Charles Edward, Author at CompuClever

How to Identify and Avoid Fraud

February 3, 2017 by Charles Edward

Fraud can be dangerous for even the most savvy individuals. However, with a little knowledge, and some handy online tools, anyone can defeat online fraud.

Online fraud, especially phone scams, is a big business these days. Someone official-sounding phones you up, and the next thing you know they have somehow persuaded you to hand over your banking information.

Law enforcement agencies are powerless to hunt down the culprits — there are so many scams that police are overworked.

Compounding the problem is that there are a stunning variety of successful scams that you must avoid, and police must somehow track.

For example, technical support fraudsters will trick you into downloading harmful software that holds your computer for ransom unless you pay. In another fraud, “IRS scammers” phone you up and bully you into paying for back taxes.

Fraud can be dangerous for even the most savvy individuals among us. However, with a little advance knowledge, and some handy online tools, anyone can defeat online fraud.

Let’s take a look at two common scams.

Technical Support Fraud

Have you ever received a phone call from someone claiming to be from “Microsoft technical support?” If you haven’t, you will soon. Welcome to the world of “telephone support fraud.”

With this scam, the fraudster phones you up at home and says Microsoft or some other large company has detected a problem on your PC. The scammers then trick you into installing malware (a harmful software program) that wreaks havoc with your computer.

What’s in it for the telephone support fraudster? They tell you you have to pay them in order to remove the malware from your computer. Unfortunately, what they’re really hoping to get from you is your credit card number.

The malware remains on your computer, making it unusable, while sending sensitive information over the to the scammers. And someone, somewhere in the world, is using your credit card to make purchases in your name.

Tax Collection Fraud

Tax collection fraud is also another dangerous variety of fraud that is out of control. In this scam, fraudsters phone you up to tell you there is a problem with your taxes. They then pressure you to fix the problem by paying up, fast, right over the telephone (once again, with your credit card, of course).

In fact, while some “government” callers and emails may demand money, others will say you have a tax refund. The scam caller will then try to trick you into sharing your private banking information. Or you may be sent to a fake website where you input banking information.

Once they have your account details, they may be able withdraw money from your bank, and can never be caught.

It’s a lucrative “business.” Just one recently discovered IRS scam was collecting $90,000 to $150,000 a day for over a year.

How Scammers Trick You

No matter how you encounter them, scammers rely on a variety of tactics to trick you, including:

They may know a lot about you (your name, telephone number and address are all available online).
They “spoof” email addresses to make themselves look official.
They can alter your caller ID to make it look like the government tax office or Microsoft is calling.
The callers use fake names, important-sounding titles, and bogus identification numbers.
They may send you to fake websites that collect your information.

Needless to say, if you get one of these calls or emails, don’t phone or phone back. And don’t visit any websites mentioned in such an email, either.

How to Identify and Prevent Online Fraud

Identifying technical support fraud, where tech support from Microsoft calls you up about a problem with your computer, is pretty simple.

For one thing, the Microsoft Corporation has absolutely no way to tell if there is something wrong with your computer.

Microsoft never phones individual computer owners anyway.

So, if someone calls you up from Microsoft or some other big technology company, you can be pretty sure they’re up to no good.

5 Ways to Identify Tax Collection Fraud

Identifying fake tax collectors is a little more tricky. Most of us hate to think we are in trouble with the tax man. We’ll do anything to make things right, which means we may make some bad decisions over the phone.

To keep yourself safe, just remember no government agency, including the tax collector will:

Call to demand immediate payment, nor will they call about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill.
Demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe.
Require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card.
Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.
Threaten to bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.

Conduct Your Own Online Background Checks

This is not something that an antivirus product can help you unless the caller’s identity can be identified as pushing virus/malware. However, an online background check or even a simple reverse phone lookup could sometimes help you to make the right decision.

The two services that we recommend are:

Reverse Phone Check

Reverse Phone Check allows you to search more than two billion records from any device, including your desktop computer, your tablet or your smartphone. All you have to do is type in the number on your call display, and confirm the identity of who is calling you. The website recognizes all types of phone numbers: mobile, landlines, prepaid, business, unlisted and even Voice Over IP.

eVerify

eVerify also scans more than two billion telephone listings. What’s more, eVerify provides an even more comprehensive background check by searching:

Name
Telephone number
Street address
Email address

By using this information, you can check up on the background of anyone you don’t know who has contacted you by letter mail, email or by telephone. eVerify also provides extensive background check information that covers:

You may be able to determine everything from current and previous addresses, to related phone numbers, email addresses and social profiles associated with the caller.

