IT And Computer Science

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Chidexstar
How To Safely Remove A Drive On Windows 10
~3.1 mins read
When you’re done using a USB drive on your Windows 10 machine, most people simply unplug it. But depending on the settings of your machine, it’s usually best to tell Windows before removing the drive to minimize any chance of data loss. Here’s how.

When Is It Safe to Just Unplug a USB Drive?

By default, you can often safely remove a USB drive from a Windows 10 machine by simply unplugging it—unless something is actively writing to it, and you don’t necessarily know when that’s happening in the background. It’s a good idea to safely remove drives if you’re concerned about data loss.
If you have enabled write caching on your USB drive (by selecting “Better Performance” in Device Manager), you will always need to use the “Safely Remove Hardware” notification icon to remove the drive safely.

If you’d like to check if write caching is enabled on your removable drive, open the “Start” menu and type “Device Manager,” then hit “Enter.” Under the “Disk Drives” heading, locate the external drive, then right-click and select “Properties.” Under the “Policies” tab, look at the “Removal Policy” section.

Checking USB drive removal policy in Device Manager in Windows 10
If “Quick Removal” is selected, then it’s safe to simply unplug your drive (when it’s not in use) without telling Windows.
If you have “Better Performance” selected, you’ll definitely need to use the “Safely Remove Hardware” notification icon to remove the drive safely. Here’s how.

How to Safely Remove a USB Drive on Windows 10

If you have a USB drive plugged into your Windows 10 machine and you’d like to safely eject, locate the “Safely Remove Hardware” icon (which looks like a USB plug) in your taskbar notifications area, which is usually in the lower-right corner of your screen. If you can’t see it, click the carat-shaped up arrow to see hidden icons.
Once the “Safely Remove Hardware” icon has been revealed, right-click it.
Right-click the Safely Remove Hardware icon in Windows 10.
In the menu that pops up, locate the name of the drive you’d like to remove; It will have the word “Eject” in front of it. Click it.
Click
If there are any write operations in progress, Windows will make sure that everything is complete before ejecting the drive. Once the drive is safe to remove, Windows will alert you with a notification pop-up titled “Safe To Remove Hardware.”
A
It is now safe to unplug the drive from your PC.

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Niceola2
Legislator Challenges Alden Takeover Of 'The Hartford Courant' With Bill Mandating State Influence
~2.0 mins read
A Connecticut legislator, upset over the pending takeover of The Hartford Courant by Alden Global Capital, has introduced a bill that would give the state a role in the newspaper’s finances, according to a Courant story.

However, the bill is being opposed by the newspaper’s editor in chief.

Alden, a hedge fund known for merciless cost-cutting, announced it is acquiring Tribune Publishing, owner of several papers, including the Chicago Tribune, New York Daily NewsHartford Courant and numerous other newspapers, for $630 million. Newsrooms are nervous about possible staff cuts. 

The Courant issue came up in a hearing this week in the legislature. 

The bill introduced by Sen. Matt Lesser (D-Middletown) would give the state Attorney General and readers who have subscribed to the paper for a year the ability to mount court challenges to moves that are “not in the public interest,” the Courant reports.

In addition, it would prevent Alden from incurring debt or issuing dividends that are  not in the public interest, a move to prevent the wringing of cash out of the Courant, the paper continues.

However, the bill is opposed on First Amendment grounds by Courant publisher and editor in chief Andrew Julien.

“The founders understood that democracy required a free and open exchange of ideas — and that the single greatest threat to that was the potential for government interference,” Julien said in written testimony, according to the Courant.

Giving the Attorney General or the courts the ability to decide if a paper is acting in the public interest “undermines that fundamental tenet,” Julien argued.

But Lesser contends the Courant, which was founded in 1764, has a history of legislative involvement, starting with the granting of a business charter in 1887 and revised several times, most recently in 1951.

Another type of challenge may be coming from Stewart W. Bainum Jr.,  who controls the nonprofit group that signed a nonbinding agreement to acquire The Baltimore Sun and other Tribune Publishing properties in Maryland.

