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If ever there was a term used in current versions of macOS which harked back to the days of Classic Mac OS, it is Finder Info.
In my quest to document the extended attributes (xattrs) found in and used by macOS Sierra and High Sierra, I have just posted a couple of articles detailing com.apple.FinderInfo and com.apple.LaunchServices.OpenWith. The origins of those go back to the very first Macs.
One of the central design principles of the Mac human interface was that a user should be able to open a document merely by actions on the document alone, such as double-clicking its icon. That brought with it several requirements, including the association of different types of file with different desktop icons, and the association of different types of document with the apps which should open them.
Apple’s solution was to assign two four-character codes to each file. The first designated the file’s type, and the second its creator, the app which could open it. Apps were given the type APPL, for application not Apple, for example. Together, these pairs of four-character codes were known as the Finder Info.
Both Evernote and iTunes remember that they were full screen and automatically open in full screen. Most of the apps that I use remember size and location, but most do not remember the full screen mode. It is not the responsibility of the operating system to override the programmer's window management decisions. A couple things to note here. This has always been possible with a system disk in OS X, so be aware that if someone has physical access to your Mac, they are able to do this. There are a few reasons why you might want to reinstall macOS (or even Mac OS X). Perhaps your Mac is working erratically and you think that a clean install of the operating system might fix the. Apple today released iOS and iPadOS 14.5, marking the fifth major updates to the iOS and iPadOS 14 operating systems that were initially launched in September. IOS 14.5 comes three months after. The Operating System (OS) uses disk storage for temporary data: virtual memory swap files, application cache files, etc. Programs and data you’re actively using get loaded into RAM and old data.
Classic Mac OS then maintained a hidden Desktop Database, which mapped all the types and creator codes, and their associated icons. There were default icons, for files which had the codes ???? and ????, or whose associations or icon were not known to the Finder. This was one of the many bits of magic which formed the illusion of the original Mac Desktop and Finder.
When Mac OS X came along, it brought that approach into collision with Unix philosophy, which said, for example, that all text documents have the extension .txt or .text. So in the early versions of OS X, both schemes had to be supported, whilst future policy was agreed. Some wanted the Unix approach to prevail, but what we have ended up with remains a unique blend of both.
Even in High Sierra, ancient Finder Info lives on in the first eight bytes of xattrs of the type com.apple.FinderInfo, which can be attached to files and folders as necessary. New Finder Info codes have been added, such as a type of alis and creator MACS to indicate an alias, something that didn’t exist in the original releases of Classic Mac OS.
The Desktop Database, which every so often used to get corrupted and had to be rebuilt, has been replaced with the Launch Services database, which I have examined in detail in this article. Among its many tasks are maintaining the associations between document types and apps, and all files and their icons shown in the Finder. Corruption in the Launch Services database is very unusual, and there is no longer a convenient trick the user can pull to fix such problems.
macOS has also introduced convenient ways to change the default associations between document types and the apps which open them, including the ability to make an individual document behave exceptionally: this relies on a xattr of type com.apple.LaunchServices.OpenWith being attached to the document, which specifies exactly which app Launch Services should make the default for that document alone. You can set those in the Finder’s Get Info dialog, of course.
I don’t know how much notice Sierra and High Sierra now take of those two four-character codes at the front of the com.apple.FinderInfo extended attribute. They remain, though, as a reminder of the long history of the illusion created by the Finder.
Check display support
You can connect one or more external displays depending on your Mac model. To find out how many external displays your Mac supports, check its technical specifications:
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- Choose Apple menu > About This Mac.
- Click the Support tab.
- Click Specifications.
- On the webpage that appears, the number of displays your Mac supports appears under Video Support or Graphics.
If you're using a Mac with Apple silicon, you can connect a single external display to your Mac using one of the Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports. Docks don't increase the number of displays you can connect as an extended desktop. On Mac mini (M1, 2020), you can connect a second display to the HDMI port.
Connect your display
Connect your display to power, then connect your display to your Mac. Check the ports on your Mac to find out whether you need an adapter.
Change display options
After you connect your display, you can choose to extend your desktop or mirror your displays.
Use extended desktop mode
- Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Displays.
- Click the Arrangement tab.
- Make sure that the Mirror Displays checkbox isn’t selected.
- Arrange your displays to match the setup on your desk. To change the position of a display, drag it to the desired position. A red border appears around the display as it's moved.
- To set a different display as the primary display, drag the menu bar to the other display. The primary display is where your desktop icons and app windows first appear.
Mirror your displays
- Make sure that your external display is turned on and connected to your Mac.
- Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Displays, then click the Arrangement tab.
- Make sure that the Mirror Displays checkbox is selected.
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Use AirPlay
With Apple TV, you can use your TV as a separate display for your Mac. Learn how to use AirPlay to mirror or extend your Mac display.