Category: Windows

Last week, Microsoft unintentionally explained why offline accounts are better in Windows. It does not seem to have taken long for Microsoft to realize that listing instructions to switch to local accounts was not the best strategy for a company that is doing everything in its might to make the creation of local accounts as awkward and irritating as possible.

What you need to know: local accounts are device-specific. They are not known to Microsoft and no data gets synced. Microsoft has a vetted interest in getting customers to use Microsoft accounts. This binds them to Microsoft and gives Microsoft more data.

Microsoft updated the support page recently. While it still lists the benefits of local accounts as well as Microsoft accounts, it no longer reveals to users how to create one or switch to using a local account.

Now, that support page is focused almost entirely on Microsoft accounts. (via Neowin)

Here is an overview of the page’s content after the update:

• Explains the differences between local and Microsoft accounts.
• Lists the benefits of Microsoft accounts.
• Lists the benefits of local accounts.
• Explains how to switch from a local account to a Microsoft account.
• Links to another support page entitled “What is a Microsoft account”.

The instructions to switch from a Microsoft account to a local account were removed.

How to switch from a Microsoft account to a local account in Windows 11

Thankfully, the Internet rarely forgets. Here they are again:

1. In the Settings app on your Windows device, select Accounts > Your info, or use the following shortcut: Your info
2. Select Sign in with a local account instead. You’ll see this link only if you’re using a Microsoft account
3. Type the username, password, and password hint. The username must be different than any others on the device
4. Select Next, then select Sign out and finish. Sign back in with your new local account

Closing Words

Here is a funny idea: maybe it is time to give customers what they want. Restore the option to create a local account during Windows setup and let customers decide. It is fine to make the Microsoft account the default.

This alone would make lots of Windows users happy who want to use a local account. It means that they won’t have to go to Settings to switch the Microsoft account to a local account, cursing Microsoft all the way of the process for being anti-consumer in this regard. The vast majority of users would still select a Microsoft account, giving Microsoft what it wants.

What about you? Do you prefer using a Microsoft account or a local account?

The last couple of years have been a difficult ride for the majority of Windows users. It all began with the release of Windows 11. Microsoft released the new version of Windows back in October 2021 to the public.

Several months before that release, it made it abundantly clear that Windows 11 would ship with new hardware requirements.

These requirements, particularly the need for a TPM chip and a relatively modern processor, blocked part of the userbase from upgrading to Windows 11 officially.

Granted, enthusiasts found ways to bypass the requirements and upgrade devices to Windows 11, but the majority of users does not know about Rufus or ways to bypass the requirements.

This divided the Windows userbase for the first time ever since Windows came to be. Hundreds of million of devices with Windows 10 cannot be upgraded to Windows 11 according to estimates. Microsoft, at least, gives customers an option to extend support by up to three years, but this comes at a price.

The second divide: Copilot+ PCs

Microsoft is dividing the Windows userbase again, less than three years after the official launch of Windows 11. Now, it is affecting the Windows 11 userbase.

The new Copilot+ PC type has different hardware requirements again. This time, requirements include a neural processing unit for AI processing on the device among other things.

While Microsoft won’t prevent regular Windows 11 systems from upgrading to Windows 11 version 24H2, it will block certain features on these devices.

In other words, if you do not have a Copilot+ PC, you won’t get all the features of Windows 11 anymore. While that is been the case for smaller features, including Auto DRM or DirectStorage, Microsoft is introducing a new dimension here.

Major features, including the controversial Recall feature, but also smaller features, such as features of the default image editor Paint, are Copilot+ PC exclusives. If you do not have one, you won’t be able to use these features, even if you wanted to.

Closing Words

Arguably, the second divide isn’t as major as the first. Windows 11 customers can continue to use their devices at least. Still, with a large number of Windows 10 customers left without any official options from Microsoft, and most current Windows 11 customers without access to many of the upcoming AI features, one has to wonder whether that is the best course of action.

If Microsoft would have known about the rise of AI in 2021, it could have waited with the release of Windows 11 until 2024. Or, it could have allowed Windows 10 devices to upgrade to Windows 11. All of these options were not really practicable from Microsoft’s point of view. It could have done that, but it wanted Windows 11 devices to be on modern hardware only. The rise of AI in 2023 came out of nowhere, practically.

Devices need enough processing power, using NPU chips, to compute certain AI tasks on the device. While it would still be possible to allow devices without AI chips to make use of these features, it would probably be unbearable slow.

