URGENT Help Please

[vortex681 806]

On 4/19/2020 at 1:51 AM, howevr said:

I mention this to prove to myself that the key is tied to the hardware id and not a Microsoft account.

That’s always been my understanding, as well. I use a local account to log in on both my machines.

[vc10man 732]

18 hours ago, Pro Avia said:

Here is how to setup a local account with Win 10 1909

https://www.howtogeek.com/442609/confirmed-windows-10-setup-now-prevents-local-account-creation/

 

Thanks, for that Pro Avia. Managed to create. Now, I wonder if I can just delete that Microsoft tied to account? What an eye-opener when going through Settings to see how surreptitiously MS has tied its sell-ups as I went through all of the Settings folders to get rid of its bloatware😡Would love to get rid of their Edge which they seem to have embedded like they did with their IE.

[vortex681 806]

3 hours ago, vc10man said:

Would love to get rid of their Edge which they seem to have embedded like they did with their IE.

Remember that you can set any browser to be the default for Windows 10 - it doesn't have to be Edge or IE. Not sure what you use at the moment, but the new Edge browser which is coming with the next major OS update (or can be downloaded separately now) is Chrome-based and, supposedly, much better than previous MS attempts. There's a review of it here: https://www.howtogeek.com/659857/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-new-microsoft-edge-browser/ including a tool prevent it being re-installed if you remove it To remove Edge, follow these instructions: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/edge/forum/all/uninstall-microsoft-edge/3040dac6-cc0b-4dc3-9280-186856089ca7.

[Pro Avia 4]

I think you may want to keep the MS linked account in case of a Windows activation issue, reinstall or a hardware issue. I think your Windows key/activation it tied to your hardware and that MS account.

I don't know what happens if you delete that account or if you can uninstall/delete Edge. But if you don't regularly use either, no data goes to MS that is related to the MS account or Edge. 

[vortex681 806]

5 minutes ago, Pro Avia said:

I think your Windows key/activation it tied to your hardware and that MS account.

I've just read that since last year, new installations of Windows 10 require you to use your MS account. However, you can opt later (through Settings) to log into Windows using a local account.

[vc10man 732]

7 minutes ago, vortex681 said:

Remember that you can set any browser to be the default for Windows 10 - it doesn't have to be Edge or IE. Not sure what you use at the moment, but the new Edge browser which is coming with the next major OS update (or can be downloaded separately now) is Chrome-based and, supposedly, much better than previous MS attempts. There's a review of it here: https://www.howtogeek.com/659857/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-new-microsoft-edge-browser/ including a tool prevent it being re-installed if you remove it To remove Edge, follow these instructions: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/edge/forum/all/uninstall-microsoft-edge/3040dac6-cc0b-4dc3-9280-186856089ca7.

Thanks for that great input. Much appreciated.  I use Firefox, although that too lately from its former days, has become bit of an irksome nuisance with its continued ' we wanna update, we wanna update, please, please, pretty please' load of word-not-allowed

[vortex681 806]

1 minute ago, vc10man said:

Thanks for that great input. Much appreciated.  I use Firefox, although that too lately from its former days, has become bit of an irksome nuisance with its continued ' we wanna update, we wanna update, please, please, pretty please' load of word-not-allowed

I used to use Firefox but changed to Opera after I had some browser issues which I couldn't resolve at the time. I still have the latest version of Firefox installed for the very rare site which doesn't like Opera, but I find that Opera is faster and less resource-hungry than Firefox. You can find add-ons which match those available for Firefox, plus it has quite an effective VPN built in to the Opera browser which you can turn on or off as required..

[vc10man 732]

Just now, vortex681 said:

I used to use Firefox but changed to Opera after I had some browser issues which I couldn't resolve at the time. I still have the latest version of Firefox installed for the very rare site which doesn't like Opera, but I find that Opera is faster and less resource-hungry than Firefox. You can find add-ons which match those available for Firefox, plus it has quite an effective VPN built in to the Opera browser which you can turn on or off as required..

Yes, I use privacy add-ons in Firefox. So,it's reassuring to know I can get these in Opera. I used to use in the early noughties

[vortex681 806]

Just now, vc10man said:

Yes, I use privacy add-ons in Firefox. So,it's reassuring to know I can get these in Opera. I used to use in the early noughties

I haven't found anything so far which doesn't have either a version for Opera or a direct equivalent.

