2- Selection of tools on the PC

(Resume the blog from the beginning 1-Motivation and approach

Change the operating system of the PC

I opted for Ubuntu, with several layers of presentation that I change at will, just for fun: Ubuntu basic, Gnome, Budgie, Cinnamon, Maté. Ubuntu is installed in dual-boot with Windows, which allows me to use Windows when the equivalent service is not on Ubuntu, but I haven’t needed Windows for a few months now. My Ubuntu now contains everything I need. On the laptop I use Kubuntu, which seems to manage the battery better, while providing a full set of applications.

Data storage in the cloud

I have 2T of data. That’s a lot and I don’t want to get into the issue of computer sobriety and why I keep so much of it here. In the past I tried to use a personal cloud, but after a crash and a problem with the backup I lost some data and so I changed my strategy and opted for storing files in the cloud. I started by using the Microsoft offer which was the cheapest for such volumes, especially since my wife needed the MS Office suite in a professional context. This subscription became one of the reasons that forced me to stay on Windows. So I started looking for another provider, one that doesn’t do big data, and is in Europe. I found pCloud and I’m very happy with them, especially with their lifetime subscription plan at a very reasonable price. The migration from Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive to pCloud is taken care of by pCloud and goes smoothly. So I was able to free myself from OneDrive.

Office suite:

On the PC, it’s LibreOffice, it works well for private use, and even professional if everyone uses it, but collaborating on the same documents between LibreOffice and MS Office users is not without small glitches.

Firefox as browser

It’s a choice I’ve made since the beginning of Firefox and I’m still happy with it. Recently I even set Firefox to private mode by default. I delete cookies at the end of each session and I have a solution for password management that is integrated with Firefox (see below). I’ve also tried the Tor browser, which is certainly more secure, but it’s a bit more time consuming and I feel like the privacy it offers exceeds my need and sensitivity to the issue. I still use it when needed, but it’s not my default browser.

Change the search engine

There are many choices. Personally I had opted for Lilo instead of Google. Sometimes I also use DuckDuckGo. You can configure it in the search settings of Firefox

Password manager tool

1. For password management I have narrowed down the choice to the following 3 solutions:  Use the built-in password manager in Firefox.

2. Use KeePassXC (open-source). It’s a desktop application that manages encrypted “.kdbx” files and for which you can find plugins to integrate it in Firefox. The .kdbx files are secured by a password and, if you want to improve their security, by a numerical key that should not be stored on the cloud.

3. Use another tool, and for me it was BitWarden, which integrates perfectly with browsers, in addition to its independent interface.

After evaluating these 3 solutions, I finally adopted KeePassXC and integrated it with Firefox via the KeePassXC-Browser plugin. The KeePass database is on my cloud storage but the key file is kept locally on the phone and on the PC.

The map and navigation service

OpenStreetMap can be used instead of Google Maps, but you have to accept some degradation of the service. For example, it offers good navigation for walking, biking and driving, but for public transportation they still lack a data provider. This problem is solved by OsmPlus on Android.

The service provider for e-mail and calendar

I chose the Brussels startup Nubo to manage my e-mails, contacts and calendar. It’s paying but not too much and it depends on the chosen formula. For the moment I use e-mail for everything except logging in on other sites, until Nubo develops 2FA two-factor authentication. Their package also includes data storage but for 2TB it is too expensive. The file storage solution is based on NextCloud which is a very developed cloud and offers some additional applications like: a note taking tool, tasks, GpodderSync to synchronize its PodCasts playlist.

The office tool to manage mail and calendar

Thunderbird with Lightning. What I like most is the federated view on all my email addresses. I save the Thunderbird profile on a shared drive so I can access it from Windows if I need to.

The note taking tool

In the past I used OneNote for everything, but sometimes I lost notes and especially since MS changed the implementation to store notes in Microsoft Sharepoint. I then found another open-source note-taking tool, Joplin, which works very well and uses the MD (Markdown) format to format notes. It does some basic formatting but it’s enough for most people. For the migration of my existing notes from OneNote to Joplin I used OneNoteMdExporter.v1.2.0 and was able to recover years of notes with a complex multi-level hierarchical structure and with attached files and images without loss. I used the NextCloud server offered by Nubo to synchronize my notes, as Joplin offers. And since Joplin is available on all platforms, it’s a great way to keep track of your notes.

My personal bookstore management tool

I have a lot of paper books that smell like anchor, but a lot of PDF, DOC, ePub documents and e-books as well as electronic comics. I use Calibre to manage them and export a small portion of my library to be available on my mobile devices.

3-Chosen applications on Android