Cloud-Based Backups You May Already Use

You may already be in better shape than you realize, if you haven’t considered this before. If you store your documents in a cloud service of any kind—Apple iCloud Drive, Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, or others—those files are synced to central storage every time you modify them as fast as your broadband connection allows. Deleted files are also typically retained, usually up to 30 days, though you can often purchase longer-term deletion archives.

If you store any documents outside a cloud service and aren’t working off shared drives or resources, or simply want suspenders (or braces) to go with the cloud-sync belt, you can add local and online backup.

Local Desktop Backup

Many people use a local or network drive on a home network to archive files from a desktop operating system automatically:

• With macOS, Time Machine is built-in, free, and works through directly connected drives or over a network. For more sophisticated needs, I recommend Econ Technologies ChronoSync ($49.99, perpetual license).

• Windows users have many options, though Windows includes a basic backup app. PCWorld recommends the free tier of Aomei Backupper Standard 4 and for a paid option, Acronis True Image 2020 ($49.99 for annual subscription with additional features, $59.99 standalone).

Online Secure Backups

Many people are leery of online backups, even though they may rely on one or more cloud services, like those above and ones run by individual app developers, that offer effectively the same capability for a smaller set of files.

However, if you pick wisely, an online backup is more secure than one performed locally. A good online backup service lets you pick your own passphrase to lock encryption, and never stores that key on its servers. That makes it impossible for the company, a rogue employee, or a cracker to access your backups even if they download all the server files that comprise your data.

While there are many services that offer online backups, I (and Take Control publisher Joe Kissell) can recommend just one without provisos or hedging. That’s Backblaze. It’s been in operation for many years, and I’ve used it for all my family’s computers and my business purposes for several years. The software is easy to set up and then forget about, as it runs silently in the background. It’s available for macOS and Windows.

The cost per computer is $6 a month or $60 annually for unlimited storage. I have over 4 terabytes stored there. Backblaze retains older versions of documents and files you delete from your computer for 30 days, but you can pay $2 a month to extend that to a year.

Mobile Backups

For a mobile device, much of the data you create and modify will be stored in the cloud, either one of the major ones listed above or storage managed by the app makers. However, you can still back up data that’s only kept locally, including app preferences and account passwords:

• Apple doesn’t offer third-party backup of iPhones and iPads. You can use iCloud Backup (enabled via Settings > account name > iCloud > iCloud Backup) or directly connected via USB to a Mac using iTunes (macOS 10.14 Mojave or earlier) or by clicking the device’s icon in the sidebar in the Finder (starting with macOS 10.15 Catalina).

• Google offers backups in Android that vary by who makes your phone and what carrier you use. Often, data is backed up to secured Google storage. However, Android also allows for third-party backups. Tom’s Guide provided a recent round-up of those.

Set Up for Video

There’s nothing more terrifying to those of us who aren’t routinely videoconferencing than having to start using it! A few years ago, I had a contract job in which there were regular video meetings. I wound up making a number of changes in my work area to make it look tidy and professional and so I felt less embarrassed to be on camera—realizing that nobody else particularly cared about my space or appearance.

Here are a few tips that can help:

• Use a computer: While you can videoconference from a smartphone or tablet, the results are often poor. The front-facing cameras on mobile devices have typically been lower quality and work worse in low-light conditions. Try to have a computer handy. However, if you need to use a smartphone or tablet, consider getting or rigging a small stand to hold it fixed in a horizontal position.

• Add a physical backdrop: Is your area too messy or busy, or full of your personal life? Set up a backdrop. I bought an inexpensive curtain rod, mounted it to the ceiling, and clip a cheap plain white or black photography backdrop to it; sometimes I use a green screen. Some backdrops are designed to velcro on to a chair to act like a peacock tail behind you. A simple piece of fabric or a solid-color blanket can work. You can get fancier—or weirder—and buy a backdrop of books on shelves or other decoration, also often very low cost (Figure 10). Bonus: This can double as a room divider!

  

• Change the lights: Lighting may not be ideal. In fact, it probably isn’t. At my workspace, my face is entirely blown out unless I tweak the placement of lights. Search on retailers for “selfie rings” and “studio ring lights.” These are circles of LEDs designed to cast a glow on your face, either close up or at a little distance. Some clip on to a laptop top or monitor, others come with a small stand or a full adjustable tripod. You’ll be ready for your close-up.

• Consider a better webcam: The camera installed in your computer is free to use—if one is built in—but you still might want to upgrade, as those built-in cameras can be of poor quality. You can spend from a few tens of dollars to a couple hundred for a camera that bumps up quality enormously. Some have a mic built in, too.

Be a Videoconferencing Pro

No matter which videoconferencing tool you use, these tips will help you be a great host or participant:

• Do an A/V run-through. Always check before starting a session that your camera and audio are set to the devices you want and are working. Audio and USB in particular sometimes decide abruptly not to work together. You might need time to restart a computer and have it finish that task.

• The mute button is your friend. Some videoconferencing software starts automatically with everyone muted; in others, it’s an option; in still others, everyone’s mic is live. In most calls of more than three people, everyone should mute their mic when not in use.

• You can start and stop video. Most videoconferencing tools let you control whether you’re sending video at all, turning your spot in a call into an audio-only session, or suspend video during a call. Zoom, for instance, lets you click a Start Video button after the call begins, so you intentionally begin streaming.

• Blur your background: Several videoconferencing apps can blur the background, putting a sort of focus on your surroundings. .

• Soften your face: On the flip side, some services have an option to blur details on your face, so you can feel like an aging film star who demands vaseline on the lens for his close-up shots. It can make you look a little unnatural, but possibly might make you feel less self-conscious.

• Add a virtual background: Group video tools often also may let you choose a virtual background. Zoom and Skype, for example, can identify and cut you out of the background in real time, and drop in an image or (in Zoom) a looped video. These packages come with some images, or you can add your own. It can get ridiculous, but the more modest ones let you swap out your confines.

• Mix a physical and virtual backdrop: Zoom offers solid-color erasure. I hang a green screen behind me—really a soft solid light green blanket—and then use Zoom’s Virtual Background to select that color (Figure 11). That allows the program to more crisply delineate me.

Don’t Forget When You’re on Camera

Some folks hide the video showing themselves as you look to others—and that can be dangerous. You might forget that other people can see you. This is doubly the case in software like Zoom, in which participants can opt (depending on the host’s settings) to view only the host, only a shared screen, the currently active speaker, or a grid of all participants. Even if you’re looking at just the person speaking, other people may still have you appearing on their screens!

And parts of you that you think might be out of view could be on camera, too. (Figure 12).

Don’t floss your teeth. Don’t pick your nose. And don’t be naked! You think I’m kidding? Let me quote from a New York Times “Work Friend” column: “I was recently talking to a group of professional women across a wide range of ages and geographic locations. Two had firsthand accounts of witnessing someone appear fully or partially nude while dialing in to a work meeting because he or she was unaware the call featured video as well as audio. Don’t assume that because you can’t see someone, they can’t see you.”

A video circulated after that column ran of a large videoconference on an academic topic in which a participant walked with their laptop into the bathroom and—well, everybody screamed. They simply forgot they were broadcasting to everyone else.

If you want to be sure you’re never broadcasting video unintentionally, cover your webcam lens:

• Some cameras come with a separate or attached cover or shutter. When not in use, slide, click, or push into place.

• An external camera can be unplugged.

• After-market lens covers and shutters abound, such as those from C-Slide.

• A piece of tape is also a great privacy tool. I have a folded piece of tape placed over my iMac’s camera that I remove when I set up for anything in which I know that I want to stream video. Otherwise, it remains in place.

Look at Videoconferencing Software

Videoconferencing software you’re most likely to encounter include Apple FaceTime, Google Hangouts (business and free tiers). Microsoft Skype (business and free tiers), Microsoft Teams (paid tiers), Slack (paid tiers), and Zoom.