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Why not to rely on "The Cloud"

Hi Maurice,
I suppose we do take fast broadband for granted when it is available. My son lives in a thick walled barn in the Yorkshire hills and although he has FTTC the copper wire comes a few miles across the fields so his broadband sometimes drops to 5Mbs down and never more than 1.5Mbs up. I have accessed Onedrive there although not continuously. The main problem he has is getting the wifi signal to come through the thick stone walls.

Phil
 
It is often said the 'Google' is your friend. To quote Victor Meldrew ! "I don't believe it".
I prefer Duck & Go as a search. Google is a must for You Tube but anything else, no.
 
KnobbyDave,

Sod's Law always catches you out when you haven't got another copy!

Phil,

When in March this year they put us on faster internet it was, for a few weeks only, 6.7 Mbps, but for some monthas now it has been stuck at 3.7Mbps. The upload speed isn't even 10% of that rendering the cloud very sluggish should I choose to use it. We still use hard-wired USB connections to the router as both our computers are in a dedicated room. Despite that, the router does perform in wifi as well, as my son found out accidentally when he came to stay in September. And it went through 19 inches of stone, travelled around 20 feet and then through about 8 inches of concrete into the new build bedroom that he used and still produced a useable signal. However, we do have a somewhat drier climate than Yorkshire, so maybe that helps.

Maurice :cool:
 
When in March this year they put us on faster internet it was, for a few weeks only, 6.7 Mbps, but for some months now it has been stuck at 3.7Mbps. The upload speed isn't even 10% of that rendering the cloud very sluggish should I choose to use it.
Maurice :cool:

Maybe not the best time to say I am very happy with my 200 Mbps on Virgin cable in Solihull :)
 
It is often said the 'Google' is your friend. To quote Victor Meldrew ! "I don't believe it".
I prefer Duck & Go as a search. Google is a must for You Tube but anything else, no.
I use Google but regard it as something useful rather than a friend.
I've used their search since 2000 and still use it probably every day.
I use Gmail and find it very satisfactory and secure. Two factor authentication if required.
I use their Chrome browser although lately Microsoft's chromium Edge is nearly as good.
Chrome Extensions are very useful.
Youtube always interesting and useful.
Google Earth/Streetview/Maps. I like them and hope they keep them going.
Google translate. In Chrome it translates websites on the fly.
I don't use GDrive (15Gb Cloud) too clunky ... I prefer Microsoft.
I don't use Google Photos or any other Photo Apps. Prefer my own methods in my computers.

I know Google robots look for keywords in everything I type on the internet ... they are crawling over the BHF at present.
I have never responded or been influenced by an ad which makes it on to my computer screens.
:)
 
guilbert53,

No one on this island gets more than 24Mbps, so your speeds are in the land of the fairies! :) But if I had that sort of speed, I don't know what I would do with it as I don't do any mega downloads, very rarely watch films, and haven't watched TV for at least 15 years, not that I was ever a great addict. I'll content myself with the joys of rural living on an almost crime free Mediterranean island, while you enjoy and rain and the traffic of the UK! :) :) :)

Maurice :cool:
 
guilbert53,

No one on this island gets more than 24Mbps, so your speeds are in the land of the fairies! :) But if I had that sort of speed, I don't know what I would do with it as I don't do any mega downloads, very rarely watch films, and haven't watched TV for at least 15 years, not that I was ever a great addict. I'll content myself with the joys of rural living on an almost crime free Mediterranean island, while you enjoy and rain and the traffic of the UK! :) :) :)

Maurice :cool:
hoooooooo. lucky you
 
guilbert53,

No one on this island gets more than 24Mbps, so your speeds are in the land of the fairies! :) But if I had that sort of speed, I don't know what I would do with it as I don't do any mega downloads, very rarely watch films, and haven't watched TV for at least 15 years, not that I was ever a great addict. I'll content myself with the joys of rural living on an almost crime free Mediterranean island, while you enjoy and rain and the traffic of the UK! :) :) :)

Maurice :cool:

well said maurice...i certainly know where i would rather be and its not in birmingham...not now anyway

lyn
 
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As previously mentioned I had a go with Google Drive (cloud) some years ago but found it clunky so didn’t use it much.

Today I was surprised to see that I was using 7Gb of the available free 15Gb.

A quick look showed that Google Photos had backed up all the photos, images, and video clips I had in my laptop and desktop computers.

Some people say the ‘Cloud’ is just someone else’s computer.
oldMohawk, 'some people' are correct the cloud is just someone else very big computer. I have a 2TB hard drive and extra SD cards for my photos. The 2TB hard drive was $40.00 from Amazon.
 
I use Google but regard it as something useful rather than a friend.
I've used their search since 2000 and still use it probably every day.
I use Gmail and find it very satisfactory and secure. Two factor authentication if required.
I use their Chrome browser although lately Microsoft's chromium Edge is nearly as good.
Chrome Extensions are very useful.
Youtube always interesting and useful.
Google Earth/Streetview/Maps. I like them and hope they keep them going.
Google translate. In Chrome it translates websites on the fly.
I don't use GDrive (15Gb Cloud) too clunky ... I prefer Microsoft.
I don't use Google Photos or any other Photo Apps. Prefer my own methods in my computers.

