NOTE: This article is not about any of the "normal" topics of this newsletter: genealogy, history, current affairs, DNA, and related topics. However, this article contains information that I believe all computer users should be aware of, whether they plan to use it themselves or not. However, if you are looking only for true genealogy, history, current affairs, DNA, and related topic articles, you might want to skip this one. 

Proton aims to create a privacy-centric internet that empowers people worldwide to regain control of their digital lives. The company started with Proton Mail, a fully secure e-mail service that sends encrypted email messages that can only be read by the sender and by the addressee, no one else. No hackers, no corporate spies, no government spies, and no one else.

Proton later followed that up with the Proton VPN, Proton Calendar, and Proton Password Manager, all of which maintain privacy so that hackers, corporate spies,  government spies, and others cannot see what you are doing on your computer. That's the way the internet should work: total online privacy for all users.

This week the company announced the release of Proton Drive Windows app, a method of securely storing encrypted Windows files in the cloud. The present release only works on Microsoft Windows but a future release for Macintosh is promised for "real soon now."

I have been an enthusiastic user of Proton MAIL and Proton VPN for some time now. I suspect I will add Proton Drive for Macintosh as soon as it becomes available and probably will write about it in this newsletter at that time.

The key difference between Proton Drive and other cloud-based storage options is that it will offer free, encrypted file storage by default. The service will also offer all of the essentials such as multi-device syncing, offline downloads and version history. I won't describe all the rest of the new (and very different from other cloud-based file storage services) features of Proton Drive Windows App. Instead, I will simply point you to the announcement in the Proton Blog at https://proton.me/blog/proton-drive-windows.

NOTE: By the way, I am not compensated in any way for writing this article. I am simply a very satisfied user of Proton products and plan to continue using them until something even better comes along. The folks at Proton do not know that I am planning to publish this article. In fact, I doubt if the folks at Proton even know who I am.