# Ctrl blog
> A personal blog mostly on everyday tech.
Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. Use `/llms-full.txt` for consolidated page and post context.
Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`).

## Pages
- [About Ctrl blog](https://www.ctrl.blog/about.md) - Ctrl blog (“Control blog”) is the developer-focused blog of Daniel Aleksandersen based in Oslo, Norway. This is my outlet for essays, tutorials, reviews, and technical notes and articles on a variety of topics. This blog has previously been published under the names “Slight Future” and “Aeyoun’s bl…
- [Privacy Policy](https://www.ctrl.blog/privacy-policy.md) - Last updated 2026-08-24. Ctrl blog (“the site”) is hosted by Synaps Media (Triofan ZZP; Netherlands, Europe). Synaps Media uses European service providers for hosting, and web content- and email delivery on behalf of the site. See Synaps Media’s list of service providers. Cookies There’s no cookie…
- [Tags & Topics](https://www.ctrl.blog/tag.md) - Index of all tags on Ctrl blog.

## Posts
- [Microsoft has not stopped forcing Edge on Windows 11 users](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/windows-system-components-default-edge.md) - Microsoft announces vague changes to the default web browser setting for Windows Insider. Nothing but wishful thinking. Still force-opens web links in Edge.
- [The trouble with decommissioning a used FIDO security key](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/security-key-decommission.md) - You can’t throw out your worn-out USB security keys when you can’t recall what locks they’re for. Physical security tokens come with their own problems.
- [The deafening problem with the FreeStyle Libre 3 app for Android](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/freestyle-libre3-volume-level.md) - People with diabetes use the app to monitor glucose levels and trigger alerts when it goes critical. Unfortunately, it raises the volume to uncomfortable levels.
- [Phone Link relays your personal data through Microsoft servers](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/microsoft-phone-link-privacy.md) - The Phone Link app doesn’t transfer data directly between your devices over the local network. Instead, it allows Microsoft to peak at your personal data.
- [Norway’s BankID undermines anti-phishing best practices](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/bankid-iframe-phishing.md) - An easily-spoofed iframe embedded onto every random online merchant’s websites is not a safe place to enter my bank password! Is it really BankID‽
- [I’ve joined Vivaldi Technologies](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/vivaldi-technologies.md) - Back in November, I began my new job as a Quality Assurance (QA) Tester at Vivaldi Technologies. Vivaldi is the productivity super-app of web browsers.
- [Sync issues finally drove me away from the Joplin note-taking app](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/joplin-notes-sync.md) - Joplin for Android stopped supporting local file syncing and Syncthing. I tried cloud-storage alternatives, but the other sync methods are slow and unreliable.
- [Don’t record your social life on an append-only social network](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/append-only-social.md) - The tech behind peer-to-peer (P2P) social networks such as Secure Scuttlebutt enforces permanency. Absolute permanency isn’t what you want in a social network.
- [First look at Microsoft PC Manager and its conflicting interests](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/microsoft-pc-manager-conflicting-interests.md) - Microsoft’s new PC cleaner app puts the company’s interests in front of its customers’. At least it doesn’t over-promise and under-deliver like its competitors.
- [The frustrating RouterOS–WireGuard VPN peering bug](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/routeros-wireguard-peer-bug.md) - A bug in RouterOS’ webconfig interface caused me to waste hours troubleshooting what I initially believed was a mistake in my WireGuard VPN configuration.
- [TP-Link network equipment hijacks some DNS requests](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/tplink-dns-hijacking.md) - No one remembers the IP address of their favorite websites. Why should you remember your router’s IP address? TP-Link hijacks DNS to give itself a domain name.
- [I miss del.icio.us – the web’s discovery-engine and link classifier](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/delicious-bookmarks.md) - The early 2000s social bookmarking and link-sharing website was great for organizing and discovering the web by topic. I really wish it still was around.
- [A Sony Headphones app feature kills your phone’s battery life](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/sony-headphones-app-battery.md) - Adaptive Sound Control auto-adjusts your noise-canceling and ambient-awareness levels based on detected activities and location. At a significant battery cost.
- [A closer look at Steam’s local network cache proxying protocol](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/steam-lancache-protocol.md) - Valve Software has introduced a new automatic method for caching game downloads on a local proxy server without needing to reconfigure individual Steam clients.
- [You don’t want to be on Cloudflare’s naughty list](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/cloudflare-ip-blockade.md) - My home IP ended up on Cloudflare’s naughty list for six days. Most websites and many apps loaded slowly, partially, or not at all. Just had to wait it out.
- [Review: Aqara indoor climate sensor (for home automation)](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/review-aqara-indoor-climate-sensor.md) - The Aqara temperature and relative humidity sensor for Zigbee-home automation is unreliable and it doesn’t work in humid environments (where you’d want one!)
- [TP-Link band-steers 2,4 to 5 GHz Wi-Fi even when the radio is off](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/tplink-band-steering.md) - TP-Link Wi-Fi access points mindlessly band-steer clients off 2,4 GHz to the 5 GHz radio; even during periods when the 5 GHz radio is powered off.
- [Finally fixed my PC’s persistent graphics and audio stutters](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/troubleshoot-stuttering.md) - I experienced intermittent stuttering when my PC ran Linux and Windows. A mix of hardware, firmware, and driver issues created a difficult to diagnose problem.