I know Google robots look for keywords in everything I type on the internet ... they are crawling over the BHF at present.
I have never responded or been influenced by an ad which makes it on to my computer screens.
:)
oldMohawk, I use Google and Microsoft.........Trust me neither are your friend, only when you keep paying! An Apple is just as bad. My wife has an ipad Pro with insurance, we went to a Verizon store for three hours could not fix. Two calls with Apple engineers lasting about 6 hours, they needed to have another call. The next day we are watching our Grandchildren and my wife explained what was going on to our 12 year old Grandson, took him 10 minutes to fix it that was three years ago, guess who we call now? You can't make this up! You should not trust those people even if its all you have.
 
oldMohawk, 'some people' are correct the cloud is just someone else very big computer. I have a 2TB hard drive and extra SD cards for my photos. The 2TB hard drive was $40.00 from Amazon.
Richard, it's amazing how memory, hdd, sd, and ssd prices are so low these days.
My first home computer had a memory of 3.5K and there is a pic of it on the forum see link below ... :)
 
Well whatever computer you own will go wrong or become out dated with it's hardware or or programs.
The need to have back up is so important I use the cloud but this is not my only storage choice.
When it comes to the cloud you need blind Faith you send your information and such into where ?, to be looked after by who ?.
I think going down to the corner store and asking Me Arkright to keep it under the counter is just as safe.
Funny as I type this there is a add for Google Cloud platform on the page.
Computers cellphones are temporary.
 
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Richard, it's amazing how memory, hdd, sd, and ssd prices are so low these days.
My first home computer had a memory of 3.5K and there is a pic of it on the forum see link below ... :)
oldMohawk, really amazing! I had an original IBM PC with a monochrome monitor and 120 drive. Over time from a catalog I upgraded to a 160 then 320 drive then two 320 drives. Added memory and color monitor basically buying the computer all over again. By that time I could have brought a brand new one with 10 times memory and 3 times faster. In this business standing still is actually going backwards.
 
my first pc. a ibm 8088.640k of ram. memory was £1 a meg. so it only had 4. the.hard drive was 10meg. and a ega monitor.
i had hours.of pleaser with that. Then comes the dreaded www. and i had dial up. wow 560k speed.too slow to catch a cold.you could not download anything it took to long.and no buffers.... cloud.back then was a thing in the sky...I got by with out it then,and pretty sure i can now...
 
Eric,

I agree as our grass turns to straw in the summer, but a lot of artists have chosen to make their homes here and are quite happy that they did, including one who lived in Switzerland for many years. I'm not a beach lover at all - never was when I lived in Bournemouth for nigh on 40 years - and prefer to spend my time in the mountains. Each to his own, but keep on painting.

Maurice :cool:
 
My experience, a few years ago and on two different occasions with Windows, did not give me any confidence in them. I got the impression they worked from tip sheet and went through it hoping to reach one that sorted things out for you. Usually all the solutions they spoke of I had already tried, without success. They never did so I set myself the task of doing my own checking. Usually I did not take too long and often a we search was more to the point and helpful. Other than component failure, most glitches seem to occur due to an update, which can change your settings or a mistake by yourself which changes settings.
ne thing about Linux, which I use, rather then Windows is that you do have to become more pc literate to enable any issues to be dealt with. I did have a frustrating time recently when WiFi was not available om my laptop (a SONY VAIO). Ethernet was fine but that is not the solution for a portable laptop. ;) It was only when I noticed less lights on the edge of the laptop that I realised I had inadvertently switched off WiFI. There is a small, but obscure slide switch on the front edge of the laptop. :eek: Often issues are simply corrected but it can be hard to find the correct method to achieve it.
 
my first pc. a ibm 8088.640k of ram. memory was £1 a meg. so it only had 4. the.hard drive was 10meg. and a ega monitor.
i had hours.of pleaser with that. Then comes the dreaded www. and i had dial up. wow 560k speed.too slow to catch a cold.you could not download anything it took to long.and no buffers.... cloud.back then was a thing in the sky...I got by with out it then,and pretty sure i can now...
mw0njm, I'm with you!
Unfortunately as the old saying goes, you control what you control & we don't! I remember Bill Gates saying something like we will never need more than 128K of ram to support Microsoft programs, that was quickly lost in the dust as they wrote more and more complex programs. Then on a tour of the IBM PC manufacturing plant in NC, we were told, we would never have sound on IBM PC's!
 
My experience, a few years ago and on two different occasions with Windows, did not give me any confidence in them. I got the impression they worked from tip sheet and went through it hoping to reach one that sorted things out for you. Usually all the solutions they spoke of I had already tried, without success. They never did so I set myself the task of doing my own checking. Usually I did not take too long and often a we search was more to the point and helpful. Other than component failure, most glitches seem to occur due to an update, which can change your settings or a mistake by yourself which changes settings.
ne thing about Linux, which I use, rather then Windows is that you do have to become more pc literate to enable any issues to be dealt with. I did have a frustrating time recently when WiFi was not available om my laptop (a SONY VAIO). Ethernet was fine but that is not the solution for a portable laptop. ;) It was only when I noticed less lights on the edge of the laptop that I realised I had inadvertently switched off WiFI. There is a small, but obscure slide switch on the front edge of the laptop. :eek: Often issues are simply corrected but it can be hard to find the correct method to achieve it.
Ah, been there done that with the Sony and the slide switch! I love the Sony but that switch has driven me nut (which might not be hard) over the years!
 
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