MacOS sucks! Making MacOS less painful to use...

MacOS_sucks.md

Fix horizontal scrolling in Chrome: defaults write com.google.Chrome AppleEnableSwipeNavigateWithScrolls -bool FALSE and restart Chrome. Fix autoscroll with AutoScroll.

• Minimized windows don't even appear in Chrome's autocomplete!

Disable MacOS widget popover gesture via System Settings, "trackpad gestures", More Gestures, Notification Centre off.

Windows shortcut equivalents:

• Alt+Enter or F11 = Cmd+Ctrl+F or Globe+F
• Alt+Tab = Cmd+Tab (Switch app.) or Cmd+` (Switch app window.) No minimized windows. Witch is a bit slow but can cycle windows with Opt+Tab like Windows does, including the browser window you minimized to get to the one behind it, albeit without thumbnails. AltTab is better, also because it doesn't raise all windows like Dock when switching focus between browser and terminal for example.
• Cmd+Tab = Ctrl+Up or triple swipe up or the windowsy feature on Globe+F3 aka Mission Control, which nicely groups per app. Ctrl+Down or triple swipe down (System Settings, Trackpad, More Gestures, App Exposé), to show only active app windows. Maybe install HyperDock which didn't seem to work in MacOS 13.0.1 or try Stage Manager which shows Mission Control in a sidebar. No minimized windows either; maybe uBar shows those, else rightclick the task icon and look for the title, or use Stage Manager on the same display, or use yet another third party app. If you stay in the same app, triple swipe down shows minimized thumbnails at the bottom.
• Cmd+L = Power or Ctrl+Shift+Power or Ctrl+Shift+Eject if possible, and require a password after sleep/screensaver.
• Cmd+. = Globe
• Ctrl+Alt+Del = Cmd+Opt+Esc (Only to kill apps. Use/install htop for details to see that a hanging Finder and/or QuickLookSatellite used up your battery over night.)
• Ctrl+C/V/X = Cmd+C/V/X except while Cmd+X is in MacOS Ventura 13.0.1's Finder's Edit menu, it's disabled! Use Opt+Cmd+V to cut while pasting after copying instead.
• To paste a path into Finder's terrible file picker dialog, press Cmd+Shift+G to open a subdialog for that. VS Code allows Cmd+Shift+. to show hidden items. Windows has a checkbox to make it permanent, but on MacOS you need: defaults write -g AppleShowAllFiles -bool true
• Large thumbnails / image preview: Select, space, up/down, space. Uses external program named QuickLook which is also available for Windows if you like to sound a few keystrokes more productive.
• Delete = Globe+Backspace
• Esc to clear current command = Ctrl+U
• Home/End = Globe+Left/Right or Cmd+Left/Right. Or Home/End on external keyboard if you use Visual Studio Code or this:

  % cat ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict                        
  {
    "\UF729"  = moveToBeginningOfParagraph:; // home
    "\UF72B"  = moveToEndOfParagraph:; // end
    "$\UF729" = moveToBeginningOfParagraphAndModifySelection:; // shift-home
    "$\UF72B" = moveToEndOfParagraphAndModifySelection:; // shift-end
    "^\UF729" = moveToBeginningOfDocument:; // ctrl-home
    "^\UF72B" = moveToEndOfDocument:; // ctrl-end
    "^$\UF729" = moveToBeginningOfDocumentAndModifySelection:; // ctrl-shift-home
    "^$\UF72B" = moveToEndOfDocumentAndModifySelection:; // ctrl-shift-end
  }
  

• PageUp/Down = Globe/Crtl+Up/Down
• (Alt+ to only copy focused window) PrintScreen (save all screens) / Cmd+Shift+S (save selection) = Ctrl+Shift+Cmd+3 or without Ctrl to save main screen to desktop, 4 for selection, and 5 for options including video. MacOS also offers a little preview to not have to look up the save or manually open an app to paste.
• Explorer drive context menu or task bar USB icon context menu Eject = Finder eject icon, or if Finder hangs: diskutil eject DRIVENAME (ls \Volumes or diskutil list to list drive names)

Some can be fixed by adding app shortcuts to replace existing menu shortcuts.

Window alignment via Spectacle (unsupported):

• Cmd+arrows = Cmd+Opt+arrows (Conflicts with TextMate.)
• Cmd+Up = Cmd+Opt+F (Doesn't appear to work well in MacOS Ventura 13.0.1.)

Or rather Rectangle that also snaps:

• Cmd+arrows = Ctrl+Opt+arrows
• Cmd+Up = Ctrl+Opt+Enter
• Maximize = Ctrl+Opt+Enter (even works on Finder!)

External screens don't work via USB-C? Try DisplayLink Manager and/or Globe+F in some apps.

Battery "17m to 10m until fully charged" via cheap USB-A to USB-C cable ("Power Source: Power Adapter" for USB-A outlet, same for USB-C Apple adapter), but actually depleted in that time! "40m" via Apple Adapter, and now "1h 48m". Reconnecting the cheap option results in "57m until fully charged" at 20%, and "52m until fully charged" at 19%.

Don't want Word etc to keep running after closing their last window? RedQuits makes that stop like in Windows.

