Category Archives: software

Removing Vmware for Mac to install FREE Version

software, Uncategorized

VMware Fusion for mac Logo
Credit: this info was taken from OSX Daily.

VMware Fusion Pro does not come with a dedicated uninstaller, and while you can uninstall it through System Settings or by dragging the VMWare Fusion app into the Trash, neither of those methods will remove all traces of VMWare from the Mac, like the daemons, caches, preferences, and library support files. That’s what we’re going to cover here, walking through how to manually uninstall VMware fusion from Mac, including all of the associated files.

How to Uninstall VMware Fusion on Mac, Manually

First, you begin to uninstall VMware Fusion Pro from the Mac by using the drag & drop Trash method.

1: Trash VMWare Fusion to Uninstall the App

-Open the /Applications folder and locate “VMWare Fusion.app”
-Drag and drop “VMware Fusion” into the Trash icon in the Dock
-Right-click on the Trash icon and choose “Empty Trash”

You can also right-click on the “VMware Fusion” application and choose “Move to Trash”, and then empty the Trash.

This removes the primary VMware Fusion app, but many other supporting files, preferences, and components will be remaining throughout the MacOS file system, and if you’re looking to thoroughly uninstall VMware Fusion from the Mac you’ll almost certainly want to remove those files too. You can do this by navigating to the directories and file paths through the Finder, or with the Terminal, whichever you are more comfortable with

Next, to fully uninstall VMware Fusion from MacOS, you will want to manually remove the following files from throughout the Mac file system.

2: Manually Delete Associated VMWare Fusion Files from MacOS

/Library/Application Support/VMware/VMware Fusion
/Library/Application Support/VMware/Usbarb.rules
/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion
/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion
~/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion Applications Menu
~/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion
~/Library/Caches/com.vmware.fusion
~/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion
~/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusion.LSSharedFileList.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusion.LSSharedFileList.plist.lockfile
~/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusion.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusion.plist.lockfile
~/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusionDaemon.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusionDaemon.plist.lockfile
~/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusionStartMenu.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusionStartMenu.plist.lockfile

Note that some of these are the System Library folder, while others are the user Library folder (denoted by the ~ tilde to represent the active users home directory).

Again, you’ll want to drag those items into the Trash, and then choose to Empty Trash to remove them from the Mac.

Finally, and this is optional and more advanced, you may wish to search the Mac file system for any remnants of VMware by opening the Terminal application and using mdfind to locate additional components and remnants.

3: Optional; Use Terminal to Locate Additional Remnant Files

mdfind -name “vmware”

By running this command, you may see a report like what is shown below, finding additional vmware files that are laying around, including even the initial installer DMG file you may have downloaded.

~/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion Applications Menu
~/Downloads/VMware-Fusion-13.5.2-23775688_universal.dmg

You can then manually remove these files as well, if you’d like to be thorough about uninstalling VMware and any associated downloads or installers.

How to Download & Install VMware Fusion Pro for Mac for Free

VMware Fusion Pro is now available for free for personal use, according to a blog post on the developers website.

VMware Fusion Pro is powerful hypervisor software that allows you to create and run virtual machines on your Mac, enabling the capability to do things like run a virtualized Windows installation atop MacOS, or run Linux alongside MacOS, or similar situations where you’d want to run multiple operating systems simultaneously. We frequently cover virtual machines and some of the neat things you can do with them, and VMWare Fusion Pro offers another virtualization option alongside UTM, VirtualBox, QEMU, and Parallels.

We’re going to walk through the process of downloading and installing VMWare Fusion Pro for free, using the new personal use license.

You’ll have to go through a somewhat cumbersome registration and download process, but once you do you’ll have full access to VMware Fusion Pro for free on your Mac, available for personal use. Here’s what you’ll need to do:

Go to support.broadcom.com and click on “Register” to create an account for Broadcom
Once you are registered for a (free) account and logged in, you will have access to download VMWare Fusion 13 Pro, so agree to the terms of service and click the download icon to get the installer (some users are reporting difficulty finding the download, try using this link to product downloads page – thanks wgs!)