- [Stop using DICT dictionary apps (such as GNOME/​MATE Dictionary)](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/dict-protocol-privacy.md) - MATE Desktop installs a Dictionary app (a fork of the retired GNOME Dictionary app). The apps don’t protect your pricacy, and you might want to stop using them.
- [“Gigabit Router” doesn’t mean it can deliver gigabit internet speed](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/gigabit-router.md) - Make sure you buy a network router that can fully exploit your gigabit internet connection. Many routers say gigabit on the box, but doesn’t deliver gigabit speed.
- [TeamViewer installs suspicious font only useful for web fingerprinting](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/teamviewer-font-privacy.md) - A weird almost unreadable font file bundled with TeamViewer for Windows software lets website detect if you’ve installed the software. Raises privacy concerns.
- [On-device browser translations with Firefox Translations](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/firefox-translations.md) - Firefox can now do offline and privacy-preserving translation of eight languages with more on the way. Powered by open-source and machine-learning.
- [How to set per-creator/​channel playback speed on YouTube](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/youtube-per-channel-speed.md) - Fine-tune your preferred playback speed per-channel with Samuel Li’s Speed Controller for YouTube extension. Set and forget on your favorite slow channels.
- [Review: Dygma Raise split mech­anical key­­board for enthusiasts](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/review-dygma-raise-split-keyboard.md) - The Raise is two fully programmable keyboards with eight independent thumb-keys instead of a space bar. Its unique hardware comes with unique software problems.
- [7 simple bot detection methods that won’t inconvenience users](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/detect-non-browser-form-submission.md) - Protect your contact, comment, or other forms from spam submissions by evaluating minute details about how it got submitted. Privacy-preserving. No CAPTCHAs.
- [The Current Version of Popular Browsers API (powered by Wikidata)](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/latest-browser-versions-api.md) - Need an API to get the current version numbers for the stable and extended support releases of Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari? Wikidata got your back.
- [5 options for auto-mounting network shares on MacOS](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/automount-netshare-macos.md) - How to get MacOS to automatically (re-)mount network shares (SMB/NFS/AFP/…) when your network-attached storage (NAS) is available. Free and premium options.
- [How to stop a robot vacuum from getting stuck on the laundry rack](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/robot-vacuum-drying-rack.md) - Is your robotic vacuum cleaner getting stuck on the laundry drying rack? Just raise the rack slightly off the floor and it becomes a natural robot barrier.
- [Split key­boards give your hands a break but reduce typing flex­ibility](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/split-keyboard-accessibility.md) - A two-part split or a wavy keyboard might be a boost to your keyboard ergonomics. However, the split key layout might also imposes accessibility issue for some.
- [Improve legibility and reduce layout shifts with x-height adjustments](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/font-size-adjust.md) - The font-size CSS property sets the majuscule (“uppercase”) text size. The (font-)size-adjust property can set the minuscule (“lowercase”) size independently.
- [Syncthing: The data dedup­lica­tion master](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/syncthing-deduplication-master.md) - Syncthing can deduplicate data before network transfers and even utilize on-disk storage deduplication on modern file systems on Linux, Solaris, and Windows.
- [The auto-save feature in GEdit vs the new GNOME Text Editor](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/gnome-text-editor-auto-save.md) - GNOME Text Editor, GEdit, and Kate all have a auto-saving feature designed to prevent dataloss. However, the implementations vary a lot with different trade-offs.
- [Common mistakes in BIMI early-adopter implementations](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/bimi-adoption.md) - The Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) standard has strict requirements for an email sender’s logo to show up in your inbox. 65,1% gets it wrong.
- [Ruby 3.1’s incompatible changes to its YAML module (Psych 4)](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/ruby-psych4.md) - Ruby made its YAML interpreter more secure by default at the cost of backward compatibility. Developers weren’t given heads up warning about the changes.
- [SELinux is unmanageable; just turn it off if it gets in your way](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/selinux-unmanageable.md) - I’ve been an SELinux complexity apologist for years. Lately, I’ve concluded that every implementation with difficult-to-configure policies is just unmanageable.
- [Can you use a WebP file as an Open Graph Protocol image?](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/webp-ogp.md) - Do you still need to maintain webpage thumbnails/link previews in legacy image formats, or have apps caught up with the WebP revolution? It’s a bit complicated.
- [Get your logo into inboxes with BIMI and email best practices](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/bimi-intro.md) - The new BIMI email standard give companies a branding opportunity in your email inbox in exchange for adopting stricter email sender-verification standards.
- [Everything or Nothing: The missing James Bond theme song](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/everything-or-nothing.md) - The title song to the James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing (2004) videogame by Mýa was once given away as a promo isn’t part of any digital music catalog.
- [Samsung devices incorrectly handle CSS @media hover queries](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/css-media-hover-samsung.md) - The CSS @media hover query detects hover-capable input devices. Samsung touchscreens on Android gives unexpected results by pretending to be a computer touchpad.
- [Should you trust a third-party bootloader to run newer MacOS versions?](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/macos-opencore-trust.md) - OpenCore lets you run the latest MacOS on unsupported Apple legacy hardware (and PCs). But software that bypasses security restrictions requires a lot of trust.
- [How to install additional spell check dictionaries for Flatpak apps](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/flatpak-locale-dictionaries.md) - Flatpak apps are isolated from- and doesn’t use the system’s spell checker dictionaries. Here’s how to install more language options into the Flatpak runtime.
