The annoyance that is Windows 11

[puzzlegal]

@Thumper668

The problem here is understanding how OneDrive works. I have both a personal and work subscription, so I have always kept all my local files in OneDrive, and yes the Backup “feature” annoyed the shit out of me too. But if it deleted your local copies it was because at some point you (mistakenly) told it to “free up space”. If you right click on a file stored in OneDrive you will either see “Always keep on this device” or “Free up space”. I recommend going to the root folder and select all and choosing “Always keep on this device”. I would call this experience an annoyance, not malware. But I too submitted feedback that the Backup feature should be opt-in not opt-out.

I bought a terabyte of space on the laptop, and it’s just my travel computer. I certainly never intentionally told it to “free up space”. But it’s possible i didn’t notice. It’s also possible a cat walking on the keyboard made some bad choices. One of our prior cats was named Qwerty, and she wasn’t even the worst offender.

After that experience in Italy, i went back and told it to “always keep on this device”, but i wasn’t able to do it in one place, i had to do it all over the damn thing. (Or maybe it was just so slow to sync that I didn’t realize my global action would eventually work.) After i was satisfied that i had all my files back on the hard drive, i turned off OneDrive entirely, and that’s when it started nagging me to complete my set up.

I need to have a Microsoft account. I join teams calls with people for volunteer work, and those don’t work unless you are logged into a MS account. I actually have three teams accounts (mine, one from a little part time job i do every fall, and one left over from a prior employer – and if anyone knows how to completely remove that dead account from my computer, please let me know. MS can behave badly when it tries to log into the wrong MS account.)

But i was pissed enough with the work i had to do to recover my status quo that i installed Linux on my travel computer.

[Railer13]

@Joey_P

I’ve learned, and it’s probably why I still get those ‘finish setting up’ screens, that if, when you originally set up the computer, you’re very careful to not allow it internet access during the set up process

This, exactly. I read of this trick somewhere (perhaps here on the Dope) to not connect to wi-fi when requested early in the setup process. I followed that instruction last month when I bought a new laptop for my spouse, and it worked beautifully. Not ever seeing OneDrive is a huge improvement.

[Thumper668]

@puzzlegal

and if anyone knows how to completely remove that dead account from my computer

Settings>Accounts>Other Users to remove login privileges.

Settings>Accounts>Your Accounts and click Manage under the account name. This will open a browser window to the account page. Click Devices on the left. Under the device you want to remove it from click Remove Device.

If you only want to remove it from OneDrive you can do that in OneDrive settings (right click the tray icon and select the gear at the top right).

[puzzlegal]

The problem is that it’s a dead account. I can’t log into it. But sometimes the computer tries to do so anyway, and it’s very hard to tell it to use a different MS account.

I no longer use OneDrive on any laptop, so that’s not an issue. It’s mostly about having trouble logging into a Teams call because it’s trying to use the wrong account, and i can’t figure out how to switch accounts. That’s not obvious in the “logging into teams” interface.

It’s currently using my part time job account, not mine, because i was late getting onto the call, and it insisted it had to log into that one (unrelated to the call) and i gave up and logged into it. I don’t actually want to remove that account’s ability to log in, because i do need it for 8 weeks every year.

I will use that info to remove the privileges of the dead account.

[Thumper668]

@puzzlegal

That’s not obvious in the “logging into teams” interface.

That’s because there are actually 2 versions of Teams that look the same except for the icons. (This is one of the things I despise about Teams and avoid using it for work at all costs). Teams for Business will probably use your work account, while the personal version of Teams will use your Microsoft account. I can’t really troubleshoot it blind, but I’m betting that’s at the root of the problem. What you could try is using the web interface for the work account and the app for your personal account. That’s what I do with mine on the few occasions I need to use it.

[puzzlegal]

Maybe part of the problem is that I’m logging into these teams calls from a Mac. And I’m not using the teams app (does one exist for MacOS? Maybe that’s would help?) I’m logging in from a browser.

To be clear, they aren’t my calls. They are called other people set up, that i want to join so i can be part of a volunteer committee.

[Thumper668]

@puzzlegal

I’m logging in from a browser.