When finished downloading, open your ~/Downloads folder and open the “VMware-Fusion-13_universal.dmg” file to mount the disk image, then launch the installer

Launch the installer for VMWare Fusion Pro, agree to the terms of service for using VMware Fusion Pro and then choose that you want to use VMware Fusion Pro for personal use and proceed with the installation. VMWare Fusion Pro will now launch and you can create a virtual machine or configure an existing one if you have a disk image to use, or download a Windows installer directly from Microsoft.

Create a virtual machine in VMWare Fusion Pro

Now that VMware Fusion Pro is installed on your Mac, you’re free to setup or create a new virtual machine. The app makes it particularly easy to download and install the latest versions of Windows (Windows 11 specifically, at the moment), so you can quickly have a Windows 11 VM setup in short order if you choose that option.

VMware Fusion Pro performance is really good, especially running on any Apple Silicon Mac, as you can expect with basically all modern virtualization experiences. But whether or not you could tell the difference between VMWare Fusion Pro, Parallels, and UTM, are perhaps up to the user and how the VM is used.

Apple re-releases iOS Update 17.6.1

Apple News, software

iOS 17 colorful red blue violet update image

Apple has re-released iOS 17.6.1 for iPhone and iPadOS 17.6.1 for iPad. The new build number is 21G101 for iOS 17.6.1, while the old build number was 21G93.

I don’t know what is different about the new build, or why Apple didn’t label this update as iOS 17.6.2. Additionally, the new build is not listed on Apple’s security updates page This update has no published CVE entries. Possible the Apple is hiding details to protect the iOS and users?

Separately, Apple has released watchOS 10.6.1 and tvOS 17.6.1 for Apple Watch and Apple TV.

An alternative to Microsoft Office

software

Libre Office website with announcement of version 24.2 and fountain pen as background
Libre Office
So for some in the corporate world, your defacto computing suite is Office. And for students in college, most institutions with 365 email, also push Office 365. The problem here, is that when you graduate or leave a company, you need to own Office. And for Mac or Windows, this can be a costly subscription.

Here is where a “donate-ware” office program that is a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing, formulas and database come to mind as Libre-Office!

I use this for my mac and windows computers at home. While I am entitled to a Windows 365 access from my work, I like to keep all work separate. Thus the solution for me, is Libre Office. Now, others I know, have express similar use of another free office application called appropriately, Open Office. I’m not familiar with Apache’s Open Office and not used it. But its likely I will download a version to try, and compare.
In the meantime, Libre Office was somewhat of a lucky use for me. A emeritus lost some files and had only backed up to floppy disk (yes, floppy) of these waaaayyy back in the days of Word Perfect. And his texts were in German. The accomplishment of being able to read the floppies via a working USB drive was encouraging but even more, Libre office not only opened but imported and saved as later Word files, keeping the German text intact! A life saver and I encouraged donating for this alone!

Currently Libre Office (for Mac) is as version 7.6.4 with newest version at 24.2
I used it for documentation and opening older files I come across like Excel, that I used to keep items I sold on ebay on. Looking back is… interesting.

Libre Office downloads

Mac OS Sonoma…50 things I didn’t know I needed…and don’t.

Apple News, software

round colored thing indicating Mac OS

Widget Colors
System Settings still like Ventura but with way back. So much better now?
Facetime reactions. Um. ok. Thumbs up?
Browser Profiles (Safari lets you clutter up more from work, or school, or home) Who uses Safari anymore? I prefer other.
Typing with keyboard and voice. Well I stopped typing and … well? Oh, I don’t have microphone on!
Overlay in Facetime. You know, Wanna know more? Like Starship troopers…
Web Dock Apps! Ok, THIS I think should have been from the start. You take a URL you visit often, and now put it in your dock! One Click! So original!
…
There is more on MacRumors… I want to atleast give them credit for listing FIFTY new features of Sonoma (Mac OS 14)

Apple release Mac OS 13.5.1 Update to Ventura…fix for Location issues

Apple News, software

Wavy flower like image on blue background

Per Apple and Update info: MacOS Ventura 13.5.1 fixes an issue in System Settings that prevents location permissions from appearing.

