Windows 10: Will a Local Account on Win 10 won't allow you to use Cortana & other

I saw a youtube review on Win 10 build 10159----https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkDXQ1zVJYA

The person states that installing Win 10 under a Local Account instead of using an MS account won't allow you to use Cortana and some of the other MS Applications. Is that true? Everything in Win 10 is linked to a MS account and as time goes by, probably every app or service from MS will be tied -in. Good grief!! *Mad

It seems that people will hold on to Win 7 or 8.1 if MS decides to in a monopolistic way control your privacy through upgrades , apps, and services. At this time surveys of pc sellers do not see Win 10 as a factor in selling or increasing pc sales. The adoption of Win 10 may be worst than Win 8 and Win 8.1 until it is forced through new sales and become dominant after 3-4yrs.*Eek

:)

 

Microsoft account host program sign-in issues after updating to the Windows 10 1607.

After I had completed the Windows 10 1607 update. I sstarted to experience some issues. While trying to sign-in to my microsoft account. The host program will not allow me to change my local account to a microsoft account. The program will shutdown after
five seconds and will not complete the request that I want. I can not use any of the features of windows 10 without my microsoft account, Only Cortana allowed me to sign-in as well as the one drive app. But still other features won't work properly also Cortana
has limits to what I can do, The store app does the same, My computer won't allow me to sign-in and I've been trying everything as well as uninstalling updates but no results have been found.

 

Settings

I just installed win 10 and the settings won't open. I need to allow locations for Cortana to work.. I see from other forums that others are having this issue. I upgraded from Win 7 Pro 64bit.

 

Cortana keeps track of all your stuff, appointments, etc. as a person with an identity and syncs it across devices; can't do that with a local account as a 'nobody'.

 

That is really too bad! If MS wanted to they could configure so that an MS account is not neded to have these functions or apps. This is a technical question and is not a requirement for function if they wanted to. It is really another way to take away private information and convert it as a commodity so that MS can make money later on. This is why they hide very deep in the options to create a Local Account, they don't want you to use it.

It's too bad that people don't realize that there can not be a free society where there is no privacy. People trade convinience by giving away privacy and this is a major social mistake. No wonder millions of personal records are hacked everywhere all the time and we pay higher credit card fees (due to stolen IDs) and anyone can find anything about anybody as if this was normal in a society. Not much different than the use of obsenities in common spoken language and taken as normal speech. We are living in a degrading society and most people are complicent in that creation because of a lack of social standards and an ignorance of what freedom means.

 

Nice rant, but,. Cortana is a "personal assistant", not a search on steroids, and even a human "personal assistant" needs access to "personal" information to be of any use.

 

A personal assistant doesnt go around reporting your personal information. It's not a rant but a social commentary on how technology can and does impact the most personal aspects of our lives. Technology has social impact on individuals and society and people need to pay attention because every company is trying to turn individuals as economic assets for their own benefits. There is a reason why today personal medical data that is stolen is worth 5-8 times more than financial data. Big companies get it under the table without you realizing it, or worst yet hoping that people never notice it. Well enough of that. Just people should stop and think and maybe complaint to M$, or to their legislators, or privacy organizations, or even boycott products or policies.

 

Well, they are in business to make money.

You have the freedom to not use the service.

 

Oh, absolutely people and companies need to make money,but at what price of privacy and how transparent is the agreement to the user? How many times do we agree to "Agree by the terms of an Agreement" when we install software with 1 click and the agreement is 5-70 pages long written in a confabulated jargon that even a lawyer would have to spend a few hours to understand some not all the implications.?This becomes the norm because people allow themselves to be traded for a service or a product. People are really destroying privacy because they simply don't care or don't choose to think the implications. They are just concerned with short term gratification. If enough people decided not to use the service then these agreements and an over relince of companies to use personal information would just stop. It takes two parties for agreements to work. If users do not agree then the power shifts to the individual consumer. This is part of the capitalistic system. Consumers have a choice to tell the marketplace what is and is not acceptable, but that only happens if that choice is put into practice.

 

I cant see how this would work with a local account

Cortana is there to sync information and keep the same on all devices (or transfer to a new device easily if you get one), enter some data on your desktop, phone can remind you while out and about for what you asked, you are out and want to be reminded later about something so enter it into Cortana, come home and your pc reminds you

similar with apps, they are tied to you account so you can easily re install them or put them on another device, all syncing of data, for example maps, set my favourite places or plan a route somewhere on the pc, pick up a phone and that data is already there

I know plenty hate the idea of having to log in, but I have seen no evidence that MS go around reporting your personal information, for me the syncing of data and extra convenience of this makes this a very worthwhile way of working
I would hate to go back to having all my devices independent of each other and having to do things multiple times instead of the data all syching

we have been using online data for years, email is a big example, nobody seems to complain that you need to have to log in to read your emails or that they are stored on a server (even pop stores on server until you retrieve them)

 

Yeah, I get you.

I don't have Windows 10, but I do have a Windows Phone and when I first saw Cortana demonstarated I thought it looked pretty amazing. That was until I realised Cortana wasn't operating on your local device, but required an internet connection as all your voice commands were being sent to Bing servers, location services has to be switched on all the time, all your searches were being saved on Bing servers against your MS account, etc. So, I just turned it off and carry on as I was before, as it's too intrusive.

So, that's one reason why it needs a Microsoft Account because the voice processing isn't done locally, but personally I don't see why Cortana can't process certain commands locally offline on your device, with just a local account. Why for example do commands such as "Hey Cortana, set reminder for XYZ", "Hey Cortana, send SMS to XYZ", "Hey Cortana set alarm for XYZ", "Hey Cortana, call XYZ", etc. need to be sent to Bing servers? I seem to recall their reasoning for it was that it's quicker to send your voice data to their servers than it is to process them locally, but even if that's true, I still remain skeptical that this was the main reason. And also, it's not quicker if you're out and about and don't have internet access...