In closing, Microsoft seems to have moved itself into a corner with the release of Windows 11 and the enforcement of new system requirements. The sudden rise of AI services and features require another round of adjustments to the system requirements.

Still, this is going to be a problem for Microsoft in the short run. What will all the Windows 10 customers do who cannot upgrade their devices to Windows 11?

The release of Windows 10 saw a fundamental shift towards Microsoft accounts. While users got to choose between local and Microsoft accounts in Windows 10, it was clear that Microsoft’s intention was to get customers to use online accounts.

It integrated new features into Windows that required an online account. From OneDrive over the synchronization of settings to the ability to restore an account password.

Microsoft shifted into a higher gear with the release of Windows 11. It enforces the creation of a Microsoft account on first setup now for Home and Pro systems.

Many workarounds do not work anymore, but there may still be options to deal with the user-unfriendly behavior. Still, most users may not know about these and that forces them to create the Microsoft account.

It is possible to create local accounts after the initial setup phase and delete the Microsoft account, but Microsoft has scattered warnings across the system in that case.

Microsoft highlights the advantages of local accounts

The support page “Change from a local account to a Microsoft account” on Microsoft’s official support website lists the advantages of both local and Microsoft accounts.

Here is what Microsoft has to say about local accounts (via WinFuture)

A local account is created on the device and doesn’t require Internet connectivity to sign in. It’s independent of other services, and it’s not connected to the cloud. Your settings, files, and applications are limited to that single device

While that is meant to be discouraging, may of the users who prefer local accounts may beg to differ.

The key here is that local accounts are not known to Microsoft. They work offline and files stay on the local system by default. Users may still sync files using first or third-party tools, but this is completely optional.

Wonder about the advantages of using a Microsoft account? Here are the key features of using a Microsoft account, according to Microsoft:

When you sign in to your PC with a Microsoft account, you’re connected to a Microsoft cloud service, and your settings and files can sync across various devices. You can also use it to access other Microsoft services

So, some settings and files sync when a Microsoft account is used. Using a Microsoft account may also give users access to services that require it.

Closing Words

To break it down: if you prefer privacy, you may want to consider using local accounts. If you prioritize convenience, or use multiple Windows devices, you may find that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

What about you? Do you prefer local or Microsoft accounts on Windows devices?

DoNotspy11 is a long-standing privacy and tweaking application for Windows. The first update of 2024 introduces new features and compatibility with recent Windows releases.

It is a small tool that you may use to modify Windows settings with ease. It addresses one of the main issues that privacy-conscious users have with Windows: the scattering of privacy-related preferences and policies.

Instead of having to use the Control Panel, Settings app, Registry, Group Policy Editor, and some other tools to improve privacy, it delivers everything in a single easy-to-use interface.

Word of Advice: Windows may throw a SmartScreen error when you try to run the program on your device. This is not because it is malicious or faulty. SmartScreen displays also when a program is new.

Another great privacy tool is O&O ShutUp10++, which I reviewed some time ago.

A short DoNotspy11 Intro

DoNotSpy11 displays all applicable privacy tweaks in the interface. It uses color codes to highlight the safety of tweaks. The following colors are used:

• Blue — These are safe settings that should not have any ill-effects.
• Orange — It is necessary to read the description, as they may impact other features among other things.
• Red — Usually not recommended to change.
• Gray — These settings have not changed since the last use of the application.

The program suggests to create a System Restore point whenever changes are made. This allows you to go back to the previous state in case something does not work anymore. I never ran into this problem while using the app, but a backup option is always welcome.

Just check or uncheck the available options and hit the apply button in the end to make the change. It is easy to undo changes manually or through System Restore points.

DoNotSpy11 1.2.1.0 Changelog

The update introduces ten new tweaks, including a new Windows AI category. It also adds general compatibility with Windows 11 version 23H2 Moment 5 and Windows 11 version 24H2, which will be released later this year.

The final change adds high DPI support, which should improve visuals on high DPI displays.

As for the tweaks, here is what is new:

1. AI: Disable Recall (Snapshots) (from build 26100)
2. Apps: Disable Access to Cellular Data
3. Apps: Disable Access to Eye Tracking
4. Apps: Disable Access to Motion / Activity
5. Edge: Disable Control Copilot Access to Browser Context
6. Edge: Disable Spell Checking Provided by Microsoft Editor
7. Edge: Disable Website Typo Protection
8. Edge: Hide App Launcher on Microsoft Edge New Tab Page
9. Start: Disable Recommended Section
10. Start: Disable Website Recommendations in Recommended Section

Three tweaks have been updated. The first two add options to disable Copilot and the Copilot taskbar button on Windows 10 devices. The third changes the disable background applications recommendation from blue (safe) to yellow (read comment).