Then it’s going to rely on the account associated with the browser profile. Try going into incognito mode in your browser before logging in. Then you should get prompted for credentials.

[puzzlegal]

@Thumper668

Try going into incognito mode in your browser before logging in

That’s a really good idea. I’ll try it next time. Thanks.

And you’ve given me something concrete to Google, “changing the MS account associated with your browser”. I have three or four browsers on that laptop, maybe i can designate one for the part time job.

[Thumper668]

@puzzlegal

I have three or four browsers on that laptop, maybe i can designate one for the part time job.

Some browsers also let you swap profiles or create shortcuts for opening the browser with a specific profile. I have a work profile for Edge. When I want to browse anonymously, I use Firefox.

[bump]

Yeah, I’m not understanding that either.

It does require you to set up a Microsoft account and sets up OneDrive as some sort of default cloud backup, but it doesn’t move anything, just backs up as far as I recall

@wolfpup

Browser providers won’t upgrade their products on older versions of Windows,

@wolfpup

• Browser providers won’t upgrade their products on older versions of Windows,
• New versions of Windows generally require new hardware features and thus a new computer purchase and major migration headaches,

. And it’s easy enough to disable.

I have yet to see an ad that’s Win 11 related.

@puzzlegal

Oh, and i have more shit on my computer than fits on the free OneDrive service. So yes, they threatened to delete my files if i didn’t buy space. Even though i bought a huge hard drive and never asked them to “back up” my files.

Well of course, how do you think they get you to pay for more space?

And no, it doesn’t constantly remind you. Or if it does, there’s something trivially easy to do that makes it stop, and I did whatever that was like the same day as upgrading.

@wolfpup

• Browser providers won’t upgrade their products on older versions of Windows,
• New versions of Windows generally require new hardware features and thus a new computer purchase and major migration headaches,

Well yeah, that stuff doesn’t stay static, and neither can you, if only for security reasons.

They really need a Jitterbug laptop for all the neo-Luddite geezers out there.

[puzzlegal]

@Thumper668

@puzzlegal

I have three or four browsers on that laptop, maybe i can designate one for the part time job.

Some browsers also let you swap profiles or create shortcuts for opening the browser with a specific profile. I have a work profile for Edge. When I want to browse anonymously, I use Firefox.

That’s a nuisance, but it might be worth setting up a chrome profile for the part time job. Thanks.

[puzzlegal]

@bump

And no, it doesn’t constantly remind you. Or if it does, there’s something trivially easy to do that makes it stop, and I did whatever that was like the same day as upgrading.

It doesn’t constantly remind you to buy more space. It does remind you pretty frequently to “finish setting up your account” if you don’t use OneDrive. And also if you don’t use biometric login.

[Jasmine]

@wolfpup

Can we just agree on some basic facts? Namely, that

• Windows 11 is an annoying piece of shit,

Oh, God!

Let’s just say that, like many other things that some people really like, it’s just not your cup of tea. I get that.

[RTFirefly]

@GuanoLad

Don’t be afraid to poke around and switch off the unnecessary nonsense.

A question, then: in Win11, how do I locate my Desktop on my hard drive? Ditto Downloads, etc.

This is the thing that really bugs me about Win11: even when I think I’ve done everything right to save something to my hard drive, usually it turns out I haven’t. It works overtime to make sure I save stuff to OneDrive, whether I want to or not.

[Railer13]

Here’s a link to a YouTube video to remove OneDrive from your computer, if that’s what you indeed want to do.

I did this a few months ago, and it worked for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thj6ESlZ044

[Jasmine]

@RTFirefly

It works overtime to make sure I save stuff to OneDrive, whether I want to or not.

It does that because, even though we are a quarter of the way into the 21st century, there are still an amazing number of people who don’t back up their files. To this day, if you bring your machine in to a computer repair shop, one of the very first things they put out there is, “Not responsible for the contents of your hard drive.”

Nevertheless, if you insist on living on the edge, you can easily access the entire contents of your hard drive, and that includes “Desktop”. Right click your desktop, click “Themes”. On the right and under “Related Settings”, click “Desktop Icon Settings”. Put checkmarks in the boxes in front of “Computer” and “User Files” and click “OK”. Those icons will appear on your desktop. If you open the “This PC” icon, you will see the entire contents of your hard drive. “Desktop” is at the very top followed by “Downloads” followed by “Documents”. Easy-Peasy"!!!

