Login Win 10

[plodr]

I don't run Win 10 but I was reading this article
https://www.askwoody.com/2020/patch-lady-can-you-set-up-a-local-no-microsoft-account-on-2004/
and brought to mind a question or two.
1. Most of the people I know don't read the fine print so they wouldn't bother reading about setting up a local account. If the internet is down at their home, does that mean they can't login on a Win 10 computer? Is the computer then unusable until they can log in?
2. If you have a MS account, is it possible to create a local account and use that instead?
(one of my friends has really, really slow dsl and I'm wondering how long it takes her to login with a MS account)

[xrobwx71]

#1 - I have a MS account and have lost internet and was still able to sign in and use my computer. This was a few weeks ago on version 1909.

#2 - Yes they could easily do this.

If you don't mind, I'd add a question.

If you login via local account does MS lose their telemetry? I know you'll lose your syncing ability if you use a local account to sync your settings across diffrent devices ie, personal settings and Edge settings and bookmarks. You won't lose what you have, it just won't sync.

[Corrine]

This may be helpful regarding telemetry:  Manage Windows 10 Telemetry and Data Collection settings.  (Note that it may be necessary to temporarily disable your ad-blocker to access the article.)

[plodr]

Thanks.
Good to know that the computer using an MS account can still be signed in and used off the internet.

I'll have to do some reading on setting up a local account.
My friend with the slow dsl will be switching to cable so once she makes that change, I might want to tell her about some other things she may want to change.

[Pete!]

Thanks.
Good to know that the computer using an MS account can still be signed in and used off the internet.

I'll have to do some reading on setting up a local account.
My friend with the slow dsl will be switching to cable so once she makes that change, I might want to tell her about some other things she may want to change.

I always use a local account.
I deleted my Hotmail ID as a login option back when Windows 8 was still "the latest" (still maintain it as a backup email account).

I set my wife up with a local account, the first time she asked for help.
At a later date, I got her an Outlook e-mail account, but did not set it up as a possible Windows login ID.

xrobwx71
As far as I can tell you have to disable most telemetry separately.
I did NOT disable automatic updates, and MS appears to know exactly when I need one.

[Digerati]

I always use a local account.

Me too.

[Aaron Hulett]

Some deeper details.

1. Most of the people I know don't read the fine print so they wouldn't bother reading about setting up a local account. If the internet is down at their home, does that mean they can't login on a Win 10 computer? Is the computer then unusable until they can log in?

Users can still log in. It's generally the same scenario as if you were signing into a work account (a domain account) but you're not at work (not able to access the domain): Windows will look at cached credentials, a.k.a. verify your password locally based on what your password was the last time you logged in, to log you in.

2. If you have a MS account, is it possible to create a local account and use that instead?
(one of my friends has really, really slow dsl and I'm wondering how long it takes her to login with a MS account)

Yes. New computer setups (the Out Of Box Experience), where you set up your new PC/laptop, are increasingly hiding this as an option, but if you skip the wifi connection part of setting up the computer, it should still show the local user account option. For now?

If you login via local account does MS lose their telemetry? I know you'll lose your syncing ability if you use a local account to sync your settings across diffrent devices ie, personal settings and Edge settings and bookmarks. You won't lose what you have, it just won't sync.

Telemetry still flows.

But you can think of it somewhat along the lines of what Facebook does. When you visit a website with the Facebook like/etc. integrated on it, Facebook can see that you were there. If you have a Facebook account, they can tie that to your Facebook account. If you don't, then all they know is that someone with random ID xyz that they assigned went to that site. So, they still build data, but don't tie it to an account.

Flipping it to Windows, generally speaking, if you log in with a Microsoft account, then when you hop into Edge or whatnot, part of the benefit is automatically logging you into Microsoft offerings, and they can in turn correlate data, such as search history on Bing. If you're not signed in (whether automatically through your Windows user profile, or by manually logging in), then as far as, say, search history on Bing is concerned, it's random ID xyz.

Generally speaking.

My friend with the slow dsl will be switching to cable so once she makes that change, I might want to tell her about some other things she may want to change.

There shouldn't be that much data increase if signing in with a Microsoft account versus a local account. Where data *will* increase is if things, say documents, are saved on OneDrive - that type of thing will of course take some data to perform file syncing. But otherwise there isn't a major data hit simply from logging into Windows with a Microsoft account and having account preferences and such sync up.

As far as I can tell you have to disable most telemetry separately.

Yes.

I did NOT disable automatic updates, and MS appears to know exactly when I need one.

Yes, Windows Update is its own thing.

I always use a local account.

Me too.

Domain account here, but I've tied my Microsoft account to it. Domain account because I run Windows Server Essentials at home.