Do people of reasonable technical ability store their private data on the Internet (if so, for what gain?)

In article , Dan Purgert
wrote:

What's the method of putting the Windows _computer_ on the Internet
safely?

Plug it into your router, add port forwards to whatever programs are
hosting the service(s) you want to provide. Of course, this does assume
that your ISP provides you with a public IP address at your router (I
guess they do, given your USB Key comment).

that is not a safe way to do it. in fact, it's very unsafe.