Direct download of Ventura

Latest updates information previous to 13.5.1

Latest updates information previous versions to 13.5.1 for Enterprise users

Update files size for the Delta (via Software Update) is 1.21GB while the Full update version is 11.49GB, and System Firmware version still same at 8422.141.2

I haven’t noticed anything other than taking 15mins from download, verify, reboot, install, reboot, more install, then reboot.

2023 – RIP DarkSky

iPhone, software

Dark Sky app icon

RIP Dark Sky, I knew you well.
Well, until Apple bought it in 2020.
Then it was nothing but sadness. About 4 months ago, after an iOS update, I noticed a 1/2023 warning on the app on my phone. It was a subtle reminder that I should be using Apple’s Weather app instead.

Weather has improved with iOS 15 and now iOS 16. You can have lock screen widgets showing precipitation and temp. You could with Dark Sky but it was hit or miss depending on your phone and iOS level.

weather app with sun right, behind a cloud

The new Weather app has some nice features, as the lock screen will change with the weather… moody grey, or morning clouds or dusk. Even 10pm at night shows a cloud with dark sky. If you open Weather and touch the hourly forecast, you will see a visual chart of the temp. Touch the tiny thermometer and you now have choices such as wind and precipitation with measurements every 6hours. Close that (hit the X ) and you return to main screen. There, if you scroll down past the clutter of a map (See, this is where Dark Sky shined… the local map gave radar and not a clutter of state names, cities and towns).
And below that map, are a section of the same chart choices, but in sections that you can access as well as via the hourly section.

I can’t blame the creators of Dark Sky for “selling out”. I mean, afterall, Apple was their market and they were a dev for them. I just hope they run into a weather situation that the new Weather app, well, missed. Because money can’t buy happiness. But it can buy a roof that doesn’t leak or blow away.

How to get Mac OS Installers (Now w/Monterey)

software

How to Get MacOS Installers

 

This article will discuss where to download and access installers for macOS Monetery, macOS Big Sur, macOS Catalina, MacOS Mojave, MacOS High Sierra, macOS Sierra, Mac OS X El Capitan, OS X Yosemite, OS X Mavericks, Mac OS X Mountain Lion, Mac OS X Lion, Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Mac OS X Leopard, Mac OS X Tiger, and others too.

 

Where to Get Mac OS Installers From

The following links, using Safari Browser, point to locations from Apple website where you can download various MacOS system software installers.

New versions of MacOS installers are typically available through the Mac App Store, accessed through a computer that is compatible with the latest Mac system software release. NOTE: You MUST use Safari as other browsers like Firefox, will give an error with the AppStore.

Older versions of Mac OS X installers can often be downloaded as well, but from different sources.

For earlier versions of Mac OS X, including Mac OS X Mavericks 10.9, Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8, Mac OS X Lion 10.7, Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6, Mac OS X Leopard 10.5, Mac OS X Tiger 10.4, and before, the process to obtain those installers differs a bit.

Downloading MacOS Installers via Terminal

Mac users can download the latest macOS installer available from the Terminal by using the following command string:

softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer

You can also download specific installer versions by using the following syntax, replacing the asterisks with version number:

softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version **.**.*

For example, to get macOS 11.3.1 the syntax would be as follows:

softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 11.3.1

Downloading Mac OS X Installers from App Store “Purchases”

If you had at one point in time purchased or downloaded a version of MacOS or Mac OS X from the Mac App Store, then you should be able to re-download it from the Mac App Store by going go the “Purchases” section. This can typically be used to access downloads for installers for MacOS Mojave, High Sierra, Sierra, Mavericks, and Mountain Lion, though there are some caveats and exceptions.

