I think I'll move back to linux

  After writing this post, I started using my old laptop, with Artengos.  And it's been some time since I turned on the Acer laptop.  I did try Manjaro Linux live on it via USB, and honestly browsing was much faster than on windows 10.  I have moved my pictures from Amazon Drive to SmugMug, which was the main reason I decided to get a Windows (10) just because it was already on it, to automate the upload of images.  As I mentioned earlier Amazon changed the plan from $12/year unlimited photo's to $59/year for 1TB.  While, I probably won't reach the 1TB in say 5-10 years, I lost trust in them.  Who knows when will they change again?
  In the mean time, I also found a way to move my backed up images from Amazon Drive, directly into SmuMug, who I've used for quiet some time, now they will be used exclusively for my picture's/memories stories, as their service is top notch, with excellent customer support.  Compared to Amazons support which is below average, it took them about 1 week to reset my account as it was hacked. Each contact from support gave me a round around the corner, and back. Until I took it to twitter, I believe then it was like 4-6 hours to resolution.
  Anyhow that's my rant about my backup strategy, and reasons to dump Windows.  The other, really good reason to dump it, is it's huge upgrades, that take for ever, on a low end machine.  I don't have a powerhouse, I don't need one for home use, but I'd like to have something that isn't a slug.  And apparently it's windows that makes it a slug.  It's not made for low end Celeron machines, two cores is not enough for it. Come to think of it, my phone has more cores :P
  Anyhow, I'm hoping to make the full transition back to fully linux OS at home in a month or so. Just doing the copying and moving of my more important files.  My main backup strategy is Google Drive, and SmugMug for my images.  I don't need more at this time.  Alright :) that's it for now be back once I move totally to linux on the little Acer laptop

Back to Linux? or not, not sure yet

  I'm really starting to get tired of Windows 10, and it's updates.  I thought I will give it a try, truth be told I bought a cheap hardware, with the option of being able to use it as a tablet since it has a touch screen, Acer 11.6". I've had it for less than 2 years.  The reason I got it was because I couldn't find a way to automatically sync to Amazon Drive, and Google Photo's. Well that didn't work out too well since the Amazon drive client pegged my underpowered CPU, and Amazon wasn't able to help. That was fine I found an alternative, but then Amazon decided to change their pricing plan, so now I lost trust in them. First they had the perfect plan at $12 which I started to use back in March 2015. Well Amazon decided to cancel that plan, and went with a unlimited storage either $79 or $59/year, which really didn't last that long as that plan was also canceled and now it's $59/year for 1 TB of storage.  While I know that it will take me another maybe 10 years to fill it up with pictures, what assurance do I have they won't change again? I'll just stick to SmugMug.  I've been using them for a while, but never thought of them as a backup service, they still offer a great unlimited photo's since 2009, so I trust they will stick to their plan, and honor what they offer.  Great organization possibilities, excellent sharing, and embedding options. Also another plus, they have integration with Amazon Drive, so I can transfer pictures from Amazon Drive to SmugMug.
  Anyhow, back to my rant about the laptop which was so sluggish and slow. I remember once waiting for more than an hour for a Windows update to finish. Not a re-install, but an update. Also surfing the net was becoming annoying, Chrome (I wouldn't dare start) Firefox was kinda OK, but still slow, click on a link and wait for the spinning hour.  My Internet connection is fine, as I tested with my desktop, tablet, and phone.
  I grabbed my old beaten Dell Insprion 1318 laptop, and installed Artengos Linux on it.  And started testing/playing with it, this old laptop was faster than my less than 2 year old one, though spec's wise, they are similar.(I'm actually typing this post on it)  So I grabbed the newer laptop, and tried another Linux distribution. Manjaro Linux live USB.  And it worked fast, browsing was lighting fast compared to browsing on Windows 10.  Is it the anti-virus software?  Well that's required, so un-installing that is not an option.  Background processes were keeping the CPU busy, that's fine, but sometimes to the stage that Firefox becomes un-responsive. And after a bit of digging, it was the windows updates.
  What I'm trying to decide on, is if I need windows10 at all.  I'm contemplating installing Manjaro Linux XFCE on the newer laptop, or Artengos Linux, both are Arch Linux derivatives, which I also used for some time, before I lent the laptop to a relative, for them I installed Ubuntu.
  I like Artengos Linux, works like a charm on this old laptop, even photo processing isn't a pain.  Photo editing software is abundant on Linux, some are great, others have a big learning curve (but they work)

A nightmare to avoid

  I had one of my important accounts hacked.  How, I probably re-used the same username and/or password across too many places, well seems one of them had a breach and they logged in to my amazon account. They changes the email, and I was locked out. I called customer service right away, but they said it will take 48 hours, but the account is locked.  I was like great, I can wait 48 hours no problem.  I then received an email from amazon that I need to call them. Ok, I call them up, just to be told, "Oh, you need to wait another 24 hours, it seems the agent failed to file your information to the correct department"  Needless to say this was after waiting 2 days for some response.  Now I'm talking about amazon.com you know the huge retail company, and online services provider, that has gazillion computing power, and they need 48 or 24 or 72 hours to reset your account? I understand they outsource their support and customer care, but in this day and age, they can't afford to have, umm let's say 5 paid employees with higher privileges where ever that customer care center is, who can handle this? Naturally I took it on to twitter, and miracles do happen, I did receive an email and got it all sorted out, after 5 or 6 calls to customer support, I spoke to 2 supervisors supposedly, and chatted with their twitter bot a few times.
  The moral of the story, if you have 2 step authentication available, set it up, protect your accounts. It wasn't Amazon's fault, that I did not secure my account properly, but really 3 days to get it sorted out, even if that manager (or so called password department) was on the moon, it shouldn't take 48 hours (as they originally lied) or 72 hours. Stay secure, and use a password manager app.  Not the one that was hacked recently :)