"Cloud" for Dummies....

weesie

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Aug 26, 2010
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Old bag lady with a laptop
Hi,

I have a fairly new (few months) computer with windows 8.

It has "cloud".

I have no idea how this works, but, if I hold my cursor over it, it always says "files updated as of a few seconds ago".

What does this mean? I did not send any files there and WHAT files are being sent there?

Also, I never "signed up" for "Cloud" so I don't think I have a password if it calls for one.

Do I need it? Can I shut it off? Is my stuff, whatever it may be safe?

Head's already in the clouds and that's enough!
 
Microsoft has a "cloud" which works with OneDrive or SkyDrive as additional free storage. It requires WiFi and automatically backs up important system files. It can also be set to backup files of your choosing.
 
TBH I don't know a blessed thing about the M$ cloud service but the chances are it has a bunch of defaults regarding what gets copied up to their servers. In all probability you can tweak that to include as much or as little as you like.

Is stuff on their cloud safe? If I were you I'd Google the words "site", "hacked", and "apologized" and let the many, MANY thousand hits you'll get tell you how safe anything on the web is that you haven't gone out of your way to lock down. In other words "ha!" but then that's just me.

In a more helpful vein you can find cloud services where your stuff is encrypted on your machine before it is upped to the cloud service in question. That at least is one level of security you have some control over. There are other ways to accomplish more or less the same thing -- eg. you set up services on your computer to manually encrypt (or auto-encrypt) the data you want "clouded" and then allow the cloud service access to that -- but the point is that if you didn't encrypt your data then you can pretty much assume that you are depending on your cloud service alone for security.

If you don't want to go through any of this hassle AND you want your stuff to remain (reasonably) secure then you may well want to disable the cloud service entirely, especially if you have no particular need of it.
 
I know some people really worry about this stuff, but if you have no idea what it is and have not configured it whatsoever, then the only data being transmitted relates to your computer installation. Your usernames, personal files, wifi passwords, stuff like this that is essential to your everyday computing.. now if you dont want MS to have that, you need to turn it off.. but if, like me, you suffer a sudden catastrophic hard disk failure and have to reinstall Windows8 from scratch, I guarantee you will be amazed when your computer comes back up, connects to the net, and immediately starts replacing all that important stuff you were sure you had lost... I agree its not for everyone, but I for one have decided this is just the future of convenient computing!
 
ok, so I don't "work" on this pc, just read stuff and gamble.

Not being thrilled about stuff being sent somewhere.

Do you guys "limit" or shut it off?


The files being sent to your cloud could never be of use to anyone but you. As has been said by catapul above, if you ever need to recover your operating system YOU will be very happy that your cloud is working properly. But of course it is up to you. :D
 

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