- [How to run Windows 11 in GNOME Boxes (with UEFI and TPM2 emulation)](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/how-to-win11-in-gnome-boxes.md) - Windows 11 needs some extra config to run as a virtual machine in GNOME Boxes. Get it setup with UEFI secure boot, TPM 2.0 emulation, and accelerated drivers.
- [Why it’s easier to recover unsaved documents in Kate than GEdit](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/kate-swp.md) - The Kate Editor has a great feature that prevents data-loss if the text editor or the system crashes. It auto-saves “.kate-swp” files containing unsaved changes.
- [FreeStyle Libre 3 miniaturizes real-time glucose monitoring](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/freestyle-libre3-cgm.md) - The new FreeStyle Libre 3 sensor is a true real-time glucose monitoring system and the market’s smallest CGM at a 70 % size-reduction compared to the old model.
- [The HTML <meter> element and its (undefined) segment boundaries](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/html-meter-segment-boundaries.md) - The HTML Standard is vague on whether the attributes are inclusive. Firefox, Safari, and Chrome have behave differently. Here’s my workaround.
- [Some discouraging anecdotes on how services handle account deletions](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/account-deletions-2021.md) - I asked 124 services to delete my user account. The results were mixed. 21 never responded, and 16 responded by created even more accounts. Some outright lied.
- [Buggy Samsung–Grammarly keyboard update puts profit before typing](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/ime-samsung-grammarly.md) - One UI 4 (Android 12) introduced Grammarly partnership in Keyboard app on some Samsung devices. The update breaks the keyboard app compatibility with many apps.
- [The web is overrun by pop-ups and blockers haven’t worked in years](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/pop-up-blocker.md) - You can now expect every website to inundate you with pop-ups for email lists, promotions, and privacy theater. (No, the GDPR isn’t to blame.) Enough is enough.
- [Cardboard; an exciting scrollable tiling window manager](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/cardboardwm.md) - After the initial learning curve, I found that Cardboard WM help me stay focused on one task and it greatly reduced how much time I spent rearranging my windows.
- [2-clicks to install Windows 11/10 without the third-party bloatware](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/windows-ooberegion-bloatware.md) - You can block bloatware/partner/advertisement apps from cluttering up your fresh Windows installation by changing just one setting during the installation.
- [How to use disposable VMs in GNOME Boxes (like Qubes, Windows Sandbox)](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/how-to-disposable-gnome-boxes.md) - Self-resetting virtual machines make it easy to explore new (and untrusted) software, browse unsafe parts of the web, and open files from untrusted senders.
- [What are sparse files and how to tell if a file is stored sparsely](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/sparse-files.md) - An overview of which operating and file systems support sparse files, how to identify such files, program support, and sparse files versus file system compression.
- [How a Hypercore P2P innovation could bring more privacy to IPFS](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/dht-privacy-discovery-hash.md) - IPFS want’s to replace HTTPS as the web’s content delivery protocol. However, it can’t do that without improving on user privacy. Hypercore has the solution.
- [Font-independent pixel-perfect negative CSS text-indents](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/css-negative-text-indent.md) - There’s no need to guess the number of negative pixels for a text-indent to create a list item marker or hanging punctuation. Use this CSS technique instead!
- [GNOME Boxes review: no-frills and no-thrills desktop virtualization](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/review-gnome-boxes.md) - Easy-to-use settings-free virtualization works great when it works! Not so much if you’re running an unsupported operating system, e.g. a modern Windows version.
- [Why HTML table cells won’t fit into your CSS baseline grid](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/css-table-cell-grid.md) - Collapsed cell borders adds to the table cell’s line height. So, how do you align your table cells to a line-height/baseline based grid layout?
- [Your browser lies: the web isn’t written in your native language](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/translated-web-languages.md) - Your web browser can make it appear like everyone speaks your language. Browsers should also reverse-translate form submissions to avoid social faux pas.
- [Bing stops accepting Sitemap pings, switch to IndexNow instead](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/sitemap-ping-indexnow.md) - Bing (and Yandex) no longer wants to be notified of updates to your website’s XML sitemap file anymore. Send the updated URLs directly with IndexNow API instead.
- [Why I stopped publishing end-of-year most-read lists](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/most-copied.md) - I haven’t published the yearly Most Read article in the last three years. I stopped sharing readership numbers as the lists were used to steal my best works.
- [Should you contribute open data to OpenStreetMap for free?](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/re-maps-public-service.md) - Google Maps is incredibly detailed and useful. But Google uses it for tracking and deliver ads. Should you contribute for free to build its monopoly?
- [Should you fix errors and contribute to Google Maps for free?](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/maps-public-service.md) - Google Maps is incredibly detailed and useful. But Google uses it for tracking and deliver ads. Should you contribute for free to build its monopoly?
- [PlanetSide 2 is now available on Linux](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/planetside2-on-linux.md) - My favorite online multiplayer game is finally available on Linux. Goodbye Windows!
- [Why Windows failed to display Microsoft and Xbox sign-in dialogs](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/missing-msaccounts-control-dialogs.md) - Windows 10 just didn’t open the Microsoft Account (or Xbox) login dialogs. No logs or errors. Legacy program compatibility can be both a blessing and a curse.
