Comments by "David M" (@DavidM2002) on "Ask Leo!" channel.

Such an important topic. I normally do not backup my entire PC routinely. I have a couple of ways of backing up only my data to my NAS every day but backup the entire PC less frequently. And this means needing to know where your email is store on your computer ( assuming that's where it is.) I normally use Microsoft Outlook desktop version and have tested Thunderbird. In one or both cases ( I've long forgotten which ) it doesn't store the email in the Documents folder; it is stored in the Appdata folder. So, if you backup only your Documents folder, you're likely not backing up your email. I moved all of my email storage to my general data storage folder by re-configuring my email apps; the process can be a bit challenging. Also, be careful that you are backing up your contacts / address book because that is stored in a separate file. I will often back those up using the apps' internal backup function. And speaking of backing up Leo, a worthwhile video to make would be on backing up various device configuration files. For example, I backup the config files for my various bits of network hardware that most of us have - routers, Network Attached Storage devices (NAS), etc. Also, many apps allow you to backup your configurations. For example, how many of us change the layout of our email programs, Excel, Word, etc. Those layouts can usually be backed up separately. Doing this has saved my bacon on far too many occasions. I back this up often. So often that I wish most devices and apps would allow us to schedule regular config backups.
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Most passwords have absolutely no value to anyone but me; passwords to Youtube, my various motorcycle forums, home workshop forums. Yes, I use the same password without a care in the world. Beside, who will be able to connect on forum account to another ? Anything financially related like my bank, Amazon, Paypal, get their own passwords. I've eliminated 90% of the passwords I might otherwise use. Also, you can use a two part password; for example ABC123-amazon, ABC123-paypal, ABC123-bank. Now you can be reasonably safe using that same password root across many accounts. Perfect ? No. But if any one account got hacked, I can change all of the others in pretty short order. Plus, all of my financial accounts send me an email any time I have a transaction and any time any of my profile details are attempted to be changed.
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I too have all of our family home movies from the 1950's - 1970's digitized. Great memories. One thought for a future backup video; most NAS's have the ability to do Snapshots ( not the camera type, but you already knew that.) Snapshots of data can be a lifesaver for accidentally deleted or corrupted files. I would love to see you explain the value to your viewers especially those who have not embraced the home NAS. They are so valuable that I'm surprised Snapshots are not a feature in Windows.
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FWIW, mine is the same.
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OT : Leo, I can't see where you have covered this topic. Maybe worth a new video. I have a laptop that I only use for travel so it only comes out once each month or so. And when it boots up, the battery is more often nearly dead than still full as when I put it away. My understanding is that part of this is due to the BIOS or Windows keeping the laptop powered on to a low state to make boot up faster. I would prefer a slow boot up to a dead battery. Any suggestions ?
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@askleonotenboom Thanks Leo.
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If you accessed 95% of my user names and passwords, they would be of zero value to you - metal working, motorcycles, computer forums, etc; all the usual stuff. My financial type sites are a different matter and they all have strong passwords and user names along with 2FA. So, to change everything to protect 5% of what really needs to be protected is a bit like the proverbial swatting a fly with a sledge hammer.
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OT : Leo, a possible subject for a future video... with Microsoft removing the 32 Gb limit on FAT32, what are the broader implications for FAT32, ExFAT, and NTFS for USB devices ? ( This is only for formatting from the command line, not the GUI.)
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Before I uninstall anything, I first check Control Panel \ Programs and Features. There is a list of all installed apps. Click on the "Installed On" heading and everything will sort to date order of installation. You might find that other stuff like Microsoft Visual C++ libraries were also installed at the same time as that app that you're trying to get rid of and you may have to uninstall those manually. By the time my last computer died, I must have had 8 - 10 of those libraries going back many years but had no idea if I still needed them or not. After getting my new computer setup, I now find that I have 8 of these libraries installed. Leo, have you ever done a video on Windows Sandbox. A place to test those iffy apps without contaminating the rest of the computer ?
