Seeking a second opinion... Is OneDrive malicious malpractice ?

pparks1 said:

Yeah, I have YouTube TV too. I find it way more useful than cable was. I can watch on my computer, on my tablet, on the phone, while I am out of town. I don't have to run coax cables through my house. I don't need cable boxes.

The convenience of getting rid of cable far outweighed the cost savings for me.

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I cut the cable cord a couple years ago as it was way more expensive then live streaming and constantly increasing in price like clockwork every few months. I went with Hulu+Live TV which includes Disney+ and ESPN. Course now I see all the streaming services playing the price increase game as well since they have gotten so popular and are killing off Cable TV. While there are several advantages to streaming the one thing I miss about cable is the fast channel switching and scrolling the channels lol. You just can't do that with streaming TV. Also if you lose Wifi or internet service then there goes your TV watching as well.

FrancoDT said:

I'll whole heartedly disagree with this, especially when it only gives you 5 GB of storage. We discussed that and losing data from running out of space earlier. But then again I don't use it or need it.

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As per my other post, the 5 GB initial storage space is a bait that all the other providers do, because their real end game is to get you to subscribe and pay for more storage.

That immoral aspect aside, the cloud storage service itself is a good thing.

Specifically, for OneDrive, I was not an initial user and had no intention on paying whatever rate they were charging for over the 5 GB free offer. It was much cheaper for me to use Amazon and then even cheaper when I switched to Google.

I only switched to OneDrive once I had the Microsoft 365 Enterprise license and 1 TB of OneDrive storage included as part of my ISP service. It was a no-brainer to switch!

my drives on my system


C: and D: drives are an internal drive with Windows drive encryption
C: is the system drive D: is my Home Data drive

R: (S:) drive is system back up encrypted with VeraCrypt

W: (X:) drive is data back up drive for my Home Data drive encrypted with VeraCrypt

Z: drive is a RamDrive i use for all the browser caches

system backups are done with Aomei backup software life time licence
my home data is backed up and sync'd with FreeFileSync

my wifes system is done exactly the same so we have no need for OneDrive
all the family and household use LibreOffice
best of luck Steve ..

cheaterslick said:

Then the talk about it will go on and on and on...

Oh, and I'll never pay subscriptions. I will not "rent" software. I will not be a lemming, paying for the same thing over & over again. To me, that's 10 steps backwards. I stopped doing that when I gave up the 3rd party anti-virus...

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Sigh!

I'll never forget when my text editor changed to the subscription model. I was, like, WTF?! For a text editor??!!! Needless to say, I dumped it for a non-subscription text editor.

I only subscribe to two software products, which I find are invaluable and cannot live without: Macrium and Directory Opus. Otherwise, for the others, I'll continue to stick with the "old" model of selectively paying for upgrades as I need them.

And I blame the software industry for contaminating the other industry sectors with this nonsense! For example, you buy a car, you add options, pay whatever and that's it! But now, things like heated seats are a subscription?! That's insane!!! Soft products like satellite radio and traffic updates, yes, I agree, but hard products? Totally out of the question!

cheaterslick said:

...To you and some others is is.

To me and some others, it's not. Not having it is not important at all...

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My original post was, "But it's too important and valuable of a functionality to leave off by default."

Usage/adoption-wise, yes, I agree with you that importance and value are completely subjective and that's for each and every one of us to measure and decide on our own. But feature-wise, in this day and age, it is important for Microsoft to natively incorporate cloud storage integration (OneDrive and/or whatever) into Windows and, without a doubt, this is a valuable addition to the OS, as a whole. Again, whether or not you use it is up to you, but it is functionality that is needed/wanted by a significant segment of the population.

cheaterslick said:

No, just go the nearest Apple store in the mall and a 'genius' will fix it for you. All you have to do is remember where the slider is.

And don't say that doesn't happen anymore. The Apple store at my nearest mall is still packed. I think it's the most crowded store in the whole mall, period. It was crowded 15 years ago and it's still crowded even today.