- [Closing the open redirect vulnerability in the Libravatar ecosystem](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/libravatar-open-redirect.md) - I found an open redirect vulnerability in the Libravatar specification. An open-source avatar hosting API could be abused to redirect to untrusted websites.
- [Bitrot resistance of next-generation image formats](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/bitrot-avif-jxl-comparison.md) - Bitrot happens. So, what happens when I flip one random bit in AVIF and JPEG XL images. Improved data packing means less redundancy and more corruption.
- [Why you need a HTPC](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/why-htpc-benefits.md) - A home theater/media center (HTPC) can enhance your experience. You get more reliable playback and better loudness normalization than a smart TV or Chromecast.
- [Windows now blocks Edge browser competitors from opening links](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/microsoft-edge-protocol-competition.md) - Microsoft doubles-down on its user-choice hostile web browser behavior; blocks competitors from opening links from many Windows apps and web experiences.
- [Review: Samsung Galaxy Fit2 – a passive health and activity tracker](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/review-samsung-galaxy-fit2.md) - The Galaxy Fit2 is frustrating to use, but is luckily meant to be worn passively to track your health metrics (continuous heart rate, step counter, and sleep).
- [I was terrified of an eyeball injection](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/eyeball-fright.md) - I needed medication to preserve my sight, and it had to be injected directly into my eyeball. It’s a real thing and not just something they do in horror films.
- [The HTML <video> element needs to go back on the drawing board](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/html-responsive-video.md) - The HTML standard doesn’t provide web authors the tools required to embed small video files in a screen and bandwidth responsive way. This needs to change.
- [How to limit Samsung Customization Service data collection](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/samsung-oneui-customization-service.md) - Android Customization Service provides some extra features in exchange for your personal information. However, you can minimize the data it shares with Samsung.
- [Timberborn: a cute beaver colony sim with an unrewarding late game](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/review-timberborn-colonysim.md) - The post-apocalyptic lumberpunk beaver colony simulator is delightful and cute. Plenty of replay value, but there are no new challenges in the late game stages.
- [How to enable file versioning on Windows](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/how-to-windows-file-versioning.md) - File History lets you go back and browse and restore previous versions of your files and folders. Restore accidental changes and deletions in Windows 11 and 10.
- [Brave and Firefox to intercept links that force-open in Microsoft Edge](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/anti-competitive-browser-edges.md) - Brave and Firefox implement support for the microsoft-edge: URL scheme. Brave to hijack Bing search links. Plus, the history of all this anti-competitive crap.
- [Brave reduces the page load performance cost of its adblocker](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/brave-ab-performance.md) - The Brave browser has significantly cut the page load time overhead of its adblocker. Brave loaded pages slower than competing browsers without adblockers.
- [Patch origin trust vs GitHub’s URL hierarchy](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/github-patch-url-trust.md) - Opening a pull request is all it takes to get a GitHub patch URL that’s indistinguishable from patches/commits that are a part of an open-source GitHub project.
- [Cut I/O bound Rakefile task evaluation time by 12,4%](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/ruby-rake-performance-patches.md) - My patches remove some unnecessary syscalls that keep the Rake task and build system needlessly waste time waiting for I/O. Spend less time waiting for Rake.
- [Improving the New York Times’ line wrap balancer](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/text-wrap-balance.md) - Web browsers don’t yet support (text-wrap: balance). Adobe and the NY Times have offer free JavaScript alternatives. I improved the latter to suit my needs.
- [Why can an ad break the Windows 11 desktop and taskbar?](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/windows11-empty-taskbar.md) - A new promo message for Microsoft Teams broke the Windows desktop shell and the taskbar for Windows 11 Insider users. Why can cloud services break Windows PCs?
- [Windows 11 gets new and less stressful notification sounds](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/windows-alert-sounds.md) - I find the Windows 10 sound notifications loud and stressful. Microsoft has made the new sound themes for Windows 11 calmer and less overwhelming than Win10.
- [A privacy review of Tribler, the onion-routed BitTorrent app](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/tribler-onion-routed-bittorrent.md) - An in-depth privacy and security review of Tribler, a more private BitTorrent client backed by an onion/layered encryption proxy relay network. Is it anonymous?
- [What domain name to use for your home network](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/homenet-domain-name.md) - Always use the ‘.home.arpa’ top-level domain (RFC 8375), and don’t use the special-purpose ‘.local,’ or made-up undelegated domain names like ‘.lan’ or ‘.home.’
- [Review of the MikroTik hEX (3rd rev.) as a home router](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/review-mikrotik-rb750gr3.md) - The RB750Gr3 is an inexpensive network router with advanced network management capabilities for just €50/$60. It’s highly configurable with a steep learning curve.
- [How to make Windows Update prioritize Delivery Optimization downloads](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/windows-delivery-optimization.md) - How to get Windows Delivery Optimization to download updates from PCs on your LAN network (or the internet). Reduce internet data/bandwidth usage with LAN P2P.
- [Overriding Bedtime mode with priority alerts](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/android-bedtime-mode-priority-alerts.md) - Is Bedtime mode on Android using Do Not Disturb mode to silence alerts and notifications? That’s unclear, if you’ve got the Samsung Digital Wellbeing app.
- [Windows adds two new monospace system fonts](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/cascadia-system-font.md) - Microsoft to include Windows Terminal by default in Windows 10 and 11. The Terminal app bundles new Cascadia Code and Cascadia Mono fonts as new system fonts.