Bainum, the chairman of Choice Hotels International, may put up a bid for Tribune Publishing. He is personally willing to commit $100 million if he can interest other investors.  

 

This disruption took place as Bainum and Alden were butting heads over the operating agreements for shared back office operations for the Maryland papers, The Baltimore Sun reports.  

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Niceola2
Tech Companies Press FCC To Restore Obama-Era Net Neutrality Rules
~3.1 mins read
Net neutrality rules are needed to ensure the internet will function as “a free and open medium that promotes innovation and spurs economic growth,” Mozilla, Vimeo and other tech companies told the Federal Communications Commission Friday.
“Net neutrality simply preserves the environment that has allowed the internet to become an engine for economic growth,” the companies said in a letter to FCC Acting Chair Jessica Rosenworcel. “In an environment where users frequently lack meaningful choices between ISPs, net neutrality can ultimately encourage greater long-term investment across the network stack by promoting broadband buildout, faster service, and new applications.”
Other signatories include Reddit, Dropbox, Eventbrite and Wikimedia. They are urging the agency to reinstate the Obama-era net-neutrality regulations, which classified broadband as a utility service and prohibited internet service providers from blocking or throttling traffic, and from charging higher fees for prioritized delivery.

In 2017, the Republican-led FCC voted to revoke those prohibitions, and to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service -- effectively stripping the agency of authority to police carriers' broadband policies.

Former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who shepherded the repeal, called the former rules “heavy handed,” and claimed they depressed investment.
But net neutrality advocates say rules are necessary to prevent broadband providers from limiting consumers' ability to access streaming video, search engines and other online services and content.
Rosenworcel opposed that repeal, and has repeatedly urged the FCC to return to the Obama-era approach.
"As a result of today's misguided action, our broadband providers will get extraordinary new powers," she said in 2017, when the agency voted to rescind the prior rules. "They will have the power to block websites, the power to throttle ... and the power to censor online content."
President Joe Biden ran on a platform that includes restoring net neutrality. But the FCC, which currently has two Democrats and two Republicans, likely won't consider the issue until Biden nominates a fifth member.
Mozilla and the other tech companies say in their letter that the internet economy “was built upon basic principles of net neutrality.”
“These protections allow for ideas to spread without interference from ISPs; allowing anyone, anywhere to share ideas and freely communicate on an equal footing,” the companies write.
Michael Cheah, Vimeo's general counsel, says the company hopes the 2015 regulations will serve as a baseline for new rules, but would also like the FCC to consider more directly regulating zero-rating practices, which involve carriers exempting some material from customers' data caps.
“We'd be pretty satisfied if we got the 2015 rules,” he says. “We would endorse a rule that roped in zero-rating.”
Net neutrality advocates have often argued that broadband providers shouldn't deploy zero-rating initiatives in ways that give customers an incentive to stream video from affiliated companies, at the expense of competing online-only services like Netflix or Amazon Prime.
The 2015 regulations didn't explicitly prohibit zero-rating practices, but the former rules included a so-called “general conduct” standard that barred carriers from hindering the ability of consumers and content companies to reach each other online. The Obama-era FCC interpreted that standard as barring carriers from zero-rating their own content.
Even though the FCC didn't formally categorize broadband a utility service until 2015, the agency had long endorsed some net neutrality principles -- including prohibitions on blocking or throttling traffic based on content.
But courts said the agency lacked authority to enforce those principles, or to enshrine them in regulations, unless it classified broadband as a utility service. For instance, in 2008 the FCC attempted to sanction Comcast for slowing peer-to-peer traffic. But the D.C. Circuit Court said the FCC lacked authority for the move because broadband wasn't then considered a utility.
The tech companies aren't alone in advocating for open internet rules. Earlier this month, Senator Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) said he plans to introduce legislation that would restore net neutrality nationwide.
After the FCC voted to repeal the national rules, California, Vermont and other states passed their own broadband regulations.
Lobbying groups challenged the laws in California and Vermont. Last month, a federal judge in California rejected the broadband industry's request to enjoin enforcement of that state's net neutrality laws. The broadband groups recently appealed that decision to the 9th Circuit.

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