Fun and games with Google and Microsoft clouds

[Marc Dobson]

Having recently been forced to upgrade my computer to Windows 11 and having been given a Google phone I have noticed that everything is being backed up to "The Cloud" even if I had not asked it to do so. Then when you're allocated storage that you never asked for becoming full they want to charge you to add more storage that never asked for in the first place.
I'm currently struggling to change the default save settings for the computer to the harddrive rather than the cloud. I deliberately bought a computer with a very big harddrive so I could save everything to it.
The Google phone has an excellent camera which I used around New Zealand. Having down loaded all the photos off the phone I find that deleting them from the cloud is closed to impossible.
Am I alone in getting frustrated with this life was supposed to be easier if you have a computer?
Marc

 

[Robert B]

Having recently been forced to upgrade my computer to Windows 11 and having been given a Google phone I have noticed that everything is being backed up to "The Cloud" even if I had not asked it to do so.
Am I alone in getting frustrated with this life was supposed to be easier if you have a computer?
Marc

I was recently looking at how to disable OneDrive and loose the Cloud myself. There are plenty of forums with advice on how to stop the OneDrive application, delete it from the program list and uninstall the OneDrive software - thus loosing the Cloud, then instructions on how to check that the OneDrive logo is removed from the PC.

There are also recommendations on how to stop the MS account login and remove it from the system. The instructions are rather lengthy from what I remember.

The OneDrive removal I can cope with, not sure I have the confidence yet for the MS account removal - will need to read more accounts of how to do it. Will be buying my hardware soon so will have to start reading forum instructions on Cloud removal again.

 

[Bob Essex]

Apple is just the same with their products. It’s all about generating repeatable income, what is often referred to as consumables although it helps those with only one device and no backup system, which is normal for an awful lot of people. But, you can go into the cloud storage settings and choose which types of files etc. you want ‘saved‘ to the cloud so you can stop any and all being saved if you wish.

With W11 I have just deleted one-drive completely, along with Co-pilot etc. The only thing you can’t get rid of is Edge, which is now built into Windows, most else can be through the installed apps tab in settings.

Bob

 

[Paul_H]

There are also recommendations on how to stop the MS account login and remove it from the system. The instructions are rather lengthy from what I remember.

Not worth the effort and pain that will bring. You need a MS account to verify that a home installation is genuine. If you start trying to delete it you'll likely get issues when it updates itself or if you ever need to reinstall.
Frankly it's nothing to worry about. I rarely have to interact with the account, it just sits in the background without bothering me.

One drive just got stopped and is forgotten and invisible.

Android phones auto back up can be switched off, but can be useful if you have a phone with too small a memory to save all the photos and videos you want. Just manage the system so you save big files off the back up to your own system and reclaim the space.

 

[Robert B]

I may as well chip in again and say I backup locally using inbuilt software such as Time Machine (Mac) and then have a Google Drive subscription for off-site backup.

I would recommend Fixity Pro to test the integrity of vital files, it's free. Just having a file on a disc doesn't mean it's viable. Once corrupted you'll never know until you look for it, you'd also find your backups are then corrupted too.

But if the information isn't vital then don't bother.
Tony

Many people are simply aghast at using Cloud Services which is what the OP is after and your Google Drive solution defeats the object of doing so.

 

[Robert B]

Not worth the effort and pain that will bring. You need a MS account to verify that a home installation is genuine. If you start trying to delete it you'll likely get issues when it updates itself or if you ever need to reinstall.
Frankly it's nothing to worry about. I rarely have to interact with the account, it just sits in the background without bothering me.

One drive just got stopped and is forgotten and invisible.

Android phones auto back up can be switched off, but can be useful if you have a phone with too small a memory to save all the photos and videos you want. Just manage the system so you save big files off the back up to your own system and reclaim the space.

The procedures I have read are activated after MS account has verified the system. Again, the OP wants to go offline - out of the Cloud.

 

[Paul_H]

Again, the OP wants to go offline - out of the Cloud.

Which I explained; Switch off One Drive and that's it. Works fine with no auto cloud stuff here on my W11 system.
You can switch off auto back up with Android, just Google it.

However if the OP wants " life was supposed to be easier if you have a computer" it's better to take time to understand what features can make life easier and how to use them effectively. Using cloud back up can be very useful and be an absolute saviour in some situations.

 

[76043]

Many people are simply aghast at using Cloud Services which is what the OP is after and your Google Drive solution defeats the object of doing so.

I was mostly offering advice on how to look after your files locally.

 

[Paul_H]

I was mostly offering advice on how to look after your files locally.

For those of us who have significant number of files with big file sizes like photos and videos, about 4tb here, cloud isn't that good an option anyway.
Keeping back ups on spare HDDs that are kept unconnected away from the host system, maybe even at a different location, is best practice for absolute data security.

However cloud back ups for smaller, often important data, has it's place for being able to access anywhere if disaster strikes.