"defrag" error on IODD virtual CD-ROM

IODD's virtual CD-ROMs like the ST300 and MINI often display "defrag" when attempting to mount newly-imported ISO images, as detailed by ./techtipsy.

The IODD Guide explains that "The ISO/VHD file is too fragmented to load (Max 24 fragments for ISO; 0 for VHD)." and suggests "Use defragmentation utilities like MyDefrag (dead link) or Defraggler."

Another option is WinContig (H/T), a green, portable app that merited a rare addition to the System page:

🌱 WinContig v5.0.3.3 [961K] + "Quickly defragment individual files without the need to defragment the entire disk." Supports Windows Vista through 11, server versions from 2008 to 2019, and FAT, FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, and ReFS filesystems. 📺

Updates

Initially skipped SysInternals' Contig, believing it only supported NTFS as claimed on Wikipedia ("Supported file systems: NTFS") and even more explicitly on Grokipedia ("It exclusively supports the NTFS file system, leveraging the native Windows NT defragmentation API introduced in NT 4.0, and does not function on FAT, exFAT, or other file systems."). However, version 1.83 successfully defragmented an ISO file on an exFAT-formatted drive.
IODD offers VHD Tool++, a portable app with a number of functions including file defragmenting. However, the current version (0.8.0.1) simply wraps Contig, which is bundled inside. (Curiously, VHD Tool++ is not mentioned on IODD's own error messages page, which instead recommends MyDefrag and Defraggler as noted above.)

❧ 2026-03-22

Setting up Spectrum hawaii.rr.com email accounts in Thunderbird

IMAP & SMTP server: mail.twc.com (not mobile.charter.net, smtp-server.hawaii.rr.com, etc.)
The Spectrum Email Server Settings and Spectrum Email Troubleshooting pages specify using SSL, but Thunderbird will fail to send messages unless SSL is switched to STARTTLS in SMTP settings.
To reset email account password, skip the "Forgot Email Password?" link found on the Spectrum webmail login page, as it currently times out; head to https://id.spectrum.net/recover instead (also accessible via https://www.spectrum.net → "Sign In" → "Forgot Username or Password?").

❧ 2026-03-19

Run tiny apps in the browser

with RetroTick (GH | HN):

"Run classic Windows and DOS executables directly in your browser. No installation required. Just drag, drop, and watch programs come alive in a web page.

"RetroTick is an x86 virtual machine and Windows/DOS API compatibility layer built from scratch in TypeScript. It parses PE (Win32), NE (Win16), and MZ (DOS) binaries, executes x86 machine code instruction by instruction, and reimplements a subset of the Win32, Win16, and DOS API surface, enough to boot several .exe files from the classic Windows era and render their GUIs in the browser."

The demo site offers a host of classics to enjoy:

Games
- Cards (DLL)
- FreeCell
- SkiFree
- Solitaire
- Minesweeper
Programs
- Calculator
- Clock
- Command Prompt
- GLX Gears
- MS-DOS QBasic
- Sound Recorder
- Super PI
- Task Manager
- Welcome to Windows 95
Screen Savers
- 3D Maze
- 3D Pipes
- Bezier
- Flower Box
- Marquee
- Mystify
- Starfield Simulation

Updates

The developer shared on HN: "Hidden feature: right-click any executable and select 'View Resources' to browse its embedded resources like icons, bitmaps, dialogs, and version info. It even supports viewing Delphi forms (though Delphi programs can't actually run yet). Think of it as a browser-based Resource Hacker or eXeScope."
retrowin32 "is a still-early Windows emulator for the web (and other non-Windows platforms). Take a win32 .exe file and run it in a web browser or a Mac. See some demos."

❧ 2026-02-27

Apple Discussions: Access Denied

Despite billing itself as a "vibrant community", the Apple Support Community (aka Apple Discussions) apparently does not tolerate dissent.

A Google search turned up iOS 26.2 (and all of 26) worst upgrade ever hosted on Apple's discussion forum:

iOS 26.2 (and all of 26) worst upgrade ever

Clicking the link redirected to a login page, which was unusual, but OK:

Apple Account login page

That led to an Access Denied page (despite other discussion pages remaining accessible):

Apple Community - Access Denied

Happily, the Wayback Machine had a copy; it showed 1,706 "Me too" votes just 23 days after the post was made:

iOS 26.2 (and all of 26) worst upgrade ever

Apple isn't having quite as much luck censoring the rest of the web:

Wired: Phone Updates Used to Be Annoying. The Latest iOS Is Awful
Macworld: iOS 26 is a massive flop with iPhone users, and you can probably guess why
NPR: Why the latest iPhone update is leaving ordinary users and tech experts grumbling
MacRumors: I absolutely loathe iOS 26
Tom's Guide: iOS 26 complaints are piling up — should you wait to upgrade?

