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Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

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Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#431

Post by e12e »

yourad_io wrote: post #384
the_pwner224 wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I looked into WiFi cards a year ago for a computer build, and iirc you can get a very high end Intel NIC for Atheros also has good support for Linux. I just looked it up, and Intel's best chip the AC 9560, with 2x2 1.73 Gbps WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0 is It's an easy swap on desktops and on most laptops too.

How can you swap anything aside from disk or RAM in modern laptops? Isn't everything soldered these days - including RAM in some cases ?

Wifi is also generally on a card.. For Lenovo thinkpad, Dell and à few others.

Unfortunately not the sp4: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft+Surface+Pro+4+Tear...

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#432

Post by freeflight »

Used to be that you shouldn't install Windows online to prevent getting exploited by malware before you had a chance to patch.

Now it looks like one has to install offline to prevent getting adware and all kinds of other things, what amazing progress.

As somebody still stuck on Win7 I'm dreading the change, sadly Linux is not really an option because I like my PC gaming.

Any good resources on what to look out for when installing Win10, what to turn off and when to stay offline when setting what things up? I keep seeing/picking up small tips all over the place, but I have yet to find something comprehensive.

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#433

Post by Wowfunhappy »

toastal wrote: post #184
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> people spend $X per month on the Adobe Suite, and people tend to enjoy that. I work in the graphic design industry, and I've got news for you... people do not enjoy Adobe's move to subscription pricing, and on the contrary still complain about it. Anecdotal evidence, I suppose, but seriously... I haven't met a single person who prefers Creative Cloud to just buying the suites.

With alternative softwares like Figma, Sketch and Affinity, I've been seeing a lot of designers migrate away. Sadly and tangential to other discussions, Figma is the only one that will run cross-platform being WASM-based. I personally had been holding on to Windows/Mac through college til this subscription model. Since I really only do photo work now, darktable and RawTherapee are great FOSS alternatives. Krita and G…

Our agency uses Sketch for web projects, but for print Adobe is still king.

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#434

Post by thom »

For the last year I have been logged into Windows as my son (complete with getting weekly screentime reports about myself) because I once tried to set up a network game of Minecraft and somehow this associated a Microsoft account with my previously offline user account. There is no way to undo this without creating a new account from scratch and deleting the old one.

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#435

Post by jfoster »

It's funny how expectations being set differently can lead to such massively different reactions.

Chrome OS or Android devices require Google accounts? No problem.

Windows requires a Microsoft account? So angry!

I think there's also something to be said for the ubiquity and usefulness of these accounts outside of the OS setup. I don't really feel that I need a Microsoft account in my life and I can't say for certain whether I have one or not. I definitely have a Google account which I use many times per day.

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#436

Post by BlueTemplar »

bsder wrote: post #160
mastazi wrote: post #63

This is incredibly bad. In general I have a positive opinion about what MS is doing lately, but Windows is a glaring exception, it’s getting worse and worse at an alarming rate. In the last two months we had two consecutive updates that broke basic functionality for users who disabled web results in Windows Search (which is a very common setting among those who care about privacy) https://www.zdnet.com/article/window…

> In general I have a positive opinion about what MS is doing lately, but Windows is a glaring exception, it’s getting worse and worse at an alarming rate. Ayup. Win10 finally broke the camel's back and I started the process of figuring out how to transfer as much as we can to Linux. The hardest part is that our embedded development stuff is all Windows. :( I've been trying to get VSCode, Segger, and embedded boards…

You haven't seen it coming with Windows 8 ?

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#437

Post by jasonjayr »

e12e wrote: post #416
jdnenej wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can with encryption and not using face unlock.

As far as I can figure out, you also need to opt for manually unlocking bitlocker via USB key (prone to copy/theft) or via typing in a passphrase (inconvenient) in order to safeguard the encryption key. Windows will otherwise use hsm to store your key (as evidenced by eg face unlock working) - it's not at all clear how that could possibly be secure if an attacker steals your device?

If the key is in the HSM, then what's protecting your data is the trust in the boot chain not being broken, and the OS login not not being compromised (theoretically).

Booting an alternate OS, or removing the media will result in the HSM not giving up the key, and rendering the drive unusable for all attackers except those able to physically probe the HSM chips and extract keys. (theoretically)

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#438

Post by CRConrad »

GlenTheMachine wrote: post #100

...and from what I can tell, their online account security is craptastic. Here’s a true story that happened to my family. My son is the only person in the house who uses Windows. For his game machine. He set up a Microsoft online account. It got hacked - someone set up a fake family and managed to get my son’s account listed under it as a child. As a consequence, he couldn’t install any new software. I’m not sure wha…

Several people here have talked about “hacks” like what happened to ypur son, and I'm of course not saying they're wrong. I don't quite get the idea what it's supposed to get such hackers, though, so I think you shouldn't rule out sheer incompetence: Maybe someone else has a family member with the same or a similar name and was trying to add rhem, and a search threw up your son's name and they added him by mistake?

Shouldn't be able to happen, of course, but given it's Microsoft we're talking about, who would swear it couldn't?

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#439

Post by currysausage »

moontear wrote: post #362
mastazi wrote: post #63

This is incredibly bad. In general I have a positive opinion about what MS is doing lately, but Windows is a glaring exception, it’s getting worse and worse at an alarming rate. In the last two months we had two consecutive updates that broke basic functionality for users who disabled web results in Windows Search (which is a very common setting among those who care about privacy) https://www.zdnet.com/article/window…

Thanks for that search problem link I am exactly one of those users and start menu search just isn’t working. I have switched to Launchy as an alternative after years of being happy with the start menu search. I can finally look for a solution now, nice.

I keep hearing about this. This is what’s keeping me from upgrading to 1903, as I find disabling Bing Search absolutely essential.

So, have you followed the advice in the support document? Did it help?

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#440

Post by BlueTemplar »

jfoster wrote: post #435

It's funny how expectations being set differently can lead to such massively different reactions. Chrome OS or Android devices require Google accounts? No problem. Windows requires a Microsoft account? So angry! I think there's also something to be said for the ubiquity and usefulness of these accounts outside of the OS setup. I don't really feel that I need a Microsoft account in my life and I can't say for certain…

You're confusing Android with Google Services?
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