Windows 11

[peteco]

Originally Posted by @Michael

Info on Onedrive Security

FWIW - I made the decision to 'trust the cloud' years ago.

I used to roll my own home backups using tools I wrote that were equivalent to Apple's Time Machine (and preceded Time Machine by many years), with rotated offsite backups & etc. Given the capability of modern cloud providers, I'm more than happy to offload that to a cloud provider.

Before I retired, I helped initiate a migration of billions of records of finance, HR and student data, hundreds of millions of staff and student files, a million identities and hundreds of thousands of e-mail accounts to cloud providers (mostly Microsoft).

Jumped in with both feet.
--Mike

Please provide a description of your cloud backup. My present backup is to external drives. Two kept in the Roadtrek and one on the house. When traveling I have one in the Roadtrek and two in the house. I found cloud backup too slow and more hassle, but that was a few years back.

[@Michael]

Originally Posted by peteco

Please provide a description of your cloud backup. My present backup is to external drives. Two kept in the Roadtrek and one on the house. When traveling I have one in the Roadtrek and two in the house. I found cloud backup too slow and more hassle, but that was a few years back.

I put things that I care about in the OneDrive folder on my PC where it's automatically sync'd to the OneDrive cloud and to my other PC's, tablets, and phones.

It's not quite the same as an offline backup, but because OneDrive has the ability to recover deleted files, keeps multiple versions of documents as they are edited, can reverse the effects of a ransomware attack, and because the documents can be sync'd to multiple devices, it's adequate for my purposes.

Because it's syncing, not backing up, uploads and downloads only occur when documents change or when new devices are sync'd. Sync speed is entirely dependent on bandwidth and syncing when mobile uses your data plan, so I often disable sync when using a hotspot with limited data and re-sync when I get home.

There are other cloud backup services that are strictly for backing up data, not for sync'ing it between devices. I prefer syncing though - then all my files are available to me from any device, anytime, anywhere.

[booster]

I just ran across this article about Apple increasing the amount of encryption they use.


http://https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/0...ion/index.html


They claim the encrypted information could only be accessed by the creator and the recipient. Not even Apple could get it.


Sounds a lot better than having Microsoft handle the key for all our personal stuff, if I am understanding it correctly.

[rvsprinterguy]

Regarding local NAS and upgrading to Windows 11, for me it's been a non-issue. I have a Western Digital My Cloud EX2 Ultra NAS connected to my local network. I use it for shared disk space accessible from two Windows PCs, both of which were upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11 with zero effect on their ability to access the NAS.

[Dee Jsaan]

I recently picked up a HP 255 G5 Notebook at a family's yard sale. I got the power supply with it but I had to buy a new battery for it. The man's daughter is an IT person with a local Bank and this unit was turned in and a WIN 11 Pro issued to the executive.
He explained to me she gets these from time to time and cleans them up and lets him sell them for her.

Presently it has WIN 8.1 OS on it but I don't know if it is a legit issue or just on it to demo that the unit works & is functional.

The HP spec's are here: https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c05084797#AbT0

My question is #1 If I want to reformat it what software should be used if the present 8.1 OS isn't legit. And I would rather leave "8" behind anyways. #2 Should I opt for WIN 11 for this unit ?

I've not formatted a computer before but I've watched it being done. Should I try it myself ? If I took it to a shop, what would be a reasonable charge to do this ?

Thanks.

[rvsprinterguy]

If this were my computer, I'd re-install the original Operating System. Looking at the linked specs, that was Windows 10, most likely. I would buy a new copy of Windows 10, either on DVD or USB thumb drive. I'd install it by booting up to the installation media and letting the install process run. I wouldn't worry about reformatting, per se. There's an internet full of instructions how to do this. Good luck and have fun!

BTW, I'm fresh off installing Windows 11 on a brand-new Intel NUC. The OS instance I purchased came on a tiny USB thumb drive. With it inserted, when I powered on the computer, it found it, booted up and commenced installing. It was fun and easy. It's my new Visual Studio development machine.

[Dee Jsaan]

I now have both laptops on 10 and they work. Thanks for the suggestions.