❧ 2026-02-14

MileBug alternative for iOS

iOS 26.2 broke MileBug at last; it hadn't been updated in years, the founder having apparently sold to Bending Spoons in 2018. Failing to find a simple mileage tracker in the App Store, I cobbled together a Shortcuts workflow which does the job.

Starting mileage is automatically populated by the previous ending mileage, though it can be quickly adjusted via the dashboard widget when necessary (as when switching vehicles or having driven untracked miles).

1. Setup

Create the Log Database
- Open Notes.
- Create a new note titled Mileage Log.
- Add this header on the second line: Date,Vehicle,Start,End,Mileage.
Create the Storage Folder
- Create a new folder in Notes named Mileage.
Create the Tracker Note
- Inside the Mileage folder, create a new note titled Milebug.
- Enter your current odometer reading on the second line (immediately under the title).
Configure a Dashboard Widget
- Add a Notes widget to your Home Screen, swiping to select one of the Folder options (as opposed to "Note" or "Quick Note"), then tap Add Widget.
- Tap the widget while it is still jiggling and change the Folder setting from the default Notes to Mileage.
Configure System Settings
- Navigate to Settings → Apps → Shortcuts → Advanced.
- Enable Allow Deleting Without Confirmation. (Ensures that the shortcut runs silently in the background without prompting you every time it updates the tracker).

2. Shortcuts workflow

Open the Shortcuts app and tap + to create a new shortcut.

2.1. Vehicle Selection

Add List.
- Rename the default items (One, Two) to your vehicle names (e.g., FJ40, Fit).
Add Choose from List.
Add Set Variable.
- Set Variable Name to Vehicle.

2.2. Get Start Mileage

Add Find Notes.
- Add Filter → Name contains Milebug → Limit to 1 item.
Add Get Text from Input.
- Should automatically connect to Note.
Add Split Text.
- Should auto-fill New Lines.
Add Get Item from List.
- Change First Item to Item at Index 2
Add Set Variable.
- Change Variable Name to Start

2.3. Get End Mileage

Add Ask for Input.
- Change Text to Number.
- Change Prompt to End Mileage.
Add Set Variable.
- Change Variable Name to End

2.4. Calculate Distance

Add Calculate.
- Change + to -.
- Tap Number and select Start from the list of options
Add Set Variable.
- Change Variable Name to Distance.

2.5. Prepare Log Entry

Add Date. (Defaults to Current Date)
Add Text.
- Tap inside the text box
- Tap the following tokens in the popup menu, adding a comma between each one: Date, Vehicle, Start, End, and Distance.
- Tap the [Date] token in the text box then set Date Format to Short and Time Format to None.

2.6. Save the Log

Add Append to Note.
- Tap Text and select Text token with yellow icon
- Tap Note and select Mileage Log

2.7. Update the Tracker

Add Find Notes.
- Tap Appended Note then Clear Variable
- Tap Add Filter → for Name contains, change anything to Milebug and limit to 1 item
Add Delete Notes.
Add Text.
- Tap inside the text box and enter Milebug on the first line, press Return, then select the End variable from the popup menu
Add Create Note.
- Change Contents to the Text token with yellow icon
- Change Folder to Mileage

3. Wrap-up

Tap the arrow next to the shortcut name at the top of the screen to access Rename, Choose Icon, and Add to Home Screen options.
Screenshot of the complete workflow.
To resolve access or permissions issues, tap the ⓘ button on the shortcut and check Privacy settings.

Aidas kindly wrote in to recommend Juan Manuel Merlos' Open GPX Tracker. From the GitHub repo README:

"Open GPX Tracker is a GPS logger for iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod) with offline map cache support. Track your location, add waypoints and send your logs by email as GPX files.

"This app has no annoying time restrictions, no ads and no in-app-purchases. You can create unlimited GPX traces :).

"If you are goint to track without Internet... don't worry! Before you go offline, browse the area where you'll be tracking and it will be cached and available offline.

"We care about your privacy, all the data recorded using the application is kept in your phone (or in your iCloud), wherever you store it. The app does not share any GPS data with us or any other 3rd pary. For more information see the Privacy Policy."
Shortcuts Toolkit: "Comprehensive toolkit for generating Apple Shortcuts programmatically using reverse-engineered binary plist format."
Shortcut Source Tool:
"Copy and paste multiple actions, view/edit/compare/save/import/repair/web-review shortcuts. ... Web Review can also be converted to and viewed/saved as plain text.
"

❧ 2026-01-30

Delete all iOS contacts

Primarily aimed at local contacts, since cloud-synced contacts can be removed from the device by disabling contact syncing. Back up first; deletions are permanent.

