The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is a U.S. government benefit program designed to help low-income families pay for internet service. This is part of the government’s Internet For All initiative which has several programs to increase availability of high-speed internet services.
Equifax Data Breach Settlement and free credit monitoring
People who filed valid claims as part of the earlier Equifax data breach can request free credit monitoring. Equifax has emailed activation codes to these claimants and these codes must be used by June 27, 2022. More information about this legal settlement can be found at www.equifaxbreachsettlement.com.
Apple launches new iPhone SE 3 and iPad Air 5
Apple announced the release of several new products on March 8, 2022, including:
Wireless carriers shutting down 3G networks in 2022
A.T.&T. has shut down its 3G wireless network as of February 22, 2022. T-Mobile will shut down its 3G network during the spring and summer of 2022, and Verizon has its 3G network shutdown date as December 31, 2022.
The FCC has more information and resources available at its 3G page. This transition may affect older smartphones, tablets, smart watches, vehicle GPS and road assistance devices, alarm systems, and medical devices. Some vehicles may also lose Automatic Crash Notification due to the 3G shutdown.
Apple Mac keyboard shortcuts
The Apple MacOS user guide has a complete list of Mac keyboard shortcuts. The online manual also has a conversion chart of Microsoft Windows terms and their Mac equivalents.
IRS will transition away from third party facial recognition identification
Originally the IRS had scheduled users to sign up for ID.me by the summer of 2022. Existing IRS user accounts who had previously signed up without using ID.me will still work for now.
SystemRescue operating system for computer repairs
SystemRescue is a Linux operating system designed to repair Windows and Linux computers. It can be downloaded and started from a CD/DVD drive or USB drive. More information is available in the Quick Start guide and online documentation.
Apache Java logging library security alert for servers
The Apache Software Foundation has released a security advisory for Java logging library Apache Log4j. This vulnerability may be exploited over a network without the need for a username and password. This is logged in the National Vulnerability Database (NVD) as CVE-2021-44228. Multiple server and cloud software vendors will be releasing security updates.
Find a Microsoft Windows product key
A valid Microsoft Windows product key is required to reinstall Windows if the hard drive has to be replaced.
This key can be found for some PCs with OEM Windows licenses by opening a Command Prompt (right-click and select “Run as Administrator”).
At the command prompt, type:
wmic path SoftwareLicensingService get OA3xOriginalProductKey
Visual Studio 2022 now available
Microsoft announced the release of Visual Studio 2022 and .NET 6 in November 2021. New features include multi-repo support, a new Razor editor for local ASP.NET Core development and Hot Reload of code. More information can be found at: