Cloud storage is convenient for sharing family photos, but there's a better way to keep your most important files.

Using an external drive requires more effort than backing up everything to the cloud. You need to wait for your files to transfer from your device to the drive, and then sort everything into folders.

When the IBM PC was new, I served as the president of the San Francisco PC User Group for three years. That’s how I met PCMag’s editorial team, who brought me on board in 1986. In the years since that ...