diff --git a/lisp/doom-start.el b/lisp/doom-start.el
index 67ca01b2d..c2a63cfc0 100644
--- a/lisp/doom-start.el
+++ b/lisp/doom-start.el
@@ -52,12 +52,6 @@
 ;; quickly self-correct.
 (setq fast-but-imprecise-scrolling t)
 
-;; Don't ping things that look like domain names.
-(setq ffap-machine-p-known 'reject)
-
-;; Emacs "updates" its ui more often than it needs to, so slow it down slightly
-(setq idle-update-delay 1.0)  ; default is 0.5
-
 ;; Font compacting can be terribly expensive, especially for rendering icon
 ;; fonts on Windows. Whether disabling it has a notable affect on Linux and Mac
 ;; hasn't been determined, but do it anyway, just in case. This increases memory
diff --git a/modules/ui/indent-guides/config.el b/modules/ui/indent-guides/config.el
index f0bbed9a8..9a11dac5a 100644
--- a/modules/ui/indent-guides/config.el
+++ b/modules/ui/indent-guides/config.el
@@ -20,11 +20,26 @@ be enabled. If any function returns non-nil, the mode will not be activated."
     (unless (run-hook-with-args-until-success '+indent-guides-inhibit-functions)
       (indent-bars-mode +1)))
   :config
-  ;; Bitmap performance is inconsistent across display systems (pgtk, ns, mac,
-  ;; gtk, etc). There's also a bitmap init bug in PGTK builds of Emacs before
-  ;; v30 that could cause crashes (see jdtsmith/indent-bars#3). If you use PGTK
-  ;; and reverse this setting, you've been warned!
-  (setq indent-bars-prefer-character t)
+  (setq indent-bars-prefer-character
+        (or
+         ;; Bitmaps are far slower on MacOS, inexplicably, but this needs more
+         ;; testing to see if it's specific to ns or emacs-mac builds, or is
+         ;; just a general MacOS issue.
+         (featurep :system 'macos)
+         ;; FIX: A bitmap init bug in PGTK builds of Emacs before v30 that could
+         ;; cause crashes (see jdtsmith/indent-bars#3).
+         (and (featurep 'pgtk)
+              (< emacs-major-version 30)))
+
+        ;; Show indent guides starting from the first column.
+        indent-bars-starting-column 0
+        ;; Make indent guides subtle; the default is too distractingly colorful.
+        indent-bars-width-frac 0.15  ; make bitmaps thinner
+        indent-bars-color-by-depth nil
+        indent-bars-color '(font-lock-comment-face :face-bg nil :blend 0.425)
+        ;; Don't highlight current level indentation; it's distracting and is
+        ;; unnecessary overhead for little benefit.
+        indent-bars-highlight-current-depth nil)
 
   ;; TODO: Uncomment once we support treesit
   ;; (setq indent-bars-treesit-support (modulep! :tools tree-sitter))
@@ -47,16 +62,31 @@ be enabled. If any function returns non-nil, the mode will not be activated."
     (defun +indent-guides-in-childframe-p ()
       (frame-parameter nil 'parent-frame)))
 
-  ;; HACK: Out of the box, indent-bars offers no way to fully disable
-  ;;   "highlighting the current line", so I advise on in, since the feature is
-  ;;   unnecessary work (and allocation of timers) for users that don't want it,
-  ;;   and for our performance-leaning defaults.
-  (setq indent-bars-depth-update-delay nil)
-  (defadvice! +indent-guides--disable-highlight-current-line-a (fn &rest args)
-    :around #'indent-bars-setup
-    (letf! (defun indent-bars--highlight-current-depth ()
-             (when indent-bars-depth-update-delay
-               (funcall indent-bars--highlight-current-depth)))
-      (prog1 (apply fn args)
-        (unless indent-bars-depth-update-delay
-          (remove-hook 'post-command-hook #'indent-bars--highlight-current-depth t))))))
+  ;; HACK: `indent-bars-mode' interactions with some packages poorly. This
+  ;;   section is dedicated to package interop fixes.
+  (when (modulep! :tools magit)
+    (after! magit-blame
+      (add-to-list 'magit-blame-disable-modes 'indent-bars-mode)))
+
+  (when (modulep! :tools lsp)
+    ;; HACK: lsp-ui-peek uses overlays, and indent-bars doesn't know how to deal
+    ;;   with all the whitespace it uses to format its popups, spamming it with
+    ;;   indent guides. Making the two work together is a project for another
+    ;;   day, so disable `indent-bars-mode' while its active instead. Doesn't
+    ;;   affect character bars though.
+    ;; REVIEW: Report this upstream to `indent-bars'?
+    (defadvice! +indent-guides--remove-after-lsp-ui-peek-a (&rest _)
+      :after #'lsp-ui-peek--peek-new
+      (when (and indent-bars-mode
+                 (not indent-bars-prefer-character)
+                 (overlayp lsp-ui-peek--overlay))
+        (save-excursion
+          (let ((indent-bars--display-function #'ignore)
+                (indent-bars--display-blank-lines-function #'ignore))
+            (indent-bars--fontify (overlay-start lsp-ui-peek--overlay)
+                                  (1+ (overlay-end lsp-ui-peek--overlay))
+                                  nil)))))
+    (defadvice! +indent-guides--restore-after-lsp-ui-peek-a (&rest _)
+      :after #'lsp-ui-peek--peek-hide
+      (unless indent-bars-prefer-character
+        (indent-bars-setup)))))