Fix App Stuck on Updating in IOS

The Google Keep app on my iPhone 5s with IOS 9.3.3 is stuck on updating. I could neither launch the app nor delete it normally by holding down the icon (the X icon showed up, but nothing happened when clicking it). I tried the following fixes on the web, but no luck.

• cancel the update and retry updating
• reboot the phone and delete the app or retry updating
• log out the App store on the phone (Settings, iTunes & App Store, Apple ID, Sign Out) and log in and retry updating

Some other suggestions are to reset the phone or connect the iPhone to a computer with iTune and delete the stuck app from iTune. I don’t want to either of these.

Luckily I found the following solution to delete the stuck app and re-download it from the App store.

• Navigate to Settings, General, Storage & iCloud Usage, Manage Storage
• Find the stuck app and click on it
• Click Delete App
• Then go back to App Store and re-download it under Updates, Purchased

Disable Mac Startup Sound

A way to disable the Mac startup sound is to mute the speaker before shutting down the computer. But you have to remember to do that every time you unmute the speaker.

When I search on the web, some third party utilities are mentioned, e.g. StartupSound.prefPane or Psst or StartNinja or use sudo nvram SystemAudioVolume=%80. All these utilities are for the older version of Mac; and the nvram command doesn’t work my OS X El Capitan (version 10.11.3).

Finally, I find a way to mute the speaker automatically when log off. See this post for the full detail. I only set up the mute.sh, and don’t even bother the unmute.sh.

1. create a mute.sh script with the following lines
• #!/bin/bash
• osascript -e ‘set volume with output muted’
2. sudo chmod u+x ~/Documents/mute.sh
3. sudo mv ~/Document/mute.sh /Library/Scripts/
4. sudo defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LogoutHook /Library/Scripts/mute.sh

To restore the startup sound

• sudo defaults delete com.apple.loginwindow LogoutHook

Apple OS X Window Management Application

Windows 7 or later has the built-in shortcut to arrange / snap windows - Windows key + Arrow key. OS X does not have this kind of shortcut. A few third party applications are available to fill the gap (see the list below). I tested ShiftIt. It does not have the complete features like other paid apps, but it’s completely free and offers the similar keyboard shortcuts like Windows 7.

ShiftIt’s default keyboard combination is Control + Option + Command + Arrow key.

Other windows management applications

• Spectacle: free app
• Divvy
• SizeUp
• Hyperdock
• Flexiglass
• Cinch
• BetterSnapTool
• Moom

Apple MAC Keyboard Shortcut Key

Comparing with the Windows keyboard, the Apple MAC keyboard is missing some useful keys. This post collects the shortcut keys I learned, and will be updated as I know more. These keys are tested under OS X El Capitan, version 10.11.1.

• Fn + F11: hide / unhide opened windows; = Show Desktop shortcut in Windows
• Fn + Left Arrow: = Home (works in Microsoft Word, but does not work in OneNote)
• Command + Left Arrow: = Home (works in both Microsoft Word and OneNote)
• Fn + Right Arrow: = End (works in Microsoft Word, but does not work in OneNote)
• Command + Right Arrow: = End (works in both Microsoft Word and OneNote)
• Delete: = Backspace in Windows
• Fn + Delete: = Delete in Windows

This Apple document includes many keyboard shortcuts
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236

This How-To Geek article includes some keyboard shortcuts
http://www.howtogeek.com/188530/a-windows-users-guide-to-mac-os-x-keyboard-shortcuts/