- [Don’t preorder ebooks from Packt Publishing](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/packtpub-preorder.md) - The preorder purchase experience at PacktPub was confusing. Packt never notified me when the book was made available to download. The ePub was also unformatted.
- [Nothing but bad experiences with Realtek Ethernet NICs](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/realtek-nic.md) - The tale of my bad experiences with consumer-grade Realtek networking equipment over the last decade. Intel has always had to come in to save the day.
- [Google’s unfair performance advantage in Chrome](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/chrome-google-dse-preconnect.md) - Google Chrome gives Google Search (when set as the default search engine) a network performance-boost over competing search engines.
- [The perfect cross-platform serif and sans-serif font stacks](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/font-stack-text.md) - How the default web browser fonts vary, why they are what they are, and how to make your webdesign look the same on different operating systems.
- [Does the web still need HTTP Deflate?](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/http-deflate-compression.md) - The compression format war of the last decade was won by Gzip. Why do web browsers still support the legacy HTTP Deflate (Zlib) format? It’s time to deprecate it.
- [Review of Logitech K835 ten­key­less mechanical key­board](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/review-logitech-k835-tkl.md) - The Logitech K835 TKL is a low-latency and well-built budget keyboard. Mechanical keyboards aren’t just for gamers with too much disposable income!
- [The best method for embedding dark-mode friendly SVG in HTML](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/svg-embed-dark-mode.md) - A comparison of the many different methods for embedding SVG into HTML webpages. Which work best with light/dark-mode, client caching, interactive mode, and more.
- [A deeper dive into Chrome WebFeed](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/chrome-follow-feeds.md) - Google hasn’t turned Chrome into a feed reader, but it does use Atom and RSS feeds to let visitors follow any website. Here are more details on how it works.
- [Chrome experiment lets you Follow news and website updates](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/chrome-follow-websites.md) - A brief history of where news/syndication feeds (“RSS“) went wrong, and how Google Chrome might just have found the right place for it in the Chrome web browser.
- [Fixing the News Media and Digital Platform Bargaining Code](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/news-destination-tax.md) - The Australian “link tax” levied on digital platforms linking to news is overly broad. Here’s an idea for how to better target it and narrow its scope.
- [How I fixed the intermittent Wi-Fi dropouts on my MacBook](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/macbook-wifi-dropouts.md) - The Wi-Fi on my MacBook Pro has intermittently stopped working. (Likely a Broadcom driver issue). Here’s how I turned a simple workaround into a more permanent fix.
- [Why KeePass instead of self-hosting Bitwarden](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/keepass-vs-bitwarden-server.md) - You can control your password manager with KeePass or a self-hosted Bitwarden Server. One is a simple password vault file and the other a complex server.
- [How to change keyboard layout on the GNOME and Plasma login screens](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/how-to-linux-login-keyboard-layout.md) - Neither GNOME nor Plasma’s settings app has an option to change the keyboard layout on the login screen. Here’s how you make the change through the terminal.
- [How to stop Bing ranking XML feeds over your webpages](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/bing-assets-over-pages.md) - Bing preferred XML and machine-readable file formats over human-readable ones in its search results. How link canonicalization helped rectify the situation.
- [Your clipboard is only as secure as your device](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/clipboard-security.md) - A review/critique of the complexity, security, and unpredictable user experience of modern feature-laden copy–paste clipboards in today’s operating systems.
- [EdgeDeflector 1.2 addresses installation woes](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/edgedeflector-12update.md) - The new EdgeDeflector version 1.2 introduces a new installation flow to accommodate Windows 10 further locking down user file and protocol association settings.
- [WSLg simplifies running Linux desktop apps on Windows](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/wslg-desktop-apps.md) - Microsoft has added support for running Linux desktop programs through WSL and Wayland on Windows 10 through the new Windows Subsystem for Linux GUI apps (WSLg).
- [Superfeedr sends logins in plain-text (a HSTS case study)](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/superfeedr-hsts-oopsie.md) - Superfeedr tried securing its website with HTTPS and HSTS, but failed to apply it correctly. User emails and credentials are sent in plain-text on the first login.
- [FeedBurner stirs in its slumber to announce more feature deprecations](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/feedburner-2021.md) - Google FeedBurner (the RSS enhancer and analytics suite) hasn’t received much attention in the last decade. Google now deprecates feed-to-email and more features.
- [The thing about ‘The Thing About Harry’](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/thing-about-harry-availability.md) - The Thing About Harry is a cute and positive LGBT romance movie. Such a rare treat! Unfortunately, it isn’t available to international audiences outside the U.S.
- [Lower the paywalls to keep the bullshit at bay](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/lower-the-paywalls.md) - It doesn’t matter if great information exists if no one can access it. “The Truth is Paywalled; but the Lies are Free.” Can micro-payments save news and the web?
- [What is the best file format for web shortcuts](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/internet-shortcut-files.md) - You can store links on your file system in .URL, .LNK, .WebLoc, .Desktop, and .HTML files. But which is the best format fr your bookmark files?
- [Third-party extension not enough to address Coil’s transparency issues](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/coil-transparency.md) - PayTracker keeps a record of Web Monetization micro-payments made through Coil, but the extension alone isn’t enough to fix Coil’s transaction transparency issue.
- [GNU Parallel can do anything, but scripting may be the better option](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/not-gnu-parallel.md) - GNU Parallel is a powerful Linux parallelization tool for local and remote jobs. Its unique command syntax and complex requirements makes it difficult to use.
