Netflix's longtime customers will start paying $9.99 per month in May

Eventually, we'll all be paying $9.99 for Netflix. Until the price goes up again, anyway. A massive wave of Netflix's longtime customers will see their monthly subscriptions move to that price point next month, up $2 from the glory-days price of $7.99. $9.99 is what new subscribers to the company's most popular plan have been getting charged since October. But even before that, Netflix had announced a different price hike — from $7.99 to $8.99 — in May 2014. Back then, Netflix promised to let existing customers keep paying the old $7.99 for another two years. And that's where many of us (myself included, per the image below) have stayed. Everything changes next month, when we get hit with the higher $9.99 subscription cost. Netflix has said it will be emailing affected customers to alert them about the pending increase, since most people don't remember news stories from two years ago.

I'm not going to be cancelling Netflix over a $2 increase, though — and I'd wager that's true of a lot of people. $9.99 is still that "reasonable" ceiling. Hike it to $14.99 or $19.99 and the conversation would change drastically. But for now, I'm still in. The movie catalog might be shrinking, but many of these original shows are getting too good to go without. And if you ask people whether HBO or Netflix is the company making superior original content, well, the answer is beginning to change:

Meanwhile, if you were impacted by the original subscription jump to $8.99 each month — that's everyone who signed up for Netflix after May 2014 — you won't actually have to pay $9.99 until October. If this all seems hopelessly confusing, just head to the account settings page on Netflix's website, where you'll see a "Your price plan is guaranteed until _____" message that spells out if and when you'll start paying more.

3 fixes for a dead Windows 10 Start menu

The return of the Start menu is probably Windows 10’s most popular feature. But it doesn’t work on all PCs. You can click the Start button, or press the Window key until Apple, Google, and Microsoft all merge together and switch to Linux, but the menu just won’t come up.

Here are three possible fixes. I can’t guarantee that any of them will work, but hopefully one will.

[Have a tech question? Ask PCWorld Contributing Editor Lincoln Spector. Send your query to answer@pcworld.com.]

1. Fix corrupted files

If the Search bar still works, search for powershell. Then right-click Windows PowerShell in the search results and select Run as administrator.

But if the search bar doesn’t work either, press Winkey-R, type powershell, and press Enter. Right-click the PowerShell icon on the taskbar and select Pin to taskbar. Close the PowerShell program. Hold down Shift and Cntrl while you right-click the PowerShell icon again. Select Run as administrator.

Once you’re in the Powershell command-line environment,  type the command sfc /scannow and press Enter. Then wait. It can take quite a while.

Eventually, the program will tell you either that it found no corrupt Windows files, it found and fixed them, or it found some but couldn’t fix them. If you get the later response, try the command

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

This should (hopefully) download replacement files.

2. Remove and reinstall your Metro/Modern apps

Relax. This isn’t as bad as it sounds. First of all, this only effects the Metro/Modern/Windows 10 apps that you get through Microsoft’s Store. Old-fashioned Windows programs won’t be affected.

Second, it’s all automated.

Open PowerShell as an administrator as described above. Type in the following command—or better yet, just copy and paste it:

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}

When it’s done doing its job, reboot.

3. Reinstall

I hate to say it, but you just might have to reinstall Windows 10 from scratch to fix this problem.

First, make sure you’ve got an up-to-date backup. If not, copy the contents of your library folders to an external hard drive. You probably won’t need it, but it’s best to be safe.

Press Winkey-L to log out of Windows. Click the the welcome screen to get to the login screen. Click the power button in the lower-right corner, then hold down Shift as you select Restart.

This brings you to the Recovery environment. Select Troubleshoot > Reset this PC > Keep my files and follow the onscreen directions.

When it’s over, you’ll have to reinstall all of the programs that didn’t come with Windows.

Microsoft Is Ticking People Off with Automatic Windows 10 Upgrades

Force feeding Windows 10

Head over to Twitter or Reddit and you'll discover a whole bunch of angry users raging against Microsoft for supposedly upgrading their systems to Windows 10 without their consent.

"Wtf. I left my computer unattended and when I came back it was installing Windows 10. I'm 100 percent sure that no one accessed my computer when I was away. Did it install automatically? Without me agreeing?," a user on Reddit questioned.

"Tell me why my PC auto-restarted and is now updating to Windows 10. I didn't ask for this," a Twitter user posted to Microsoft's Gabriel Aul.

This isn't the first time Microsoft has appeared overly aggressive in rolling out Windows 10. Back in September of last year, it decided to push out Windows 10 upgrade files to PCs to anyone who chose to receive automatic updates through Windows Update.

"We help upgradable devices get ready for Windows 10 by downloading the files they’ll need if they decide to upgrade," a Windows rep said at the time. "When the upgrade is ready, the customer will be prompted to install Windows 10 on the device."

Three months later, Microsoft made it seem like upgrading to Windows 10 was mandatory by splashing Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 users with a pop-up prompting them to "Upgrade now" or "Start download, install later."

