Ditch Your Microsoft
Account on Win 1 0
1
CREATE A NEW LOCAL USER ACCOUNT
If all you need to do is create a new, separate local account
(whether it’s for yourself or for someone else), and
you’ve already set up Windows 10, the process is easy
and straightforward. You don’t need to know their details or have
them present to do it, either.
>> First, click the Start menu icon, then click the Settings cog.
Once the Settings app opens, click “Accounts,” then click “Family
and other people” in the left-hand column. Under the “Other
people” header, there is an option to “Add someone else to this
PC” [Image A]. Click this and a new window opens up, asking you
to enter the email or phone number of the person who will use
the account. Instead of doing this, click “I don’t have this person’s
sign-in information.”
>> This takes you to a page where you can enter the user’s email
address, password, location, and date of birth. Ignore all of this,
and instead click “Add a user without a Microsoft account.” On
the next page, enter a username and password for the account,
and then re-enter the password for security purposes. You can
also add three security questions and answers. Once you’re
finished, click “Next,” and the local account is created.WHEN YOU FIRST CREATE AN ACCOUNT ON WINDOWS 10, Microsoft would prefer you to use
an online Microsoft account that you can use to access all its other services, such as Mixer,
Outlook, Skype, and more. But there may be times when you don’t want to use this account and
would prefer to keep everything on your computer. In times like that, you need to use a local
account instead.
This has a couple of benefits. For one thing, it means you can still get going even if you
don’t already have a Microsoft account—particularly useful if you’re setting the account up
for someone else and don’t know their Microsoft account details. As well as that, there’s also
the privacy side, because a local account won’t sync anything to Microsoft’s servers, instead
keeping everything on your local machine. And because your Microsoft account uses the same
password as your email, if you let someone log in to your PC, they would then have access to
your full Microsoft account—not good.
So, there are plenty of reasons to opt for a local account instead of a Microsoft one. Now let’s
get started and set one up. –ALEX BLAKEYOU’LL NEED THIS
WINDOWS 10
And the desire to eschew a
Microsoft account in favor of
a local account.2
CHANGE TO A LOCAL ACCOUNT
If you want to change an existing account from a
Microsoft account to a local user account, fear
not—it’s just as straightforward as it is when you create
a new account from scratch. You don’t need to worry
about being signed in to the account that needs to be
changed—if your main account is a Microsoft account,
you can change it to a local account without needing to
log out or create another account first.
>> To get started, open up the Settings app from the
“Start” menu. From here, click “Accounts,” then click
“Your info” in the left-hand column. Underneath the text
reading “Manage my Microsoft account” you should see
“Sign in with a local account instead.” Click this.
>> A new window opens, so enter your current login
password, then click “Next.” You are then able to enter a
new account name, a password (which you also need to
re-enter), plus a password hint [Image B]. Once you’ve
done that, click “Sign out and finish,” then sign back in
again once you have the opportunity. Your account is
now configured as a local user account rather than a
Microsoft account.BA©^MI
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