No matter how secure a firewall or antivirus you install, your software security does not protect your data in the case that your system faces physical damage. Even the best encryption will not help your files if your laptop catches file and hard drive is burnt completely.
Since flash drives and other portable storage devices pose the same problem, online storage therefore becomes the best solution. One could possibly use file hosting sites for this; these sites however offer no more than keeping your files online and letting you download them when necessary. Imagine a website that gives you a Windows-like interface and provides you with considerable storage capacity for your files. How great would that be?
With icloud, you see that thought materialize. It is a great online service that provides you 3GB of storage space and an interface similar to Windows, all for free.
Register for a free a account on the site to get started. Log in with your username and view the webpage in full screen for the best effect. On startup you are first presented the following window which:
Once you are done with setting up the options in the first window and uploading any files you wanted to upload you can move on the main icloud which looks like the image below:
You can see that the interface is very similar to our operating systems. The desktop is there with icons on it. The taskbar is located at the bottom with the “Start menu” to the left. The system tray is also there, in the bottom right.
You can the desktop icons by double-clicking on them. Here is how the Mail program looks like:
You are provided with your own email in the format . You can add email accounts to Mail from the Tools menu. Click on Mail Accounts to be shown this screen:
Click on add and then click your email client. Once done click Next, and set up your email account to receive your mail in icloud’s Mail.
Messenger within icloud will let you chat to your friends within a web messenger like window.
Apart from Mail and Messenger, icloud includes other programs to make it look more like an operating system rather than a file hosting site. The panel to on the left presents one with various functionality including Contacts, Calendar, and Bookmarks. With the Photos, Music, and Movie tools you can view your uploaded media in icloud’s built-in players. You also get various utility applications namely, Calculator, Notepad, and the ability to unzip archives.
To access your files in a way similar to Windows Explorer, access the Cloud Drive:
Icloud has been successful, to a great degree, in bringing the operating system to the internet. In the future when internet speeds are faster and icloud offers even more storage space, many computer users will not need to own a computer to store their data; files could be accessed in icloud by using any computer!