- [Set Store apps as the default for arbitrary file types in Windows 10](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/win10-store-default-apps.md) - Here’s how to make Windows File Explorer open arbitrary files types in apps installed from the Microsoft Store. Includes common troubleshooting steps.
- [Kitty Letter word-scrambled my brain](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/kitty-letter-scrambler.md) - Who knew an enchanted letter vortex could cause you trouble falling asleep? How a mobile game engraved a repeating pattern into my brain.
- [Get Meltdown Alert notifi­cations for PlanetSide 2](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/planetside2-meltdown-notifications.md) - Receive browser notifications at the beginning of Meltdown Alert events on your server in PlanetSide 2! Join the fight on Auraxis!
- [Jellyfin and metadata privacy](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/jellyfin-metadata-proxy.md) - The Jellyfin media server can enrich your media collection with metadata from online sources. The price may be free, but the cost is metadata for metadata.
- [From Plex to Jellyfin Media Server](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/jellyfin-vs-plex.md) - Why I uninstalled Plex Media Server after over a decade and migrated my movie and TV show collection to Jellyfin instead of Emby.
- [Be wary of file sync conflicts with KeePass apps on Android](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/keepass-file-conflicts-android.md) - An investigation and comparison into how KeePass-compatible password manager apps for Android handle external changes to an unlocked password vault database.
- [Please don’t make me choose a username](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/usernames.md) - Forcing the user to choosing a username is a terrible user experience. No one wants to use an online service that forces a name you don’t like.
- [Don’t be shady, deploy your JavaScript source maps](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/deploy-javascript-source-maps.md) - Source code minification is beneficial, but the resulting obfuscation reduces trust and transparency. Source maps can help restore these and let people learn.
- [The built-in Windows 10 web browser you’ve never heard about](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/windows-internet-browser.md) - Windows 10 has a built-in program called Internet Browser (not to be confused with Internet Explorer) that helps you open link files in your preferred web browser.
- [systemd application firewalls by example](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/systemd-application-firewall.md) - How to restrict Linux services’ network traffic with per-service systemd firewall rules. Enhance security by only allowing required network access.
- [Don’t use RouterOS DHCP lease scripts to manage DNS](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/routeros-dhcp-lease-script.md) - MikroTik’s DHCP lease scripts don’t execute on DHCP renewals, causing issues with DNS registrations when devices suspend and rejoin the network later.
- [The missing gigabytes of disk space on my Mac](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/darwin-user-cache-gigabytes.md) - My Mac was missing roughly 130 GB of internal disk space. I suspected APFS/Time Machine snapshots, but find it hiding in the leftovers from the Mac App Store.
- [Raspberry Pi heatsink and case fan continued](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/raspberry-heatsink-case-fan.md) - The heatsink I ordered for my Raspberry Pi arrived with double-sided tape instead of a thermal pad; so I installed to the official case fan accessory instead.
- [Why Firefox for Android logs you out of everything all the time](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/firefox-samesite-cookies-android.md) - Firefox for Android “forgets” to send SameSite=Strict cookies to websites, causing them to log you out and forgot you ever visited them in the past.
- [What’s with cp --reflink: failed to clone: Invalid argument?](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/cp-reflink-einval.md) - What would case a file-cloning attempt using the copy command to return “invalid argument”? It can be hard to identify the underlying issue.
- [How to disable Adobe Cloud Sync on MacOS](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/how-to-disable-adobe-cc-cloud-sync.md) - Adobe doesn’t give you an off-switch for its cloud storage service. However, you can still turn it off and prevent it from running in the background.
- [Brave adds support for IPFS distributed P2P websites](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/brave-ipfs.md) - The Brave browser beta has added support for the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), a peer-to-peer protocol alternative to the traditional centralized web server.
- [The official Raspberry Pi acces­sory distributor conundrum](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/raspberry-pi-keyboard-distribution.md) - Why isn’t the Norwegian keyboard layout variant of the official Raspberry Pi keyboard accessory available for sale in Norway? Norway must be its only market.
- [What is Brave browser’s market share](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/brave-market-share.md) - The Brave browsers blocks the scripts that usually tracks web browser market share trends. I’ve independently measured Brave’s market share among readers.
- [A technical and privacy review of Cloudflare Web Analytics](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/review-cloudflare-analytics.md) - Cloudflare has launched a new free web analytics/visitor-counting service. It promises to put end-user privacy first. The service has plenty of room to improve.
- [Chrome to remove HTTP/2 Push](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/http2-push-chromium-deprecation.md) - Chrome intends to remove support for server push; an underutilized performance feature introduced in HTTP/2. It cites low usage and implementation complexity.
- [Rollerblade wheels are a great upgrade for your office chair](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/rollerblade-wheels-chair.md) - Rollerblade-style wheels don’t resist movement and help you stay slightly less inactive while spending hours in your office chair.
- [The projector lamp trap](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/projector-lamp-trap.md) - Projector bulbs have a limited life-time, and getting hold of them can be difficult. Here are my experience from owning three projectors over the last decade.
- [My MacBook Pro needed a battery replacement](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/macbook-late2013-battery-replacement.md) - The battery on my seven-year-old MacBook Pro 15″ had begun to swell and replacing it myself was way cheaper than via an authorized dealer.