So, what's going on this time around? There are a few things at play, as ZDNet points out. One of them is that a recent Internet Explorer 11 update is causing some users to see a "Get Windows 10" banner, though that wouldn't explain the bulk of complaints.

What's more likely happening is that Microsoft is pushing out Windows 10 as a Recommended Update rather than an Optional one. Microsoft warned last October that it planned on reclassifying Windows 10 as such starting in early 2016, and that all started happening on the first day of February.

It now appears that Microsoft is being more aggressive about the matter. Some users report getting a notification that their PC is scheduled to be updated. The initial pop-up is supposed to appear three to four days in advance, followed by a second (and final) pop-up that appears just 60 minutes in advance.

Several of the people complaining on social media say they left their PC for a period of time—sometimes leaving it running overnight—only to return to find that Windows 10 was either installed or in the process of installing. It's hard to say if they ignored the initial message days in advance or if perhaps it never came, but either way, Microsoft isn't winning users over with this approach.

If you're not interested in upgrading to Windows 10, pay attention to any pop-ups or offers to upgrade. You could also err on the side of caution (as it pertains to avoiding an unwanted upgrade) by unchecking the "Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates" in the Windows Update section of the Control Panel.

Get $149 worth of photo editing tools free from Google right now

Would you like to get $149 of photo-editing software for free right now? Of course you would! And you’re in luck because Google has made its premium Nik Collection photography software completely free to download and use. The software, which is normally priced at $149, was acquired by Google in 2012 and it features a wide array of photo editing tools that will make your pictures look like they were taken by a professional.

“The Nik Collection is comprised of seven desktop plug-ins that provide a powerful range of photo editing capabilities — from filter applications that improve color correction, to retouching and creative effects, to image sharpening that brings out all the hidden details, to the ability to make adjustments to the color and tonality of images,” Google explains.

Here are all the programs that are part of the Nik Collection:

• Analog Efex Pro: “Explore the look and feel of classic cameras, films, and lenses.”
• Color Efex Pro: “A comprehensive set of filters for color correction, retouching, and creative effects.”
• Silver Efex Pro: “Master the art of black-and-white photography with darkroom-inspired controls.”
• Viveza: “Selectively adjust the color and tonality of your images without complicated masks or selections.”
• HDR Efex Pro: “From natural to artistic, explore the full potential of HDR photography.”
• Sharpener Pro: “Bring out hidden details consistently with the professional’s choice for image sharpening.”
• Dfine: “Improve your images with noise reduction tailored to your camera.”

You can download the entire software package for yourself at this link.

Do you have bad RAM? Here's how to find out

Random Access Memory (RAM) wears out over time. If your PC frequently freezes, reboots, or brings up a BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death), bad RAM just might be the problem. Corrupt files can be another sign of bad RAM, especially when the corruption is found in files that you’ve used recently. Another possible symptom: The PC slows down considerably as you use it, but seems re-energized after a boot.

But don’t just pull out and replace all of your RAM sticks. You need to diagnose them. That way, you’ll know which stick (if any) is bad. And no, don’t try to replace individual chips on the stick.

Windows comes with its own memory diagnostic tool. Use the Search tool that came with your version of Windows (for instance, Start > Search in Windows 7, or the Cortana field next to the Start button in Windows 10). Search for memory and select Windows Memory Diagnostic.

In the resulting window, click Restart now and check for problems.

Windows will shut down, and your computer will reboot into the memory diagnostic program. You don’t have to do anything but wait. When it’s done (just a few minutes), it will boot back into Windows.

Now comes the hard part.

Search for event and select Event Viewer.

In the Event Viewer’s left pane, expand Windows Logs and click System. Then right-click System (yes, you have to click it and then right-click it) and select Filter current log.

This brings up a new dialog box. Pull down the Event source menu. It’s very long, so you’ll have to scroll down to find and then check MemoryDiagnostics-Results. Click OK to close the dialog box.

Back in the Event Viewer, note the listings in the top middle section; there will probably only be two, even if the message at the top of the pane tells you that there are thousands.

Double-click each one for information.

If the viewer tells you you have a RAM problem (I didn’t), shut down your computer and remove all but one of the RAM sticks. Then reboot and repeat the testing. Repeat with each stick. That way, you’ll be sure of which stick—or sticks—need to be replaced.

Windows 10 or Bust, whether you like it or not..

Some Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users have begun to howl over Microsoft's practice of automatically upgrading their PCs to Windows 10, saying that they were never given a chance to decline the upgrade before it installed itself.

That was contrary to how Microsoft has described its aggressive strategy of pushing Windows 10 to devices running older versions of its operating system.

It stuck to that today. "Customers continue to be fully in control of their devices, and can choose to not install the Windows 10 upgrade or remove the upgrade from Windows Update (WU) by changing the WU settings," Microsoft said in an emailed statement.

That's not what some users experienced last week.

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