.

Please don’t post your solutions as comments here: it spoils it for others.

I hope you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 357. Here are my solutions to them.

1: John’s afterword was dropped in 13.

2: Painted people who merged with Scots, from QuickDraw to Catalina.

3: Brisk march for panoramas was lost from X in 2009.

The common factor

I look forward to your putting alternative cases.

Here are this weekend’s Mac riddles to entertain you through family time, shopping and recreation.

1: John’s afterword was dropped in 13.

2: Painted people who merged with Scots, from QuickDraw to Catalina.

3: Brisk march for panoramas was lost from X in 2009.

To help you cross-check your solutions, or confuse you further, there’s a common factor between them.

I’ll post my solutions first thing on Monday morning.

Please don’t post your solutions as comments here: it spoils it for others.

I hope you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 356. Here are my solutions to them.

1: Lowing and barking as you’d expect to hear from Clarus.

2: Alert heard in the battle between two Apples was replaced in Big Sur.

3: Arpeggio or shattering glass heard with a Sad Mac.

The common factor

I look forward to your putting alternative cases.

Here are this weekend’s Mac riddles to entertain you through family time, shopping and recreation.

1: Lowing and barking as you’d expect to hear from Clarus.

2: Alert heard in the battle between two Apples was replaced in Big Sur.

3: Arpeggio or shattering glass heard with a Sad Mac.

To help you cross-check your solutions, or confuse you further, there’s a common factor between them.

I’ll post my solutions first thing on Monday morning.

Please don’t post your solutions as comments here: it spoils it for others.

I hope you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 355. Here are my solutions to them.

1: Covid, smallpox, nVIR, but no more.

2: Wooden animal concealing Greeks like DubRobber.

3: A thief like Amos can arrive by clickfix.

The common factor

I look forward to your putting alternative cases.

Here are this weekend’s Mac riddles to entertain you through family time, shopping and recreation.

1: Covid, smallpox, nVIR, but no more.

2: Wooden animal concealing Greeks like DubRobber.

3: A thief like Amos can arrive by clickfix.

To help you cross-check your solutions, or confuse you further, there’s a common factor between them.

I’ll post my solutions first thing on Monday morning.

Please don’t post your solutions as comments here: it spoils it for others.

I hope you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 354. Here are my solutions to them.

1: In favour of a Scot who was mostly the biggest for almost 20 years until last month.

2: Waterproof novel with a magnetic latch until 2019.

3: Opening shot for unknown number like a pizza box in a rack.

The common factor

I look forward to your putting alternative cases.

Here are this weekend’s Mac riddles to entertain you through family time, shopping and recreation.

1: In favour of a Scot who was mostly the biggest for almost 20 years until last month.

2: Waterproof novel with a magnetic latch until 2019.

3: Opening shot for unknown number like a pizza box in a rack.

To help you cross-check your solutions, or confuse you further, there’s a common factor between them.

I’ll post my solutions first thing on Monday morning.

Please don’t post your solutions as comments here: it spoils it for others.

Easter eggs are part of the tradition of this time of year, and the term applied to concealed features in computer hardware or software. It seems to have originated in early video games, although the first record is in the command make love on DEC PDP-10 mainframes in 1967-68. Macs have had their fair share over the years, although Steve Jobs seems to have disliked them, and is reported to have banned them. Here are a few that I’ve come across in more recent years.

Clarus the Dogcow

This mythical animal from the Mac bestiary has been tucked away as an Easter egg in the Emoji & Symbols viewer for many years. Type the letters clarus or moof (the sound it makes) into the search box of that viewer to see the two emoji figures of a dog and a cow, although neither of them resembles Clarus in appearance, as shown in the Page Setup window in recent macOS.

Marijuana leaves

More inaccessible, but apparently present for even longer, is a PNG image showing marijuana leaves embedded inside the Chess app. To see these, select Chess.app, and Show Package Contents. Work through the Contents, Resources and Styles folders and you’ll see two styles Fur and Grass, neither of which is offered in the app’s Settings. In the Grass folder, select Border.png to see a pattern of marijuana leaves.

I’ve been unable to find a way of accessing these as a style for the app, though. Chess also has a unique About window that not only contains the full GNU licence for the app, but offers a button to download the app’s source from Apple’s Open Source Releases page. Perhaps the intention is that you can build your own version of the app giving access to the Grass and Fur styles, making it the most convoluted Easter egg.

