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

There has been a TON of news following the unveil of Windows 11 from TPM woes to the fact that the new OS actually requires modern hardware to run.  All of this is simply news because Microsoft is pushing their weight around and the hardware media needs something to complain about.

However, there is one Microsoft feature that has annoyed me for a long time and one writer at ExtremeTech finally posted something about it.  I'm in full agreement with this article (which is rare) and wanted to share it with the Hardware Asylum readers.

I’m willing to cop to the fact that this may be an artifact of the time in which I grew up. To me, my PC and “the internet” are two entirely different things. I connect to the latter to download files, read news, and watch content, but it is not the totality of my personal computer. Using an online account to log into my personal PC breaches the distinction between the two. Weird as it is — because I’m willing to admit this is a personal oddity — I find that distinction matters to me. It actually matters a lot. I don’t want my local Windows account to be synonymous with an online login.

But that’s not my only reason.

I got duped into creating an Online Microsoft account once.  Actually it became an extension to my old @hotmail.com account that I created so I could run MSN Messenger back in the day.  Since then it has also been linked to my Xbox Live account and to at least a couple Windows System login instances.  The first is when I got duped into creating one thinking there was no alternative and the second was so I could access the Windows App store to install an update so I could convert a Windows 10 Home installation to Windows 10 Pro (which also required a new key).

Personally, I don't like having to login to my Microsoft account just to access my computer, there are plenty of times when I don't have or, don't WANT, internet access when using my PC and with an online only account that will never be possible.

But, like the author, I just have a higher understanding and expectation of my PC that a large majority of users have no interest in. 

Sad as it might be, it is the future we live in.

Related Web URL: https://www.extremetech.com/computing/324134-i-wil...