You can check out the full changelog here.

Do you use tweaking tools to improve privacy or other features of Windows devices?

Is the upcoming Recall AI feature of the Windows 11 operating system a privacy nightmare? While the verdict is still out about that, it is clearly problematic on several levels in its current state.

Recall takes screenshots of the computer screen every 5 seconds. The default configuration takes screenshots of pretty much everything. The only exceptions are private browsing windows of popular browsers and DRM-protected content.

Every other activity, including views of financial documents, porn, games, visited websites, messages, and more may be captured.

It saves the data to a locally stored SQLite database. There it is kept until it is either deleted to make room for newer data or deleted by the user.

Users have several options:

• Disable Recall entirely, which will likely erase the entire database.
• Reduce the assigned storage size, which will delete older entries.
• Use the delete snapshots option to delete some or all snapshots taken.

Multiple parties want access to Recall

Since Recall saves a user’s entire work history on a device for three months by default, it will be seen as a treasure trove by multiple parties.

• Malware actors may find ways to grab the entire database, which is not encrypted when the system is running.
• Law enforcement, customs, spies, state sponsored hackers may also want access to it.

Recall offers interesting data. Screenshots of one-time messages, or messages that get deleted by the user of the PC. These remain in the database until they are flushed out because of age.

Recall is not all that useful for most Windows users

The idea of searching through the computing activity of the past three months may sound appealing to some users.

In work or research environments, it may be seen as a great feature, provided that Microsoft gets privacy, security, regulatory requirements, and all of that in order before release.

For most home users, Recall does not have a great value proposition.

What problem is Recall solving? How often do home users need to find something very specific on their devices that they have trouble finding using the built-in search or manual searching?

In all of Microsoft’s talks and announcements, the company has not really answered that question.

If you weight this now against the prospect of maintaining a database on your computer that reveals what you have done on it in the past three months, then it is likely that most users may pass on this.

Depending on how it launches, enabled by default, with or without notification to the user, it is probably not going to see the wide use that Microsoft hopes it will have.

Closing Words

Recall is not here yet and things may change before the final release later this year. Most home users who happen to purchase Copilot+ PCs may want to consider disabling Recall to block the feature from recording everything they do on their devices.

I suggest you check out the following thread on Recall for additional information on it and the issues that it introduces.

What about you? Would you make use of Recall, if it would be available on your devices?

The first O&O ShutUp10++ update for Windows 10 and 11 of 2024 is now available. It is an excellent privacy tool to improve privacy through an easy to use interface.

You can check out my full review of O&O ShutUp10++ for in-depth information.

O&O ShutUp10++ 1.9.1437

The new version of the free application is available already. It was released about a week ago. New and existing users may download it from the official project website.

The update introduces new privacy options and also quality of life improvements. As far as privacy options are concerned, here is what is new:

• NEW: Disable remote assistance connections to this computer
• NEW: Disable remote connections to this computer

You find these two new options under Local Machine > Miscellaneous at the very bottom of the page.

The remaining changes improve usability of the app. Whenever you make a change, you receive a prompt to create a system restore point. If the feature is disabled, O&O ShutUp10++ may now launch the Control Panel in this case to rectify this.

Existing users may also notice that the start of the app is faster than before.

The configuration file is saved to the start directory now, and it is automatically migrated from previous versions. The file is called OOSU10.cfg and you find it in the same directory that you run O&O ShutUp10++ from. This makes it easier to migrate the configuration to other systems.

The application supports making bulk changes. It distinguishes between recommended, somewhat recommended, and all settings. A click on any of those under Actions displays the number of changed preferences now.

Tip: while these actions sound useful, they are applied immediately. It is better to make changes manually instead.

1. Select View > Group by Categories to disable the grouping of settings.
2. Click on “recommended” in the table to sort by recommendation state.
3. Go through the list from top to bottom and make the changes manually.

Closing Words

O&O ShutUP10++ is an excellent free application for Windows to improve user privacy on the system. It is updated frequently to introduce new privacy options, such as disabling Copilot.

Do you use privacy tweak tools or system optimization tools? Which do you use and prefer?