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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

#41

Post by temac »

tssva wrote: post #21
reiichiroh wrote: post #8

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

I use Windows 11 Professional and was able to install using a local account while connected to WiFi.

On "old" versions you could - or at least you could not connect and it would allow to create a local account in this case. On the last one MS says you can't OOBE without the Internet, even with Pro, and at a first glance it seems you actually can't, but then you just press shift+F10, type oobe\bypassnro, and then it reboots and you actually can again.

I'm not sure why they consider that it makes any sense. Probably just a motherfucker higher-up who really like dark patterns and annoying their customers^W advertising targets, so MS can resell more private informations and they get a big bonus.

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

#42

Post by anothernewdude »

aeadio wrote: post #13
2devnull wrote: post #11

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 “…

AppleID is everywhere.

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

#43

Post by nyanpasu64 »

Arch-TK wrote: post #33
pdpi wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the “files are where you left them” dialogue is meant to assuage the concerns of people who just did a big OS upgrade and are a bit anxious about it all. It’s still a pretty poorly thought out dialogue, though.

You know what reassures me that nothing has gone wrong? When unexpectedly I am greeted with big white text insisting everything is okay. Imagine if you got a letter through the post out of the blue saying "You don't have cancer." I can only imagine how I would probably suddenly be a lot more worried about having cancer than before having gotten that letter. Whoever came up with that idiotic dialogue is unhinged and d…

It's ironic that years after Microsoft created that dialog, Windows 10 comes out with an update that deletes your files from where you left them: https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-confirms-major-wind...

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

#44

Post by ineptech »

alar44 wrote: 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.

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

#46

Post by karaterobot »

Windows 10 definitely tricked me into creating a Microsoft account, and I didn't realize I'd been tricked until later. Felt pretty sleazy. Windows 11 being even more of that kind of garbage, and the Steam Deck being a good enough gaming platform, means I've probably built my last Windows PC.

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

#47

Post by genewitch »

alar44 wrote: post #29

[flagged]

is there any guarantee that if i annoy microsoft on github or xbox gaming that microsoft will not disable my windows account tied to those email addresses?

threat surfaces go beyond ephemeral and tracking data.

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

#48

Post by neilv »

2devnull wrote: post #11

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.

> You can leave Microsoft behind,

Everyone currently afflicted can make the most of the US 3-day weekend, write this installer raw to a USB stick/drive, boot it, and overwrite Microsoft forever:

https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-dvd/d...

Or, if it's a laptop that needs closed WiFi firmware blobs, use this USB stick image instead:

https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-in...

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

#50

Post by gpvos »

xenophonf wrote: post #22
2devnull wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good to know. What is the command? And what’s the shortcut to get a terminal?

Per https://www.ghacks.net/2022/05/13/how-to-bypass-the-microsof... , you can type Shift-F10 to break into a command prompt during OOBE and run this command: OOBE\BYPASSNRO. Or you can try logging in with a banned email address like no@thankyou.com.

Doesn't work on the Surface with W11 that I recently acquired. I managed to attach a keyboard, but Shift-F10 had no effect.
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