Applications

This article shows a simple solution to a problem that doesn’t seem to be adequately documented: VS Code UI lags, freezes, and delays caused by the GitHub Copilot extension. Problem: VS Code UI Becoming Slow Having worked on a Python project for a while, I noticed that VS Code’s UI was frequently freezing for seconds at a time. This was happening in various places of the UI: the editor itself but also in the GitHub Copilot Chat window. Copilot also seemed to be taking more and more time getting ready to answer, and the extension-host process would fully saturate one CPU core for long periods of time.

Bitmaps tend to have noise and imperfections, especially if they’ve been generated by AI. Vector graphics, on the other hand, trace the outline of elements with elegant curves. Converting from the real world of bitmaps to the ideal world of vectors requires ignoring the actual pixels and seeing an idealized structure instead. That is not something automated conversion tools can do today, at least not those I’ve tested. Instead of converting a PNG to SVG you should, therefore, recreate it in a vector graphics image editor. This article shows how to do that in the free Inkscape.

Tabby stores its settings in configuration files that reside in the Windows user profile. This article explains how to move the configuration files to any directory of your choice. The Tabby Config File(s) Tabby stores its configuration in the file %APPDATA%\tabby\config.yaml. It also keeps a backup in the file config.yaml.backup in the same directory.

Ever since the original Microsoft OneNote was discontinued I’ve been on the lookout for my ideal note-taking app. Having settled on Markdown as the perfect file format I’ve tried numerous apps and occasionally blogged about the experience. In my quest to find the app that combines a great UX with elegant esthetics, speed and full keyboard control I’ve recently settled on a combination of Typora and Obsidian - none of which are perfect, but both are satisfying tools to use and they even complement each other. This article explains how to get started with Obsidian.

This article presents a simple and reliable solution to flexibly configure Unbound with interfaces that may not exist when Unbound starts. The setup described below is based on my home server Unbound installation but should work well in other scenarios, too.

Getting Bluetooth headphones or headsets to work with the Zoom Android app can be a frustrating experience. This quick post documents the issue I ran into along with its solution.

This article describes the steps necessary to upgrade PostgreSQL to a new major version in a Docker environment. There are many articles on the subject, but I couldn’t find any that were complete, correct, and concise. So I wrote my own.

This is a quick post on how to troubleshoot situations where you get error 2503 (Called RunScript when not marked in progress) followed by error 2502 (Called InstallFinalize when no install in progress) when trying to install or uninstall software with Windows Installer.

Microsoft Teams is a web application that needs a browser as a runtime environment. In order to keep things simple - at the expense of disk space - the Teams installation package contains not only the actual web app but also all components that are needed to run it, including Chromium. When you launch Teams, you’re really launching the Chromium browser, which then executes the embedded Teams web app. Teams’ browser-based architecture presents challenges when you want to count the number of Teams instances that are running or when you need to find out how many instances of Teams have been started. This article presents multiple ways to determine accurate application usage data.

Feature-wise, Windows Terminal is a fantastic replacement for the dated console host. It presents entirely new problems, however, in a secure setup with a standard user for day-to-day operations and a separate admin account for tasks that require elevation.

There are a number of services for sending files to someone else that are both free and secure. This post provides an overview. What is End-to-End Encrypted File Sending? File sending services work similarly to file synchronization & sharing services, except there is no synchronization part. You navigate to the service’s website, select the files you want to send, and they’re encrypted on your machine while being uploaded. You get a link to be shared with the files’ recipient. The service stores the files for a certain time, typically seven days. That is how long the link remains valid. It is important to note that end-to-end encrypted sending services cannot decipher your data, for them it’s just meaningless bits.

This is a quick post to remind me of two things: 1) ShareX is the tool of choice for screen recordings on Windows. 2) On high-DPI (4K) screens there is a mouse pointer offset that can easily be fixed.

Depending on how you installed Total Commander, the default settings location may resolve to the installation directory or the user profile. This article explains how to locate the configuration files and shows how to move them to any directory of your choice.

Lint is a static code analysis tool that is used to identify various kinds of problems, with the goal of making source code more consistent and avoiding bugs. There are two popular linters for JavaScript: ESLint and JSHint.

In the last few years, I have tried many note-taking applications. They all shared a common UX flaw: lack of keyboard accessibility. Finally, I had the idea to give Visual Studio Code a go and found note-taking heaven.

Depending on your KeePass package (installer or portable), the default settings location may resolve to the installation directory or the user profile. This article explains how to locate the configuration file and shows how to move it to any directory of your choice.

This post is a collection of my notes about my search for secure collaboration and communication tools for smaller organizations, specifically vast limits. I will update it from time to time.

After many years as a happy user, I switched from Chrome to Firefox. How did that go? Astonishingly well! Here are some notes I took in the process. My History of Changing Browsers Netscape to Internet Explorer I think I started out with Netscape Navigator on Windows 95. My first change of browsers happened with Windows NT 4 and Internet Explorer 4. That was a great browser! Everybody switched to IE in the following years. Microsoft’s domination of the browser market (yes, that was a reality for many years) started right there with IE4. Internet Explorer was successful not only because it was bundled with the operating system, but also because it was a good application.

To monitor web app performance and usage on any site (or just on your business-critical SaaS apps), take a look at our uberAgent product. In a nutshell, Firefox Containers makes it possible to log in to a website with multiple different accounts at the same time. This is accomplished through data segmentation: cookies and other site data stay within the boundaries of a container.

Installing Office 2019 as a Microsoft MPN silver or gold partner is a little more complicated than it used to be. Partner Center has keys but does not directly offer installation media to download. This article lists the necessary steps to get Office 2019 on your machine(s) without assigning Office 365 licenses.

Depending on what you selected during the installation, Notepad++ stores its configuration files either in the installation directory or in your user profile. This article describes a simple way of moving your existing configuration to a different location.

An architecture overview of current browsers on Windows: Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer. In case you are wondering: I did not include Edge because it is currently being transitioned to the Chromium rendering engine, which might change a few things. I did include Internet Explorer because it is still the default browser in many enterprises.

Note-taking is one of those topics that appear to have been solved long ago, yet offer plenty of opportunity for new contestants. There are multiple reasons for that, but for me the number one is encryption. The major players, Microsoft OneNote, Evernote, and Google Keep, store your thoughts and ideas in plain text on any synchronized device as well as their cloud servers. In the age of hacks, leaks, and exploits it does not take much to conjure up scenarios where those thoughts become public knowledge all of a sudden.

I am an infrastructure guy (by heart - and a developer by nature). As such, topics like maintaining my own webserver (which I don’t - yet) or configuring backup deeply fascinate me. I am also mildly paranoid with regards to the safety and, especially as of late, the privacy of my data. That makes finding the perfect backup strategy a very interesting occupation, indeed.