// 1. Fetch all containers
let containers = await ContactsContainer.all();

// 2. Prepare the selection menu
let alert = new Alert();
alert.title = "Select Container";
alert.message = "Choose a container to delete ALL contacts from.";

// Keep track of valid options to map the button click back to the container
let options = [];

for (let c of containers) {
  // We fetch the count so you know if it's the empty one or the full one
  let contacts = await Contact.all([c]);

  // Handle the missing name issue you saw earlier
  let displayName = c.name;
  if (!displayName || displayName.length === 0) {
    displayName = "Unnamed/Local";
  }

  alert.addAction(`${displayName} (${contacts.length} contacts)`);

  options.push({
    container: c,
    count: contacts.length,
    name: displayName
  });
}

alert.addCancelAction("Cancel");

// 3. Show the menu (Sheet view on iPhone/iPad)
let index = await alert.presentSheet();

// If user pressed Cancel (index -1), stop.
if (index === -1) {
  console.log("Operation cancelled.");
  Script.complete();
  return;
}

// 4. Get the chosen container
let selection = options[index];

// 5. FINAL CONFIRMATION ALERT
let confirmAlert = new Alert();
confirmAlert.title = "🛑 Final Warning";
confirmAlert.message = `Are you sure you want to permanently delete ${selection.count} contacts from "${selection.name}"? This cannot be undone.`;

confirmAlert.addDestructiveAction("Delete Everything");
confirmAlert.addCancelAction("Cancel");

let confirmIndex = await confirmAlert.presentAlert();

if (confirmIndex === 0) {
  // 6. Perform Deletion
  let contactsToDelete = await Contact.all([selection.container]);

  for (let contact of contactsToDelete) {
    Contact.delete(contact);
  }

  // Save changes to database
  await Contact.persistChanges();

  // Show success message
  let successAlert = new Alert();
  successAlert.title = "Success";
  successAlert.message = `Deleted ${selection.count} contacts.`;
  successAlert.addAction("OK");
  await successAlert.presentAlert();

} else {
  console.log("Deletion cancelled by user.");
}

Script.complete();

Update

❧ 2026-01-30

Random harvest

Apple MacOS 26 Tahoe De-Enshittifier 2026 script: "It nukes the background 'intelligence' services, stops the OS from trying to guess your typing, and kills UI animations that make Tahoe feel like a lagging toy."
Dangerzone: "Take potentially dangerous PDFs, office documents, or images and convert them to safe PDFs."
Windows File-History Recovery Tool simplifies copying the most recent file versions from File History. See also:
- How to correctly use File History to transfer data files to a new Windows 10 installation
- How to work around a fouled up File History transfer operation in Windows 10
Easy Disk Checker: "[B]uilt as a single executable EXE file, requires no installation, leaves no traces in the system, installs no drivers, and does not modify the registry." From the announcement on r/datarecoverysoftware: "I've been working more than 20 years in a Data Recovery lab, and I often need a quick, reliable tool to check the physical state of drives without installing heavy software or seeing ads everywhere. So, I developed free for use native Windows app..."

❧ 2026-01-30

Color e-ink MacBook Pro

A. L. Wies (@DrogenDiego) has married an M1 MacBook Pro with a 40Hz color e-paper display from OED (one of E Ink's few competitors):

"I wanted to share my InkBook. It's a E-Paper Laptop. I bought a used 16 inch MacBook Pro M1 that had a broken screen and replaced it with an OED 13 inch color E-Paper Panel.

"It is based on the modos Paper Dev Kit that's available on https://www.crowdsupply.com/modos-tech/modos-paper-monitor

"I adapted the firmware to my needs and wrote custom dithering algorithms. Mine is using edge aware bayer dithering for most of the content. I also show floyd steinberg error diffusion dithering. It looks very natural but looses brightness.

"I put a thin 6 mm wooden case behind the display to fit the PCB. But with a custom PCB it would've been possible to include everything in the display case.

"It's connected via USBC and acts as an external display. I managed to keep the front camera working :)

"I will do a seperate video where I explain in detail how I did it and the steps involved.

"This year is gonna be really cool for E-Paper. The technology is ready now for everyday E-Paper screens.

"if you have questions you can write in the comments. I will answer them ;)"

A far cry from 2012!

❧ 2026-01-27

Move fast and break Windows

or, Shipping bugs at scale with AI:

2025

2026

"defrag" error on IODD virtual CD-ROM

Updates

Setting up Spectrum hawaii.rr.com email accounts in Thunderbird

Lightweight, performant Linux distro for legacy Intel Macs in 2026

Related

Run tiny apps in the browser

Updates

Apple Discussions: Access Denied

MileBug alternative for iOS

1. Setup

2. Shortcuts workflow

2.1. Vehicle Selection

2.2. Get Start Mileage

2.3. Get End Mileage

2.4. Calculate Distance

2.5. Prepare Log Entry

2.6. Save the Log

2.7. Update the Tracker

3. Wrap-up

Related

Delete all iOS contacts

Native method (iOS 16+)

Delete Contacts Pro.

Scriptable

Update

Random harvest

Color e-ink MacBook Pro