Category Archives: windows

Going Down the VS Code Rabbithole

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A while back I was introduced to VS Code (Visual Studio Code), a free code editor by Microsoft. It seemed pretty cool, but at the time I was determined to be a die-hard Emacs user. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately depending on your perspective) I started migrating away from Emacs/org-mode as a note taking medium, and using Microsoft OneNote instead. I was able to keep my notes in a central location, have easy access no matter where I was because of the mobile app, and I loved the ability to copy and paste images, screen captures, and files into a OneNote page. As my usage of Emacs started to wane, I heard more and more ravings from my peers about VS Code, so I decided to dive in for a while and try it out.

Man, what a ride!

So it’s easy to be overwhelmed at first, but the built-in integrated SCM (git by default) was enough to raise an eyebrow, but the extensive (and I mean EXTENSIVE) list of extensions available for everything under the Sun was just amazing. I started installing everything I thought I’d ever need…. (mistake #1) Then after I got a jazillion pop up messages about this or that not being available, or needed another package, or whatever, I went through and paired it down quite a bit. I ended up with some basic linters, OAS specification problem identification extension, kubernetes cluster info, and a few others. That coupled with WSL on my Windows 10 installation made a nice terminal emulator as well. Once I had all the packages installed that I needed, I was able to give up Cmder and ConEMU as well. (Cmder sits on top of ComEMU so I admit having both was a bit redundant.) The git integration released me from using GitHub Desktop as well.

Suffice to say, using VS Code has allowed me to let go of several other applications on my system, just giving me an even tighter realm of control and ease of use for my work.

Note: if you’re going to install extensions, be aware of the inherit risk — you could be installing something malicious… so if you’re in doubt, try to stick only to the “blue star” or approved/official extensions for whatever you’re working with.

Oh, and one last thing — even though it’s not actually VS Code, if you type a period (.) while browsing a GitHub repository, a VS Code-like editor will load in your browser that mimics what the application does, allowing you to interact with that repository right there on the web. Now that’s cool!

Happy coding!

How to Beat the Windows 10 Automatic Reboots

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So in the essence of concurrency and preventing old installations of Windows to propagate bugs and vulnerabilities, Microsoft has started performing automatic reboots of the system based on patching. While you can pick a schedule for these reboots to take place, one thing you cannot do (even as an administrator) is easily disable the reboots. I like to have more control over my systems, especially if I’m working on something that requires time – downloading a large file, rendering, etc.

Enter Reboot Blocker from Major Geeks! This will effectively shuffle around your reboot window, so that the window is never achieved. Be advised this runs as a service, but I couldn’t be happier with it. It has allowed me to regain total control over my patching schedule. (Which I still do frequently, just on my own timeline!)

If you try this out, leave a reply below and let me know what you think!

Windows 7 – User Account Control settings

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After several years of a single installation, I was having some issues with my Windows 7 desktop computer at home. I decided to offload all of my important files and perform a fresh reinstallation. After getting the base OS loaded, I started the tedious process of reinstalling my applications, starting with an antivirus program. Shortly followed by Synergy, so I can access my Fedora Linux box that is next to my Windows PC. Synergy installed fine, but when the computer said the service was started, I continued to get “Service not available” messages. In trying to stop the services through the task manager, I received a “Access denied” message. I don’t recall having this issue in the past, but it was years ago that I first installed…

After some quick Google-fu, I came across a similar issue and found that the “User Account Control” settings restricts what you can do, even if your ID was set to be an administrator (which mine was). After changing this setting to the minimal setting (basically disabling it), I was again able to start and stop any services on the computer. Way to go Microsoft — nothing like making an administrator bend over backwards to be able to manage the system.