So, I agree with you and I too am not a fan of Microsoft getting into search and advertising because of this very thing, it creates a conflict of interest. I prefer to just pay a licence fee and not have to worry about the company monetising *you* the person. Advertising gives companies plausible deniability for monitoring, data collecting and tracking people and when money's involved, they will.

I also agree with the girl in the vids concerns regarding potential for exploitation, especially with features such as OneDrive's "Fetch Files" feature, where if exploited could potentially give remote access to the entire contents of your PC. And let's face it, systems do get exploited.

 

All those issues can be solved under settings. You can fully enable privacy by disabling every settings related to. I don't think it's time for you to join Win Ten because we all send data voluntarily to Microsoft. The machine is under test but you have freedom to set Windows the way you want.

I don't have a MSA and Cortana works fine except that I don't use it for the Web: Bing is disable.

 

MikeMecanic: "I don't have a MSA and Cortana works fine except that I don't use it for the Web: Bing is disable"

Well, I think that is a good start. I cannot determine on an individual basis whether having an MS. account and having Cortana or other application aggregate personal data is or is not a good trade-off for convenience. The social trend of trading personal information for convenience is a disturbing trend that we should all pay attention to and begin to curtail it because there is a reason why programs and services are free (they are free upfront because massive amounts of personal or behavioral data is worth gold to most companies).

The population of the U.S. is approx. 321,362,789 as of year 2010, the population of people working in companies with 10 or more people is 122,723,520 . If one were to assume that Microsoft Cortana and it's other applications are so necessary to the function of the job /company that they must be implemented or used then you are having 38% of the population determine the overall privacy of the whole U.S. population. Of course 38% would be an upper limit, the number is probably under 20% and maybe even below 15%.
These numbers are based on the U.S. Census and the U.S. Dept of Labor Force. It maybe that your job benefits alot from having your computer sync everything in your phone,your laptop, your watch, and whatever other computers you use BUT for the 80-90% of the population this is not a mission critical service not even life necessary. If it was strictly a matter of convenience then it would be great if no strings were attached but the reality is that strings are attached in the form of extracting personal data which is a multi-billion dollar industry.

This kind of behaviour by major companies and minor companies in aggregating personal data to monetize it, is a mayor threat to individual liberty and freedom. One may argue that M.S. does not share information, but the fact is that they do through their business partners which have their own policies on privacy or non-privacy. The other common myth is that many internet and software companies only gather aggregated data but the fact is that with enough aggregated data the information becomes a fingerprint of any single individual and thus there is no difference between personal information and aggregated information. In fact with aggregated data a computer program developed by a U.S. University can pinpoint your probable location to 1 block at anytime of the day 365 days a year with a 98% confidence limit (this does not include cell phone usage). We are creatures of habit and that is what makes data of any individual so valuable.

If you use a "smart T.V." and navigate the web through it's web browser, many T.V. companies like Samsung, L.G., Sony are aggregating data and target advertising to the user. This even includes YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, services. Worst of all those that play videos or movies on the t.v. from a hardrive may also send data to those companies. For those T.V.s that have built-in cameras there has been even reports of t.v. companies turning them on to spy on you (probably by rougue employees). These are facts that have been reported on various major newspapers and tech-web sites that report on technology. What it use to take the Gov a month to find out about an individual, today it only takes anybody less than 30min., and the information is far far more specific about an individual than what the Gov use to get.

It is not about being paranoid. Paranoia is an unfounded fear. The reality of the erosion of privacy is insidious and real. Companies and gov. will always tell you that customer data is necessary for their productive function, that is only a self-serving answer. In so far as companies are concerned they are suposed to entice you and seduce you with new services marketed as convenience . One has to ask oneself if the convenience provided by certain software is of so much value that one is going to disseminate his/her personal information to the whole world of marketing, and in many cases criminal hackers. The so-called "modern interface" of M.S. really is a personal aggregator of your personal data giving M.S. and its partners a new revenue streams. The fact is that there is nothing "modern" about the new MS. Win 10 interface except to drum-up revenue for MS by aggregating personal data and tie-it-in with other MS applications and services that rely on your personal data.

We are changing society were people are becoming commodities not only in the private sector but also the political sector and the black-market of criminal data aquisition. This won't stop until consumers wize-up and become educated enough to see how money is being made from their personal information and how they are politically being manipulated by political groups through data mining. People need to re-evaluate what is the cost of convenience. A large number of people don't know how to add unless they have a calculator in their hands. Some are unable to have a serious conversation face to face or through a phone because they are hooked on text-messaging one or two sentences of shallow thinking. Convenience is not necessarily a positive characteristic. When Win 10 comes out it would be wise to look at the settings and see what features each of us feels comfortable with. We have to be pro-active in safeguarding our own personal information because nobody else will. This may mean turning certain features on/off and complaining to M.S. or other entities where you think it invades your privacy. It's up to you, through your actions , to limit how companies intrude on you and exploit you or make a positive contribution to your welfare.

 

That's the only things that light me up in that long answer that make sense. I'm surprise that they allow you to do so.

Cortana is not God and it won't change my habit: A normal Canadian uses Google.ca to search the web and nothing else; It"s the most efficient search engine on earth, it never failed. The Disconnect extension grab and kill Google web appetite. I delete Cortana! It's deadly dead. Took out many Microsoft components and/or devices and still into a quite and stable machine. In fact, I delete them all. I said in my last post that it's my computer that owns the Operating System. not the inverse.

Solved The 10166 installer sets a new record low: 15 minutes installation - Windows 10 Forums

 

How are you using Cortana on a local account? Can you tell me what you did to get that working?
Thanks.