Free Republic

Windows 11 may be on the way, but more than 1 billion people are still using Windows 10 -- and many have no idea about the default settings that collect information, make you see more ads and notifications and may be slowing down your device. (It will be free to upgrade to Windows 11 if you're already using Windows 10 -- here's how to download Windows 10 free if you haven't already. And here's how to tell if you can upgrade to Windows 11.) If you're a Windows 10 user, you'll want to spend just a few minutes looking into...

Hi, everyone. My computer has something called Cortana on it, and it constantly pops up and insists on trying to "help" me. (Like the government.) Does anyone know how I can disable it?

When Adam was born, his future was very grim. The baby boy was born in India with severe physical defects, and his birth parents abandoned him. Some people called him a curse. Even after hospital staffers, husband and wife Raja and Jessica Paulraj, adopted him, doctors predicted that Adam would not live long. But four years later, Adam is alive and strong, proving that his life and the lives of people with disabilities are worth fighting for, according to an update about the family at Live Action News. Adam was born with severe physical deformities, including a cleft lip and...

The United States military does not currently have the ability to fight two major wars simultaneously, according to a new report, a significant reduction from the capacity enjoyed by defense officials for decades. The Heritage Foundation’s "2015 Index of U.S. Military Strength" concludes that the armed forces “would be ill-equipped to handle two, near-simultaneous major regional contingencies (MRC).” The two-MRC goal was largely attained during the Cold War, when U.S. forces engaged in a conflict every 15 to 20 years while maintaining ground forces in other regions to ensure stability and deter aggressors. That strategy enables the U.S. military to...

If your cell phone stops working, don’t blame your battery. The government remotely disabled it. Central to society is the constant question of who is in control. Our quaint republic is rather unique in that we believe, and actually once enforced, the right of individual self-determination. In short, you were in charge of you and any problems you created for yourself were yours to deal with. Despite being widely popular, certain insecure individuals with weak mental constitutions wanted a perpetual nanny once they were too old for their original keepers, and found pliable politicians to allegedly protect them. In return,...

Hi: I hope there are freepers out there who are more computer savvy than I am. I am not a fan of wireless (phone or computer). I try to minimize usage as much as possible. I have a laptop (given to me from work) which has wireless capability. When I don't need to be online, I disable the wireless device by clicking on the icon. Does this mean that when this is done, there are no microwaves emitting and receiving from the device? Thanks in advance for your help.

BAGHDAD (Army News Service, Nov. 7, 2005) -- Iraqi police in Adhamiyah responded to a call-in tip at about 7:30 a.m., Nov. 6, that an improvised explosive device had been placed near a school. The report later received by U.S. military police stated that a grenade was discovered taped to a pole with a detonating wire strung across the sidewalk. Staff Sgt. Robert Stearns, an MP liaison with the Rusafa Police Station, said it appeared that the device was set to detonate as the children left school. An Iraqi police explosive ordnance disposal team arrived to safely dispose of the...

In his address last week, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called for a 401(k) style defined-contribution pension system for state workers. In a January 24 hearing on pension issues, state legislators should consider the evidence for why such a system is necessary. Lucrative disability pensions are becoming the rule rather than the exception in some counties. A disability pension is 50-percent tax free and provides half the employee's salary for life and up to 100 percent for the employee's spouse if the employee dies. In L.A. County alone, according to a January 3 Los Angeles Daily News report, about 1,200 former county...