MAC wallpaper

According to a recent report in MacWorld, the colour-matched wallpapers provided for MacBook Neos spell out MAC.

Dont Steal Mac OS X

This is a kernel extension named Dont Steal Mac OS X.kext, found in /System/Library/Extensions, whose sole purpose is to contain Apple’s copyright statement, and in its own words “to protect Apple copyrighted materials from unauthorized copying and use.” Oddly, the current version claims copyright over the period 2006-2020 in its Info.plist, but 2006,2009 in its licence resource.

Minimise (defunct)

Until a few years ago, the yellow Minimise button in windows featured a set of Easter eggs that are claimed to have been a favourite of Steve Jobs. Clicking on that button with Control, Shift or Control and Shift keys held ran the animation at widely different speeds, and could be reversed when clicking on the minimised window in the Dock. These are described here, but have been removed since then.

RAM disk (defunct)

According to a relatively recent report in Tom’s Hardware, the ROM of Power Mac G3 models contains an Easter Egg of a hidden file when a RAM disk is created with the name secret ROM image.

I look forward to your sharing more.

Reference

Wikipedia

Macs are well known for their longevity, and are substantially cheaper when purchased used. This is a good time to consider buying a used Mac, as prices for Intel models are continuing to fall, and earlier Apple silicon models are becoming more widely available. However, buying any used computer is higher risk than buying new. This article explains how to reduce that risk.

Official refurbs

If you’re looking for discounted recent models, then the best place is Apple’s refurb store, in your local version of this page. These should be effectively as new, and include relatively recent models, but you’re unlikely to make big savings here. They’re ideal if you enjoy unboxing, as refurbs ship in their standard packaging.

Resellers

Most countries have retailers who specialise in preparing and selling used Macs. Among the best known are:

• MacSales, part of OWC, covering USA and Canada
• Hoxton Macs, in the UK
• MacFinder, in the UK.

These are staffed by Apple-trained technicians who check each Mac thoroughly. They offer a wider range of models, many of them at highly affordable prices. Most offer a return period, as well as a one-year warranty, and are subject to local consumer protection law.

Private vendors

My one and only golden rule is never to buy a used Mac without seeing it in the flesh beforehand. That bargain a thousand miles away could turn out to have been stolen, and even if it’s genuine you could still end up with a useless Mac. I’ve never heard of anyone buying a house or car without seeing it for themselves, and a Mac should be no different. I suppose it’s feasible to go through the following checks over FaceTime or Zoom, but there are so many skilled con artists around I wouldn’t risk it.

When you arrive and see the Mac you’re about to purchase, work systematically through the following.

Provenance

Your first and most important question is whether this Mac is the seller’s to start with. The best answer comes in the form of its original proof of purchase, giving its serial number. Check that matches the serial number in Hardware Overview in System Information. If it doesn’t, then thank them politely and leave as quickly as you can. While you’re looking in that section, if the Mac has a T2 or Apple silicon chip, at the foot of that information you’ll see its Activation Lock Status: if that’s enabled, make a careful note, as you’ll need to get that disabled before you take your new Mac away. Intel Macs without T2 chips don’t have that to worry about.

Establishing provenance gets more complicated if that Mac has had more than one previous owner, but the current owner should ideally have a chain of bills of sale to reassure you. If they don’t, then that Mac may well have a murky past that could catch up with you.

Condition

Once you have confidence that you’re dealing with the real owner of the Mac, check it out as thoroughly as you can, without rushing or stripping it down to its logic board. A careful and undistracted visual examination is important, and gives clues through its general cleanliness as to how well it has been cared for.

It would be comforting to run hardware diagnostics just in case, although that’s not a particularly sensitive check for incipient problems. In ideal circumstances you’d want to check wear and any errors on its internal SSD using DriveDx or another SMART utility, but you’re unlikely to get the chance. If you have a friend who is a hardware technician, they could be a real boon to take along, just as you should take a good mechanic when you check out a used car.

AppleCare

If the current owner has AppleCare cover on that Mac, they should in most cases be able to transfer that with its sale. This requires them to sign into My Support for the agreement number and details, and with the original sales receipt for that Mac, to contact Apple Support and give them your details as the new owner. Apple explains this here, with useful onward links.

Haggle

I wish you success in agreeing the best price.

Activation Lock (Intel T2, Apple silicon)

The last hurdle in a successful purchase is the one most often forgotten, and the cause of much buyer remorse. It’s all the fault of Activation Lock and Find My Mac. These ensure that the owner’s Apple ID and password are required before that Mac can be used, erased, or Find My Mac disabled. In effect they make that Mac useless to anyone else until Activation Lock has been disabled.