  1. You must use Safari Browser
  2. Open the App Store
  3. Go to the “Purchases” section (newer App Store versions must go to Account > Purchases)
  4. Scroll down the list of Purchased items to locate the Mac OS X Installer version you wish to re-download, then click on the download button

This works particularly well if the Mac you’re downloading the software onto is running an older version of Mac OS X.

This approach for re-downloading older OS X installers from App Store Purchases section works for obtaining many older versions of Mac OS X, particularly if the machine doing the downloading is running an older Mac release too. For example, re-downloading Mavericks from Yosemite, whereas if you’re running the App Store from newer versions of MacOS you’d need to follow the links further above to download the installers directly, or via the App Store links.

Downloading Mac OS X Snow Leopard

If you’re a registered Apple developer then you may be able to download Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Mac OS X Leopard directly from Apple ADC using the following links:

Downloading / Buying Mac OS X Mountain Lion, Lion, Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Apple also sells some older Mac OS X versions for convenience:

For buying even older versions of Mac OS X, you may have some luck searching on Amazon or Ebay and buying old physical copies of the installer disks. Keep in mind those earlier Mac OS X software updates used to cost a significant amount of money to update to and so even if they’re hold they can still carry a premium.

Another option is to peruse the Apple Vintage Software collection at Archive.org which may have image files of older system restore disks and other older system software, just beware that archive.org is not an official distributor of Apple software so appropriate precautions should be taken and only download from there at your own risk.

Finally, if you’re looking to download much older classic Mac OS software, check out this article which discusses finding original classic Mac OS System releases that go back far before the transition to Mac OS X and Unix underpinnings.

(Credit OSXDaily for info/links)

Malwarebytes

software

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Malwarebytes for Mac  is a lightweight, cross-platform app from Malwarebytes Corp. for finding and removing malware and adware infections. Features include speedy scanning, automatic update of malware signatures, a friendly user interface, and a quarantine capability.

Malwarebytes for Windows is a free and/or premium anti-malware and web browser protection. Recommended to all my Windows users for years.

Malwarebytes for Mac 4.9.7 is a free installer download for macOS 10.12 and later that includes a Mac app, kernel extension, launch agent and launch daemon. The free version provides automatic updates and manually triggered scans. A Premium subscription at $39.99 per computer per year offers automatic (“real-time”) scans with a free 14-day trial. (Business and enterprise versions are also available with central management consoles, and there are Windows and Android versions available, plus Malwarebytes for Chromebook.) The latest version adds support for Apple’s redesigned Macs.

  • Added native support for Apple Silicon (M1) hardware.

Malwarebytes for iOS is a security app for Apple’s mobile devices that “combines spam call blocking, text message filtering, ad blocking, and protection from scam websites”, using features built into iOS in conjunction with the company’s data on scammers, malicious websites and other threats.

The app uses iOS Call Blocking & Identification to check incoming calls without sending your personal information, checking a Malwarebytes list of known scammers and also checking for “neighbor spoofing”, while allowing all calls from numbers in your Contacts list. You can also add any number you want to allow without adding it to Contacts, and you can report numbers used by spammers/scammers. Call blocking can be set to either “Warn”, which labels suspicious calls as they arrive, or an optional “Block” mode, which silences them, and they won’t appear in your call history.

Text Message Filtering  checks texts from sources that are not in your Contacts database against lists of known scammers and phishing links, flagging apparent problems while keeping its hands off messages that look legitimate.

Web protection works only in Safari, checking URLs against a list of malicious sources. The app includes several configuration/customization settings, but you configure and enable other parameters using Apple’s iOS Settings. See Malwarebytes for iOS user guide [PDF] for more details.

Malwarebytes for iOS 1.4.4 is an $11.99/year subscription for full functionality, with a 30-day trial period, for iOS 11 and later. Ad blocking and text message filtering are provided in the free version.