[vc10man 732]

Okay, just installed Opera. Now it dawn on me why I got rid of it-----it's its sponsored Speed Dial or whatever it is called I cannot abide by. That is why I opted for Firefox because it lest me customise my Start Page----a total blank not be bombarded by some versed interest's homepage such as Amazon, Argos, and other such garbage!! I want sites, I will find them. If I can get rid of that stupid Speed Dial, and get rid of Google showing up as a Search Engine when I have specified DuckDuckGo, yes, I may go for it.

I just utterly detest any developer, any website haranguing me with Updates, Updates, and more Updates!

[vc10man 732]

@vortex681, Is there a way to get rid of Google that flashes up in that long Search bar when I have set another as my Search engine? Appears to me that Google have done a backhander deal with Opera to flag their word-not-allowed.

[Wobbie 938]

I'm using Edge (Chromium) & I've found it faster & uses less resources than Chrome & Firefox. I always used Chrome before & Edge uses any of Chrome's extensions from the Chrome store, as well as from its own store. Web beowsers are quite personal, & I've probably tried them all, at some stage.

I've used Vivaldi, Brave, Maxthon & a whole bunch of others. I even used Edge Chromium Canary, That's the one that gets nightly updates, & I have never had an issue. Firefox started giving me Profile issues, so I went to Edge.

[bobbyjack 61]

Some observations. AFAIK.

Windows activation is linked to your hardware. Pretty much the CPU, and MB. You can change ram, GPU and hard drive without problem. A new CPU and you have to call MicroSoft. And it's not a problem. Unlike past versions, the account you open is an admin account. But not THE admin account. I suppose you can obsess over privacy. Sure, change what settings you must. But it seems to me that if you want to use the product  (especially one you don't own) then you have to play by their rules to some extent. And move on. Don't like Microsoft? There's always Linux. 

Chrome. Yup. It uses a lot of resources. It does more and has more. You give up privacy no matter what you browser you use. Personally I dislike all the adds that pop up no matter what browser you use. I have never bought anything because I saw an add for it. In fact some sites won't let you use them if you have an add blocker active. But adds pay for browsers to stay free. Want privacy? Don't use the internet at all. Don't use your credit card anywhere. Don't register to vote, get a driver's licence, collect a pay stub, or pay taxes. Or go outside (less of a problem right now).

Or do a few common sense things, don't be so angry, and move on.

[vc10man 732]

10 hours ago, bobbyjack said:

(especially one you don't own)

Oh, so we all just oh-so-generously jut ' donate ' cash to Microsoft, do we? What the hell am I paying for then when I purchase a Windows disc?

10 hours ago, bobbyjack said:

Don't use your credit card anywhere. Don't register to vote, get a driver's licence, collect a pay stub, or pay taxes.

I most certainly do not get my credit card company trying to sneakily steal information from me to then sell to nefarious websites in return for a quick buck to add to Microsoft's coffers ! Nor does the IR harangue me with ads from sites I would not touch with a barge pole !

I am far from angry. If I were, Windows would not certainly exist on this PC neither would I be here.

[vortex681 806]

23 hours ago, vc10man said:

Okay, just installed Opera. Now it dawn on me why I got rid of it-----it's its sponsored Speed Dial or whatever it is called I cannot abide by. That is why I opted for Firefox because it lest me customise my Start Page----a total blank not be bombarded by some versed interest's homepage such as Amazon, Argos, and other such garbage!! I want sites, I will find them. If I can get rid of that stupid Speed Dial, and get rid of Google showing up as a Search Engine when I have specified DuckDuckGo, yes, I may go for it.

Go into Opera settings and select the Advanced options. Scroll down to Start Page and you can use the "Hide search box" option to get rid of the Google search bar. The rest of the Speed Dial page is fully customisable so you can add just what you want and get rid of the tiles you don't like. There are plenty of other Start Page options that you can turn off such as "Receive promoted Speed Dials and Bookmarks", "Show news on start page", "Show Continue Shopping section" and "Show Continue on Booking.com" which should allow you to remove everything you don't like. If you want to remove the Speed Dial page completely, go back to the Advanced options and scroll down Start Page again and select "Hide Speed Dial" and new pages will be blank (or just have your selected wallpaper).

I assume you've chosen your search engine in the Basic settings? You can also turn off the small search box (to the right of the address bar) in the "User interface" options and just type your search query directly into the main address bar - it will use your selected search option.

17 minutes ago, vc10man said:

What the hell am I paying for then when I purchase a Windows disc?

You pay for a licence to use the software, you don't actually own it.

Edited April 21, 2020 by vortex681