Friends

29 February 2012

A word in your ear...

One of my blogging friends has been warned by Google that if she needs more space for pictures she has to pay a price. Now she, like me, thought the whole thing was free of charge so it came as shock when she received this information. In our email communication I mentioned that I used Picasa when I wanted to do a collage or similar and for some reason (it’s amazing how conversations fade) I looked on Picasa to check how many pictures I had on there. I haven’t looked in for a long, long time so imagine my surprise when I saw pictures on there that hadn’t been on the blog or used for a collage (or similar). In fact my folders went back a number of years and I certainly hadn’t put them there.

One interesting and scary thing I discovered on Picasa was a scanned document that had been uploaded without my permission. I reckon because it was scanned it was assumed to be a picture. It wasn’t needed for blogging; it wasn’t needed for anything other than for the person I scanned it for. The scan just happened still to be on my computer. Well the old computer has gone and I shall be very cautious about what stays on it in future.

Have you ever wondered how much these organisations know about you and how easily they can access your computer and take what they like? All I can say is: beware of how much you leave on your machine for Google/Picasa to use.

Well, I now have a new computer. My old beloved and comfortable XP has gone and I’m stuck with Windows 7. I’m pretty sure it will take me forever to understand it and with the amount of work I have to do on the new gadget I’m dreading the next few weeks. Thank goodness I use a lot of computer commands instead of having to search for ways of doing things.

The old computer (bless!) inherited a vicious virus, one of those that eats files and folders. My writing folder (full of files) and another important one (full of files) simply disappeared. Naturally, I panicked. A quick and tearful trip was made to our local computer expert who could only strip the machine and try to retrieve all my missing stories etc. I was in a right state by this time ... tearful, even. And that’s how I came to be the new owner of a Toshiba plus Windows 7.

One more thing. A Question: do you know if there is to be no more email notification of comments left on blogs? I notice that many suddenly don't include the facility, although some still do. Sometimes I like to see responses to certain comments and now it necessitates revisiting blogs just for that.

Finally, I say thank you to new followers. I did visit your blogs and left a comment but the word verification beat me so they didn't appear. Nonetheless, I hope you will visit me again.

17 comments:

  1. I got this notice not so long ago, I deleted some of the photos that weren't on my blog and I seem to have enough allowance again to do a few pictures.
    Flickr.com is a good photo hosting website if your friend is still having trouble. Just use the url of the photo to pop in your blog.

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  2. Hi Martha, thank you so much for this information. I'll make sure it's passed on.

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  3. I haven't been able to visit for a day or two Valerie. According to blogger you didn't exist! Good job I didn't believe them.

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  4. kinda scary about it importing the scanned images...and just what are they doing with all the information about me....selling it....

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  5. Oh dear, John. I thought I was feeling groggy lately. I sincerely hope all is well now.

    OMG, Brian, I hope not. It is all getting a bit weird, especially after today's announcement in the news about Google.

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  6. I'm worried now! I haven't had that message(yet), I used a lot of photos on my blog. :(

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  7. So did I, Pearl. Not had any notice though.

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  8. I downsize the photos I upload, if that makes sense. LOL I've been residing peacefully on this web blog for multiple years and haven't had issues yet--well, some, but not of the magnitude others describe. Yaknow, comments being eaten up by the Moof Monster on occasion...other than that--nuffin'.

    Maybe it's because I had the computerized girl set it up so I wasn't bothered by some things others opt or don't know they're opting in to?
    Honestly, it's been years of hangin' around this joint and I've only used 42% of my space on wherever it is that holds my photos. And it's not gobbled up anything I've not asked it to as of yet!

    Lemme go find some wood to knock on!! LOL

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  9. Yes, I did know that we who use Blogger have a photo usage limit on our blogs, but according to my own limit (on my blog) I haven't nearly reached it, and I've had this blog for over 5 years.

    I normally store photos that I use on my blog posts by downloading them to my computer and then uploading them to my posts. Then once I publish my posts, I delete them from my computer. Some photos which I want to keep, I host on Flickr, but just beware of that too because Flickr gives you limited space before you have to pay.

    Glad you to hear about your new computer, Valerie! I too have Windows 7 and LOVE it. I had Vista before and couldn't stand it.

    Have a great day, dear lady!

    X

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  10. Were you able to get your files back? I never thought of too many pictures. If you delete them do they disappear from the blog....hummm.

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  11. Now that's scary! I have no idea how many photos I have on Picasa...I don't put them there, Blogger must.

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  12. Banker Chick. Certain files were lost forever. I was very upset about that. I have found that deleting files also removes them from the blog. That's probably because someone somewhere has copies!

    Ron, I don't even know how to check my limit on Blogger. I usually delete pictures when posted and those I need to save are shoved to my remote hard drive ... that might make a difference.

    I absolutely refused to touch Vista after hearing what it was like from others. Windows 7 is fine except when I'm trying to type a set of accounts and then I don't (yet) know where everything is.... like how to organise margins, tabs, page numbers etc. XP was so EASY.

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  13. Some very interesting observations Valerie, thanks for posting. I can appreciate your panic when your PC decided to stop breathing and you don't know if you are going to lose precious material. Mine had to be brought to the Doc this week as well and I had to beg the guy to make sure nothing was lost. I am going to definitely buy an external hard drive to copy my stuff to after this scare though.
    I have literally thousands of photos posted to my blog but I have not had any problems with limits so far (fingers crossed). And so far I have not had any problems with stuff appearing on my blog that I did not post, but I shall be looking out after your warning.
    My other observation is that Google and the rest will always think profit first of course. Reminds me of the old adage - there is nothing free in this world!

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  14. Did you happen to back up your data? I myself use a several hard drives to back up my system. There are free services online that you should look into for backing up your writing. I'm really hoping that you didn't lose anything critical!

    As for blogging, I have my own hosting and domain. Don't like relying on others to house my material, and really get creeped out knowing that services like Blogger can institute storage space rules. :-(

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  15. Yes, Herman, I do have back-up. I have a remote hard drive and a few flash pens. I only lost two stories that I was working on because I hadn't saved them across. Nevertheless it was a shock to realise that two very important sets of files had disappeared from the PC. I must look into having my own domain. I'll ask you more about it later if you don't mind.

    Blogaire. Isn't awful that we are so dependent on our computers. How did we manage before? An external hard drive is a must. You are absolutely right about the profiteers. So far I have not been told I need to buy more space, yet in three years I have posted loads of pictures. I wonder if changing blogs helped.

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