But MS gave up on that model years ago. So it's the user manuals and the tech forums and the chronic misinformation for everybody else.



But just take it to the Apple store! But just take it to the Apple store! It just works! It just works! The 'genius' told me so! The 'genius' told me so!

mommy! mommy! mommy!

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Laugh at me all you want, but I miss my nearby Microsoft Store!

Not that I used it for troubleshooting, but it was super convenient when I needed to exchange my laptop that was under warranty.

Sorry, but my view of the Apple store--like any other retail store--is to get you in and, once in, they now have the ability to sell you all sorts of (additional) products and services.

Whatever car(s) you currently own now, if every day/week, you saw long lines and packed crowds at the dealerships with owners who had issues and/or were trying to understand how to operate their car(s), would you still buy those car(s)?! Perhaps, but I know it would cause me to have doubts. Sorry, but we shouldn't need a "Genius" desk with ridiculously long waiting lines to own and operate a computer!

The Apple store does crack me up a bit. It's always amazing just how many people are in there. I think most people already own their iPhones or their Macbooks, so not sure why there is so much walking around and looking at products. They aren't constantly changing.

It is nice thought being able to get a product serviced locally though. My daughter has had to get her battery replaced in her phone and a keyboard fixed on her Macbook air and it was quick and easy.

cheaterslick said:

...Hey I like convenience too, but convenience is like a drug and one can get addicted to it. One can take it all for granted.

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Not just can but does!

But that doesn't mean that it's a bad thing, like not all drugs are bad/illegal.

If, for example, I'm a doctor and I'm able to access your medical records from my phone, tablet, etc., while with you in the exam room, without having to go back to some central/shared computer or ask an assistant, isn't that good, convenient thing?!

I can honestly tell you that I have repeatedly benefited from being able to access my OneNote data on my iPhone. Why? Because I needed BitLocker recovery key data.

Marie SWE said:

Yeah i have done that too.. I have a VeraCrypt container i used for some project testing i did, that i have forgotten the password too.. i have tried to figure it out for a year now. *LOL* ... it was nothing really important i couldn't get hold of again.. but still i try as I'm sooooo darn curious of what simple password i did use to that one. it was stupid simple like 123456 or somthing like that.. pure test as for the crappy password... So a simple password got hard. *LOL*

Otherwise I have it quite easy.. i dont encrypt my system drives as they dont contain anything of importance.. i only encrypt sensitive data

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My NAS has the most files/longest history of backups.

Suffice to say that, over the decades, I have switched backup programs and my standard backup password several times. I have backup files that are 20+ years old, lol! I no longer have those programs installed (but believe it or not, I still have their install programs! ), but I made cryptic notes in OneNote for me to remember their backup file password.

pparks1 said:

True. Although the price for Microsoft 365 is outstanding. For $129 a year, you get 6 users who all get 1TB each....and the full office suite on whatever they want to install it on. Both windows and mac.

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Yes, and it is even more outstanding when you get that included as part of your ISP service!

cheaterslick said:

Again, 500MB isn't that big. It doesn't take long if you have broadband or fiber. Besides, I drag and drop files in password-protected 7-zip all the time. And I use VeraCrypt locally for storage that isn't gonna change very much.

But hey, it's your files. You want people looking in on them then be my guest.



Unless your storing 2k or 4k video. Or unless you're like @TraderGary and running a business from home, I don't see how something can take up 100+GBs.

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I don't store 2K or 4K videos, yet...

gunrunnerjohn said:

You can also get a very capable free office suite that offers file compatibility with MS Office, it's called LibreOffice. No need to let MSC suck your pockets dry with their bloatware.

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This is true and I recently directed a friend of mine to LibreOffice; he was extremely happy with it because he thought he was on the verge of having to pay for Microsoft Office.