- [How to resize ZRAM (compressed swap) managed by systemd/zram-generator](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/how-to-systemd-zram-generator.md) - zram-generator’s default configuration uses 50% of RAM or 8 GB. You may want to increasing these limits if you’re throttled by low memory or swap performance.
- [Don’t super glue heatsinks to your Raspberry Pi](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/raspberry-heatsink-glue.md) - Super glue is heat-insulating and shouldn’t be used to attach an aluminum heatsink to thermal hotspots on your Raspberry Pi. Use thermal glue/pads instead.
- [The entirely predictable problems with the Vulnonym naming scheme](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/sensational-vulnonym.md) - An automated naming scheme intended to rid the security research field of “sensational names” predictably creates sensational, ambiguous, and suggestive names.
- [TeamViewer RPM repo left door open for malicious packages](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/teamviewer-rpm-repo-security.md) - A configuration error made the TeamViewer RPM repository vulnerable to an attacker-in-the-middle substituting TeamViewer with its own GPG keys and software.
- [Twitter preconnects to the wrong domains](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/twitter-preconnects.md) - Twitter tried to reduce load times for external links, but made things slower instead. It mistakenly normalizes domains to a point where they’re no longer useful.
- [Intel: replace thermal compound “every few years”](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/repaste-thermal-compound.md) - Your computer’s thermal compound (paste/grease) is slowly displaced by the “push-out” effect. It must be replaced periodically to maintain high performance.
- [The 0,5 MB of nothing in all Apple Music files](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/apple-music-nullbytes.md) - Six percentage of each music files you’ve bought from Apple Music (iTunes Store) contain, literally, nothing. Why is Apple padding their music with zero-bytes?
- [How to get Microsoft Edge back into your Windows Timeline](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/edge-timeline-integration.md) - The new Microsoft Edge doesn’t currently support Windows Timeline. Here’s an extension that reintegrates the browser with Windows Timeline/Task View.
- [Options for deduplicating storage of TV series intros](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/deduplicate-tv-intros.md) - Exploring whether deduplicating file systems or other deduplication alternatives can be used to reduce the storage cost of duplicated media content.
- [Review: Beurer TL20 daylight therapy lamp](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/review-beurer-tl20.md) - A daylight therapy lamp is used to treat seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Here’s my review of the new Beurer TL20 that fits perfectly under a computer screen.
- [How to distinguish between files, links, and cloned files](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/distinguish-file-link-clone.md) - You can clone files on modern copy-on-write file systems in a way that doesn’t require extra storage space. But how do you tell a file, link, and clones apart?
- [How to label a webpage as being out-of-date](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/label-outdated-webpages.md) - Humans will understand an “out-of-date” label near an article’s dateline. Here’s how to make search engines aware of outdated pages in a machine-readable format.
- [What happened to BitTorrent’s Project Maelstrom web browser?](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/bittorrent-maelstrom.md) - In 2015, BitTorrent Inc introduced a P2P-revolution for website distribution. But it got side-tracked by investors ogling the “content” business along the way.
- [Which file systems support file cloning](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/file-cloning.md) - You can instantly clone files on many copy-on-write (CoW) file systems. But how do you do that in different operating and file systems?
- [Network routers are just computers](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/routers-are-computers.md) - Network routers are neither appliances nor magic; they’re computers and computers require ongoing maintenance and security patching. But whose job is that?
- [KMail account trouble](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/kmail-account-trouble.md) - I’ve always wanted to use KMail. However, I always run into problems trying to use it. Unfortunately, this time was no different than my past experiences.
- [Linux on Lenovo ThinkPad T14: great except the webcam/mic](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/lenovo-thinkpad-t14-fedora.md) - Lenovo continues its tradition of excellent Linux hardware support on the ThinkPad T14. Except minor issues with the built-in webcams and microphone.
- [Fretted M.2 connector cause difficult-to-diagnose performance slowdown](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/m2-performance-fretting.md) - A fretted PCIe M.2 connector between the mainboard and an M.2 SATA SSD drive caused intermittent and difficult-to-diagnose Windows 10 performance problems.
- [Fix Linux suspend on low battery and prolong your battery life](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/linux-laptop-low-battery-suspend.md) - How to troubleshot and fix issues with laptops not suspending on critically under low battery conditions. As a bonus, learn how to prolong your battery life.
- [How to install Corel After­Shot Pro 3 on Fedora Linux 32](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/how-to-aftershot-pro-fedora.md) - Corel hasn’t maintained the RPM dependencies for AfterShot Pro 3; making it difficult to install its RAW photo editor on recent versions of Fedora Linux.
- [The difference between RDFa’s property and rel attributes](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/rdfa-link-attributes.md) - You can easily get unexpected HTML+RDFa Lite parsing results by unknowingly using it with RDFa Core attributes that just happens to also be HTML attributes.
- [The $10 LensPen Hurricane Blower vs a $1 air puffer](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/review-air-puffers.md) - Comparing a cheap air puffer to a brand-name model. You get what you pay for, even when it comes to a simple product like an air puffer/blower.
- [Review of Firefox “Daylight” for Android](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/review-firefox-fenix-android.md) - The new Firefox version for Android comes with big changes under the hood, but also drops support for thousands of extensions, and is less configurable.
- [What it’s like being an Amazon customer in Norway](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/amazon-europe-customer-experience.md) - Amazon doesn’t have a Norwegian website, but you can still order from Amazon U.K. and Germany. Delivery is fast, and the retailer takes care of imports and taxes.
