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Tell HN: Windows 10 might have tricked you into using a online account

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Re: Tell HN: Windows 10 might have tricked you into using a online account

#51

This will happen when you sign in to any Microsoft product, such as Office, Teams or Onedrive. After you input email and password, there is a window dialog with a big button to use that credential to manage the device, i.e., your computer, converting your local into an online account. And there is an option, with small text, to "use only in Microsoft applications", or words to that effect. This is easy to get caught,…

In similar way instagram shortly after being purchased by facebook tricked me into login with fb account - the now "old" login option was placed at the bottom of window and it was done in small font that could be seen as copyright footer for a distracted eye.

Re: Tell HN: Windows 10 might have tricked you into using a online account

#52

This definitely happened to me a while ago. I'm not that upset about it, except that I spent some time changing all my local accounts from "jon" to "jrockway", and signing in with my email address made my local account "jon". Now when I ssh places, I have to supply -l or properly add an entry to ~/.ssh/config because this is the only account I have that's not named "jrockway". All in all, this reduces the enjoyment i…

God, the number of panicked IT support calls I got over that particular phrasing. It was quite the month.

Let me try guessing it... most people thought it was some kind of ransomware smiling at them?

Re: Tell HN: Windows 10 might have tricked you into using a online account

#53
post #13

It’s not even possible in windows 11. You can leave Microsoft behind, or accept it and move on. I think apple does this too. You have options, but they don’t include Microsoft or apple. I think chromeos, for now, lets you opt out. I could be wrong about that.

For some reason, “I think Apple does this too” always comes up in the discussions about Microsoft forcing online accounts within Windows. MacOS doesn’t do this. Accounts are machine local. iCloud integration is an optional layer on top. Always has been. Nothing has changed. Maybe give the OS a try before assuming Apple is following all the same antipatterns just because they also happen to fall into the category of “…

Apple is worse, they will randomly lock you out of devices you own even though you have the password and demand you verify on a different one. I had relatives who only had one apple device, what a nightmare fixing that was.

It's the big tech equivalent of stop and frisk.

Re: Tell HN: Windows 10 might have tricked you into using a online account

#54

You have to be disconnected from wifi and Ethernet to be offered the option of a local account. This was removed in 11.

Not really. You can get around this with:

Shift + F10 > taskmgr > Network Connection flow > End task

Re: Tell HN: Windows 10 might have tricked you into using a online account

#55

This definitely happened to me a while ago. I'm not that upset about it, except that I spent some time changing all my local accounts from "jon" to "jrockway", and signing in with my email address made my local account "jon". Now when I ssh places, I have to supply -l or properly add an entry to ~/.ssh/config because this is the only account I have that's not named "jrockway". All in all, this reduces the enjoyment i…

I honestly always thought it was some sort of GLaDOS/Hal 9000 style joke. "don't worry Dave, we're still watching all your files" or something, I actually laughed out loud when I saw it. It's even more hilarious to me if that was supposed to be serious.

Re: Tell HN: Windows 10 might have tricked you into using a online account

#56
Yes, this happened to me when I was forced to reinstall Windows due to a stubborn booting issue. I've been growing uncomfortable with the idea of having an adversarial relationship with such an essential piece of software as an OS for a while already and this prompted me to try out Linux as my daily driver. Been pretty satisfied with the results and Linux is where I do most of my computing these days.

Re: Tell HN: Windows 10 might have tricked you into using a online account

#57
Windows 11 latest installer doesn't even present the option to use a local account. However, the mechanism to bypass this is to enter in a fake Microsoft Login ID and then wait for it to fail, then select something like "Other Options" at the dialog that comes up and then there's an option to use a local account.

I think you can also install without internet and you'll get the local account option too, but I have not tried it yet.

Super annoying. I ran into this last week while reinstalling Windows on a dead NVMe drive.

Re: Tell HN: Windows 10 might have tricked you into using a online account

#58

You have to be disconnected from wifi and Ethernet to be offered the option of a local account. This was removed in 11.

If you create the bootable Windows 11 media with Rufus, it "allows to bypass the mandatory requirement for a Microsoft account on Windows 11 22H2. (NB: Network MUST be temporarily disabled for the local account creation to be proposed). Also add an option to skip all collection questions (Sets all answers to "Don't allow")".

for windows 10 at least, now it lets you create the local account beore starting the imaging process

the windows 10 setup wizard still tries to get you to log in, to the point of writing on the wizard "your computer must be connected to the internet to finish setup"

and yet... after you unplug the ethernet cable... it lets you finish setup without internet...

> Microsoft executives had, according to him, "proved, time and time again, to be inaccurate, misleading, evasive, and transparently false. ... Microsoft is a company with an institutional disdain for both the truth and for rules of law that lesser entities must respect. It is also a company whose senior management is not averse to offering specious testimony to support spurious defenses to claims of its wrongdoing." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Cor....

Re: Tell HN: Windows 10 might have tricked you into using a online account

#59
post #29

[flagged]

It's not about making me safer, it's about keeping offline OSes as an option. The ability to buy a general purpose computer and do arbitrary things with it is something we take for granted, but will never get back once we lose it.

Use Linux if you want control.

I use Windows for gaming, but I fully accept that I'm basically renting it as a service from Microsoft at this point even if it's a one time upfront payment to use.

Re: Tell HN: Windows 10 might have tricked you into using a online account

#60

You have to be disconnected from wifi and Ethernet to be offered the option of a local account. This was removed in 11.

I recall having to do something like this when starting a new laptop with 10. I think I hopped in the car and drove a little ways down the street. See? No internet connectivity, honest!
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