VBF

Pity the poor pig....... think about it 🤔

Inspired by????

Above are all perfectly good suggestions - no criticism as such. BUT...if you want to call a non-personal number like a bank, doctor or commercial company I don't think any of them are of much use. And, as an aside, if you need to share your screen when using Zoom or Google and don't want to, you can always cover the camera. Not meant facetiously, really!

I promise i shan't say "I warned you" if / when it does. I admire your confidence, misplaced as I regard it. 🥴

Same here! I do that too.......Or, keep the computer, put a variation of Unix on it and keep it another 10 years! One can always use another computer system 😂

No Yet you're still happy with using "cloud" storage? Don't get me wrong, I'm not some conspiracy theorist who thinks they're all out to get me - I know that's rubbish - I'm far too insignificant for that to be a worry. BUT... I don't see why I should put my personal, health, financial details on offer. It's not just the Gov agencies - it's all the bad actors out there who CAN hack in to systems, and MIGHT one day. It's kind of like leaving your house unlocked and hoping nobody will go in and steal. Also if MS is constantly on your system there is more opportunity for them to push so-called updates that I don't want behind my back. Even the regular Updates don't get through - I've set my policies so that they have to ask my permission to download. When it comes to computers, I'm a control freak - they do what I want, when I want - end of!

Fair enough. I do the exact opposite in that I do not have my PCs logged into MS in any way. I use standalone installations of Office (I only need Word, Excel and Outlook) Local storage with instant local backup via a 3rd party utility. Basically a home network isolated from the (so-called) cloud.

In answer to several posts on here I use Western Digital Passport drives - several I've had for going on 10 years and still working well. I buy mine (usually) from Amazon - If you buy genuine ones and register with WD, you get a 5 year warranty The first ones I bought were only 256 GB - the latest are 4 TB - that's progress! It really is worth paying a little extra for good brands, AND, I always full format them before use, not trusting the factory format Yes they CAN fail, so never have just one copy of anything that's valuable to you. I also use PEN drives (Sandisk) for small items where I need portability and / or emergency boot drives. And Sandisk XD cards in my phone and tablet Another thought occurs. What we call "The Cloud" is really just someone else's computer. Think about it. 🙄

That, IMO is a somewhat naïve view. You actually believe that Gov agencies and / or certain criminal types cannot crack passwords on your documents? EDIT: Interesting that I got a thumbs down almost immediately to that. I'm guessing that some people have faith that big corporations have their interests at heart. Quite touching really.

People travel. Not everyone has reliable internet. I'll thank you if you pay for my annual subscription ... By the way, what do you pay? So you pay MS an annual subscription rather than buy your own drives and pay once? Interesting "financial model" 🙄

Someone's going to be a Civil Servant when they grow up 🤣

There you're right, but in that case, why is it that in Thailand you always seem to have to go to "your branch" to make any changes to your account? I remember trying to change something at my account in Pattaya - I'd opened the account on Pattaya Klang, tried to make a change at the branch on Pattaya Tai to be told that they couldn't do it there and I had to go to Klang - ridiculous! In UK if I've got an account with (say) Natwest in London, I can conduct my business in a branch in Leeds. As you rightly said, it's all just ones and zeroes on a database.

You may need this for your metaphors 😂😮

I still do.......and I've got a car now, so you can keep the bike 😎😆