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I had an image backup of my C: drive and also back up my data separately. When the drive became corrupt, trying to put everything back together was a huge pain because the image file also contained all of my data and was enormous. I now partition all of my computer drives. If you don't want to partition your drive, see if your computer will accept a second drive. Drives are too cheap to not bother.
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I would add Task Scheduler to the list. Explore TS to see how it works. I have had apps use the TS to check for updates every hour. This is also a place where apps are triggered to start.
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@NoEgg4u Many thanks for that. I ran Macrium last night just for the hell of it. This morning when I looked at the file, I note that the file extension is MRIMG which makes me wonder if it is proprietary. I'm going to change the extension to IMG and give it a try. Nothing to lose.
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Leo, could you copy Google Docs and Sheets files from one Google account to that second Google account to act as a backup ?
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You can, sort of. Go to the Control Panel \ Programs and Features. This will list the apps that have been installed AND the date that they were installed. Then check the dates on the folders of your C++ Runtimes. Not perfect but I bet you can really narrow down the candidates for deletion.
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edonramadani8017 It's an interesting thought but, using my phone number was the path of least resistance at the time.
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edonramadani8017 I'm not entirely sure that something physical like a yubikey solves the problem entirely. Certainly worth digging into further though. Thanks.
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@kimmyksbro3116 I'm going to use the "I have nothing to hide" defence. If you want to read my texts, you go right ahead and waste your time. As for spoofing, I've been around long enough to know what is or isn't real. And if in doubt, I check via other means.
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@incaseofemergency6051 I know the feeling. I did have a few friends change to Signal and then when I quit getting replies I found they had moved back to WA.
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I did something along the lines of what you did except put the VM on my NAS. The downside was that my old C drive had all of my data on it and creating, copying and deploying the vhdx file took forever. Now, I partition the drive so that the operating system and apps are on C: and the data files are on D: and that make the whole process far quicker and the vhdx file far smaller. The downside was that the main app that I was trying to preserve would not run on the VM without a licence and the app was long since discontinued so moving the licence was a non-starter.
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We are often cautioned not to re-use passwords. In logging in to a third party web site with Facebook, Google, or..., then it seems that we are effectively re-using passwords. Your conclusion Leo is spot on.
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@sblack48 That's exactly what happens.
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Only somewhat related... why do so many people use Gmail when your own ISP likely provides an email account as part of your monthly fee ? I setup my own domain many years ago mainly as part of my hobby. I no longer put my hobby stuff there but the more enduring benefit is that I can create and delete email accounts at will and I don't have to mess about with the likes of Google. It's well worth the annual cost.
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I upgraded my QNAP NAS and took the old one out to my detached garage to act as a backup location. The important data is encrypted. Fortunately, I wired the garage with Cat 6 ethernet cable. If I hadn't, I'd also install a wireless router and connect it to the house as an access point. If I didn't have this spare NAS, I'd buy a mid-range model and put a couple of HDD's in it. A few hundred dollars for this peace of mind would be well worth it. And yes, I also backup to a cloud provider.
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As another Canadian, I'd say that most Canadians would not say "analgesic". We'd say "I need something for my cold / flu / ache..."
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@markanderson2155 I would, if Apple phones had a micro SD card slot. My pics get uploaded to my cloud storage first and then my Synology NAS, using its built in Cloud Sync app, is set to download everything from that folder automatically 24/7.
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I created my own folder structure on my local drive. I created a matching structure on OneDrive but without using any of their built in folders. Now, I just use FreeFileSync to mirror my local drive to Onedrive at the end of each day. ( I also have on site and off site NAS's for backup.) Very simple, very effective, and very accessible on those rare occasions when I need to get files when I'm away from home. All of the "features" of Onedrive are either turned off or ignored by everything that I do. As a pure cloud storage location, it works great but only when I control my own files 100%.
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