Want to run a downloaded app but Gatekeeper only lets you move it to bin or cancel? Rightclick and Open instead of doubleclick it.

Get rid of .DS_Store files: Tends to start Vi, which has its own steep learning curve, so exact keystrokes:

sudo crontab -e Enter i

15 1 * * * root find / -name ".DS_Store" -depth -exec rm {} \;

Esc:wqEnter

~/.Trash/.DS_Store might be the only place to get the original file locations. Unfortunately, in MacOS Ventura 13.0.1 that is blocked even to sudo unless you grant Full Disk Access. Or "Put Back" it back wherever it came from if that folder still exists (Trash will only give you the missing folder name and not its location.), show Finder's path bar (Opt+Cmd+P, but Shift+Cmd+G to paste), and Cmd+Backspace again to put it back in the bin.

Apps provided as zip file (like Sourcetree) can be unpacked by doubleclicking the zip in Finder. If it's like Airdrop, you may want to move it to a new folder first. Then the app file should appear, which you should move to the Applications folder by dragging as Cmd+X is broken as is the prompt to let Finder move it for you. In the latter case use ps aux |grep Source to get the process id, and kill <process id> to kill any remaining zombie windows before retrying the steps without starting the app from the Downloads folder. Other apps do expect to be started from the Downloads folder, and offer a random minigame that usually involves dragging an icon to another icon to do the manual steps described above.

Windows can't be positioned on an external screen without snapping to the main one if overlapping that too much! Even without Rectangle and DisplayLink Manager. Webex fullscreen also switches back to main display. >:( MacOS also keeps waking up my external display even without a plugged-in mouse.

Speaking of the mouse, Scroll Reverser is said to beat the oddly synced settings and disable wheel acceleration.

Shared distant, inconsistent, notch-interrupted menu bar covers systray/notification area icons (not all of which can be removed so just Cmd drag them to the left), but not the popup nags to track you using Apple ID or just steal your dick pics.

Finder fails to focus when the network is slow, so use MuCommander instead. Finder also can't be permanently force quit and hangs when there are many screenshots on the desktop (~6600) which also blocks screenshots and restart even in 13.5.2, and Activity Monitor assumes users know how many CPU cores its percentages refer to (Apple icon, About This Mac, More Info..., System Report..., Hardware, Total Number of Cores: 8 (6 performance and 2 efficiency) - So the 6 perf ones are still available? QuickLookSatellite uses 700+% on relaunch so both count the same.):

That also blocks opening the download folder from Chrome, and even the unzip feature's weird drag-to-applications-folder feature, so manually copy /Volumes/XnViewMP/XnViewMP.app/ to /Users/you/Applications/.

Finder also hangs after moving 8000+ screenshots from the desktop! No wonder Dock then shows Relaunch in the context menu instead of the regular excess like "New Smart Folder" - What even is that? A dynamic search view.

Finder and Cyberduck both are fussy about which pixel in a folder to drop on to copy files to that folder, and use the parent folder if you do it wrong or fast, so the folder GUI component sucks. Fortunately though not gratis, it appears that Forklift can fix that.

Voice Memos appears to edit (or rather "trim"; "edit" is a separate item in the context menu that appears when you rightclick outside the name field of a recording) but corrupts the recording when the application memory (SSD space, but maybe system memory when RAM as well) is too low, even when trying to simply trim (by "trim select trim done save" which could be "select trim save" if they tried) the small part you want to keep from a recording you forgot about due to lack of a bright badge other recorders show in the task bar on Windows or KDE.

MacOS context menus often show useless "Look up" and "Translate" options, maybe because Apple doesn't care about third-party apps.

Where'd my favorite Big Sur wallpaper go? It's like some Linux distros that just nuke your wallpapers when you "upgrade". Why does checks "14.1 (23B74)" (That text field said "Sonoma 14.1" but changed when i tried to copy it) set a different wallpaper than the one i selected? checks again Just laggy. Security update to 14.1.1 (23B81) which i only noticed when trying to clean up the menu bar also took 4+ minutes. A recent "upgrade" also enabled intrusive and redundant Tips, which have to be manually disabled in Notifications settings. To open the MacOS menu while a slow app has focus, switch to a different app first.

HDMI to Samsung TV was yellow and loud, unaffected by MacOS 13.1 settings. Other laptops worked fine.

Putting something like a YouTube video fullscreen in Chrome, blanks the external display! Known issue since 2015's "El Capitan", possibly referencing 2013 movie Captain Phillips. Enable "Displays have separate Spaces" and relogin to fix. That might require triple-swiping up and selecting "Google Chrome" in the top bar over the randomly arranged app window thumbnails to find your fullscreen Chrome tab that's not listed in the Chrome-only-but-also-only-main-space triple-swipe down thumbnail overview. Fortunately, 3rd party tool AltTab mentioned above simply displays all windows in order of recency, just like in other window managers. Sometimes there is no "different way to think" that's better.

Further gripes listed here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here (with pics!), here (Windows user review video!), here, here, here (GNU user review video!), here (misc video), and here (live!). No wonder desktop Linux > MacOS for devs.

See also other tech fails and my preferred tech list.

Similar scripts here.