However, at work, my #1 app is MS Project and I need 100% compatibility with it. That is, when I transfer my work MS Project files to my personal laptop, I need to be able to work with those files without any issues/loss of functionality. I've ran into these issues with LibreOffice, specifically with MS Project files.

Not wanting or having the stomach to pay the outrageous price for MS Project, after much research, I eventually discovered that via Amazon, eBay, etc., there are people selling legitimate MS Project licenses. Yes, I was skeptical and concerned, but it worked out and still, today, I am using a non-MS-bought Project license.

So, yes, for the casual user, something like LibreOffice can be a successful alternative and equivalent for MS Office, but not necessarily for other/advanced users. Moreover, especially if you use OneDrive, you need to consider LibreOffice's integration with OneDrive (or lack thereof) as well.

nuspieds said:

I'm with you and I'll be honest with you: I don't care about the verbiage! That is, I don't care if it is a backdoor-written code or if it is a hack or if it is a bug, etc., etc., etc.! If someone has access to my cloud data, then I have an issue with that, period, and I don't care what the verbiage/reason is! So, to not take any chances and err on the side of caution, that's why I encrypt before I upload.

Separately, ages (centuries, more like it, lol! ) ago, I was working on project at a customer that had a process to perform a daily backup of workstation files that were stored in the C:\<xxx> folder structure to some network folder. Again, remember this is "centuries" ago , and a consultant I worked with had a Palm Pilot which, for some foolish reason or the other, he would copy/sync his data (totally unencrypted) into a folder under the C:\<xxx> folder structure.

Then, the project ended abruptly and he panicked because of all the personal and sensitive Palm Pilot data he copied to the C:\<xxx> folder structure, which were subsequently backed up on a daily basis to a network drive. He was about to send an email to the IT admin to delete all those files but I stopped him, reminding him that those IT admins are not paid a lot and that his email would only bring attention to his unencrypted personal and sensitive data, so better to just leave it alone!

If it's not your storage, you have no control on who can access your data, so one needs to take all the necessary precautions possible to prevent a harmful data breach.

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I think most company's dont encrypt their data.. proof of that is out there on darknet where you can download data from company's data breaches.
But when it comes to laptops they bring with them or take home to work from home.. those are encrypted.. But the servers.. they relies on IT can keep bad people out.. but they dont want to pay for good security.. I have actually seen where the company board actually does calculation on what will it cost to make the system secure and what will it cost in damage if they get a data breach.. if its way more expensive to secure the system.. then they dont as it isn't economical

nuspieds said:

My NAS has the most files/longest history of backups.

Suffice to say that, over the decades, I have switched backup programs and my standard backup password several times. I have backup files that are 20+ years old, lol! I no longer have those programs installed (but believe it or not, I still have their install programs! ), but I made cryptic notes in OneNote for me to remember their backup file password.

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I keep data all the way back from my first computer (1987) up to now.. I'm a data-hoarder.
I know i have a few OLD zip files from the 90's that is password protected that i dont know the password too... But as security was pretty darn bad on the first generations of zip... its pretty easy to crack them now with today's computers.. so when i get around to it, i will open them as I'm kind of curious of whats in them now 30+ years later.

This is what we will see in 30 years from now.. it will be easy to crack today's zipfiles and probibly bitlocker, veracrypt, LUKS etc. then.
Even if they say it is quantum proofed encryption.. the software tools will be 30 year more advanced.. as today's tools easy open a 30 year old password protected zipfile.
(and for those that say it will not be possible to break AES 256 with stack ciphers and 512bit salt encryption etc etc.. you don't hack the encryption, you hack the lock and uses known vulnerability's that will be on 30 year old software) So we dont get a encryption discussion on our hands.

nuspieds said:

Yes, and it is even more outstanding when you get that included as part of your ISP service!

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Yeah, nice perk. I do get 30% off my sub via work. So its only $90 a year.

nuspieds said:

Yes, and it is even more outstanding when you get that included as part of your ISP service!

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I'm grandfathered in at the $99.99 price. I just leave the yearly subscription on autopay.