With either of these services, you can check to see the background details on anyone who’s calling you, or even people you consider dealing with either online or in person. This helps keep you safe and secure.

Protect Yourself Against Online Scams and Frauds

Scams are becoming more common each month, and there’s little law enforcement can do to stop them. However, there are ways to identify fraudsters make sure you are protected.

First of all, be aware there are scams out there. Next, remember to always find out who is contacting you, and confirm they are who they say they are. Finally, remember there are great tools such as Reverse Phone Check and eVerify that let you examine telephone numbers, street addresses and even email addresses to find out almost anyone’s identity.

It’s all about keeping safe and protecting yourself against fraud.

How to Choose a Chromebook

December 14, 2016 by Charles Edward

Chromebooks are gaining in popularity. Cheap, lightweight, and very portable, Chromebooks may seem like the perfect solution for your computer needs. But how much can you actually get done on a Chromebook? And how can you choose a Chromebook that’s right for you?

You may have heard of Chromebooks over the past few months. Cheap and lightweight, and basically a successor to the netbook of the late 2000’s, Chromebooks come in all shapes and sizes and rely on the Chrome operating system (aka “Chrome OS”) instead of Microsoft Windows.

We’d like to take a look at Chromebooks, and help you decide if they are the right fit for your computer needs.

Chromebooks: Embraced By Schools

First introduced in 2011, Chromebooks have been popular in the cash-strapped education system. Unlike with Windows computers, schools don’t need to purchase a software license for Chromebooks.

Instead, Chrome OS comes pre-installed, for free. This presents a big cash savings for school administrators.

In some cases Google will subsidize the cost of providing school districts with Chromebooks–another way for educators to save money. Finally, Google itself manages patches and updates, so school districts can save big on IT costs.

What is a Chromebook?

Chromebooks are lightweight laptops released by many of the big computer makers, such as Dell, Acer, Samsung and Asus. They are typically powered by a low-power CPU and run off of a solid-state drive, or SSD–most laptops and Windows computers rely on a hard-disk drive.

Having an SSD means Chromebooks typically take just a second or two to start up. It also means that Chromebooks are completely quiet. There is no sound of a spinning disk like you’ll find in most laptops.

And, since Chromebook processors don’t need a lot of power, they don’t get hot; there is no fan noise with a Chromebook.

However, while being powered by a weaker CPU may prolong battery life, Chromebooks may also sometimes struggle with playing a YouTube video.

Total Reliance on Google and Cloud Storage

Chrome OS itself is completely integrated with Google–everything is done using a Chrome browser. The interface resembles a typical Windows desktop, is very easy to understand, and can be used by almost anyone.

You login to your Chromebook using a Google account, and all of your software is provided by Google. For email, there is Gmail. For basic productivity, such as word processing and making spreadsheets, there is Google Docs.

While it’s possible to use Google Docs offline, 99% of the time you’ll need an Internet connection to use a Chromebook. Everything, including your photos and your documents are stored online, in the cloud.

If you want to watch a movie or listen to music using your Chromebook, you can connect with YouTube or Google Play, Google’s version of iTunes.

Everything is online.

How to Choose a Chromebook: Look for RAM

Since everything is stored online, Chromebook SSDs are just big enough to host the operating system–a typical Chromebook SSD is about 16GB, the same size as a USB thumbnail drive.

Look for RAM

So, there’s little point searching for a Chromebook with a bigger SSD. Instead, RAM is what distinguishes Chromebooks. Chromebooks typically come with 2GB of RAM, and this is just enough to run a couple of browser windows.

If you want to play an HD YouTube video, your Chromebook’s performance may slow to a crawl.

Instead, seek out Chromebooks with at least 4GB of RAM; this is more than enough RAM to provide an enjoyable computing experience on Chrome OS.

Look for Longer Battery Life

Cheaper Chromebooks typically have poorer battery performance, so it’s worth it to seek out a machine with a longer battery life. Most mid-range Chromebooks will last about 8 hours on a single charge, but a measly 6 hours is also not uncommon.

Review sites will generally provide information about battery life. You can also check out how many cells the onboard lithium battery has (the more battery cells, the better).

Is a Chromebook Touchscreen Worth It?

