Configuring Firefox to browse in private mode by default
[Sat Jan 23 08:56:30 CST 2021]

In case you are trying to configure Firefox to use private mode by default, don't bother following the instructions published on their official website. Instead, follow the directions from from this other document. In particular, apply "method 1" from that link:

  1. Type about:config in the address bar.
  2. Search for the entry named browser.privatebrowsing.autostart.
  3. Change its value to True.
  4. Restart Firefox.
Yes, I understand that following the official directions will accomplish the same. However, I find the fact that the browser will still show the standard interface a bit confusing. If I'm browsing in private mode I prefer to know it. {link to this entry}

Powerline
[Wed Jan 20 08:43:08 CST 2021]

Although I work in the field of technology, I must say I had not heard of Powerline until quite recently. It is quite attractive as an alternative to wifi when there is too much interference. {link to this entry}

Waterfox & easy way to block all ads, porn and junk
[Wed Jan 20 07:59:48 CST 2021]

While watching one of Luke Smith's videos, I noticed he was using a browser I didn't recognize. It turned out to be Waterfox, a fork of Firefox. You can download it from here. I gave it a quick try, and am quite impressed with it. All the usual Firefox add-ons work fine with it (after all, as I said, it is just a fork of Firefox), but it appears to be faster and snappier for some reason. Mind you, an issue I have with all these spinoffs and forks is that, in reality, they truly leech off the original product. I don't mean that in a negative sense. Not only is it perfectly legal and ethical, but it is a standard right in the free software world. That's not my problem. The issue I see is that, if these projects become very popular, all they do is to subtract from the original project they truly depend on. Not sure that is a good thing. It's something similar to what happens with all those Debian spinoffs. In the end, if they contributed to the original project, we'd all be arguably better off.

By the way, Luke Smith's video on how to block all ads, porn and junk via your /etc/hosts file is quite interesting, I think. I had no idea someone had gone through all the trouble to put together the actual list. Mind you, it includes the Google websites. So, if you use any of Google's tools, make sure to remove those from the list.

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Exiting from Microsoft Teams on Linux
[Wed Jan 6 11:53:36 EST 2021]

While the fact that Microsoft decided to port Microsoft Teams to Linux is definitely a good thing (at least for those of us who use Linux for work in a corporate environment), one can still notice that they are newcomers to the platform. For example, when exiting the app, simply doing your regular Ctrl+q (or similar) combo doesn't cut it. As a matter of fact, in the case of the i3 window manager, the window doesn't do anything at all and remains open. The fix? You can change the default configuration so that, on close, the application does not continue running. {link to this entry}