Macs with T2 or Apple silicon chips running Catalina or later, where the user has 2FA on their Apple ID, are likely to be protected by Activation Lock. There is an additional requirement, depending on their architecture:

• Apple silicon Macs must have their security policy set to Full Security;
• Intel T2 Macs must have startup security set to Secure Boot, with booting from external drives disallowed.

Activation Lock is most commonly enabled when Find My Mac is turned on, and turning that off also disables Activation Lock. That requires entry of the current user’s Apple ID password, so must be done by the seller before they part with their Mac.

There are other ways to disable it:

• It’s automatically disabled when the owner runs Erase All Content and Settings, only available on T2 and Apple silicon models anyway.
• Activation lock can be disabled in the owner’s account at www[.]iCloud[.]com/find by removing that Mac from the list of All Devices there.
• If you have proof of purchase, you can request Activation Lock to be removed by Apple support, but that’s a last measure and not something you should ever choose.

Apple’s guidance is here.

Never take possession of someone else’s Mac while its Activation Lock is active, as it will only cause you trouble and grief.

Handover

If everything is going well, you should be ready for the Mac to be handed over to your possession, accompanied by a written record of the sale. The conclusion is best seen as a mutual arrangement, as it gives the seller confidence that any data on that Mac is completely erased, and you the confidence that you’re about to gain a Mac you can use.

If it’s an Intel Mac, confirm with one another that it starts up without requiring a firmware password. If it has a T2 or Apple silicon chip, use its Erase All Content and Settings together to ensure that all its old files are made unreadable, and to be certain that Find My Mac and Activation Lock are disabled. Sadly, erasing older Intel Macs without T2 chips is a slower and more complicated process.

Checklist

• Inspect the Mac before handing over any money.
• Check proof of purchase and serial number, noting Activation Lock status.
• Visual examination, check SSD health if possible.
• Agree the price.
• Transfer AppleCare if available.
• Disable Activation Lock (in EACAS if available).
• Obtain written record of sale.
• Ensure no firmware password (Intel only).
• Erase, preferably using EACAS where available.

I hope you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 353. Here are my solutions to them.

1: The future was here 25 years ago when the fastest land animal arrived.

2: This atelier came with more than a marathon four years ago.

3: Wicked fast at 40 MHz, its special effects impressed 36 years ago.

The common factor

I look forward to your putting alternative cases.

Here are this weekend’s Mac riddles to entertain you through family time, shopping and recreation.

1: The future was here 25 years ago when the fastest land animal arrived.

2: This atelier came with more than a marathon four years ago.

3: Wicked fast at 40 MHz, its special effects impressed 36 years ago.

To help you cross-check your solutions, or confuse you further, there’s a common factor between them.

I’ll post my solutions first thing on Monday morning.

Please don’t post your solutions as comments here: it spoils it for others.

I hope you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 352. Here are my solutions to them.

1: British sister of ANSI is Tahoe’s child of RSR.

2: Puzzle vault in the Da Vinci code contains Safari.

3: The sound of a liquid hitting a surface could be 1 or its parent.

The common factor

I look forward to your putting alternative cases.

Here are this weekend’s Mac riddles to entertain you through family time, shopping and recreation.

1: British sister of ANSI is Tahoe’s child of RSR.

2: Puzzle vault in the Da Vinci code contains Safari.

3: The sound of a liquid hitting a surface could be 1 or its parent.

To help you cross-check your solutions, or confuse you further, there’s a common factor between them.

I’ll post my solutions first thing on Monday morning.

Please don’t post your solutions as comments here: it spoils it for others.

I hope you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 351. Here are my solutions to them.

1: Show for recording or art, it isn’t as recent as you might think.

2: Theatre exhibition was originally the largest of its kind.

3: Gallery for pictures of the famous in greyscale only.

The common factor

I look forward to your putting alternative cases.

Here are this weekend’s Mac riddles to entertain you through family time, shopping and recreation.

1: Show for recording or art, it isn’t as recent as you might think.

2: Theatre exhibition was originally the largest of its kind.

3: Gallery for pictures of the famous in greyscale only

To help you cross-check your solutions, or confuse you further, there’s a common factor between them.

I’ll post my solutions first thing on Monday morning.

Please don’t post your solutions as comments here: it spoils it for others.