Some Chromebooks such as the well-regarded Asus Flip come equipped with a touchscreen. While a touchscreen may seem like a cool feature that converts a Chromebook into a tablet, it adds yet one more expense to what is supposed to be a cheap machine. And touchscreens may impact the Chromebook’s already modest performance.

What Chromebooks Can’t Do

Chromebooks, while inexpensive and useful have three big drawbacks:

1) No Privacy

Since everything is stored in the cloud, you have little to no online privacy. Google can basically examine everything you do, and everything you save.

2) No Local Storage

Unless you make backups on USB drives, there is also no way to store photos, movies or documents. You will always have to trust that Google will continue to provide access to everything.

3) No Truly Powerful Software Programs

While the free software offered by Google through Chrome OS is pretty good, there are no truly powerful programs. Chrome OS cannot handle more sophisticated photo and video editing, for example.

While Google Sheets is a good way to organize spreadsheets, it is nowhere near as powerful as Microsoft Excel.

So, What Are Chromebooks Good For?

Unless you’re a student in a public school, Chromebooks make a good “backup computer” to take with you on trips. They are small and light, and don’t use much power.

For example, if you go on vacation once or twice a year and want to use webmail and access the Internet for news, a Chromebook is a good choice to slip into your carry-on.

If you’re looking for a primary computer where you have more control over your important documents and images, you may want to stick with Windows instead.

While new Chromebooks are released every few months, at the moment TechRadar has a good guide to the best 7 Chromebooks on the market.

Install Chrome OS On an Old Computer?

If you’d like to experiment with Chrome OS before purchasing a computer, here are a couple of project you can try:

Install Chrome OS on an Old Windows Laptop

Almost any old laptop gathering dust can be converted into a Chromebook. In theory, converting a Windows PC into a Chromebook is supposed to be simple, but the process of converting a Windows laptop to Chrome OS may require understanding how to access BIOS.

Run Chrome OS From a USB Key

If you’re interested in a real challenge, you can also try running Chrome OS off of a USB key. The advantage of running Chrome OS on your computer off a USB key is that the data on your computer will be preserved, and not erased (you don’t need to reformat the hard drive). Once again, this is a bit of a puzzle more suited to people who enjoy frittering hours away fiddling with computers.

How Antivirus Protects Your Computer From Hackers

November 7, 2016 by Charles Edward

A few weeks ago a massive hack shut down much of the Internet. It’s widely believed the hack was carried out through internet devices—a good reminder to us all about taking care of our own security online.

On Friday, October 21st, a lot of people were having a hard time accessing the Internet. First, Twitter went down. Then PayPal no longer worked. Later on cloud storage sites such as Dropbox went offline. For most of the day tens of millions of people could not access some of the most important and most useful websites on the Internet. Reddit, CNN and Netflix were all affected.

Was it a Russian hack? Could it be the Chinese? Nobody could say for sure. The only thing that was certain was that massive Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack had occurred. The target of the attack was DNS service provider Dyn.

What is a DNS provider?

As as DNS provider and as a company, Dyn’s job is to convert human-readable website names such as www.facebook.com into computer-readable numerical IP addresses (for example, 192.168.0.1)—humans prefer to use easy-to-remember-addresses such as www.facebook.com rather than the long, insanely complicated numerical strings favored by our machine servants.

Websites like Twitter and Dropbox rely on Dyn to help resolve and translate the various kinds of links each company uses as part of their product. For example, you post a link to your Twitter account, Dyn will make sure that whoever clicks on it will get sent to the right website. Dyn does this by having a massive database of domain names it can “point” web browsers to. If Dyn goes offline, Twitter, Dropbox and other web services can no longer “point” people about where to go.

The October 21 hack forced Dyn’s domain name servers to go offline so nobody could use them. This pushed Twitter, Dropbox and other websites offline. It was alarming for any company who relies on Dropbox to store and access important files. The outage was also alarming to journalists, who rely on Twitter to share information and generally gossip with their colleagues.

The fact that Twitter went offline, then, ensured the DDoS attack would receive immediate and comprehensive coverage.

Were the Russians behind the October 21st hack?

But nobody knew exactly what happened. Thanks to the supposed role Russia has played in providing Wikileaks with hacked Hillary Clinton emails, there were rumors that Vladmir Putin was behind the massive hack.

But the real story was much weirder.

For one thing, the hack was the largest one in history.

It turned out the October 21st hack was not the work of Russia. Instead, it was largely orchestrated by amateurs. They used a weapon called the Mirai botnet as the ‘primary source of malicious attack.’

