There are also downsides to using a Microsoft account, not only benefits:
- You give personal information to www.microsoft.com/link . The company will have your e-mail address (and potential access to your e-mails, if you’re using a Microsoft e-mail address), your purchase history, your settings, and so on. If you’re using Bing or Cortana, Microsoft will also know quite a lot about your browsing history and speech/search activity. If you’re using OneDrive, your files will be stored on Microsoft’s servers. If you want to see all the data Microsoft has about you, go to this Privacy Dashboard and sign in with your Microsoft account.
- Your Microsoft account is hackable, especially if you don’t set a strong and unique password for it and you don’t activate two-step authentication.
- If you forget your password or your account is hacked, you are locked out of all Microsoft devices, services, and websites. However, you can reset your password using the instructions from this guide: How do I reset my Microsoft account password?
- You need an internet connection to log in with a Microsoft account to all Microsoft services. However, this is not the case when you log in to Windows or Xbox, except for the first sign-in when an internet connection is mandatory. After the first login, you can use a Microsoft account even when offline.
If you have created a Microsoft account only for accessing Windows, and you’re not happy with the downsides we mentioned earlier, you can use a local offline account following the steps shared in these guides:
