They seem good, but I only stayed away bc I’ve not heard much about them, and I’ve been burned by storage companies starting out with really good pricing only to be unsustainable and then go belly up.

Look, I know people hate and protest Proton for their own reasons, and “a lot” of data is relative, but proton offers their bundles of 500GB for $120/yr or 2TB for $180/yr. Personally, this would be about the most private I could imagine you getting for the price. Others can probably do it far cheaper, however, at what cost?

https://proton.me/drive/pricing

However, I didn’t realize Nord also had offerings now, so this seems like it’d be the best value by far. $84/yr for 2TB!

https://nordlocker.com/plans/

Edit: sorry, that’s for the first 12 months, after that it’s back to $180 like Proton.

That’s understandable. Microsoft, without much information or training unless you’re familiar enough with it, gave everyone “cloud storage”, but only enough for absolute basics (initially 15GB then only 7GB iirc)

Anyway, it redirects libraries to C:\Users\username\OneDrive\ so those files typically do reside locally but also instruct OneDrive to back those up. The downside is, unless you have the paid version of M365 personal or family, it fills up fast. I think there’s a lower tier now with maybe 100GB for $20/year, but still.

The issue is moving large amounts of data with all the power saving shit they also started doing to hibernate and save power overall, but why a data transfer doesn’t keep it awake is beyond me. They probably hope everyone just is either too dumb or computer illiterate to try anymore.

Welp, Xbox is the last thing in the Microsoft ecosystem to go, personally. I’ve got rid of everything else, backed up everywhere else, and slowly switched OSes even. Just can’t deal with the shit anymore. And no, PS/Sony isn’t any better.

Maybe some video doorbell or ext cameras? I know how living in a rural area makes it all feel a bit overkill, but might be worth it for situations like this. I buy off brand cameras where I can pop an SD card in it and it’s free. I installed systems for all family when 2020 got with COVID and the riots over George Floyd and whatnot. We’re in Illinois, rural outside Chicago but still affected. We have a lot of crime come out from Chicago too which sucks as people go around through vehicles all over. I’m also a big tech guy so this was simple enough.

People are too trusting to leave cars unlocked, or too stupid saying locking their door adds a broken window to the lost of things to fix when broken into. However, I reiterate insurance claims and police reports don’t look good when stuff is unsecured.

I don’t have a Facebook, so I can’t look at his account, but the *69 (or *67?) features still work to make anonymous calls, and he probably googled your wife’s name which may have had a public post or mentioning a daughter’s name, or through friends. It doesn’t take long but going down those rabbit holes is ready, and finding info is easy.

Plenty of free sites or apps let you dig up more on people by name, too. That’ll be a good start… However, since they’re already a problem and have a head start, I suggest you just let it go, keep the police report (did you mention the threat to kill?) and maybe follow up. Document all calls even though anonymous, and maybe check if your carrier can block all unknown calls incoming. Don’t get them more riled up than they already are, and hopefully you have sensible home protection (minimum a gun-that you’re familiar with how to use)

I mean, technically they asked for a SPAM filter, but in reality, when they’re subscribed to emails and lists they’ve signed up for, they’re marketing emails. Spam would be unsolicited and usually come from their data being sold off. The very fact those notification emails or marketing have the "unsubscribe"button lowers their spam score so they hit the inbox.

So, Proton, for example, claims to not sell off or monetize your data based on strict privacy laws from Switzerland. You don’t have to believe their claims, fine. They’re derived from scientists though, not businessmen. Didn’t seem like they’re prioritizing big money. So keeping spam away, this is a good way to do it. Doesn’t mean all the other companies OP has subscription emails for hasn’t sold their info, so it won’t be a fix-all.

OP sounds like they need to go through their emails occasionally to just unsubscribe to help clean it up lol. Really, using rules to filter key phrases would be easiest. The reason the aliases are suggested to help, bc the emails you really want to prioritize from any friends, family, or services you want to focus on, use the primary address. All others, like shopping for insurance, retail accounts, etc, use a junk one so you’re not bombarded. You’ll get a ton of marketing regardless, so that’s a great way to cut out the “spam” notifications.

I would go one step further and give banks/credit cards their own alias too, to avoid reusing the same address to help cut back on data breach info. I exclusively have a login email address and an alias for everything else. That way no one will ever know my login address to get to my account, unless the hosting company themselves are breached.

Why would they be sus? They’re a Switzerland based company which means really good privacy laws in regards to keeping your data out of the wrong hands. They’re not going to monetize your emails or information, which is a big deal!

Incogni, you’re right, give us your data so we know what to scrub? No thanks lol. Feels like the wrong approach lol