Unlike other botnets, which are typically made up of computers, the Mirai botnet is largely made up of so-called “internet of things” (IoT) devices such as digital cameras and DVR players. Dyn estimated that the attack had involved “100,000 malicious endpoints.”

Internet-connected devices made the hack inevitable

Basically, any device with an internet connection could initiate an attack against Dyn. All the attacker had to do was instruct an unsecured, internet-connected device to make a request to Dyn. The sheer volume of requests, made by millions of devices located around the world, from web cams to DVR players to, theoretically, at least, toasters, overwhelmed Dyn’s DNS servers, shutting them down.

There’s a theory that the massive attack on Octover 21st was targeted at the PlayStation Network and that Dyn was hit because it provides DNS services to PSN.

It could have been a few kids who brought down the Internet for a day in October.

Why every computer user should care about this attack

What lesson does this even have for the average computer user?

There are more ways to get hacked than ever before

In the case of the October 21st hack, the attackers may have been searching for “open” Internet-connected devices they could use to perform an attack. It could be your internet-connected toaster, or it could more likely be your computer.

2) You have bigger things than Internet-connected devices to worry about

Most of us do not own an Internet-connected toaster or even a “connected home” you can monitor remotely over the Internet.

But we all have computers, and people are getting infected by malware every day. Your computer is fundamentally insecure unless you do something about it.

Luckily an antivirus program can provide powerful protection against this.

How antivirus keeps you safe

Antivirus software has long been recognized as a way to prevent your computer from being infected by viruses, malware, trojans and other harmful programs. But, by “locking down” specific ports and other access gateways, antivirus programs can prevent computer from being hijacked by a hacker.

The intuitive technology also guards online privacy and digital identity, including banking and credit card details, as well as email passwords and social media information.

How to avoid comprising on security

Having received a rating of “SOLID” from the prestigious VB100 Antivirus testing lab and awarded Windows 10 logo certification by Microsoft, CompuClever Antivirus PLUS is accurate, stable and responsive.

As an antivirus program, it provides a range of powerful PC optimization tools and other software alongside its anti-malware offering, including a browser plug-in wallet system. You get security without having to compromise on computer performance.

It’s easy to use

CompuClever Antivirus PLUS is designed to be easy to install and use right away. There are no settings to configure, so your computer is protected automatically, at the touch of a button.

Shield your online privacy and personal identity

Antivirus PLUS allows you to safeguard your online banking, shopping, email and social media login information, making it impossible for malware, trojans or Internet hackers to get it off your computer.

Low impact on performance

Compuclever Antivirus PLUS is designed to deliver the best performance for your PC. Many antivirus programs are “resource hogs”, slowing everything down. You typically can’t watch movies or use other programs.

However, Compuclever Antivirus PLUS is specially designed to work quietly in the background, while you enjoy using your computer.

This it’s built on the most advanced antivirus technology available today. Exceptional in its ease of use, it allows you to handle security with a single click. The intuitive technology also guards your online privacy and digital identity.

This means you would never have to worry about your computer being taken over by hackers.

Learn more about CompuClever Antivirus PLUS.

What Is Bluetooth, and Does It Cause Cancer?

October 7, 2016 by Charles Edward

Bluetooth is a safe, useful technology, and there are many affordable options that allow audiophiles to go “cord-free.”

Bluetooth is the next big thing in consumer technology. At least, that’s what companies like Apple are betting on.

In September Apple unveiled the iPhone 7. While some are saying the new iPhone features revolutionary technology under the hood, Apple got the most press for deciding to kill the headphone jack.

Instead, if you want to listen to anything on an iPhone 7 you’ll have to use wired (and very expensive) earphones that plug into the iPhone 7’s Lightning power port. You can also purchase Apple’s sophisticated Bluetooth earphones—aka “AirPods“, and a supercomputer in their own right.

Thanks to Apple’s iPhone 7 launch, then, Bluetooth has come back into style. But what is Bluetooth? And it is any good for listening to music?

Bluetooth—Simple to Set Up

Bluetooth is a wireless technology that transmits and exchanges data over very short distances. For example, while your WiFi router reaches to pretty much every part of your home, Bluetooth transmits up to twenty feet or so.

Bluetooth’s main advantage over WiFi technology is that is extremely simple to set up—typically all it takes is the press of a button in an app. WiFi, on the other hand, can be tricky and time-consuming to configure.

