program

Four months after the end of a subsidy program for home broadband, individual states are figuring out if and how they can expand access. Meanwhile the debate over the value and impact of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) continues to rage. ... The program launched in 2021 as part of a wider infrastructure package. It was available to households earning up to double the federal poverty level or with somebody in a government assistance program. Under the program, households would get a government-funded discount of up to $30 a month on broadband services and a one-off discount of $100 for a ... (view more)

Microsoft is inviting Windows 10 users to join a test program for new features. It's something of a surprise given the system theoretically reaches its "end of life" next year. The program is part of Windows Insider, where Microsoft lets people sign ... up to test new Windows features. The idea is to get an audience big enough to pick up problems in real world testing, but small enough that any problems aren't a major issue. Microsoft is reopening the Beta Channel for Windows 10. That's one of four Windows Insider channels: Canary, Dev, Beta and Release Preview. The first two are very early ... (view more)

A program to make broadband cheaper for low income households will soon expire. The Affordable Connectivity Program provokes political debate on both the importance of technology and the role of government. The program launched in 2021 with a $14 ... billion funding commitment from the federal government. It was available for households based on their income or them also being eligible for programs such as Medicaid or nutritional aid. Eligible households received a $30 discount on their broadband bill. Some providers created basic packages priced at $30, meaning the households did not pay any ... (view more)

A national government is offering $219 to help people get computers and mobile phones repaired. The program in Austria is designed to help individuals and the environment. The "Repair Bonus" program is available for all electrical appliances, though ... it's most effective for people with expensive devices such as technology products. Smartphones are the most popular item being repaired. Under the program, the government will pay 50 percent of the repair, with its contribution capped at €200 (US$219). This limit applies to individual devices and there's no limit on how many devices a person ... href="/news/11344/govt-tackles-e-waste-discounts-smartphone-repairs" class="more-link">view more)

The average US broadband subscriber uses almost 600GB a month according to new estimates. The figures also show people on an affordable connection program are making the most of it. The figures come from OpenVault, a company that provides technology ... for "optimizing networks," which naturally means it has an interest in showing broadband networks are under strain. According to the report, the average use was 586.7GB a month, up almost 10 percent last year. That includes both uploads and downloads, which remain in roughly the same proportion as last year. The averages are certainly being driven ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Steve G. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just upgraded my PC to Windows 10 and I noticed that Windows Media Player no longer plays DVDs in Windows 10 . In Windows 7 it worked without a problem. I researched this issue and it appears that ... this 'feature' was removed on purpose because newer PCs and laptops do not have DVD players. As such, Microsoft has dropped all support for Windows 10 DVD playback in Windows Media Player. I plan on purchasing a thin ultrabook laptop (with no DVD player) soon. As such, I'd like to convert my DVDs into AVI or MP4 (for example) so I ... (view more)

Google is creating a dedicated security team to hunt for bugs in "sensitive" Android apps. It will concentrate on the nature of the app rather than how widely its used. The new team will working in a different way to Google's existing program that ... offer bounties to independent security researchers who spot bugs in apps from the Google Play Store. To get the most "bang for its buck," that program only covers apps which have more than 100 million downloads. While it's logical enough to prioritize those apps as the number of people affected by a security breach will be highest, it doesn't take ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Barry S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I read with interest your article on how to shut down Mozilla Thunderbird gracefully using a series of 'taskkill' commands. The issue I have is that Thunderbird eats an enormous amount of memory if ... I leave it running over a period of 24 hours or more. When I try and send an email, the words in the email window (as I'm typing them) come out in spurts. This drives me crazy as I am a fairly quick typist. I tried setting up a batch script to run (using Task Scheduler) to gracefully close Thunderbird and restart it every 24 hours, but for some ... (view more)

A key security feature in Windows doesn't work as planned. It's not a vulnerability in itself, but means that hackers who find bugs in software are much more likely to be able to do damage. The problem is with Address Space Layout Randomization ... (ASLR). It deals with the way a computer organizes different programs in memory. As an analogy, it's like organizing vehicles of different sizes and makes in a parking lot. Most operating systems support ASLR, which means that when a program starts up and needs to use the computer's memory, it's assigned a random location. In the analogy, think of cars ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Giselle' writes: " Dear Dennis, Recently my Windows 10 computer upgraded to the 'Creators Edition', and now the Windows 10 'Photos' app has magically replaced the 'Windows Photo Viewer'. I absolutely can't stand the 'Photos' app ... and I want Windows Photo Viewer back on my system! I have tried going to Control Panel -> Default Programs to change the settings but Windows Photo Viewer is nowhere to be found! Can you help? " My response: I also noticed that the Windows Photo Viewer went missing with the Creators Edition update. Windows Photo Viewer has been a staple in ... (view more)