2026-02-28

Where I've moved, all they have are glass houses

I have been forced to use an admin controlled Windows 11 where I work, here's my survival story.

Keyboard layout

Gonna be real, Microsoft adding Colemak to Windows by default is just a token gesture. Like there's a bajillion layouts out there, so can we make it configurable? Noooo that would require PowerToys, a program only for Powerful Users that are doing things so Powerful it would fry the brain of any Weak user if PowerToys was even installed on their computer for less than a millisecond.

I do understand there are tradeoffs. Like if you remap keys, you've now added yet another layer between a keypress and the action happening on the computer. If you create keymaps, you're trying to enumerate every keymap that exists, an errand in dealing with angry nerds.

But I can still be unhappy about the state of things.

EPKL

Much as I disliked spending an hour configuring this program, it was very nostalgic to use a janky mess on Windows again. Idk, the jank just screams "one person made this in a fit of passion", which I think is endearing at the least.

EPKL is basically a goofy layer on top of AutoHotKey, which is in itself a goofy layer, so yeah scary stuff. I think all I need to tell you is if I hit AltGr, EPKL presses all of my modifier keys a bunch and all of my keys are temporarily remapped to crazy stuff, which is reliably fixable by pressing AltGr exactly three more times 💀.

But in any case, I'm using Colemak-dh (which EPKL calls Colemak-AngleCurl for pedantic reasons), I've turned off the compose key, stickykeys, swapped Ctrl and CapsLock and made the Qwerty "B" be the "\" key.

Here's the config for that:

EPKL_Layouts_Override.ini

[pkl]
layout = Colemak\Cmk-VK\Cmk-VK_ISO_CurlAngle:Colemak-VK CurlAngle(ISO)
[layout]
QWCLK = Unmapped

EPKL_Settings_Override.ini

[pkl]
showHelpImage = no
stickyMods = --

Layout_Override.ini (for the Colemak layout created)

[pkl]

[layout]
QW_LG = vc_BS 0 \ | -- @060 ¦
QWCLK = Ctrl Modifier
SC01D = vcCLK VKey

Window management

I believe I'm a member of the 1% 💴

(of the population that likes i3-style window management :P)

That basically means hotkeys and virtual desktops, and Windows does indeed have virtual desktops. Though you can't press Win+1/2/3 for desktops 1/2/3, you can at least switch left and right (Ctrl+Win+Left/Right). But with no way to check at a glance what virtual desktop I'm on, this is sometimes unwieldy. I'm getting better at remembering to press Win+Tab to check, but it has a tiny bit of lag that's mentally jarring (unfortunately a bit of a theme with Windows).

Firefox can't authenticate to the company's intranet sites

My chungus life, only Edge can 🥹🥀.

If Edge had tree style tabs, I'd consider it, but the extensions for it really suck.

So I'm stuck using two browsers at once 🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀.

Todo app (or lack thereof)

I can't install a todo app from the Microsoft Store, I can't even use Microsoft's own bloody Todo app, so drastic measures have been taken.

I installed the todo-txt VSCode extension and I'm toughing it out with a txt file.

Honestly not even that bad atm (cause the todo.txt specification is kinda neat), might need to switch in the future but for now I'm chillin.

But even if it wasn't locked down

It would still run like shit 😌.

I've always thought boot time to be a misleading metric on Windows, because after I login my computer has to go through a whole "wake up it's time for school" rigamarole for like 20 start-up programs.

So yeah every morning I turn on my computer…

Get up from my desk and make a whole ass cup of coffee 😌…

Come back and now it's ready 👍.

Winux waiting room smh