Bluetooth also requires far less power to operate than WiFi. This makes Bluetooth a great technology for devices such as Apple’s new ultra-expensive wireless headphones.

How Is Bluetooth Used?

Popular “sound bar” speakers use Bluetooth technology. Pair a sound bar with your smartphone and listen to music on the patio, out at the beach, or just around the house.

As well, many higher-end cars come equipped with a Bluetooth transmitter that pairs your phone with the car’s audio system. This allows hands-free driving.

However, Bluetooth is most typically used with wireless headphones, as well as wireless headsets paired with smartphones.

Easy to pair with your smartphone, these wireless gadgets have no wires that can get tangled, or that fray and wear out.

Bluetooth headphones also don’t use much power, so, all in all, they’re pretty convenient.

Doesn’t Bluetooth Cause Cancer?

Ever since World War II, people have been worried about the health effects of wireless technologies, and Bluetooth is no different. However the power output of a Bluetooth device is much lower than even a cellphone.

The IEEE—the organization representing engineers and other scientific experts around the world—says the biggest danger from Bluetooth comes from being distracted while you perform day-to-day tasks. The biggest risk of Bluetooth, according to the IEEE, is walking into a pole, or perhaps crashing your car if you aren’t paying attention.

Bluetooth devices don’t emit a lot of power, says the IEEE, so there are no health risks, including cancer, when using the technology.

What to Look For In Bluetooth Wireless Headphones and Earphones

While the iPhone 7’s wireless AirPods are going to cost a ton of money, there are more affordable, high-quality Bluetooth earphones on the market already.

Good acoustic reproduction

Bluetooth earphones and headsets, even if they’re not made by Apple, can be pretty expensive. It’s tempting to look for cheaper headphones. The problem with this strategy? Poor audio quality. So, the first consideration (after your budget) is good audio quality.

Long battery life

While Bluetooth doesn’t use a lot of technology, not every headphone set gets good battery life. It’s a question of engineering. So look for Bluetooth earphones that have at least 5 hours of battery life. This should get you through the day.

Multi-functional and light

There are some Bluetooth rigs that are just gigantic, so be on the lookout for more up-to-date designs that fit lightly into your ear.

Make sure that your headphones are multifunctional as well. All headphones should include a mic, so you can make telephone calls, and a simple switch that allows you to pause audio.

Noise isolation

It’s possible to get headphones with “noise isolation” without having to pay the hefty price of noise-cancellation. While noise cancellation uses expensive technology, “noise isolation” does not make use of any power or electronics to block out surrounding noise. Rather, it employs the choice of optimum construction materials and an ergonomic design to block out as much noise as possible from entering the ear canal. Think of it as sound-proofing for your ears.

Sweat proof

If you go to the gym with your headphones, the sweat from your workout will probably destroy them pretty quickly… unless you purchase headphones that have been designed to deal with sweat and other ambient moisture.

Reasonably priced

While Bluetooth earphones can be pretty pricey, sometimes the big price tag is just a marketing gimmick: “if the headphones are expensive, it means they’re really good, right?”

However, it’s possible to find high-quality Bluetooth earphones for a reasonable price. You don’t have to spend a fortune.

Editor’s Pick: Bauseus Bluetooth Wireless Headphones

So, are there any wireless Bluetooth headphones that meet all of the above criteria? We think so—let’s take a look at Bauseus Bluetooth wireless headphones, featured on CompuCleverGear.com

What we like about Baseus Bluetooth wireless earphones:

Baseus Bluetooth wireless earphones deliver high quality sound in a compact form while looking simple and elegant
They have a long 5-hour battery life while playing audio
There are handy buttons to control volume, accept calls, search for music and more
The headphones are also designed and manufactured with a water-resistant rating of IPX-4 to be sweat-proof and rain-proof
Best of all, the earphones are completely cordless

Baseus Bluetooth wireless earphones, along with all other earphones, are currently on sale at CompuCleverGear.com.

In Conclusion...

Thanks to the ultra-premium (and ultra-expensive) Apple AirPods, Bluetooth technology looks like it's here to stay. Bluetooth is a safe, useful technology, and there are many affordable options that allow audiophiles to go "cord-free."

If you have any questions about Bluetooth, let us know in the comments!

Which Free Cloud Storage Service Provider Is Right For You?

September 17, 2016 by Charles Edward

We live in a time when there are more free online storage services than ever before. But which one is right for you? And is online storage the best way to back up your important files?