[icon]

@Jasmine

It does that because, even though we are a quarter of the way into the 21st century, there are still an amazing number of people who don’t back up their files.

That might be true, but OneDrive is not the only way to do so, not even the only way to do so on the cloud. It does it because it believe it knows what you need/want, and puts its preference of how you should do it for you. While I am not one to disparage new features, they should be trivial to disable, when often in Windows it involves doing a registry change, or installing a third party software to do so.

//i\\

[Jasmine]

Open OneDrive settings, select “Manage backup,” and turn off backups for folders like Desktop, Documents, and Pictures. Move files back to local folders.

[wolfpup]

@Jasmine

@wolfpup

Can we just agree on some basic facts? Namely, that

• Windows 11 is an annoying piece of shit,

Oh, God!

Let’s just say that, like many other things that some people really like, it’s just not your cup of tea. I get that.

If you’re saying that Microsoft has never produced a bad OS, I beg to differ.

Microsoft’s history of OS releases has tended to more or less alternate between good and crappy, in the following pattern:

• Windows 95/98 were OK for their time once the kinks had been worked out of early versions of Win 95
• Windows ME was a disaster
• Windows XP was excellent, and also marked the convergence of the business and consumer OS lines
• Windows Vista managed to simultaneously be bloated while failing to deliver on many of its original goals
• Windows 7 fixed most of the issues with Vista and was another good OS
• Windows 8, 8.1, 10, and 11 seem to suggest a lack of strategic direction, delivering bloatware and “features” that were at best unneeded and at worst actively counterproductive

[puzzlegal]

@Jasmine

@RTFirefly

It works overtime to make sure I save stuff to OneDrive, whether I want to or not.

It does that because, even though we are a quarter of the way into the 21st century, there are still an amazing number of people who don’t back up their files.

Yes, and as i said above, if your computer is always online, and if you don’t have more stuff than fits in the free account, it’s a pretty decent service.

My “computer of record” (the Mac) is backed up locally on time machine (it nags me if I’ve missed a week, and i usually drag it back to where it can connect to the backup device if it nags me. Also, i make a point of backing up if I’ve added any files that are especially valuable.) i also pay for crashplan to back up that laptop, although (unlike time machine) I’ve never actually restored files from crashplan. It gets good ratings, but does it actually work for me? Probably. I also put some stuff that’s especially valuable (or that i want online access to) in Dropbox. Having had friends and family who worked there, i have a fairly large free account. Not enough for serious backups, but awfully useful.

My travel laptop doesn’t really need to be backed up. I load crap on it for various purposes, but it’s mostly stuff that “really lives” on the Mac, it stuff that’s workers, and will be chipped back to the Mac when i get home. It’s also often offline. It’s the laptop i use on airplanes, for instance. (and in Italian castles. )

If Windows hadn’t silently removed my files, I’d probably still be using Windows. My cat shouldn’t be able to easily make that happen. Also, I’m pretty sure you’re wrong and it actually is the default. In fact, this Microsoft document suggests it’s the default:

Sync your computer's files and folders with OneDrive - Microsoft Support

I believe the default setting is “available on this device”, which isn’t actually “available on this device”, it’s actually, “when you open a file it downloads to your device so you can edit it offline”. So if I’d copied a lot of files to the computer, checked to make sure that little checkmark was green, and not just a cloud, but hadn’t opened each one before i left, MS would have helpfully moved them to cloud storage, not to my hard drive. I don’t think i knew there was also a solid green setting, which is clearly not the default, and needs to be selected file by file, for files you want to always be on your hard drive.

@Jasmine

Open OneDrive settings, select “Manage backup,” and turn off backups for folders like Desktop, Documents, and Pictures. Move files back to local folders.

Also, you want to move your files to local folders before you turn off backups. The safest way, IMHO, is to turn off backups for a specific folder, move everything to that folder, wait to make sure everything has synced, and then turn off backups globally.