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I Will Never Use a Microsoft Account to Log Into My Own PC

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Re: I Will Never Use a Microsoft Account to Log Into My Own PC

#561

Post by smartmic »

lbriner wrote: post #34

It is sadly part of a dark pattern called "stickiness". You can dress it up as functionally useful or even important but ultimately it is about companies wanting to create enough of a dependency that you have to continue using them, which is anti-competitive. Gone are the days where you bought something from a shop with no stickiness other than good service brought you back. Now there are far too many Marketing Manag…

I would not call this "stickiness" - it is about having control over your customers. The latter is hierarchical, not on eye's level. Stickiness could imply a quid pro quo status though.

Re: I Will Never Use a Microsoft Account to Log Into My Own PC

#562

Post by drdeadringer »

Vahkesh wrote: post #129
itronitron wrote: post #65

I wiped a brand new Windows laptop just last week and installed Linux because Windows 'S' Mode wouldn't let me install Firefox without a Windows account. Very happy with the change to linux and I don't have to worry about accidentally saving personal documents to the OneDrive cloud. Product companies should take note, I'd probably own a few more electronics if they didn't require that consumers 'create an account' or…

I've been considering making the switch to a Linux distro full-time, this move by Microsoft might be deciding factor. It sounds like they restricted Firefox installations to force users to use Edge.....

> I've been considering making the switch to a Linux distro full-time

I forget what my last straw was, but I went full Linux for all of my home computers around 2012 or so. At the time it bricked a piece of novelty hardware for me which I later ended up selling anyway, and that was not a hard choice to make.

My life has been so much better.

I segregate my usage of Windows and Mac OSs to work. I enjoy my OS sanity when at home.

Re: I Will Never Use a Microsoft Account to Log Into My Own PC

#563

Post by godshatter »

vvatermelone wrote: post #440
rambambram wrote: post #413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed funny! What happened after you installed the .exe Ubuntu? You clicked the icon and then ..? I'm just past the 'stage' you're in now, I recently deleted my partition running Windows (kept it for GTA5). Only Ubuntu now.

Are you able to play GTAV on linux? Or just given up on the ability to play it? That and a few racing sims are the only things keeping me on windows these days.

Not the person you're replying to (and I don't play GTAV), but you can look here to see if it works in Steam via Proton: https://www.protondb.com/app/271590

It's rated Gold, and appears to work out of the box for some people, others have had to add an option to the command line that Steams uses to run it, and some people have seen some problems running it.

If you do end up going this route and try it, please file a report on protondb letting others know how it went.

Re: I Will Never Use a Microsoft Account to Log Into My Own PC

#564

Post by encryptluks2 »

sounds wrote: post #541
encryptluks2 wrote: post #517

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is hardly a solution. You also act like by "inventing" a burner account that Google has no clue who you are, but that is simply not the case. If so their service would be overrun with spammers. Generally they require that you also verify a real phone number to setup an account. Also, once you've done all this you can download APKs from Google Play Store without needing a burner phone. They've had extensions that…

We're solving different problems. By purchasing a burner phone, I am definitely traceable by law enforcement. You want to be untraceable after a crime - I'm not solving that problem. Your other suggestions are fine ideas, there's not a specific right or wrong way to do it.

> By purchasing a burner phone, I am definitely traceable by law enforcement

Well, it really depends on how you buy it and where you use it. Yes, they can locate your phone based on triangulation. However, you can buy a prepaid burner phone outside of your area and then use it to create a Google account and then make sure you are using a VPN when connecting from a residential location. However, I don't really see the use in buying a burner phone just to download APKs from. You can do the same without one. I agree, that it does work to accomplish what you mentioned but I was just trying to explain that there is a much easier route without the additional burden.

Re: I Will Never Use a Microsoft Account to Log Into My Own PC

#565

Post by sounds »

encryptluks2 wrote: post #564
sounds wrote: post #541

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're solving different problems. By purchasing a burner phone, I am definitely traceable by law enforcement. You want to be untraceable after a crime - I'm not solving that problem. Your other suggestions are fine ideas, there's not a specific right or wrong way to do it.

> By purchasing a burner phone, I am definitely traceable by law enforcement Well, it really depends on how you buy it and where you use it. Yes, they can locate your phone based on triangulation. However, you can buy a prepaid burner phone outside of your area and then use it to create a Google account and then make sure you are using a VPN when connecting from a residential location. However, I don't really see the…

Then you're not one of those people I would recommend it to.

You seem to have missed the biggest part of why I recommend this to some people - never, ever put a SIM in the burner phone. It's just for that burner gmail address you use to get into the Google Walled Garden.

Re: I Will Never Use a Microsoft Account to Log Into My Own PC

#566

Post by logifail »

MeinBlutIstBlau wrote: post #521
teekert wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really need Windows? Our family laptop runs Linux, it does Teams for school, MineCraft, Netflix. You could do Office365 from a browser, although I admit, it is less than ideal. But it seems like you are almost at the emotional state make the jump... what's holding you back? I bought a Dell Latitude E5450 for 350 eur about 2 years back. It was used but looked new. It came with Win 10 Pro, which sits on my NAS a…

I unfortunately kept all my backups as NTFS and I maintained that for a while because "legacy" and I was lazy. Converting them all is gonna take a while. So I'm sort of waiting until it's inevitable.

> Converting them all is gonna take a while

What sort of backups?

(My experience is that) NTFS filesystems mount just fine on other OSes, particular Linux.

Re: I Will Never Use a Microsoft Account to Log Into My Own PC

#567

Post by sys_64738 »

Most employers are all in on MS products like Office365. Everything in that eco-system revolves around you MS account. That's the paradigm shift. I guess the flip is what makes you so special to buck the trend that most people have signed up for? If you think MS cares what you do due to some tinfoil hat type concern then that's one thing. Ultimately MS doesn't care what you do as you're not really that important. Your lack of MS online account is gonna be lost amongst billions of these things. Who cares?

Re: I Will Never Use a Microsoft Account to Log Into My Own PC

#568

Post by guffaw5 »

trynumber9 wrote: post #501
amanzi wrote: post #479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing Microsoft does really well is passwordless logins. As long as you've set up MFA with the Microsoft Authenticator app, you won't need your Microsoft account password to log in ever again. Instead, when you log in, you receive a notification in your Authenticator app which lets you log in without a password.

Except on the Xbox. I turned mine on the other day and it requested that I re-enter my stupidly long, randomly generated password. There was no option to send an authorization email or use a code. Entering that password with an Xbox controller was a very unpleasant experience.

I believe you can plug in a USB keyboard and enter it that way.

Re: I Will Never Use a Microsoft Account to Log Into My Own PC

#569

Post by sounds »

cosmojg wrote: post #558
sounds wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a solution I put out there for my non-technical friends. I just tell them to buy two Android devices. Obviously with iOS this won't work, but then again, iOS devices aren't cheap enough for this to be a reasonable approach anyway. Device #1: Buy the cheapest device you can. I give my friends specific recommendations. Invent a new burner gmail account for it. Install whatever you want off the Play Store - obvi…

Why not just get a nice phone with good support for unlocking/rooting and run LineageOS instead? Sent from my OnePlus 6T running LineageOS.

An open source replacement for Android just can't put in the same level of effort as the entire Android ecosystem does, so LineageOS is at a fundamental disadvantage.

If I am going to go with a different OS than Android, I'll get a Librem so I'm paying the company that made the hardware AND software, with incentives aligned for me to be a supported, acknowledged user.

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