If you have ever experienced a hard drive failure you have probably lost photos, videos and other important files. Or, if you have owned your computer for a while, you’ll probably find you’re running out of space on your hard drive, slowing everything down. Luckily, cloud storage can help you protect your files or free up space on your computer, usually automatically.

However, it can be challenging when trying to choose an online backup and storage service. To make it a little easier, we have described a few of the leading providers, with some pros and cons for each you should be aware of.

Dropbox

Dropbox is one of the most well-known online backup services there is. The free version gives you 2GB of storage to start out, and Dropbox is designed to be installed on your desktop computer in order to sync files with the cloud. You can then share these files with anyone with a link.

Many people use Dropbox as an alternative to Facebook to share family photos. Dropbox also offers a smartphone app that backs up your photos online automatically. The service is also used by businesses to easily share and collaborate on documents.

Dropbox Pros

If you’re looking for a place to backup your photos and other files, Dropbox is great because its interface mimics the Windows folder interface.
It’s easy to share files and folders just using a link.
It’s not actually necessary to download the client to use Dropbox.

Dropbox Cons

While you start out with 2GB of free storage, getting more storage either costs an annual recurring subscription fee, or is the result of referring friends and family to Dropbox.
Dropbox sometimes changes its terms on the drop of a dime, meaning you may lose access to your online backup files unless you pay a fee.
If you already have a Microsoft or Google Account, Dropbox may be redundant.

Google Drive

Google Drive is Google’s comprehensive tool for online backup and storage. In fact, Google Drive is much more than cloud storage—it offers free productivity software similar to Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint and more.

Like Dropbox, Google Drive features a sync client you install on your computer that performs automatic backups. And, like Dropbox, Google Drive features a smartphone app so that you can access your photos and files anywhere. It’s also integrated with Google’s free and generally well-regarded online photo manager.

Google Drive works best for anyone with a Gmail account and an Android phone.

Google Drive Pros

Google Drive offers 15GB of free storage to start, which is more than Dropbox; you can get more storage by installing the Drive app on your iPhone or Android smartphone, or by buying a yearly subscription for a nominal fee.
Drive is integrated with Google’s free email service Gmail; this makes sharing photos by email easy.

Google Drive Cons

If you’re not used to it, the user interface can be somewhat confusing.
If you want to share documents, sometimes whoever you’re sharing them with may be prompted to sign into Gmail.
Drive’s word processing and spreadsheet programs are not nearly as powerful as their Microsoft counterparts.

OneDrive

OneDrive is Microsoft’s take on online back and storage. In many ways it’s one of the more powerful and versatile cloud storage options available. Like Google Drive and Dropbox, OneDrive uses a sync client you download onto your computer (Windows 10 comes with this utility preinstalled) to automatically backup your important files. And, like Google Drive, OneDrive features its own online suite of productivity applications so you can edit wherever you have an internet connection.

OneDrive starts out at 5GB of free online storage, although anyone with an annual subscription to Office 365 (what used to be called ‘Microsoft Office’) receives 1TB of free storage.

OneDrive Pros

If you have an Office 365 subscription, that 1TB of online storage is usually more than enough to backup your most important files.
You don’t need to purchase a subscription to access the free, online version of Word and Excel.
If you’re a Windows users, the OneDrive user interface is probably the easiest to use.

OneDrive Cons

For whatever reason, the OneDrive sync client can take up a lot of system resources, slowing down your computer.

iCloud

It may come as a surprise, but Apple’s iCloud online backup and sync service can be used on Windows computers. So, if you have an iPhone and perhaps a Windows laptop this makes it easier to backup and access your files.

Of course, you will need to have purchased an Apple product such as an iPod, iPad, iPhone or Macbook in order to use iCloud.

USB Drives Provide an Extra Layer of Protection

The one drawback to all of these services is that they may all end one day, leaving you with no access to your files in the cloud. So, it’s a good idea to hedge your bets and, while using online storage, take the extra step of backing up your files locally. USB thumb drives are ideal for this task. Inexpensive and capable of storing a lot, USB drives can serve as a “backup of your backup.”

Are you using USB 3.0?

Read our recent article on local storage to learn more more about USB thumb drives.

Or, if you’re interested in trying out USB 3.0 — the latest in USB storage technology — for yourself, the Kingston Digital DataTraveler USB 3.0 flash memory drives are on sale right now on our newly launched hardware site CompuCleverGear.com.