Hello everyone,

There are a few basic things in my current setup that I’m not very comfortable with. Since we’re on blackfriday -> cybermonday I think it would be a nice season to make some changes [cloud - e-mail - calendar - cloud - DNS] Here’s the deal:

E-mail / Calendar Strategy

  • Using tuta for more than 2 years but I still rely on my gmail address for many things; issues with Tuta:
  • troublesome to export/make backups (worse since I have many folders, would be folder by folder)
  • not a fan of not having an e-mail client on my desktop (not issue in mobile phone), also don’t love the calendar

What would be ideal:

  • a nice mail provider, possibility of easy backups, possibility of using e-mail client (this one is not a hard requirement)
  • Calendar, end-to-end encrypted: a hard requirement since I store some sensitive data there. Should be easy to see on mobile (e.g.: dedicated app); for desktop it does not matter much to me I guess the calendar requirement excludes nextcloud and most providers, as well as calDav stuff and similar
  • I wouldn’t mind if it would be 2 products working side by side if no alternatives are available (calendar and e-mail, but not ideal)

Backups and Cloud Storage (for redundancy)

  • I have 1 cold backup at home, another at someone else’s home (both encrypted) but to be safe I’d like to also have a trustworthy cloud Cloud: -end-to-end encrypted or -> next bullet
  • compatibility with cryptomator is a big plus (though I want to avoid Apple/Google/MS/Dropbox)
  • possibility of mounting the cloud storage as drive on my computer (not hard requirement this one)
  • could be 2 products side by side (not ideal though): a storage solution for entire backup (wasabis and stuff) and a cloud solution (day to day usage)

DNS for filtering

I’d like a solution to have all traffic filtered (malware, ads) system wide on my laptop/desktop I have used adguard in the past; open to all other possibilities. I also have mullvadVPN; wouldn’t using a different DNS defeat the purpose of the VPN? Or when VPN is on, the DNS is always the one of the VPN? Possibilities:

  • controlD (i have seen people vouching for it)
  • NextDNS (system settings)
  • MullvadDNS (system settings)
  • adguard desktop app

Malware / Virus / etc

I have a linux desktop and macOS laptop. My doubts are regarding macOS. I’ve seen so many new antivirus ads that it almost makes me think that I should have one. I have malwarebytes installed for occasional runs and CleanMyMacX (I have doubts regarding its security claims - I use more for system management)

  • Should I opt for an antivirus program? If so, which would be advised intego is showing up all the time weirdly)

This time of the year is when I can gear up, since financially I haven’t been at the top.

For those that will answer, thank you so much in advance!!!

    • Lunch'@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Personally have this too, but would recommend against it as the support for Linux is tragic.

    • nnullzz@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Seconded. Subscribed to it a month ago in my mission to cut my dependence on Google products. So far I’m loving it. Calendar is a bit basic but it is encrypted.

      Between the 500gb provided with the proton suite and using backblaze for backups, I’m pretty covered with data.

      • JackSkellington@lemmy.worldOP
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        1 year ago

        Thanks for the feedback! Ah for the 500GB it’s the higher plan. Already gets somewhat expensive.

        Regarding backblaze for backups, it’s basically a way of dropping all the stuff and leave it there right? It’s not a cloud service (in the sense of filen and others) but for keeping data right? How are you ensuring that you have all the backups encrypted?

        • nnullzz@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          You could actually use Backblaze for both scenarios: as a normal cloud storage where you can access stuff back n forth or for long term backups and storage.

          I use Duplicacy to copy and encrypt my main folders once a week. But you can set schedules for backups as you wish. Depending on how much you’re backing up it may get a bit pricey though. I have a little under a couple terabytes backed up and pay around $6 for Backblaze. They have a client I’ve never used that might be helpful as well.

          One thing I wanna look into is using Duplicacy to also back up really important documents to my proton storage.

          • JackSkellington@lemmy.worldOP
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            1 year ago

            Yes that’s exactly what I was aiming for:

            • an option for data backups that I will only access/move when managing backups or restoring data in computer (I’d need at most 300-500GB)
            • an option for repeated access for files that I’d plan to use / change weekly.

            So with duplicati you’re able to send the backups to backblaze bucket in an encrypted way? What would I need to retrieve the data and unencrypt on computer if mine would break? How would you use backblaze as daily cloud? I thought it was mostly a bucket to drop stuff. Is there any way to mount it as a network drive while having everything encrypted ?

            • right now I have Filen with 100GB and it’s more than enough for me right now. However, from what I’ve read it’s not compatible with cryptomator and I cannot mount it as drive. Moreover the app is only for syncing data, which is not my aim
            • nnullzz@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              I have some answers that might help but there’s a few pieces that I need to write out on something other than mobile. Will reply back in a day or so.

    • JackSkellington@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      Yes; they have nice deals now! That would close the topic of email and calendar. Are you able to easily backup your emails?

      • akilou@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        I’ve never looked into backing it up. I do know they make it easy to import emails from other services so maybe they’d make it easy to export to other providers too? You’d have to look into it.