- [Can Linux hibernate into tmpfs?](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/linux-hibernate-tmpfs.md) - Hibernation requires that you can swap data out of volatile memory into something that will persist through a power cycle. A tmpfs in RAM isn’t the best option.
- [How to schedule Folding@home to only run during winter nights](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/how-to-fahclient-schedule.md) - Anyone can donate PC power to medical science with Folding@home. Here’s how to schedule it to only run at night during winter. For MacOS, Windows 10, and Linux.
- [RunCat and the battery-impact of processor indicators](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/macos-runcat.md) - RunCat is a desktop pet that lives in your Mac’s top bar. It runs faster when your Mac is busy but it can also prevent it from entering energy-saving modes.
- [Look for EU’s new QR code to know your new TV and monitor’s longevity](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/eu-display-firmware-label.md) - The new energy-efficiency labels contain information on how long products will receive software and firmware updates, spare parts availability, and support.
- [Comparing file sizes of loss­less WebP vs FLIF vs PNG](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/webp-flif-comparison.md) - The FLIF lossless image format makes big claims on file size savings, but lossless WebP actually delivers smaller lossless image files.
- [Comparing AVIF vs WebP file sizes at the same DSSIM](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/webp-avif-comparison.md) - I got impressive results when comparing AVIF and WebP images at the same visual quality (using DSSIM.) AVIF’s 85th percentile was the same as WebP’s 15th!
- [Enable the sharp YUV option for better WebP images](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/webp-sharp-yuv.md) - Batch encoding images into WebP? Enable Sharp YUV for higher visual quality results at only a tiny increase in file sizes at a one-time cost to processor time.
- [How to enable hibernation on Fedora Linux](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/fedora-hibernate.md) - Configure Fedora Workstation’s boot environment to support system hibernation/suspend-to-disk. Lets you power-off your computer and resume your work later.
- [How to auto-lock your computer on a schedule (e.g. at bedtime)](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/lock-pc-at-bedtime.md) - Automatically lock your computer screen at certain hours (such as your break or bedtime.) Instructions for Mac, Windows, and Linux computers.
- [Ctrl blog is now available as an Onion site](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/ctrlblog-onion-mirror.md) - You can now read Ctrl blog through a censorship-resilient mirror powered by the Tor Project’s Onion Network. The mirror is ad-free and uses no third-parties.
- [Promote your Onion site with the Onion-Location HTTP header](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/tor-onion-location-header.md) - A new HTTP header enables websites to redirect their visitors using the Tor Browser to their more secure Onion site.
- [Genuine Roomba replacement parts vs off-brand clones](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/roomba-900-replacement-parts.md) - I bought authentic and off-brand Roomba 900-series replacement parts to compare their perceived quality. The differences are quite small.
- [Fun with Apache HTTPD and subrequest variable inconsistencies](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/httpd-subrequest-variable-inconsistencies.md) - Why does the REQUEST_URI variable return /index.html and not / when requesting a directory? Blame it on the subrequest for the DirectoryIndex file.
- [How to block web browser-based localhost port-scans](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/block-localhost-port-scans.md) - Websites are port-scanning your localhost. Here’s how to stop random websites from knowing what services are running on your device.
- [Embed XMP sidecars into image files with embed_xmp](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/embed-xmp.md) - Here’s my new utility program and Ruby library for embedding XMP sidecar files (.xmp/.xml) into JPEG, PNG, SVG, and WebP image files.
- [Google Authenticator enables device-transfers, but no export options](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/google-authenticator-2fa-secrets.md) - Two-factor authentication requires users to commit to storing a secret code indefinitely. Popular apps lack tools to back up and data transfer those secrets.
- [P2P apps’ connection amnesia makes them less fault-tolerant](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/cache-p2p-connections.md) - Peer-to-peer apps forget the IP addresses it communicated with in the last session and rely on peer-discovery all the time. Caching can make them more robust.
- [Make native lazy-loading images load more eagerly](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/eager-lazy-loading.md) - A tutorial on how to load native lazy-loading images earlier in Safari and Firefox. Speed up page loading while keeping visitors from seeing loading images.
- [Everything you need to know about Night mode in Samsung Internet](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/samsung-internet-night-mode.md) - Night mode in Samsung browser explained. How it breaks page contrast and accessibility, pastelify SVG colors, and why web developers can’t do anything about it.
- [Four P2P distribution tools for Git repositories compared](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/git-p2p-compared.md) - Comparing how P2P protocols like BitTorrent, Dat, and IPFS can help you distribute your Git repositories without depending on a central server.
- [How I recovered a lost email from my email client’s memory](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/restore-lost-email-from-ram.md) - A bug caused 30 minutes of work on an email to disappear. However, I was able to recover it by poking around in the process memory using gdb/gcore. Here’s how.
- [New font with Unicode-compatible Creative Commons license symbols](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/creative-commons-unicode-fallback-font.md) - Unicode 13 introduced Creative Commons license symbols. Here’s a small free font file with the new characters, so you can use them on your computer or website.
- [Disable processor boost mode to prolong your battery life](https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/laptop-boost-mode-battery.md) - How to disable Turbo Boost for AMD and Intel. Sacrifice some peak performance and get a cooler and quieter laptop with a longer-lasting battery.

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