MacFormat UK – September 2019

Q

Why can’t I open the webloc files

in a folder I’ve dragged from

Safari’s Bookmarks page?

by LYNN HUGHES

A

This is a bug in Safari 12.1.1 that came

in macOS 10.14.5 update, although

it may also have affected earlier

versions. When you switch to Safari’s

Bookmarks page and drag a folder of those

bookmarks to the Finder, where they become

Mac software GENIUS TIPS

.webloc files, Safari doesn’t release those

new files properly until you quit the app.

Safari can still open them, but if you try

opening them in almost any other app, they

won’t open there until you have quit Safari.

You can still copy across bookmarks as

individual .webloc files, particularly when you

do so from their listing in Safari’s sidebar, but

folders from the Bookmarks page suffer this

bug every time. Hopefully Apple will fix it in

the next release.

Mac software

quick-fire

questions

Safari’s broken bookmarks

How do I add my

own items to the

menu bar?

> macOS doesn’t let

you add your own

workflows, scripts,

or other tools to the

menu bar. TextBar

(richsomerfield.com/

apps/textbar) and

BitBar (getbitbar.com)

do. If your menu bar

is getting full, try

Bartender

(macbartender.com).

How do I easily

strip markup

from HTML?

> Open a copy of

the HTML file using

TextEdit, and use

the Make Plain Text

command in its Format

menu. Only do this with

copies, though, as it

gratuitously deletes

the original.

macformat.com @macformat

Q

Shortly after updating macOS

to 10.14.5, I tried to install

Oracle VirtualBox 6.0.8, but

couldn’t. Why not, and what can I do?

by LUKE WILLIAMS

A

macOS 10.14.5 update brought

a major internal change in the

security of kernel extensions,

which are used by several products

including VirtualBox. New and updated

kernel extensions have to be approved

by Apple’s Notary Service, and macOS

now accepts older extensions only when

they’re on a new whitelist.

This update to VirtualBox was

released the day after these new rules

came into force, and may be the first

product to fall foul of them. You should

see a dialog at the end of installation

which invites you to add the extension

using the Security & Privacy pane. After

doing so, run the installer a second time

and it should then complete without

error. If that doesn’t work, restart

your Mac in Recovery mode, open

Terminal, and type in the following:

spctl kext-consent add VB5E2TV963

The last code is Oracle’s Apple

developer identity, and when you

restart should allow the installation

to complete, and VirtualBox to run.

Other products relying on kernel

extensions may have similar problems.

It should be possible to use the same

technique to fix those, substituting their

developer identities, which can be read

from code signing certificates using a

tool like WhatsYourSign.

Failed extensions installation

Dragging a folder of bookmarks from

Safari onto the Desktop is a problem:

you can’t even send them to the

Trash so long as Safari’s still open.

Installing an extension in a package

should invite consent via the

Security & Privacy pane.

Once you’ve quit Safari, though,

those .webloc bookmarks are

released, and they can be opened,

used normally, and trashed.